In Honor and Remembrance

Sparkle Statements!

Who doesn’t LOVE glitter!?  Haha… Ok so I don’t like the cleanup either but I just love how it makes things so much more colorful! We were working on creating “sparkle statements” this week as a part of our unit on RESPECT.  It was one of four lessons on our character trait “respect.”  Students had a blast thinking of respectful statements to put inside their shapes.  They couldn’t wait to make their statement “shine” by tracing it with glitter glue!  Students were so proud to present their respectful statements to the class.  Check out a couple below!

            

As part of this monthly unit we also read the book Show Some Respect by Anastasia Suen, and The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
                    

Both of these trade books are great at showing how to respect others and the environment!

This is just one quick glimpse into this character trait/bullying pack which is a best seller in our store.  It consists of an entire year’s worth of lessons!  You can check it out at our TPT store!  
                    Have a great rest of your week!

Inferencing

Do your kiddos struggle with inferencing? I usually feel like my kids do really well with it until I say the word. Then I feel like I'm speaking Spanish. I've decided to take it s-l-o-w this year. We have talked over and over about inferencing and have practiced frequently but I have yet to have them practice this skill while reading a story. I know, I know! That will be my big push after winter break but for right now, they are pretty much rockin' my socks with their inferences. Take a look at an activity we did not too long ago:

First, I found this cute little pack on TpT for FREE!
(Click on the image below to link to the page)

So, I printed out the 'Cookie Clue Cards' and attached clues to the back. (The best part?! This can be re-used over and over!)

The kids had a 'Mising Cookies Case File' sheet where they recorded all of the clues and made their inferences. However they had an even better time making their dective and writing about their inferences. Here is a look at our finished product:

"I inferer Santa is the cookie theif. I think this becuase Santa lives by a snowy environment. He wears a red suit. Santa also wears fuzzy boots. He devours cookies and milk. That is why I think he stole the cookies."

How do you teach inferencing in your classrooms?

December Currently

We are linking up with Farely over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade for her December edition of currently.

Speaking of RAK.....we did some with our kiddos last year and we loved it. We spent time talking about Random Acts of Kindness and had the kids brainstorm a list of things we could do around the school. Each day they did something new. Some of the things they chose were: give thank you cards and cookies to our specials teachers, cleaned our room 'extra clean' one day to help out the custodian, they even stayed a few extra minutes in the cafeteria one day to help pick up the 2nd grade tables. We hope to do this with our kids again this year.

Head back later this week to see what we have been working on in our classrooms, thanks for stopping by!