Flipbooks

Who doesn't love a good flipbook? What has stopped me from using them as much as I would like is that they can be a pain to assemble. So I spent a lot of time creating, measuring, printing, and reprinting the perfect flipbook! All you have to do is print it double-sided, or copy it double-sided, and fold. No joke. That's all there is to do!

Here I have a quick video showing you how to fold all of my flipbooks. This tutorial is shown with my beginning of the year flipbook. I like to use this when I meet the parents and honestly, I review it with the kids the first day of school.

Finding Evidence In The Text

Finding evidence in the text is such an important skill. I mean let's face it. If students always went back into the text and found the answer, they would be getting near perfect scores! 

I think it just takes a lot of practice. Like. A lot. And some of them don't love it. 

I get it. My students read a text and answer the questions. They THINK they know all the answers so asking them to go back and do another step, ugh. I can the grumbles and groans from here. 

I really like the students to stay sharp on this skill so I have been using task cards. They are a quick and efficient way for students to practice showing where they found their answer. These can be completed in just 10 minutes. How many times have you needed or wanted to fill up just ten minutes of time? Yes, we have ALL been there. 

These task cards all have short reading passages. They vary from non-fiction to fiction, single paragraphs, to multi-paragraphs. They also all have skill based questions, such as main idea, inference, author's purpose, ect. Students read the passage and answer the questions. To answer the questions, they need to go back and find their answers using highlighters or markers in the text. I have them use a different color for each question so that. In addition to finding the answer, I have them write out a COMPLETE response. This includes the question restated. Another bonus skill! 

I really like to keep a good stack of these on hand to pull out and use weekly. They are also fantastic for small group and RTI work. I pull students and review the cards if they weren't getting the right answers. Each year I also seem to have a few who struggle with restating the question when writing a complete answer so I use these questions to fine tune that skill as well. 

Above is a sample of a completed task card. 

If you would like the complete set of these task cards CLICK HERE

If you would like to try 2 cards for FREE CLICK HERE!

Writer's Notebook: Characteristics of a Conclusion

"And that's the end."
"That's why ____ is important."
"That's all I have to say."

OH conclusions! They can be just a little frustrating when you keep getting the same responses like above.

I get it. We spend so much time teaching them how to write a strong body of the essay that sometimes the conclusion doesn't get a lot of attention.

So in my room, we use a simple 3 step formula for writing a strong conclusion.

1. Start with a transition 
2. Ask & answer "So what" and "Why would?" 
   - So what did I write about?
   - Why would anybody care? 
3. Make a memorable statement


After we practice those three steps, I love using this cute guy for their writers notebook! We wrap up and review the characteristics of a conclusion by brainstorming what a conclusion looks like, sounds like, and feels like.

If you want Mr. Conclusion & five days worth of mini lessons click HERE! 

Revising and Editing Checklist

It's time for a FREEBIE!

If you want a fun and memorable way to get your students to check over their writing, CLICK HERE!

You will find 9 categories along with guided statements/questions for each category.

The categories included are...

1. The introduction
2. The conclusion
3. Style
4. Transitions
5. Arrangement (structure of the essay)
6. Growth & Development (did they answer all parts of the prompt?)
7. Reasoning & Explanation (support what they have to say and explain
8. Audience
9. Mechanics

I bet your students will just love this checklist! Mine remembered all the steps of revising and editing so quickly using this mnemonic device. By the end of the year it is our little joke to just say "INSTAGRAM IT!"

Enjoy!

Word Choice Mini Lesson

Retired Words Anchor Chart 

Making better word choices in writing makes for better writing. It's really easy to get in the habit of using the same words over and over again, even as adults! 

Create a list of old words with new choices and put those boring words into retirement! 

Materials: 

Personal Reading Book 

Paper & Pencil 

Thesaurus/Dictionary 

Total Time: 25-40 minutes 

Directions: 

1. Have students scan a few pages of their personal reading book and have them pick out descriptive words. After 5 minutes, several students should share their findings with the class. Pretty quickly, you will find that the students have words that repeat such as happy, good, tired, cold, angry, pretty, small, ect.... These become the tired, old, boring, and overused words that we will replace with a better choice. 

2. If words have appeared multiple times, put them on the "retired word" list. (Keep going if you have no repeat offenders!)

3. Next, have the students brainstorm alternate ways to write the retired word in new exciting way. 

4. Then, have the students look up the retired words in the thesaurus or dictionary to come up with even more new choices!

5. Create an anchor chart as you go! 

CLICK HERE for a complete lesson on revising and editing for word choice. 

5th Grade Opinion Essay Writing Rubric

Argumentative & narrative rubrics available HERE.  

A Complete Short Answer Response

Here's a challenge, how many times in a day can you write on students paper "RESTATE THE QUESTION?" I am joking.... But really, they should make a stamp of it so that grading takes less time.... hum....

In all seriousness students need to restate the question to get the full credit on quizzes and tests so here is what they need to do.

1. Restate the question
2. Provide an answer
3. Provide evidence.
4. Put it all together in 1-2 sentences.

Use this formula over and over and over and encourage the kids to stick to it! It really becomes second nature to the students in a week or less.

These steps however are really for simple, short answers. I know there are lots of strategies like "RACE" out there but I really found success in using something simple initially. When we got further into the year and were writing entire paragraphs as answers, the "RACE" strategy was so helpful because they explained their answer even further.

Apply this strategy to other subjects too like science and social studies and see what stellar answers you start getting! I co-taught and I did ELA and social studies while my partner teacher did math and science and she LOVED the answers she would get for extended response math questions and science questions because they students were in the habit of explaining their answers.

Want a complete weeks worth of mini lessons on how to restate the question? Click HERE!