Hello Dear Friends,
It's been a while since I last posted. Life always gets so crazy and before you know it, weeks have gone by! I have to admit, despite the fact that it SNOWED last Friday, I think, and I stress the word THINK, that Spring has finally arrived! Regardless, the kiddies and I have decided that Spring has Sprung and we went allllllllll out! I made these little babies back in February and have been looking forward to making them with the kiddies ever since!
We had so much fun!
First, we read my credibly acclaimed story on the Smartboard. I don't tell the kiddies that I make the stories and constantly use the statement: "The author..." I love it! It's my little secret! I am faaaarrrrr from being an author, but the kiddies sure get a kick out of my stories.
I just love creating them because they are tailor-made for my themes and craftivities. I also like to add a little grammar lesson so I always create a mini focus to the story. This time, we were working on using the past tense in writing. Of course, I include task cards for various grammar activities, as well.
We read the stories on the SmartBoard and I like to keep it interactive by having the students come up and circle things. It could be as simple as circling all the capitals on the page to circling all the clues that help us understand that the story is in the past tense!
I even upload it to our class Ipads so that the students can refer back to it whenever they may need. It's great for students who are absent on the day of the read aloud and for those who need a little reminder.
They also love to go back and read our stories when they get time on the Ipad. :)
It's also a nice tool to have when introducing the story again for shared reading or reading response. I like to encourage my students to reread books and stories. I love how their previous exposure to the text gives them the confidence they need to read with more fluency, expression, and intonation. I use the shared reading and/or reading response portion of the activity to promote rereading, by doing so myself.
Nothing wrong with reading a good book again!
I love the shared reading activity because then I make my kiddies apply the grammar lesson themselves!
Take a look!
This is where MORE rereading comes into play AND this is where I get to see who grasped the grammar lesson during the whole class instruction. Loooove it! Oh, and the illustrating gives me a good idea of the comprehension too!
In the midst of all this learning, we write a story too! This whole process (i.e. read aloud, grammar, shared reading, and writer's workshop) takes up a few days.
Here is what our finished product looks like!
Oh, of course, I almost forgot! Our Rainy Day Anchor Chart!
Love filling these out with the kiddies!
This one was actually MADE by my students! They sure had fun with that!
Until next time...
