Photos from Camp Read a Lot

My students went to Camp Read a Lot again this year!  

I'm packing this post with photos.

If you want to read more about Camp Read a Lot, you can visit my previous posts (which can be found in my sidebar under Camp Read a Lot).  I host Camp Read a Lot in March, but it also makes a fun end of the year activity.

Welcome to Camp Read a Lot!

Parent volunteers work at the registration desk on the first day of camp.

one of our teepees and one of our campfires (outside the room)

Keepin' it simple with 3 rules.

I only have 3 for my classroom as well (be kind, work hard, have fun).

The campfire in our meeting area.

Camping Graph (pieces included in my Camp Read a Lot pack)

Campfire Stories

one of our camp crafts

Each day of camp we had lots of letters (from parents and staff).

Campfire cupcakes

Seriously, how cute are these? 

My parents ROCK!

Read Under the Stars (one of the daily themes for camp)

The resources I use for Camp Read a Lot and more ideas about the crafts, daily themes, literacy activities and a list of books that I use are included in my Camp Read a Lot pack.

Camp Read a Lot was a huge success again this year!

And...this camp director is glad she pulled off another week at camp.

It was so worth it!

How to Writing: A Peek into Kindergarten

We finished week two of our journey on the Information Highway at my school!  Our whole school is doing an Information Highway Theme (to focus on informational text) for March is Reading Month.   You can read about my food themed week post here.

Lots of the teachers are using resources from my Information Highway product.

My post about week 2 will be ready soon, but today I'm sharing a peek at the how to writing that the kindergarten classroom across the hall did during our food themed week (which was our first week).

My friend, Nicole, is an amazing kindergarten teacher! She is truly a kind person and constantly impresses me with her dedication. Nicole works across the hall from me and was nice enough to share how her class used some of the resources I made to help them do a how to writing project.  The description and the photos below are from Nicole's kindergarten classroom. I only labeled them "Funky First Grade Fun" to protect the photos.

Day 1 -
-We read and discussed numerous books about pizza, discussed how to make pizza and looked at recipe books. 

-We talked about our favorite ingredients to put on pizza and made a class anchor chart of our ideas. We called it our Class Grocery List.  We listed our ideas and spent time talking about making a grocery list, instead of writing in complete sentences.

- After we made our Class Grocery List, I explained to the kids that I wanted them to think about their own personal favorite ingredients.  Then the students made an individual grocery list of the ingredients that they would need to make their own personal pizza.

*Sundance/Newbridge has a great level C book called Making Pizza.

Day 2 - We discussed the grocery list and talked about the fact that once you have all the ingredients to make something you need a recipe to know how to make it.  I reminded the students to focus on explaining how to make a pizza to their reader . We reviewed the steps whole group and then talked about that the next step would be to add their own toppings, so their writing would be their own. The students filled out the graphic organizer sheet from the Information Highway pack to help the students focus on first, then, next and last.

Day 3- We used the information from each section of the graphic organizer to write complete sentences about each step. The students also drew a picture of each step.

Later in the day we played a math game.  First they had to total the amount of ingredients that the had on their grocery list. They then played a penny, nickel exchange game to earn the ingredients to make their own real personal pizza. The students had to roll a die labeled with the numbers 1,2 and 3. Once they got 5 pennies, they exchanged the 5 pennies for a nickel. The students had to earn 1 nickel for each ingredient. Once they earned their ingredients they were able to make their own personal pizza by following the How to Make a Pizza directions they wrote themselves.

*Since Nicole is awesome, she purchased all the ingredients from their Class Grocery List anchor chart so the children would have all their favorite ingredients to make their own pizzas.

It was so much fun to hear the excitement in the little kindergarten voices as they told me about their writing project!  Thank you, Nicole, for sharing your week and your photos! As always, you rock!  So proud to call you my friend and so lucky to work with you.

Close Reading, Text Based Evidence & Finally a Crafty Activity!

Last week, we did a close reading using the book below during reader's workshop. It's from the Scholastic What Grows In Our Garden garden pack.

Throughout the week, we also gathered text based evidence from lots of other books about why fruits and vegetables are good for us to eat. Here are a few other books from the same pack I mentioned above (with a little bit of "evidence" that students gathered stuck to the front).

Food was the weekly theme for our March is Reading Month theme, which focuses on informational text.  We're traveling on the Information Highway...with a different theme each week. You can find the resources that we're using for this month long unit in my Information Highway unit.

Here are some of the nonfiction books I gathered for us to use during our food week.

We collected text based evidence about why fruits and veggies are good for us during our close reading and in small groups with different books from our collection. We added the evidence to an anchor chart throughout the week.  I included the resource and the page number in a different color under each "fact".

In between all these snowy/icy/whenarewereallygonnahavea5dayweek days, we finally had time to do an art project!  Ta da!

Fruits and Veggies in Your Bag Writing and Craftivity

(front view + writing on the back)

The parts and pieces (minus the bag) can be found in the product below if you're interested.  The writing page + the resources sheet to put on the back of the bag are also included.

My students were also super excited to practice their how to writing skills by writing about how to make a food of their choice.  I'm so proud of the progress they have made in writing!  We've been revisiting how to writing throughout the year.  I really wanted them to use first, then, next and last in their how to writing. In the past, I've had to guide them through the process, but this time they were able to go through the process independently...which makes my heart sing! (The pages for our graphic organizers and the writing are included in my Information Highway unit.)

Here is a student sample... 

This weeks theme is music.  Makes me feel like dancin' reading!

ROADTRIP!

It's time for our roadtrip on the Information Highway!  

We're traveling on an informational text themed adventure for March.

Our whole building is focusing on specific themes
for informational text each week.  

Passport Registration

I have a crazy amount of leveled books in my classroom.  I do mean CrAzY, but they all get used on a daily basis.  I have bins full of fiction and nonfiction books at each level for students to use throughout the day.  I also have a Nonfiction Book Nook full of just leveled informational texts. I created this separate area full of nonfiction books just to make sure my students have extra exposure to informational text.  The books in the Nonfiction Book Nook are organized by category (but are also leveled to help students choose just right books).  As you can see, the bins for some categories are super full and other bins have so few books in them that you can barely see them in each bin.

Nonfiction Book Nook Shelf

You can find the labels that I made for the bins in my Nonfiction Book Nook here.
The labels are available to download free at the bottom of that old post.

I'll be posting more adventures from our trip on the Information Highway over the next few weeks.

Then...we'll finish off March with Camp Read a Lot!

Informational Text Themes for Reading Month

At my school, we've been busy planning for March is Reading month. 

We decided we wanted to focus on informational texts to increase the exposure our kids are getting to nonfiction books. I created the Information Highway for my staff to use. It is full of resources to use with students as they travel on the "information highway"!

The resources are geared toward 4 different themes (food, music, exercise and animals), 1 for each week in March. The Information Highway includes teachers planning pages, a family letter, an official passport, bulletin board/anchor chart pieces, two different reading logs for each weekly theme, writing activities (how to writing, poetry, opinion writing and research writing), class book covers, a sticky fact form, a vocabulary builder and two learning snapshot forms.

 
Stay tuned as my class travels on the Information Highway.  I'll be sure to post pictures throughout the month!

I'm still going to take my own class camping (during March) too!  We'll use the Camp Read  a Lot resources for that adventure.  There are lots of good informational texts about camping.  So, it will go well with our Information Highway theme. Last year, lots of teachers said they used my Camp Read a Lot unit at the end of the school year as well.

 Back to resting I go...
 

Time for a Super (Bowl) Sale!

The groundhog says 6 more weeks of winter...that's SUPER. Ughhh...

 So, let's focus on all the Super (Bowl) Sales!

Here are some of my favorite products...

Writing My Opinion

(includes rubrics, motivating student prompts, anchor chart pieces)

 (based on the common core, but can be used even if you are not using the common core standards)

 Camp Read A Lot Classroom Campout Fun

Great for March is Reading Month and end of the year celebration!

Nonfiction Penguin Unit 

 I use this unit to introduce animal research.

We study penguins as a class in February to prepare for our animal research in March.

 Digraph Activities 

(literacy work stations, literacy centers, working with words, 

small group work, individual word work)

Animal Research Book

My students use this book as a framework for their own animal research projects.

Funky Fun Vowel Games

(literacy work stations, literacy centers, working with words, 

small group work, individual word work)

Wanna have some football themed fun with your students?

Funky Football Fan Fun

(how to writing, list making, poetry, opinion writing, making words)

Everything in my Tpt store is 20% off today (2/2) and tomorrow (2/3)!

If you stop to visit my store, please become a follower.

You'll find lots of freebies there!

 
 

March is Reading Month Planning

At my school, we are beginning our planning for March is Reading Month.  We'll have a school-wide theme, which has not been agreed upon yet.  I also take my own kids to camp for one of the weeks!  Well, I should say that my kids come to camp...in our classroom!

Last year, my class went to Camp Read a Lot (which was really a classroom campout in our classroom). I honestly think it was my favorite week of teaching (in 15 years)! My little campers (and their camp director) had so much fun!

 Here is a picture of the outside of my room all set up for camp!

 We used the table in the picture as our camp registration table. As I welcomed the campers on the first morning of camp, one of my parents worked at the registration desk to register each camper. The registration form is in my Camp Read a Lot (Classroom Campout Fun!) product.

 I did my campout during the last week of March, 

but it could be done at any time of the year.  

I'm thinking it would also be lots of fun at the end of the school year.

 

Don't ya love my teepee?!?!  It's actually not mine.  My friend, who teaches across the hall, let me borrow her teepee.  I had another teepee (from our library) and 3 small tents (borrowed from parents) set up in my classroom throughout the week.

We had a theme for each day of camp.  The themes were Read Under the Stars, Hike and Read, Campfire Stories, S'more Reading Please and Camp Sing a Long. Activities to go with the theme for each day are also included in my Camp Read a Lot (Classroom Campout Fun!) pack.

Here is a picture of my kids on Read Under the Stars day. I hung glow in the dark stars from the ceiling so the little campers could read with their flashlights.  I also played one of those sounds of nature CD's since there are always crickets chirping in the dark at camp.

You can read two more posts about Camp Read a Lot  here and here.  

You can also check it out at my Tpt store!