Cooperative Learning with Reading Response and Writing Activities

Busy, Busy, Busy...   

I wanted to share some student samples from a couple of cooperative learning tasks involving reading response and writing. 

We are in the midst of our final unit of the year called "The Spirit Within" and I wanted to share some of our work. 

So, here is what we've been up to lately...

 Literature Circles: Sequence of Events Map-

A "During Reading" Group Task for Night...

After reading a section of Elie Wiesel's memoir, students created flow maps in their literature circle groups. These are just two of the creative ideas they came up with to show the sequence of events. I like to have them work in groups because they learn so much from each other. 

Partner Allegory Writing after Reading "Terrible Things" by Eve Bunting...

I gave them the option of working independently or with a partner to compose their own allegories based on the idea presented in "Terrible Things" and, to my surprise, I had a good handful choose to do it independently. Either way, the originality and imagination that came out was amazing. 

Students read their allegories to the class after taking a couple of days to compose allegories and then illustrate them--in the form of a children's book. They really had fun with the project.

We thoroughly enjoyed hearing the different avenues taken to present the same idea!

As you can see, my kiddos have been busy with various hands-on tasks, in addition to getting ready for our upcoming state test! 

(I won't even yap about state testing...lol)

What have your students been doing in class these last couple of weeks. Please share your fun ideas and cooperative learning activities with us.

Poetry Activities of All Sorts! Product Swap 3!

Yay, it's time for a new MAGICAL PRODUCT SWAP!!! Jessica Standford, Mrs. Stanford's Class, is our host for the Product Swaps. I've had such fun doing them!! I've gained a lot just from participating. Learning about so many different resources from all the others in the each swap is very motivating! Definitely visit Jessica's blog to see all the peeps who have linked up to swap #3! 

I'm so excited to be paired with a totally AWESOME teacher and fellow bud, Addie Williams of Addie Education Teacher Talk. Addie has over 15 years of experience in teaching. I have loved getting to know her and collaborating with her --really since I've been involved in blogging, TpT, and more!

Addie said I could pick out whatever I wanted to from her store, so I decided on this Poetry Activity Pack! As one of her bestsellers, it's a comprehensive pack of  fun and engaging poetry resources! Want to know the best part? Each of the activities can be easily differentiated for various ages and abilities! 
There are 8 different activities (7 assignments/projects and a bonus handout/worksheet).
Check out the projects in the pack:

"Pet Peeve Poem - Practice Writing With Similes"

"My Life in 30 Words" (Great for Back to School!)

"From Prose to Poetry"

"Laughing With Limericks"

"Imagery Poem"

"Hero Music"

"Poetry Poster / Mind Map"

Bonus Handout/Worksheet!

The Figurative Language Sheet includes:
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Personification
Rhyme
Metaphor
Simile

I'm so excited about this resource, especially right now, because we are really jumping into our poetry unit at school! Awesome!!
The "Laughing at Limericks" assignment included is just perfect for St. Patrick's Day!
The pic below shows pages for the Imagery Poem Project. It engages students by having them first analyze a poem and then create their own. 

Imagery Assignment - 1 of the 7 Activities Included!

Did I mention that it's a total of 38 pages, with 26 classroom ready printables? Addie also included a comprehensive poetry writing rubric to use for the projects. Among the different projects, you'll find detailed assignment sheets, examples and discussion questions, templates, writing paper, and brainstorming sheets. 

The Hero Song/Poetry Writing "Hero CD" project has a marking rubric included with brainstorming sheets, and lyrics for 7 songs. 


Anxious to dig in, I printed every page! No, it wasn't tons of ink, just tons of GOOD STUFF! And, printing it in black and white works fabulous too! (in case you were curious...) My printer at school is black/white, so I went with that. (If you know how impatient I am, I couldn't stand to wait until I got home to a printer that may/may not have colored ink left...ha!) Anyway, I like to project the PDF pages on my whiteboard as I use different activities, so I'm pumped that lots of the pages have colorful clip art. It's not too much, not too little...just right! I love how clear and crisp the whole pack is--she did a great job putting this all together. I've put this resource in its own special binder! ;) It took my whole breakfast table to spread out all the pages. Hopefully, you get an idea of all the great stuff included. 
AND, Addie has put it on Sale for 20% off!!!

Swing by Addie's blog to tell her how awesome her resource is and check out my product that she is featuring, the Expository Text Structures Signal Words Card Pack: Word Wall/Centers Pack! You can purchase it at a discounted rate tonight and tomorrow (1/12-1/13). You might find it pretty useful, especially in this second semester nearing state testing! 
Connect with Addie at other links:
Facebook
Pinterest
TPT Store
TN Shop

Enjoy surfing through the Magical Product Swap!