New Year’s Poem Freebie

It’s about time, teachers, ... for the New Year.  And we all know that the New Year brings resolutions. If you are not already using poetry regularly in your classroom, I hope you will resolve to do so in 2013.  If you are using poetry, resolve to create anthologies for your students.  Already making anthologies?  Great! 

Just for the New Year, I have a humorous poem to which every teacher and most students can relate. 

To help you start off the New Year right, I have created some possibilities for using this poem in your classroom. 

                                                 

If you decide to have your students write list poems, you may wish to display this poster. It is especially helpful in a writing center.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

I wish you all the best in the New Year!

This poem and its possibilities are from my product, Poetry Possibilities for Winter.  The list poem poster is from Pick a Pack of Poetry Posters.

                                                                      

Both are available on TpT and TN.  If you like these products, you may also be interested in these:

     

Kwanzaa Poem Freebie

It's nearly time for Kwanzaa (12/26/12 - 1/1/13).  So I thought I would share a Kwanzaa poem and some activities to do with the poem.

These documents are available on Google Docs.  You can also get them in my product, Poetry Possibilties - December.

This product is available on both TpT and TN.

Harambee!

You may also like:

Green Tree, Green Tree, What Do You See?

It's about time, teachers, for an emergent reader just for the holidays. 

Green Tree, Green Tree, What Do You See? is my take-off of Bill Martin, Jr.'s classic, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?   The text mimics the patterns and rhythms in Mr. Martin's book.  

The black line pictures not only support the text, but are inviting to color.   Ask your students to color the pictures noting the color words in bold print on each  previous page. 

This Christmas book emphasizes the following high frequency words: what, do, you, see, I, a, looking, at, good, boys, and, girls, for, & me. While the text is highly predictable, there are enough exceptions to require your students to truly attend to the text.  The lilt of the story encourages fluent reading.  Repeated use of question marks and periods provide ample practice for “reading the punctuation.”

The pages are formatted for double sided printing.  By printing them in the order given, you will be able to fold and staple the book together with the pages in the correct order.  Please note that page 4/5 should be printed on both sides of the same paper.  

You can get your copy of this 9 page reader for just 99¢ at either TpT or TN.

Until next time...

If you like this reader, you may like these emergent readers, too:

Sale Time!

It's about time, teachers, ... to give thanks. Because I am so thankful for this new era of cyber sharing and collaborating, I am joining the sales on TpT and TN.

The Teachers Notebook's 3-Day Sale is Sat., 11/24 - Sun., 11/26.  In addition to my discounted prices, there will be a 10% reduction at check-out given by the site administrators.  You don't want to miss it!

Teachers Pay Teachers' annual Cyber Monday sale starts on Mon., 11/27 and continues through Tues., 11/28.  In addition to the discounts I'm offering, you can apply their coupon code, CMT12, for an additional 10% off your entire order.  You've just got to make time to shop at this sale!

You know this is a very busy time of year.  If you are not exhausted, yet, you soon will be. So, treat yourself to some tried and true lesson plans and units.  You deserve it!  

Thanksgiving Poetry Freebie

It's about time, teachers, . . . for Thanksgiving.  In the spirit of this holiday, I'm pleased to share with you a --

Prior to our Turkey Day break, I like to share the following poem with my students:

After we read it, we do some or all of these Poetry Possibilities:

Enjoy the poem and, if you try any of the Possibilities, I'd love to hear how they worked for your class.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

This comes from my product, Poetry Possibilities - Fall. 

You may also like these Poetry Possibility products:

Find them at my TpT Store or TN Shop. 

Let's Talk Turkey

It's about time teachers ... for Thanksgiving!  So let's talk turkey - Let's Talk Turkey Words, that is. This is a new product I've posted on TpT and TN. Because I have so very much to be thankful for, I have listed it for FREE!

As you probably guessed, Let's Talk Turkey Words is a language arts activity.  It is perfect for literacy centers, small group instruction, and as an activity for fast finishers.  There are letter tiles for 4 seasonal words -- Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, turkey, & Mayflower.  Each word is in a different color to assist you in getting the right letters to each student.

The goal is for students to create as many words as they can from the letters in their set.  At a center or in a small group, giving each child a different set of letters has proven to discourage Billy-the-Borrower from simply copying his friend's list of words.  

Let's Talk Turkey Words exercises your students' abilities to be fluent and flexible in thought and oral language.  It will also inform you about your students' command of common spelling patterns and sight words.

Used for differentiation, this activity readily accommodates the differences in word generating abilities.  You can make the task more challenging for your higher functioning students by - 

• denying them the right to make words with less than 3 letters 
• requiring 2 or more syllables
• allowing them to use common suffixes, such as -ed, er, or -ing, despite not having those letters before them
• giving parts of speech parameters (5 verbs, 7 nouns, 3 adverbs, 4 adjectives, ...)
• etc.

Copy the letter sets on cardstock, laminate, and cut apart.  A recording sheet is provided. This product is CCSS aligned for you.  You're welcomed!

You can get Let's Talk Turkey Words on TpT or TN.  While you are there, check out my other turkey centers and activities:

and my original book, Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey?  It is an emergent reader perfect for practicing chunking and phrasing.

Check out Classroom Freebies Manic Mondays

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!