In the latest edition of the Teacher Tip Newsletter, there are some writing prompts for the New Year I thought I would share:
1. What is your New Year's resolution? Do you think you can accomplish it?
2. If you could make five positive changes in your life, what would they be?
3. You are coming back from a New Year's Eve celebration when the snow starts to fall so hard you can't see in front of you. You pull into a diner. What happens next?
4. Create a timeline of your entire last year. Include all important events.
5. What was your happiest day of last year? Describe it in detail.
6. What do you wish would happen to you this year?
7. Think back to last year. Describe the day that you wish you never got out of bed.
I thought these were great 'food for thought' questions and might be a good way to start out the new year/new semester. Even if you don't use them as a specific writing assignment, you could project one or more of the questions on a screen the first day back as a bell ringer, an individual journal entry, or even as a whole-class discussion topic.
16 December 2011
12 December 2011
Nothing like being sick to make you appreciate everything more!
Once again the pneumonia bug grabbed a hold of me. I didn't feel too good over the first weekend in December and by Monday afternoon I was in the doctor's office. Thinking I would get over it, I got an excuse for two days but by Wednesday it had moved into my chest and viral pneumonia set in. I feel like I missed an entire week of my life, but at least I am on the mend and back in my office today!
I want to share a quick site which was suggested by Thinkfinity. It's mainly for primary school ages, but could be used in elementary as well. The site comes from ReadWriteThink and is called Puzzle Me Words. To use the site, simply go to the link, click on Get Started and listen to the school bus introduction. It is very simple! There are two levels - beginner and advanced. The beginner game gives the student a limited amount of letters to select from as they build a three-letter word. A graphic of the item they are to spell shows and the student hears the word pronounced. Then the student simply clicks and drags the appropriate letters to the puzzle piece spaces provided. If they get the word correct, they'll hear it pronounced again, along with a congratulatory phrase and the school bus moves along the road at the bottom of the screen. When the school bus moves across the finish line, the student earns a piece of a prize puzzle. For the beginners, three pieces must be earned and for the advanced students, six pieces of the prize puzzle must be earned. At the end when all the prize puzzle pieces have been earned, the student will have the option to print, save or e-mail their prize puzzle certificate. The certificate can be printed for the student to color, so that's a nice option rather than just printing an already colored certificate.
If you haven't checked Thinkfinity lately, you might think about taking a look there to see what you might be able to use for next semester! They've spent quite a bit of time aligning lessons and activities with the new common core standards. Content is being added all the time so give it a look soon!
I want to share a quick site which was suggested by Thinkfinity. It's mainly for primary school ages, but could be used in elementary as well. The site comes from ReadWriteThink and is called Puzzle Me Words. To use the site, simply go to the link, click on Get Started and listen to the school bus introduction. It is very simple! There are two levels - beginner and advanced. The beginner game gives the student a limited amount of letters to select from as they build a three-letter word. A graphic of the item they are to spell shows and the student hears the word pronounced. Then the student simply clicks and drags the appropriate letters to the puzzle piece spaces provided. If they get the word correct, they'll hear it pronounced again, along with a congratulatory phrase and the school bus moves along the road at the bottom of the screen. When the school bus moves across the finish line, the student earns a piece of a prize puzzle. For the beginners, three pieces must be earned and for the advanced students, six pieces of the prize puzzle must be earned. At the end when all the prize puzzle pieces have been earned, the student will have the option to print, save or e-mail their prize puzzle certificate. The certificate can be printed for the student to color, so that's a nice option rather than just printing an already colored certificate.
If you haven't checked Thinkfinity lately, you might think about taking a look there to see what you might be able to use for next semester! They've spent quite a bit of time aligning lessons and activities with the new common core standards. Content is being added all the time so give it a look soon!
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