Monday, July 11, 2016

Literacy Pockets

So I was surfing the web today and I came across this awesome teacher resource for teaching nursery rhymes called

Literacy Pockets: Nursery Rhymes, Grades K-1.

The book makes teaching and learning through the use of nursery rhymes fun! Literature Pockets, Nursery Rhymes, Grades K-1 contains everything you need to make 12 familiar rhymes come alive through fun, exciting projects. Each pocket contains: an illustrated copy of a nursery rhyme, an art project activity, a comprehension activity, a pattern for a charming cover, and reproducible pages to practice reading and/or math skills. The twelve nursery rhymes are: A Little Bird, Little Miss Muffet, My Black Hen, Jack and Jill, Little Bo Peep, I Caught a Fish Alive!, Pease Porridge, Rub-a-Dub-Dub, Sing a Song of Sixpence, To Market, To Market, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, and Diddle, Diddle Dumpling.

I then realized that Literacy Pockets is a series of books and has learning opportunities for many different grade levels. Here are the books I have found!

Literature Pockets, Folk Tales and Fairy Tales, Grades K-1

Every pocket in Literature Pockets Folktales & Fairy Tales , Grades K-1 begins with a reproducible retelling of a tale. About the book: students cut, color, and staple the half-pages to make a minibook to put in the pocket, a teacher resource page offers suggestions for sharing the tale, comprehension, art, and writing activities follow, helping the story come to life for students, and two pages of evaluation forms help both teacher and student assess what was learned. The seven tales in this book include: The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Gingerbread Man, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Too Much Noise.

Literature Pockets: Caldecott Winners, Grades 1-3

The twelve pockets in Caldecott Winners, Grades 1-3 extend the literature connection through creative writing and exciting art projects. The first pocket introduces students to Randolph Caldecott and the history the Caldecott Medal. Each of the succeeding 11 pockets features: * a medal-winning illustrator * a biography of the illustrator * complete writing projects * art projects The Illustrators studied are: * Barbara Cooney-Ox-Cart Man * Ezra Jack Keats-The Snowy Day * Maurice Sendak-Where the Wild Things Are * David Wiesner-Tuesday * Simms Taback-Joseph Had a Little Overcoat * Nonny Hogrogian-Always Room for One More * Peggy Rathman-Officer Buckle and Gloria * Stephen Gammell-Song and Dance Man * John Schoenherr-Owl Moon * Leo and Diane Dillon-Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears * Gerald McDermott-Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale

Literature Pockets, Aesop's Fables, Grades 2-3

Every pocket in Literature Pockets, Aesops Fables, Grades 2-3 contains: a two-page reproducible retelling of a tale, a teacher resource page offers suggestions for sharing the tale, comprehension, art, and writing activities, helping the story come to life for students, and two pages of evaluation forms to assess what was learned. The eight tales in this book are: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Lion and the Mouse, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Miller, His Son, and Their Donkey, The Milkmaid and Her Pail, The Fox and the Goat, The Fox and the Stork, and The Cat, the Rooster, and the Mouse.

Literature Pockets, Folk Tales and Fairy Tales, Grades 2-3

Every pocket in Folktales & Fairy Tales for Grades 2-3 begins with a two-page reproducible retelling of a tale. About the book: There is a teacher resource page that offers suggestions for sharing the tale. Comprehension, art, and writing activities follow, helping the story come to life for students. Two pages of evaluation forms help both teacher and student assess what was learned. The eight tales in this book include: Henny Penny, The Brave Little Tailor, The Fisherman and His Wife, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Frog Prince, The Emperors New Clothes, and The Bremen Town Musicians.

Flexible seating is something that I have heard a lot about lately and it is something that I am interested in implementing in my kindergarten classroom. I am not really sure where to start so I set out to do some research and I found this article: It is an awesome read.

How Flexible Seating Transformed My Classroom | The TpT Blog: Meghan Snable can confidently say that flexible seating has been a success for her class. 'I can't imagine going back to traditional seating.'

Here are some options if you are thinking about doing this in your classroom!