Winter Writing Favorites

I'm sure many of you agree with me when I say I have a love/hate relationship with bulletin boards. I don't know about you, but I feel a lot of pressure to make my bulletin boards show work that is attractive yet rigorous! (Tell me I'm not alone!)

To gear all of us up for January/February bulletin boards, I've collected a few of my favorites to share with you.

PENGUINS

Who doesn't love penguins? I typically start my informational writing unit with penguin research reports. We do some shared research and shared writing, then students do their own research on a chosen species of penguins. The end project is adorable.

I decided to simplify the process a little bit this year by creating a writing template for the penguin belly, which you can grab for free here. The link also shows how I make the tracers for the penguin body.

BUILDING SNOWMEN...

We don't get much snow here in Georgia, but students love snowmen nonetheless. It's not new information that a snowman is the perfect subject for how-to writing. Start your lesson off by showing (and singing) Do You Want to Build a Snowman from Frozen (bonus points if you dance along).

Allow students to create their own snowflakes for the bulletin board, which can also turn into a great (yet difficult) how-to writing piece.

... AND MELTING SNOWMEN

Another all-time favorite of mine that is more appropriate for the South is a melting snowman. I love this project because it is so versatile! It's great for a creative narrative, but works just as well for a science writing piece about the water cycle. You can find a whole blog post about this project here.



These are three boards that I've done myself, but I also have to share my favorite winter writing activities that other amazing teachers have done. Check them out below!


OTHER FAVORITES

• If I Lived in a Snowglobe
• Catching Snowflakes on My Tongue
• Snowmen At Night
• How to Make Hot Chocolate

Happy creating!

Kristin from School and the City

Sweet Treats: Synonym Puzzles

Have you enjoyed your month of FREEBIES here on the Primary Peach?  This month has been a lot of fun and full of great ideas and free resources.  I hope you have been sharing them with your friends!  Now it's my turn!  I'm Meghan from Keeping Up with Mrs. Harris.  I have a "Sweet Treat" for you today as well!

February is a short month, but our Winter Break always makes it a little shorter.  I use this month to teach vocabulary due to the short duration of units.  We cover homophones, synonyms, antonyms, etc during this month to expand our vocabulary in our writing and reading.

Synonyms is always a lot of fun to teach during this time, because if your students are like mine, they call synonyms "cinnamons".  It's a great time to bring in cinnamon buns and teach synonyms.  My students always love this as an afternoon treat and it is a great way to start or end this unit.

Today, I have a free center activity that I use with my kiddos.  These are a lot of fun and my students always love puzzles.  Here's a little tip...glue a magnet to the back of each puzzle piece and throw a cookie sheet in the center.  That way the pieces don't move around as much.  Click here to download this center activity.

3rd Day of Winter - Writing Activities

Aren't you just loving all these wintery freebies? I feel like it's Christmas all month long!

Brrrr! It's winter. Hope you're keeping warm where you are. It's Gary from ScrappyGuy Designs. I am joining up with two other amazing Peaches to bring you some fun Writing Activities to help you weather the final days before Winter Break.

Today I present to you TACKY, the Penguin. If you have not encountered these fantastic tales from Helen Lester you are definitely in for a treat. I use it with my Fourth Graders and they always get a chuckle out of this character.

Tacky is an 'odd bird' who is nothing like his counterparts on the ice floe. The others all have perfect singing voices, walk perfectly in tune together, and all look perfectly the same. Well, not Tacky. Tacky favors loud Hawaiian shirts and slapping people on the back while belting out, "What's Happening?"

For some fun writing activities, you could have the students:
*  do a character map on Tacky
*  gather adjectives to describe Tacky
*  create a venn diagram comparing him to Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect
*  write about what other special talents Tacky could have other than the cannonball
*  put Tacky in different situations and see how he would solve them
*  rewrite the ending of the book
*  create a sequence of events that happen as the hunters arrive
*  use some of the great sentences in the book as Mentor Sentences
      *  Quotations
      *   Apostrophes
      *   Commas

But my favorite idea I found on the internet was to have a Tacky Day where the students all get to dress up as Tacky the Penguin.

Then you can have them dress a Tacky cut out for a bulletin board and call it "Odd Birds Unite!"

I love teaching Tacky books because they help build great community as we learn that everyone has something to add to the group. Even if someone dresses or looks a little funny, they could be a very important part of a team.

Oops, before I go. Here's a little freebie from me to you! Happy Holidays.

 

 

 

 

Have your students write about why Santa should hire them to be his newest elf! You can use this with just about ANY holiday book! Check out these suggestions here!

 

 

We love the holidays in Kindergarten and gingerbread activities are among our favorites.  There are so many writing opportunities during this time of year, but I found one that I absolutely love.  It’s called a Wall Story and you can use it with any book. Each student creates an illustration and writes text for a certain part of the story. Then they are put in order and displayed on a wall.    The awesome teacher from Kindergarten is a Fun Place To Be posted these pictures on her blog.  The Wall Story is a great way to write collaboratively in the classroom. Click on the image below to read her post.

Check out this Gingerbread writing freebie!

 

 

 

 

 

12th Day of Winter: 12 Holiday Books

December is HERE!!! My tree is up and decorated, the lights and stockings are hung, and according to Buddy the Elf, I've been spreading Christmas cheer for a good solid two weeks already! :)

My friends and I here at The Primary Peach are so excited to bring you "The 12 Days of Winter" - and whole bunch of ideas, freebies, and holiday fun! We will offer 12 days of resources - the same number resources for the day. For example for the 5th day we will offer 5 free resources! 

The Primary Peach gave to meeeeeee......

Let me be real...I probably have close to 45 Christmas-related books, 20 or so "Holidays Around the World Books," and 25 or so Winter books that I've collected over the years. There's NO WAY, I could only share 12!!! Instead, I've divided the post into Christmas books, Holidays Around the World books, and Winter books. 

I've also created a PDF with the books listed...print, and then check off the ones you already have, or highlight ones you want to get! Easy peasy! Just click on the lists to download :)

These lists are by no means comprehensive, however, I hope they help you grow your read aloud collection, and give you some read aloud inspiration!

Be sure to check back tomorrow when The Primary Peach gives...11 Seasonal Math Activities!!!

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