What I have been up to and a FREEBIE!! {By Laura}

Hello there sweet blog friends,

I know, I know, I deeply apologize for MIA. Life gets crazy sometimes! But here I am with a short post of what we have been doing plus a FREEBIE!
My school district is all about "Thinking Maps" and so am I!  We created this double bubble map of nonfiction and fiction text. I used paper plates and the contents came from the book "Reading with Meaning" by Debbie Miller.

I also decorated my door with a reading tree! Every time we read a book as a class, we write the title on  a leaf, an apple, or a bird! By the end of the year I expect it to be super full!! I only hope that the fire marshal is not the rain on my parade, Lol!

My Daily 5 block is also in full sail. This shows how I conference with a student who has context clues as her goal. She found some unknown words, wrote them down on sticky notes  {and the page number} and later I met with her to model and teach her the strategy.

 

I am particularly proud of the way my writers workshop is going. My students are performing up to my expectations and following the writing process, yeah!!! Remember...writing is not about the product but about the process. To better help my students, I created this lovely chart. Each circle has their name, and they move along the board according to where they are in the process!! I, however, took the time to explain and model the behaviors and expectations in each of the steps. If you see, I have my picture {and my fantastic assistant} next to the "editing" section. That's the step in which we meet with them and find a teaching point! They can later publish in a laptop {I am very blessed to be working in a school with lots of resources} or they can also publish in a separate sheet of paper using cool pens. ONLY after publishing they are allowed to illustrate because otherwise, they will spend their  time drawing.

 

However, some of  my sweet kiddos are having some trouble with coming up with ideas to write about! Dang it! Not everything is perfect y'all! So I decided to create a bunch of seasonal prompts. I print, cut, laminate, and glue into a clothespin. The clothespins with the prompts remain in the writing table. If a student is struggling to come up with ideas, I advice him/her to find a prompt and get started! The most important thing is to get them writing. This is how they look:

You can download the prompts from my TpT store! 

Click here for the English version!

Click here for the Spanish version!

Click here for the bilingual bundle!

Now the freebie!! How is this tree map for situations in which the teacher should be interrupted or not?! I don't want to say it is picture perfect down in room 208, but this certainly has helped my students understand that when I am tending to tattles and broken pencils, I am not teaching! 

 You can download the file by clicking on the link:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0KcHjZaKCWGT2lrQTYtWmloS0U/edit?usp=sharing

Enjoy and have a blessed week!

Laura
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