Character love and detectives

Do your kids fall in love with certain characters as much as mine do?  

Right now my kids can't get enough of Nate the Great and Cam Jansen.  Both of these characters are detectives working to solve a variety of mysteries. 


My students love reading these books, following along with the clues and hoping to solve each mystery.    


Nate has been a steady favorite in my classroom for years, but Cam is new.  I have some high flying readers this year and they are loving her adventures.

Reading these books has been a great way to introduce my students to chapter books as well as character development.

Click the pictures below to see my packets that go with these characters.   



                                 
                                               

~Tara

Dental Health - Write the Room

Write the Room is a very popular center in my classroom.  The kids love walking around and trying to find all of the words on the walls.  It is also a great way for them to read, write and practice vocabulary. Here are a few of the ones we have been using this month.  

          


Click on each picture to view the center in my store.

~Tara


Penguins

I love teaching my kids about penguins.  Not only are they adorable, but studying penguins is a great way to connect both fiction and non-fiction.  

I usually start with a non-fiction story so that my students can learn about penguin facts.  After reading about penguins, my students then write an informational piece on them.  My students are working on starting with an introductory sentence, writing facts and adding a closing sentence.  They are doing a great job with this informational writing structure!



Then, we move on to Tacky the Penguin.  He is one of my favorite characters.  My kids love him too! He is an odd, silly and very lovable penguin.  He is a great character to use when discussing character traits.  



Here are a few of the other activities my kids enjoy doing during our study of penguins.

  




You can get my penguin unit or Tacky packet by clicking the pictures below!

      

~Tara


100th Day

Today was the 100th Day of School!  My kids had a blast doing our 100th Day centers.  Here are a few pictures from our day...




To celebrate the 100th Day, I have posted a 100th Freebie!  Click on the link below to check it out.


 


~Tara