Cloze Vocabulary Introduction

After reading the book Word Nerds by Brenda J. Overturf, Leslie H. Montgomery, and Margot Holmes Smith, I thought I'd try one of the strategies they mentioned. I began introducing all my vocabulary units with a cloze activity in the pocket chart. My kids loved it! I started by writing the vocabulary words on colored sentence strips, then asking them to show me what they know with hand signals: hands on head if you know all about the word, hands on ears if you've heard the word, hands on your lap if it's a brand new word. That little formative assessment gives me so much information to guide vocabulary instruction! We have a brief discussion of each word based on the signals they show me. Then I read the sentences written on white sentences strips with a blank where the vocabulary words should go. Together we talk through putting the words in the correct blanks. We complete a lot of other games and activities during the unit, but I began each unit the same way this year. I saw a lot of improvement in my firsties vocabulary compared to previous years. Here is an example of the cloze chart and 2 other activities from my Thanksgiving unit:

Best Behavior Motivation Ever!

December is always the hardest month to keep kids motivated. They are so excited for the holidays, that they're brains go on vacation weeks before the rest of them do! Behavior is the first thing to go, so this year I thought I'd use the holidays to encourage them to be on their best behavior. Of course I used the Elf on a Shelf, but the best strategy was my Christmas tree. It's actually just the top third of a tree I used to have at home. Every day, if they moved up on the progressive behavior chart, they got to pick out an ornament and hang it on the tree. You should have seen them trying! They went out of their way to help each other, keep the classroom clean, follow the playground rules, and walk quietly in line. I ended up buying 2 extra sets of ornaments because we ran out so quickly. During the last week before vacation, I was secretly taking ornaments off the tree and putting them back in the bucket so more kids could put them back on three the next day.

Thanksgiving Twist on Number of the Day

Number of the day activities are important to help build number sense, but they can get, well...boring. To shake things up a bit, we made number of the day turkeys. This idea was inspired by Susan Moran Jones. We'll be working on number sense all year long. During the first quarter we went to 30, this quarter we're going to 60. Of course, some kiddos are ready to go further, so I let them pick their own number for this activity. I used a turkey template I purchased my first year teaching (10 years ago!), but I can't remember where it was from. To copy this idea, you can download or make your own turkey patterns. For the tail feathers, I used some fun ways to play with the number as well as some skills to meet CCSS. I have a copy for 1st grade and 3rd grade. The first grade ones are shown below. My kids loved it!

First Thanksgiving

I love November--the colors, the smells, the crisp air, and most of all the food! I just finished putting together my thematic unit on the first Thanksgiving which includes a recipe for Red Pickled Eggs. Check it out at TpT; just click on the link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/First-Thanksgiving-Unit-958209

New for October

This is my favorite time of year! I just finished decking my house out for Halloween...now off to my classroom. I have 2 different bat units on sale at my TpT store for October. The first is a literature unit for 1st grade. The second is a Layered Curriculum unit for 3rd grade. Click on the links to check them out!

I have also just added word lists for making words activities. Go to my reading page for the link.

While your here, take a look at my writing workshop page. Writing has always been my favorite subject to teach, and here I have some tips for starting your own workshop. Enjoy!

Just a reminder...

2 of my thematic units are free, this week only--fall leaves and apples. Go to my TpT store to find them: www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/natalie-trouten. Happy fall!

Fall Freebies

Autumn is hands-down my favorite season! The colors, the smells, the weather, the holidays, and the fun thematic units!

(apple tree seasons--part of my Apples thematic unit)

To celebrate I'm offering two of my favorite early fall units for free...but only for one (school) week. The first day of fall is September 23 and Johnny Appleseed's birthday is September 26, so these thematic units will be free from September 23-27. They are designed for K-2 and include multiple activities in all subject areas. Click on the links to check them out on my TpT store:

Apples

     

Fall Leaves