Main Idea and Details:Take 2

My students just went through their first writing unit.  Our first unit focused on expository writing, with an emphasis on main idea verses details.  We did a lot of work on main ideas with our main idea trees (previous post).  Along with our trees, we learned how to organize and color code our expository pieces, thanks to Step Up to Writing.
If you are not familiar with Step Up to Writing(SUTW), I highly recommend checking it out.  It is a writing program that provides organizational support for writers.  I began using the program 8 years ago as a 5th grade teacher and have continued to incorporate components of it throughout the years.
My favorite writing tool from SUTW is the expository stoplight.

The stoplight provides a great visual for developing writers.

I reinforced this tool with sentence strips and color coded sentences.

I am very proud of the learning that my students participated in and am eager to see the continuous writing growth that will take place this year.

How do you teach expository writing?

BatTASTIC Math

As a first grade team, we determined that a focus on skip counting was a must.  We decided to write our first SMART Goal around this concept.  Therefore, I have been creating a plethora of activities to practice this skill.  I put a spin on one of our bat activities and a-skip-counting-we-went!
I started our math lesson by dumping out a whole container of counting bears, and told my students we only had 3 minutes to count them all.  I then took suggestions as to how we could count all of the bears in that time frame.  As a class we decided that counting by 5s would work.  Everyone jumped in and started grouping the bears into 5s.

We then learned that bats eat about 600 mosquitoes in one hour!  I broke students into 6 groups and handed them a page of mosquitoes.  Their job was to create a plate of 100 mosquitoes.  They had to work as a team to cut, sort, and count their bugs.  

Some groups wanted to sort by 10s and other groups sorted by 5s.

In the end, we skip counted by 100s and now have the perfect visual representation.

My kiddos did an awesome job working together, sorting, counting, and completing the activity.

What are some skip counting activities you do with your students?

Be sure to head over to a Burst of First to see what other teachers are up to.

Bats Part 2

I am so proud of how hard my students have been working!  They have fully embraced our nonfiction introduction unit with bats.  Check out what we have been up to:

Do you like bats? Interviews:

I loved listening to my students as they interviewed each other.  These are the learning moments where I feel my students are truly invested!

What is an adjective?

 Their acrostic poems turned out perfect!

My students SHOCKED me during our first lesson on reading for specific information.  It was one of those lessons where I felt like I didn't scaffold it enough, but some how every student knew what to do, and how to succeed.  I can only hope that this happens when we revisit the same lesson this coming week.

Friday Art:

I am always amazed at how my students bring out their personality in a simple cut and paste project.

 What are you working on with your kiddos?

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Main Idea and Details Craftivity

I don't know about you, but teaching, and knowing that students fully understand, main idea and details is difficult.  This year, I decided to take a step back and determine how I could reach multiple learning styles...enter...Main Idea Craftivity!

As a whole group we discussed and charted the difference between main ideas and details.  I read several excerpts from nonfiction bat books and had students pair-share as to whether examples I read were main ideas or details.  After visual and oral practice it was on to the craftivity.

 The visual representation and the kinesthetic construction allowed students to thoughtfully differentiate between a main idea and a detail.

I have continued to use this same format with the recording sheet that is included in the pack.  I am so impressed with the fabulous work my students continue to produce.

You can click on any of the pictures to head over to my TPT store and grab this product.  

How do you teach main idea and details?

Kicking Off Our Bat Unit

This week officially kicked off our Bat Unit!  We are already having a blast!  I started our learning with Cara Carroll's fabulous bar graph activity...Do you think bats are cute or creepy?

My kiddos did an awesome job graphing and tallying.  The best part is that tallies are part of our SMART goal right now. Once we determined our general feelings about bats, we started BRAINSTORMING!

I am so proud of the question words that my students were using.  We will continue to add to our I Wonder... wing as the unit goes on, while also adding I Learned... answers to the other wing.
This week, in guided reading groups, we worked on finding small words in larger words.  As an extra activity, we will also be working on building words.  I figured that NOCTURNAL was the best word to start with.

Click on the image above to grab your copy of this activity.

What are you working on right now?