Figurative Language Spring Templates

Next week I'm still working on Figurative Language.  I really can not stop working on it at this point in the year.  I just wanted to make it fun for my students though... so I made up 3 cutesy templates for them to fill in.

To decorate the classroom for March, they will fill in a rainbow with words from our Dr. Seuss texts.

Later on in March we will use the flower template to brainstorm more examples.  

Then in April we will use the little butterfly.

All 3 of them have spots to fill in with examples of Hyperbole, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Metaphor, Simile, and Personification.  There is also an additional grid to brainstorm more examples.  

There are 2 of each type of template - words on the shape, and words off the shape in case you wanted to bubble cut the shapes out.  Click the images to go and check it out from TPT.

Hope you had a great day!

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Dr. Seuss' Birthday and Pins

This morning I woke in a panic.  I knew February was quickly flying by, but this morning it occurred to me that after February comes March, and that was next week!

So, instead of sleep I've been downstairs on the computer updating my Dr. Seuss activities for this year... you know, changing the date, etc...

Every year, for as many years as I can remember I've celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday.  

When I taught Kindergarten I brought in eggs & food coloring and scrambled them.  The kids were grossed out every year.  This year I want to do this for my students.    

When I taught 2nd grade, the team would each choose their favorite Dr. Seuss read aloud and we rotated rooms to share with the other classes.  The kids really enjoyed that - having the teachers switch around instead of them moving.  

In 4th grade I still celebrate.  I give Dr. Seuss credit for helping teach my students to read.  So I give my students an invitation to attend a Read In.  Pillows, Blankets, Books, PJ's... it's a full invitation just like a party.  I also use this Read In for another fundraiser for my classroom and turn it into a Read-a-thon for technology.  Last year we raised enough for a Kindle Fire and a NowBoard.  This year I'm hoping for more MP3 players and another Kindle Fire.    

I also bring in a couple of Dr. Seuss books (and ask my students to bring in their favorites), and we make up a figurative language book like the below picture.  It's not my picture, but it's the same idea.  I give them the outline of a Dr. Seuss hat and they cut it out on top of another piece of copy paper.  We then staple the 2 papers together, one staple in each section of the hat.  They then cut the top paper on the specific lines so it's becomes flippable.  They write the titles to the different sections out just like below, and then we dive into our books to then write examples under each section.  Just another way to practice Figurative Language.    

How do you celebrate?  

Linking up with Learning in Wonderland Pinspired Linky.

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Figurative Language Lesson (for my Observation)

You know when you think everything will be perfect, that it will be great lesson, and then it didn't work out as planned?  Yeah, that happened today.  
The story this week is full of Figurative Language.  Maybe you have the same story, "McBroom and the Big Wind"?  It really is perfect to do a treasure hunt for the different types of figurative language.  Well this week is review week, so I thought to have a bit of fun with it today.  
My students first reviewed the different types of figurative language by watching this video from School Tube.   They loved it.  

We actually watched it twice - once before my observation really began, and then another time after it started.  The second time through they sang along with the chorus.

  I then gave them this paper (it's a freebie), and we defined the different types together - like I said, it was review - giving an example and drawing a little picture.  
I used these posters for review from Every New Beginning Blog
She has everything ready to go with definitions and examples... Perfect!
So far, so good with the lesson...  
Then part of my students left for music, and it was like a stampede exited from the classroom.  I know I am extra sensitive during an observation, and usually they tip toe out... not today though!  
The part of my class that stayed with me continued on with a treasure hunt looking for personification and similes until it was time to write a response to literature complete with Author's Purpose.  I thought that we would be able to take a concept and then search for clues in the text - giving them time to make a little list before we reconvened - but they weren't quite there yet.  
Instead it turned into a "find it on this page", and then "put your finger on the example", so I could check their understanding, before we added it to the treasure hunt binder paper that was stapled to the above page (now take a deep breath)...  We still identified like I said in my objectives, and overall it was a decent lesson, it just wasn't in the exact way that I had dreamed it would be.    
I'm sure you can relate.
Hope you had a great day!

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My Fabulous Finds

Yesterday I went shopping by myself... and I ended up at Michaels.  I always end up at Michaels in the teacher section.  Ta da!  It was my lucky day because most of the teacher stuff was on clearance for 49 cents each... then I also had my teacher discount... I love the teacher discount!

So here's my loot.  So much stuff for super cheap.  Now, you have to remember that my room is apple themed and my main colors are blue with touches of red.  Now, you also have to know that I have a problem leaving anything on the rack with a certain design especially if it's on sale, and if I can justify it for the classroom.  Maybe you can relate...  

These are Kindness tickets.  My class does a lot with Bucket Filling, so I thought a little refresher treat was in order.  I should be set for this year and next.  

I bought a ton of these Award Badges.  They are huge stickers and notice they don't have the word "award" on them at all... so perfect for decoration on bulletin boards, file folder games, binders... I just need to add my classroom numbers to use for multiple years.  It was something similar that I picked up last year to add to the back of my blue classroom clipboards for 4th Grade Frolics Monday Made It.  Large stickers are perfect!

Name tags come in so handy - especially for field trips.  I have one this coming Thursday and it's nice to be able to write their first name down so the docent can call on the person.  

Do I need to write any explanations for push pins, paper clips, and binder clips?  I have an addiction with office supplies...

These notepads have magnets on the back of them.  I'm planning on hanging on the side of my bookshelf near the phone (since I never have a pad of paper or pen handy), and the other one by my file cabinets.  Same thing - I don't have paper ready to jot a note when I'm standing there pulling out the paperwork for the next week...

These are sentence strips that will be able to work in my small pocket charts.  They are the perfect size for name tags when needed, weekly center rotations without having to rewrite it on the board over and over, bulletin board items, vocabulary and spelling words.  I bought many many packages.  

You can probably tell that I had fun shopping... it doesn't happen that often, at least not as often as this past summer when I was linking up with Fun in Room 4B's Fabulous Friday Finds.  :)  

Hope you have a great day!  I'm getting set for a busy week... wish me luck!

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Black History Month

Do you celebrate Black History Month?  I do!  

Every year I give my students a large piece of construction paper to make a placemat.  Not that they really use it as a placemat when they take it home, but the point is I want them to share the information with their parents.  I want to promote family discussions about what they learned that day in school.  Sometimes kids need a visual to remember...

  As we discuss the famous men and women they write fun facts about them on their paper.  This year, since I have now discovered the power of powerpoint, I made the placemat official looking.  I typed the names for my kiddos - making it easier for them to follow along.  I also typed up all my notes about these famous people, created note pages for the students to fill in, to use in a game, and then made up a sheet for students to take one person & create a paragraph about them to add to a class book.  

After we make up the placemat and before their individual writing, I'm going to take the fun facts sheets and cut them into strips.  They are then going to each get a strip of information about a specific person, and mingle to music to share their information over and over again with the different members of our class.  After all that writing they will need a chance to get up and move!  I have another page in the packet similar to a bingo board for them to check off who they talk about.  Their goal will be to make a bingo with the different people.  After the fact they will take their strip of paper and begin writing about their specific person.     

  It's over at TPT if you are interested in checking it out!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!  I stayed up way too late last night (no school today) to finish my 3rd book of the weekend.  Yes, 3 books.  I love vacation!

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President's Day Fun

We started celebrating President's Day a week ago when my students reviewed graphing coordinate points.  2 years ago I found functional mystery picture graphs on Superteacherworksheets.com.  At that time they were free, but now there is a membership fee.  Still worth it though!
I have the one for Abe and another one for George.  

Like I was saying, my students graphed Abe a week ago on Friday, and then last Friday they graphed George.  With the first graph I showed them an example of Abe so they could check their plots.  With George I wasn't that willing. I wanted to see if they really got it.  They did and they look awesome (and their self confidence has gone up).
Besides the graphing, this coming Tuesday we will compare and contrast Abe and George.  I'm going to give them this free coloring sheet and they will draw their Venn Diagram on the back of it.   
Then after we brainstorm they will need to write a multi paragraph essay comparing and contrasting Abe and George.  It's motivation to finish since they then can color the cover of their book.  A quick staple to include their graphs and they have a book to take home to show their parents.  I love things that turn out to be easy!
Here's an art project that I loved doing with my school kids last year, as well as my home kids.  The picture below is of my 3 boys.

All you do is take a portrait of their heads - I try to have their heads fill up the camera screen.  After you print you (or they) cut out their images.  At school last year I had them stick their face on a paper plate and they painted over it with black paint.  It was messy and my room smelled of paint for a couple of days.  At home I cut them out and then we used a poster sized permanent marker to color it in.  It was so much easier using the black sharpie.  Definitely less messy.  Then you glue it onto a white background and it's done.
Hope you are having a great weekend!

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Five for Friday

I'm linking up a day late with Doodle Bugs Teaching.  What a week it has been!

Here are 5 random things about this week:

1.  Valentine's Day School Love

My students completely caught me off guard this week with all their goodies and treats and love.  I have had to be Ms. Drill Sergeant so much this year, that it felt nice to be loved.

2.  Scholastic Bonus Point Order Arrived

I had bought this Mini Time Tracker through Scholastic's bonus points and it arrived on Thursday afternoon.  It has already been the perfect size to keep on my front cart and the kids are enthralled with the different countdown lights.

3.  Froggie Fractions

We've been learning about fractions and I made up these cards to review equivalent, simplifying, and changing up mixed to improper, and back again.  The kids enjoyed them yesterday and it was nice using it as an assessment this time around.  I wrote a blog post about it yesterday - just click the image to read it.      

4.  Cleaning Up the Classroom

I'm so thankful for a couple of minutes this week to just really clean the classroom.  Ever have that random time to spruce up the room?  I've had weeks of meetings lately taking up every minute of my day that somehow I haven't had time to clean up random little piles of clutter and paperwork.  It was nice having report cards done and no meetings to be able to just go through piles of paperwork and figure out what to place in the circular file vs. the file cabinet.  My desk is back to being a happy place.  

5.  Here is something that made me smile this week...

Maybe it wasn't exactly a true smile, but this week all 3 of my boys were coughing up gunk.  I am thankful for investing in multiple humidifiers a couple of years ago, since kids tend to share germs...  We are all on the mend at the moment, looking forward to a relaxing weekend and a fun filled week!

Take care!  

     

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