1-2-3 Come Read and Write the Room With Me

Reading and writing the room was always a fun activity for my students.  I think making them ABC De-tectives and allowing them to roam the room with their worksheet on a clipboard, helped encourage an enthusiastic effort.

With that in mind, I designed some "Read and Write the Room" worksheets.   You can simply make copies of the template you like best and have students fill them out, sending them home when they finish, or you can take advantage of all of the back to school super sales going on and pick up notebooks for as little as .15 cents.

By having students glue the worksheets to a page in their Read and Write the Room Journal, you'll have an easy way to show student progress during parent teacher conferences.

If you start the journals in October and have students “write the room” once a week,  (using a new letter) you’ll complete them in April, and have a wonderful end-of-the-year keepsake for them to haul home.

The first photo is one journal option, if you like the idea of running off separate worksheets.  I have two kinds available.  One has a traceable letter box with an empty one for children to write the upper and lowercase letter in.

The other is an "I spy" version and has students draw something that they see that begins with that letter.  You can pick the style you like best or mix things up to add more interest and variety.

Another option is seen in the second photo. Here you conserve paper and the time it takes to run things off. Run off the "Read and Write the Room!" template, trim and glue to the inside cover.

Students use the “master” to write their own page for the letter of the week.  If you assign a new letter each week, it will take you 6 months (+2 weeks) to complete the journals. 

If you want to continue afterwards, you can run off my "roam the room" alphabet cards.  (Laminate them so you can use them each year.)

Toss them in a container and have students pick one.  That will be the letter they "roam the room" looking for.  You can use the blank template as a worksheet for them to fill in whatever, or one of the other options.

As with all of my other alphabet cards, you can use them for games, flashcards, sequencing etc.  A tip list is included to give you some ideas and includes the "Kaboom!" game.

I've also included a simple ABC De-tective alphabet worksheet, where students roam the room, trying to find something that begins with each letter of the alphabet. 

There are also several choices for the cover of the notebook journals.  Choose one, run off, trim and glue to the cover of your notebooks.  You could also have students design their own cover. 

Click on the link to view/download the Read and Write the Room Packet.  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

I'm off to try and find the bottom of my desk.  So many design ideas, so little time!  I need to prioritize and organize!  Can you relate?

The difference between school and life?  In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test.  In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson." -Tom Bodett  

1-2-3 Come Make A KWL With Me

I first learned about a KWL in college. KWL's are graphic representations that are especially helpful for visual learners. They are a wonderful way for teachers to see what prior knowledge their students have, as well as what they'd like to learn.  KWL's are simple, easy and a fun way to accomplish quite a bit in a short amount of time.

K stands for what students Know about a topic, W for What they Want to know, and finally, L representing what students have Learned when the unit is over.  I used them quite a bit to introduce a variety of subjects to my Y5's.  I'd simply put a KWL chart on the board and we'd have a discussion.  As students shared, I wrote things under the appropriate letters.  The chart stayed up 'til the end of our unit.  As children learned things we'd add them to the L section. 

I was cruising Pinterest awhile ago and found a KWL on apples over at The Lemonade Stand.  Click on the link to check out Rayann's sweet blog.  She made a KWL using a red, yellow and green apple.  I thought this bit of art, thrown into the KWL concept, was a terrific idea, so I decided to make some creative KWL's for fall.  I've included an apple and leaves KWL for September; along with a KWL for pumpkins, spiders and bats for October, and finally, a turkey and Pilgrim KWL for November.

Besides the large KWL that you can put on your board, I've made matching 1-page personal KWL's, so your students can practice their writing. 

When I taught 1st grade, I made writing folders for my students to use as journals.  They were simply a pocket folder with brads inside.  Anytime I gave a writing extension, students would 3-hole punch their worksheet and put it in their folder. 

The folders documented wonderful progress throughout the year and were shown at parent-teacher conferences.  These individual KWL's would be terrific for your students' writing journals/folders and something they could do during Daily 5. Click on the link to view/download the KWL's For Fall packet.  

Thanks for visiting today.  I blog and design daily, so I hope you can pop back tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN anything from my site. 

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"Imagination is the eye of the soul." -Joseph Joubert