Pronouns with Pizzazz!

I can't help it. I LOVE teaching parts of speech! There are so many fun and creative ways to add a little pizzazz so that your students don't become bored. I know the content can be a little dry, but it wont be if you make it FUN!

Students always seem to love art and hands on activities, so why not give these activities a try? They are shown here using pronouns, but they could easily be used for any part of speech. The first activity is called Poppin' Pronoun Profiles.

DIRECTIONS:

Why not try some poetry writing using pronouns? In the pictures below, Japansese tanka poetry is written using a specificed amount of required pronouns. Then backgrounds are designed for the poems using pictures torn from magazines, newspapers, etc.- no scissors! They look beautiful when finished and make a great bulletin board display!

At the end of a unit, students can create a Pronoun Picnic! They love making the three dimensional picnic food!

Are you looking for more creative pronoun activities? All of these activities plus MORE are featured on my Pronoun Picnic resource. Just click on the picture below to check it out!

Happy teaching, friends!

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It's so important to me each and every January to pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in my classroom. Yes, we have the day off each year in honor of him, but too many times, students dont stop to think about WHY we are honoring this great man.

There are some wonderful videos on YouTube that I show to my class every year. This one is one of my favorites. The cartoon drawings are so cute and the narration is wonderful (if a little fast). My students always enjoy it! They take notes on important facts they learn about him in this video. I often play it a few times because of the quick narration.

I often follow this video up with a puzzle activity that enables my students to learn even more about Dr. King. You can click on the picture below to be taken directly to this puzzle in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Another of my favorite videos features a cartoon version of Dr. King reciting his "I Have a Dream" speech. 

I often have my students identify what their own dreams are for the world. Students write about such topics as animal rights, pollution, equality, peace, environmental issues, etc. It allows them to see that even they, as middle school students, can have dreams about which they CAN do something.

I like to provide my students with an opportunity to read some of this great man's words. We read quotations by Dr. King and students reflect on their meanings for the world today. This makes a great small group or center activity as well and encourages deep thinking and excellent discussion. Click on the picture below to see this item in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Happy January, friends!

"Less Mess" Interactive Notebooks

I know that interactive notebooks are all the rage now, and many teachers absolutely love them. I wanted to try them, and I did. We formed a strange relationship- these interactive notebooks and me.

For a few years now, I guess I have had what you might call a “love hate” relationship with interactive notebooks. I LOVE the idea and concept of them. I love the way they engage students and provide opportunities for inspired and engaging note taking. I love the way they allow students to use what they learn in class and turn it into something creative. I love how they provide students with a useful studying tool to use all year.

However, the hate part comes in due to all of the cutting and pasting. I guess "hate" is too strong a word, but I know that when you don’t have students in your classroom all day and only see them for limited periods of time, it's sometimes difficult to spend a good portion of the period cutting and pasting. I am only speaking about what works/doesn't work for me. I have great admiration for teachers who make this work on a daily basis in a 38 or 40 minute period. However, I realized this just might not work for everyone...or perhaps not every day. This inspired me to create a new line of interactive notebooks.

My “Less Mess” Interactive Notebook Activities allow for two simple steps: cut around the border and glue it in. That’s it! However, you can choose to use these pages in a variety of ways. Also, if you are a big fan of the “folds and flaps” that usually come with interactive notebooks, this resource can be a nice supplement to add to what you already have or to use on days when you may have less time.

I know that we don’t always have the supplies we need and often have to rely on whatever we have. The format of my pages gives you the freedom to pick and choose whatever method works best for you in your classroom. They work in spiral notebooks, composition books, and three hole binders. They will even work as individual activity pages if you are just not ready (or don't want) to make the leap to interactive notebooks in your classroom!

The line now has many different resources for all of your teaching needs. Click on the pictures below to see just some of the resources in my shop, or use the link in the update below to see the FULL LINE of "Less Mess" Interactive Notebook Activities.

UPDATE: The line has now expanded to include NONFICTION as well as PARTS OF SPEECH (nouns, pronouns, and verbs). It also includes MAP SKILLS, ARCHAEOLOGY and THE STONE AGE, and ANCIENT EGYPT as well! I hope you'll stop by and check it out by clicking HERE.

 As always, happy teaching, friends!

FREEBIE FUN!

Head on over to All Things Upper Elementary to read my post today in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week. If you leave a comment and share your email, you are in the running to receive my May & June Writing Prompts for FREE! There are still two copies available, so head on over if you have a chance! Happy Wednesday!

Color Me Poetic

I have done color poetry with my students for many, many years. I have to say that these poems are always some of the best that my students write during the year. They are filled with sensory description and are just so much fun to read.

I always begin with the book Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill. I read a poem or two from the book to start the creative juices flowing. I read more after we are done writing our poems, but I just want to give my students a small taste of color poetry before they begin their own poems.

I start by having my students choose a color from a list provided by me. I give them a list because sometimes they only think of the most obvious colors, but with the list, they may choose more unusual colors such as gold, turquoise, or lime green.

We then make sense charts. We list all five senses with space to write under each sense. Each student thinks about his/her chosen color and writes things that come to mind under each sense. What does green taste like? What does gold sound like? It takes them a little while to get the hang of it, but when they do, their thoughts flood the paper. They have so much fun with it!

Students write rough drafts in which we break the color down into stanzas representing the five senses. 

When they finish, we have a magazine hunt for the color in order to make a collage as decoration on our good copies. You may remember I am a collage addict! They then write or type their good copies with the collage decoration around the border. The result is always a work of art!

Happy teaching, friends!

A Memory Jar

I saw this idea online to write good things that happen in your life on little strips of paper and put them in a  jar. Then on New Year's Eve, you open the jar and review all the wonderful things that happened that year. I love this idea!

I think it could easily be adapted for the classroom. Funny, happy, or special memories could be placed in the jar and read aloud on the last days of school. I think I am going to give the idea a try this year.

Welcome Tags Freebie!

I have a teacher friend who positively breaks out in hives at the mere thought of anything crafty. She has millions of talents, but crafting is not one of them. She enlisted my help to make some little welcome bags for her students. While doing this, I made up some cute welcome tags for them and decided to post them as a freebie at my TpT store. Go have a look! Enjoy!

Clip art on the tags is courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles Freebie License ##TPT60736.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Classroom-Welcome-Tags