April 2016 | Crafting Connections
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Free Grammar Games!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016
I wrote a blog post over at Upper Elementary Snapshots today about my favorite Low Prep Grammar Games. I invite you to go check out if you have a moment (it contains a few freebies!)

As I was writing the post, I briefly considered adding links to some of my FREE grammar games that are available on TpT. However, I ultimately decided that they didn't quite fit the bill for "low prep" because these games need to be printed and cut out. Therefore, I decided to write a quick blog post here at my own blog, and link up my free printable games. If you think your students would benefit from playing any of these games, feel free to download them (just click on the cover images below)! This first one is hot off the presses and was just posted yesterday!

Simple Subjects and Simple Predicates Game... FREE!  Plus, this blog post contains links to 5 other free printable grammar games!

Prepositions Game... FREE!  Plus, this blog post contains links to 5 other free printable grammar games!


Possessive Noun Memory Game... FREE!  Plus, this blog post contains links to 5 other free printable grammar games!

Latin Root Memory Game... FREE!  Plus, this blog post contains links to 5 other free printable grammar games!


  
Finally, head to THIS blog post to check out two free contraction concentration games (one for upper elementary, and one for lower elementary). 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

~Deb

Writing Poetry: A FREE lesson for writing odes!

Friday, April 1, 2016
As a teacher, there are so many things to love about April. In many locations (including my own state of Iowa), the weather is getting warmer and the likelihood of a winter storm hitting the area diminishes with each passing day. The end of the school year is finally on the distant horizon. And... it's Poetry Month! In my opinion, taking a break from writing multi-paragraph essays and narratives is such a sweet treat in April.
Free poetry lesson for upper elementary and middle school students. Write an ode!

Thanks to poets like Jack Prelutsky, Bruce Lansky, and Kenn Nesbitt, it's a piece of cake to get students excited about poetry. Their humorous styles are perfect for upper elementary students. The best (and easiest!) way to start off your poetry unit is simply to read aloud a few of these men's poems. Affiliate links included below:
    

I love that Bruce Lansky and Kenn Nesbitt both have kid-friendly and teacher-friendly websites, too! Bruce Lansky's Giggle Poetry website is extremely engaging. One of my favorite sections of this site is the "Read and Rate section". I haven't spent quite as much time on Kenn Nesbitt's Poetry4Kids website, but it looks equally amazing. It contains a section called "Poems by Reading Level". Both websites include outstanding poetry lesson ideas, too! Having students spend time reading and rating poems on these websites can be very fun on those last few days of the school year, when you feel like you are running out of options for things to do.

The day where we get to write odes is one of my favorite days within my poetry unit. Therefore, I decided to share a free lesson with you today. Feel free to download the printables near the end of this post and do this with your own students.

I begin by introducing odes to students. (Personally, I use slides 39-45 of my Poetry PowerPoint to do this, but you could easily recopy these ideas on chart paper if you don't own the PowerPoint.)

Free poetry lesson for upper elementary and middle school students. Write an ode!

Next, I share examples of odes. Along with the ode to ice cream below that I wrote, here are links to some additional funny odes:
Finally, I pass out the ode brainstorming sheet (click HERE to download). As you can see, it contains 8 steps... starting with picking a topic, continuing with brainstorming adjectives, hyperboles, and imagery sentences, and concluding with space for students to write their rough draft.
Free poetry lesson for upper elementary and middle school students. Write an ode!

Free poetry lesson for upper elementary and middle school students. Write an ode!

Since I don't have my own classroom, I asked my fifth-grade daughter to test out this lesson for me. She has always had an affinity for bacon (it actually may be more of an obsession...), so I should not have been surprised when she immediately chose bacon as her topic. I can honestly say that she had a ton of fun working through the brainstorming sheet (we laughed a lot!), and when it came time to write her rough draft, she whipped it out in about three minutes. She and I were both very proud of her final copy!
Free poetry lesson for upper elementary and middle school students. Write an ode!
Kayla's brainstorming sheet


Free poetry lesson for upper elementary and middle school students. Write an ode!
Her finished product!

I would love for you to try this in your own classroom and let me know if your students have as much fun writing their odes as my daughter did! Email me or leave a comment below. If you are so inclined, send me a few photos of finished products! I would love to add a few more student sample photos to this post!

Finally, if you would like to take a quick look at my Poetry Bundle, just click on the link.


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