Graphs!

We used to do so much more with tallying and graphing before common core was put in place! However they added line plots which was a fun new graph we could practice! This is always a concept that all students grasp quickly which makes it so much more fun to teach!

They compared tally charts.

They used spinners to practice tallying!

Owl tallying!

Tallying hearts!

We practiced reading different pictographs!

We also measured different sizes trees and then graphed them on a bar graph!

All of these centers can be found on my tpt site! Click the link button above!

We practiced on the smartboard and iPads as well...

Bar graphs

Tallying 

Pictographs

More pictographs on the smartboard!

All the practice must have worked. They aced their assessments!

Author's Purpose

There is a lot to do with author's purpose and I found so many activities for free on tpt.

First we made an anchor chart together and then made our own flip charts explaining what author's purpose is.

The top is the front and the bottom is the inside. The students had to write what each author's purpose is and then write an example below.

In whole group we practiced reading different passages and identifying the author's purpose.

The next day the worked in partners. They were given nine passages to cut out and sort.

In center time, we used a center from the FCCR website. They had to sort passages under three header cards.

The last center they did was read cards and write inform, persuade, and entertain!

They were seeming to really understand the concept!

I ended up using it as a formative assessment! Our district is trying to steer away from taking days for testing when we can just assess activities they already do!

They proves that they could soar when I grades their center work today!

Then to end our unit, we wrote one of each author's purpose!

 Then we made them into pies!

Then they tested each other by turning wheel and reading the three different passages they wrote! 

I always say, the more you expect of the kidos, the better they do!

Suffixes/Fluency

This will be a short one but couldn't resist posting a few of the highlights!

I wanted a fun way to introduce suffixes. We went over some of the main ones and the kids had to make a leaf for each suffix!

Closer up...

I found the little posters on the trunk on tpt for free!

On another note we have had some fun with using the poems we wrote last week to I practice fluency!

I typed up their haikus into a book form so that each kid could have a copy of their own poems! 

They practiced reading and recording their poems on iPads!

The glasses came from the target dollar section! I got the idea from @lovetoteachalatte!

The kids loved reading with the glasses and it made it more fun that they could see themselves in the glasses when they recorded on the iPad!

On another note, my kids have been doing a wonderful job reading independently!

The beanbags always make it more fun to read! 

I figure, the more comfy they are, the more enjoyable reading will be for them!

It's about time!

We have started our time unit! I absolutely love teaching time, so it's hard to let my student teacher have all the fun, but luckily we do everything in small groups so I'm always at a center playing some kind of time game with the kids! I had so much fun making these games, but it's even more fun to watch them be played!

(Teacher center- working with small groups to progress monitor.) My student teacher is showing the kiddos how the hour hand moves with the min hand!

I have about a 15-20 min whole group time where I go over the concept. My principal showed me some apps on google crome and we found the exact game we needed to model time to the kids! It is pictured below...

I have my kids divided into groups by shapes and can therefore differentiate my centers! I have the kids that are struggling keep reading clocks, while I move the kiddos that master the concept onto elapsed time and making word problems!

Time matching. I also have this with a record sheet that they must do before they play the game!

Clock dominos! (My on level kids worked with this)

Drawing the hands on the clock! (They read the digital and record on the analog).

Clock go fish! Do you have 12:45?

Elapsed time! (My above kids work on this)

I also have my above kids writing elapsed time word problems and record themselves solving them on the iPad!  It's really fun to see what the come up with!

We still have a few concepts to hit and I will post more pictures then!

Poetry

I have been making myself wait until our class at least wrote one poem before I posted this. I have been so excited about poetry this month!

We started with acrostic poems! They loved it! I had a few kids that wrote one after another and didn't want to stop!

Some of them even asked if they could use dictionaries! What teacher would say no to that?

I love how they found words that really related to their topic! I had to stear them away from using words like "cool" and "awesome".

I then made it into a book for them with all of their poems typed up. Then we used our book to practice fluency! We recorded ourselves reading our own poems on the iPad!

Next, I introduced haikus! I never knew how much fun these were until we delved into them.

Remember the rules are 5,7,5!

One that I love which I can't find a picture of was of the civil war...

Many people were killed 

Men were freed from slavery

Abraham was shot

Can you believe that?

Our last type of poems were cinquains. This was a little tricky for those who couldn't remember what verbs and adjectives are! Still, they produced some great poems!

My personal favorite...

Our bulletin board which is a combo of all  types of poetry we learned...

Rectangles = acrostics

Pictures= haikus

Circles =cinquains

I had so much fun with our poetry unit! I am working on making books for them for the haikus and cinquains. I can't wait to give it to them. They thanked me profusely for the first one and I know they'll love the other two.