We teachers know that, when we haven’t fully planned the day’s lessons, our students act out! Oh, yes, it’s important to be fully planned for the day, and even more so at winter holiday time. The kids know that time off is approaching, so it’s hard for them to focus on school work. An engaging writing activity is a great way to keep the kids focused before vacation. With the writing process approach, the students can complete a different part of the writing project each day, leading up to a sharing day on that last day of school. The unique...
Noun Town paper and digital resources provide a memorable way for children to learn about parts of speech. With these concrete, hands-on (or fingers-on) activities, youngsters cut and paste (or drag and drop) images onto a map. Then they match the images with words. Kids have so much fun creating their towns that they don’t even know they are learning grammar! The rich context of the activity enables beginning readers to identify words that they might not be able to do in a different context. And, in addition to developing decoding skills, the activity is a great way to review...
Keeping the students focused on school work during the weeks before winter vacation can be challenging for a teacher, under normal circumstances, but with the pandemic this year, holding their attention may require even more effort. Whether you are in the building, teaching remotely, or both, here are a few ideas to help you keep your primary grade students on task as their winter break approaches. (more…)
When Thanksgiving is over, many children start thinking about the presents they want Santa to bring them at Christmas time. For teachers this presents a wonderful opportunity for an authentic writing activity—a letter to Santa. For years, I had my students write Dear Santa letters, but I hated encouraging that “gimme” attitude in children, so one year I decided to try something different. (more…)
