Earth Day for the Last Minute Teacher

Earth Day is just a few days away!  If you have been busy or preoccupied like me the last few weeks, you might have very little time to come up with fun Earth Day activities.  BUT, don't stress, I have activities that are low prep for those last minute teachers like me! - Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris

Newspaper Drawings

You more than likely can get your hands on a few newspapers from a closet, front office or that nerdy social studies teacher down the hallway!  Grab those and do a quick lesson on upcycling!  Talk to your students about the amount of paper that we use during a typical school day.  Remind them that even paper can be reused!  Use paints, markers, or crayons to create newspaper drawings.

Read a few books!

Katie from Gift of Curiosity has an awesome list of books to read on Earth Day!  Checkout her post by clicking here!

Plants and Seeds

Earth Day is also a great time to pull in Science standards for plant life cycles.  I have a comprehension pack on seeds and plants that would be great to print and use for your classroom.  Or better yet, you can project the pages on the active board and answer the questions together or on dry erase boards.  Click here to see more about the Plants and Seeds pack.

Dirt and Worms - YUM!

Close out Earth Day with a fun snack!  Mash up oreos and add a gummy worm.  How cute are these???

Don't let Earth Day pass without doing something fun with your students!  Challenge yourself to even try to go paperless for the day!  There are a ton of fun Google activities that you could try!  I have several that you can find by clicking here.  Happy Earth Day!

Spring into April - Using Found Poetry to Dig Up Main Idea

One of my favorite ways to have students connect with a passage or story is through found poetry. With found poetry students can identify the main idea and supporting details in a text.

Found poetry takes specific words and phrases from a piece of writing and organizes them into a poem.  This can be done numerous ways. Students can highlight or underline on a page that is copied. If the text can't be copied (such as a textbook)  students can lightly underline the words/phrases with a pencil (they can erase these marks when the lesson is complete).

                         

Once the words or phrases are chosen, the students will cut or write the words.

Students will then organize the words into a poem. The poem will usually be a free verse poem.  

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Sample Lesson Plan

Essential Question: What is the main idea? 

Objective: Students will create a found poem using the important words and phrases from a reading passage. 

Standards: RL.1.1, 2.1. 3.1, 4.1, 5.1 

Procedure: 

1. Introduce the topic: "Today we are going to go on a dive to see if we can find some poetry. Everyone put on your scuba gear, grab your pencils, and let's go swim with the sharks!"

2. Read this Bull Shark Passage. (Just click to access the FREE download) 

3. Read the passage as a whole group, in partners, or independently depending on the level and purpose of your lesson.  Tell students to read for the purpose of learning the most important thing(s) about Bull Sharks. 

4. Then have the students reread the passage.  Have them underline or highlight the words/phrases they feel are the most important or those words really stand out to them.  

5. Students will cut out or write the words they chose.  

6. The words will be organized into a poem (free verse is typically the easiest for this lesson) 

7. Have an Author's Share.  I usually start with 2-3 students and then have the class break into smaller groups to ensure that all students get to share.  If you want to learn more about author's share time, read this post.  

Assessment: 

Ticket Out the Door - What is the most important thing you learned about Bull Sharks? 

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Here is the poem I wrote. 

Bull Sharks

By: Jessica Zannini

Zambezi, Slip-away

most dangerous shark 

head-butt snout

highly adapted kidneys

Atlantic, Indian, Amazon lake

fresh river

tiny eyes diving

shrinking

close to shore

murky water

safe? 

Looking for more ways to teach poetry?  Check out these posts:

You can also follow this Teaching Poetry Pinterest Board for more engaging poetry ideas.  

Follow Notes From the Portable's board Teaching Poetry to Kids on Pinterest.

Digging Up New Ideas for "Cutting Up" Test Anxiety

April is filled with poetry, Earth Day activities, and springtime fun, but for many, it's also TESTING SEASON. I'm here to help you change your students' mindset about this dreaded time of year!

One of the worst parts about testing is the worry and anxiety that comes with it. Give all of your students a different colored small piece of paper - like a post-it or printer paper cut into smaller squares. Tell the students to write down anything they are stressed about when it comes to taking the test. Let them know that NO ONE will be reading these. This is their chance to just "get it all out." You can even write down your own to show the students that teachers have worries, too! 

They do not need to write their name on it, because the next step is to cut up that piece of paper into tiny pieces! Tell them as they cut, you want them to "cut up" the worries. Tell them now that their worries are destroyed, they have to do their best not to stress about those things anymore. 

Go around with a giant Ziploc bag and collect all of their worries. You can write something encouraging on the bag, and then hang it on the board as a reminder during testing:

Each day before you start the test, shake the bag and remind them, "you cut up all your worries, so if you're stressed, let it go. Do the best that you can, it's all you can do!" Treat the test as a way for them to show everything they know. Remind them they are showing you how smart they are each day!

Once all of your testing is over, your students might be wondering what you are going to do with all that "confetti." Well, celebrate of course! Walk around and let each student grab a handful. Get in a clustered group, and throw that confetti!

Your students will love it! I suggest waiting until the very end of the day to do it. Ha! 

Of course, then it will need to be cleaned up, but if your students are anything like mine were, they get just as excited to clean as they do to throw it!

For more fun ideas like this one, follow my Classroom Ideas board on Pinterest!

Follow Ideas By Jivey's board Classroom Ideas on Pinterest.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and for even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates.

Spring Into April: Poetry Slam

Happy April, peaches! It's Kristin from School and the City. 

As you know, April is poetry month. What better way is there to celebrate poetry month than by having a poetry slam?

I think kids are more motivated to work when they have something to work for, especially when it comes to writing. We all have kids who aren't avid writers, so it's up to us teachers to facilitate a love for writing by giving them a reason to write!

Most kids do love poetry units and writing poetry, because poetry in itself is just so much fun. But why not make it more fun, and more motivating for all students, by ending your unit by allowing your students to participate in a poetry slam?! Having poetry slam can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be; It's totally up to you! 

POETRY SLAM MUSTS:

• Students must have poetry written and prepared to share (duh)
• Teach the kids how to be good audience members and how to snap. 
• Encourage the students to dress artistically, in all black. 
• Show students videos of people reading / reciting poetry so they can study and mimic verbal and facial expressions. 

IF YOU WANT TO GO ALL OUT...

• Set the stage! Turn the lights down, gather some lamps, and set the mood. 
• Turn it into a café by providing food or allowing kids to bring snacks. 
• Invite parents, other students, and/or other staff members. (Hint: Inviting admin may or may not earn you brownie points!)
• Find a karaoke machine or some sort of sound system to use so everyone can hear.

CLICK the picture to check out my editable invitations!

Last year, my students worked extremely hard all month creating poetry books using my templates and adding their own pages. They turned out to be great little poets! I can't wait to see how my class does this year. 

What do you think? Will you host a poetry slam for your students? Let me know over at School and the City if you try it!

Have a great April in your classroom... and stay tuned for more April ideas!

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!

Spring Into April: Poetry Read-Alouds

Well, hello there, April! It's Theresa from True Life I'm a Teacher!

I'm so excited to kick off the month of April here at The Primary Peach! We're "Digging Up New Ideas" this month! You'll want to check back each day for something new! Plus...it's our 1 Year Blogiversary, and you aren't going to want to miss what we have in store to celebrate!

You can check out my post from last month, all about how to make the most of the ERASERS in your classroom!

April is National Poetry Month!

Poems are an awesome way to help students with fluency! Plus, they're just plain fun!

Over the years, I've collected books that feature lots of poems that are perfect for kids! Most are pretty weird (I'm looking at you Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky), but my kids LOVE them!

If you're not already incorporating poems into your day, start by just reading one or two during your morning meeting. Or, read one when you realize you have don't have enough time to really start anything new, but just enough time for a revolt to happen (that's 2 minutes, in case you were wondering).

If you aren't really sure where to begin, and you don't have a lot of time - you can't go wrong with Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I read it as a kid, my fourth grade teacher read it to us, and I love reading the poems to my class.

You (and your students) will LOVE:
- Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out
- Smart
- Sick
- Listen to the Mustn'ts

Jack Prelutsky is another author who has LOTS of books filled with poems your students will get a kick out of.

Looking for something different? Here are my FAVORITE poetry books!

You can find a complete list here.

Be sure to check back each day, with something new from The Primary Peach Authors!

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For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!