Expanding Sentences -- Freebie

We have been working on expanding sentences for the past several weeks. I gave my kiddos simple sentences and asked them to expand them by adding adjectives to the subject. Next, they wrote new sentences adding words that told about the verb. Their last sentence told either where or when about the verb. Once they had written the sentences, I asked them to illustrate their work.

Here's a few samples of their work.

Click on the pic below if you want a copy of the simple sentences I used to start the activity.

I'm giving away a freebie each day of October to celebrate Halloween. Check back tomorrow to add your link to the fun!

Main Idea and The Important Thing -- Freebie

We've been working on finding the main idea of passages and paragraphs within a text. We've also been writing sentences and are ready to write an informative/explanatory paragraph on a topic (Common Core W.2.2 and W.3.2). I'm going to use Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book as a model for our writing.

The kiddos will pick a topic and write their own "Important" paragraph using the handout below. 

I've also used this as a model for writing an opinion paragraph.

Click on the pic above to download the doc.

Past and Present Verb Tenses -- Freebie

I think my kiddos have finally caught on to the differences between nouns and verbs, so we have moved on to distinguishing between past and present tenses of verbs.  I gave each set of partners a set of verbs to sort. I just printed off the cards from the doc below and stored each set in a baggie. I've included irregular verbs in the past tense to work on our Common Core Standard. They caught on pretty quickly, so when we do this tomorrow, I'm going to get each set of partners to pick a verb pair and write a sentence with each verb. 

I'll put the sort into a literacy station next week so we can keep reviewing.

Click on the pic above if you want the sort.

Noun and Verb Charades - Freebie

We are almost ready to work on past tense forms of verbs, especially the irregular verbs. My kiddos need a little bit more practice distinguishing between nouns and verbs, so we are going to play charades.

Divide your class into teams. One teammate acts out a word on the card he draws. His team must guess the word and tell if it is a noun or a verb.

I included a blank sheet of cards in case you want to write in your own words.

Just click on the pic above to download the charades cards.

Fact Families

Our school is lucky to have a grant that provides fruits and veggies as snacks for our children throughout the week.

We don't think we are so lucky when it's broccoli day and our kids cram the broccoli in their desks and it sits overnight.

Imagine the smell.

Go ahead. Imagine it.

So to kill two birds with one stone, we used shaving cream to practice our addition and subtraction fact families.

I squirted the shaving cream on the kids' desks and called out three numbers in a fact family. They wrote the addition and subtraction facts in the shaving cream.

The bonus was that the smell of the shaving cream  helped get rid of that terrible, terrible rotten broccoli smell. 

I hate broccoli snack day.

Fact Family Dominoes - Freebie

We are beginning our work with addition and subtraction this week by starting off with fact families. I love using dominoes in my math stations, so I made this worksheet to make students accountable for their work. 

They draw a domino and use the two numbers to make all the math facts for the two numbers represented on the domino.

Just click on the pic above to download the worksheet.

And please leave a comment if you use this sheet. I love reading how you adapt my posts for your own classrooms.

Giveaway Time!

Educational Insights is one of my go-to sources when I have school funds to spend.  Educational Insights has generously donated a set of their Hot Dots to a lucky winner if I would review the set in a post. I've loved their collections of Hot Dots and have used them for years, so it was easy to say, "Yes, please!"

I chose this Hot Dots Laugh It Up set to reinforce using context clues....(and my kiddos need lots of practice on using context clues!) 

Synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and multiple-meaning words are all titles in the Hot Dots Laugh It Up series.

All you have to do for a chance to win your own set of Hot Dots is fill out the Rafflecopter form below to register.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nouns and Verbs - Freebie

One of our Common Core skills for this unit is to form and use the past tense forms of irregular verbs. 

Ummmmm.....my kids didn't remember what nouns or verbs were! So I read A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink  and To Root, to Toot, to Parachute by Brian P. Cleary. 

After sharing the books, my kids sorted nouns and verbs. It's basic, but I can't do the irregular past tense until they know a verb!

Here are the cards I used for sorting. I used words from the two books so that I can put the activity in a literacy station for more practice. They can use Cleary's books for reference if they need to.

Click on the pic above to get the cards.

Reader's Response for Informational Text - Freebie

Track your student's growth in understanding informational text with these Reader's Response sheets. Since they are printed two to a page, they can be glued into their Reading Journals.

Click on the pic above to download the file.

Main Idea and Details - Freebie

A big part of understanding informational text is determining the details that lead to the main idea and being able to restate that information in a summary. This graphic organizer will help your kiddos organize their thinking.

Just click on the pic above to download the worksheet.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! - Freebie

If you are like me, your classroom fund balance is NOT as big as you would like it to be! Don't forget to use newspaper articles as a free (or at least cheap) source of informational text. Ask your students to bring in articles that interest them to complete this activity. It's great practice for Common Core skills. Run off lots of these sheets and keep them in a literacy station with extra articles.

Just click on the pic above to download the worksheet.

Text Features Foldable - Freebie

As we talk about different text features this week, we're going to either glue pictures of the features or draw our own examples on these foldables. We'll glue them into our Reading Journals as we complete them.

Click on the pic above to download the file or make your own using the text features you are studying.

Fiction/Non-fiction Sort and Assessment - Freebie

I'm going to review fiction and non-fiction/informational text with this quick activity.

The kids will cut pictures of books from our book club orders and glue them under the correct heading.

When we are ready for an assessment, they will fold the next sheet in half and choose one picture of a fictional text and one picture of an informational text. After gluing the pictures on the sheet, they will flip it open and give their reason for putting each text in each category.

All Things Informational

Understanding informational text is such a big part of Common Core. My kids usually choose a informational text over fiction when they visit my library, so it's easy to build on their interests when reinforcing using text features.

I've pulled all my old resources into one post. 

Hope you find something you can use! Just click on each picture to get the info!
Check back during the week to see what new things we did with informational text.

This is one of my most popular posts. Pull out just the parts you need or let your students complete the entire packet in pairs or alone.

This is similar to the Super Hero activity. You can use it in the same way.

I pull out this activity several times a year for reinforcement. The kids love scavenger hunts.

Students have to use text features in the book Cats vs. Dogs to complete these activities.

 Cash in on your students' love of sharks. These activities are all based on National Geographic Kids Sharks!

Practice determining the main idea and using content-specific vocabulary introduced in text with these activities based on Ugly Animals.

I love the Smart Words Readers. This station activity is based on one of the titles in the series, Volcanoes.

 These task cards are based on the text exemplar Seeds, by Gail Gibbons.

If you have some fun resources for using informational text, please leave a comment.

Swinging Numbers - Freebie

Partners can practice this game in a Math station. Print out the cards and directions and give them some paper to record their answers. 

Just click on the link above to download the file.

Jack's Magic Beans - Freebie

I bought some of the clear acrylic trays divided into three compartments from Dollar Tree this summer. I added stick-on letters to label each compartment either H, T, or O. 

I'm putting the trays into a Math station with these directions for some fun place value practice. 

Students can play with a partner or alone. They toss beans into the tray and tally up the number of beans that land in each compartment. They record the number they make in standard and expanded form.

Just click on either of the pics above to download the directions and recording sheet.

Let me know if your kids like it!