March Writing Prompts and Papers

Now that Read Across America activities are behind us, maybe you have started planning for St. Patrick's Day and other fun monthly themes! There are so many things to celebrate in March. The list goes on and on! Just for the record though...Daylight Savings is NOT one of them! What can you get accomplished in one hour? For me, that would be a load of laundry, a quick blog post, a trip to the grocery store, a hair appointment, some major housework and a huge dent in my school to-do list! On that note, I'll make this quick! 

This weekend, I brought home writing assessments to check for report cards and data collection. I beyond pleased with my students' growth so far this year! I'm sure that it had a lot to do with the specific instruction that I have given them, but I also feel that providing my kiddos with daily writing PRACTICE opportunities has been a huge factor. 

In case you missed my previous posts, I set up a monthly writing station with a variety of pick-a prompt cards and papers to select from. Here's a peek the March set:

This month, the prompts include these themes:

  Dr. Seuss' Birthday

 St. Patrick's Day

Leprechauns

Leprechaun Traps

Pot of Gold

March Madness

Reading

The Iditarod Race

Spring 

Oreo Cookies

Johnny Appleseed Day

Green Eggs

Feeling Lucky

Children's Poetry Day

and other fun stuff!

The kit also comes with lots of cute papers that coordinate with the prompts!

We are starting our writing station tomorrow.

 I think the kiddos are going to really like the activities this month. 

They get so excited when I introduce the new prompts!

 If you are looking to add more independent writing practice to your day, you may like to get something like this started in your room too!

To read the full description, you can view the March Writing Center {here} at my Creative Lesson Cafe store at Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Enjoy the rest of your day! Make every hour count!

:)

Bartholomew and the Oobleck and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! Comparing Texts Freebie

What do meatballs and gooey green Oobleck have in common? Plenty... if you read the books that is! Hi friends! I hope you enjoyed a fun-filled day! I am just popping in here quickly to share a printable organizer you can use for a great compare/contrast activity for Dr. Seuss Day or Read Across America Week. Two of my all-time favorite books are great to use for comparing texts!

I thought I would share this with you in case you are elbow deep in Oobleck stuff this week! 

It's just like a Venn diagram only this shape allows more room for writing.

 My class will be using this organizer later in the year as part of our weather unit in the spring. 

That is when we work in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! It's perfect! 

You can download a copy of the page {here} if you like!

Last year, I made a cute little poster for Read Across America. You can grab one too at Creative Lesson Cafe's Facebook Page! Just click on the Freebie tab on the left side.

I hope you can use it to brighten up your classroom!

:)

Favorite Books For Second Grade: Reading Month Bulletin Board Idea

Are you always on the lookout for great read-alouds? The Weekend Warriors are here to share some of our favorite books and activities with all of you. We also have an amazing giveaway going on so I'm really glad that you stopped by today! I am here to share some of my all-time favorite stories, a FREEBIE, a cute reading bulletin board idea and a chance to win some moolah to put toward some great reading resources with a Teachers Pay Teachers gift certificate!

My favorite time of day is when the kiddos gather 'round the rocking chair for story time. This is the one precious chunk of time when I feel connected to my students on a different level. Our schedule is so full, but I make it a point to include a read-aloud EVERY SINGLE DAY. In fact, I always plan a reading mini-lesson with our story of the day.

My newest favorite book is a hilarious story that the class absolutely loves! 

It's The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt! 

Have you read it? If not, you MUST put it on your wish list!

In the story, Duncan finds a stack of letters that have been written by his crayons. Some are happy, some are tired, some are unused, some are stubby, some are arguing and oh boy... peach crayon has been peeled and has to go to school naked! :) It is a riot!

I made this letter writing page to go along with the story. The students choose their favorite crayon color and write their own letters to Duncan just like the ones in the book!

 It's a great activity for a mini-lesson on VOICE if you teach 6+1 Traits. 

How cute would it be to have the students draw a face, arms and legs on this crayon clipart, like the book cover, before they color it? Next to the crayon they can add some more pictures!

 You can grab this freebie {here} if you think your students might enjoy this!

Another all-time favorite is by an author who came to visit our school once. It is so cleverly written and is more like a very long poem. It is fantastic for teaching lessons on author's craft because there is great rhythm in this book. The best part is... the teacher gets to model all sorts of character voices-of sick farm animals that is! It goes something like this: 

Buzz,'CHOO   Mew, SNIFF   Cock-a-SQUAWK!-le-doo,

Oink, SQUEAL   Baa, SNORT   Moo, A-H-H-H-H-CHOO!

 During cold and flu season or prior to a farm field trip, this is a great story to read!

The book is called Barnyard Song by Rhonda Gowler Greene!

It is available at Amazon!

 I could go on all day with more on favorite read-alouds, but my third and final favorite and one that I adore because it takes place at the beautiful Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes here in Michigan is Petoskey Stone Soup. It is written and illustrated by two local women.

 The book is a twist on the original story. It's about two children who lose their way while exploring the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. Exhausted and hungry, they discover a tiny village but the entire town is empty. The book shows how, when everyone gives just a little, magical things can happen.

 It's perfect for moral and theme lessons. This would also be a great story to use to compare texts or to work into a rocks and minerals unit. You may even have some Petoskey stones to show the class. 

Read Across America Bulletin Boards

During the month of March, for Read Across America, our school promotes reading with lots of neat activities and incentives. One fun thing we do is to select an author for each grade level to study. Our team has chosen Tomie dePaola. Every grade creates fantastic bulletin boards in their author theme! Here is Second Grade's display for Strega Nona from last year:

 My fabulous teamie Pam enlarged Strega Nona and the pot under the document camera and colored it in chalk for us. We used yellow yarn for the pasta and then gave her a wooden spoon to hold. The book covers were made from images taken from the internet. 

On both sides of our Nona centerpiece is a photo of every student reading their favorite Tomie book! 

 I would love to get a top read-alouds list going here at Creative Lesson Cafe! 

What is your favorite?

We'd love to hear about it!

 Add your favorite to the comments below!

You can grab a cute poster sign for your door or reading area for Read Across America here! 

InLinkz.com

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Read Across America Classroom Poster

When it's time to celebrate Dr. Suess' Birthday and kick off your March reading month festivities and Read Across America, I made this cute poster you can display in your classroom window!

graphics by creative clips

It's a Fan Freebie on the Creative Lesson Cafe Facebook page. 

Click on the picture to grab a copy if you like! 

From there find the Fan Freebie tab.

Hope you can use it!

Gooey Green Stuff Recipe

Ready for some good gooey green science fun? Is it a solid or a liquid or something else? This is one of my favorite activities to do for March 2nd and it ties in just beautifully with lessons on matter!

Here's a printable with the recipe for your files! Click on the picture to download a copy!

Hope your celebration is lots of fun!

Read Across America Activities

Kalahari Water Park Resort was a blast and it was great to get away on a mini vacation! I've worked on a few new things since returning home.

 I'm getting ready to celebrate Dr. Seuss on his birthday with some fun and silly stuff! This year, it will be celebrated on Friday, March 1st.

 I just finished these center activities! 

Click on the picture to see the description at my TPT store!

I was so sad to have to delete my favorite Dr. Seuss-themed items from my store last year because they were activities for use directly with books, but sure will be using them in my own classroom! These should be safe to post and still look very Seussy!

Let me know which one you might like (the rhyming center or short a word family center) and I'll pick three to get one free like usual! :) I'll need your email too!

By the way, I decided to try out Twitter. I'm not sure about it just yet... but if you want to find me there I could sure use some followers:) If you have a Twitter, let me know. I'll follow you back!

Here's the link (I think!):
https://twitter.com/creativelessonc