Writing Center Updated Pics {With a FREEBIE!}

It's my first day of school!  I can't wait to get in and meet my new little people!

I wanted to post updated pics of my writing center.  I can't WAIT to introduce this to my kiddos next week!

This table used to house our student computers but we got Chrome Books this year and I'm so happy to be able to use this table as my writing center!

Products I'm using at my writing center...

Seasonal writing task cards are hanging on the pegs.

The binders on the bookshelf hold this center... A to Z writing tasks!  There are over 300 individual tasks, each connected with one letter of the alphabet including writing a list, a letter, a story, and drawing/describing.  I know my kiddos will LOVE this!

There is also our class Never Ending Story.

Students take turns adding a page to a story until the story is complete!  This makes for really interesting stories!  Click the pic below to get this for FREE!

Writing Center Reveal {and freebie!}

I am SO excited about my writing center for this year!!!!!!!!!!

I love it!!!!!!!

This bookshelf is on the floor to the left of the table.  It contains all sort of things for creative writing.

On the bulletin board, the red papers are actually in sheet protectors that are stapled to the board. This will allow me to quickly slide in new pages... I have papers from my opinion unit up now because that's the first writing unit we will do in 3rd grade.  I think I will also put up student examples too!

I am particularly psyched about this little guy...

It's an organizer I got at Target in the $3 spot.  The first six items are flashcards that I also got from Target in the $1 spot.  I made a cute cover for the flashcards with some directions- "Read a card.  Write about what you learn", hole punched the cards, and put together with a binder ring!

The bottom three (animals, transportation, and sports records) are flashcards that are not from the $1 spot at Target.

Sooooo... if you want to make a little organizer like this using the flashcards you picked up from Target, you can click the pic below to download the six covers!  I bought the word family flashcards (for the rhyming set), outer space, presidents, flags of the world, insects, and United States.

I'd LOVE to see how you organize these if you download the freebie and would also love to know if you love it too!  So, let me know what you think!

Items I have made that are being used in the writing center pic at the top:

My other favorite writing items:

 

What We've Been Doing {Idioms, Main Idea, Letters... Oh My!}

It's been a BUSY week in 3rd grade!

We've been working on our idiom books.  This week we learned "You're the apple of my eye".  My kiddos really got the idiom after reading the passage in the book we're making.
 

We're also working on main idea and supporting details.  I have these file folder readers from Lakeshore Learning and L-O-V-E them!  Two of my groups have been reading the folder about animal adaptations.  We're using dry erase markers to write right on the folders... I know.  Crazy right?!  The kiddos were so pumped!  We're underlining the supporting details and having GREAT discussion!  I have the grades 1-2 set and the grades 3-4 set.

This one was all about animal adaptations.  We looked up pics of each of the animals on the iPad during our small group time.

And we're adding the friendly letter section to our Writer's Notebooks.  I LOVE our Writer's Notebooks.  It's so cool to see kids using them as a resource and it's made my writing instruction so deep... my kiddos are doing so well in writing this year.  I'm one proud teacher!  I can NOT wait to get to the narrative section later on in the year!

We completed some color-coding together via the Elmo projector...

And students color coded on their own in their notebooks.

Last... one of my files got a make-over!  Do you have "Graphic Organizers for Big Kids"?  If so, you'll definitely want to check it out... it's looking much better these days!

Want to find the products we used this week in class?  Click the links below!

File Update... Letter Writing Isn't Dead!

Do you have my Interactive Writer's Notebook pack?

Check out the 1st/2nd grade pack OR the 3rd-5th grade pack on TpT

If so... there's a new surprise inside for you!

A letter writing add-on pack!

The format is the same as the other pages- a "teach me" anchor chart type page to glue in on the left and an interactive "my turn" page for students to glue in on the right.

We LOVE our writer's notebooks in my room!  We're wrapping up our opinion unit next week and our writing has improved so much this year since using this resource... I know you'll love the add-on pack too!

Kites, Kites, Kites! {With a FREEBIE!!!!!!}

We're gearing up for a fun week in 3rd grade language arts!

This is our last week of switching for classes and I want to do something fun with my ELA kiddos while reviewing writing standards.

So... we're having KITE WEEK!

Tuesday I'm going to show my kiddos how to make a kite and we're going to write our opinions about flying a kite, as well as write our own similes, metaphors, onomatopoeias, and alliterations about kites!

On Wednesday, we'll make paper kites and fly them.  Then my kiddos will write a narrative about their fun time, as well as review the characteristics of narratives with this fun book:

Thursday (our last day of switching), my kiddos will write their own kite how-to paragraphs... either how to fly a kite or how to make one.  I'm also going to assess on idioms and writing dialogue with quick assessments from my Snapshots packs.  I've LOVED LOVED LOVED using these half page assessments as quick checks to make sure my kiddos have maintained their skills as we've learned them throughout the year!  We usually do a grammar and comprehension Snapshot every Friday.  They are super quick, easy to grade, and give me a great indication about students' progress on standards.  Love them!

On Thursday, kiddos will also be able to use my crafting supplies to make their own symmetrical kite in their kite booklets {keep reading more info on the booklet!}.

I've done kite making every year and it's a huge success... and they really fly!

Friday is a huge event at my school called... the community picnic!  It's just what it sounds like... a picnic for our school community.  We'll have a bouncy house, inflatable obstacle course, and other fun things to do.  Our book fair is also going on and there will be hot dogs and chips for everyone.  It's such a fun, positive day!

For the kite fun, we're going to make this book {instructions and a printable for making student kites}... just print, cut, and staple on the lines.  We're going to add streamers to the back when the booklets are done!

Don't forget to leave some lovin' if you enjoy the freebie!

How are you winding down your school year?  Anything fun planned?  Our last day was supposed to be May 29... but, thank you Polar Vortex!  Our year now goes until June 5!

What We've Been Doing, Writer's Notebook WINNER, and a Sunny Saturday FREEBIE!

It's been a busy busy week in Room 108!

Check out what we've been doing...

We've been brushing up on character traits and motivation.  We met in small groups and used our "Character Traits" Thoughtmarks and passages from Readworks.org to find PROOF to support our thoughts about character traits...

We also practiced character traits with these pages from my "Character Traits:  Match it!  Prove it!" pack...

Can you read what they say?  The kiddos were given a character trait at random and had to read the scenario.  Then decide how a person with that particular trait would react to the situation.  I LOVE this activity.  It really forces kids to think about how having a certain trait would cause a character to react in a certain way.  They all know how they would react and this makes them think about how one's personality causes them to respond to challenges.

Anyway- I loved the third one... what would you do if you were disrespectful and (the jist of the story is...) you received a birthday gift you didn't like.

My friend wrote, "I would say no and throw it on the floor and stomp on it and punch him in the face because I did not like it and it is not a good video game".  I love the first one too... what would you do if you were grouchy and a storm was coming and your little cousin was afraid?  This dearie wrote, "I would tell him to go outside and see if it is storming and if it's not, I would yell, 'If it's not storming, then don't worry about it!'  Why?  Cause I'm tired of listening to him whining about his fear of storms though I'm scared of storms too!".

My kiddos really got into it and LOVED sharing their responses!

We also took a break and did this cute writing project... Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade posted a similar project on Instagram and I just had to do it with my class!  So, I downloaded Ashley Hughes' free sunglasses clipart on TpT and this was born...

Did you know you can use a HOT GLUE GUN to stick papers on cinder block walls??????  That's how these puppies are stuck!

Keep on reading and you may find a freebie related to this project!

And... WRITER'S NOTEBOOK GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!!!!  I posted these last week and have had such positive feedback from buyers, wish-listers, and my friends who proofed these packs for me!  I'm going to leave them on sale for $2.50 off for the rest of the weekend if anyone would like to take advantage of that!

Thanks to everyone who entered to win their choice of the 1-2 pack or the 3-5 pack!  The winner is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats, Tania!  I'll be sending you your choice of Writer's Notebook packs!

And, if you didn't win but would still like a freebie, click the picture below to download the sign we hung with our "Looking Forward to Summer" writings!

That is all, friends!  Have an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!

Interactive Writer's Notebook {New!... Yay!!!}

It's almost Friday!  I'm getting ready to eat a bagel on the couch with my backpack for sure!  {Who knows what I'm talking about?!}

I just put the finishing touches on an ULTIMATE Writer's Notebook pack and we've been using the resources to help us review what we've learned in writing this year.  I can't WAIT to start using this on Day 1 in the fall.  My kiddos are loving this so much, they are asking to stay in at recess to add pieces we aren't using right now so that they can work on these over the summer!

Over 100 pages with "Teach Me" pages to help direct instruction and then "My Turn!" pages for students to practice each skill... from general writing conventions/grammar to opinion, informational, how-to, and narrative writing!

Lots of flap books and other opportunities for students to interact with their writing!

Check it out on TpT!

I'd love to know what you think!