I have been updating and creating more digital resources to help enhance my writing and social studies curriculum. Check them out in my TpT store. My most recent resource is a FREE digital writing resource that is great for the month of November.
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Friday, July 26, 2019
Prayer Wall
Teaching in a private Christian school has allowed me to combine my two loves...God and teaching! In 5th grade I wanted to teach my students the daily discipline of quiet time with God. We turn on one worship song and students can either read the Bible, worship, meditate on the memory verse, or write a sticky note prayer request. I also select one prayer warrior to pray over the prayers at the prayer wall. When a prayer is answered, they switch it to the praise report side. Once it gets full a praise warrior will take off answered prayers and put them in a bin to collect for the year. During the last week of school I distribute all the answered prayers back and we see the faithfulness of God.
Monday, April 1, 2019
Colonial Day
I love to help students find a love for learning by bringing learning to life! Since I teach US History, I created a Colonial Day experience filled with fun lessons that bring history to life.
Students came dressed in colonial attire and I transformed the classroom into "Marinburg" since we live in Marin County. We started the day with a "town meeting" during our morning meeting time. Students greeted each other with a bow and shared what occupation they would be if they lived in colonial times.
Then I designed a colonial math lesson that taught students how they used commodities to buy items if they did not have money. They previous designed a a commodity poster that then they had to convert their commodity into dollar amounts. They filled in a worksheet I designed to complete their conversion math along with reflection questions.
Then it was time to rotate through different stations to try different colonial skills. I had three groups: Northern Colony, Middle Colony, and Southern Colony and three stations.
First Station: Declaration of Independence Writing
Students had to write part of the declaration of independence with a quill feather and black paint.
Second Station: Marbles Game
Students play marbles, which was a colonial game played by children.
Third Station: Making Butter
Students shook cream in a mason jar for 7-10 minutes to make butter.
After the rotations were done, we took at break for recess. Then after recess, we had "Tea Time" snack where we pretended that King George just enacted the Tea Act. I taught students proper tea etiquette and we enjoyed English tea and biscuits/cookies. We also had English muffins with our homemade butter. Students thought the butter and tea were delicious!
Our last event of the Colonial Day was reading a reader's theater of Continental Congress.
It was a successful day of learning and bringing history to life! To find more fun history lesson, check out my TpT store for other fun US History and CA History lessons.
Students came dressed in colonial attire and I transformed the classroom into "Marinburg" since we live in Marin County. We started the day with a "town meeting" during our morning meeting time. Students greeted each other with a bow and shared what occupation they would be if they lived in colonial times.
Then I designed a colonial math lesson that taught students how they used commodities to buy items if they did not have money. They previous designed a a commodity poster that then they had to convert their commodity into dollar amounts. They filled in a worksheet I designed to complete their conversion math along with reflection questions.
Then it was time to rotate through different stations to try different colonial skills. I had three groups: Northern Colony, Middle Colony, and Southern Colony and three stations.
First Station: Declaration of Independence Writing
Students had to write part of the declaration of independence with a quill feather and black paint.
Second Station: Marbles Game
Students play marbles, which was a colonial game played by children.
Third Station: Making Butter
Students shook cream in a mason jar for 7-10 minutes to make butter.
After the rotations were done, we took at break for recess. Then after recess, we had "Tea Time" snack where we pretended that King George just enacted the Tea Act. I taught students proper tea etiquette and we enjoyed English tea and biscuits/cookies. We also had English muffins with our homemade butter. Students thought the butter and tea were delicious!
Our last event of the Colonial Day was reading a reader's theater of Continental Congress.
It was a successful day of learning and bringing history to life! To find more fun history lesson, check out my TpT store for other fun US History and CA History lessons.
Friday, November 9, 2018
Reader's Workshop
I like to do a Reader's Workshop during my ELA time. It usually takes 2 weeks or so to roll out, but once everyone knows what to do, it is a great and effective tool to maximize learning time. I have 4 workstations in the Reader's Workshop: Reading Station, Guided Reading Station, Word Work Station, and Writing Station.
Reading Station:
Students read the text of the week from our curriculum (we use Hughton Mifflin). They read together as a group out loud. This allows them to practice their oral reading fluency.
Guided Reading Station:
After students read text, they come to me at Guided Reading. I work with them on comprehension tasks, decoding, fluency, and vocabulary skills all based around the text of the week. This allows me to give differentiated instruction based on the group and what skill they need extra help with.
Word Work Station:
Students work on their Spelling and Vocabulary words for the week. I have created a few different spelling tasks for them to do at this station. I have a set of Spelling Task Cards or Roll It Spelling. Students love practice their weekly words with these activities.
Writing Workstation:
Students practice their writing skills and handwriting at this station. Students either write in their morning journal using these Writing Center Prompts. I have made several different task cards for writing, including seasonal prompts. They also work on their cursive handwriting with different handwriting packets I create. Check out my TpT Store for more easy literacy centers to set up.
Reading Station:
Students read the text of the week from our curriculum (we use Hughton Mifflin). They read together as a group out loud. This allows them to practice their oral reading fluency.
Guided Reading Station:
After students read text, they come to me at Guided Reading. I work with them on comprehension tasks, decoding, fluency, and vocabulary skills all based around the text of the week. This allows me to give differentiated instruction based on the group and what skill they need extra help with.
Word Work Station:
Students work on their Spelling and Vocabulary words for the week. I have created a few different spelling tasks for them to do at this station. I have a set of Spelling Task Cards or Roll It Spelling. Students love practice their weekly words with these activities.
Writing Workstation:
Students practice their writing skills and handwriting at this station. Students either write in their morning journal using these Writing Center Prompts. I have made several different task cards for writing, including seasonal prompts. They also work on their cursive handwriting with different handwriting packets I create. Check out my TpT Store for more easy literacy centers to set up.
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Weekly Parent Letter
As the school year starts, it is important to have good communication with parents. I accomplish this by sending home a weekly newsletter that gets sent home on Monday (one hard copy and one sent through e-mail). Each weekly newsletter includes spelling words, vocabulary words, upcoming events, subject focus for the week and what their child will be learning that week in school. I also read through this with my students at the end of the day Monday before dismissal so that they can always know what to expect for that week in school. Upper elementary students really enjoy knowing what to expect in school that week and they also use this newsletter to help with studying their weekly words. I have created an editable parent newsletter in my TpT Store: Mrs. Kearsely's Classroom.
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Back to School Writing Lesson
It time for Back to School!! One of the first week activities that I do with my students is to learn about their summer through a writing lesson. I start the year with doing a paragraph writing lesson to ease them into the school year with something simple and it allows me to review the basics of good writing structure with "paragraph writing." I use a paragraph song that I learned a few years ago. It is to the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" melody. Here's the Paragraph Song:
First you introduce the topic in a general way
Next you add three details of what you want to say
Then you add the clincher, put that sentence last
Now you have created your great paragraph.
(Source Unknown)
We brainstorm all the activities they did in the summer and adjectives to use in their writing. I believe in teaching writing in a real structured way. I always have a brainstorm time, outline, and a guided writing of paragraph structure. I have the complete lesson including brainstorming and outlining worksheet in my TpT Store. This also turns into a cute bulletin board when done.
"T-Shirt" theme "Have a T-rrific Summer"
*This could be used as a beginning of school writing or end of the year writing.
To get this lesson, click HERE.
Happy Back to School!
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Check out my new TpT store!!
I love creating lesson plans, ideas, and teaching resources for my classroom and thought I should start sharing them on Teacher's Pay Teacher's. If you teach upper elementary and want quality, low cost...even FREE resources...follow my TpT store. I will posting new products all year. Enjoy!
Click HERE to go to my TpT Store: Mrs. Kearsley's Classroom
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