My Favorite Snow Books -- and Another First Five Wins!

Since snow is still on my mind, I'm pulling out all my snow books to use with my kiddos. Here's a list of some of my favorites and a freebie to go with them. (I've included links to Amazon so you can get more info about the books.)

Here's an oldie, but goodie. I love anything by Ezra Jack Keats

Another oldie, but goodie….

White Snow, Bright Snow, by Tresselt and Duvoisin

Snowmen at Night, by Carolyn Buehner

My kiddos are always entranced by learning about Snowflake Bentley.

They pour over the pics in Snowflakes in Photographs by Bentley himself.

I don't have this version, but the description says it includes a CD of the snowflakes. Just imagine what you could do with that!

Gail Gibbons will always have a place on my bookshelf. She is a great introduction to informational text.

Here's your freebie for both snow-themed literature and informational text. I've included the CC ELA standards for first, second, and third grades. These graphic organizers help guide your students' thinking about what they have read.

Just click on the pic above to get the file.

I'll also give away a free product from my TpT store to the first five people who follow my TpT store and comment with the name they use to follow, their email address, and the product they want me to send.

Zippin Down the Freebie Trail

Welcome to this year's Easter Freebie Trail. It's a fun-filled collection of fantastic freebies just for you!

If you have missed out on the fun, click on the cute little bunny below to go to the beginning of the trail so you won't miss out on any of the freebies.

I'm sharing one of most popular activities from my blog. It's jam-packed with ideas to guide your students during a unit on informational text. Just click on the pic below to get the file.

To get your next freebie, just click the pic below to hop on over to Teaching in Room Six to visit Stephanie. I've gotten so many good ideas from her. I can't wait to see what she has ready for us!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Be an Informational Text Rock Star! -- Freebie

These cute, cute, cute graphics from Spring Hill Farm make analyzing informational text fun! 

Just click on the pic above to start the rock star fun! 

Don't forget to rock on with a comment!

Sharks! -- Freebie

My kids are fascinated with sharks. I'm using that interest as the basis for some extra practice using informational details. These activities are correlated to the Common Core Standards for second grade and use the National Geographic Kids book, Sharks!

Click on the pic below to download.

Be an Informational Text Super Hero! -- Freebie

We got out early today because of the threat of storms. Since I had a little extra time, I've been working on an informational text packet that you can use with either second or third graders. This addresses the Common Core Standards for both grade levels. You can pull out just the parts you are ready for or give the entire packet to your students to complete after reading an informational text of their choice.

Don't you just love, love, love the super cute super hero graphics? They're from Spring Hill Farms. Check out their shop on Etsy.

Be my hero and leave me a comment if you download!