Teaching Text Features in Second

I always find when students can create a product, it helps them understand a concept.  I planned this project around that idea, where the students had make a book about tulips and text features.  This was the second time we were covering the standard, and I wanted to give them something hands-on to do that was different than making a collage/poster (which is what we did the first time). 

Ta-Da!  Do you like the background?  I put it on a log. 😬

So my thinking for this is, it may not be exactly to the standard, BUT it gives the students a peek inside the mind of an author of informational text.  The kids had to plan their book, create a table of contents, include the text features we were reviewing, create a glossary using some of the words in their book, include page numbers, and complete the pages. 

 

It was a lot harder than I thought to get second graders to do all of that.  The illustration page was pretty easy because the kids had tons of practice with drawing pictures and writing a sentence about said picture.  

Even this page was not too difficult for the kids to complete.  Especially because I put a word bank on the board for the kids to use to help with the labels.  

For whatever reason, the students had hard time with this page, even though it is very similar to the first page.  After a whole class brainstorm, the students felt more confident and completed the page.  

It seemed like it would be easy, it as not.

This about killed me.

Originally, I was going to have the kids choose their own words to put into the glossary, but after so many of my kids seemed to struggle with it, I decided to choose the words.  They had to go back and underline the words in the book.  The glossary and table of contents were done in whole group since most of the kids needed the extra support.

All in all, we made it!  The books were fun, the kids were able to practice using the text features in their own spring-themed book, it was a win-win!

Think this is something that would be awesome to do in your classroom?  

I've got you covered!

Visit my TPT store by clicking the link HERE

Using Illustrations to Understand Texts

I am incredibly excited about this resource!  I've been working on it for quite a while and I am thrilled to use it in the fall! Since third grade is the first year for testing, the third grade team set up a mock FSA to get the kids exposed to the type of environment they would be testing in when it came to the actual test.  I made this very pretty spreadsheet that broke down what the kids needed to work on and realized they struggled with RI and RL 3.7.  That standard has the kids using illustrations to help them understand the text, so it shocked me they struggled with it.  I know they did similar strategies in K-2 because I used to teach first.  My guess is either the kids were not used to the type of questions being asked or we rely so heavily on reading text that we don't pay much attention to the pictures anymore or a combination of both.

The data sent me on a journey to find a resource to help my students.  I needed something explicit so my kids could practice with just this skill.  Since I could not find the right resources, I decided to make my own.  I started first with my fictional resource, then with informational. 

Our district is pushing close reads and encouraging all teachers to use those strategies, so I created a close read aspect because the kids will have to make notes about the picture on the page.

The notes can be observations or inferences about the picture.  Then, they have to put their thoughts into complete sentences. I noticed my students struggled with that in general so I figured giving them a place to practice that would be beneficial. 

Then, the students will read the text about the picture and answer the questions.  I created 14 pages for fictional practice and 14 for informational practice.  I plan to use it in a mini lesson and there are enough pages that I can put the others in a center.  

There are a few things I did with this resource.  I made FREEBIE versions of both.  Those can be grabbed HERE and HERE.  If you like those, you can purchase the full sets HERE and HERE. 

I also bundled them to save teachers a couple of bucks!  You can find that HERE.

Happy Teaching!

♡Chrissie

Chrysanthemum Anew

When I taught first grade, the entire grade used the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes to discuss bullying and friendship.  If you have never read it, it is about a little mouse, Chrysanthemum, who is teased at school because of her name.  One day, a new and very pregnant music teacher comes to school and tells her how much she loves the name and she was also named after a flower and has a long name.  Eventually, Chrysanthemum grows to love her name again.  It is definitely worth reading with your class, and the discussions I had with the first graders were very meaningful.

We had a lot of resources for the book since it was taught so many years.  However, everything was old school.  So I was cutting, taping, and making copies since nothing was electronic.  I decided to take what we were doing and create it electronically.  Then, all we would have to do is print off the pages we needed and make copies of those.

A Chrysanthemum Freebie was the first product I made for my store (not that I have a ton in it at the moment) and I just recently took it off as my primary free resource.  It is still in my store and you can find that HERE.  However, since I decided to spend my summer working on TPT products and getting ready for the next year, I've updated the freebie and the full unit project to look more professional.

I kept the same ideas in the unit project. I added a page that explains how to use each resource and how to differentiate the lessons for all learners.

I did keep the Chrysanthemum clipart I created a few years ago, and it took me such a long time to do because I made it in Word.  😂  I am so excited to have this updated version in my store!  It was fun making it, is one of the few primary resources I have, and is only a dollar!  It can be found HERE!

Happy Teaching!

♡Chrissie