Laugh Out Loud #10

School has started for almost everyone.
Do you need a good laugh or a good cry?

Well, here is some humor that will surely cheer you up or brighten your day.

These teacher memes are from the blog spanishplans. They are soooooo funny. I had to share them with you.

Please click on the pictures below and it will link you to their post.
Read and enjoy. The year has just begun.
Onward ho!

Have a wonderful week!

Kathy

Word Family Center Work

Teaching word families can become quite boring. So I have decided to spruce up my word family center work. Instead of having the usual onset and rime cards, I have changed my word family worksheets to word family picture puzzles.

There are 2 levels, 6 piece puzzle or 9 piece puzzle. You can use whichever meets the needs of your students.
Here's the brain workout.
First students find and read the picture word hat (using the example from above) in the puzzle. Then they write the missing letter on the blank line that spells hat.
They cut out the puzzle pieces and glue them on the recording sheet to make a hat picture. Great eye-hand coordination practice.
Find and read the 10 __at family words. Pick two __at words and write sentences using those words. Color the picture. The last part they find and read a mystery __at word.
Lots of good practice to hear, see, and use word families in reading and writing.

If you would like more information please click below and visit my TPT store.

    

Power Up and Have a Great Day!
Kathy

Fabulous Back to School Sale

Teachers Pay Teachers
Fabulous Back to School Sale!

Don't miss this fantastic opportunity to buy wonderful products for your classroom. TPT has thousands of innovative and creative materials that will excite and motive both you and your students.

GET UP TO 28% OFF!

AUGUST 18 - 19

Be sure to use promo code: BTS13

during check out.

Please come by and visit my TPT store.
All my products will be on sale - 28% off!
Come on over and join the fun!

Please click below to visit my TPT store.

Have a great school year!

Kathy

Character Traits - Library Mouse

Last week I posted about Amazing Adjectives.
This week I'm adding my Character Traits chart.

Why study character traits?
Because understanding and making inferences about character traits improves students' comprehension and inferencing skills.

I reduced my character trait anchor chart to a printable size. You can print it out and enlarge it.  Then use it with whole class instruction. Also, you can print it out and use it at centers. Please click on the picture to link to teachers pay teachers where you can download a FREE copy from Picture Book Reviews With Writing Connections.

The sample above is from the book, Library Mouse. Read the book in its entirety. Then read it again and brainstorm the character traits while you read the book and after you read the book.

Library Mouse is a cute book that inspires kids to write. Sam, the library mouse, lives in a small hole in the library. He enjoys reading all kinds of books.

One day he decides to write his own books and shares them with the library visitors. They love his books and want to meet him. But he is shy and hesitant about meeting them.

Sam comes up with a clever way to solve his problem by using a tissue box. He shows the kids that each one of them can become an author.

The book is available on amazon. Please click on the picture to connect to their website.

Happy Reading & Writing,
Kathy

Amazing Adjectives - Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie!

Adjectives make sentences pop!
Without adjectives writing would be so blah-blah!

So how do we get kids excited about adjectives?
Read a good picture book to your class.
Then read that same book again and leave out the adjectives.

Kids quickly see how dull and boring the story becomes and how adjectives bring the story to life. Adjectives are part of mental images that make text come alive and add meaning and clarity to what is being communicated.

Below is my adjective anchor chart. I reduced it to a printable size. You can print it out and enlarge it. Then use it with whole class instruction. Also, you can print it out and use it at centers.
For example, to describe a person, place, animal, or thing at a center, use pictures, actual objects, listening center books, or describe each other in the classroom, including the teacher.
Please click on the picture to link to teachers pay teachers where you can download a FREE copy from Picture Book Reviews With Writing Connections.

The sample above is from the book, Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie! We brainstormed adjectives that described Mrs. Millie while we were reading the book and after we read the book.

It is a funny book about a hilarious teacher who teases her students. She tells them to hang up their goats (coats), don't step in a poodle (puddle), don't cut in lion (line), come sit on the bug (rug), and so many more silly things. Her students have fun correcting her mistakes and saying what she really means.

This book is also great for reinforcing rhyming. You can make a list of the silly word sentences that rhyme with the real word sentences. The book is available on amazon. Please click on the picture to read more.

Being silly is so much fun!

Kathy

Add Music to Your Classroom

Hard to believe... but lots of teachers have already gone back to their classroom and started a new school year. Best wishes to them as they take on the rigor of the common core standards.  Best wishes to every teacher as he/she returns to make a difference in the life of a child.

Teaching is a profession of creativity, unlimited impact, dedication, and, of course, diligence. And let's not forget to add fun! Sometimes I wonder where the fun went.

Begin adding fun to your classroom by inserting music sometime during the school day. Singing songs and moving to music is a great way to teach the rhythm of language, vocabulary, grammatical structures, lessons, transitions from one activity to another, and a wonderful opportunity for bonding experiences.

Here is a song that I really think is a great way to start the new year. It's a song about friendship. The song is called, Make New Friends But Keep the Old, by The Learning Station.
Please click on the picture to hear and see it on You Tube.

You can also hear the song on their website and purchase or download it if you like it. Please click below.

I think music is so important that my son and I recorded 2 CDs that get kids up on their feet dancing, singing, moving, and learning. These CDs are called Rock Out With Spelling, Sight Words. These songs are an active way for students to learn and practice reading, writing, and spelling in a meaningful way. They are available as downloads or CDs. Please click below if you would like to have a look. Thank you.

Rock Out!

Kathy

Guess the Main Idea

So...... I'm traveling through cyber space and came across this wonderful idea from the blog Joyful Learning.  What a great name for a blog!

I really enjoyed reading her post called, Writing Workshop Main Idea. It's a fabulous way to introduce the topic of main idea, both in reading and writing.

In the picture below, the students put pictures connected to the main idea, recess, in the left circle and pictures not connected to the main idea in the circle on the right. (Please click on the picture to visit her website and read the details.)

In the picture below she had her students guess the main idea. She picked topics she knew her students were familiar with.

She has samples of student work on her post. Please visit her blog and enjoy reading her post.

Thank you Melissa at Joyful Learning for sharing a fabulous idea!

Have a super great day!

Kathy