Easter Grammar Packet GIVEAWAY!

Hi, everyone! It's Blair from One Lesson at a Time. I've always been a lover of words. Reading them, writing them, putting them together, taking them apart....I just love words. So, teaching grammar has never been a chore for me - in fact, I love finding ways to make grammar fun for students! I've even been known to sneak a little grammar work into a math lesson. {Insert evil teacher laugh here.} You can click on the picture below to see more about how I incorporated parts of speech and sentence construction into a multiplication lesson:

Over the course of this school year, I've been working on a series of grammar packets that I am kind of in love with. :) They are aligned with Common Core standards for 3rd and 4th grade and go along with holidays/seasonal events throughout the year. I just finished my Easter grammar packet and I am going to give one away to an All Things Upper Elementary reader!

                 

Here's a peek at what's inside:

-Student cover page

-Easter Adjectives

-Easter Traditions (Identifying Singular/Plural Nouns)

-Hunting for Prepositional Phrases!

-A Basket Full of Possessive Nouns

-Easter Around the World (Mixed Grammar Review/Parts of Speech)

-Decorating Abstract Noun Eggs

-Cracking Down on Plural Nouns

-Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

-A Collection of Collective Nouns

-Color by Code: Present and Past Tense Verbs

-Easter Scramble (Create Your Own Sentences)

-Answer Keys for ALL Pages

If you want to score your own copy, make sure to enter the Rafflecopter down below! There are a few different options for entries - choose one, or choose them all to increase your odds. The Rafflecopter will be open until Thursday at midnight. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today! Until next time...

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Free Thanksgiving Parts of Speech Cards!

Happy November, friends! It's Blair from One Lesson at a Time, here to bring you a fun Thanksgiving freebie!

Like many teacher-bloggers out there, I am officially a clip art ADDICT. Can't get enough. I love JC Sweetpea's clip art and when I saw her option to "buy the store" - I pounced. A girl can never have TOO much clip art! I wanted to get to work using her beautiful art  right away so I created this fun little set of Thanksgiving word cards. They are organized by part of speech:

One reason I pre-sorted them by parts of speech is because it facilitates one of my FAVORITE word card activities: Silly Sentences! Super easy - basically dump all the words on the rug or a table and let the kiddos go to town. They can make the sentences as silly as they want to, as long as they are grammatically correct. I also allow students to change the word to make it fit by pluralizing singular nouns, putting present tense verbs in past tense, etc. Always a big crowd pleaser. 

Here are 10 other ideas for ways to use the cards with upper elementary students:

1) Make a Sentence: Separate the cards into decks for each part of speech. Have students choose one card from each deck and construct a sentence.

2) Vocabulary charades

3) Practice putting words in alphabetical order

4) Words-in-a-word hunt: Choose a card. See how many other words you can create using the letters in that word.

5) Dictionary practice: Have students identify unknown words and look them up in a dictionary.

6) Interactive Word Wall: Post the words on a bulletin board or other display area. As students encounter the words in their independent reading, they add an index card under the word. On the index card, write the title of the book, the page number, and the sentence that includes the word.

7) Act it out: Students work in groups of 3-4. Each person chooses a card and the students work together to act out a scene that includes each word.

8) Find the value of the word: Create a simple Letter-Number code (A=312, B=297, etc.). Have students find the value of each word by finding the sum of the letters.

9) Word work: Write all the singular nouns in plural form. Write all the present-tense verbs in past tense. Write the comparative and superlatives forms of each adjective.

10) Synonyms and Antonyms: Find synonyms and antonyms for each word. 

If you want to download these free Thanksgiving Word Cards, just click on the picture below!

If you are looking for more Thanksgiving grammar ideas, make sure to check out my Thanksgiving Grammar Packet! Click on the pictures below to find it at my TpT store:

If you are a planner and already thinking ahead to winter break (and who can blame ya?), I have a Winter Holidays version as well! Click on the pictures to check it out:

Thanks so much for stopping by ATUE today! Make sure to head over to my blog, One Lesson at a Time, to check out my Thanksgiving FREEBIES Linky Party - some awesome resources have been linked up! Happy Turkey Day!

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Stop! Grammar Time!

Teaching grammar can be a tedious task! I know it. You know it. The students know it, too. If it is so difficult (and sometimes too abstract), why teach grammar? 

As educators, we want our students to be prepared to face the real world. We want them to be ready to land those high-paying jobs and lead our future. But above all else, we want them to know everything they need to know because it is our job. 

Here are some reasons students need to learn grammar:

1. If we want people to listen to us, we need to speak correct English. Have you ever been in a meeting or a professional development class and heard the speaker say something that didn't sound quite right? I am sure we all have at one time or another. I want my students to be able to speak in front of people and sound like they have the intelligence to speak about whatever is on their mind. 

2. Correct grammar lands jobs. Let's face it. No one is going to hire you if you do not present yourself in a positive manner. Speaking correctly is one of the best ways you can present yourself as a first impression. You want to leave your job interview knowing you were able to articulate your strengths to the employer. 

3. Your written word follows you. We may not always think about it, but each time we put our thoughts onto paper, they are there as long as the paper lasts. By learning grammar, we are able to write our thoughts and feelings correctly for others to see. 

There are many other reasons grammar is an important part of the curriculum. As educators, we have to find creative ways to teach grammar to our students so that it sticks with them. In order to be great at it, they must practice, practice, practice. 

Stay tuned to my next post to read about strategies to teach grammar. Have a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

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Sound the Siren: The English Police

I've been teaching English for many years, and I'm always trying to look for ways to "spice up" my lessons. English/language arts can be very dry, and it seems that very few students find it exciting. I also find that upper elementary kiddos don't always want to check their writing. ("Yeah, I know all of my sentences should have the comma rules you taught us, but I just don't feeeeeel like checking.") Well, it's not that they come right out and SAY that, but sometimes you feel like it's what they are thinking!

I've blogged about the English Police before on my blog, but I wanted to share the idea over here with my friends on ATUE. Ever since I started using the English Police in my classroom, checking no longer seems like a chore to students! It's actually FUN! 

Sirens blare and tickets fly as the English Police make their first appearance in my classroom. My students get such a kick out of this (and believe me when I say that even the students who THINK they are "too mature" for something like this are giggling so much they can't help themselves). My kiddos are 11 and 12, but I have found that they are still very much KIDS. Anything can be fun if the teacher is not afraid to be silly (which I am not), and silliness is contagious!

I am the police officer (complete with badge and accent depending on my mood). Sometimes I have a Southern drawl and other times, I sound more like I am from England! They never know what to expect. I always use a different voice so I am no longer "me" but rather "the police officer."

I also sometimes have a back up officer who sits on a student's desk if I have "pulled him/her over" to ensure that the student does not exit the vehicle (the desk).

I use my little police car that has a siren as my vehicle. I also have a police bike, but I save that for warmer days. I also have an ambulance at the ready in case someone's writing is soooo bad that it must be sent to the writing hospital!

I pick a focus area such as punctuation, spelling, capitalization, correct grammar, etc. I choose something we have been working on in the classroom. After students have been working for a little while and have enough for me to check, the police start "driving" around the room. I walk around looking for the first student I will "pull over." When I find him/her, I put the siren on and park the car on the student's desk. Students know they should always be nice to the officer!

I start with, "How are you today, ma'm (or sir)?" They can't stop giggling, especially when I use one of my accents! I ask to see the student's driver's license (which is the English notebook). I carefully inspect the focus area and ask the student questions as I do. I am kind of  a "bossy officer," but that seems to make them giggle all the more!

If a student has done well in the focus area, he/she may get a ticket. That's right! The English Police give tickets to the GOOD drivers! I use our school reward cards, but you could use any system you like. The police give the drivers with mistakes a warning, but if they are pulled over again with similar mistakes, they must do an extra practice page on the skill. If a student has way too many mistakes, we also call for the ambulance because that writing needs medical attention! Everyone tries to avoid the ambulance (and extra practice)!

After I am finished with the police for the day, I'll put my supplies away, walk over to the student who was pulled over and dramatically say, "Oh, my gosh! I heard you were pulled over while I was out of the room!!!! What happened?!!!!" Of course, they get a big kick out of this as well!

It may all sound a bit silly, but that's what gets them! They seriously check their work and try much harder when the police are around. Sometimes I hear students say, "I'd better check this in case the police are in the area." When the police haven't been around in some time, students hopefully ask me, "Are the police coming back soon?" I have used this method for many years, and it adds some much needed fun to English!

Remember...If you ever meet up with the Grammar Police, follow the tip below:

Stay tuned tomorrow on the Fourth of July 
for a SPECIAL POST you won't want to miss! 

Until next time, happy summer, friends!

You can find me here:

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Punctuation: Making it Interactive

Let's face it, punctuation to many students can seem dry and monotonous.

Here's a way to make it interactive and fun.

Here's how I did an end of the year punctuation review with my class:

1. I used cooperative structure groups of 4 students. 6 teams worked together to earn points for their team.

2. Each student was assigned a number 1-4.

3. I called out a task for each group to discuss and generate answers as a team member recorded ideas.

Example prompts:

What are some ways to use commas?

Write an example of a declarative sentence.

Give an interrogative sentence about school.

Write a sentence using dialogue.

4. After a few minutes I randomly selected a number 1-4. The student from each team assigned that number had to come to the white board and record an idea their team created. It had to be completely correct in order to earn a team point. This helped with accountability and engagement in the lesson, because during the task discussion the team doesn't know who will be responsible for answering for their group.

A cute literature tie in to the skill of punctuation is Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver.

I found this cute video of a teacher's class acting out the story line.

Click photo to view Mrs. Martin's 3rd grade skit

On a grammar related note I've been busy my first week of summer vacation creating a new product line called
"To the Point"
Here's a peek at what I've accomplished so far...more are in the works!
You can check them out {HERE}

Happy Summer everyone. If you are still in school, hang in there.

~Denise

http://yearn4learning.blogspot.com/

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Getting into the Action with Adverbs

I like to introduce a lot of grammar concepts through literature tie ins.

The author, Rick Walton, has a whole series of language adventure books that are perfect for this.

For adverbs I use his book titled Suddenly Alligator which is a zany story about the adventures a boy encounters as he heads to town to replace his smelly socks.

I created this worksheet to use in conjunction with the book.

Grab it for free from my TPT store.

Students are to find the correct adverb to match the clues from the text.

The Grammarheads also have an adverb song that is useful too.

Don't forget about the Teachers Pay Teachers sale!May 7th and 8th

All of us at All Things Elementary have great stuff in our stores to stock up on!

Happy Shopping

~Denise

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We're Going On a NOUN HUNT!

Before I start into my most amazing post on a fun activity I recently did with my 60 writing students, I wanted to remind you that there is going to be an AMAZING SALE tomorrow on Teachers Pay Teachers. With Savings of up to 28%, you CAN NOT GO WRONG! So, after you read my post, pop on over to TpT and 'toss' some great resources in your shopping cart. Don't worry, there will be plenty of time before, during, and after the Super Bowl to 'tackle' the decision of what to buy! Don't 'fumble' the deal- REMEMBER TO USE PROMO CODE: SUPER!

And now... ON WITH THE POST! WAHOO!

I just wanted to start by saying that I hope that you are feeling like family here on our new blog, because we sure do enjoy having you, our good friends, visit with us often! Don't hesitate to pin ideas you see here either. I mean, SHARE THE WEALTH with those you know.

If you have been following my blog (An Educator's Life) you know that I have been doing a series of posts called Journey into Poetry Land. It has been quite the experience.

As I have taught this unit, I have also focused on grammar, more specifically NOUNS! I had assumed (and let me tell you what they say about that is very true!) that my kiddos knew what a noun was, and could easily pick out a common noun from a proper noun. I made the assumption because for the past several years they were being taught out of the school grammar basal program. (We started rotating 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes this year, so I didn't know their level of understanding). Not only that, we had spent a month learning about the SUBJECT and PREDICATE of sentences. I mean, hellooooooooooo.... the subject is a noun. Did that help? Nope... nada...blank stare... ZILCH! Sigh....

I thought they had it! BOY WAS I WRONG! Holey Moley!

Each night, during this poetry unit, I have been assigning a poem that fits the concept we are studying and then assign them different "hunts" for each poem!

Like:
Underline common nouns.
Circle proper nouns
Box onomatopoeia
(and more).

Well, we had been doing this for several days and they were underlining PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES, anything that had letters was fair game to them. Pretty much everything BUT the nouns. S-C-A-R-Y!

So, I told myself we needed to take a break from poetry and study NOUNS! Thus, my NOUN HUNT was created. I knew that it was going to be a challenge for them, even though it shouldn't have been.

I started by handing out the poetry books:

Then I handed out this page that I whipped up for this activity:

The students had to use the poetry books to find and fill in each section of the paper. 5 of each common noun and 10 proper nouns. It literally took the entire class period to get them all on the same page with common and proper nouns. (I am offering our readers this page for free. Click HERE to your copy! This is going to be included in my soon to be released NOUN unit. Enjoy! If you download, please leave a comment so we know you were here! I would also love to hear how you used the resource as well. Thanks )

Do all my students have a perfect knowledge of nouns? Heavens no, but this activity, combined with the nightly noun hunts on each poem, have really helped the vast majority really start to grasp nouns. In fact, many are even able to pick out the "idea" nouns much more readily that I ever would have thought possible.

Now... I am going to start tackling the concept of plural nouns, so stay tuned for news on how that goes!

What about you? What strategies or lessons do YOU use to teach nouns to your students?

Cheers!

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P.S. Don't miss my Share the Wealth Freebie Linky going on RIGHT NOW over at an Educator's Life. I would love to have you stop by and 'score' big on FREE resources!

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Meet Melissa

Hello Readers!

I am thrilled to be a part of this amazing community of collaborators!  I know that we are all excited to share all of our ideas (and some freebies) with you.

Now, please let me tell you a little about myself.  I'm originally from the suburbs of Chicago and obtained a teaching position in third grade upon completion of college.  At this school, I taught third grade for two years and then move up to fifth grade for a year.  Then, my husband, who was in medical school at the time, was offered a residency in Ohio.  A few weeks before our move, I was offered another third grade teaching position near our new home in Ohio!  I was so excited because I absolutely love the age of these students.  They are at that age where they are developing fun personalities and love sarcasm, but will still give me hugs and draw me pictures.

I also have my Master's Degree in Educational Technology.  I love implementing and integrating technology into my curriculum.  Because we don't have a technology teacher at our school, each teacher is responsible for bringing their students to the computer lab.  It gives me a chance to share my passion for technology with my students.

One of my favorite subjects to each is science.  It is so interactive and provides the students time to develop problem solving with inquiry-based learning.  I do my best to incorporate many investigations and experiments, and sometimes, let my students get messy making oobleck and their own bouncy balls.  I'm also trying to revamp the science curriculum from the textbook, which is taking forever, but I think it's totally worth it.  I've broken down the content and matched it up with my standards to cut out the "fluff" and allow for more hands-on time.  I'll be my summer goal to do this with my entire curriculum, but I have gotten a head start with a few units.  This Rocks and Minerals activity packet is one that I recently finished and am super proud of.

Rocks and Minerals Unit Activities

Before my turn is over, I'd like to offer you this special freebie!  This is a color-by-word activity for the parts of speech, and actually one of my newest products.  My students love working on these if they finish early or have free time.  Please download it from the link below to ensure you get it for free, as it is listed as a paid product in my TpT store.

Parts of Speech Color-By-Word

In addition to this blog, which I'm really excited to see flourish, I also have my own blog that you can visit.  At Common Core and So Much More, you will find some additional resources and ideas that I implement with my students.  I also have a freebie page, which you can access by clicking the "Freebies" button towards the top.  This is where I will be posting many of the free items so my readers can easily access them all in one place.

Also, please stop by my TeachersPayTeachers Store to grab some goodies that will be listed at 10% off for today only!

Thank you for reading, and I'm already so excited for my next post in a few weeks!

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