School Year Memory Book FREEBIE

I always like my sixers to do an end of the year review, not as a test, but so they see how much they have accomplished and experienced throughout the entire school year. In the past I have had them make lists, flow charts, mock filmstrips, among other things. This year I decided to have them make and complete a memory book.

I'm asking them to brainstorm as many things as they can remember for each month of the school year using this planning sheet. Their memories can be activities they did or things they learned. If you would like a copy of the planning sheet, for your students to make memory books, you can download it HERE or by clicking on its graphic.

The next step will be to use their planning sheet to complete the actual memory book. In their memory books my sixers will draw pictures, create collages, or place photos they may have taken. They will then write a brief paragraph about each month. I'm interested in what they will write. The directions are very open-ended. I'm looking to see what skills they will use without me reminding them. We've spent a great deal of time the last two years (I have students in both grade five and grade six Language Arts) developing the traits of good writing.

I've developed a simple assessment tool to use for evaluating the memory books when they are finished. I'm only offering it HERE for my blog visitors and followers. The areas of assessment follow the traits of good writing: organization, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, presentation. I omitted voice and ideas, needing only five for my purposes. I'm using a simple Likert scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being OUTSTANDING and 1 being POOR. I consistently use tools like this with my sixers so they are comfortable with them as are their parents.

The complete memory book is available to download from either my Teachers Pay Teachers Store or my Teacher's Notebook Shop. Here's what pages 1 and 2 look like. The font I used is my new favorite. It's called LL Elementary Dots and comes from Erin over at I'm Lovin' Lit. The frames, black and white doodles, are courtesy of Krista Wallden.

The pages print in black and white so they are easy on printers and copy machines. The booklet is simple to assemble so students are able to do the work themselves. Each page is folded in half and compiled within a cover. There's even a blank page for gathering autographs from classmates. I'm anxious to have my sixers get started on their School Year Memory Books, but I'd better wait just a little while longer, or there will be just TOO much end of the year excitement, TOO soon!

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