Opinion Writing and Letter Writing Tools!

We have been working on Opinion Writing in our 2nd grade  classroom (“Writing About Reading”).  My district uses the Lucy Calkins units of study to teach reading and writing workshop and whenever we get to opinion writing, no matter what, some students like to rush through their opinion letters about a book.

Click HERE to Download this class book cover!

It always seems, if we have a “class book” that stays out for everyone to read (and reread) all year, kids take TONS more time and effort into their writing pieces.  SO...this year we have a Book Recommendation Binder (perfect for keeping the excitement of good books alive in the room too).  I have made a copy of kids finished letters about books and put them into our class binder.  So far it has REALLY helped with the "Writing About Reading" Unit this year!

 The other thing that we have added to our writing tools is a letter writing helper.  Putting the parts of a letter in the correct spot is always SO difficult for them to remember.  

Here is what I use to help with that!  Enjoy the FREEBIEs and I really hope that they help out if you are teaching these units as well!! :)

You can keep these like this or fold them over!

This is a little bit of what we have learned so far on how to write an opinion letter about a book:

Fun Circle Stories and a December *FREEBIE*

Snow has finally come and with the snow bring CIRCLE STORIES to my classroom.

We have been studying Laura Numeroff’s “If you Give a” circle stories and are going to start writing our own based on fun holiday themes next week!  If you want to join the fun with your class click the link above to the packet!

I started by reading a lot of Laura Numeroff’s books and discussing cause and effect.  If you have Amazon Prime, there are a couple videos based on these books on there, as well as a Christmas themed one! J

We wrote “If you Give Santa A Cookie” all together and made a class book out of it.  Now they are going to start making their OWN circle stories titled “If you give a Reindeer a Root beer”

The reason that I wanted everyone to write that book is because for their parents holiday gifts this year they are painting reindeers and we are putting them into frames (very easy and 8x10 frames are from the Dollar Tree)

This is the BLOG that I got the idea from and where you can find all the instructions (they are SUPER cute)

We have also been reading "Snowmen at Night" and other books from that series

  

After reading the book, we brainstormed what we would do if we were a "Snowman at Night" and wrote a story about it.

I made a copy of their short stories (they were very creative) and put them into a class book. They love to have their writing stay in the classroom all year and reread it.  It also seems that they work way harder on writing that they know will be in a class book and that kids will be reading throughout the year.

 

Here is the COVER and TEMPLATE for these for FREE :)  Enjoy

The writing that they came up with we also posted with a fun shaving cream craft to make sparkly snowmen.  

To make the snowmen, I put half and half of white glue and shaving cream into a cup.  I had the kids mix it up really well with paint brushes that I didn't care about. Then they formed snowmen (all differently).  I sprayed the whole thing with Scotch Glue Spray (from Amazon) and topped it off with big glitter.  For all of the glitter steps and product information, I used this blog.  Then they are able to put the google eyes on.  It is messy, but SO worth it.

Classroom Management Tools (a lot of *FREEBIES* included)

Most of the things mentioned in this post can be downloaded for FREE in this pack:

If you are looking for some tools to help manage certain things in your classroom this year, you may find them here.  These are some of the things that I find very beneficial in my classroom.  

  

The very first week of school, we go over this volume chart, and we even practice it with a lot of the fun "get to know you" activities in the start of the year.  The more we practice the volume chart the first weeks of school, the better it usually is.

In my school, part of our PBIS is handing out "high fives" for good behavior.  The post it high fives that we have were too difficult to keep track of, so I made some sticker charts for sticker "high fives" (they sell these on Amazon) instead.  If they are useful to you they are also in this pack!

My favorite way to encourage positive behavior in my classroom is our class "Gem Jar"

We vote on what we want to do as a class to celebrate when we fill up the gem jar and I write it on this frame.

The last one we voted on was "Camp Day"

I don't always use this sign, but if I have a few blurters in my class I do.  Each time someone blurts during a lesson, a letter gets taken off.  If all the letters stay on it might earn some gems.

This is my favorite way to pick kids for things or to take turns.  I just put their names on these sticks (and just for fun added some glittery poms to the end so they look like a decoration). :)

When kids earn 25 highfives, our school has a reward system that they can pick from.  I have rewards in a binder in my classroom.  You can download some cover options in the pack.

I also added some more that they can choose that I got from this resource:

Setting up the School Year and FREEBIE Class Contract Sign

FREEBIE– Class Contract Banner

My favorite book to use when we write our class contract together is “What if Everyone Did That.”  We talk about school scenarios with the book and write our class contract together, based on what the kids decide would be important in the classroom and in school. 

One of the other lessons that I do early in the year is the crumpled heart activity with the book “Chrysanthumum”(we put the crumpled tissue paper heart on the class contract to help us remember). We read the books and crumple the heart a little more each time something hearts her heart in the story.  At the end it shows that words hurt and the heart cannot be smoothed out completely.  We do a very similar activity with mini toothpaste tubes while kids use team work to get all the toothpaste out, but cannot get the toothpaste back in the tube at the end (representing words)

FREEBIE! Memory Box Printable

*FREEBIE– Memory Box Sign

Early on in the year, I put out a Memory Box so that kids can write about their favorite things as the year goes on.  At the end of the year it is fun to remember times throughout the year (and it is interesting for me to see what they really enjoyed doing throughout the year).

FREEBIE! Cover for "Letters From Last Year's Class" - Class Book

*FREEBIE– COVER for “letters for next year’s class” to make into a class book

Another way that I have kids get to know their new classroom is by reading LETTERS that I have my last years class write to them at the end of the year.  I have a couple baskets dedicated to all of our class books and this is the class book that is displayed to start the year.  They love reading the letters, and the class from the year before loves writing them at the end of the year!

Classroom Community Builder and CUTE FREEBIE

FREEBIE - Cover for a class scrapbook (made options for Kindergarten-4th Grade)

I have all my kids make a scrapbook page about themselves when we start the year to build our community and learn all about each other.  The activity directions can be found in this packet.  

Room Setup *FREEBIE*

I made a new sign for my sharp pencils and put them around plastic mason jars (that I got off of amazon).  They look like real mason jars, but you don't have to worry about glass! :)  You can download these (with dull pencil and eraser signs as well) here! 

Classroom Calendars for 2017-18!!

You can get this freebie HERE!! :)

I use these calendars each year for my kids reading homework folders (the book log versions with the directions on the top for parents to sign when their child reads).  I use the plain calendars for other things throughout the year such as my parent volunteer schedule.

Teacher Planning Binder for 2017-18 School Year FREEBIE

The school year is coming to an end! Enjoy this freebie to get yourself organized for next school year! :)

Book Clubs and Partner Reading Tools

I have been launching Book Clubs in my 2nd grade class, in addition to the partner reading that we already do during Reader's Workshop!!  This seems to be super exciting for the kids.  I made some tools that will help my kiddos be independent in their groups or partners and keep track of their own (and other group members) comprehension of the texts that they read.  These tools are mainly for longer chapter books (fiction) with a story line.

All the tools that I use can be found here.

They use the tools to decide (before they start reading) on a good place to stop and check in with each other and then use some of the conversation sparkers or questions with each other to discuss the book.

Many of them are getting into longer books, so I have been frontloading these tools and how to use them with their groups and then sending them to work independently in their small groups.

I keep all of these tools in my "Partner Tools" basket, which has been a super helpful new addition to my classroom this year.

Witches Brew Writing!!

So for a couple years now, we've been doing something with Witch's Brew for Halloween in the class.  I found this cute little Witches Brew pack on Teacher's Pay Teachers (this seller also has some other great stuff!)...and since then I have done something related to Witch's Brew on Halloween.

This year we made a Class Book out of it!  It was actually my favorite Witch's Brew activity yet because I am teaching Narrative Writing and I linked it to that.  We wrote a beginning to the Witch's Brew story as a class.  This is what the kids came up with:

Then I had groups/partners work together to make their individual stories to go in the book.  They all STARTED out their stories with:

"Meanwhile (they chose characters, a spooky setting and time, and how their character's stumbled upon their "ingredient" that they chose to add to the brew)

They all ENDED each of their stories with:

"So the  (character(s)  put the (ingredient)  into the witch's cauldron and stirred the pot!"

My favorite part though, was that my kids have been struggling writing ENDINGS to their stories and this was a fun and engaging way to discuss endings of stories and we wrote one together!!  We even made the ending to our story TEACH our reader's a lesson! :)  They lead the way and our class book turned out awesome...I could not have thought of a better ending myself!  This was the ending that the kids came up with (we wrote it as a class):

I love how they came up with a "moral of the story" all on their own and definitely ended the story. Writing endings is actually what a lot of my writer's have been leaving off in their narratives and I really think that they understood it after we wrote this ending together with the Witch's Brew story!

We are going to read the class book on halloween together.  Each group will read their story that they wrote in the book with a flashlight in the dark while they add the "ingredient" that they wrote about it to the cauldron.  Then we will EAT the witch's brew!!!! :) 

Here is the cover that I made for our class book to use...download for FREE HERE

We did alter the ingredients in our Witch's Brew a bit (only to accommodate for food allergies)...these were the ingredients we used for the brew (this is the sign up I had out for Backpack Night/Open House):

Open House (and Back to School Night)

At my school, "Backpack Night" and "Open House" are two different events.  For backpack night, kids bring their stuff (right before the school year starts) and they get a sneak peak of the classroom.  I put out important sign ups and send a packet of information (and fun "get to know you" homework for the first week of school).  Open House is the night where students show off what we have been doing in school.

These are some things that I really like to have out for families on these nights.

I just fold a large piece of construction paper for a "folder" for them to take all the information that I put together for them and glue on a cover.

  

(These are cover options that I made for K-4 and put in my Open House and Back to School Night Bundle)

I also like to give them some sort of a fun treat.  This year I made some labels for a bag of gold fish saying "I'm o-FISH-ally in 2nd grade."

  

I made a couple different grade level versions that you can download for free here.

I also put out a lot of my sign ups for Backpack Night.  I get black 8x10 frames from the dollar store and put all of my signs in them.  I always put out:

-"Welcome Please Take One" with a scavenger hunt for the night

-"Volunteer Information" (a sign up with details on what they are interested in doing, availability, etc)

-"Party Treats Sign Up"Sign

-"Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up" Sign

-A Classroom "Giving Tree" Sign

When Open House comes around I put out a "Welcome" Sign with a 4x6 picture of the class (from the 1st day usually) in it.

My favorite craft that we do before Open House is definitely our "Book Recommendations.  In the beginning of the year, spreading the love of reading is so important and one of the things that has always helped my class is encouraging them to recommend books to others.  We have a "Book Recommendation Board" that we added to the class and kids have been adding books that they really love to that (I'll be sure to post about that as well).  For the Book recommendation craft, the "Back Blurb" of the book is them really bragging a book up (without giving away the ending of course).  They really got into the writing for these and took it very seriously that their job was to hook others into wanting to read the book that they chose to recommend.  The craft part was super fun too and they turned out amazing!

Another one of the crafts I like is the "Who Am I" because the parents have to guess (based on interests and portrait) who their child is.  They lift the flap to see.

This year we also made Acorns that said what we really liked about school to share with parents.

Each of the crafts and signs that I put out for Backpack Night and Open House are on my TPT page here if you are interested.