Tag Archives: Writing

Let’s get EXCITED about Reading & Writing with Character Traits!

1 Reply

Character Traits.

(Yawn)

via GIPHY

Try beginning your lesson with that phrase for your PRIMARY STUDENTS!

Keep reading for a FREEBIE at the end of this post! 🙂

HUH? WHAT’S A CHARACTER TRAIT?

DID YOU SAY CHARACTER TRAIN????

Character Trait. Adjective. Describing word.

OH! I GET IT!

How to help our youngest readers and writers to add more DEPTH to stories?

How to help them analyze a story and determine the details of a character?

WHY?

I want my students to interact with story characters.

I want them to summarize, sequence, use inferences.

I want them to compare and contrast story elements.

I want them to draw conclusions, and problem-solve.

But most of all, I want them to LOVE reading and writing!

My little ones ( First Grade ) are just learning about print.

So, HOW do I help them discover the good/bad qualities of a story character?

And help them decipher the changes that can AND SHOULD, occur?

TALK. WHAT? TALK!

If you want your youngins’ to expand their knowledge base, YOU have to TALK!

TALK…READ….WRITE!

My newest product Character Traits for Reading & Writing , gives the teacher resources for discussion , printables for student work, and visuals for language acquisition.

All of the first steps for expanding vocabulary.

Speaking, Reading, Writing,

What a WONDERFUL World!

Character Traits for Reading & Writing. How to get your students interacting with story characters! 1stgradefireworks

Character Traits for young kids. — Character Traits for Reading and Writing. How to help young students interact with story characters through discussion, and new vocabulary.1stgradefireworks

Character Traits for Reading and Writing. How to help young students interact with story characters. — Character Traits for Reading and Writing. How to help young students interact with story characters with pocket chart and sorting cards. 1stgradefireworks

Character Traits for Reading and Writing. How to help young students interact with story characters through writing and text connections. 1stgradefireworks

Help YOUR students interact with story characters through CHARACTER TRAITS FOR READERS AND WRITERS

Click HERE to PURCHASE

Try it with YOUR kiddos. Leave me some LOVE and let me know how it goes!

MY KIDDOS LOVE IT!

PS… I Left the word cards up at the writing center! They are adding new words to their writing, daily! WIN! WIN!

Need more GRAMMAR WORK?

Adjectives – Hide & Seek

Winter is WONDERFUL!

Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives

CLICK HERE for your FREEBIE

Freebie for Followers

Can reading be the #1 predictor of academic success?

12 Replies

First and Foremost,

Reading is the #1 predictor of academic success.

Students NEED to READ!

Consider this my DISCLAIMER…

I am NOT A College Professor.

I do NOT have a MASTERS ( or above )

in ANYTHING!

I am just a teacher.

A first-grade teacher.

A first-grade reading teacher.

A Veteran (27yrs ), a first-grade teacher,

in a TITLE 1 SCHOOL!

I have seen a LOT! Done a LOT!

Students NEED to READ!

Hear me ROAR!!!!!

So, I repeat.

I am a teacher. I teach reading.

(Aren’t they cute????)

I have been through:

Whole Language

Environmental Print

Interactive Writing

Phonemic Awareness

Leveled Readers ( DRA, GSP, AR, Lexile)

Phonics

Words Their Way

HFW

Sight Words

High-Interest Reading Books

SIPPS

Read Naturally

Daily 5

And

A MULTITUDE OF PUBLISHER’S CURRICULUM!

New sets every 7 years!

Next, having said this…

1 thing most curricula have in common :

Students NEED to READ!

READ A LOT!

And then…READ SOME MORE!

So …

My little sisters…

YES…both of my LITTLE SISTERS are

PRIMARY TEACHERS!

We were discussing school.

Yes… we do that!

We are trying to WRAP our minds around the

“READ…READ…READ more”

and they will

“GET IT!” (way of thinking.)

Well, maybe…

I LOVE reading with kiddos!

See my post here about the

GUIDED READING TABLE!

But then my concern is…

When I “release” them to read,

When I want them to become INDEPENDENT readers,

Where do they “learn” the skills to use when they “get stuck”?

Will they use strategies, when they don’t know what’s happening?

When a story isn’t making sense…do they keep reading?

If they keep reading…

Will all the skills and strategies come TOGETHER?

Students NEED to READ!

At a recent PD, my little sis said she understood the

READ, READ, READ philosophy.

Integrate science, social studies, math, technology

INTO literacy!

YES!

Writing and Reading

COMPLIMENT and Coexist

WITH each other!

You can’t have one without the other!

Students NEED to READ!

BUT…

-Me SPEAKING-

There needs to be a BALANCE of:

Skills & Strategies

in conjunction with independent reading & writing!

THERE!

I said IT!

Reading & Writing SKILLS:

Letter Sounds

Blends

Vowels

Word Families

Chunks

Grammar

Punctuation

High-Frequency Words

Capitalization

Handwriting

and MORE!

Comprehension

Questioning

Summarizing

etc, etc, etc…

(I sound like my Education College Professors!)

I was listening!

ALL of these “lessons” MUST be taught

IN CONJUNCTION with

Reading & Writing!

Yes…To be a better reader…

Students NEED to READ!

BUT…to be a better reader who UNDERSTANDS…

You must have skills and strategies to use

WHEN you read and write!

NOW…CAUTION!!!

Unless you are teaching ADULTS in a COLLEGE CLASS…

A 40-minute LECTURE on diagramming sentences

IS NOT…I REPEAT…

NOT

the way to do it!

If you WANT to spend 40 minutes discussing grammar…

CHUNK IT!

Read a little.

Discuss it.

Let it soak in.

And do it again. And again. and again!

READ!

Do 2-3 MINILESSONS over a few days…

Let it SINK IN!

Show kiddos:

What it looks like.

Where to find it.

How to use it.

Why we use it.

When to ask for help.

Kinder-Grade 1-Grade 2 teachers…

UNITE!

Mini-Lessons with a WORKSHOP!

Use SMALL Groups for STRATEGY & Skill Groups!

Let kiddos have a chance to PRACTICE

what YOU have taught them!

Let it SINK IN!

And Then…

Students NEED to READ!

and

READ!

and

READ!

and then

WRITE…and write, some more!

Skills, Strategies, Reading, Writing

They will become “BETTER”…

and isn’t that what we ALL want to be?

BETTER!

Need some HELP?

My friend, Alison, at

Learning at The Primary Pond

learningattheprimarypond.com

has a great post about

What Does Reading Workshop Look Like In The Primary Grades?

Here are some “HELPERS” for YOU!

Click HERE for more reading & writing products!

1stgradefireworks

How to Write a Complete Sentence – 3 Steps to Success

Leave a reply

I have a BRAND NEW writing product to add to my TPT Store!

My problem was my students were writing…

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!

First Grade Writing – NONFICTION

Leave a reply

First Grade Writing

So…we have taken the step jump LEAP into writing

NON-FICTION.

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!

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!

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.

1 Reply

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.

Is reading MORE..really ENOUGH??

1 Reply

Consider this my DISCLAIMER…

I read. I read a LOT!

I am NOT A College Professor.

I do NOT have a MASTERS ( or above )

in ANYTHING!

Just a READING CERTIFICATE!

I teach reading!

I am just a teacher.

A first-grade teacher.

A Veteran (27yrs ), first-grade teacher, in a TITLE 1 SCHOOL!

I read! They read!

I have seen a LOT!

Done a LOT!

Hear me ROAR!!!!!

Ok. So again.

I am a teacher.

(Aren’t they cute????)

I have been through:

Whole Language

Environmental Print

Interactive Writing

Phonemic Awareness

Leveled Readers ( DRA, GSP, AR, Lexile)

Phonics

Words Their Way

HFW

Sight Words

High-Interest Reading Books

SIPPS

Read Naturally

Daily 5

And

A MULTITUDE OF PUBLISHER’S CURRICULUM!

New sets every 7 years!

Having said this…1 thing most curriculum have in common :

READ!

READ A LOT!

And then…READ SOME MORE!

So …

My little sisters…

YES…both of my LITTLE SISTER’S are

PRIMARY TEACHERS!

We were discussing school.

( I know..we are NOT supposed to discuss SCHOOL during SUMMER VACATION!)

But…um…we were discussing school…

and we are trying to WRAP our minds around the

“READ..READ..READ more”

and they will

“GET IT!”

(way of thinking.)

Well, maybe…

I LOVE reading with kiddos!

See my post here about the GUIDED READING TABLE!

My concern is…

When I “release” them to read,

When I want them to become INDEPENDENT readers,

Where do they “learn” the skills to use when they “get stuck”?

Will they use strategies, when they don’t know what’s happening?

When a story isn’t making sense…do they keep reading?

If they keep reading…

Will it ALL come TOGETHER?

At a recent PD, my little sis said she understood the

READ, READ, READ philosophy.

Integrate science, social studies, math, technology

INTO READING!

YES!

Writing and Reading COMPLIMENT and Coexist WITH each other!

You can’t have one without the other!

THEY NEED EACH OTHER!

BUT…

-Me SPEAKING-

There needs to be a BALANCE of:

Skills & Strategies

in conjunction with independent reading & writing!

THERE!

I said IT!

Reading & Writing SKILLS:

Letter Sounds

Blends

Vowels

Word Families

Chunks

Grammar

Punctuation

High-Frequency Words

Capitalization

Handwriting

and MORE!

Comprehension

Questioning

Summarizing

etc, etc, etc…

(I sound like my Education College Professors!)

I was listening!

ALL of these “lessons” MUST be taught

IN CONJUNCTION with

Reading & Writing!

Yes…To be a better reader…

YOU MUST READ!

BUT…to be a better reader who UNDERSTANDS…

You must have skills and strategies

to use

WHEN

you read and write!

NOW…CAUTION!!!

Unless you are teaching ADULTS in a COLLEGE CLASS…

A 40-minute LECTURE on diagramming sentences

IS NOT…I REPEAT..

NOT

the way to do it!

If you WANT to spend 40 minutes discussing grammar…

CHUNK IT!

Do 2-3 MINILESSONS over a few days…

Let it SINK IN!

Show kiddos:

What it looks like.

Where to find it.

How to use it.

Why we use it.

When to ask for help.

Kinder-Grade 1-Grade 2 teachers…

UNITE!

Mini-Lessons with a WORKSHOP!

Use SMALL Groups for STRATEGY & Skill Groups!

Let kiddos have a chance to PRACTICE what YOU have taught them!

Let it SINK IN!

And Then..

LET THEM READ!

and

READ!

and

READ!

and then

WRITE…and write some more!

Skills, Strategies, Reading, Writing

They will become “BETTER”

and isn’t that what we ALL want to be?

BETTER!

Need some HELP?

Here are some “HELPERS” for YOU!

Check out ALL my reading & writing products!

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

5.5 days left…but who’s counting?

Leave a reply

I admit it.

I AM TIRED!

I am counting the days until vacation.

I am counting the days until I don’t have to leave the house by 7:15 AM.

I am counting the days…until I can have coffee at 8:00AM.

Ah…I Am READY!

BUT…

My teacher BRAIN won’t

STOP!

I want to start getting ready for

NEXT YEAR!!!

I know…relax, breathe…ENJOY YOUR SUMMER!

I can’t STOP! I want to plan!

We are getting a new reading program next year.

CA JOURNEYS here we come!

And so…I have begun. counting.

I have begun to plan.

MY day, my month, my year!

I am starting my new projects today!

Here’s a PREVIEW!

Focus Wall

Focus Wall Printables

SPELLING for the YEAR!!!!

The BEST PART???

These Packets can be used with ANY program!

( Just because it follows CA Journeys…doesn’t mean it will ONLY work with

that program!)

Here is the FREE Focus Wall Headers… 🙂

How about

DAILY PROOFREADING PRACTICE??

Why Do I Use DOCUMENT FOLDERS? WHY? WHY? WHY?

Leave a reply

Don’t YOU just LOVE it when something WORKS?

I am a PINTEREST JUNKIE!

I know. I am.

I saw these on PINTEREST and

I HAD TO HAVE THEM!

IRIS USA 12 by 12-Inch Portable Project Case, Slim

(I got mine on Amazon…FYI)

What are they (you ask)?

DOCUMENT HOLDERS!

How do I use them? and WHY?

I have taken ALL of my MONTHLY MASTERS…

Crafts, Reading, Writing, Math, etc

and I have ONE COPY..

YES..

ONE COPY

of each page

in a clear document holder.

NO more HANGING FILES!

They take up too much space!

*disclaimer…even though they have clips that hold it closed…

I use an “OLD SCHOOL” rubber band around it..

Just to make sure my papers don’t end up on the shelf!

Then I took SHARPIE PAINT PENS

and wrote the month on the spine.

It has freed up SO MUCH SHELF space!

All of my HANGING FILES for my MONTHLY papers

(You know…they FUN THINGS!)

are now in one EASY TO CARRY HOME, folder!

I can take home the entire month of ideas

when I do my lesson planning!

EASY PEASY!

Can you say…DECEMBER!

DONE!

I am trying to “get it ALL together”…

I think it might be my New Year’s resolution!

If so….DONE!

Character Traits.

HUH? WHAT’S A CHARACTER TRAIT?

Character Trait. Adjective. Describing word.

How to help them analyze a story and determine the details of a character?

So, HOW do I help them discover the good/bad qualities of a story character?

Check out the PREVIEW VIDEO.

Share this:

Like this:

Reading is the #1 predictor of academic success.

A first-grade reading teacher.

I am a teacher. I teach reading.

Students NEED to READ!

READ A LOT!

I LOVE reading with kiddos!

Writing and Reading

COMPLIMENT and Coexist

WITH each other!

My friend, Alison, at

has a great post about

Share this:

Like this:

BUT, they were not writing complete sentences.

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

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

THINK WRITING CENTER! 🙂

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!