Welcome to our TpT giveaway! There are just a few small things to do and then you're in the running for the gift card!
Once the contest is over, we will announce the winner and email you your gift card! So keep an eye out Monday morning!
Teaching Theme and Message
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Teaching Theme and Message
Teaching theme to our fourth graders sometimes seems to be mind blowing. So, we start slowly by brainstorming common themes found in literature by using previous books we read together as a class (mostly picture books). We discovered some really cute posters from Hello Fourth. We not only posted them in our classrooms, but also used them to create an interactive notebook page to record our findings.
The next day we read The Sandwich Swap by Queen Rania of Jordan Al Abdullah. It is a delightful story of two young girls that learn to accept each others differences. We discussed the plot and decided on the theme by brainstorming questions readers ask. Next, we created an anchor chart that reminded the students ways to infer theme because the theme is usually implied not stated. Also, we talked about the author's message, which is usually a declarative statement based on the main idea.
The following day we reviewed common themes, author's message, and ways readers infer them. We are blessed in our classrooms to have a 1:1 tablet student ratio. We used a website called EDpuzzle. It's a wonderful site that enables self paced learning with your students with interactive videos that allows you to add your voice or questions into the video. Next, we found four well known Disney/Pixar Classic movie clips: Jack Jack Attacks, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, and Up. The students watched the clips and decided on a common theme as well as author's message (multiple choice answers given). Last, they provided evidence of their thinking.
If you would like to use the same clips for the activity in your own classroom, we have provided them below. Also, click HERE if you want the FREEBIE recording sheet for the clips. Enjoy!
Incredibles
Toy Story
Finding Nemo
It's a Bug's Life
Up
We really believe this engaging lesson helped our students begin to understand or make connections with common themes and author's message.
Managing Notebooks in the Classroom
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Well, we started off the year GREAT! by building our classroom tribe with positive vibes about high self esteem, building friendships, and embracing differences. Now it's time to start managing classroom routines. Here are a few ways we manage reader's and writer's notebooks in our classroom:
Building a Writer's State of Mind
Thursday, June 23, 2016
We always try to build a positive attitude about writing from day one. Sharing writer's craft is so crucial to gaining student's buy into writing as a whole. So, we try to pick great mentor texts that showcase different teaching points in writer's workshop. Here is our Top Ten:
1. Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon. It is a great mentor text to introduce small seed story ideas to your students. Also it includes great descriptive language. We use this mentor text in our narrative leads.
2. The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli. I love how this speaks about telling the story from your heart. Also, that the story only needs to be important to you. We use this text to help writers generate ideas for narratives.
Becoming a Tribe
The first days of school are so important for establishing your classroom's climate. So every year we try to begin with great mentor texts that help build classroom expectations, a positive atmosphere, and contribute to great lessons. This year we decided to change it up and try some new mentor texts. Each of the text will be used at some point later in the year, but for now we will really focus on the goal of building camaraderie, classroom ownership, and strong friendships. Below is our new and improved list:
by Karen Beaumont
It is a great lesson on appreciating yourself for who you are. We plan on reviewing character traits with our new 4th graders and emphasizing the positive traits and building self-esteem. They must first be strong in who they are before they can become a great friend to someone else.Teacher Treasures
One thing that is almost impossible for a teacher to do is turn off the teacher brain even during the summer months. We think about all of the things we want to do better next school year: classroom decor, organization, behavior expectations, read alouds, and so on. You cannot deny that we all have a summer to-do list that is a mile long. So, to help feed that teacher brain - and possibly make that list a tad longer - we are going to share some treasures that we have fallen in love with this summer. Our to-do list is ever growing, so we thought yours should be too! You're welcome!
Don't Go Ape During Test Prep!
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Here in Texas, we have a few weeks left before state testing in reading. So, we have been busy preparing our students with the skills they will need for the paired passages they will face. We started the week by reviewing vocabulary for compare and contrast questions and tricky testing words that stump the kids. To get the kids engaged, we played vocabulary bingo and heads up with specific words we chose from our Reading Vocabulary Games. Our students were having so much fun they forgot they were learning. Yay!
Next, we read a nonfiction article from DoGoNews. Our students were touched by this inspiring story. After reading the article, the students partnered up and completed a simple graphic organizer for expository text. Then, whole group we discussed our findings. The next day,
Focused Poetry
Monday, April 4, 2016
Since April is Poetry Month, we thought a post about our focused poetry units would be the perfect way to kick off our new blog.
Although we have been using focused poetry all year long, we’ve been extra busy reviewing poetry elements in our fourth grade classrooms to prepare them for our state test that is quickly approaching. We know if we hate using the boring, old poems that the kids definitely despise them, which is why we decided it was time to become poets. Scary, right? Surprisingly, we aren't that terrible, or at least according to our sweet kiddos.
Here is an authentic look inside our classrooms for a week in the life of our focused poetry. Keep in mind that each day is intended to be roughly 10 minutes--depending on the working speed of your students. It seems to move faster with the more practice they have.
Who are the Texas Teaching Chicks?
Saturday, April 2, 2016We are the Texas Teaching Chicks duo. We both teach 4th grade reading and writing together somewhere along the coast of Texas. Teaching has always been our passion, but we have discovered a new love for sharing our ideas with other teachers. We can’t wait to see where this journey takes us.
Hi! I’m Hailey—just one half of the Texas Teaching Chicks. I am a proud, obsessed dog-momma to my sweet boy, Whiskey. I graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies.
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