Gingerbread Christmas Stories

Christmas is and always has been my favorite holiday to celebrate. In the classroom I used to LOVE doing a Gingerbread unit. It was so much fun comparing the stories. My favorite GB stories? The Musubi Man, The Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Cowboy, and The Gingerbread Pirates. 

Below are links to purchase these books for your classroom! They are must have Gingerbread books! 

MUMMIES

Although I love all things fall, I usually skip the fall decorations at home and go right to Halloween decorations at home. I LOVE all things Halloween. Black, lime green, orange, purple, and black glitter give me all the feels. In school, its one of my favorite holidays to do fun projects and as a coach, I always offer up time to get into the rooms to do an art project with each class. I usually try to include some type of writing and always a story to go with it. Here are the mummies we did in our first grade room this past week.

You can get the writing template free by clicking HERE and you can see the art project directions on Instagram @cassieriewer or by clicking HERE.

Concepts About Print Recording Form

CAP recording form for Reading Recovery teachers.

I know there are a lot of different recording forms out there but this worked best for me when doing CAP. 

Click HERE for the free form. 

Leaf Man Writing

I LOVE teaching writing. I LOVE art. Put the two together and my teacher 💓 explodes. One of my favorite writing projects each year was our Leaf Man projects. It really allows you to see each students creative side.  Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert is the perfect fall book with beautiful imagery and descriptive words making it a wonderful mentor text.

 

My mom and Isaac would always help collect leaves and I think deep down this was a big reason I loved this project. Both familiar with the book, we couldn't help but find "leaf men" as we gathered. It always amazed me how creative a 3/4 year old could be with leaves. Each year we made our own leaf men as an example to show the class. Here are a few Isaac made. 

Depending on where you live, if you gather leaves right when they start to fall and place them under something heavy, they will keep their color and lay flat making them easy to manipulate. I used contact paper (two sides) to keep them together after they built them. When they finish creating their leaf man, they write about the journey their leaf man went on. This is one of my favorite pieces a student created.  (This was done by a student who did "not like to write". 😉 💕) 

 You can get the book above in the link and the FREE writing template here in my store.

Narrative Writing

"I don't know what to write" - six words that are inevitable each year as you manage Writer's Workshop. There is always that one student who sits and looks at you or spends the entire time drawing and doodling. The reasoning?  "I don't know what to write!" 

As I was cleaning out the files on my desktop, I ran across a resource I had created while still teaching to help students generate new ideas. I believe in the use of mentor texts to generate unique ideas and introduce students to new structures. This resource includes the mentor texts I typically used along with anchors to brainstorm writing ideas. 

Here's how I used this in the classroom:

While launching Writer's Workshop I would post a new anchor (posted below) and ask the class the question posted. (Example: Can you think of a time you had a visitor?)

After a short turn and talk session I would read the mentor text I chose to go with this topic. In this example:

When we finished reading the story, sometimes not the same day, we would turn and talk and share about a personal experience. I would then call for volunteers to share what their partner said and we would add ideas to the anchor. Together we would hang the chart up in the classroom so they had it for future ideas. 

* I always left 1-2 spots for later on in the year. It's a great way to keep these interactive all year. 

 You can purchase that resource here.