I Knew it was Spring

Painting Word Pictures
In writing we have been discussing how writers use words to help readers visualize what is happening in the text. We have discussed how we use "wow" words in our writing to paint pictures in a reader's mind.
We practiced painting word pictures by writing a poem about spring.

Painting Word Pictures was a series of three minilessons.  We started the poem with a writing framework based on the days of the week. The first day we closed our eyes and made a picture in our minds about what we see in the spring. We finished each line in the poem with a noun.

On day two we revisited our poems and revised them by adding on details at the end of each line. We added a verb and a "where","when", or "how".

On day three, we revisited the same poem and discussed adding adjectives and other descriptors to  our poems. We revised our poems by "pushing in" a word right before our noun.

And-that is how we know it is spring!

I knew it was spring when I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from a student!

Great New Finds at Dollar Tree!

These are my great new finds at Dollar Tree!
They are dry erase fact sets. I bought the  addition and subtraction facts. The student can time themselves with our timers, record their time, and erase for the next student. I love them because they are reusable and environmentally friendly. A great reminder since Earth Day is coming soon and we talk a lot about how we can save paper and resources. I think I will also let the students check them out and practice at home.





These are Ear Buds that come in fun colors. The only problem we have had with our new iPods is the cleaning of the ear buds between users. I bought enough ear buds so that each student will have their own pair. I will store them in a baggie with the student's name and they can use the same pair throughout the year.  Much more sanitary!

Language Fun

               IDIOMS

We started our lesson with a discussion of weather idioms from our Scholastic News. An idiom is an expression that means something different from what it seems to mean.

 We then read some other books with examples of idioms. We read the idioms and then discussed what they really meant. These books were written and illustrated  by Fred Gwynne- better known as Herman Munster on the Munsters!

Last, the students wrote and illustrated an idiom of their choosing.

Me too!

Homophone Relay

Today we played Homophone Relay. A homophone is written on the puzzle piece and the matching homophone is written on the puzzle board.

We divided into two teams. The first team to finish their puzzle won!

A New Look!

I love my new blog design! It was designed by a very creative teacher at Ladybug Teaching Resources!