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!
I saw this cute idea at a charter school a while back. The students were assigned to research a famous person, prepare a report and then present their findings to the class. They each made a poster of the person and cut out a circle so they could stick their face through as if they were the character. For example, in the picture above, the student presented as if he was Abraham Lincoln. This works with a regular poster (if the student holds up the poster while they talk) or with a 3-fold presentation board (which stands up on its own).
I’ve also seen this kind of thing done as a “museum,” where all the students are in a large room and as guests walk by, they give their presentation or answer questions as if they were the famous person.
This idea came from a first grade teacher. She’s got a laminated poster (with a bunch of blank space on it) on her wall. Everyday, the class reviews things they learned that day. She’s got the students in a rotation schedule so everyone gets to be the scribe. The students like writing on the poster and it’s a great end-of-the-day review. Here’s her poster:
This 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
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:
A huge thank you to all the servicemen/women and their families who have and continue to fight for American freedom!
Here’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:
Earlier 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
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
Squarehead Teachers 