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Showing posts with label Close Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Close Reading. Show all posts

You Think it's Easy Being a Tooth Fairy? - Reading and Writing Unit!

Hey guys! I am so excited to show you a unit series that I've begun simply called, Reading and Writing for First Graders! Each month, I'll be introducing two read alouds to you with full blown reading and writing plans for the week, including 3 literacy stations! 

I just LOVE this book!!


You'll get full blown, visual lesson plans inside the unit to walk you through how to carry out this unit throughout the week. I kept our busy schedules in mind so pacing for the week was actually manageable!




Inside each unit, you will find a 5 day reading unit that focuses on a particular comprehension concept or skill. This unit, includes activities to help first graders identify who is telling the story. It's a tough concept for our friends to learn, but I've made it very attainable and engaging for the kids!


This unit includes fun matching activities and writing activities to work with identifying who is telling the story!




In each unit, you'll also find something I call, Quick Writes! These focus on general comprehension of the story. These are great discussion starters to use with the book. You can have the kids make their flaps at the beginning of the week, bring their reading journal to the rug for your mini-lesson and as you read the text, you ask them a question. Students can write the response under the flap and you can share! Short, simple and effective!!

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In each unit, you'll also find simple vocabulary activities. Much of the time, you'll find prompts that allow students to make real life connections with the vocabulary from the text they're reading. I think it's so important to teach the vocabulary from the text. 1-the kids gain a deeper understanding of the story. 2-the kids learn to use the words in context which is turn.... does exactly what we want it to do--EXPAND VOCABULARY!! 



Inside each unit, you'll also find a full blown writing unit. You can be as involved with it as you want! I've included everything you need to allow your students to flourish with their narratives. The book I chose for this unit, lends itself perfectly to a narrative about when the students lost their first tooth. 99.8% of firsties have lost a tooth and LOVE to tell their stories!


Here's a look at what the kids final writing would look like! Nice little craftivity and all!


Last, those literacy stations I told you about! Here they are!!
They are designed to allow students to complete independently!
They're included inside the unit so you don't have to go purchase stations to match the theme separately! I like to place 2 in my word work stations and I always use one for a guided reading activity for the week to review a skill!




If you're interested in seeing more of this unit, click here!










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Peek into my week(s)!

Yes, the title is plural because we are going to blast into the past (last week) and give you a glimpse of this week with my visual plans!

Last week my kids were all sorts of excited! We got to learn ALL about the sun! When I say ALL... I mean these kids wanting to know EVERYTHING! They were so intrigued with all the cool stuff that they learned. Let me tell you... it made this teacher super duper happy!!


We began the week with our schema! For the first time ever I broke students into groups and they talked about their own schema. We did not do it as a whole class (tear...they're growing up)! They discussed their schema about the sun and then we came to the rug and shared. Then, students were given booklet with general information about the sun. They read them together and discussed their new learning (another tear...)! :) A happy one!


We then came back and shared our new learning and I recorded it on our fancy dancy ancor chart! ;)
We referred to this all week during discussions and our writing!

In our All About the Sun unit we also broke into some close reading. I am not an expert on this by any means but I have been reading up on it and I am trying some of the strategies. The kids seemed to like it a lot!

I pulled these up on a flip chart on my interactive board to walk students through their close reading strategies. 

We then focused a lot on our new vocabulary! We had a vocabulary book where we kept track of our new words and we did a few extension activities!


Students created a flipbook to show their understanding of how the earth rotates throughout the day. They were facinated by this! One little guy even said, "WE CAN'T EVEN FEEL IT!!!" ha ha...you got it bud... but, that's a whole other concept! ;)


Towards the end of our unit we used everything we learned to complete an informational writing!


Then, Friday students learned how to write a persuasive letter while combining their knowledge of why we need the sun. We got a letter from the evil sun villian, "SUNVADOR!" Yes, I even said it in a deep scary voice ha ha! Then, darthvador (star wars?) was brought up.



This unit was literally one of my favorites all year! The kids responded so well and they were engaged all week long! I LOVED IT and so did they!

If you are interested in teaching your kids about the sun you can check out this unit here!



Alright, onward... Here are my plans for this week! Not going into them.. pictures will arrive someday! ;)



There is a freebie inside!! :)

Have a great week with your kiddos! I've only got 4 more weeks!! EEKK!











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