Opinion Piece Writing Starters

Delving into the Common Core writing standards is quite the eye opener. No more endless free writing journal time (not that we've had much of that in recent years anyway). Time to read Informational Texts with a relish and be able to argue an opinion with logic and persuasion. I admit. Initially looking at this writing strand left me feeling more frazzled than energized. However, thanks to the wonders of the blogosphere and Pinterest, I have been able to gather a smattering of graphic organizers and lesson ideas that have piqued my interest in teaching the topic. Hopefully, these resources will do the same for my students as well!  

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What kiddo wouldn't love to start using this versatile organizer with a tasty oreo to entice them into the world of artful persuasion? After luring them in with sugar, then we could brainstorm together as a class what other topics we would like to form opinions on through the use of this fun visual. 

{here free on TPT}

What I most particularly like about this highly versatile graphic organizer is that it has the connecting words because, and, and also in a bold box with a smiling bear on top so that students will remember to use one of those three magic little words opinion pieces so heavily depend upon. Brilliant!

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My last opinion writing jump starter hails from the wonderful Johanna over at First Grade Fanatic! blog. She has three lovely freebie packets on opinion writing posted for download. Just follow the link under the picture above to find opinion piece writing packets that use yummies like s'mores, Hershey kisses, and Oreos as a starting point for students to get excited about writing opinion pieces.

I don't know about you, but after sifting through these fabulous websites, I am super eager to start teaching my kiddos the value of their opinion!

Happy Tuesday!

Free I Can Statements for the Common Core!

My principal totally and completely made my day when she forwarded this wonderful link containing all the K-5 Common Core standards translated into child-friendly I Can statements. I had pinned several I Can statement ideas on Pinterest, but had not yet found the time to make my own. I had also found some links to sets available for purchase, but I am a cheap skate and always try to make my own resources whenever possible. Now I don't have to. They are all here in a wonderful checklist format for free! You can print them by grade level and content area. There are two versions - the first plain black and white; the second with color and graphics. (I bet you can guess which one I printed!) The font is a bit small so I plan to have an older student helper type them into a larger format for my daily bulletin board. This checklist makes a great readiness assessment tool as well. 

Happy Tuesday!

Common Core Quick Reference

The introduction of the Common Core has brought with it a whole host of new acronyms to mix in with our all ready full "alphabet soup" of educational lingo. Therefore, I was grateful to find this handy quick reference guide for free on Teachers Pay Teachers. It not only outlines the key acronyms, but also defines many commonly used terms such as text complexity and close reading. I found the list of several useful web links helpful as well.

Happy Friday!

Close Reading

Adopting the Common Core this year has led me to delve into the world of Close Reading to discover what it is, what it does, and what resources I can use in my classroom right now in a nutshell. 

What it is:

an in-depth rereading and analysis of a  book, poem, or article

What it does:

challenges the reader to study author's purpose and intent in writing the passage to the point of considering language, syntax, & layout to the tiniest nuance of text

Resources:

I got a kick out of this student made video which gives
a nice overview of the topic.

By far my favorite resource has come from the St. Joseph School District website which contains PDFs and Word documents with sample lesson plans, forms and other high-quality instructional material - all for free! I am looking forward to trying the Eric Carle lesson plan with my students. 

I additionally found the information in these articles helpful:

What is Close Reading?

Close Reading of a Literary Passage

Happy Wednesday!

Just Bob

The Common Core strongly recommends students get daily exposure to literature that is two or three grade levels higher than their current grade. A Snowman Named Just Bob fit the bill and then some! This tale of friendship uses many vivid adjectives which dance across the pages in poetical cadence. My Kindergarten students loved the rhythmic sound of the story as well as the charming illustrations and were eager for me to read it to them again.

After reading the story, it was time to get messy with a fun sensory activity! One of my Kindergarten team members shared with me her recipe for "snow" which is simply 1 part white glue to 1 part shaving cream. Mixed together it makes a fabulous goo the kids adore. My students opted for using paint brushes, but it could be used as a finger paint material if preferred. After painting a basic snowman shape, the students then cut miniature hats out of felt and chose two pipe cleaner "twigs" with which to embellish their creation. A dusting of sparkles to finish off was a big crowd-pleaser. My colleague had a treasure trove of sequence she let her students use as eyes, nose, and buttons. The goo dries puffy making it look like un-meltable snow. The kids went crazy over this! 

To weave in some sneaky writing practice, I gave each student a small strip of lined paper to write the name of the snowman from the story. In this example above, you see green highlighter with pencil markings close about each letter. This student has great difficulty writing independently and currently receives O/T services. At the beginning of this school year, he was often unwilling to even try holding a pencil without someone there to hand-over-hand the writing with him. Now, he will typically sit down without complaint and attempt to write independently just due to the simple use of highlighter on his paper! Green is his favorite color which adds to further the success of this intervention. I love seeing my students grow and improve over the course of the school year!

Stay tuned for some new web-resource shares coming soon. Have a fabulous rest of your week!

IRA Common Core Workbook

I recently stumbled across this on the International Reading Association's website. There are free supplementary reproducibles excerpted from the book Common Core English Language Arts in a PLC at Work.  Not only are there a couple sample organizers for in-depth analysis of the Common Core, but also classroom printables entitled "How Fellow Writers Talk" and "How Fellow Writers Listen" which are designed to more clearly communicate important foundational writing skills to young learners. I found the question guide for the speaking and listening standards to be a good springboard for creating classroom rubrics.  Click the link in order to check out these wonderful (and free!) resources.

Wishing you happy explorations!