February Craft Ideas

Hey everyone! This is Aimee from Primarily Speaking and I'm happy to be back with another  post for the Who's Who and Who's New blog!

This month, I thought it would be fun to share a few craft/bulletin board ideas for the month of February. Can you believe it's right around the corner? Now, I know that there is more to February than hearts and all things love related, but it is my favorite theme to use when putting together our February displays.

This first idea is a simple craft that kids always seem to enjoy. Tissue paper hearts! 

 
They are a classic, but also a great way for students to practice the skills of following directions, attending to detail, and hand-eye coordination.  I plan to have my students make these simple hearts to display on a very small "board" above our classroom sink. This space measures approximately 4x4 feet, so it's perfect for something like this.  It's also the perfect "Fun Friday" craft!

To make these you'll need a heart template.  You can grab the one I used here (it's free).  You'll also need tissue paper cut into small squares.  Use any variety of colors you'd like! 

I cut mine approximately 1 in. x 1 in.  I literally eyeball it as I go since perfection is not necessary.  Tip: you can easily store left over tissue pieces in a zip top bag, just be sure to gently squeeze all the air out.

To attach the tissue paper to the heart template, you'll need some watered down glue.  Just add enough water until the consistency is like a thick milk.

Spread some watered down glue onto the heart and place some tissue paper on top.

Spread more glue mixture on top of the tissue paper.

Repeat until the entire heart is covered.  Let it dry completely.  Then, cut out the hearts and display them!

I have another fun February bulletin board craft that I love to use.  How cute are these little love bots?

I like to pair them with writing and display them on one of our larger bulletin boards.  Usually my students write about someone that is special to them, and when you are seven years old, that someone is usually a best friend or relative.  Either way, the writing always turns out super sweet.

My student always enjoy creating their little bots and are proud to share them with their families once they go home.

You can check this craft and writing project out here.

Thanks for stopping by today, and have fun creating a festive bulletin board with your students!

Math Game Boards

Hey everyone! It's Aimee from Primarily Speaking. Today, I'm excited to share one of my most favorite math resources with you...game boards!

Math game boards are the perfect filler activity.  When I say filler, I mean activities that my students can use once we finish our regular math lesson.  Our district requires that we cover math in a 70 minute block each day.  Sometimes, our adopted curriculum does not take this long (and sometimes, it does).

Game boards are the perfect solution to filling the time because:

1. They are easy to prep.
2. They can sit out for weeks at a time (I change mine out at the beginning of each month).
3. You can use as many, or as few, game boards as you like.
4. They are a great way to practice/reinforce basic math fact practice and/or other skills.
5. The students work in pairs which develops their cooperative learning skills.
6. The students practice the skill of following directions to complete a task.
7. The students are given the opportunity to use math tools appropriately.
8. They are hands-on and engaging.
9. They store easily when not in use (file them or put them in a magazine holder).
10. The kids absolutely love them!  

I always have the game boards and their materials prepped and ready to go.  Each month, I set out four different games.  I typically make 3-5 copies of each game board.  This allows for plenty of choice/options for the students once the boards are in use.

I place each game board and a baggie with the necessary materials into a small tub. The students can easily grab a board and a baggie and begin playing. I usually let each pair of students choose the game they want to play and they are free to trade for a new game once they finish their first game (and if time permits).

Many of the game boards I use are freebies!  Here are a few of my favorites.

These Bump games from Sunny Days are the best!  To play, the students use dice to add three addends.  The boards are free and there is a different theme for each month.  Each month I put this game out and the kids never, ever get tired of playing. Click here to visit Sunny Days on TpT and search "Bump" using the Quick Find option once you are on her page.

Five in a Row is another popular game with the students.  There is a different theme for each month, and although the rules of the game never change, the boards do.  Best of all the kids never tire of them and they are free!  These game boards can be downloaded for free from the Freebies tab on my blog.

I also love the game boards that Lory Evans creates. The games are high interest and the kids always love them.  Lory has a ton of amazing options (and many of them are free), so be sure to visit her TpT store and check them out!

If game boards are new to you, I highly encourage you to give them a try!  They really are a great way to reinforce those basic skills while keeping your students engaged and on task.  Plus, they are so easy to prep and maintain.

Toodles!

Shared Journals {Kid Tested, Teacher Approved}

Hey everyone!  It's Aimee from Primarily Speaking. 

I'm popping in today to share with you my love of shared journals.  They have quickly become a favorite resource of mine!

I have used these themed journals in my classroom for the past several years, and I really can't imagine not using this resource in some way, shape, or form.

What are shared journals?
Shared journals are a fun, and meaningful, way to encourage students to write.  Students take turns writing in the journals.  Over time, they can read the stories in the journals and continue to add new stories to them.  One thing I have learned is that my students love to write stories for their classmates to read, and they really enjoy reading their classmates' stories.

How do you use them?
There is no right or wrong way to use shared journals in your classroom.  Like most things, it is a resource that you can easily use to meet your needs!

• I have used them as part of my writer's workshop.  When a student finished his/her assigned writing, he/she could write in one of the journals if they wanted to.  
• I most recently used them as a fast finisher activity.  I set the journals out and whenever students had free time, they were allowed to write in them.
• Some people use them as part of their Daily 5/Centers program.

Tips and Tricks 

• Be sure to keep the journals in an easily accessible place.  You want your students to use them, so don't make it difficult for them to get to the books.
• If a student starts a story but isn't able to finish it with the time he/she has, have them mark their page with a sticky note.  Show them how to place it on the page so that the note sticks out the top and write their name on it.  This lets readers and future contributors know that the author is still working on that page.
• Make sure YOU write in them too!  You can do this as often as you'd like, but I will tell you that when you do, your student will go crazy. They love to read what the teacher has to say, and it is very motivating for them!
• Think about switching them out.  What I mean by that is, place a few different ones out at a time and rotate them every few weeks/months.  If you set too many options out at once, students get overwhelmed.  I like to place 2-3 out at a time and rotate different themes out every few months or so (or whenever I can tell my students need me to).

The beauty of shared journals is you can manage them and use them however you like.  It's one of those resources that allows you to encourage your students to read and write, but allows you the flexibility to use it to best meet your needs.  You can find the journal covers shown in this post here.

Happy writing!

Let's Talk About Class Books!

Hey everyone!  It's Aimee from Primarily Speaking.

I'm so excited to be back here blogging on Who's Who and Who's New!

Let's talk about class books!  I love class books, and so do my students.  These books are always, hands-down, the most popular books during the students' free choice reading time. 

I like to use class books to help my students develop and continue to practice good work habits.  Translation: they are a great way to encourage your students to work neatly.  Before we make a book, we always talk about who will be reading the book.  We talk about the other books we have read (printed books that have clear and easy to read text) to help clarify the importance of making sure their contribution to the class book is user friendly.  Knowing that their peers will be looking at the books often, reminds the students to slow down and turn in a quality piece of work.  This also encourages them to take ownership of their learning and to take pride in their work.

Next year, I plan to start my year by making class books.  It's the perfect way to give my students practice with the quality of work expectations I will set forth the first week of school. 

Class books also encourage students to read!  My students always love to read what their peers have written and illustrated.  I watch them read these books and laugh and smile.  I watch them get "Sally's" attention to let her know that they are reading her page.  In this sense, the books also help to build a sense of community within the classroom!

They are also a great way to showcase learning.  We recently wrapped up a mini unit on collective nouns.  As part of our study, we made a class book.  Each student illustrated a collective noun phrase (a bunch of grapes, a gaggle of geese and so on).  It's been a hit ever since it hit the shelves, so to speak.

We have also made class books that showcase our knowledge and understanding of multiple meaning words and using polite manners.

Since these books are so popular, I want them to be easily accessible.  So, I store them in a bin like this.

So, what to do with those books at the end of the year?  Well, you could raffle them off to your students during the last week of school.  Or, if you have a classroom economy, your students could buy them with their classroom dollars.  Or, you could save them for the following year for your new batch of students to enjoy.  Even though their classmates may not have made the books, your new students will still enjoy reading content that was created by other kids.

Toodles!

Close Reading {Teaching Students to Use Text Based Evidence}

Hey everyone! It's Aimee from Primarily Speaking.  I'm so very excited to be blogging here for the first time today!

Today, I wanted to share with you how I teach my second graders to interact closely with their reading material.  Common Core asks our students to rely on the text they read to demonstrate what they know.  It says that they should be able to extract information that is explicitly stated in the text and to make logical inferences from it.  They are to cite specific textual evidence and to draw conclusions from the text.

Reading passages are my preferred method for practicing close reading.  The length of the passages are manageable and easy to reference since they are usually only one page long.  Sometimes, we read and respond to the passages in a whole group setting, and sometimes, the students complete them independently.

I like to alternate the scaffolded learning with independent practice.  This way I can teach them how to read closely and explicitly address the skills involved in text based evidence reading in a whole group setting. This prepares them to more successfully use these strategies when they read independently.

At this point in the school year, I always begin by passing out the reading passage and giving the students time to read it independently.  When they are finished, I have the students think of one interesting thing they learned and use think-pair-share to give the students an opportunity to talk about this fact.  Then, we practice locating key information and/or citing evidence to answer questions based on the text.

We always begin by using our crayons (or markers) to locate information in the text as prompted.  Since we are doing it whole group, we typically choral read the tasks one at a time.  After reading each task, I give the students time to locate the evidence specific to each task.  I have them hold off on marking anything so that we can discuss it as a whole group first and I can address any misconceptions (crayons don't erase very well).

 Once we finish these tasks, our text looks a bit like this.

  
Then, it's on to the comprehension questions.  Sometimes our questions come straight from the text and the students are able to underline and code the information to be used in their answer.

 
Sometimes, the question requires that we make an inference, as in this question below. We discussed how the text did not explicitly state the genre, but we could infer that it was nonfiction because it gave true facts about honeybees and also included a real photograph of a real honeybee as opposed to sharing a fun or silly story about a bee named Bob.

Sometimes I use these strategies when reading our weekly Scholastic News.  After reading it as a whole group, I might verbally ask the students to locate the information that answers my specific question(s).  We usually just use our pencils in this case.  Sometimes, the newspaper includes skill sheets that task students with citing text evidence, but I still have them go back to the text and prove it by underlining, circling, etc.

One more way that I like to develop the students' close reading skills is by using a constructed response component.  These written responses are a great way to get in some extra writing and they are another great way to engage students with the text.

My students always write a topic sentence (by answering the question in the prompt) and then include three (or more) detail sentences, and a concluding sentence.  Once again, I like alternating these between whole group and independent settings.  This way, the students are frequently reminded of the strategies to use when writing these lengthier answers.  I have also been known to create constructed response questions to go with our weekly Scholastic News.

And, that is pretty much how I teach my students to interact with their text more closely.  Surprisingly, my students never moan and groan when I pass these out!  They enjoy going back to the text and marking it up, and that makes my teacher heart happy. Oh so happy!  The close read that was featured in this post is from my Nonfiction Close Reads for the Spring Months.  You can check out my close read packs here.

Toodles!