Christmas Writing Ideas and Figurative Language

So we started our December essays today.  I printed the December Essay Menu on cardstock and taped it to the board. I explained that we are going to start doing one essay per month, but they would have choices. I went over the 20 choices on the menu.  They were pretty excited.  Many asked if they could do more than one essay.  My student who was my most reluctant writer last year asked if he could finish his essay tonight at home. It really is amazing to see what choice can do!

Today they picked a topic and started planning their essays with graphic organizers.  A few started writing. I explained we were going to go through the whole writing process.  The pack on TpT includes lots of handouts for rough drafts and publishing. Most of my students wanted to type their essays, so we are going to type ours. I was excited to see my students excited about essay writing.  Who gets excited about five paragraph essays, right?  I think the choice menu each month is going to work really well. We will spend about an hour on Wednesdays working on it.  The rest of the week they can fit it in as they have time. We actually may even turn our essays and stories into a multimedia presentation when we finish just for some fun.

This month we also are going to talk about figurative language.  We will do some figurative language lessons from Lovin Lit's Reading Notebook and Figurative Language Close Reading Stories.  We will use the close reading stories in reading groups. Of course, we have to do Jen Runde's craftivity for Figurative Language.

Now, this last resource I am super excited about. We will analyze Christmas Carols for Figurative Language.  

A few years ago, I had my students get in groups and rewrite the words to Christmas carols to be about themselves.  They came out so cute! We will type up the new lyrics and frame them in an inexpensive frame as our parent gift this year.

Common Core Language Arts Resources on Teachers Pay Teachers and a Sale

Well, I was really excited to have this whole week off, so I could get lots of stuff done along with the resting and being Thankful. I started off my break with a cold, and essentially worked hard this week at taking naps. I am thankful for the rest.

One of my goals this week was to really re-evaluate my Language Arts block. I have found a lot of great resources lately, and I have been struggling to figure out how to fit it all in. It just all seems important! I definitely still need to rework my scope and sequence for the year to really plan out week by week the Grammar lessons and reading skills for read alouds. One of the hardest parts to me of planning for the Language Arts block is planning the schedule and how much time to allocate to different tasks. On Tuesday, I am going to share with you how I decided to re-allocate time in my Language Arts block to better allow for student engagement and ownership. Over the next couple days, I am going to share some of my favorite Language Arts resources I have found for Common Core.

As you probably know by now, Monday and Tuesday are the big Teachers Pay Teachers Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale. You can save up to 28%. I think I have over $100 of items in my cart right now.  A good sale is the perfect opportunity to stock up on all those items you have been wanting. My store will be 20% off.  You use the code CYBER to save more at checkout.

Here are some of my favorite resources for the Common Core Language Arts Standards:

Resources I have Made:

First of all, I organize all of my Language Arts resources for Common Core by standard. I put all the resources I have made or purchased behind each standard.  It makes it so much easier when planning to have everything in one place. These are my Grade 5 Binder covers and dividers.

I use my Grade 5 Common Core Reading Literature graphic organizers for whole-group lessons and also independent activities.  They also work well for Guided Reading.

These are my Writing Graphic organizers, checklists, and rubrics for multi-paragraph writing:

These are my Writing Graphic Organizers, checklists, and rubrics for writing one paragraph:

These are my 25 posters for Theme. We use the list of themes and messages as reference when discussing stories. It helps to scaffold instruction as students work to identify theme.

This 2014 Writing Calendar makes a great monthly writing practice for the year, but it also can be turned into a calendar as a gift for parents.  We made these last year, and they came out super cute. I just updated the file to include the calendars for 2014.

Resources I have Purchased and Use Often:

Lately, I have really been convicted of how much kids need spiral review in Language Arts as much as Math. They need to continually practice reading skills, writing skills, grammar skills, Figurative Language, typing, cursive, etc. Thus, I am trying to build time in my Language Arts blocks to weekly review all of these skills.

• Panicked Teachers' Language Weekly Skills Challenge:  We will use these on Fridays.  These will be a great way to review figurative language. We are going to be working on Figurative Language in December, so these will be a great way to review the rest of the year.

• Panicked Teachers' Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences: Sentence Stretching Unit:  I have decided to just start purchasing some of the great independent units sellers have created for teaching different concepts.  Sometimes you just don't have time to create everything yourself.  I love the posters in this set!

• Lovin' Lit's Reading Notebook: I am excited to start using these in whole-group and small-group lessons.

 

 



• Ashleigh's Spiral Language Review: For now, we are focusing on the 4th grade skills before covering the 5th grade Language skills.

• Mandy Neal's Common Core ELA Assessments: I have grades 4 and 5.  These are so handy!

What are your favorite Common Core TpT Language Arts resources?

Christmas Gift Ideas for Parents from Students

I have been absent again for a few days.  I have still been sick.  From Friday night to Saturday, I slept 17 hours.  I am feeling better today though.  We finished the Christmas lights on the outside of the house this afternoon.  Yay!

I still need to finish planning for the week.  I always seem to spend too much time researching and not enough time finalizing. Anyway, I always struggle with what gift to have my students make for their parents.  I have always taught older elementary students.  They are too old for the "babyish" crafts, but young enough I feel we should do something.  Here are some ideas I found via Pinterest and blogs:

1) A 2013 Calendar (I have always wanted to make a calendar.  I think I will have them draw a picture or write something for each month.  We can glue it to larger contruction paper and laminate it. Then just fold it in half and staple it.)

Source: mrsriccaskindergarten.blogspot.com via April on Pinterest

Here is a link to a calendar on TpT.

2) Cookie mix (This is a fun way to incorporate measurement. I knew a Math teacher who made these last year and it came out super cute.  The kids all got to bring their holiday aprons for the day of the measuring.  They loved it!)

Source: msdurning.blogspot.com via April on Pinterest

3) Coasters - (These look fun.  Might consider this for next year.)

Source: rundesroom.com via April on Pinterest

4) Dinner Conversation Starters - I read about this on the Clutter Free Classroom, which is the absolute best blog resource for ideas on anything.  This seems like such a fun idea to encourage kids to spend time with their family.

5) Christmas Word Cloud - I was thinking about having the kids make a word cloud with Tagxedo about Christmas.  They could write words about the holiday, a poem, family names, etc. We could print it out and frame it. I guess you could even make multiple ones and print them out and laminate them as placemats?  Not sure...just brainstorming.

6)  In the past, I have bought plain glass ball ornaments.  The kids decorated them with Sharpies and glitter. 

What do you do as Christmas gifts for parents?