Writing

  April is poetry month!  So over the next few weeks, my Mentor Text Monday posts will all be Mentor texts for teaching poetry! This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase (with no extra cost to you). For more information about my Disclosure Policy, please visit this link!   I love teaching poetry! There is so much freedom in writing short bursts of texts, that don’t always have to follow the “rules”, or have strict rules so you have to be really creative

Ah, sight words.  They need to be taught, and retaught, then taught again.  It is so well worth the time when your kiddos are reading fluently, but not much fun to teach all the time.  I have a fun word work idea to share about something new I started in my classroom the other day. So far, so good! Fun Word Work Idea! So, this year we decided to forgo weekly spelling tests and focus more on Word Work.  We have five sight words a week, then focus on a chunk or chunks of those words for word work for

I really enjoy teaching writing a description to my second graders! I make it highly engaging with Secret Snacks, Beanie Babies, and technology! 1. Writing a Description of a Mystery Snack As a team, we start with each class choosing a “mystery” snack.  I do a whole mini-lesson about using our senses to write a description.  Then, they get their paper with the graphic organizer, and a snack, and go back to their seats to write.  Of course, they also get to eat their snack!  The next step is to come back together to write a detailed description of the snack that we shared.

Free Halloween Writing Project Hello!  Did you come here looking for a Fun October Poem and Writing Activity?     Maybe you just came looking for a great Halloween Writing Freebie?Either way, you are in luck!   Things didn’t quite work out the way I planned on Friday, so we decided to make Monster Menus! Each year about this time we read a poem called If a Giant Monster.  I am not sure who wrote the poem, but it is about inviting monsters in to have something to eat.  Of course, this lead to a discussion about what Monsters eat.  It got a little

  his post has some mini lessons for writing workshop about finding ideas of things to write about! I have been working really hard this year to try to do my mini-lessons in a sequence that makes sense.  It makes sense to me at least! Of course, I started with building stamina for Writer’s Workshop.  If you are interested in seeing our daily routine check out the post HERE. Now that we are into the routine, we get down to the nitty-gritty! T Mini Lessons for Writing Workshop: Brainstorming Ideas! We decided as a class that having a good Idea

I have mentioned in several of my previous blog posts about Coffee House Poetry and a few people asked me to tell them more!  So, here we go!   We did our Coffee House Poetry Celebration today and it was a hit!  I have to say that this is not an original idea it comes from Debbie Miller’s wonderful book Reading with Meaning.  (She has since come out with a second edition that I haven’t read yet, but it is on my wishlist!)  As soon as we get back from Christmas vacation, we start our poetry writing unit.  This is