Label and write

Each school year I find myself with a different type of caseload than the year before.  Last year, I worked mostly with kiddos on adapted curriculum ,where this year I work with 2nd graders who are in the general curriculum along with preschoolers.  Talk about a brain shift!

I have a group of 2nd graders who are working on writing.  They also were really struggling with the parts of speech that were being introduced.  So we reviewed, made anchor charts, played games and lots of other fun stuff.  Then, I went to the Virginia State Reading Conference and one of the presenters was talking about labeling a picture and then writing about it.  I thought " How perfect for my 2nd graders."  I modified it to fit my needs and the kids took it hook, line, and sinker.

I used the book Here Comes T. Rex Cottontail.  We talked about the cover and made a quick anchor chart about what we saw that fit into the three parts of speech we had been working on; noun, verb & adjective.

Next, I pulled out a teacher favorite and the kids went bonkers.  All it was was sticky note flags.  You would think I gave them the coolest new video game.  The students used the flags to label the cover of the book with all of the different things they saw.

Next, we started reading the book.  I stopped part way in and asked for a prediction. "Where do you think T. Rex is going to get more eggs?"  We then had to stop for the day which caused an uproar of suspense.

The next day, they were ready to jump right in.  However, first, I asked them to write their prediction of where the eggs were coming from.  One referred to all of the labels we had made so she could spell words and to help her brainstorm.  After they finished, each read their prediction.

I continued reading and at the end of the story, I stopped again.  This time, I asked, " What do you think was in the eggs?" Again, the students had to write down their prediction.  They each read their prediction and then I finished the book.

Now, I know this sounds so simple and it was.  I was able to get lots of writing practice in (including correct capitalization and punctuation) and the kids did not even realize they were learning.

Do you have any fun activities you do in your classroom to practice writing?  I would love to hear about them!!

Cutting out heads and bodies!

Well change of plans.... I was supposed to blog about my morning circle routine today, but all of my pictures are on my ipod.  I had planned on bringing it home Friday (I use it daily in my classroom), but then we ended up having a flood day.  Yes, I said flood day.  I grew up with snow days and then when I moved to VA I learned about flood days.  Right now I have lots of friends who currently are on water front property and waiting for the tide to go out.  A nor'easter combined with hurricane Juqain, made for a wet combination. So, my morning circle routine will have to be another day.

Now I am sure you are thinking, "Cutting out heads? Has she finally lost it?". I promise you I have not.  I actually have a folder on my google drive label preschool heads.  This is a folder of pictures of just the kids heads or whole bodies that we use for various projects. I have used this file when making scarecrows a few years ago and most recently I have used these to make our How many Apples up on top book.

Today I am going to show you a quick tutorial on how to cut out your own heads. I promise that it is so much easier then the days of going into paint and taking out pixel by pixel.



First open up PowerPoint or Word(the process is the same in both).  You do need the latest version of Powerpoint to utilize this feature.  You will start with a blank presentation.  Add the picture you want.

Now click the remove background button.  Don't panic when your picture turns purple!

The part of the picture that is purple is that part that is being removed.  If you want more gone then click the - button and then click the parts you want to disappear.  When you click those parts they will start turning purple.  Sometime it is finicky so you may need to play with it a bit.  Keep gong until you have everything gone.  You can click keep changes and if you don't like it, go right back in and make adjustments. 

Now the background is gone!  Save the picture as a jpeg or png (right click on it and then click save as picture).  Now you can add it to other pictures or go to PicMonkey and add some other images like I did with the Pumpkin head one 

 Just think about all of the creative writing you could get out of this picture!!! 

What will use your cut out heads and bodies for?

Just in case you missed it, I posted a new freebie over the weekend.  Check it out!

End of year writing activity

I just have to share this adorable writing activity that I got from Miss Kindergarten! It came out so cute and kids enjoyed making it. Some of my students wrote the answers and others who have fine motor difficulties typed their answers and then cut them out and glued them in the correct spots. (Lots of fine motor practice!!!)

Superb Writers’ Blogathon

I am sharing my passion for the written word as a part of the Superb Writers’ Blogathon. In partnership with Grammarly grammar checker, this series is providing helpful hints to aspiring superb writers. Being an educator, I decided to blog about writing in the classroom and how I have helped my students become superb writers. As you can imagine, writing in the special education classroom can look a lot different than writing in the traditional classroom. Every student has the right and the ability to be a superb writer, we just need to find a way for them to be able to demonstrate this. Students can demonstrate their writing abilities in a variety of ways. The most obvious is with pen and paper. When I first started teaching I had a class full of eager students who were able to use this method. We had designated writing times each week where we would work on a specific writing task. On their journey to becoming superb writers my students would check not only their own work, but that of classmates (by the way, these were 2nd & 3rd graders with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, autism, and adhd). This allowed them to improve their own writing and that of others by working together and making suggestions. When reading a classmates work they would sit side-by-side and use a red pencil to make areas that needed corrections or changes. The students also each had a writing folder that contained their current work, a list of often mis-spelled words and a list of proofreading marks. I loved watching them work together and listening to how proud they were of the writers they were becoming.

In my current class, I have students who are unable to use the traditional mode of pencil and paper to become superb writers due to fine motor difficulties. For these students sometimes we use a computer, a scribe, or other low tech ways of writing. These may include word magnets, eye gaze charts, and alphabet flipcharts. Sometimes just a simple adaptation such as a pencil grip, slanted work surface or raised lines on paper using wiki sticks are just what is needed to help a student achieve their writing goals. For all of my students, I usually give them a writing prompt to help them begin their thought process and start writing. I usually use a picture that I know will be of interest or cause some discussion amongst the group. Sometime my students will write on personal experiences. I have found that students are able to write successfully on topics that they know. For example, if I have a student who loves Sponge Bob, I may use a picture of Sponge Bob or a toy Sponge Bob to stimulate discussion and the writing process. After viewing the picture, we will discuss the topic and maybe even write a few sentences together to demonstrate the writing process. I like to have my students create a writing web or some other type of organizer to get their thoughts together prior to writing. I would really love to hear about how other educators teach writing and anything special that you may do to get your students creative juices flowing.

Pirate Pre-writing

I am continuing to work on my pirate unit. A few of my students are still in the pre-writing stages of learning so I thought I should make some pages to help them also. Let me know what you think!

Pre Writing Practice