St. Patrick’s Day Grammatical Poetry

So many of my readers enjoyed my previous posts about grammatical poetry, that I decided to make some more. So here’s another one. It’s a fun language arts activity that will help your kids review grammar while composing their own poem about St. Patrick’s Day. Click here for the free printable PDF: Grammatical Poetry- St. Patrick’s Day

Here’s what the page looks like:

Grammatical Poetry- St Patricks

Click here for more grammatical poetry!

St. Patrick’s Day Persuasive Writing

St Patrick's Day Persuasive Writing STICKERI love leprechauns! Those pesky little guys spark so much creativity in my students! Here’s a fun writing activity for you to try. The persuasive writing prompt is this: Convince a leprechaun to tell you where his pot of gold is. Kids come up with the funniest reasons! I usually take some time to review what makes a good persuasive writing piece. In addition, I let the kids read their piece to two friends before they turn it in. This also makes a great bulletin board if you’ve got one where people can stand and read what’s on it.

Click here for the free printable PDF: St. Patrick’s Day Persuasive Writing

St. Patrick’s Day Story Starters (with planning sheet)

St. Patrick's Day Story Starters STICKER

I’ve found kids write better stories when they think about the parts of a story, plan them one at a time, and then put it together. This is exactly when my St Patrick’s Day story starters intended to go. I made two for my students to choose from. They use the picture as a spring board and then plan/write from there.

Click here for the free printable PDFs:
St Patrick’s Day Story Starter 1
St Patrick’s Day Story Starter 2

Want more story starters? Click here!

Personal Narrative Handout for Literacy Journals

Persona Narrative Notes for Literacy Journal STICKERThis idea was suggested to me by a 2nd grade teacher. She has her students glue handouts like into their literacy journals. This is my handout (2 per page, so cut in half before passing them out) for personal narratives. It will help your students get started and know some basic elements to include.

Click here for the free printable handout: Personal Narrative Notes for Literacy Journal

Click here to see more of my free language arts stuff!

WWII Worksheet for Upper Grades: Battle of Iwo Jima

WW2 Iwo Jima STICKER

February 19 marks the anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japan, in World War 2 (in 1945). This is an important part of American World War 2 history, which many upper grade students learn about. Here’ s a page I put together to teach my students about this landmark battle. It provides basic information (text from ducksters.com) and asks students to write a 5-6 sentence summary using the information.

Click here for the free printable PDF: WW2 Iwo Jima article to summarize

Here are some additional interesting facts about the Battle of Iwo Jima:

  • The famous picture of the US Flag being raised on Iwo Jima was actually not the first flag raised by the US. Another smaller flag pole had been put there earlier.
  • Although the US had more soldiers wounded on Iwo Jima than the Japanese, the Japanese had many more deaths. This was because the Japanese had decided to fight to the death. Out of 18,000 Japanese soldiers only 216 were taken prisoner. The rest died in the battle.
  • Around 6,800 American soldiers died in the battle.
  • The US government awarded 27 soldiers with the Medal of Honor for their bravery during the battle.
  • There were six men in the famous picture showing the US flag being raised. Three were killed later in the battle. The other three became famous celebrities in the US.
  • The Japanese dug 11 miles of tunnels within the island of Iwo Jima.

A huge thank you to all the servicemen/women and their families who have and continue to fight for American freedom!

World War II Timeline Worksheet

WW2 Timeline STICKERHere’s a timeline that gives the overview of the major events in World War II (text modified from ducksters.com). This is a great review activity for upper grades learning world or American history. It’s got 9 comprehension questions at the end.

Click here for the free printable PDF:World War II Timeline worksheet

Thank you to all the servicemen/women and their families for preserving American freedom!

Here are the answers:

  1. 1933
  2. Germany invaded Poland
  3. China
  4. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
  5. United States (Navy)
  6. Answers include any 3 of the following: Poland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, northern France (NOTE: this list is not comprehensive, but it what’s listed on the timeline)
  7. United States (Marines)
  8. Germany, Italy and Japan
  9. Allied Powers

Main Idea vs. Details Worksheets (Post 2)

Main ideas and details worksheet STICKER 2Earlier this week, I posted a picture of a poster that a first grade teacher submitted (click here to see the poster). This poster inspired me to make a series of worksheets that ask students to describe a picture with only the main idea and then using the details. The poster is the example of how to complete the worksheet. It seemed to work out best with my students if I did the first example with them, and modeled how to write a sentence for each one (main idea and details).

Click here for the next 2 printable worksheets:
Main ideas and details worksheet 3
Main ideas and details worksheet 4

The Courage of Sarah Noble Workbook

A good friend of mine recently shared this with me. She made this workbook to use with the book, The Courage of Sarah Noble.

Wikipedia summarized the book this way: “The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh is the story of a young girl who travels with her father into Connecticut during the early 18th century, and her experiences with the native Schaghticoke.”

The workbook includes vocabulary and comprehension questions for each chapter. Click here for the free printable workbook: The Courage of Sarah Noble workbook