Convention Focus Sticks & Day Three of A Week of Chillin' Giveaways!

Thinking back to a post some time ago that I never followed up on--Traits Tuesday: Anything Goes! I shared an idea I found on Make, Take, Teach--focus sticks for writing. I decided to make focus sticks for editing conventions.  Each example/icon on the stick represents something students are responsible for editing in their writing. 

The first is spelling--represented on the stick by a sentence with a misspelled word circled. My students circle words at any time during the writing process that they know, or are not sure, are spelled correctly.  These words are then revisited when editing their writing.

The second is punctuation--represented on the stick by a yellow box with . ? ! , ' .  This is a reminder for students to check end punctuation, the use of commas in lists, and the correct use of an apostrophe in contractions and possessives. 

The third is capitalization--represented on the stick by a sentence with letters crossed out and capitalized. This reminds students to check their writing for capitalization at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns.

The fourth is grammar/readability--represented by an ear icon. I always remind students to reread their writing and listen to how it sounds and ask themselves if their writing make good sense. 

The above areas of conventions are those students are used to editing in their writing.  The focus sticks will be a great visual to guide students as they edit/assess their writing in the area of conventions. 

Please feel free to download the strip and label I designed.  I simply glued a large googley eye at the end of colored craft sticks (fat ones). I printed, laminated, and glued the strips on sticks with a hot glue gun for extended use. I hope you find these useful or are inspired to create focus sticks tailored to your students' needs.  

Thanks for stopping back for Day Three of A Week of Chillin' Giveaways!

Today's Giveaway:

Winter Fest Place Value Game

 To learn more, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Enter to win one of two copies of Winter Fest Place Value Game.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Coming to You VERY Soon from the Land of Cold and Snow--BRR!

Well, we have not had as much snow and cold as we have been hearing about in the northeast--BUT we do have some frigid temps and flurries heading our way VERY soon... 

In keeping with the fine forecast, I figured it would be a perfect time to share a few chill items!

Winter Opinion Writing

WOW! I was surprised at the number of kids in my class who LOVE winter!  The kids created opinion essays about winter--and they create snow friend glyphs to house their writing.  They love stopping to reread their classmates writings when lining up after restroom breaks. I resized and adapted this wonderful Snowmen At Night Glyph create by The Glyph Girls on TpT.  We will be graphing with our glyphs when we return from winter break.  Looking forward to it!

Ginger Kids Mental Math

I put together some mental math materials for my kids before break. They provided for some rigor AND fun.  We will be reviewing this mental math addition strategy when we return from break, and we will move on to using the open number line to add and subtract with greater numbers.  

We will review with Snow Friends Mental Math, a new product available in my TpT store...

 

Nonfiction Snowman Glyph

Can't wait to provide this at-home nonfiction snowman glyph project for the kids in January.  This will be the third year our second graders will be doing this project.  Nonfiction text features and student interests are the focus. It comes complete with step-by-step directions and an assessment rubric. Kids love this frigid friend!

 

Stop back tomorrow to learn about your chance to win a chillin' winter teaching resource each day next week!

Until then...

All the best--

The Potato Chip Champ -- A Champion in More Ways Than One!

Just read a post over at Digital: Divide & Conquer yesterday, and I loved how Matt used the work LINKTACULAR when he was linking up with several bloggers! So I will use his wonderful term and call today's post linktacular as well...

Linking up with Head Over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student Motivation Saturday, Collaboration Cuties for Must Read Mentor Texts, Principal's Principles for Motivation Monday and First Grade Buddies for Motivate Me Monday...

Here goes... This is a CHAMPION story in more ways than one!

At the beginning of September, Tara at 4th Grade Frolics shared a wonderful text she was using with her fourth graders--The Potato Chip Champ by Maria Dismondy.  I was immediately taken with the story and asked her if it would be appropriate for second graders.  Indeed, it was!  I hopped on amazon.com and ordered several copies so I could share it with my students...

The last couple of years, I have used A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon for a dual purpose--to teach students about character traits and as a character ed lesson about how important it is to be yourself and to like a person for who he/she is.

This all changed when I discovered The Potato Chip Champ by Marie Dismondy, a story of kindness and a perfect text for learning about character traits.  I read the text aloud to students (more than once), and then some students reread the story in smaller groups.  Let me say that the responses from students were heartfelt.  Many thoughtful comments were made throughout the read aloud and afterward.  When asked to share a lesson/moral that the author was teaching us, we heard--kindness rules all, it's about who you are, etc.

Tara at 4th Grade Frolics also shared Maria Dismondy's website in her post, so I went over and checked it out.  I found a wonderful unit created by Runde's Room to accompany the story.  I especially liked the potato chip bag activity that included a bag template and questions about the story printed on potato chips.  My kids LOVED this!  Not to mention, their responses to the questions were spot on! 

Students also generated a HUGE list of character traits that could be used to describe both characters, and they had to give evidence to back up their inferences before we would add a trait to the list.  Finally, students paired up, chose a character (Walter or Champ), chose four character traits to best describe the character, and came up with a reason to support each trait.  This was done in the form of a character web. Download a copy of the character web template here ! Template is for legal sized paper and frames clipart courtesy of KPM Doodles.

I cannot say enough how this story MOTIVATED my students. At times, I have overheard students talking about the story, now almost two weeks after reading it the first time.  When parent visitors came, the story was one of the first things they shared--in detail along with the lesson.  I have heard from many, "I LOVE that story!"  Even more importantly, I believe the story has motivated my students to show the kind of kindness that Walter showed in the story.  I think it is truly rare when one story is adored by all and creates such an excitement for reading... 

Looking for a story that will motivate your students--I believe this one will!

Well, it did not stop there! Champ is a lover of potato chips, and so is my class.  When I brought the bag of question chips out, many asked if they were real chips!  Regretfully, I had to answer with a "No" that was followed by a resounding "AAW." The weekend after reading the story, I was talking to my husband about it and decided to pick up some chips at Walmart during our Saturday errands.  It was an easy math connection--a potato chip taste test!

As you can imagine, the kids were PUMPED!  They tasted like real champs! We surveyed, collected data, and created a graph.  I will also post these templates for you to download when I return to school on Monday...

 

Wow! What a fabulous time had by ALL!  You MUST pick up this book, if you haven't already.  It has made an entrance into my top ten of all time. Thanks to Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for sharing, and a HUGE thank you goes out to Marie Dismondy!

Fly on over to these wonderful blogs to read more! Monday's linkups will be active tomorrow...

 

Smiles for a wonderful week!

Throwback Thursday (with some FREEBIES) & Booktalk Thursday

Linking up with Cara at First Grade Parade for Throwback Thursday as well as Andrea at Reading Toward the Stars for Booktalk Thursday...

Throwback Thursday

First, I want to share TWO throwbacks related to math.  The reason I am sharing both is because I know so many of you are preparing for the coming year, and these are two things you might want to prep. These two math tools also go hand in hand...  One post comes from August 2, 2012 and the other from September 2, 2012.  For us, Cara's throwback linky idea is great because it allows us to share ideas from when we were not quite "active" with our blogging--a time when we had very few followers.  Hope you find both of these throwbacks useful. Each comes with a freebie download!

*****Originally Posted August 2, 2012*****

Place Value Strips & Arrows: Math Tool #1 to Support the Common Core -- FREEBIE!

If you have not used place value strips or arrows, I highly recommend them! I have used place value strips in past years with my second and fifth graders, and I was introduced to the arrows in a recent workshop.  Place value strips and arrows help students see the value of digits within numbers.  Numbers can be composed by stacking the arrows, and numbers can be decomposed to reveal the value of each digit. They can also be used when learning to compare and order numbers. The possibilities are many! Can you see the numbers in expanded form?

Below is a larger version of the strips and arrows that can be used for teacher demonstration.

Here's the best part...

I recently made teacher demonstration and student-sized place value arrows, and I have listed them for FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Download, print, laminate, cut, and bag. Viola! 

*****Originally Posted September 2, 2012*****

Place Value Disks: Math Tool #3 to Support the Common Core -- FREEBIE!

What are place value disks? Place value disks are a tool that students can use to represent numbers and much more!  They are intended to be used when students have a sound understanding of the value of each disk.  Unlike base ten tools, the value is not visible in units.  Although, place value disks can be used when working with numbers to the millions.  Just visit Teachers Pay Teachers to download place value disks to one thousand.  Included in this freebie are printable place value disks, directions for making foam disks (like those sold on the market today), and SmartBoard place value disks.  My last year's second graders (and my fifth graders in previous years) benefited greatly from using this math tool which helped them visualize the value of the digits within numbers and "see" operations.

Strengthen the connection between concrete and number representations when used along with place value arrows. Stop back next Sunday to download Math Tool #4 for the Common Core -- FREEBIE!

Booktalk Thursday

The book I would like to share is also related to a previous post.  It is a book that not many people I know have heard of, but it is a wonderful story for kids.  Click on the following two links to learn about Agate by Joy Morgan Dey, a book that I discovered while vacationing last summer... 

Picture Book Discovery!

Picture Book Discovery Update

Thanks so much to Cara and Andrea for the opportunity to link up! Please visit First Grade Parade and Reading Toward the Stars to learn more...

Thanks for flying by!

First Friday Flashback & a Birthday GIVEAWAY!

This is the first time I am linking up with Teaching Maddeness for a Friday Flashback!  I just have a couple of great things to share from this week...

First, about a month ago, when I was looking through old files for something else, I came upon an oldie-but-goodie measurement activity that had been misfiled.  It was a measurement activity from AIMS Education Foundation (dated 1986) that I used AGES ago when I was student teaching.  How could I have forgotten about this one? Easy--out of site, out of mind! Anyway, I immediately said to myself, This is perfect for my second graders!  As I was looking through the activity, I noticed a note that I had made that read, "adapted for inches".  Well, where was the adaptation I did? Nowhere to be found!  SO I decided to get to work...  Halfway through my work, I thought to myself, I wonder if AIMS Education still has this activity?  SO I searched for it on the internet, and there it was! It was still designed for use with centimeters, so I continued my work.  Although, I still purchase the updated version from their website for $2 (does not include the class graph as in the original version).  Please email me if you are interested in my adapted version using inches.

The activity?

Are You a Square?

The gist: Students measure their height and arms span and compare the measurements to determine if they are a square (height=arm span), tall rectangle (height > arms span), or wide rectangle (arm span > height).  Then each student graphs his or her individual results.  Finally, a class graph is made and evaluated.

I had students work as partners.  To make it possible for students to yield more accurate measurements, I asked one student to lay on the floor while the other marked his/her height/arms span on the floor using a dry erase marker.  Then pairs worked together to measure on the flat surface.  This worked well!

Students really enjoyed this activity because they got to measure THEMSELVES and learned something about themselves.  Students were also amazed to find out that so many kids were tall rectangles.  AND the activity also meets Measurement and Data Common Core Standards for Mathematics.

Secondly, I wanted to share a fabulous find that my students got to begin using this week.  It's a word game called Word Winder. I was recently at a conference, and one of the vendors was the creator of this game, David L. Hoyt.  I immediately saw the benefit of the game for kids of all ages.  I played it with my husband, and it is great fun!

The object of the game is to make a continuous path from one side of the game board to the other, winding words along the way.  The letters of each word must touch in sequence, but can go in numerous directions.  

I introduced the game to students a week or so ago, and they got to begin playing this week. Benefiits of the game:

• automatically differentiating, as students make words within their capability--some make shorter words and others longer
• encourages strategy as students can block one another and force the other player to continue his/her path in a different direction
• one game is never exactly the same as another as the 16 game board pieces are two-sided and can be arranged in many ways
• provides an unpredictable word work activity for students
• it's FUN!

 There is also a book that is great to provide as a word work choice as well.

Last, since today is my birthday, I am posting the very first giveaway on our blog!  I did a previous post about a vocabulator/word builder that I made, and I would like to give one away!  You choose the words, I make it and ship it out to you!! It will be a star version like the one pictured in the post, and will contain multi-colored dyed rice.  It will look just like the one shown, but it will be customized for YOU!  This is my first time using Rafflecopter, so I hope this works!  Enter for your chance to win below...

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to fly on over to Teaching Maddeness to read about some fabulous Friday Flashbacks! Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Whales are how big???

Every year our grade level does an ocean unit, and every year we get to talk about whales.  One thing I have done for a long time is actually measure the lengths of six whales.  The students always love this lesson and it gives them a good idea on how long this great giant creatures actually are.  

One change I made this year is the tools we use to measure.  Up until this year I always had the kids use ruler to measure the whale lengths, and to measure a 100ft. blue whale length with a ruler can be a very daunting task for my kiddos.  But this year, with the implementation of Common Core, we used tools appropriate for measuring these lengths.  Two units I used to help get my students ready to use these measuring tools, were Amy Lemons' I Can Measure! unit, and Tracy Smith's Measuring Length unit.  

In science we learned about whales using a PowerPoint I had created, and then graphed the lengths of 6 specific whales: blue whale, orca whale, beluga whale, sperm whale, right whale, and humpback whale.

We used our school gym to measure the whale lengths because obviously our classroom was just a wee too tiny (like who has a gigantic classroom anyway:).  Students brought in tape measures from home because they felt these were the best tool to measure these great lengths.  I broke the kids up into 6 groups to measure 6 different whales. The used the information from their graphs to know how much length to measure.

I was proud when I saw this.  One of my groups discovered that their tape measure ended at 16 ft so they used a yard stick to continue measuring from that point on the tape measure!

After the kids measured the lengths, I then gave each groups different colored crepe paper to roll out the length measured.  That crepe paper represented the whale lengths.  I then hang the crepe paper in the hallway for all to see how long the whales are.  I always have this up for Open House every year and everyone loves to see how long these wondrous whales really are!