Silly Sentence Fun!

Last week, I finished up this new Thanksgiving resource. I developed it to use with my students because we've been working on writing complete sentences.  I wanted them to practice deciding if a sentence was complete by identifying the who part and the what part of a sentence.

I finally got to use this activity with my children today.  We did it first as a whole group activity, and then I put it into our literacy center rotation for this month.  It really is perfect because there are so many different combinations of sentences the children can make.

So I ran off the color saving option in totally black and white.  I put each sheet into a wipe off pocket. 

We used the paperclip spinners to find a word or phrase on each spinner.  Then we put the words together in the order of the spinners.  The first time we spun, we came up with "sailed hunted corn and stuffing."  The kids decided that was not a sentence because it didn't tell us who. 

The second spin, we got the words "the pilgrims ate corn and stuffing"  The kids agreed that was a sentence because it told us who -- the Pilgrims and what ate corn and stuffing.  All right.  Now to write it correctly on the recording sheet!  After everyone finished writing the sentence, I showed them how to check it using the check boxes and fix the sentence if necessary.  

After a few more non-sentence spins, we spun "the mayflower cooked in the forest."  At first, some of the children said it wasn't a sentence, and some said it was.  So we applied the test.  Does it tell us who?  Yes - The Mayflower.  Does it tell us what it does?  Yes -- cooks in the forest.  So it's a sentence, albeit a silly sentence!    Don't you just love the picture of the Mayflower cooking in the forest?  Again, the children wrote the sentence and used the check boxes to check for capitalization and ending punctuation.  We continued on in this manner until we had four sentences written and proofread for capitalization and end marks. The favorite silly sentence was "Turkeys cooked the spider."   Then the children illustrated the sentences.  

I was so pleased with the way this activity turned out.  The children were engaged and attentive the whole time.  They loved the novel approach of spinning a sentence and deciding if what they spun was really a sentence. Now that they know how to use it, I'm anxious to put the activity into centers for November and hear them working through the process themselves!

In addition to the center work, there are 8 pages of follow-up black and white activities that practice and reinforce complete sentences.  

If you would like to try out these activities with your students, click on the picture above and visit my TpT store.  

If you're looking for Christmas spin-a-sentence, you can find it here:

Have a great day, everyone!

And It's November!

I can't believe how the time is flying this year!  Halloween is done and gone, and it is November already.  Are you as amazed by this time flying as I am?

We've had an fun fall in our classroom.  We've learned about the communities, using this super new pack that I developed.

We also spent a good bit of time on our Skeleton unit in October since I only have science two days a week.

The kids are really enjoying these activities, and they love the idea of having a science interactive notebook!  

                                    

 We assembled and read our flipbook, then we underlined the important facts from the informational text.

We used our flipbook to pinpoint three major functions of the skeleton.

 

We learned the "kid friendly" names of the major bones in the body.  There are also cards for the proper names of bones.

There are still a few more sections that we need to complete with this unit, but I'm putting on the back burner for next week because I want to cover Veterans Day in social studies.  Speaking of, have you seen my fabulous Veterans Day resource?  

There are so many wonderful activities for learning about Veterans Day and activities you can do within your school community and as community outreach for local Veterans.  One user shared her idea on my feedback...

"My kinders always make something special for the vets in the hospital here. Your cards and wreath project are perfect!"

Another buyer had this to say about the differentiation within the unit...

"OH WOW! This is so awesome and wonderfully differentiated for different learners and their levels! Thank you!"

Now for the really great news!  This resource is currently on sale @ 33% off on Educents!  Click on the picture above to visit the listing and view this resource up close. 

As always, I like to leave you with a nice freebie for staying with me this long.  Right click on the picture below and "save image as" to your desktop to print and use this portion of my Veterans Day resource.

I developed these notes to use when my son left for boot camp almost two years ago.  I put them out at his graduation/going away party, and his friends and family all jotted notes to him on them.  Throughout his time at boot camp, I sent him a note a day.  When he is deployed, I plan to do the same.  I love the thought that teachers are using these same notes to send messages to other Veterans and service members!

Have a great weekend!