Reading lesson plans for December are here! Digital response activities for your favorite Gingerbread and December stories! Reading Lesson Plans for December December is certainly one of my favorite months for teaching! In addition to the excitement in the classroom, there are so many fun learning activities for the holidays. Now, of course, it's important to keep students learning during this time. Our Engaging Readers units offer just what you need to keep the teaching going, but have a ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/nonfiction
Stellaluna Book Activities for K-2 | Reading Lesson Plans
Stellaluna book activities that are available in a printable and digital format. Students respond to literature and develop reading comprehension skills. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon is a story about a young fruit bat that is separated from her mother. The baby bat, Stellaluna, discovers a nest of birds and soon becomes apart of their family. This book is a great story to read during the Fall months when you are learning about bats. Here is a read-aloud of the story: Stellaluna ... continue reading...
Penguin Activities and Videos for Kindergarten and First Grade
Engaging Penguin activities and videos. Students will enjoy reading and writing about penguins, doing a science experiment, and making a craft. It's Winter... the best time to learn about penguins! What better way to embrace the winter months than to learn about an animal that loves the cold (well most of them). Learning about penguins can be such a fun time in your classroom. Here are a few lesson ideas for you! Penguin Activities Start learning about penguins with books and videos. ... continue reading...
Pumpkin Patch Palooza and a FREEBIE
Fall is one of my favorite times of year to teach! I love all things Fall: pumpkins, apples, scarecrows, bats, spiders, owls.... Did I mention it is my favorite time of the year to teach? The littles get so excited about learning and isn't that what it's all about? Sometimes teachers get so bogged down with teaching what's in the basal (no basal for me, thank you very much!) that we forget that true learning takes place when the teacher and students are EXCITED about what they are ... continue reading...
Bump & Jump Numbers and update on Interactive Reading Journal freebie
Okay, so I've got some good news and some bad news! The good news is that Mel and I posted the Numbers 1-50 Bump & Jump games yesterday and they are on SALE! The other good news is that we posted an ABC Freebie of the games and you can get it HERE I've also finished up the Nonfiction Interactive Reading Journal and I'd love to give you some freebies. You can click on the cover to view the unit on TPT. I put two on a page to save on copying. Just click on the image to ... continue reading...
Oceans and Pirates and Fun, OH, MY!
Good News...... After next Wednesday I only have two more days of school left! Bad News....First, I have to survive until then. :) SERIOUSLY! What makes the last two weeks of school so tough. The kids start acting all kinds of crazy and us teachers are just plain TIRED!!! I think that this is God's way of helping us send those little ones off without it crippling us with sadness. Think about it.... we've spent 180 days with these little people. They've hugged us 1,000 times, told us they ... continue reading...
Compound Eyes anyone? Insect fun and FREEBIE!
Compound Eyes! We looked at our friends through a bug viewer and then drew what an insect would see. In addition to Nonfiction books we are reading some fun fiction books about insects and working on story elements and identifying the theme of the stories. Here are some fun math prompts that you can download as a freebie. Just click on the picture below. ... continue reading...
Owl book pictures and a cool video!
Due to a request I am posting some pictures from our owl books. Some of the kids chose to color their pictures and some of them chose to leave them black and white. I told the littles that it was up to them. However, {NO Haters, please } I did tell them that since this was a Nonfiction book the owls had to be realistic. NO PURPLE OWLS, thank you very much. ;) They did a BEAUTIFUL job on their illustrations if I do say so myself. One thing I usually do when we are doing this type of ... continue reading...
Butterflies and vocabulary
I received a few comments on TPT this week about my units {the buyer stated that the Vocabulary was inappropriate for Kindergarten kids} and it made me start thinking about how different we all are as teachers. We have different philosophies about HOW and WHAT children should learn. Some of us are given teacher manuals and basal programs to teach from {my district doesn't use a reading program} and many of us are given a framework to use to guide us in our instruction. I believe that ... continue reading...
Mental Images and Zoo
This is the lesson that I posted about last year. We will be doing it this week so I thought I'd go ahead and post it again. I read the first part of Jack Prelutsky's poem and then stop and have them draw their mental images. Here's a close up of their cutie patootie dogs. Then, I read the last part. They LOVE finding out that it is a crocodile! Close up of their crocodiles. This poem is so much fun and it also leads to lots of good discussion and opportunities for ... continue reading...
Reindeer Lessons & Activities! (Reindeer Book Freebie)
Reindeer lesson plans with informational text with a FREE file. Includes crafts, writing, reading and more for your kindergarten lessons or first-grade lessons. Reindeer Lesson Ideas: Reading Informational Texts Here is a peek into what is included in this Reindeer Unit. Last week was a CUH-RAZY week for my little sweeties. In addition to all of the normal holiday craziness we were still trying to practice and get ready for our Gingerbread man play. We performed the play for the ... continue reading...
Spider Informational Text Activities
Spider informational text activities for kindergarten and first grade? You got it! Done and done! Deedee and I were asked for more informational texts in our Guiding Readers units, so we added a stand-alone edition. As you know, these units are week-long close reading lessons that really allow students to dive in deeper. The teacher does the decoding work, but the thinking work sits on the shoulders of the students. Spiders Informational Text We started this unit of study with Spiders ... continue reading...
Zoo Animals | Chit Chat Messages & Close Reading
Zoo Animals unit packed full of resources! Engaging and fun activities. Chit Chat messages, close reading passages, crafts, and more! Zoo Animals Teaching about zoo animals is seriously one of the best times EVER! The littles get super excited and stay so engaged in learning. It can be hard to keep their attention at this time of the year, but it sure helps when they are having fun! I just completely updated this whole unit so it's ready to go for your upcoming zoo unit. Find it by ... continue reading...
Fun on the Farm: Learning About Farm Animals
These farm animal activities will make learning about farm animals fun and engaging! This unit is packed full of close reading activities, directed drawings, writing, a craft, and more! Farm Animal Activities Learning about farm animals is so much fun! Students learn about the different animals they may find on a farm with these farm animal activities. Students become farm animal experts through close reading passages, discussions, and investigations. Close Reading Passages/Chit ... continue reading...
National Talk like a Pirate Day Activities
Did you know that National Talk Like a Pirate Day is this Monday, September 19th? I've got you covered with this Set the Stage to Engage unit all about PIRATES!!! This unit is also perfect for kicking off the year with a pirate theme, teaching -ar, or it can be used as an End of the Year celebration. This unit is packed full of literacy, math, and science fun. Here are some pictures that Holly Ehle took of this pirate unit in action: First, we "flip" the classroom so it looks like ... continue reading...