Buddy League

I am thrilled to be working along with H.E.B. to promote kindness within the classroom not just during the month of October, but the whole year through.  H.E.B. has launched a wonderful Buddy League Program to celebrate diversity and inclusion.  I received a lovely box of goodies from H.E.B. filled with resources designed to teach little ones about being a buddy and not a bully!

H.E.B. included these brightly colored posters which served as a wonderful discussion starter in the classroom.  We had great conversations about what it means to be a buddy and my students loved sharing examples to go along with each of the posters. 

I've noticed a lot more teamwork in the classroom and my little ones are motivated more than ever to help each other out and be there for one another.  We also started sharing specific examples of students being a buddy to another child.

These stickers are the perfect way to  reward those wonderful acts of kindness in the classroom!

Cheyenne earned her Buddy League sticker today!

  We always talk about  mighty messages in the classroom, but it's neat for our students to see that businesses such as H.E.B. support and promote these very same messages.  

I would say it is super heroic of H.E.B to support education and educators!  Thanks a million for all of the wonderful programs you put together for our little ones.

 

Nonfiction Conventions

We just finished up learning about nonfiction conventions and it's always a favorite unit of mine.  I have taught it so many ways over the last 13 years, but this year I wanted something really simple and concise.  I created templates that could easily be placed within a reading journal, so they could be referred to throughout the entire school year.  We have on going conversations about text features and are constantly referring back to our conventions in all subject areas!  We are in the process of writing All About Books, and our text features have come in super handy.

You can check out the resource by clicking below:

There is also an assessment that can be used to assess your students' understanding of the conventions.  I usually hold off until they have had lots of opportunities to explore text features.  We practice finding them in class stories, text books, and especially their library books.  My students get super excited when they are able to locate the text features in their own  library books.  They also notice which text features are missing from their books.

Quizlet is also a great way to practice matching text features to their definitions.  I created a flashcard set using the definitions in this resource that is available to the public.