First Day of School Writing {Guest Blogger}

Hey y'all!  This is definitely a post you'll want to read!  Mrs. Crow is an amazing teacher all around, but I especially consider her an expert in creating a classroom of passionate writers.  Enjoy the post!

--Mrs. Pollard

Hi,

My name is Trish Crow and I had the pleasure to work with Mrs. Pollard last year.  I have taught kindergarten and first grade over the past 5 years.  Mrs. Pollard asked me to share my beginning of the year writing lesson for K & 1^st grade.

I am extremely passionate about writing, it is my FAVORITE subject to teach!  To have a class that enjoys writing there are a few things you must do.  You must start the first day of school, write everyday, and no matter how frustrated you become, keep writing!

On the first day of school before writing, I share a “mini lesson”.  The purpose of this lesson is to remove the pressure.  I begin with talking to the kids about the stages of writing.  To do this with Kindergarteners or First graders I bring up siblings, you know YOUNGER children :)

I am at the board with my marker and I draw a four square.

I ask the question, “who has a little brother or sister?”-someone always does.  I ask how do they write?  I usually get a couple responses, “sloppy”, “with crayon”, or my favorite, “they don't write”.  I always hope for the last reponse because then I can say, “Oh, but they do”.  Everyone can write, but we all write differently.  Then, I tell them to watch and I'll show them how people write differently.

I draw a scribble while I say my sentence out loud.  I went to the park.  Then I ask the important question.  Who has seen someone write like this?  Hands fly into the air.  Then I say if you have a baby at your house I bet they write like this.

I go to the next square and as I say my sentence I draw a picture.  I went to the park.  I saw a house and a butterfly.(remember I am just saying the sentence)  I draw the picture and ask if anyone has ever written like this?  Again, hands fly up.  I say, I have seen a lot of kids in pre-school write like this.

In the third square I say, “I have seen a lot of kids write like this too”. Then I say the sentence- I went to the park- I take my time, I write very slowly as I am sounding out each word before I write a letter. I use invented spelling and link all of my letters together. This one usually gets a laugh. Then I point and read my sentence. For the laughs I point out that I used my sounds to find the letters, that's what writers do.

In the last square I write the sentence out. I take my time, stretch words, and use finger spaces with a lot of emphasis. I have used invented spelling in that square as well. Remember it's the first day of school!

After all of this is up on the board I tell the kids that I want to see how they write.  Remember, you just took the pressure off.  I ask them to write to tell me something about themselves or their family.  I pass out the papers and they start writing.

As soon as the first pencil hits the paper I start walking around with dramatic “oohs & ahhs”.  I make my first stop where I see someone using letters, “wow, you know how to write words!”, I say.  Then several other students get the confidence to show me words as well. 

We continue this for about 20 minutes, more or less, depending on how much they are willing to share the first day.  Once everyone is finished we have a share square.  We all come together and I invite the kids to share their work.  This is a proud moment for them to showcase their skills to their class.

Thanks for sharing, Trish! This is definitely a must-do lesson for the first day of school!  :)

Rockin' Writing

After finishing up this last round of testing in my classroom, I made it a personal goal to focus on my students' writing.  I'm sure you know how it goes... you have all of these wonderful lessons planned and then reality happens and you just don't get everything done the way you want.  {Please don't tell me I'm alone with this!}  So, I have been stopping anything else that we're doing so that we can write and I have been overjoyed with my students' writing so far this week!  Some of them still have a long way to go, but to see them trying and engaged is a huge step in my eyes.

On Monday we did our weekend story.  We do this every Monday so they are very familiar with the routine.

Here are a few samples:

Yesterday we used  a writing activity from The Teacher Wife's Awesome Adjective Unit about superheros.  Yes, you heard me, superheros.  My kids just about fell out of their chairs when they saw the superheros on their papers.  And, did you know that superhero is a compound word... my kids did and they were pumped!  First, we brainstormed descriptive words as a class and then they went to town writing.  Our class minimum is 3 good sentences, but 4 or 5 are encouraged.  Some kids just couldn't help themselves and went above and beyond to 10 sentences!!

{I'm not sure-- Is Green Lantern.... green?}  :)

Today we did a squiggle story.  Have you heard of these?  You seriously just give the kids a paper with a squiggle on it and they turn it into a picture and then write a story about their creation.  Amazing!  They are so into their writing because they are writing about their creation.  To introduce squiggle writing and get their juices flowing, you could use either of these books: "The Neat Line" {thanks to my teammate for the suggestion} or "Harold and the Purple Crayon".

Here are a few samples:

Tomorrow we'll be writing about a magazine picture/ad.  Students usually love this lesson.  My mom has been so helpful in collecting a huge selection of pictures to use for this activity.  {Thanks, mom!} The uses of magazine pictures are endless.  I highly recommend you start collecting now if you haven't already.  I've run mine through my personal laminator so they should hold up for years.  On Friday, we will be doing a sticker story.

I just love how engaged and excited my kids are about writing this week!  Check out my TPT store to download my newly updated {free} writing paper pack.  It includes weekend story paper and squiggle story paper!  Please leave me some feedback on TPT if you download it!

How's writing going in your classroom?

--Mrs. Pollard

Snowglobes, MLK, and more!

I've had my camera with me at school everyday this week, but I just can't seem to remember to get it out!!  Today I got it out and took pictures until my memory card was full. {I hate to delete pictures... just in case!}

So, here we go.  Stick with me, it's a long one...

Here is the great Thirty-One bag that I wrote about last week:

The mesh pockets on each end are my favorite part.  They are perfect for my cup!

Last week, we talked about snow.... although, we had no snow in this southern state of North Carolina!  These poor kids probably think I'm crazy.  I always talk about Michigan and the knee-high snow, meanwhile it's green grass and warm days here.  I think they did a good job with their snowglobes considering our current lack of snow. 

{I just love the sparkle!}

Do you love how my little ESL guy said "I would do a snow man." instead of build or make.

Are you still with me?  I haven't even gotten to this week yet....

This week we've been learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  My kids always enjoy learning about him, but they get really sad when they find out that someone killed him.  Here's the portrait we did today:

Check out my MLK unit on TPT!

This week we're also working on question words and writing asking sentences.  I started my week with a lesson I saw in a video online.  Then, I used the anchor chart from The Inspired Apple for generating questions {so cute}.  The next day I read "Where Do Balloons Go?" by Jamie Lee Curtis.  I was inspired by this video.  {I really like the lady from these videos.  Her name is Angela Maiers.  Have you heard of her?}

Here's my anchor chart to help students remember which words are used in a question:

I plan to cut this question mark out and mat it on black poster board to make it really stand out.  Last year I used a black Sharpie on green posterboard, but I like the look of this one better.  Of course, I'll need to fancy up my letters first!

Well, thanks for sticking with me.  That's been my week in a nutshell.  Did I mention I've also been doing assessments this entire week?!  I am so looking forward to having Monday off followed by 2 teacher work days!

--Mrs. Pollard

Writing Paper Pack... Freebie

I find that my students write the best on copy paper rather than the store bought writing paper... they're always ripping through the paper when they try to erase.  I've created a variety of writing paper pages with illustration space-- prompts, no prompts, regular lines, handwriting lines, and more!  Enjoy!  :)

Click {Here} to Download Writing Paper Freebie

--Mrs. Pollard

All About Writing! (Files NOW shared)

Last weekend I blogged about help with my writing.  (This came after a very frustrating writing assessment.)  One comment that I got was to use "5 Star Writing".  I loved this idea so I put it to use right away.  (THANK YOU for the idea!)  My students are now completely obsessed with writing 5 star papers!

To introduce the 5 star writing, I created this presentation.  The kids had white boards, markers, and erasers.  They read the sentences, decided if it was 5 star or not, and wrote it so that it was 5 star.

Grab your 5 star presentation {here}.



The next day, we wrote about our favorite thing to do at school.  After I modeled, I introduced the 5 star writing rubric.  The kids wrote their sentences and then filled out their rubric.  The goal was for them to really look at their own writing to see if it was their best-- of course, they all gave themselves 5 stars.  Then, I came behind them and we went over the rubric together.  If they earned a star, I gave them a star stamp on their rubric.  They were very into this!

Grab your 5 star writing rubric {here}.

Finally, I've created a Writer's Tool Kit for my kids to use while writing.  Having this resource available to them makes them more independent and confident in their writing.  You can check it out at my TPT store!

Click {Here} to Download from TPT

Happy writing!  :)

--Mrs. Pollard



Welcome to Noun Town!

This past week, we have been learning about nouns.  We started by labeling items in the room-- this was a huge success because I let each student choose an item (AKA: noun) to label.  Now they are all very aware of this print in our classroom.  We read sentences and identified the nouns and wrote our own sentences using nouns.  The biggest success of all was definitely Nown Town.  I found the idea on Pinterest.  I gave each student a blank piece of paper and they could draw any noun they wanted for our town.  They also had to make a label for it.  They have not stopped creating things-- every scrap of paper and free minute is used creating something for Noun Town.  I even have some students creating their own Noun Town at home!  Awesome!

Here's our Noun Town:

*I love that our town has 2 Walmarts and that all of the cars are driving to McDonalds.  :)

And a little freebie for you....

Click {HERE} to download the sign
"Welcome to Noun Town".

--Mrs. Pollard



Thanksgiving Writing Pack

I just uploaded my newest item to TPT.  Check it out on TPT for a full item description!

--Mrs. Pollard

Last Week of School

The official countdown is on.... 4 1/2 days left!  I still have loads of paperwork to finish up in the next week, but I also have 23 little ones to entertain who are just as anxious for summer.  We'll be starting the week with Babbling Abby's Popcorn Adjective unit, making Father's Day tie books (I'm sorry I can't remember which blog I found this on), and a memory book from The First Grade Parade.  We will also have our end of the year awards this week.

Although I'm not doing a full-blown camping unit this week, we will talk about camping and complete a few activities.  I'm sharing these camping activities with you for free!

Click {Here} to Download all 3

--Mrs. Pollard

Comparing & Contrasting Insects

I made this to accompany Mrs. Jump's Insect Unit from TPT.  In math we'll follow the glyph directions to make our insects and the next day we'll pair up to compare and constrast them during writing using a Double Bubble Map.

Click {Here} to Download

--Mrs. Pollard

Flower Bubble Map

We've been learning about plants this week and will continue next week.  On Monday we are going to complete this activity.  Each student will get a flower to glue in the middle of their Bubble Map.  Then, they will use an adjective in each bubble to describe their flower.  When finished, they will write about their flower (can be fictional, as long as they use their adjectives).

Click {Here} to Download

Monster Mania 2

Earlier, I blogged about our money, monsters, and robots theme this week.  Today we made robots to go with our reading story "My Robot".  We also made our own monsters today and brainstormed adjectives and verbs to go with our monsters.  Tomorrow we will use these words to write cinquain poems.  We will also make a Double Bubble Map comparing and contrasting robots and monsters.  The kids are obsessed with this all!  I also got really good stories from them yesterday about where the monster went when the kid in the story told him to go away (Go Away, Big Green Monster!).

I know this looks like complete chaos, but the kids think it's the greatest thing ever.  They LOVE their robots and monsters.

(I love the arms on that left robot... such personality, just like the student!)

Here are my bags of 'Monster Munch' that the kids will buy with fake money on Friday.  I posted the labels in a previous post.

Question Crazy!

One struggle that my students have is punctuation.  Many of them just put a period and call it good.  Today I did a lesson focusing on just the question mark.  First, we found all of the words on our word wall that we knew were question words.  Next, I recorded all of the question words we could think of on a big poster that I had cut out in the shape of a question mark while the students recorded their words on a question mark on their paper.  (I wrote the words on the poster with the first letter capitalized to stress the fact that if a sentence begins with that word it will end with a question mark.)  During this whole time, I had the kids spell the question words they were giving me and use it in a sentence.  As a follow up, students independently completed a practice sheet (that is attached below).  The majority of students seemed to grasp the concept very well... now we'll see how they apply it in their writing!

(I recently saw the idea to put question words on a question mark shaped poster from Mrs. Carroll at The First Grade Parade.  Thanks for the awesome idea!)

Click {Here} to Download

--Mrs. Pollard

Cut Apart Sentences

Okay, I think this might be my last post today... I just can't stop!!!  I use this activity at stations.  Even my highest students often struggle with proper sentence structure so I figure any extra work they can get with it will be helpful.  I have glued the cover sheet on the front of an envelope and will store the sentence strips and full sheets in the envelope.  The students will choose 1 strip (there are multiple to choose from so they aren't copying their neighbor) and one full size sheet to glue their sentence onto.  I'm hoping the repeated exposure to proper sentences will encourage them to start using "2nd grade sentences" in their own writing.  (I try to push their efforts by talking about moving up to 2nd grade next year!)  Enjoy!

Click {Here} to Download

--Mrs. Pollard