Celebrating Valetine's Day Early at 3L + 1T

It is February 1st so...Valentine's Day is RIGHT around the corner.  Have you started to think about what you want to do in your own classroom? I'm sure there will  be yummy treats, cute little crafts, and maybe some cards exchanged.  Have you thought of some fun ways to include learning into the mix of it all?

Have no fear, Mrs. Valentine's Day to the rescue! Catchy, right?  I have created a few products that will allow your students to still have fun, think about the holiday, and learn as well!

The Perfect Match: Synonyms & Antonyms

I cannot wait to use this in my classroom! I think this activity will be great when working in small groups during stations/centers.  The product includes:

• 21 pairs of matching synonym cards
• 21 pairs of matching antonym cards
• 1 quick check assessment for synonyms
• 1 quick check assessment for antonyms
• 1 combined assessment to use a synonyms and antonyms in writing a story and identify the words they used

I can see myself using the cards during my Word Word Station where students can play matching games with partners like memory or a Go-Fish kind of activity.  I also think it would be great to get notecards, and students can write cloze sentences where their partner has to find the missing word to go into their sentence. Really make those kiddos think!

The assessments would also be great to use after a mini-lesson or when you feel your students are close to mastery.  The assessments include matching, defining, using in a sentence, and identifying.  The final assessment asks students to write a story of their choice.  They must use a certain amount of synonyms and anytonmys.  When finished, they must go back to underline and circle those words they used. I love assessments that allow students to be creative, but also apply the skills they learned.

Have no fear...this product isn't JUST for Valentine's Day.  Use this all year around, as the only thing Valentine's Day about this is the hearts and the title.

 Check it out...here!

 

Valentine's Day Letter Writing

I just reduced this price on this product! I created 2 templates---one a post-card and the other a letter for students to write friendly letters to teachers, friends, and/or family members.  This would be a great way to start your day off. Have students finish up before starting your day of lessons and during the celebration in the afternoon...take a 10-20 minute break to go and hand deliver the letters/post-cards. It will make someone's day! I love teaching students about the gift of giving. Check out my Christmas post here to see how I try to do this all year long! 

I would absolutely love to see these products in action, especially the post-cards and letter templates.  Feel free to comment below to share some of your student's work!  

Grab the product...here!

Valentine's Day Synonym Cloze Writing 

The last item for you to pick (also reduced in price) from is a Valentine's Day synonym cloze activity.  This one is great for a writing center, morning work, or an "early finisher" type activity.  Students are asked to read the letter and fill in words that would  make sense or use the word bank in the bottom part of the paper to help students.  The choice is up to you! Although there is a answer key included...but you can always ignore that! Make it even more challenging for your students and have them create their own letter using 10 "fancy" adjectives.  Have them impress their loved ones.

 

Get the product here 

What Makes a Good Friend? Opinion Writing Project

Start a Valentine's Day theme next week with your students right before the holiday.  I am really excited to complete this project with my class.  The project goes through each of the stages of the writing process. Students can start with a heart shaped graphic organizer so they can organize their thoughts. I focused a lot on the next stage which is explaining each one of those hearts in greater detail.  This is where I see my students struggle as they do not know what to say about these subtopics.  From there, there a page dedicated to each heart where students can organize their thoughts deeper so they can elaborate on the individual hearts.  

The next steps are to write the first draft, edit, and revise. Students are given the appropriate paper, and a small quick-check rubric so they can remember to check their own work. I normally incorporate another rubric into the mix---one that I make with students before starting the writing so they understand their expectations and objectives from the start.  

Students can finish the project by rewriting their paper on the final draft format and complete a picture in the decorative hearts as a final step in their publishing.  I also like this project because you can make it into packet format to complete together, in small group, or individually if you think your students are up for the challenge. 

Hope you enjoy this and more importantly...your students have fun with this!

Check it out!

Happy {Early} Valentine's Day! Don't forget to share the love by pinning, liking, and sharing my products on your social media sites!

Planning, Planning, & More Planning

Although you're already halfway-ish (totally making that a word) through the school year, the new year is right around the corner.  So obviously we think of resolutions when talking about the new year.  Instead of focusing on giving up pop, losing weight, or stopping your shopping addiction (wait, is that just me?)...why not make a career-based resolution? Think about your lesson plan template...does it work for you? Are you able to put everything you need to keep you on track during the day or prove to your administration that you're meeting all the demands of the lesson design process? After years of messing with multiple lesson plan templates, I think I found something that works for me, and hopefully it will be your lifesaver as well. 

The "odd" thing about this template is it is used vertically instead of horizontal.  Before you think I'm crazy, I still keep my lesson plans in a binder, only it is vertical on my desk rather than horizontal. It actually takes up less usable space on my desk. Win-Win!

A breakdown of what the first half of my day looks like:

At the top

• Spot for date
• General objectives for each subject area (in red)
• Breakdown of days of the week

Left side

• Time slots throughout the day (Do not have the subject area listed on this copy)
• Each standard I am currently teaching in that subject area (in green)

Middle

• All lesson ideas (Room for all parts of lesson design: Antic=Anticipatory set, GP=Guided Practice, IP=Independent Practice)
• Just an FYI, since assessments take a decent amount of time, I use larger font. 

 A breakdown of what the second half of my day looks like:

*Note the dates are not at the top of this one, since the binder is turned to read down per day, rather than across like many of us are used to. The rest of content is filled in per lesson.

Bottom:

• Homework section: Helps me get materials ready, remind students, and stay organized on what is expected of them throughout the week
• Meetings: Helpful to see what meetings after-school, whether it is with staff members or parents.
• Misc/Birthday: I also will type in a section for miscellaneous information or student birthdays as well.
• Did You Know? Although, this example does not show it. In the past I have done a "Did You Know? spot in my room where I put random  facts...sometimes in cursive so students can practice reading cursive. Just a fun & silly way to incorporate more learning in the classroom!