Making FUN Class Books. (Tips & Tricks)

Spicing Up Your Writing Lessons:

I like to use a variety of writing activities: 
Journals (daily), 
Guided Writing (weekly), and 
Writing Prompts (monthly).

I use these Writing Prompt templates to create class books written by my students. Or use them to create seasonal bulletin boards displaying their writing.

                                       

Click the image above.

I meet with my students in a small group setting to create a class book. Here are just some of the templates included in my "Monthly Writing" set:

Click the template.

A great one to use at the beginning and the end of the year.
Click the template.

I always used this one AFTER Thanksgiving.
Click the template.

We integrated math by creating a class graph with the results.
Click the template.

Perfect for celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Click the template.

Each child gets the same template.  You can do this two ways:

Using the writing prompt on the page, you ask the children to create an illustration that will go with their sentence. 

While they are illustrating, you ask the first child to dictate their  sentence, you write the words they need on lined Post-its, and they copy it.

OR:

You can have them use their inventive spelling to complete the sentence on their own or with guidance from you.

You can grab the entire set of 20 writing prompts, many of them integrate science and social studies, by CLICKING HERE.

Tip:  
-I number the pages with each student's classroom number.  
-I glue a numbered class list inside the front cover of the book.  
-Since that list includes their class number, it becomes an instant Table Of Contents!  Students can quickly find their own page in the book by just looking for their class number.
-At the end of the year, it is easy to take the books apart and organize the pages for each child to take home.  I place all of the pages for each child in a folder and glue a cover to it that says, "If you give a kid a pencil..."

Thanksgiving is over, but you can still...

... use it to teach sight words and numerals!

Here are 3 ways to transition from Nov. to Dec.

#1. Thanksgiving Sight Words & Numerals:

1. Give each child a lined card with the word "see" on it and the numerals 1-5.

2. Give each child a copy of my Thanksgiving Counting Book.

Click the image to see this book. 

3. Students fill in the word "see" on each page, count the objects, and fill in the correct numerals.

This is a GREAT book to take home and read to their family too!

But That's Not All:

No, that's not all. 

#2.  I also made a Christmas Counting Book: 

Click the image to see this book. 

This book is filled with sight words for your students to learn and read as they count the objects and fill in the numerals 1-10. 

BONUS: Did I mention that ALL of the products in my TpT store are on sale through Nov. 29 and if you use the code CYBER2016, you can even save an extra 10% which will bring your savings to 28%!

#3.  Seasonal Writing Prompts:

Now that your students have just experienced Thanksgiving, you might also like to use the Thanksgiving writing prompt included in my Month-to-Month Writing pack. 

You get loads of other prompts that integrate science, social studies, and math with language arts. 

The Thanksgiving page looks like this:

Click the image to see the entire set of writing prompts. 

And the December page looks like this:

Click the image to see the entire set of writing prompts. 

And you can also make an entire math lesson around this question with my Class Graph Icons:  (So, I guess that's really 4 ideas!)

Click the image to see the set of icons. 

So have fun as you transition from Nov. to Dec. and remember to keep the FUN in the Fundamentals!  

Visit my Pre-K/T.K./Kindergarten blog:  JUST CLICK HERE