Nonfiction Organizer Freebie, Christmas FREEBIES & Persuasive Writing!

As usual, I am WAY behind on posting products and keeping up with the "blogging world"....so there are going to be many things included in this post....here's what I have for you:

Christmas Freebies

The first freebie is a Christmas-themed story map for your kids to use with the holiday books they read!  Click to download!

The next freebie is for teaching quotation marks.  The first page can be used in whole group, where students will use macaroni noodles for inserting the commas and quotation marks.  The second page can be used as a short assessment.  I got the fabulous idea of using elbow macaroni from Ciera Harris's Cwunch Qwotations activity. (Click to download for free!)

 

Christmas-Themed Persuasive Writing

My latest TpT product includes two persuasive writing pieces you can do with your students around Christmastime!  One is A Tree For Santa where the students will decorate a tree (printable included) and convince Santa to choose their tree for Christmas.  In the other activity, An Excellent Elf, the students have to come up with three convincing reasons why they would make a good elf.  (I adapted this to my second grade students and used it in correlation with the cute "Elf Applications" I've seen on TpT.)  Click on any image below to download it at my TpT store!

Nonfiction Graphic Organizer FREEBIE

Also, I created this organizer for my students to complete as they read nonfiction books.  You can click on it and download if for free at my TpT store!

Silence For Sandy Hook Elementary

Moose Munch (Winter Party Sign-Up)

To keep the mounds of food, sugar, and messes to a minimum at our Christmas Party last year, I sent home a "Moose Munch" sign-up sheet for parents to send in supplies for a fun trail mix.  I thought maybe someone else could use it!  Click on the images below to download the sign-up sheet and reminder slips.

Also....If you would like to try the paper-free route... you could try TimeToSignUp.com!  I used this for my Fall Party and it was SOO easy and hassle free!  I had all of my party supplies and volunteers accounted for within an hour of sending the link out to parents! 

Updates and an Angry "Verb" Freebie!

So, school was just cancelled because of... FOG!?  That's certainly a first for me, but I'm not complaining!  Now I actually have a moment to post.  :) 

Here are some things we've been up to:

#1. Spiders

We finished our Spider Reports!  The kids did an AWESOME job...definitely exceeded my expectations!  

 We used the adorable spider templates from Amy Lemons to add to our display.  :)

(Click HERE to download the materials needed for this project!)

#2. Presidents

The students wrote their presidential speeches and created posters to promote themselves as candidates for class president.

(Click HERE for the presidential speech planning page.)

#3. Johnny Appleseed

We read the Johnny Appleseed play by Pleasant DeSpain and did some fun apple activities to go along with it!  We made a display of Johnny Appleseed facts, compared and contrasted two versions of the story, and made homemade applesauce!  (Click HERE for the recipe and How-to-Writing template.)

#4. Turkeys

The kids disguised turkeys!  (I used the Turkey is Disguise product from Clutter Free Classroom.)  They then wrote persuasive pieces trying to talk me out of eating their feathered friends.  :)

Next week we will be focusing on verbs in language and writing.  We did the "Angry Verbs" display last year, but I found some great ideas HERE for incorporating writing, as well!  I combined the ideas I found to create a story planning template for my students to use.  I also created a "Angry Verbs" word bank and a story writing pages.  You can grab it for free below!

I'm off to enjoy my "Fog Day"!  Happy Thanksgiving!  :)

Spider Research, Plural Nouns Pack, and an Election Freebie

I found the COOLEST spider books at my local library last week!  Click HERE to check them out.  I've been trying to come up with a "research project" of some sort to do with my class and these books are going to work out perfectly.  I've assigned research partners and specific spiders to pairs of students.  I created a Spider Research Packet for them to use when recording information about their arachnids!  I also made a Glossary and Table of Contents Hunt to preteach the vocabulary and to give the class extra practice with nonfiction text features.  After they have gathered all of their information, they will write a report about their spider.  I plan on walking them through the editing/revising process after they've written their first draft.   I made a spider writing template for their final reports.  We will end the week with reporting our information to the class, as well as displaying our reports along with Amy Lemon's adorable spider craft!  I've uploaded my research packet to my TpT shop.  Click any of the images below to check it out!

I also finished up a packet for reinforcing plural nouns.  It includes plural rules posters, a SCOOT game and Scavenger Hunt, and an assessment.  A preview is below.  Click on any of the images to download the pack in the TpT store!

I've really been slacking in the freebie department lately, so....the first person to leave a comment will get both of these packets for free!  The next two people to comment can choose between one of the two to receive for free.  :)  Be sure to leave me you email so I can send them your way!

And last, but not least, we've been working on our Class President Speeches and campaign posters. Click on the image below to download the free template I created for the students' speech writing.

 

More ideas and photos from our election activities will be coming soon!

Monster Measuring

My latest little project was inspired by the fact that my measurement lesson for this week is going to land on Halloween!  So, I created a set of monster cards to hide around the room for the students to measure.  I tried to keep if from being too Halloween-y, that way it could be incorporated any time of the year.  Monsters are always fun, right!?  I'm excited to try it out!  I like any activity that gets the kids up an moving for a change.  :)  Click on the images below to check it out at my TpT store!

All of the clip art, frames, and backgrounds were found at http://www.mycutegraphics.com/!  Be sure to check it out!  All of the clip art is adorable and FREE!  :)

Halloween Writing Paper

Next Thursday, I'm sure my kids will be dying to tell me all about their Halloween fun!  Sounds like a good writing project!  :)  Click on the images below to grab the free writing paper I created for their Halloween stories.

If you are LOVING this {free} clipart as much as I am, check out Graphics by Ruth and Chantelle!

Monster Descriptive Writing {Freebie}

So, I haven't posted in FOR-E-VER!  

(Every time I emphasize that word...this is what I think of...)

If you think the same thing, then we probably had very similar childhoods.  :)

I still don't have much time to post (Parent-Teacher Conferences are this week...eesh), but I thought I would at least share a quick freebie!  Our class will be working on descriptive writing next week.  I'm going to read I Need My Monster to the class and then we will be writing our own monster descriptions and then drawing a detailed picture.  Click on the images below to download the Monster Writing freebie from Google Docs. 

Squints: It's about time Benny, my clothes are goin' outa style.
Yeah Yeah: They already are, Squints.
Squints: Shut up.

Freebies! Early Finisher Task Cards & Book Review Form

I usually write a list of activities on my whiteboard for students to work on when they finish early.  To save on time, I've created a set of task cards to hang up instead.  (I printed them on card stock and attached magnets to the back.)  Click on image below to download my set of task cards for FREE!  :)

The cards include the following activities:

* Boggle Words
* Boggle Math
* Silent Read
* Study Sight Words
* Buddy Read
* Math Games
* Reading Games
* Spelling 3x Each
* Complete Unfinished Work
* Read with Whisper Phones
* Free Write
* Spelling City
* AR Tests
* Class Website
* Write a Book Review
* Spelling Words on White Boards

In my TpT Shop, I'm offering a set of task cards that I will customize for your own classroom!  Click HERE to check it out!

One activity I included is writing a Book Review.  It's nothing fancy, but click on the picture below for the freebie download of the Book Review Form I created to use in my classroom.

Writing: Goal Poster Display and Rubric

Many ideas are circulating on Pinterest for Writing Goals displays.  Since this summer, I've been thinking about how I wanted to customize my goal chart for second grade.  I've finally come up with a finished product!  Here it is:

It can be assembled with small, metal binder rings for the students to clip clothespins along the sides  or it can be mounted to a magnetic surface in order to use magnets.  If you'd like to grab the printables for creating your own Writing Goals Chart, click HERE to visit my TpT shop!

Last year, I created a rubric to use when grading my students' writing.  It's been so much easier having a consistent way for grading writing and assigning point values to writing pieces!  I used examples from MANY different rubrics when designing this, so please let me know if I've not given credit where credit is due!  :)  Click HERE to grab this rubric on TpT!

 

Dino Data

There have been a lot of great ideas floating around out there for tracking student progress.  I loved the idea of having my students keep a Data Folder to record their weekly scores.  To try and make the whole process less "blah" for my kids, I made my folders dinosaur-themed!  A little clip art and word play sure goes a long way with youngsters!  :)  My kids have actually loved using their folders so far this year!  I created goal sheets to include in the folder, where the students and I both write in achievement goals for the quarter (i.e. earn an 85% or higher on reading tests, add more details to sentences when writing, earn five 100%'s in a row on spelling tests, etc.).  Keeping my students involved and aware of their grades/goals has proven to be very helpful and motivating for them!  If you are interested in my Dino Data packet, click on any of the images below to download it on TpT!