Guided Writing in the Early Grades

I have always taught in guided reading schools. Guided reading instruction was expected each and every day.  And to be honest, it was my favorite time of the day.  I would pull small groups of students back to a shared table.  The students were reading at approximately the same Fountas and Pinnell guided reading level. We would read, read, read, and read some more. I was proud that most of my students left my classes each year with the same joy in reading that I had.

Once a week though I liked to switch up my guided reading time and make it "guided writing" time.  The group membership would not be the same as the reading groups.  Students at approximately the same writing level would come back to my table on this day.  In first grade, there were students still working on forming their letters and sentence structure.  There were also students working on sentences and correct grammar and spelling.  The final group was the independent writers - those students that loved writing, were good at it, and could fill up a page with their own ideas very easily.

Each week, we would have had some sort of  whole class experience like a Norman Bridwell author study, or Pete the Cat read aloud, or an upcoming holiday.  Writing lessons would springboard off those shared experiences.  These are a sampling of the kinds of lessons I would do with my students.

** Click on each picture to go to the activity in TPT **

Focus:  Color Words

One week, for instance, we may have read Clifford books and watched the TV show or movie with the lovable big, red dog.  My guided writing lesson would focus on describing and color words. In this lesson, students choose a color other than red and describe their dog.

Here are the writing pages I would use for the three different levels:

Very often, the students' writing would go up in the hallway outside our room.  This particular resource has a giant dog poster that students can color and you can hang along with the writing samples.

Also along the lines of color words, the following writing project is perfect for the fall of the year.  I would read many, many fall themed books with the kiddos.  Among them "The Leaf Thief" by Alice Hemming, "Pete the Cat Falling for Autumn", "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf" by Lois Ehlert.  I am sure you have just as many autumn books as I do!

After reading these books, we would write our own stories about the colors of fall leaves and what kiddos like to do with them.  In our area in Nebraska, kiddos have lots of experience playing in leaves.  In other parts of the US, students may not have those experiences.  That's why reading those books is helpful.

Focus:  Weather Related

It seems like the weather has gotten more extreme.  The droughts more dry, the rains more drenching, the cold more frigid, the heat more intolerable.  This writing activity deals with the hot temps and the ways we find to stay cool.  

It includes three levels of writing paper, flashcards to introduce the words "cool" and "hot" which will be used in the writing.  And picture/word cards that students can sort under whether these activities are "outside" or "inside".

Also included are five large summer clipart pages for students to color.  You can display the writing and the clipart pages for a wonderful hallway display.

** Click on each picture to go to the activity in TPT **

Focus:  Thank you letters

My mama always taught me to write a thank you letter - for a gift from grandma or a special camping trip with a friend's family.  So, I guess I just naturally transferred that to my students.  We would write thank yous to our principal for the special treat, the lunch ladies for the extra cookies, a tour guide on our state capitol field trip. 

We used the following template over and over and over again for each of these instances.  Three templates are included along with teaching cards that describe each of the parts of a friendly letter.  Students would write the message and draw an illustration appropriate for the particular event.

Focus:  Descriptive Writing

The goal of descriptive writing is to use words and sentences that will paint a picture in the readers mind.  With my young writers, I would start with everyone doing this activity that describes the colors and shapes of the American Flag.  It includes three levels of writing pages along with teaching aids showing the colors and shapes.  There is also a coloring page of the flag to accompany the writing.  I would this activity as a hallway display either for Veterans Day, Flag Day, or any other patriotic celebration.

From this activity, we would transition to more individualized descriptive writing projects.  I would encourage students to draw a picture with all the details they could.  Then, I encouraged them to orally tell our small group the colors, shapes, what was going on in the picture.  Our next step would be to try and get those words down on paper.  This type of descriptive project could be used over and over throughout the year.  It's amazing to see their growth.

** Click on each picture to go to the activity in TPT **

Focus:  'How to' Writing using Transition Words

This 'How to' writing activity using directed drawing soon became my students' most requested writing activity.  They loved drawing the picture step by step and then writing each step on their paper.  There are so many YouTube videos and Pinterest pages that show super easy drawing activities that can be completed in four or five steps.  Just find your favorite and go!

My TPT activity has two such directed drawing stories.  The 4-step one is drawing a frog face.  The 5-step story is drawing a mouse head.  I generally started with the frog.  I would guide the students drawing the first stage.  After we drew it, we brainstormed what the sentence should be to describe what we did. (First, draw an oval.  First, draw a head.  First, draw an oval head.)  Whatever is most appropriate for their writing abilities.  The activity would carry on drawing and writing about each step.  Three different levels of writing pages are included as well as transition word flashcards for your independent writer and shape cards to spell the shapes used in the drawings.

Focus:  Shared Reading

After reading Pete the Cat's "I Love My White Shoes",  it was fun to do this writing activity in guided writing.  Students would draw their favorite shoes or shoes they wished they had.  Flashcards with the correct spelling of many kinds of footwear are included:

Focus:  Holiday

It's always fun to have a writing activity about an upcoming holiday.  The kiddos get excited about holidays and that encourages writing.  Again, I would hang their hard work in the hallway for a fast and up-to-date display.  This particular leveled writing activity is appropriate for Easter or anytime you are talking about eggs.  It includes the three leveled writing sheets, eggs to decorate for a lift-the-flap surprise, a large egg poster to assemble, and synonym sheets for the adjectives "big" and "small".  My focus in this guided writing session is choosing a synonym other than "big" or "small" that makes the writing more interesting:

** Click on each picture to go to the activity in TPT **

This is another fun one.....My Favorite Cereal. To introduce this writing project, I bring in those small sizes of cereal and let students sample them.   If they don't have a favorite cereal already, they can use one of these that they just tried. 

Then we meet in our guided writing groups and complete the following pages.  Students draw a picture of the cover of the cereal box and some of the cereal in a bowl.  Then they write how their cereal looks and tastes and whether or not they eat it with milk.  Just click the picture to go to the pages.

Focus:  Poetry

Periodically throughout the year, especially during poetry month, our guided writing would be a poem.   One of the least intimidating types of poetry for young writers is the acrostic poem.  Writers come up with words or phrases for a particular word such as the student's name, a season, an animal.  The word is written vertically and students picks words or phrases for each letter. Punctuation is not required.

This template is for an acrostic poem that spells out F-R-I-E-N-D.  Students come up with words or phrases that start with those letters.  As always, I have flashcards for you to present to the students in your small writing groups should they need some inspiration.

Another poetry writing template is for the cinquain poem.  A whole group lesson for demonstrating the writing of a cinquain is included.  Then, transitioning to the small group table, flashcards help students remember what each line should include.  There is a rough draft template for them to use when writing their sloppy copy and a final draft copy so they can rewrite it and illustrate it.  I loved using cinquain writing because it helped me tick off reviewing nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrases, and synonyms.

** Click on each picture to go to the activity in TPT **

Focus:  Free!

If you would like to check out one of these leveled sets with your guided reading groups, here is a free sample based on favorite ice cream.  It has been downloaded over 940 times!    All I ask is that if you and your kiddos enjoy this activity, you will leave me 5 star feedback and follow me to be the first to know when a new theme is uploaded.  Enjoy!!!

I have done many, many, many leveled writing lessons during my 10 years in first grade and I am working to get them all in sharable format.  So please, keep checking my Teachers Pay Teachers store Online with Teacher Judi and become a follower to be the first to know as new lessons are uploaded.

Thank you!

And happy writing!!

Fun Math Games! Making Ten and Ordering to Ten

Math Practice with Playing Cards

Fun games to play with actual playing cards or on a device

    This is just a quick post to explain a couple of card games that are fun for any age, but particularly great for young PreK and lower elementary students that are learning addition to ten.  Trust me, a few rounds of these engaging games and they will know their addition to ten and order of numbers to ten.

   Here is a quick video that shows how to play the making ten game with a real deck of cards in a math center or for an exciting learning game at home at the kitchen table.

 

   For the digital version, here is a link to my Boom Cards.  It has 21 slides.  Playing cards that are included are Ace - Ten.  The digital version does not use the face cards. The nice thing about the digital version is that it is self-checking.  It rewards the student when they get the correct combination and has them try again if they missed it.

   The second game is perfect for Pre-k to 1st grade kiddos.  Just grab the Ace through ten card of ONE suit.  Shuffle them up and your student will put them down in the correct order from Ace to ten.

Once they get the hang of that, you can add in the Ace through ten of the remaining three suits.  Challenge students to SORT the cards into their proper suits first (great added sorting activity!) and THEN put each suit in order Ace - ten.

   If you would like the convenience of playing a version of this math card game on a device, please check out my Boom Cards - Build a Pond Ordering Numbers to Ten:

   The great thing about these Boom Cards is that they are self checking.  Students will be rewarded with a "ding" when they are correct, and get a chance to fix it if they don't have it quite right.  These Boom Cards reward students with an additional pond sticker of an animal or plant on each page.  On the final slide, they get to use all the stickers they won to make a pond scene.  Kinda fun if you ask me!

   If you try these with your students or know of any other fun math games with playing cards, please leave a comment!

Top Test Taking Tips for Elementary Students

 

Top Test Taking Tips for Elementary Students

 

 

    

In my 4^th grade class, I taught all year long with that little nagging notion in the back of my head that at the end of the year, we will have to endure those standardized state tests.  But in a year’s time there is so much learning to be done and so many fun, appropriate ways to learn that we don’t really get down to outlining explicit test taking strategies until after the holidays. 

There are many effective test prep approaches but I have come up with the twelve tips that work best for my elementary students.  I have collected these tips in a PowerPoint (and now in Google Slides) here:

These are the tips included in the presentation and a brief explanation of each:

 

Tip #1 -  Read the title

It is not uncommon for a student to just begin reading the story without reading the title first.  Often, reading the title will give the reader their first clue as to the topic of the article or the main idea.   It will also be the catalyst to engage prior knowledge if the student recognizes the topic in the title.

 

Tip #2 – Scan the story

Before reading the story, students should look for how it is laid out.  Are there headings, bold words, illustrations, charts, tables, lists?  There can be good information here that readers can pass right by if they start reading the story first.

 

Tip #3 – Headings

If there are headings, they can help the reader know what the following section will be about.  They are also a great help when scanning the story for a particular answer.  The student doesn’t have to reread the whole article, just zero in on the section that may hold the answer.

 

Tip #4 – Bold Words

Often, in our standardized tests, there will be a single bold vocabulary word.  The test creators will more than likely ask a question about that word.  They will ask, “What does the word bold mean in paragraph 2?”  It is easier to locate a bold word when the student is scanning for the answer. 

 

Tip #5 – Illustrations

Most times, but not all, the article has an illustration or picture with a caption.  It is important not to ignore those.  There can be really helpful information in a caption or a picture that might help activate prior knowledge if the picture is of something the student is already knowledgeable about.

 

Tip #6 – Charts, tables, lists

Other things to look for are charts, tables, or lists.  Again, there is information the student may need to answer a question or they may need to complete an unfinished table with information.

 

Tip #7 – Read the questions before you read

Some students think this is a time waster and they just want to start reading.  It is so helpful to read the questions (not the answer choices) before reading.  If they have read a question and come across the answer as they read, they can highlight or underline that answer to go back quickly when it’s time to choose the correct answer.

 

Tip #8 – Read the story like it’s the most interesting thing you have read in a long time

This usually gets a laugh from the kiddos. But it’s true!  Attitude make a huge difference in doing your best on these tests.  When you introduce this tip, you can have some fun with it and get a laugh.  “Oh my gosh!  Mason  jars!  I’ve always wanted to know more about canning jars!” (in a very theatrical voice! haha!) By the way, I chose a rather boring topic because that seems to always be the case with the standardized tests – boring!

 

Tip #9 – Read the first question

The student should only read the question!  Then the student thinks about what the best answer could be before looking at the answer choices.

Tip #10 – Read the answer choices

Now the student reads the possible answers carefully and sees if their answer is listed. At this time, they can cross out any answers they KNOW are not correct.  Caution here:  I always have students that cross out the CORRECT answer because they did not read it carefully enough.

 

Tip #11 – Go back and scan the story

Now the students can go back into the story, look for their underlines or highlights or bold words just to verify that they have chosen the best answer.

 

Tip #12 – A word on vocabulary words

A vocabulary word question usually has four choices to substitute for the bold word.  “Which word would be best in place of the word bold in paragraph 2?”  I strongly suggest the student find that sentence, put EACH of the four answers into the sentence in place of the bold word to hear which one sounds best.

 

Bonus tip – If there is time, go back and reread the story and the questions and answers to make sure you have chosen correctly.

Often students will race through reading the article and answering the questions just to sit, reading their own book and wait for their classmates to finish.  I get it.  I’d rather read my novel than this boring nonfiction article but today we are taking a test and trying to do our very best.

 

Again, if you would like these tips to share with your class in an easy to project 14 page PowerPoint (or Google Slides), here is the link:

 

Included is also a printable checklist of the tips that students can use as they read.

Also included is the printable article on “The Mason Jar”.

And 11 printable multiple-choice questions to answer about the article.

If you have an additional test taking tip that you have found to be beneficial with your students, please leave a comment and share it!

 Adding the Doubles to 20

 

I have always found songs to be a great strategy for teaching math or ANY subject!  Learning songs work! I have used them in 1^st through 4^th grades!  They get stuck in the kiddos’ heads (and mine!)  and the more times they sing that song in their heads, the more practice they have mastering the topic.

 

Twenty years ago, I wrote a song for my first graders as they were learning to add their doubles.  This is a particularly fun math song using the familiar tune, ‘The Ants Go Marching’.  My first graders ADORED doing the actions that go with the song – particularly the serious face and refrain, “Doubles – No troubles!”

 

Let me demo the song and the actions for you with this short video.  The first part is the song. 

 The second part is an extension idea that really ramps up the learning.  The song is not sung in 1,2,3 order anymore but in random order of your mixed-up flashcards. This idea, with the mixed-up flashcards, can be a wonderful time filler for those 3-5 minutes you have to fill before lunch or before going home.

 

Feel free to use this doubles song and extension idea with your students!  I hope they love it as much as mine did!  Have them go home and teach it to their families!

 

If you like this fun math song and would like to have more materials to extend the learning, I have a product  in TPT with super cute, colorful ants to help you teach the song.  The first half of the download is a PowerPoint that helps you teach the song with colorful visuals.  For example, “1 + 1 is 2 you know, Hurrah! Hurrah!”

 

 The second half of the PowerPoint is a duplicate EXCEPT the sums have been omitted.  You still sing it the same way with your kiddos, just pause at the missing sum and they continue to sing and fill in the sum. For example,

“1 + 1 is  ___  you know, Hurrah! Hurrah!”

 

 Now available in Google Slides as well:

 

The file in TPT also includes a printable song lyrics sheet.

 

 

 

 

 A mini book featuring the adorable ants is also in the TPT file that the students can color, cut, and assemble.

 

 I also include the doubles flashcards.  I am sure you already have flashcards, but sometimes it's nice not to have to sort through your stack to find the right ones.  And, as was often my case, I was missing the 2 + 2 or the 9 + 9 card when I really needed them!

 

Also, if you are a member of Boom Learning, I have a set of Boom Cards that use the same cute and colorful ants to help students practice their double facts.  If you aren’t familiar with Boom Learning and Boom Cards, I recommend you check them out.  There are so many fun ways for kiddos to practice their learning with games! You can preview the ‘Adding the Doubles’ deck here:

 

 

 

Please leave me feedback with any questions about this activity or to tell me how it went!