Last week when I was substituting in fourth grade, one of the assignments was to write a spooky story! This is right up my alley! I read the bilingual class the opening and closing lines from several spooky stories in the library and they took off with their imagination! They wrote an opening line and ending for a scary story. We had fun!
Category: writing
Spring Poetry Writing
Posted in bilingual, and displays and deco
April is National Poetry Month! Third through fifth grades had fun in the Jackson Library writing Spring poems! Some wrote diamante poems about the atmosphere layers, some wrote acrostics in English, and some wrote Spanish acrostics. We used kite templates (see TPT links below) so we could post them on the library windows. The kids had fun writing the poems!
Dear Basketball Revisited 2022
Posted in games
This week in the Jackson Library, fifth grade read Kobe Bryant’s Dear Basketball poem (we used MrsBlewettELA’s TPT Questions) and watched the Oscar-winning short animated movie. Fifth graders wrote a letter to SOMETHING they love. If they wrote a poem, they wadded up some paper to shoot a basket into the trash can. This idea is from Michael Bonner. Fun!
Embedded: Arthur, Garcia classes
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Our ‘Expert’ Alphabet Books
Posted in nonfiction lesson, and picture book lesson
In the fall, fifth graders had fun sharing their ‘expert knowledge’ on different topics by creating an alphabet book. Since I started taking guitar lessons on Zoom last July, I created a sample ‘book’ to use as a model and then also shared the book, Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer’s Alphabet by Chris Barton. They had fun and we all learned so much!
Samples
Summer Magnetic Poetry for Remote Learners
Posted in remote learning, and technology
Thanks to Kasey Bell for the Summer Magnetic Poetry template! Jackson Library remote learners loved it! Check out their poems!
#MySummerInSixWords
Posted in remote learning
Thanks to Jimmy Fallon for this get-to-know-you remote learning lesson idea! Using only six words, fourth and fifth graders summarized their summer in the Jackson Library Google Classroom.
Inspiration:
Lesson:
The Masked Writer Contest
Posted in fun events
Who is the masked writer? Students send in their guesses via the Jackson Library Google Classroom. Thanks to @MedCityPlano and @PISDEF for library books to reinforce writing strategies! In the fall, I wrote a PISD Education Foundation Grant for library books to use as mentor writing texts. Then I taught a series of writing strategy lessons to grades 3-5 during their library time. There were certain targeted writing skills they had to achieve in each piece. I chose a few papers for children to read while wearing a mask. (videos) The other kids in the grade level guess as to who is behind the mask. Fun!
Some other Masked Writer Contestants:
Some mentor texts used:
Twister – Beard
Sergio’s Bike– Boelts
Up North at the Cabin – Chall
Night Driving – Coy
Strong to the Hoop – Coy
Goal! Javaherbin
My Best Friend – Rodman
Google Classroom Guesses
February of this year, we read Kobe Bryant’s Dear Basketball poem (we used MrsBlewettELA’s TPT Questions) and watched the Oscar-winning short animated movie. Then, third through fifth grades wrote a “love letter” to SOMETHING they love. Check out their awesome work! Then, watch our video and check out the three-pointers!
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MrsBlewettELA’s TPT Dear Basketball Poem and Questions
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Student Writing
This idea came from Mr. Bonner! Check out his site: Bonnerville!
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Harlem Globetrotters
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2020 Quotable Quotes, Assoc. Press
“We are all Lakers today.” — Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, in a remark to reporters after the death of Kobe Bryant, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 26
Black History Month Project
Posted in character education, displays and deco, and TTESS 1819