Word Surgery and a New Unit on Owls!

Hello Everyone!!
Finally had a few minutes to sit and write a post!  I know I don't have to tell you how busy life can get.  Sometimes it's hard to carve out some time to create and share!!  Thanks for your patience!
Last week we worked very hard on reading and writing contractions.  On Friday I pulled out our "Word Surgery" unit along with all the doctor supplies.  I love this unit for so many reasons.  You know that adding a hands on element to any lesson helps kids to internalize key concepts. But don't forget that role playing also adds a fun element!!  I turned my students into little surgeons!  I have posted this before, but my kids really loved it this year, so I thought I share it again!!!

Kids were able to choose their "patients." (words that could be turned into contractions)  Then, donning their doctor garb, they cut the patient, and stitched it back together!!  Words ended up in the recovery room.  I think we have some future doctors on our hands!!! Great job kids!!!

If you would like to try this:

You can CLICK HERE!!! :) for the unit!!!

The unit also includes some fun ways to add interesting words (adjectives and adverbs) to sentences!!! We'll work on that next!!!

Starting next week we begin a 2-3 week unit on the characteristics, adaptations, life cycles, etc. of animals.  We decided to take one animal and really research the differences and wonder of it.  To go along with the whole camping theme we have going, we decided to study owls.  I have created an all inclusive  and cross curricular unit on owls, with opportunity for student research, poetry, written expression, artistic expression, and so much more!!  I am so excited to begin this journey of exploration with them.  

Here are a few pics from the 150 page unit!

This is just a taste of what is included!!!  I hope you can use even a bit of it!!!

CLICK HERE for the link to the downloadable unit. :)

I can't wait to get started!!!! I'll be sure to share pics along the way! 

OK! Off to collect some feathers and write up some poetry!  Have a wonderful week, everyone! Thanks for stopping by!!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

e-mail me with questions or problems!!

nancyvb1@gmail.com

 or firstgradewow@gmail.com

The Doctor is in!

Hello Everyone!
I hope your week is going well! We have had an awesome week so far!! A ton of "hand to head to heart" activities!  One that I know will stick with the kids is our "Word Surgery" opportunity.  I could have chosen to introduce contractions with a worksheet, a matching activity, just telling my little learners about them, or showing them some contractions in a story, but I knew that the engagement wouldn't be the same.  I have posted about this surgery activity the last five+ years, and every year I watch kids absolutely embrace their new roles as doctors. As we got started, we practiced reading the two words chosen to "be the patient" (become a contraction) and then really listened to the shorter way to say those two words. (the contraction).  We listened for the letters we no longer heard in the  new word and "performed surgery" (cut them out). Then we stitched the new word together. (created the contraction)(bandaids!)
Of course to make the learning opportunity more authentic, the kids donned gloves and a mask! Oh! Of course we needed an official Dr. name badge!! :)

Here are some pics of the Word Surgery printable unit.  It includes some hands on activities for contractions, compound words, and creating interesting sentences.

If you want to try this with your little doctors, simply CLICK HERE for the unit!

The little unit ended up to be about 44 pages of surgical fun!

I hope you can find some time to try it!! 

Gotta Run! I've got some work to do on our Multicultural Night!!  Can't wait!!

Till next time, have a great rest of the week!!  I'll talk to you soon!

Joyfully!

Nancy

The Doctor is in!

Hello Everyone!
So much fun today with all my little doctors!  A couple of years ago I saw an idea from another teacher friend (Buzzing About 2nd Grade- January 31, 2011) about how she taught contractions. She had the kids do surgery on the words.  Well, we took that same idea and ran with it!  (I posted about this same activity last year and I knew the kids would love it! )   We took words that wanted to be used to make contractions.  They became our patients.  Doctors put on coats, gloves, masks and began surgery . After cutting off the letters not needed and using a bandage for the apostrophe, surgery was complete and patients were sent to the recovery station.  Such a memorable way for kids to "get it!"

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 If you want my version of this fun activity, click here!

 

Thank you, Buzzing About 2nd for the

amazingly creative idea!!

 

Have fun with your little doctors!!

 

Joyfully!

Nancy

 

 

Word and Sentence Surgeons

Hello Everyone!
Happy January to all!!  During this month, I love to really celebrate how much my kids have fallen in love with words!  Last year I posted about having kids become word and sentence surgeons. You can see those posts HERE   and HERE. Those activities became some our favorite things we did last year.   I have had time recently to revise and update my "Word Surgery" and "Sentence Surgery" units.  We will be working on the Word Surgery unit soon and the Sentence Surgery a little later. Here are a few of the pages you'll get in the updated units.

For the Word Surgeon unit click here

For the Sentence Surgery unit, click here!

Hope this helps in creating some great writers!

Have a joyful day!!

Nancy