This past week our school celebrated Grandparent’s day.  The students decorated our room with activities to show off to their special guest.  One of the activities I had them complete was a writing sample, showcasing all the fun things they like to do at school.  The students revealed their answers through a newspaper article. The article has spots available for students to write about their favorite subject, favorite activity at school, special events, etc. There is also a section where students can draw a picture that illustrations one of their articles.

Here are some samples:

If you would like to have your students write a newspaper article, you can download a copy of the template I created by clicking here.

Here’s a fun activity I did with my students last week.  We created Venn Diagrams using two paper plates.  First we overlapped one side and used a black marker to draw the line where the other side of the paper plate would be.  Then I had the students label the information that would go into either side and viola!  Look below for a few samples.

(We're a private school so we compared/contrasted the Bible's descriptions of Heaven and Hell)

 To view more ideas & activities, click here.

This is my first summer blogging. In the beginning, I thought that I would be stranded for ideas, but I'm still finding that there's lots of things to blog about even though I'm not working.  One of the things I'd like to start doing this summer is giving away some free resources.  Today is the day I begin!

Alright everybody, you HAVE to check out what Fabulous in Fourth is doing with her students' journal writing! Here's a little sample of what she wrote.  Click here or on her button to view her full article, complete with pictures. 

How do you get kids excited about journaling?  I always have a hard time with journals.  The year starts out great and then they somehow turn into drawing notebooks.  This year went better than others...but my journals still have room for improvement!

This year, I gave my children time to journal during our Daily Five.  This allows them time to write about topics of their choice.  Some of their best pieces are in their journals!

I would also use their journals for brainstorming and to write some drafts in their books.  You need to make it an expectation and part of your daily routine. Most children will not write unless you ask them to do it!

Just like everything, the kids are excited in September and then it dies down and forgotten about .  Every month, I would put out some new pads of paper which would spark their writing.  I also added some envelopes, writing templates, papers with borders and topic/idea lists.  I always check the dollar bins at Target.  Cut-out from the Ellison machine work well too!

I asked the kids to pick out something that I could take a picture of and share and this is what I got this week...

Two of my girls wrote a poem for partners...so creative!

 

 

To finish reading this article, visit Fabulous in Fourth Grade.

I recently gave the students this journal prompt: At what age should people get married and why?

Here are some fun responses I read (keep in mind, these are 9 and 10 year olds):

“ If you get married too young it could mess up your life.  That could mess up your children.”
“...First you see if you know each other good.  Then you go on dates.  Then you get married.”
“I think people should get married at  30 because they’re adults.  Also because my mom got married at 30.”
“I think people are crazy if they say people should get married at 20 years old.”
“...They also need to know how to drive a car... if they get a job, one of them would always have to drive, it would get tiring.”

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The extrememly creative author, Mo Willems, has written several books starring his beloved creature: The Pigeon.  I did an activity with my students where I read 3 of his Pigeon books to the class.  Then I separated the students into 6 groups and they created their own Pigeon stories.  Some of the more creative titles the kids came up with were: Don't Let the Pigeon Fall in Love, Pigeon Wants to Travel, and Don't Give the Pigeon 10 Dollars.  If you scroll through the pictures above, you'll see what the writing process looked like.  

On a side note, the illustrations were quite simple for the kids to do.  I even drew a few on the board so the kids could copy them.