Informative & How To?

The past few weeks have been really busy! Here are a couple of units we have been working on in Writing Workshop! I have added them to my teacherspayteachers account. Check them out here and here.

Enjoy and Happy March!

In LOVE with Valentine's Day!!

I know this is a little last minute, but I wanted to put together a little Persuasive Writing Mini Unit together for Valentine's Day! This is a 5 day, Writing Workshop unit. You could squeeze it into  four days, if you have a party planned next week! You can purchase it for a buck, here!

Tonight, we had parent teacher conferences. Make sure you check out my old posts and download my parent teacher conference form FREEBIE!

Freebie

We made these ADORABLE snowman after reading Snowman at Night. I made a cute little poster to hang in the hallway along with my kids work and the writing prompt that we used. Here's where we got the idea- http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2012/01/snowmen-at-night-and-ryan-gosling.html
Thanks, first grade parade!

Download the poster and paper HERE for FREE!

Hope ya'all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Writing Workshop

I LOVE teaching Writing! I love it because it is so flexible. I can work one on one with a child, in a small group, or model to my whole class. I love it because I can model exactly what my expectations are. Even though teaching Reading is also something I love, I would have to say that lately Writing has been my favorite. We just have so much fun with it! Speaking of Writing- I have added 3 new TPT units that you could easily integrate into your writing time.

Here's the first one...
Narrative Writing aligned with the Common CORE and included 4 weeks worth of lessons... (yeah!) I do one week in October, one in November, one in December, and the last in January. Here's the link.

Next, I added my Reading Workshop lessons that go along with Narrative number 2. Yes, they go completely hand in hand! Check it out, here.

Lastly, I added this Gingerbread Unit. It is so, so fun and my favorite Unit of the entire year! Enjoy it, here. ON SALE NOW!

I hope you LOVE teaching Writing as much as I do...

Stay tuned this week.. I will be posting a FREEBIE or two Friday.

Have a great week!

Tid Bit!

Girl: Mrs. Trew, ____ just said the m word!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: Ohhh, what's the m word?
Girl: MANIAC

Of course... How did I not know that? HAHA

Short Week

This week is only a 3 day week for our kids, and a 4 day week for us. Woohoo! My co-teacher created an AMAZING Pumpkin Research Project that we have been working on in Writer's Workshop. You can purchase it, here.

It took me about a week to complete with my students. I am so excited to finally do the "Pumpkin Discovery" portion. I am bringing in 3 large pumpkins and will incorporate Science, Math, and Writing within the lesson.

I am also putting together a two day, Writing mini lesson in which I will post as soon as I get it organized!

Have a great week!

Common CORE Grades

It's safe to say, our team has been struggling with finding a way to grade all these assessments in an organized fashion. Some of us are using spreadsheets, while others are using student profile sheets, and others are using a combination of them both. I don't think there is a right or wrong way, it is just whatever works best for YOU. As I live it and figure it out which I like best, I will be sure to write about it and post my work to TPT. In the meantime, I want my kids to get used to our new grading scale. Our district has adopted an L P M E scale.
L means limited, P means progressing toward expectation, M means Mastered expectation, and E means exceeding grade level expectation.

How do you feel about posting the posters in your room? I like the idea of the children knowing where they fall in regard to what was expected for them, so that they really try their best. I also think it helps them be more responsible. However, I hate when one of them gets sad or upset when they get an L. I always make sure to put L in a postive light as well. It means you are learning!

We wanted kid friendly ways to explain this to our students and to parents, so I created these simple posters. You can download them here.