Using Nonfiction Research as Enrichment

This weekend I am writing about something that I am really loving this year-

I have a guided reading group that is already several reading levels into second grade territory, so I wanted a way for them to have something to work on that is above and beyond what we would typically be doing at this point in first grade.

I started working on some animal research units that we could use that would all follow the same format. This was particularly important because I wanted it to be something that we could work on together once, but then be more of an independent activity for home or school.

For our first foray into nonfiction research, I had my kids work with a partner and pick an animal that they wanted to learn more about. The two boys picked giraffes and the two girls picked flamingos. I put together a pack with some challenging text, questions that would require text-based evidence, and additional comprehension activities.

On day one, we read the text and came up with some details to describe our animals in a web.

On day two, we re-read the text and worked on some of the short-answer questions. I had them use a highlighter to show where they found their answer in the text.

 

One of my favorite parts of this pack is the animal adaptations writing. Students are asked to describe why an animal's features are helpful to their survival. For flamingos, we wrote about the hair-like combs in the flamingo's bill and the webbed feet.

  

 On day three, they all came in with their packs finished (or close to finished)! I got a note from one of the parents saying how excited their child was to be working on this project that she hadn't been able to wait for us to do it together! 

They really enjoyed labeling and coloring a flamingo.

The true/false statements allowed me to see what they understood from their reading of the passage.

The flamingo pack includes a short writing on whether a flamingo would make a good pet. As much as I would want one, both girls agreed that a flamingo would NOT make a good pet!

 

I added a word search that included some key vocabulary related to their chosen animal. This group is obsessed with word searches!

One of the little girls even made a poster of a labeled flamingo for me to display in the classroom!

 

Since the kids were so excited and so engaged with the material, I had them pick another animal and made them some packs to work on independently.

The two girls are already working hard on the polar bear pack.

Since they blew through their first pack so fast, I added a project option to this new pack. We are going to be doing additional research online and at the library with our final goal to be some kind of project that can be shared with the class. I gave them these options: PowerPoint, poster, informational writing, or a diorama. Although they are working with a partner for the research aspect of the project, they will be completing their own project. 

I picked several options for the projects so that they could choose the one that appealed to their strengths the best. I already know that one of them is choosing the PowerPoint presentation and another loves to build, so he is leaning towards the diorama.

You can find my differentiated nonfiction units here. They are also bundled in a growing bundle.

Check out my facebook page for a giveaway of your choice of nonfiction unit!

(giveaway ends Wednesday,  February 10)

Monday Made It- Supply Caddies, Hall Passes, Scales, and an open house freebie!

I'm linking up with 4th grade frolics for another Monday Made it.

 

 

 

I've got a few pretty big projects to share today!

 

 

 

 

I have shelves with supplies at each of my student tables (see the post here) and I decided that the caddies I use for pencils/markers needed an update.

 

 

 

 

 

I started with the plain caddies in my table colors,
 

 

 

then I took some plain plastic cups and hot glued felt around them to fancy them up a bit. I also painted some of my plain wood tags black and tied them on with polka dot ribbon (that has been secured with a rather large amount of hot glue, just in case!)

 

 

 

I am really loving the results! Hopefully this will help my kids keep things a little more organized this year than my class did last year!

 

 

 

 

I've seen a lot of pins about hall passes and wanted to fancy mine up a bit.

 

 

I took more of the unfinished wood tags, then covered them with the BEST duck tape I have ever seen! Flamingo duck tape!

 

 

 

I could not have been more excited when I found it at Michael's, it is absolutely perfect for me!

 

 

 

 

I added a black ribbon, then hung them up in my new display. It's an unfinished wooden shadowbox that I got and painted/mod podged. The white hooks are push pins that I pushed through, trimmed, them put hot glue over so there are no sharp edges. The finishing touch was the pink ribbon border.

  

 

 

 

I also did the same thing for my media center passes.
 

 

 

 

 

I ran out of the green ribbon that I like to use in classroom projects, so I didn't get to add the border inside yet. I am also debating whether or not to add some white polka dots to the black frame. It looks a bit plain to me, but I tend to go a bit overboard... :)

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to have my QR code stories available to my students for when they finish their centers early, but don't want them to be going into my newly-made/beautifully organized binders to get them, so I came up with this!

 

 

 

I printed a duplicate set of the code cards and will be putting them onto binder rings. I will have two sets hanging in this display in the library for my fast finishers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw this idea for turn-in baskets that require students to highlight their name with a color that corresponds to their level of understanding on Elementary School Garden a couple of weeks ago and loved it! I did want to make a few changes so that it would coordinate with the colors I use on scales in my classroom.

 

 

 

I didn't want to take up all of the counter space with multiple baskets and already had this extra set of plastic drawers, so I made the labels to match and stuck them on.

I labeled the buckets for the markers/highlighters and it is ready to go! I will also have a few markers at the student tables so that there isn't a long wait to turn things in.
 

 

 

 

This is the new table scale I came up with for this year. I picked the colors to match my tables (naturally), but they are also in the order that they appear in on my behavior chart. I figured it would make it a bit easier for my first graders to remember what each color corresponds to if it matches the order of our behavior chart. 

Each student will have one at their desk so that they can show their level of understanding while they are working independently.
 

 

 

 

I had a moment this week when it suddenly hit me that our teacher work week starts on August 11th, not the 18th like I had thought! Naturally this lead me to a small amount of panic, I do not feel at all ready! I went through my to-do lists and picked out something that I will need to have done before open house on the 15th, my tags for the little bags of goldfish I like to give out.

I was digging through my craft boxes looking for the extra ribbon I remembered having when I came across this- 
 

 

 

 

I must have made enough for two years last year! Thank you last year me!

 

I was so thrilled to find these pre-cut and ready to go that I have decided to share them as a freebie. You can get the tags in three different backgrounds for grades K-3 in my store here. Enjoy!

 

 

Victoria

 

Monday Made it and a QR Code Freebie!

I'm linking up with 4th grade frolics for another Monday Made It, and this one includes a freebie!

I only have one project this week, but it is a big one! I don't see myself finishing this project for quite some time, but here is what I have done so far.

My school started the BYOD (bring your own device) program last year and I was trying to come up with some quick and easy literacy centers I could pull without a lot of prep. I was using QR codes to link to read alouds on YouTube last year for my fast finishers, but I wanted to use them for a center.

Unfortunately, a lot of the videos I found for the stories we like to read have pretty bad audio quality and my little ones were always complaining they couldn't understand what the person was saying. So, I decided to record some myself!

In addition to recording the stories, I have come up with a couple of coordinating writing prompts for each story. This way I can give the students one to work on when they finish with the story, or let them pick one of the two to write about. I have been printing/cutting/laminating everything I make so that I can just grab a set for the day and be done!

I have a few sets up for sale in my store, but here is a freebie:

If you are interested, the rest of the sets I have finished so far can be found here. Each set is a group of 4 stories. They are grouped by topic, theme, or author. Each story comes with two different prompts (as seen on the cards above), two writing response papers, and some generic graphic organizers that can be used with any story.

In addition to my classroom books that I brought home with me for the summer, I have a huge stack of books from the library that are just waiting to be recorded, so I know what I will be working on for the next few weeks... Now if I could only keep Maggie the cat quiet while I am working!

Victoria