Letters That Matter 2.0 Giveaway

I recently updated this unit to align with CCSS 3-5. 

I am giving away three copies in my TN store.

Giveaway ends Monday, December 2.

The Case of the Missing Snowman

I might be getting a reputation for creating quirky writing lessons.  I think it was about the time I framed the Easter Bunny for B & E, but I'll save that one for another day.

This is an exercise in point of view.  I wrote the writing prompt and had my students consider how the story might be told from different perspectives. 

(Caution: the year I taught sixth grade, some turned my gentle snowman into a creature of horror.  You may want to decide in advance what genres you will allow.)

To download The Case of the Missing Snowman at my Teachers pay Teachers Store, click here.

To download The Case of the Missing Snowman at my Teachers Notebook Store, click here.


As always, I hope you enjoy this lesson with your students.

Update: Here is a post where I update and show bulletin board possibilities.

You can purchase all ten forms I use for creative writing assignments and bulletin boards here in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and here in my Teachers Notebook store.  I have included at least two suggestions for each form that are not here on my blog.

Tough Cookie by David Wisniewski

For some reason, I have been hooked on personification lately.  When I found this book at my local library, I knew it was worth sharing.

Tough Cookie is a private eye living at the bottom of a cookie jar.  He discovers that Fingers has taken his partner Chips and decides to settle the score.

Here is a page for students to create their own examples of personification.  I have created it with and without lines.  This is a part of my full Exercises in Personification product in my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook stores.

This book is recommended for 4-8 year olds, but older students find humor in this spoof.
For an explanation of my rating scale, click here

In other news, it's almost time for the TPT Cyber Monday Sale.  I just linked up with Learning with Mrs. Leeby.  Visit her post to find other great stores that are participating.



Trapped in a Commercial

I knew from the first moment I saw them, that the AT&T commercials were not scripted.  Anyone who has spent time around grade school children knows that they come up with the strangest things.  Here is an article about how the company made the ads: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-att-got-kids-make-some-years-best-ads-148605.  Beck Bennett's initial questions are scripted, but they let the children respond naturally.

What teacher hasn't had moments like these?

Quote of the Week for November 24, 2013

"The secret in education lies in respecting the student. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Free Editing Checklists Aligned with Common Core

Download Free Editing Checklists from my Teachers Notebook Store.
Download Free Editing Checklists from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

I love teaching writing to upper elementary students.  I originally developed checklists to align with the writing assessment we give here in Washington State.  Now that we are adopting Common Core, I modified this tool accordingly.

I use these lists in three ways:

1. I can assess a set of writing samples and decide what lessons I need to focus on with the whole class, small groups and individual.
2. I can have students edit each others papers with guidance.
3. I can have students assess their own work before they turn it in.

I typically have rubrics as a part of my assignment that I use for grading.  These checklists are a part of my formative assessment.

I have just updated all of my Teaching Genre units with these checklists and other activities.

The Books of Elsewhere by Jacqueline West

The premise for this series is interesting: what if paintings were portholes to other places and times?  In the first book, Olive moves into a strange house and finds that a pair of spectacles lets her enter the paintings and visit the people there.  Many of them are frightened of one of the inhabitants and Olive soon learns that some of these people cannot be trusted.

This series is recommended for fifth grade on up, but I have some fourth graders who are ready right now.


 
For an explanation of my rating scale, click here