Perfect Paragraphs for President's Day

This week we will be reading and writing about Abraham Lincoln. Then next week, on to George Washington. I can hardly wait to see my kiddos finished products. Especially after the successful pieces they wrote about Martin Luther King, Jr. a couple of weeks ago. Just take a peek at a few of them. I could have shown them ALL! Each child's was different, yet all very impressive - especially for only being 1/2 way through first grade. I am so proud of my wonderful students!

Ok... time to get back on track. In preparation for the next two weeks of writing, I modified some old writing templates I had created a few years ago. 

The 16-page pdf file includes:

Word Banks

Was, Had, Did pages for recording research

Drafting Templates for a 7 sentence paragraph

An Informational Writing Checklist 

and a ...Report Cover and Publishing Paper

The entire packet is absolutely FREE 
and is available now in my TpT store. 

Click HERE or the colored graphic above to grab it. 

Happy Writing! 

"How To" Instructional Writing

My 1st grade CREW are currently working on writing "How To" instructional paragraphs using the transitions First, Next, Then, and Finally. Of course these are sandwiched between and introductory and closing sentence to complete a six or more sentence paragraph.

FIRST, we began with the ever popular: "How to Build a Snowman" - which we finished up last week.

Here's a sample from one of my youngest students.

NEXT, we wrote "How to Make a Sandwich" paragraphs.

THEN, it was on to "How to Play___________  (basketball, checkers, four corners, Old Maid, etc).

FINALLY, we will write a "How to Get Ready for Bed" paragraph that will be used as our unit assessment.

To help my students through the writing process and publish attractive pieces, I created the templates shown here.

Click on each picture to grab a copy for yourself.

Polar Bears

This week's story in our Imagine It program's Big Book was "Polar Bears" by Jacqueline S. Cotton.

After reading the story together, we completed our first "Can, Have, Are" page of the year. The children did a fabulous job and enjoyed the process of finding facts and categorizing them.

Then, we used these "findings" to develop and write a six or more sentence non-fiction information report about these amazing arctic creatures with an introduction, 4 facts, and a closing.

Once we were finished writing, we stapled our reports to a 9x12 piece of white construction paper and added a head and legs to turn them into eye-catching publications.

Tomorrow the kiddos will practice their reading and public speaking skills as they share their polar bear reports aloud.

I am so proud of their work and how far they have come in just 30 short days!

You can grab a free copy of this mini-writing project here.

Happy Friday!

A Day at the Beach

I just completed a cute "A Day at the Beach" writing pack for one of my students who will be out for a week on independent study.

After I printed it, I thought, "Why not share it with my blogging friends as well?"

So here it is! Just click on the first picture to download your FREE copy.

Hopefully you will be able to use it as well.

Enjoy!