K-3 Book Reviews, Puppets, Colouring, Clip Art
Barbara 
Do you do Readers Theatre? Or as we like to call it in our class, Poetry Theatre. It’s not as fancy as it sounds but it’s always a huge hit in my class. I give my kids a poem once a week, all year long. We read it every day, talk about blends, sight words, etc. We read it in … Read more
One of my sweet students gave me a gift today that I just HAD to share with you. Normally I wouldn’t do that … but I know that lots of you are moms of young children. I thought this might come in handy next year when you’re trying to think of a simple but FABULOUS gift for your child’s teacher. … Read more
With two teaching days left before our summer holidays begin, we’ve been doing lots of fun ocean stuff. I got both these ideas off pinterest. The first is a shark. Yes, I have to tell you, just in case you can’t tell. This was super easy to make and the kids LOVED it. What’s with boys and sharks anyhow? … Read more
Years ago I went to a district workshop where a teacher, who had just finished her masters, was sharing her writing idea called “Small Pod Sharing”. This is how it works: I give groups of two or three children half a piece of chart paper. My only instructions are to draw and write on the paper. Sometimes I give them … Read more
Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold. — Joseph Chilton Pearce With only a few more days of school left, I’ve been looking for some fun, relaxing writing ideas. My latest brain wave is called “Play ‘n Write”. It’s so simple that it makes me wonder why I never thought of it before. We’ve been … Read more
As we wrap up our ocean unit (and the year) I had the students do some research. This was so easy for me to organize and so enjoyable for the kids, that I thought it was worth sharing. I gathered up all the ocean books I could find and the kids and I sorted them into creature categories. If we … Read more
We’ve been learning about ocean creatures for the last two weeks. Earlier in the week I showed the kids another ocean video. This time they took notes while they watched. Check out the cutie-pie in fuschia top right. Ha ha! Afterwards they drew a picture of life under the ocean. They had to include the three animals they took notes … Read more
Inside: A book review and activities for Looking Closely Along the Shore Title: Looking Closely Along the Shore Author & Photographer: Frank Serafini Publisher: Kids Can Press, 2008 Intended Audience: Everyone! Topic: Non-Fiction, Seashore Opening: Look very closely. What do you see? A flower? A fossil? What could it be? Synopsis (from Amazon): “Look closely. Look very closely. Is it? … Read more
(2024 update): In 2012 I joined Maria Dismondy for “Make a Difference Monthly”. This monthly linky no longer exists, but I’ve kept these posts because I still feel they’re valuable. You can also read about: Citizenship Respect Caring This Month’s Focus is FAIRNESS On the first Monday of each month, Maria is collecting a variety of ideas for teaching children … Read more