Back to School Planning

 

It's about time to start planning for the new school year. A great way to start the school year is with these fun poems and the many POSSIBILITIES for using them in your classroom.

From allaying 1st day jitters to establishing rules & procedures for the year, these poems will get your students off to a great start!

Incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) with poems like the one above.  SEL will have a great impact on everything from developing strong, positive relationships to academic achievement. Reassure all of your students that everyone has some jitters at the start of a new school year.  Your timid learners will especially appreciate knowing that you will not be cruel if they have forgotten something.

Above is another poem that deals with feelings, this time focusing on learning new things and how frustrating that can be.  Use the POETRY POSSIBILITIES to lay the foundation for employing patience and practice.

Use the following poem to introduce concrete poetry.  Invite your poets to try one of their own. When poetry is this fun, everyone loves it!

This collection of 12 poems includes a broad range of reading levels, making it appropriate to both primary and intermediate classrooms. This will allow teachers to accomodate students reading above and below grade level with differentiated instruction.

BACK TO SCHOOL POETRY POSSIBILITIES is on sale this week!  Save 50% through Friday, 7/29/22.

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This best selling unit has been updated to remove any Native American graphics that may be deemed offensive.

IT'S ABOUT TIME, TEACHERS, for HALLOWEEN!

 

Are you ready?  These Halloween TREATS will fill your teacher's bag with activities that will delight your students.  Many are applicable to multiple, elementary grades.  Take a look:

• literacy
• math
• literacy & math
• critical thinking
• fun

Fill your bag here.

It's about time, teachers, to snag your March freebies!

• syllables
• vocabulary
• rhyming
• critical thinking
• brain exercise
• differentiated
• kiddos beg to do them

• creative thinking
• holiday fun
• fluency
• flexibility
• enrichment
• gifted/talented

• word work
• verbal fluency
• differentiated computation
• addition
• multiplication
• mixed operations
• individual effort
• competition

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USING POETRY IN THE CLASSROOM - Part 2

It’s about time, teachers, to describe more ways I use poetry in the classroom.  

Poetry lends itself to guided reading lessons so seamlessly.  Virtually any reading skill can be taught through a poem. The following is one I use for compound word study.

Depending on the students, this poem can launch the study or allow them to review the concept.  For primary students, I begin by demonstrating that compound words can be broken into 2 separate words. One of the most dramatic ways to explain compound words is to write some on sentence strips and then cut them apart in front of the group.  Using a pocket chart, you can “rejoin” and “separate” the words until the concept is clear.  This is also effective in showing them why some words may sound like compound words, but actually are not.  Then we hunt for compound words on an enlarged copy of the poem.

For older students, I would challenge them to highlight all the compound words they can find on their copies of the poem.  Using a pencil, rather than a marker, is a good idea should they mistake a multisyllabic word for a compound. 

Using an example from the poem above, “believe” may seem like a compound word to some readers.  However, when you cut it apart, it becomes clear that it is not, in fact, 2 smaller words. Spelling counts!  (lieve vs leave) 

In my next post, I’ll describe skill lessons that poetry readily proffers.

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It's about time, teachers, for some D'NEALIAN CLASSROOM DECOR!

If you have a D'Nealian classroom, you know how difficult it can be to find decor in that font.  I created these 6 products just for you!

The blue and green palette is one of my favorites as it creates a charming, serene atmosphere without being overwhelmingly bright (and distracting).

You may also like these coordinating products that are not currently available in D'Nealian:

Teacher Treats

It's About Time for Hallowe'en, Teachers!

And, this weekend, all the treats are for you!

No tricks; these 5 products are FREE this weekend, 10/27 - 10/29.

I hope you will take a moment to leave TPT feedback.  It benefits you and me.