Halloween: Friend or Foe?

When I think about Halloween, I first get REALLY excited about pumpkins, mums, candy, and FINALLY getting to enjoy some cooler weather. With that said, this year I felt completely ripped off! I got a whopping 14 Trick-or-Treaters last night, the weather has been nothing shy of 80 degrees every day, my mums are pretty much dead corpses, and as far as the pumpkins are concerned...well, the pumpkins are ok...for now...

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Halloween in school.  I love reading Halloween themed books, talking about witches and scary creatures with the munchkins, and it of course kicks off the decorating season, but on the same token, it's the time of year where candy takes control over our little ones' brains!!!!  This year was no exception.  With Halloween being on a Thursday, it was quite the challenge Friday to get my friends up and motivated to learn for the entire day.  Leave it to construction paper and glue to save the day 45 minutes.

This week, we learned all about UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERS, while focusing on asking questions with the 5 Ws and 1 H.  Ok, understanding characters is something we will be constantly working on {traits}, but how hard is it to discuss the five Ws?!  At first you think, "Ok, we ask questions all the time while reading.  I don't need to spend five days on this..."  However, I quickly realized seven year olds have a hard time understanding WHAT questions are asking and the proper way to answer them. *This also come in handy while discussing word problems in math! Bigger bang for your buck I like to say :)

Here's a peak at some of the things we've done to keep our friends occupied during the candy trance:

Choose a Halloween costume for me to dress up as this year--I loved these!

They know how to get on my good side :)

We started off  the week reading some simple passages together as a class.  We discussed what each W meant and HOW to answer each type of question.  They totally loved Scardie {play on Goldie Locks}, and the fact she ate three bowls of eyeballs.  #yougottadowhatyougottado

Then we read one of my FAVORITE fall books, The Ugly Pumpkin!  This is actually more of a Thanksgiving book than Halloween, but I can never wait until November to read this one!  However, I can still keep up the cute little Squashes they are making until then. :)  

If you don't have this book in your classroom library, you are so missing out.  It's cute, sweet, and Ah-maze-ing for teaching character traits! 

After reading, we listed what the character was like on the outside and inside.  The way the character looked on the outside was very important to the story AND telling the different character traits the Ugly Pumpkin possessed.  *SPOILER ALERT: He's not a pumpkin...he's a SQUASH!

Click here to download

My sorry attempt at a squash...

Students used their Daily 5 Folders to help them list the trait that matched the characters words, actions, and thoughts.  Get it here!

The students brought in different types of squashes all week.  We had a nice little collection by Friday :)  When it comes to squashes, I say the uglier the better!

Students then chose a squash to transform themselves into!  They created a self portrait as THAT particular squash and listed character traits to describe THEM around it.  This was one of our Fun Friday Centers and are not quite finished yet.  I will say, the ones I saw are CRAZY cute! Can't wait to see and display our little Squash Patch!

Later in the Week we read/ watched, Room on the Broom here, another one of my favorites :) 

Students analyzed the characters to answer our 5Ws and one H questions, while listing character traits to describe the witch!  By the third day they were cake with choosing traits to describe a character's actions, thoughts, and words.

Day Four was a little more on their own.  We started with my cute little monster friend, Boo~Berry, and did some inferring with our question starters.  

We used WeGiveBooks.org to read, "Bump in the Night."  If you haven't had the joy of using this site yet, you are in for a real TREAT {no pun intended...}. It has thousands of book titles in the form of a BIG BOOK you can read from your smart, or white board with help from your students.  They can read the entire book to you!  It's great for increasing time in text!!

Of course, I had to let them make their OWN cutie patootie monster {while sneaking in some character traits in there of course}!  Let me just say, I LOVE seeing how creative seven year olds can get!  

To add the finishing touch on who, what, when, where, why, we learned what it meant to write a super, meaty, sandwich sentence using this template.  We first practiced together in our writing journals where students glued the template {we glued it on the back cover for easy reference}.  

We color coded our words as we wrote each part, which made it a little easier. 

Makes you wonder what's going through their little heads...

Next week, we're going to choose one of the sentence strips hanging around the room to illustrate!  I don't know about you, but my friends seem to think a stick figure will suffice as an illustration....nah...Mrs. P don't roll like that...

Ok, I have been wanting  dying to incorporate MUSTACHES into something, I don't know why, I just think they are ADORABLE {except on pretty ladies}.  As one of our Friday Centers, second graders made mustache questions we could ask ourselves while reading!  

They did this entire center unsupervised...I was across the room of course, but I did not even see this poster until it was done!  I was so impressed :)  

Horn Toot for the week goes out to my little nuggets for earning FIRST RUNNER UP in our school- wide poster contest for RED RIBBON WEEK!  Each student created a drug free themed app which we added to our giant paper iPad! They loved it. I loved it. Everybody Happy, Happy, Happy. 

Happy Christmas Thanksgiving Shopping!

May the Search be with You!

I don't know about you, but I love having my munchkins research--doesn't matter what, I just LOVE watching them discover new information and turn it into something spectacular, not to mention their doing it on their own!  They LOVE to be the know it alls experts, and more often than not, end up teaching ME something!  Oh boy do they just LOVE finding out that I "don't know something." {Them and B both!}

I don't know why, but NonFiction Text Features seem to be the "it" thing these days, yet they can be increasingly difficult for our little ones to identify, understand their purpose, and apply. To start us off, we discussed what seemed like millions several examples of text features, what they looked like, and their purpose.  We charted these using our very own nonfiction text features glossary using while reading this FABULOUS big book as a guide.  {Side note, if you don't have this book, you NEED to get it ASAP--so awesome for teaching nonfiction, text features, and how to read nonfiction books}.
We even completed a cute little cut and paste activity sheet that demonstrated what each text feature "looked" like.  We placed these in our reading notebooks for easy reference whenever we may need to go back and revisit them.  You can check it out here!

Defining Text Features in the form of ANOTHER text feature: the glossary :)  

We then went on a Nonfiction Scavenger Hunt using Abby Mill's printable and Scholastic Science Vocabulary Readers {2/group}.  Students were not to READ these books, which was puzzling for some of them to comprehend, but were to simply HUNT for the various text features present in their pieces of nonfiction {each group was given two readers in the event of one reader not having that certain text feature}.  They did an AH-MA-ZING job.  Even in our Daily 5 centers that followed, I could hear them naming the different text features during Read to Someone and Read to Self time {clouds part, cue angels singing}.

Abby Mill's Printable Freebie!

After students spent two days identifying, understanding, and defining text features, they were given their first research assignment!  Students {in groups of 2-4} were given an animal to research and present to the class.

First students visited the computer lab to take notes based on a given animal.  We used the National Geographic for Kids Website, and I must say it was perfect for my second graders.  It's filled with video clips, sound bites, maps, fun facts, and some very detailed photographs.  If you haven't used this yet, you NEED to...like tomorrow now....

Students used this handy dandy little note taking organizer to help guide their research.  This was seriously the BEST note taking guide I have ever used/ created!  When I saw how seamless it was working with my littles, I was kicking myself for not using it 6 years ago.  It was then when I began chanting, "Better late than never dummy darling."  They did so great and I love when they take charge of their own learning--Ten Finger Woo for them (shake ten fingers and shout "WOOOOOOOOOO")!

Get it here!

Students then met together in groups to read and highlight more information using hard copies of text {this was printed directly form the National Geographic Site, however parts of it may be a little overwhelming for your lower level readers.  I put these students in a group to research the same animal and retyped their information with simpler vocabulary and fewer words-took a hot minute, but it was well worth the headache to come later on and I'll be sure to file it in a safe and happy place for next year}. I also tried to level the animals as much as possible.  Those animals that included more reading and unknown vocabulary were given to my medium and higher level learners, while the animals that had less reading/ new vocabulary were given to my medium to lower level learners.  Groups were of mixed ability to help each other as needed.

Surprisingly enough, I hardly had to intervene during any of their researching--I did have to remind some of them to write only the IMPORTANT information/words, rather than complete sentences- {the look on their little faces when I uttered the words, "do not write in complete sentences," was priceless}. #didshejustsaywhatithinkshesaid? Yes friends, you heard me right. :)

 Having just come down from my Text Features high, I found a snazzy little way to combine my love of research and the ever present text features--a Nonfiction Text Features Research BOOK {very creative name, I know}!  The past week I have been helping my little ones in small group reading transform their research into an informative book, teaching about a certain type of insect or animal {hello science standards}!

On each groups' reading packet, I placed a post it with the names of students in that group, as well as how many times we've met by placing a CHECK mark to help me remember who I needed to meet with that day.  Sometimes it's just the simple things that can make your life SO much easier!

Our research books included...

-opening sentence (attention getters)

-diet

-body covering

-habitat {where & where}

-fun facts

Text Features added to our books were...

-bold words

-photographs

-captions

-diagrams

-table of contents
-glossary

We are putting the final touches on these bad boys and will hopefully get time to present a few each day next week.  My friends were so proud of their work and are so excited to get to publishing these into their {first} very own research book!  While students are presenting, I'm going to have the rest of my friends jot down a few facts from each groups' presentations.  I'm not sure if I'm going to have the students present whole group {together} or to set up little stations, in the form of a science fair, around the room and have an "expert" at each station.  Too many life altering decisions, I know! Either way, I know it's going to be a ton of fun and there will be a lot of learning going on on all parts.

If you'd like to use this packet with your little ones {aka save yourself a migraine}, check it out on my Teachers Pay Teachers store here!  Lemme know what you think :)  Happy Sunday!!

Lapbooks, Behavior, and PIE!

Where has the time gone?!  I feel like I have been hula hooping nonstop for the past three weeks--finally I have time to catch up on my thoughts and reflect on what's been going on these past few weeks...{actually, I just don't want to watch this horrific Zombie movie B is forcing me to watch...dead people walking around screaming...that actually sounds a lot like me on Monday morning trying to find my keys...}

Apples and Lapbooks

We have been just truckin' right along in our little home at the end of the hall.  This week was Johnny Appleseed's birthday and we completed our very first lapbook of the year!  There are a few things you need to know about me...

1. I love school and anything associated with school.  

2. I am obsessed with computers and other forms of technology.  

3. I'm game for anything cute and crafty.

The lapbook combines all of the above! I LOVE THEM!  If you've never done one, don't be scared.  That's the beauty of the lapbook, you can't mess it up!  You can add anything at all in them and it is such a great way for the students to publish all of the learning they've done throughout a unit.  Lapbooks can be as long or as short as you would like!  The hardest part {to me} is finding the file folders to do them.  I was smart this year and ordered some with my back to school money {woot-woot-way to think ahead for a change Mrs. Perchinsky}.

Here is a quick video on how to get started with folding your lapbook.  

Here is a look at some items we put into our first lapbook of the year!  The kids LOVED making them and kept asking when they were going to get to take them home!  Sorry kiddos, I'm keeping these beauties hanging up at school for awhile :)  That's the beauty of my power as a teacher-MUAHAHAH!

The final product :)  Aren't they presh?

Students started off by completing a KWL chart based on Johnny Appleseed.  This was cut out and placed on the inside flap of lapbook.  The square label was placed on the outside of the lapbook on the top corner. 

Gettin' crafty with our tissue paper apple trees {outside cover}

Working hard on their very first Webquest of the new school year

Students complete a Johnny Appleseed Webquest via our classroom webpage.  They answered questions and placed them on the inside {right side} of their lap book.

The students then created  a Wordle after completing their web quest.  They were able to use any of the information in their lapbook to help {this was our culminating activity for the unit}.  This was then placed on the inside center of the lapbook.  They were SO proud of what they were able to create and so was their teacher :)

We also watched a fun video via youtube about our birthday boy and concentrated on character traits we could use to describe Johnny based on his actions.  We had some help from the list of traits found in our Daily 5 folders.  This was then placed on the back of the our books.

Glorious little sight.

We loved learning about Johnny Appleseed? Have you used lapbooks in your classroom? I'd love to hear/ see what your little ones have created!


Behavior Anyone???

By now we've all gotten to know our students pretty well.  We know their strengths, weaknesses, who can and can't work with who, and what they enjoy most about school.  I'm sure you've also been able to figure out who needs a little extra TLC when it comes to classroom behavior {I know we all have a room FULL of perfect little angels, but this is just incase someone else you know needs some assistance in this area ;) }.  Anywho, are you tired of moving clips and reminding the same students over and over and over again about the same things every day?  Sometimes moving clips and pulling cards can only do SO much.  

I've started a Positive Classroom Behavior Punch Card with one of my little ones for about 3 weeks now and it has been working WONDERS for him! I've developed this card to help promote students in a positive way.  Each time he is on task, participates, follows directions, and answers questions during class time, he earns a punch (one punch for each task done well/correctly).  The beauty of this is, it's hardly any extra work for you to keep up with!  My little one keeps it right on his desk every day so it's easy access for me to issue punches to him {interesting how THIS doesn't get lost like homework does...}
When he fills up his card he redeems the reward HE chose.  We then repeat the process again! I keep record of when the punch card was started, when it was completed, goals for the student, and the reward chosen.  This will certainly come in handy for documentation purposes for parent teacher conferences, Student Support Meetings, 504 Plans, etc.  If you feel like this is something you might be interested in starting with some of your little ones, check it out here!  I have also included some helpful teacher documents and a parent letter explaining the purpose of the punch card and how it will help their child stay positive at school each day!  It's amazing how it's sometimes the little things in life that can make the biggest differences!

Get your copy here!

Please Pass the P.I.E.

I don't know why, but one of my favorite skills to teach is Author's Purpose!  I feel like there is so much to do with it and it's really important to help students with comprehension.  I may be a little naive, but I'm pretty sure my rug-rats loved learning about it as much as I loved teaching it!  One little tip I always have up my sleeve are my Detective Case Files.  I don't know why, but if you put the words, "TOP SECRET," on something and tell them it's MYSTERIOUS, they will be TOTALLY engrossed in whatever it is you want them to do!  I LOVE IT-but SHHHHHH-don't tell them I told you my secret.

We completed our first case files of the year and it couldn't have gone any better {not to mention my new assistant principal was observing this lesson and loved every second of it--yes, I'm tooting my own horn for a second....TOOT! Ok, done...}  Here's the lowdown.

1. Read book, "The Secret Knowledge of Grown Up" to students.  This book is FANTASTIC for modeling how an author can start out with one purpose in mind and totally change it to be another!  That's the beauty of writing--you can do whatever you want!!  If you haven't read this book, YOU NEED TO!  It is so much fun and you will use it for SOOOO many different lessons/ skills! I've used it for 6 years in a row and I'm still not tired of it.  It's so fun!  He starts out telling you about different rules grown ups have for kids and WHY they make you follow that rule.  Only then, he transforms the purpose and tells you the REAL reason your parents want you to follow that rule.  

Example: Rule #45-Don't chew your fingernails.  

Grown Up Reason: It looks terrible on your fingers.

Real Reason: If you do, the broken fingernails you leave behind will grow into real fingers!!!!!

Get it here

As soon as you read the "Real Reason," your kiddos will freak out and want to hear more!  What more could you want?!

Anyway, back to business...

2. Assemble case file with leveled Author's Purpose Passages

3. Pair students up by ability level to coincide with leveled passages.

The passages were placed in plastic zip lock bags to act as true "evidence"--snazzy, huh?

4. Give them a magnifying glass and tell them to CRACK THE CODE located in their very own case file.

Student sample:

Aren't they just the cutest little detectives you've ever seen?!

**Note: While I various books & stories to them this week, we charted the author's purpose of each book and the evidence that told us so {ie: Sentences in the book that proved that purpose}.  The students then were asked to do the same thing on their own towards the end of the week with these fabulous case files.  They were already used to the routine so no reteaching or new directions were given.  If only it could be that easy all the time!  After students were finished determining the AP, they completed a special Detective Sheet I placed in their case files just for them.  These were also leveled based on ability level and personal interest.  Of course, I had to slap some Duck Dynasty clip art on several of these. My day wouldn't be complete without at least one Duck Commander reference...

The kids had so much fun and they really were thinking on a higher level.  If you'd like to see what other fabulousness we've done with author's purpose.  Check out my 39 page unit here.  It will certainly keep your littles ones entertained...and informed...with hardly any persuading needed :)

Get yours here!

On a cloud 9 note, my entire class threw a SURPRISE PARTY for little ol' me a few weeks ago.  They were planning it for two weeks and it was just the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.  It was so much fun and touched my heart in ways they will never understand.  It's days like these that you are so thankful this is what you get to do everyday. It was truly magical and a wonderful reminder of this is what I was meant to do in my life.  I only hope I can return the favor for them, too.

Have a wonderful week everyone!  FALL IS HERE!!