Back To School Writing Center

I created this Back-to-School themed writing center for my students to use during Daily 5 Work on Writing, but it could be used in many different ways.  I wanted something I could set up at the start of the month and not have to change until the following month. I also made sure to include enough variety for students to still be interested throughout the month.

The activities are all meant to be completed independently while covering the three types of writing in the Common Core Standards (Narratives, Opinion, and Explanatory).   

As soon as I get back into my classroom next week I will post pics of the writing center set up and ready for use.

Check out the Back-To-School Writing Center at my TPT store.

I copied the school buses on yellow paper, laminated and cut them out, and then added them to my Work On Writing board.

The packet includes two opinion writing quick writes.

Check out my TPT shop to read more about this writing packet. 

Stay Posted!! Halloween Themed Writing Center coming soon!!

100th Day Activity

TBA is celebrating their 100th day in the blogger world with a linky party full of great 100th day activities! Click here to join!

Here is an activity I did with my class this past year and they loved it! I got the idea from a blog or Proteacher...The idea is not my own, but I did create it in my own way. If this book is your idea please tell me so I can give you credit.  Anyways, Its a little book called "I Wish I Had 100..."  The students write and illustrate about different things they would want to have 100 of, and then on the last page they write about something they would never want 100 of. We started the book in the morning filling in their ideas and then they worked on the illustrations throughout the day as they finished their other work...a few of my students actually drew 100 of the different items in their book...at the end of the day they loved getting to read their books to the class...more ideas to come when we get closer to the 100th day of school...I can't think that far ahead when it's still summer.

Just wondering...do any of you have your class bring in collections of 100 items? I remember doing it when I was younger and I loved it. Gathering the items with my mom and bringing it to school, I just don't remember what we did with them when we got to school....haha...I'd love to do it with my students if I could come up with some meaningful activities...please post a comment and share what you do or any ideas you have.

Ok, click on the large 100 to download the book! 

Thanks,

Megan

Alternate Endings

One of the standards of second grade is creating alternate endings for stories. I've been trying to come up with many different and of course fun ways to work on this skill with my students. An idea that came to me today was to let them start by predicting endings. I plan on reading a book aloud and stopping before the end...then as a class discussing/predicting what we think will happen. Each student will then write an ending (How they think the story will end). We will share the ideas and then I will finish reading the story and we will discuss correct predictions, realistic predictions, and how things in the story would have had to change for some of the predictions to be true.

Another idea I had was reading a whole book to the class, discussing the ending and then giving my students a "What If...?" question and having them write an ending to the story. For example, after reading a Magic Tree House Book, I may ask them, "How would the story have been different if Jack or Annie had been alone?" You could also make simple changes in the story and discuss their differences. For example, "What would have changed if the story took place on an island rather than a snowy mountain?"

I created a simple writing page with a picture spot and lines for my students to use when we are working on alternate endings. Download it by clicking the link below. Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

Alternate Endings!

  

 

Famous Americans

This year I will be doing a unit on Famous Americans with my second graders. Everyday I will do a read aloud about a different American, both past and present. A few times a week we will write a class paragraph about the person we are reading about. We will use the "Famous Americans" notes page to keep track of what makes or made each person important in our country. We will then turn the notes into the paragraph. I made a notes page and final draft page that you can download by clicking the link below. My plan is to enlarge both pages and make them into a poster, that I can laminate and reuse each time we write a paragraph, and then make individual copies of the worksheets for each student. At the end of the unit the students will have a whole book of information about the Famous Americans that they can add to their book boxes. The final draft paper is star shaped, so the students can cut them out and also create a cover for their final book. There is also a spot for a small picture of the person on the final draft page. Students can draw them in or you can print up copies for them.

Famous Americans   

Plural Noun Pack!

Oh my what a week...Only 12 more school days left!

       I know this year isn't even over yet, but I am already thinking about next year. The last few months I have been experimenting with both a math and writing workshop, and I LOVE it! I will post more about them later.  I already do Daily 5 during my reading block.

      I feel that teaching using a workshop style (small groups) gives me the chance to work closer with my students. I went back and forth with the idea for months. I kept asking myself, is it better to just do whole group instruction where I am teaching longer, or shorter small groups instructions? After much thought I decided I would try workshop because I do think that the smaller more concentrated groups will be more beneficial than whole group instruction that drags on and the kids stop listening anyways. So far it's been going great in my class.  The only problem I am running into is that I don't have enough stuff to keep the other kids busy with meaningful work. So hence the blog...I figure if I am making all these things anyways I might as well share them.

        Anyways...now that my baby boy is feeling much better I have got him back sleeping in his bed and have time to create. This week I worked on a Plural Noun Pack...This pack has lots of fun goodies from whole class games to worksheets and independent practice games. Check it out at TPT.  With this pack I even made my first set of task cards...I am a task card addict! 

Plural Pack includes: Task cards, I have...Who has...?, worksheets, plural ending sort, file folder game, and a memory/concentration game. The packet is 18 pages plus a cover sheet sharing ideas on how to set up and use activities in your class.  Click on the top robot to check out the plural pack at TPT.

      I also made some classroom posters with the plural ending rules. Click on the robot below to check them out for FREE!