Plain and Simple Primary

Opinion Writing and Letter Writing Tools!

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Sun, 28 Jan 2018 18:46:00 +0000

We have been working on Opinion Writing in our 2nd grade classroom (“Writing About Reading”). My district uses the Lucy Calkins units of study to teach reading and writing workshop and whenever we get to opinion writing, no matter what, some students like to rush through their opinion letters about a book.

Click HERE to Download this class book cover!

It always seems, if we have a “class book” that stays out for everyone to read (and reread) all year, kids take TONS more time and effort into their writing pieces. SO...this year we have a Book Recommendation Binder (perfect for keeping the excitement of good books alive in the room too). I have made a copy of kids finished letters about books and put them into our class binder. So far it has REALLY helped with the "Writing About Reading" Unit this year!

The other thing that we have added to our writing tools is a letter writing helper. Putting the parts of a letter in the correct spot is always SO difficult for them to remember.

Here is what I use to help with that! Enjoy the FREEBIEs and I really hope that they help out if you are teaching these units as well!! :)

You can keep these like this or fold them over!

This is a little bit of what we have learned so far on how to write an opinion letter about a book:

Fun Circle Stories and a December FREEBIE

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Sun, 10 Dec 2017 18:58:00 +0000

Snow has finally come and with the snow bring CIRCLE STORIES to my classroom.

We have been studying Laura Numeroff’s “If you Give a” circle stories and are going to start writing our own based on fun holiday themes next week! If you want to join the fun with your class click the link above to the packet!

I started by reading a lot of Laura Numeroff’s books and discussing cause and effect. If you have Amazon Prime, there are a couple videos based on these books on there, as well as a Christmas themed one! J

We wrote “If you Give Santa A Cookie” all together and made a class book out of it. Now they are going to start making their OWN circle stories titled “If you give a Reindeer a Root beer”

The reason that I wanted everyone to write that book is because for their parents holiday gifts this year they are painting reindeers and we are putting them into frames (very easy and 8x10 frames are from the Dollar Tree)

This is the BLOG that I got the idea from and where you can find all the instructions (they are SUPER cute)

We have also been reading "Snowmen at Night" and other books from that series

After reading the book, we brainstormed what we would do if we were a "Snowman at Night" and wrote a story about it.

I made a copy of their short stories (they were very creative) and put them into a class book. They love to have their writing stay in the classroom all year and reread it. It also seems that they work way harder on writing that they know will be in a class book and that kids will be reading throughout the year.

Here is the COVER and TEMPLATE for these for FREE :) Enjoy

The writing that they came up with we also posted with a fun shaving cream craft to make sparkly snowmen.

To make the snowmen, I put half and half of white glue and shaving cream into a cup. I had the kids mix it up really well with paint brushes that I didn't care about. Then they formed snowmen (all differently). I sprayed the whole thing with Scotch Glue Spray (from Amazon) and topped it off with big glitter. For all of the glitter steps and product information, I used this blog. Then they are able to put the google eyes on. It is messy, but SO worth it.

Classroom Management Tools (a lot of FREEBIES included)

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 18:38:00 +0000

Most of the things mentioned in this post can be downloaded for FREE in this pack:

If you are looking for some tools to help manage certain things in your classroom this year, you may find them here. These are some of the things that I find very beneficial in my classroom.

The very first week of school, we go over this volume chart, and we even practice it with a lot of the fun "get to know you" activities in the start of the year. The more we practice the volume chart the first weeks of school, the better it usually is.

In my school, part of our PBIS is handing out "high fives" for good behavior. The post it high fives that we have were too difficult to keep track of, so I made some sticker charts for sticker "high fives" (they sell these on Amazon) instead. If they are useful to you they are also in this pack!

My favorite way to encourage positive behavior in my classroom is our class "Gem Jar"

We vote on what we want to do as a class to celebrate when we fill up the gem jar and I write it on this frame.

The last one we voted on was "Camp Day"

I don't always use this sign, but if I have a few blurters in my class I do. Each time someone blurts during a lesson, a letter gets taken off. If all the letters stay on it might earn some gems.

This is my favorite way to pick kids for things or to take turns. I just put their names on these sticks (and just for fun added some glittery poms to the end so they look like a decoration). :)

When kids earn 25 highfives, our school has a reward system that they can pick from. I have rewards in a binder in my classroom. You can download some cover options in the pack.

I also added some more that they can choose that I got from this resource:

Setting up the School Year and FREEBIE Class Contract Sign

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 17:22:00 +0000

FREEBIE– Class Contract Banner

My favorite book to use when we write our class contract together is “What if Everyone Did That.” We talk about school scenarios with the book and write our class contract together, based on what the kids decide would be important in the classroom and in school.

One of the other lessons that I do early in the year is the crumpled heart activity with the book “Chrysanthumum”(we put the crumpled tissue paper heart on the class contract to help us remember). We read the books and crumple the heart a little more each time something hearts her heart in the story. At the end it shows that words hurt and the heart cannot be smoothed out completely. We do a very similar activity with mini toothpaste tubes while kids use team work to get all the toothpaste out, but cannot get the toothpaste back in the tube at the end (representing words)

FREEBIE! Memory Box Printable

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 17:16:00 +0000

*FREEBIE– Memory Box Sign

Early on in the year, I put out a Memory Box so that kids can write about their favorite things as the year goes on. At the end of the year it is fun to remember times throughout the year (and it is interesting for me to see what they really enjoyed doing throughout the year).

FREEBIE! Cover for "Letters From Last Year's Class" - Class Book

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 17:09:00 +0000

*FREEBIE– COVER for “letters for next year’s class” to make into a class book

Another way that I have kids get to know their new classroom is by reading LETTERS that I have my last years class write to them at the end of the year. I have a couple baskets dedicated to all of our class books and this is the class book that is displayed to start the year. They love reading the letters, and the class from the year before loves writing them at the end of the year!

Classroom Community Builder and CUTE FREEBIE

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:50:00 +0000

FREEBIE - Cover for a class scrapbook (made options for Kindergarten-4th Grade)

I have all my kids make a scrapbook page about themselves when we start the year to build our community and learn all about each other. The activity directions can be found in this packet.

Room Setup FREEBIE

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 17:30:00 +0000

I made a new sign for my sharp pencils and put them around plastic mason jars (that I got off of amazon). They look like real mason jars, but you don't have to worry about glass! :) You can download these (with dull pencil and eraser signs as well) here!

Classroom Calendars for 2017-18!!

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:56:00 +0000

You can get this freebie HERE!! :)

I use these calendars each year for my kids reading homework folders (the book log versions with the directions on the top for parents to sign when their child reads). I use the plain calendars for other things throughout the year such as my parent volunteer schedule.

Teacher Planning Binder for 2017-18 School Year FREEBIE

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Thu, 18 May 2017 04:00:00 +0000

The school year is coming to an end! Enjoy this freebie to get yourself organized for next school year! :)

Book Clubs and Partner Reading Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 18:23:00 +0000

I have been launching Book Clubs in my 2nd grade class, in addition to the partner reading that we already do during Reader's Workshop!! This seems to be super exciting for the kids. I made some tools that will help my kiddos be independent in their groups or partners and keep track of their own (and other group members) comprehension of the texts that they read. These tools are mainly for longer chapter books (fiction) with a story line.

All the tools that I use can be found here.

They use the tools to decide (before they start reading) on a good place to stop and check in with each other and then use some of the conversation sparkers or questions with each other to discuss the book.

Many of them are getting into longer books, so I have been frontloading these tools and how to use them with their groups and then sending them to work independently in their small groups.

I keep all of these tools in my "Partner Tools" basket, which has been a super helpful new addition to my classroom this year.

Witches Brew Writing!!

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 01:18:00 +0000

So for a couple years now, we've been doing something with Witch's Brew for Halloween in the class. I found this cute little Witches Brew pack on Teacher's Pay Teachers (this seller also has some other great stuff!)...and since then I have done something related to Witch's Brew on Halloween.

This year we made a Class Book out of it! It was actually my favorite Witch's Brew activity yet because I am teaching Narrative Writing and I linked it to that. We wrote a beginning to the Witch's Brew story as a class. This is what the kids came up with:

Then I had groups/partners work together to make their individual stories to go in the book. They all STARTED out their stories with:

"Meanwhile (they chose characters, a spooky setting and time, and how their character's stumbled upon their "ingredient" that they chose to add to the brew)

They all ENDED each of their stories with:

"So the (character(s) put the (ingredient) into the witch's cauldron and stirred the pot!"

My favorite part though, was that my kids have been struggling writing ENDINGS to their stories and this was a fun and engaging way to discuss endings of stories and we wrote one together!! We even made the ending to our story TEACH our reader's a lesson! :) They lead the way and our class book turned out awesome...I could not have thought of a better ending myself! This was the ending that the kids came up with (we wrote it as a class):

I love how they came up with a "moral of the story" all on their own and definitely ended the story. Writing endings is actually what a lot of my writer's have been leaving off in their narratives and I really think that they understood it after we wrote this ending together with the Witch's Brew story!

We are going to read the class book on halloween together. Each group will read their story that they wrote in the book with a flashlight in the dark while they add the "ingredient" that they wrote about it to the cauldron. Then we will EAT the witch's brew!!!! :)

Here is the cover that I made for our class book to use...download for FREE HERE

We did alter the ingredients in our Witch's Brew a bit (only to accommodate for food allergies)...these were the ingredients we used for the brew (this is the sign up I had out for Backpack Night/Open House):

Open House (and Back to School Night)

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 00:42:00 +0000

At my school, "Backpack Night" and "Open House" are two different events. For backpack night, kids bring their stuff (right before the school year starts) and they get a sneak peak of the classroom. I put out important sign ups and send a packet of information (and fun "get to know you" homework for the first week of school). Open House is the night where students show off what we have been doing in school.

These are some things that I really like to have out for families on these nights.

I just fold a large piece of construction paper for a "folder" for them to take all the information that I put together for them and glue on a cover.

(These are cover options that I made for K-4 and put in my Open House and Back to School Night Bundle)

I also like to give them some sort of a fun treat. This year I made some labels for a bag of gold fish saying "I'm o-FISH-ally in 2nd grade."

I made a couple different grade level versions that you can download for free here.

I also put out a lot of my sign ups for Backpack Night. I get black 8x10 frames from the dollar store and put all of my signs in them. I always put out:

-"Welcome Please Take One" with a scavenger hunt for the night

-"Volunteer Information" (a sign up with details on what they are interested in doing, availability, etc)

-"Party Treats Sign Up"Sign

-"Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up" Sign

-A Classroom "Giving Tree" Sign

When Open House comes around I put out a "Welcome" Sign with a 4x6 picture of the class (from the 1st day usually) in it.

My favorite craft that we do before Open House is definitely our "Book Recommendations. In the beginning of the year, spreading the love of reading is so important and one of the things that has always helped my class is encouraging them to recommend books to others. We have a "Book Recommendation Board" that we added to the class and kids have been adding books that they really love to that (I'll be sure to post about that as well). For the Book recommendation craft, the "Back Blurb" of the book is them really bragging a book up (without giving away the ending of course). They really got into the writing for these and took it very seriously that their job was to hook others into wanting to read the book that they chose to recommend. The craft part was super fun too and they turned out amazing!

Another one of the crafts I like is the "Who Am I" because the parents have to guess (based on interests and portrait) who their child is. They lift the flap to see.

This year we also made Acorns that said what we really liked about school to share with parents.

Each of the crafts and signs that I put out for Backpack Night and Open House are on my TPT page here if you are interested.

Coaching or Time Helper Sheets for Partner Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 21:19:00 +0000

We LOVE Partner Reading in our room. In fact, when the kids really understand how to talk about books with each other and help each other out, I may LOVE read-to-someone time the most. Even better than student’s demonstrating great “partner reading” behavior is when students are actually getting to be better readers at the same time! These Coaching or Time sheets have been crucial in many of my students helping each other select strategies when their partner is stuck on a word, and checking each others understanding before, during and after reading.

(Example of one of the sheets with fiction book questions on the back)

I created these sheets (printed on one page to be folded back to back for a half sheet) for kids to use during our read-to-someone time. Usually in my room I have a separate time for read-to-someone time because since the kids really use these sheets while they read to each other and ask questions about the text, it always ends up getting to a louder volume level than I would like while I meet with groups. J Of course that “buzzing” sound is fantastic when you hear them actually asking each other questions or suggesting a strategy.

(Example of one of the sheets with nonfiction book questions on the back)

There are 3 different kinds of sheets in this particular bundle:

-Fiction Question Sheets (mostly retelling questions)

-Nonfiction Question Sheets (about what kids have learned)

-Basic Reader sheets with basic questions and mostly pictures

All of these kinds have each color option so that you can color code which type of sheet goes with which type of group or book choice for them. Click here to see the pack

(Example of one of the sheets for a beginning reader)

Click here to get these pages :)

FREEBIE! Star of the Week Book!

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 22:19:00 +0000

GetAll About Me Book FREEBIE Here

These are my star student posters that I have been using and I am starting to prep these packets for the start of the year. I will be handing these out throughout the year and I put together a Star calendar on my classroom blog.

SNAP Words! High Frequency Homework Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 22:22:00 +0000

Summer Project that saves me ENDLESS amount of time all year long! Every student in my class has a “highfrequency word” file set up with this packet before the school year starts. That way when they pass one list, the next is ready to go! Oh, and if they struggle with a list, I have notes and extras to send home with the same list. :)

I love having these set up and ready for parent volunteers to test high frequency words regularly. This saves me the time and I students get regular word list updates.

All sight word pages are based off of the "Fountas and Pinnell" High Frequency Words (All Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade words are in this pack on 13 sheets).

Journal Writing LARGE Bundle

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 15:28:00 +0000

I like have journal entry options on hand for days where I would like kids to be able to journal. You can make these into monthly bundles or use it as a tool for prompts.

JournalWriting Bundle – Get it Here!

Reading Homework Packet

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:48:00 +0000

Time to assemble reading homework folders for the year!! Every day at the end of our guided reading group, I send the book that we have read in class together home to read for homework. Along with the book that I selected for them, I also send a “choice book” of their choice, but from their book box (which students were assisted in choosing good fit books to fill up).

In addition to these two books in reading homework folders are each of these items (all are found in this pack or are indicated otherwise):

-A lengthy note explaining homework (for the first day the bag comes home)

-Laminated Decoding Strategy Sheet

-Laminated Comprehension Strategy Sheet (I add these later in the year)

-Snap Word Bag

-Snap Word sheet (See High Frequency WordPacket here)

--A reading log calendar (I use the Freebie one here J)

Cross Checking Bookmark

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 23:26:00 +0000

I believe that cross checking cannot be stressed enough with my little readers. This bookmark really helps as a reminder. PLUS kids LOVE getting cute bookmarks, so it’s a TOOL that duplicates as a GIFT that they will enjoy! I’m loving this tiny little thing! :) You can find it here!

I have had these three questions taped right on my guided reading table for quite some time now, so I made a poster to match the bookmarks as well, I may replace my sentence strips with it for consistency. The poster can be found here.

Decoding Strategy Bookmark

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 23:27:00 +0000

Reading Decoding strategies on one bookmark J

Great for to hand out or even use as a gift! Find them here.

A-Z Posters

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Sun, 15 Feb 2015 14:52:00 +0000

I have been working on some phonics lessons for my Smart board and I needed some alphabet letters (with a picture) in digital format to make some of the lessons. I really wanted the letters and pictures to be consistent in my classroom, so I made posters out of them to replace my other alphabet posters with. I ended up really loving how they turned our so I put them on my TPT store. You can find them here.

These posters also match most of the graphics in the alphabet poster (writing helper tool) shown below. This is one page in the writing tool packet. Click here for more info. on that primary writing packet.

Reading Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 19:00:00 +0000

These decoding strategies can be found here at my TPT Store.

Yes...a couple of years ago, I jumped on the Beanie Baby train and started teaching decoding reading strategies with them. I found the idea on Pinterest and had most of the actual animals at my parents house from when I was a kid, so I thought that I would give it a try. I was actually a little bit skeptical at first, because I was thinking they might just be distracting toys or even too childish. I had used other strategies and the CAFE book to guide my reading mini lessons before, but the addition of these surprised me!! They offered an extra visual reminder in our classroom and the kids love them so much that they seem to remember the strategies more than before I had used them. They were the perfect addition to our classroom reading helpers! I used strategy posters that I found on TPT but I wanted to make my own (partially because I'm a perfectionist and I wanted each kind to match :/) but also because I wanted to expand on them a bit in a few different ways...

In my 1st Grade classroom, I have a bulletin board with only decoding strategies with these posters on it. They are added to it as we learn them. They are also reviewed and modeled often.

These are the Comprehension version of the Strategy posters and they can be found here.

I use these regularly in my 1st grade classroom as well. I do post all of them though. I use these posters when I introduce them and we frequently review the most common ones useful at the 1st grade level. I keep a copy of them at my guided reading table to use with groups as they fit. I also have been working on individual activities using these for some of my higher level kids to show their understanding as they read to self or someone in their group.

These are the Fluency posters that I created to go with the set. I use each of these posters when we discuss and practice fluency in our class. They can be found here.

There are only 4 posters in the set, but I find them to be great visual reminders! I use them as I introduce the concepts and when we review them. I also keep the Good Fit Giraffe poster in our classroom library at all times with our anchor chart that we create in the beginning of the year for choosing a Good Fit Book. Good Fit Giraffe goes great with the Daily 5 Shoe lesson. :)

Each week, we have at least one featured strategy that I use the posters to display. We spend a week to learn each strategy and we review them all often, depending on what strategy fits with whole group mini lessons. In addition to the featured strategy each week we also have a featured “Chunk” of the week (or Phonics word part) that we are either learning or reviewing. All of these resources are great visual reinforces to post in the classroom after learning them. Chunks can be found here.

This could possibly be the biggest reason that I wanted to make my own version of these strategies. I really feel like one of the best tools to have with any reading strategies that we teach in our classrooms is a “take home format” for parents to be able to use with their kids at home as well. The consistency between teaching at school and using at home is crucial, I believe. I created a sheet of decoding strategies (which I keep in every students take home folders) and comprehension strategies (which I begin sending home with kids throughout the year) to reinforce these skills at home. I also keep a laminated set of these sheets on hand at my guided reading table so that kids can use them while we meet in groups as well. These have proved to be a great tool in our classroom and at home for parents. If you would like to use these Strategy Helper sheets, they are included in the "Reading Homework Packet - Guided Reading Strategy Tools" available here on my TPT store.

This is the Classroom CAFE board in our 1st grade class. I still think that it benefits my kiddos that they create their own cards or sign under each type of strategy.

In our classroom, our CAFE board and Decoding Strategy posters are right behind the guided reading table so that kids can see all that we have learned so far right there when reading in groups. So far that setup has been very convenient and helpful for small groups. :)

Primary Phonics Word Part Posters

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:31:00 +0000

I love these posters in my classroom! I printed 2 copies, laminated them and keep one set at my guided reading/writing table, and post the other set on our "Chunks We Know" board as we learn them. Phonics Chunk Cards - Digraphs and Assorted Patterns for Primary Readers. To download this Phonics Packet click here to view it on my TPT Store.

Primary Writing Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Plain and Simple Primary) — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 23:29:00 +0000

Each of these tools can be found at my Plain and Simple Primary TPT store and are included in the Packet:

Writers Workshop and Work on Writing Tools for Primary Writers at all Levels

In my classroom, I make a trifold out of the Mini Word Wall, Months of the Year/Colors/Days of the Week, and letters/vowels pages. The other sheets (Alphabet chart sheet and chunks sheets) I just laminate and keep on hand.

To make the trifold tools I put two file folders together. Then I used a glue stick to put the sheets over the top of each page, and laminating the entire tool. I keep these tools available for each student, because besides the great writing resources on each page, it is a good way to help my students concentrate and help keep them from getting distracted when writing independently.

Another thing that I do with a few of these sheets is simply get them laminated individually and I have them on hand in my writing area for when I am working with students on writing. The alphabet helpers below are a great tool in this packet geared towards beginning writers that may not be as strong with their letters and sounds just yet. I laminate these and keep them on hand as well. I also give them to my writers that need these the most to keep in their writing folders.

The final component of the packet is for higher level writers that can apply the phonics chunks and patterns in their writing because they have a very secure foundation of letter sounds and even basic words. They are writing more extensive words that we have not learned yet in class and can use each of these "chunks we know" sheets to help them write new words. These are only a few of the chunks that we learn for reading in phonics, because they are the chunks that are most common to be used in primary writing (not reading). An extensive group of "Chunks we know" posters to reinforce patterns in phonics in your room that match up with the ones on the sheets here (as well as more) are also available in the Phonics Chunk Cards - Digraphs and Assorted Patterns for Primary Readers Packet.