Tag Archives: Writing

Bring on FALL! We are READY!

2 Replies

Have I mentioned…

I LOVE FALL!

OK…Many times.

I live in NORCAL.

We don’t have the TRADITIONAL

4 seasons.

DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE 4 ????

In NORCAL…

we have

Summer ( 90-100 degrees )

Fall ( 80-90 degrees)

Winter ( foggy… 60-70 degrees…sometimes cooler )

Spring ( 70-90 degrees )

It’s OK…I LOVE my HOMETOWN.

Sometimes.

OH…well… 🙂

And so on.

SO now that it’s 80 degrees & FALL..

What’s UP in ROOM 3??

Fall Brings…

BRAG TAGS!

We use Brag Tags on rings during the month.

They earn BRAG TAGS

for

following classroom / school rules

AND

Lifeskills

At the end of each month…

They transfer their earned BRAG TAGS from RINGS…

To string necklaces.

They get to wear their necklaces ALL DAY AT SCHOOL

and then

HOME!

( Parents are told at BTS night to

REWARD their kids for necklaces

at the end of the month!) 🙂

Fall Brings…

English Language Arts

Word Work

Word Sorts…NO GLUE!

Pick 3 crayons.

Color the words according to the KEY!

Write!

Back from 2 week vacation.

TEACHER…..CLEAN YOUR TABLE!

I don’t have a teacher desk. #bestdecisionever

Reading ROCKERS! #alternativeseating

Birthday Books.

On each student’s birthday ( or close to ),

We make a class BIRTHDAY BOOK!

We do these during MUST DO TIME!

Independent work.

We have a “FRAME” style we use.

Everyone makes a page.

We STAPLE together and VOILA!

CLASS BIRTHDAY PRESENT!

We sing and dance as we PRESENT ( haha ) it to the birthday student!

LAST..( whew..what a week !)

Fall Brings…

GUIDED MATH

My newest & favorite time of the day!

We are doing

MATH MUST DO’s & MAY Do’s

( Same format as ELA centers in the AM )

KEEP YOUR ROUTINES THE SAME!

We go the the MATH Calendar ( next to ELA Calendar )

after lunch.

Math Calendar

After we go through the “math board”…

We NOW ( Quarter 2) do MATH MUST DO’S.

( Approx. 45 minutes )

Must DO’s

#1 MATH JOURNAL

Story Problem with illustrations & number sentence.

#2 Math Paper

A Workbook Page FROM YESTERDAY ( review )

#3 MATH TUB (center) with a PARTNER

I do the whole class MATH lesson BEFORE centers.

SOMETIMES we do the workbook page together…sometimes they do.

Depends on the Lesson. We have a district curriculum to follow.

( Approx. time 45 minutes )

What am I doing?

GUIDED MATH GROUPS!

I meet with 2-3 kids at a time.

We work on a STRATEGY.

NO worksheets!

They need to have independent strategies to do ON THEIR OWN!

I can’t take the assessments FOR THEM!

So…

Here is what’s UP in room 3 in the FALL?

Need supplements for ELA or MATH?

Brag Tags

Balanced Literacy

Check out my store for GOODIES!

1stgradefireworks

It’s time to focus on WRITING! Here we go!

In our classroom, it is time to FOCUS ON WRITING!

To each skill there is a time to learn, a time to practice, and a time to MASTER.

In our classroom, it’s time for WRITING.

It’s probably the hardest for primary ( TK- 2 ) students to MASTER.

There is SO MUCH to learn!

Phonics, Grammar, Sentences, Spelling, Procedures…etc., etc.

And what if English is your SECOND language? Oh my!

And so, we start early.

We focus on writing.

Work hard. Practice A LOT.

And MASTER it, in time.

We need HELP. We can’t do it alone.

And we shouldn’t! We need help, support,

practice, and time.

We teach NONFICTION writing also!

WHAT? Help is here.

Check out my post on Interactive and Shared Writing

To help support my EL’s and my Emergent Writers, I have a NEW BUNDLE for Writing.

Writing BUNDLE for the Elementary Classroom

This is a combination of my top 3 writing products!

WHY? It is time to Focus on Writing!

Writing Complete Sentences

I Can Write a Sentence BUNDLED

Good Luck!

Give them time, support, and

LOTS of practice.

Remember…

It’s time to focus on Writing!

Here are some MORE ideas to help with writing:

Informational Writing

Balanced Literacy

Literacy “Do-Over”

If you want to see MORE goodies from 1stgradefireworks FOLLOW ME:

FB IG Pin

TPT Blog

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!

Wendy

First Grade Writing – NONFICTION

As a Title 1 teacher

with half of my class CELDT Levels 1&2 ( low English),

I am ALWAYS trying to give my kids more vocabulary, visual clues, and

FRONTLOAD information

…before we WRITE!

So this week…was

REINDEER WEEK!

I was going for REAL REINDEER.

We read books, watched VIDEOS, did real research ( yes, ONLINE!)

We even attempted to watch the

REINDEER.CAM

Can’t show kiddos in my district…

TOO MUCH SANTA!

I know…don’t go there!

So …I kept it real!

ONLY REAL REINDEER!

I was going for NON-FICTION!

They did great!

As an adult, I felt they had mastered

a LOT

of information!

What do reindeer LOOK like?

Where do they LIVE?

What do they EAT?

( One of our movies mentioned MUSHROOMS…

BOY did they pick up on that!)

And then…

what makes them different

(special )

from

other ANIMALS?

Here are some of our writings…

(Don’t judge….we have NOT edited for CONVENTIONS..

Just CONTENT!! 🙂

Sorry pics are turned…

Can’t get them to TURN! UGH!

No where…no how…

did I MENTION

SANTA or RUDOLPH!

99% of my students wrote

that the important thing about REINDEER is…

THEY PULL SANTA’S SLEIGH

AND

THE LEADER IS…RUDOLPH!

And THAT is NON FICTION!

HAHAHAHA

But that is their

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE!

SO CUTE!

They brought it into their writing!

Let their VOICES be heard!

And so…

ADULTS BE AWARE!

The little ones WILL be HEARD!

I LOVE TEACHING FIRST GRADE!

They make me GIGGLE!

If you need some writing help…

WRITE ON!

ENJOY!

Write On! Journal Pages with Support!

Those CRAZY Word Walls!

4 Replies

WORD WALLS

I can honestly say, in my 27 years in first grade,

I have “redone” my word wall…

probably 26 times!

My dilemma is always the same…

How to put them on the wall so kids can

access them ( at ANY reading level!)?

At first, I thought “A..B..C” order.

Then, I thought “by curriculum unit..week 1..week 2, etc”.

Next, I thought ” phonics sounds ..short a..short e…etc”.

Last, I thought “they don’t even LOOK at IT!”

and so…

I WAS FRUSTRATED!

via GIPHY

What to do? What to do?

ASK THE KIDS!!!

So what do THEY want?

What will THEY use?

What do THEY want it to look like?

And they TOLD ME!!

They helped me “SOLVE” our Word Wall “PROBLEM”!

WHAT? You want ME to help SOLVE our WORD WALL PROBLEM???

My Word Wall

Now our word wall has sight words we use for 6 weeks

( 1 unit of our curriculum).

These words will be in our stories

AND

on our TESTS!

We study them EVERY day ( at Morning Meeting )

AND

we play I SPY with the words wall DAILY!

The kids practice with each other, too!

Partner Practice…yippee!

We use our chromebooks, write on our desks with whiteboard markers, flash cards to take home, and we play LOTS of word games!

My WORD WALL focus’ on sight words.

I teach vocabulary words, but those go on our focus wall for weekly connections.

This year…I am adding personal word walls to their writer’s workshop folders.

They will add words THEY need to use in THEIR writing.

This was last year when we did WAY TOO many

words at one time!

Now…LESS IS MORE

Word Wall by ABC order

Large Word Wall by ABC order

Sight Word games from the Word Wall

Lots of games to practice our “words”.

I have some games and products

to help with WORD WALLS.

Check them out!

So to Conclude…

When putting up word walls, fewer WORDS at one time is BEST!

Teach to MASTERY! Review! Practice! Be consistent!

PINTEREST HAS A MULTITUDE of resources to help.

I found these:

Especially Education

All Students Can Shine

A Sunny Day in First Grade

222 SIGHT WORDS from 1stgradefireworks

Here are MORE ways to help your students learn to READ

I hope this helps your students become BETTER readers and writers!

Leave me a comment. How are things going? Anything I can do to help? 🙂

Wendy 1stgradefireworks

Helping my EL’s with Writing.

2 Replies

My kiddos come with a SMALL amount of ENGLISH print.

MOST..not all..but MOST have enough English to communicate

everyday NEEDS to me.

BATHROOM, Recess, and When is LUNCH?

How to help my EL’s with writing, when you don’t speak the same language?

We are OK.

BUT…

English PRINT?

WOWZA! Another WORLD!

FIRSTLY…

We begin…BEGIN…with Phonemic Awareness.

Sounds…

ORAL…

However, NO PRINT!

Letter Sounds, Vocabulary Words, Rhymes, Alliterations,,

SOUNDS

and LOTS OF THEM!

Secondly,

We ADD

PHONICS!

A symbol (letter/word) to the sounds.

Alphabet, HFW, Word Families, emergent readers, etc.

For those who make READING a priority…

they excel!

For those who don’t have a LOT of support at home..

It can take LONGER…

But then…

We WRITE!

We write well and we write A LOT!

Lists, poems, booklets, stories, and they LOVE IT!

The problem occurs when they don’t have an ENGLISH word to attach to the “word” in their head!

Vocabulary MUST be a HUGE part of the daily writing minilessons.

And RESOURCES!

We use Step Up to Writing…

and

I “supplement”…Ummm

SUPPLANT

with

LUCY CAULKINS!

YESSSS!!!

http://www.heinemann.com/products/E07729.aspx

Click HERE to see it…

Lastly,

We use my

WRITE ON!

papers because they have

VOCABULARY

built in!

Available HERE…

My kids are doing GREAT!

(Most could only write their names at first!)

Daily PROGRESS! 🙂

And so..

we

PRACTICE, we TALK, WE SING,

WE CHANT,

AND ..we

WRITE ON!

And HERE is a FREEBIE to Help you on your way!

Check My Writing. Post Writing Checklist.

How to Write a Complete Sentence – 3 Steps to Success

BUT, they were not writing complete sentences.

They had a great idea, but could not get the right sequence of words to

make a complete sentence!

Their stories just did not FLOW! They didn’t make sense.

So WHAT is a teacher to do?

WRITE! And so I did.

I did some research, read some materials, and

I created a WRITING CENTER where my students can be successful!

I teach in a high-poverty, low-socioeconomic, Title 1 school.

I have had up to 50% of my class as EL students.

I have decided to help my students,

we need Writing a Complete Sentence – 3 STEPS TO SUCCESS!

Visuals for Vocabulary.
Structured Graphic Organizers for independent thoughts.
Practice, practice, practice!

Product Description:

Writing a Complete Sentence – 3 Steps to Success

How to help your students to write complete sentences? How about 3 steps to SUCCESS? This packet of picture visual cards is sorted into NOUNS, VERBS, and NOUN places for students to select cards and create their own sentences. 40 NOUN cards (80 pictures total), 40 VERB cards ( 80 pictures ), and 30 NOUN PLACES cards are included. Teacher suggestions for implementing the product. I suggest using them at a writing center for the scaffolding of writers and nonwriters.

And so, it begins.

Check out the VIDEO!

Writing a Complete Sentence – 3 Steps to Success

Writing Paper for Scaffolding Writers

NOUN Cards for Vocabulary Support

VERB Cards for action

Noun Cards for “PLACES” to complete sentences.

Sample Writing Page included.

Teacher SUGGESTIONS for implementing.

THINK WRITING CENTER! 🙂

I hope this helps with your planning for

Back to School. I know.

Teachers NEVER stop thinking about SCHOOL!

Rest and Relax!

You can’t pour from an empty cup.

Check it out!

Informational Writing

1 Reply

This week we did some EXCELLENT WRITING!

I have to be honest…I have not taught ALL of my SCIENCE standards. And yes, animal classification is a standard.

Somewhere, I have a new Science series, but my new ELA series takes up most ALL of our day…& Math… so, as any good teacher ( who LOVES science & writing) would do INTEGRATE!

We wrote informational writing about animal classifications!

And then we PAINTED them!

Living things…yaadaa. yaadaa. yaadaa…NO!

WE WROTE ABOUT REAL ANIMALS!

My EL’s had a hard time with the new vocabulary, (Thank You Project GLAD), we did new academic language, made charts, filled out graphic organizers, did shared writing, sloppy copies, and a final draft!

We had to edit for spelling, handwriting, complete sentences, punctuation, AND IT HAD TO MAKE SENSE!

All of that in 5 days!

AND THEN….. They got to make a “tear art” bear head.

( They HATE tear art… “Can I PLEASE use my scissors?” “NO!”)

Simple…tear construction paper, glue to small paper plate, add ears (with torn paper..they need FUR too), add eyes, nose, & mouth.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/351843789621516644/ — Tear BEAR!

As a culminating activity, we painted out animals & added our reports for sharing. ( see above)

SO….here are the units we used to RUN the MARATHON!

Animal Classification from 1stgradefireworks on TpT — Animal Classifications

Enjoy! Check it out on my TPT store!

Word Work

Guided Reading

Balanced Literacy

What does READ AT HOME really look like?

2 Replies

I am a BLOG STALKER!

I admit it.

I am ALWAYS trying to find the BEST, FASTEST, & EASIEST ways

to make my classroom run smoother & more effective while being

academically successful.

I want my students to continue to practice their reading & writing skills and strategies

AT HOME!

BUT..What does Read at HOME really look like?

Aren’t we ALL?

So each year I try to “change” a few things for the better.

NO THROWING THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER!

( For YOU youngin’s… Don’t get rid of the good stuff while trying NEW stuff! )

So here is something “NEW” ( or New to ME ) that I am doing this year!

I am NOT ( Ugh…),

NOT

choosing the Student’s TAKE HOME BOOKS each week.

( Let it go! Let it go!)

I LET THEM!

The power is in the CHOICE.

I thought if I chose reading books that were ON their reading level

THEY would MAGICALLY fall in LOVE with READING!

NOT!

I have RAH ( Read AT Home ) envelopes…

Purchased at REALLY GREAT STUFF

BUT ANY envelope will do!

Each WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY they bring their RAH folder back.

I have them choose 2 books…YES…2 books to put in their folder.

( I place a pile 20 or so, of books at each level …

*disclaimer…right now I have 5 Guided Reading groups..I group their

PILES of books by the Guided Reading group level…

So they really are taking home books at THEIR reading level.

Just a little teacher “nudge” in the right direction!

They choose two books, put them in their envelopes, and put them in their cubbies.

They keep them for 2 nights..hence bringing them back WED. & FRI.

We change them for two NEW books … and here we go again!

Some nights I add a READING RESPONSE page to their homework.

USE ONE OF YOUR RAH BOOKS!

( Your choice!)

You can get my READING RESPONSE Packet HERE

Some nights I have them do a page or two from my

BOOK CLUBS

Book Reports.

Accountability?

I do have a paper…lined…for parents to sign each night.

DO ALL OF THEM SIGN IT?

NO!

If YOU take a horse to water…Can you FORCE it to drink it?

NO!

Let it go! Let it go!

So then what?

If you have a parent who won’t support reading at home…

READ, READ, READ at school.

YOU may be the ONLY adult who reads with “THAT CHILD”..

We ALL have “that child”.

Don’t fight it!

Don’t PUNISH the child.

IF he/she could read it BY THEMSELVES…..THEY WOULD!

They can’t.

Let it go! Let it go!

BUT…

I do REWARD those who make the continued effort to read at home

EVERY NIGHT!

When they bring their envelopes back, I check the paper.

IF the parent HAS NOT SIGNED…I highlight in RED that date.

At the end of the MONTH,

I give a reward (and a SPECIAL BRAG TAG ) to those who have read

EVERY NIGHT!

I know…NOT fair for “that child”

Fair is NOT Always EQUAL!

I want my kiddos who

DO THE WORK

to know…

I NOTICE!

And so my friends…

I keep stalking.

LOTS of great ideas out there in

BLOGGY LAND.

And PINTEREST LAND.

AND INSTAGRAM LAND.

If you need some ideas..

Check out MY PINTEREST BOARDS.

Happy Reading my Friends!

Helping FIRSTIES become Better Writers

2 Replies

Can First Graders become BETTER WRITERS?

Hello everyone!

My name is Wendy McCarty.

I am the creator behind…

1stgradefireworks

I create classroom and homeschool materials

that engage young minds and help the teacher to support instruction.

You can see my products in my TPT Store:

1stgradefireworks

Today’s Topic…

Writing in First Grade

Now… I wish I was PERFECT.

I wish my kiddos were PERFECT.

There are NO Perfect PEOPLE!

NO Perfect KIDDOS.

No Perfect.

Now that we have gone there…how do we get close?

We get BETTER!

Better Readers.

Better Speakers.

Better Writers.

Better..Better…Better

( My Mantra )

HOW?

We write EVERY DAY.

Usually..more than once.

We write about our day in school

…things we like

…stories we have read

…new words we have learned

…new thoughts we have had

etc.etc.etc.

I try to do a mini-lesson on a strategy.

I add new vocabulary. In CONTEXT.

We make connections.

We expand our thinking.

We TALK!

And it can be noisy.

It’s OK.

Sometimes LEARNING is messy.

And loud. And busy.

It’s OK!

We do writer’s workshop.

My kids write.

AND they LOVE IT!

HOW?

Give them paper, pencils, markers, colored pencils, etc…

Give them…TIME!

And … LET THEM TALK!

My classroom is NEVER quiet!

Talking

about writing,

during writing,

and after writing.

TALK, Write, Create!

Are they perfect?

NO.

Is that OK?

YES!

*(Update)

I have added new

VOCABULARY BANNERS

to my

Writing Center.

Fall Vocabulary Banners for WRITING

The banners

help my

beginning writers

( HOW DO YOU SPELL…..??? )

and my

EL students

(LOTS of VISUALS )

See how I use the

VOCABULARY BANNERS

Here.

For WRITER’S WORKSHOP

If you need a starting point...

Monthly Writing Pages

WITH

VOCABULARY Helpers

at the

bottom of EVERY PAGE!

I LOVE TEACHING!

I am currently headed into my 27th year teaching…ALL of them in first grade!

My kiddos ask me “WHY don’t YOU ever GRADUATE to Second Grade?”

I tell them

“First Grade is IN my HEART!”

You can follow me at:

https://1stgradefireworks.net

https://www.facebook.com/1stgradefireworks

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/1stgradefireworks

https://www.Instagram.com/1stgradefireworks

https://www.pinterest.com/1stgradefirewor

Follow me: TPT FB IG Pinterest

1stgradefireworks

I Needed a KICK IN THE PANTS!

2 Replies

I can tell it’s SPRING…

I’m getting

LAZY!

But I have FINALLY, updated one of my

MOST Valued PRODUCTS!

BOOK CLUBS

HURRAY!

Now…I work 3 jobs…

I get up at 5:00 AM and go to bed at 9:00 PM.

I think I deserve some DOWN time!

BUT…

Then…I..get…really….complacent…

procrastinate…LAZY!

So every once in a while,

I need someone to give me a little

PUSH SHOVE

KICK IN THE PANTS!

Time to git ‘er DONE

I LOVE FALL!

We don’t have the TRADITIONAL

4 seasons.

Fall Brings…

Fall Brings…

Fall Brings…

Here is what’s UP in room 3 in the FALL?

Share this:

Like this:

In our classroom, it is time to FOCUS ON WRITING!

We focus on writing.

WHY? It is time to Focus on Writing!

It’s time to focus on Writing!

Share this:

Like this:

As a Title 1 teacher

with half of my class CELDT Levels 1&2 ( low English),

I am ALWAYS trying to give my kids more vocabulary, visual clues, and

FRONTLOAD information

…before we WRITE!

So this week…was

REINDEER WEEK!

I was going for REAL REINDEER.

We read books, watched VIDEOS, did real research ( yes, ONLINE!)

We even attempted to watch the

REINDEER.CAM

Can’t show kiddos in my district…

TOO MUCH SANTA!

I know…don’t go there!

So …I kept it real!

ONLY REAL REINDEER!

I was going for NON-FICTION!

They did great!

As an adult, I felt they had mastered

a LOT

of information!

What do reindeer LOOK like?

Where do they LIVE?

What do they EAT?

( One of our movies mentioned MUSHROOMS…

BOY did they pick up on that!)

And then…

what makes them different

(special )

from

other ANIMALS?

Here are some of our writings…

(Don’t judge….we have NOT edited for CONVENTIONS..

Just CONTENT!! 🙂

Sorry pics are turned…

Can’t get them to TURN! UGH!

No where…no how…

did I MENTION

SANTA or RUDOLPH!

99% of my students wrote

that the important thing about REINDEER is…

THEY PULL SANTA’S SLEIGH

AND

THE LEADER IS…RUDOLPH!

And THAT is NON FICTION!

HAHAHAHA

But that is their

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE!

SO CUTE!

They brought it into their writing!

Let their VOICES be heard!

And so…

ADULTS BE AWARE!

The little ones WILL be HEARD!

I LOVE TEACHING FIRST GRADE!

They make me GIGGLE!

If you need some writing help…

ENJOY!

Share this:

Like this:

WORD WALLS

How to put them on the wall so kids can

access them ( at ANY reading level!)?

They helped me “SOLVE” our Word Wall “PROBLEM”!

My WORD WALL focus’ on sight words.