FREEBIE: Sporting with Direct Objects- Thanks to an Easter Bargain! TBA Link Up

Normally I do NOT shop! Well, I shop... but, not really.... I have a list, go to the store, get what's on the list, and get out. That's it! Last week, however, I actually shopped. You know- the browsing, take your time, look at lots of things kind of shopping. AND I found some bargains on cute Easter decorations, and I mean cute, as in classroom useful cute... like these eggs... 33 cents at Wal-mart... YES!

I only bought them because my sixers had such a great time doing an activity during my Parts of Speech Round-up just before Easter break that required them to open plastic eggs and do something with words I had placed inside. They had actually asked to do a similar activity after Easter. I figured the boys would go wild for these eggs so I grabbed them along with a separate bag of just football eggs and a separate bag of baseball eggs. Each bag was only 33 cents! But what could I use them for as far as curriculum was concerned? Today I figured it out.

We've been brushing up on Language skills, reviewing everything from all year. Direct objects and prepositional phrases are sometimes confusing for this group of sixers so I made this literacy center: Sporting with Direct Objects.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAd0dYLW1yaGRpTHM/edit?usp=sharing

I whipped it up during my planning period in the morning. It's short and to the point. I put everything in a basket, briefly explained the objective and directions and handed it to the student nearest me. After she completed the activity, she passed it on, and so on. They loved it! Not everyone got to do the activity today, so we'll work on getting through the rest tomorrow. Then I'll figure out something else to do with my Sporty Eggs. 

Maybe I should shop more! Nah! But I'll definitely shop around for lots of great FREEBIES over at Teaching Blog Addict. This is my first link up for Freebie Friday, but I know it won't be my last. Love TBA!

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk 6

The Push to Break and Manic Monday FREEBIE

This is the big week, the push to the finish… yes, Easter break is in sight! And the best part of it: I do not have to deal with April Fools’ Day since it is during break! YIPPEE!  I DO HAVE to deal with off-year writing proficiency testing this coming Tuesday and Wednesday with my fifth graders, just what one wants to do during the last few days prior to a vacation. Ah well, we will make the best of it!

But first... MANIC MONDAY'S FREEBIE!

Here’s something that I will have the fifth graders do as they complete the sections on the writing test- Easter Take Three. It’s a great brainstorming activity and will serve as pre-writing for some Easter poems we will compose on Thursday. I posted a similar activity last month for St. Patrick’s Day; the kiddos enjoyed it, and I heard from several of you that you used it with your classes with success! This Take Three has a bit of a religious flavor to it (I teach at a Catholic School) so I am offering this in Word format. That way anyone who is interested in the Easter Take Three can snag it, then edit it to remove the religious material. You can download it HERE, or by clicking on the link below the picture.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAOXY0QnJ3X2JNcGM/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Easter! Happy Teaching, Angela The Teacher's Desk 6 teachersdesk@yahoo.com

POS Round-up

As I posted earlier in the week, my sixers have been hitting the parts of speech pretty hard lately, at least the identification part. They do very well when each part of speech is worked in isolation, they do well when two or three are practiced at one time, but when we look at all of them together... uh oh! Some of my kiddos have even been staying after school- voluntarily- to get in extra practice. They've done worksheets, quizzes, lessons galore and are getting a bit ho-hum with the practice. 

So to perk things up a bit this week, that LOOOOOONG week just before a break, we are going to have a Parts of Speech (POS) Round-up on Tuesday morning.  I've been gathering the materials and organizing everything for the past few days. Today it's all ready, except for the laminating (that's Monday morning). 

Here's how it will work. Instead of a regular Language Arts class I'll be setting up six stations, one per table, around the room. Each table will house one activity for practicing the parts of speech. Students will rotate every fifteen minutes until they have visited each station and completed the activity. 

The stations are as follows:

1. POST... a card game for up to six players in which each player brainstorms a list of words for randomly selected part of speech beginning with a particular letter

2. Mystery Pictures based on the fowl tempered friends with whom my sixers love playing

3. Egg-cellent Verbs and Egg-citing Sentences... identifying verb tenses and writing sentences with randomly selected verbs that are hidden inside of Easter eggs

4. Parts of Speech Dice... purchased from Amazon, that require students to write sentences using particular parts of speech

5. MadLibs... Easter stories, collected from across the internet, to be completed by providing missing parts of speech

6. Parts of Speech Computer Battleship... the familiar board game turned digital at Quia Quiz site

Tuesday's Round-up should make it a little more fun when practicing the parts of speech. It should also help to make the day pass more quickly... ONE MORE DAY CLOSER TO EASTER BREAK! Can you tell I'm ready?

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk 6

teachersdesk@yahoo.com

Egg-citing Verbs and Egg-cellent Sentences... Easter FREEBIE

We've been hitting the parts of speech pretty hard lately in Language Arts class. My sixers have a hard time remembering the function of the words or getting prepositions and adverbs mixed-up, not to mention the difference between present tense and present progressive tense. They can use the parts of speech correctly in their writing but to identify them... ugh! Mystery Pictures have been a big help taking the drudge out of the work but I don't want to overdo them. BTW, my Spring Frog Mystery Picture is finished. You can get it HERE or by clicking on the link below the graphic.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Frog-Mystery-Picture-Parts-of-Speech

To give my sixers varied practice with identifying verb tenses and using them in sentences, I created Egg-citing Verbs and Egg-cellent Sentences (my class goes wild for silly puns), I'll be using this with them next Monday as we wind down the third quarter and get ready for our Spring Break. Maybe some of you would like to use this activity as well. You can download this FREEBIE HERE, or by clicking on the link below the graphic.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAYVRNYnlzVnFzS2s/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Easter!

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk 6

teachersdesk@yahoo.com