Snowy Day Writing Activity

             

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner She has also written Snowmen All Year.

Since we are in the middle of winter, I thought I would share a short create writing activity that you can do with your class.

I recently read to my students, Snowmen at Night. It is a neat book about snowmen that come alive at night and the adventures that they have. After the students llisten to the story, I give them a choice of various writing activities that they can do. I then have them share it with the class.

Here is an example of my activities:

TALK IT UP! Create a dialogue   between snowmen/ snowwomen about how to keep their late night fun a secret   from humans.	EXTRA, EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT! Create a news report. You can use your own   winter ideas or use the article heading:   Snowman seen running around town!	WHAT IF? Take your snowman on   a journey through the seasons! What if a snowman/   snowwoman was alive all year long? What would you have to teach him/ her   about since he/ she is only used to cold weather? What activities would he/   she love to partake in?
TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY! Create a debate between   a snowman and the sun or winter and summer. Give reasons why they don’t like the other.	SING A SONG! Create a song about   snow, cold, snowman, winter or anything related. You can write it to the tune of a Christmas   song, or take lyrics from a popular song and change them to fit your topic.	CONVINCE ME! Have a snowman/   snowwoman persuade a kid to help keep him/ her alive and not let him/ her   melt.
MY LIFE! Write a story from   the perspective of a snowman/ snowwoman. Tell us about the good and difficult times in the life of a snowman/snowwoman.	POETRY TIME! Brainstorm words   related to winter to create a poem. Some types of poems you may want to   choose are: free verse, two   voice, This is Just to Say, Thirteen Ways of Looking At a Blackbird, limerick   etc..	YOUR CHOICE If   you want to take a topic from a square and pick a different genre than   listed you may. If  you have another idea, see the teacher for approval.

30 Book Challenge Update

I have had even more questions in regard to the 30 book challenge that we have been doing all year long. I started the year with giving the students who read 10books a sticker, they put their name on the sign sheet that I made and they got candy. I struggled to find a good “prize” for when they hit 20 books and I knew that when they reached 30 books that we were going to have a celebration for the kids at the end of the year. As the year progressed, I realized that my kids didn’t care about prizes or rewards- the reward was that they were proud to say that they have read X number of books. So, I actually don’t give out candy anymore (they forgot, and so did I. Plus I didn’t love giving out candy since our kids have way too much junk in their diets anyway). When they have reached a 10 book increment milestone, they get a sticker that I make and they sign their name on the sign sheet that I made.

Below are pictures of the stickers and the papers that they sign when they reach 10-20 and 30 books.

I made stickers (I just ordered circle stickers and created a sticker for every ten books that they read with Print Shop):

Here are the sheets they sign. I just used large poster post it paper:

Hope this answers all your questions!

Poetry & Art

Here is a neat idea to collaborate poetry and art.Traveling Stanzas  is a really neat project that the Kent State University design team and some local schools collaborated on. Students wrote poems and then sent them to the Kent State graphic art students. The Kent State students then took the poem, interpreted it using a variety of color, graphics and images to represent the poem.

The poems are great examples that I use when we mine for gold, but the art really brings out the poem. I am collaborating with our art teacher and our writing groups and writing poems, and her art students will interpret and design the piece. If you don’t have an art teacher, or don’t want to take on such a big project, start small and have the kids illustrate their own, or illustrate another classmates.

I am really excited to see how this turns out! Check out Traveling Stanzas to see the poems, art work and even purchase cards if you are interested.

This is one of my favorite poems:

Shake Things Up In Discussion!

I have a new strategy to shake things up during literature circle time, or any time students are discussing. I call them Discussion Flip books, but I am sure there are many names out there for them. I wrote 6 open ended questions that I wanted my students to talk about then made a box- table in Word and typed one question in each box. I then printed and cut each square and arranged the questions in the order that I wanted students to discuss them. I then stapled each discussion flip book together.

(Below is a really ugly picture of whatmy discussion flip books look like. I only had to make 7 since I have 7 discussion groups, so it didn’t take long!)

I told the students that they were to look at the first question and talk about it. When they were finished with that question, they flipped the paper over to reveal the next question. I like doing it this way because the students don’t see just a list of questions in front of them. They are able to focus on the one questions they are talking about without being overwhelmed with the rest of the questions. I also had my students use the paperclip note cards to make sure that everyone had a chance to speak- they always like this! . Click here to see my post about paperclip note cards.

What Teachers Make

Since it is Winter Break for many teachers (or will be soon for some) I thought that all the hard working teachers out there would appreciate  reading the poem below. It makes you remember why we spend all those hours planning lessons, worrying about the well being of our kids, working hard to get them to succeed, and having the lesson you thought would be the best ever- flop! Scroll down for the video

Here’s to all the teachers out there…. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

A poem by: Taylor Mali

The dinner guests were sitting around the table
discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain
the problem with education. He argued:
“What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided
his best option in life was to become a teacher?”

He reminded the other dinner guests that it’s true
what they say about teachers: “Those who can…do.
Those who can’t … teach.”

To corroborate, he said to another guest: “You’re a
teacher, Susan,” he said. “Be honest. What do you
make?”

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness,
replied, “You want to know what I make?”

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they
could. I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal
of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the
student did not do his or her very best.”

“I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence.”

“I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home”

“You want to know what I make?”

“I make kids wonder.”

“I make them question.”

“I make them criticize.”

“I make them apologize and mean it.”

“I make them write.”

“I make them read, read, read.”

“I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely
beautiful, and definitely beautiful over and over and
over again, until they will never misspell either one
of those words again.”

“I make them show all their work in math and hide it
all on their final drafts in English.”

“I make them understand that if you have the brains,
then follow your heart…and if someone ever tries to
judge you by what you make, you pay them no
attention!”

“You want to know what I make?”

“I make a difference.”

“And you? What do you make?”

WOW~ Top Blog For Teachers Award!

WOW! I just got word that Read…Write…Talk has been featured on The Guide to Online Schools’ list of the Top Blogs for Teachers by Teachers! This is such a great honor  :)  There are some amazing blogs on these lists. Scroll down to Writing/ English Education list to see some other blogs that I feel honored to be mentioned with!

Poetry, Poetry, Poetry….

As we read poems throughout the year, I keep a copy of the poems in a folder titled- Poems we have read together. I find that is a good springboard for students to use for ideas for writing their own poems. I have the folder on the white board. I also am keeping a list of poetry ideas above the folder when we think of them throughout the day. Here is a picture of what it looks like so far:

Here is our brainstorming board after we read the poem, You Can’t Write a Poem about McDonalds (click here for previous post). I challenged the kids to come up with ideas of things to write in a poem titled- You Can’t Write a Poem about….

Some are silly 8th grade ideas- but this sparked their thoughts. I had them write their you can’t write a poem about poems in groups and share- they had fun with this!

You Can’t Write a Poem About…

On the second day of school I read with my students the poem, You Can’t Write a Poem About McDonald’s by Ronald Wallace (see the end of the post  for a copy of the poem).

I love using this poem because it shows students that poetry can be about many things and not just nature, love, rainbows or some of the stereotypical topics kids may think of.

I read the poem aloud with them and then give each group a copy to look at. I have them look for lines with sensory language, images, descriptions and voice expression. I have each group share their favorite lines with the class. We loved looking at the rich descriptions and could picture ourselves being at a fast food restaurant.

We then brainstormed other things that kids said we couldn’t write a poem about…. they came up with some good ideas- you can’t write a poem about:

a poem, graph paper, a pencil, nothing, pirates, Walmart

This would be a great challenge to kids to see if they could write a poem about some topics they brainstormed. It gives kids who have no idea what to write a poem about a topic!

I started a “Poems we Read Together” folder that I put on the board with a copy of each poem we look at as a class together. I think it may be a good place for kids to look back through to get writing ideas.

I also started a list on the board (you could do chart paper) where we list Poetry ideas. For the first idea I put-

You can’t write a poem about…

You Can’t Write a Poem about McDonald’s

Noon.  Hunger the only thing

singing in my belly.

I walk through the blossoming cherry trees

on the library mall,

past the young couples coupling,

by the crazy fanatic

screaming doom and salvation

at a sensation-hungry crowd,

to the Lake Street McDonald’s.

It is crowded, the lines long and sluggish.

I wait in the greasy air.

All around me people are eating—

the sizzle of conversation,

the salty odor of sweat,

the warm flesh pressing out of

hip huggers and halter tops.

When I finally reach the cash register,

the counter girl is crisp as a pickle,

her fingers thin as french fries,

her face brown as a bun.

Suddenly I understand cannibalism.

As I reach for her, she breaks into pieces

wrapped neat and packaged for take-out.

I’m thinking, how amazing it is

to live in this country, how easy

it is to be filled.

We leave together, her warm aroma

close at my side.

I walk back through the cherry trees

blossoming up into pies,

the young couples frying in

the hot, oily sun,

the crowd eating up the fanatic,

singing, my ear, eye and tongue

fat with the wonder

of this hungry world.

–Robert Wallace

Great Resource Books at a GREAT price!

It’s that time again- to get our minds back into school mode. I know I love to flip back through some great resource books to refresh myself and get new ideas for the year. I have a friend who is no longer a teacher and has some great resource books she would like to get rid of. All of these are in excellent condition (maybe read once. No markings or bent pages!).

If you would like any of the titles below at a great price, just email me at annhagedorn@gmail.com. You can pay through Pay Pal and I will pay for shipping.

Moving Forward with Literature Circles- Retails: $21.99 I will sell it for $14.00

Guided Reading: Making it Work. Retails $26.99  I will sell it for $18.00

The Teacher’s Guide to the Four Blocks. Retails $26.99 I will sell it for $18.00

Developing Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning. Retails for $33.95 I will sell it for $ 24.00

On Solid Ground: Strategies for Teaching Reading. It retails for $35.99. I will sell it for $30.00

Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites : 20 instructional strategies that engage the brian. Retails $30.95. I will sell it for $10.00

Punctuation Marks Can Be Fun!

I have read the adult book, Eat, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss and thought it was pretty interesting. Truss came out with three great pictures books to make teaching some punctuation marks fun!

Check out these books:

Twenty Odd Ducks- Why, every punctuation mark counts

Eats, Shoots and Leaves- why commas make a difference

The Girl’s Like Spaghetti why you can’t manage without apostrophes!

If you haven’t seen these books they make teaching punctuation marks, commas and apostrophes so much easier and it adds some fun to the lesson! I bought a half class set for my kids, so I have them partner up and read through the book,  I lead them as a class through the first few pages. I then let them figure out the punctuation rules. There is also a description in the back of the book to help the students understand the pages.

The books are set up with examples of how the meaning of a sentence can change when a punctuation mark is either included or excluded. When you open the pages up, one page has a sentence with a great picture of what that sentence means. The other page is the same sentence with a punctuation mark included (or taken out) and a picture to represent that meaning.

It makes it easy for kids to visually see why punctuation marks matter!

Here is an example page: