Showing posts with label B2S. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Back to School Book Activities
Tonight on our Facebook LIVE we talked about Back to School Books that up the engagement during the first week of school. Those first few days we can choose books that are enjoyable, high-energy, and just flat out fun to read because we don't normally have to worry about our scope & sequence yet. It's a time to grab the attention of your little learners, expose them to books that show READING IS FUN, and get them excited about being in your class.
You're Finally Here by Melanie Watt has been one of my favorites ever since Linda Kamp blogged about it. She has the cutest unit that your kiddos would just love during that first week of school! I've been reading it ever since, and it's just my favorite way to start the year!
After we read the book, we chart where the students were while I was waiting on them. They think it's so funny to hear me say I was waiting all summer for them to arrive :)) This is also a time where they get to share what they did throughout the summer.
To go along with our read-aloud and chart, I made this directed drawing. It has simple lines that will be easy for the students to tackle at the beginning of the year!
Right now it's really hard to find a copy of "You're Finally Here" You can find a couple of YouTube videos with the recording. Click HERE and HERE.
One of my other favorite stories is The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig. This story is a perfect read aloud for that first week of school. The author does a beautiful job telling a story about a student that is lonely/feels left out. It teaches children that the things we say and do can truly affect another person. It's a great way to talk about classroom community.
I always like to do a Class Promise or Pledge during the first week of school. This really emphasizes the fact that we are a family and everyone is important! It also helps us focus on expectations without constantly saying "You cannot do this" "Don't do that"
You just can't leave out the teachable moments that this book brings. The illustrations give us tons of insight to how the character feels. The craft allows us to discuss different situations that arise at school and how students feel around their classmates.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
B2S: Engagement Made Easy
Today I have two fun B2S activities to share with you! If you joined us on Facebook Live then these are the things we talked about :)
My first activity actually came in handy at the end of the school year. Students work with a partner to get to know them a little better. I paired the students together to make sure that everyone was with a "new-ish" partner. Even though the students had been together ALL year, they still learned so much about their classmates!
Partners take turns spinning the spinner. When they land on a number, students go down to the questions and ask the question that matches their number.
Students ask each other the question and discuss their similarities/differences.
On the bookworm, students write what they discussed.
Students just take turns spinning and writing until the bookworm is complete! After we finished, I had the groups present a few of their findings to the class. It was so neat to see little lightbulbs go off when they figured out that they were actually pretty similar to each other! Of course they loved eating the sour worms afterwards :)))
You can also do this by building a bookworm/caterpillar with poms. Students have a cup of poms in front of them. They spin the spinner. They grab a pom and discuss the question. Then they build their worm together using the poms. They aren't writing this way, but they are still having a conversation and getting to know one another :)
You can find this activity (plus lots more) HERE!
Another way to do this type of activity is with a bag of M&Ms. You just need a small bag per student.
Students get with a partner and take an M&M out of their baggie. Students use the color chart to guide their discussion. Both students share a little about themselves. You can check out my FB LIVE post to see exactly how this works {click on the pic}:
Afterwards, students make a little chocolate candy booklet. Each page contains information that they talked about with their partner. They just choose their top three topics to jot down! You can grab this freebie HERE. You could definitely just do it with the candy and conversation also! The booklet is just a little extension activity :)
I hope you enjoy these Back to School activities! It's all about getting students to know each other in a fun way!
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Simple Lesson Plan Templates
Over the years I've always shared my first week lesson plans on my blog. You can find those posts HERE, HERE, and HERE. I pretty much change up what I'm doing each year because I am not a fan of repetition. I like to find new books, activities, and lessons that keep my students engaged from year to year. With all of the new things I have now, my lesson plans will look very different from years past!
Today is more about the lesson plan template rather than what my actual lesson plans contain! I always get several requests to share the template, so I finally rounded up some of my faves to share with you :)
Here's what you'll need:
1. Power Point
2. Fonts from Babbling Abby! For all of the templates I used fonts from Volume 8 that you can find HERE!
I made a quick video that will show you how you can download and use these templates for your lesson plans. I hope you enjoy!
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