Hi there! It’s Deb Hanson from Crafting Connections , and I’m going to share a free character traits lesson with you today. This lesson is based on one I did a few years ago for a formal observation. My principal at the time loved the lesson… I hope you will, too! If you do decide that you want to try this activity with your students, be sure to click on the following image . Everything you need for this lesson is FREE! (Well, almost everything… you’ll have to provide your own anchor chart paper and cups!) Part 1: Anchor Chart I almost always start my ELA units with a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the topic . Therefore, the lesson I am describing would occur on Day 2 of our character traits study. Prior to class, I would create the base of my character traits anchor chart. To start the lesson, I would use the anchor chart to review how good readers analyze clues provided by the author in order to infer character traits. Next, I would read four short passa......

Before you start speaking or writing, you must consider your audience. We adults understand this and automatically do it without giving it a second thought. Students, on the other hand, sometimes don't realize that there is a formal register and an informal register in English. Therefore, teachers must explicitly teach students how and when to use the two registers. In this post, I'll be giving you some tips and sharing some freebies you can use when you introduce this topic to your students. Introduction to Formal/Informal Language I would begin this lesson by using my document camera to display the posters below. After students have read the two speech bubbles, I'd direct them to compare and contrast the two characters' speech with a partner. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THESE POSTERS FOR FREE! Following this partner discussion, I would state that there are two types of English: formal and informal. After defining formal and informal, I would ask stude......

Is the end of the school year really near?   Finally, this year is over!   Which one can you relate to? How do you spend the last few school days at the end of the year?  My days are jam-packed with fun activities.  We begin the year with fun stuff and end with fun stuff.  So, what are some of these fun activities?  I've compiled a list that you can hopefully grab a few ideas 1.  Write a letter to next year's students Before releasing students to write their letter, brainstorm things that they might want to share with your future students.  Here are a handful of writing stems that keep students focused on the purpose: What did we do this year that you thought was fun... What advice would you give to someone entering our class next year... What should you do to keep the teacher happy... What really upsets the teacher... What will you learn in math, science, or social studies... 2.  Create a video for next year's students I......

If you're like me, you've read your share of rough drafts that were vague and difficult to follow. Student-authors often forget that the reader was not present when the event took place, and the author fails to develop important details that will help the reader visualize the scene. Over the years, I have come to realize that most students will benefit from receiving explicit instruction on how to expand dull, short sentences in a way that will help the reader picture the event they are describing. Today, I am going to outline a minilesson that focuses on expanding sentences. #1- Outline the problem. We stood outside for twenty minutes. After writing that sentence on the board, ask students to judge whether it's a strong sentence or a weak sentence. You'll likely receive a mix of answers, as some students will rate it as "strong" because it doesn't contain any misspelled words or errors that need to be edited. Other students, however, w......

When I attended classes to earn my ESL endorsement, one of the first ELL-friendly strategies I learned was to employ graphic organizers. However, teachers who use graphic organizers with their students will attest to the fact that graphic organizers are beneficial tools to use with ALL students, not just English language learners and students with disabilities.  Why are they such powerful tools? Graphic organizers provide visual representations of cognitive processes. These visual cues help students organize concepts in a way that will aid in retention. Students can actually SEE relationships and connections between facts and concepts. Graphic organizers improve comprehension. Students are able to break down bigger concepts into smaller, more understandable chunks of information.  Graphic organizers increase student engagement. When filling out a graphic organizer, students are actively participating and contributing to the learning process. Because of these benefi......

As teachers, we all have favorite topics to teach... and a few topics that aren't quite so enjoyable. For me, teaching figurative language is like sinking my teeth into a cream-filled donut topped with sprinkles. (How's that for a simile?) Introducing Similes When I began writing this blog post, my intention was to make it short and sweet (just like my experience eating that donut!), but my love for figurative language enveloped me, and I got sidetracked. I ended up making a 13-slide PowerPoint that introduces the topic of similes to students. After five introduction slides, I included 10 practice slides where students must determine whether the given sentence is a simile, a metaphor, or neither. This is available for FREE in my TpT store. Just click on the image below to download it to use with your students. Using Similes to Inspire Higher-Level Thinking The other idea I want to share involves using similes in order to prompt higher-level thinking ac......

        As teachers, we know the benefits of giving kids movement in the classroom. It's easy to see that after even a short period of sitting, kids need to get the wiggles out so they are ready to learn again. Scientific studies support this idea and even contend that frequent brain breaks lead to higher  a cademic achievement, increased concentration, better on-task behavior, and improved student attitudes. Sounds great, right?         I love brain breaks so much that I wanted to share a dozen of my favorite brain breaks here. If you like them, you can find a link at the bottom of the post to a FREE set of 12 print and digital task cards in my TpT store. 1. Places and Spaces : Kids pretend to tour a particular place in the world and do movements that relate to those places. For example... We are now touring the United States! Pretend to… Surf the beaches of California, Stomp through the swamps of Mississippi, Cl......