The Conventions Club... Freebie Fall Friday is here again!

Holidays with our family are all about the kids! There is nothing like watching as they experience it all and create memories. It truly is the ultimate blessing. 

Last weekend we took all of these cuties to the pumpkin patch!

Now on to the Conventions Club! I would LOVE to take credit for this one, but I have to give it to my amazing 3rd grade bestie! She is crazy amazing, I'm tellin' ya. 

Last year we really felt like we perfected the way we teacher writing. The focus is on writing projects rather than allowing students complete freedom in writing. We were finding that allowing them too much freedom produced little to no writing and a lot of time wasted during workshop. By working through writing projects each child created a piece that they took through the entire writing process and they did this several times throughout the year. The quality and quantity of writing improved immensely. 

Still, there was one major element of their writing that was not improving. Conventions. We would conference with students, practice editing together, peer edit, use editing kits, songs, the list goes on. Still we would see lowercase letters at the beginning of sentences, missing periods and spelling errors of those no-excuse words. The editing they were doing on their rough drafts was not carrying over. So the Convention Club was established!

The Conventions Club is an exclusive club for students who are meeting or exceeding in the area of conventions on all final copies. 

Here is How it Works:

1. Any time students turn in a final copy that we grade the authors either stay in the club, are made a part of the club or removed from the club. 

2. We keep a poster up with the Club Rules and the names of the members. The members write their names on the laminated poster in Expo marker just in case they have to be erased.

3. When they enter the club they get a members card. If they are removed from the club they have to give up their card. 

4. If members are a part of the Conventions Club they receive the following privileges:

-A pen to write with! THEY LOVE THIS!

-5-10 minutes at the beginning of writer's workshop for a "fun" activity. It was always something simple like drawing or sometimes I will give them a word search or they get to play a partner game. It's also not every day, but when they are given this opportunity other students are working diligently on their editing skills :P

I know that it might seem like a bit much to have a club that kids are added to and removed from and everything is not necessarily "fair", but it has really worked. We have seen a huge difference. By the end of last year every student had been a part of the Conventions Club at one point and the list of names  in the club at the end of the year included almost every student. 

Remember that as the teacher you have the ultimate say in it all. The idea behind it is that authors will show consistent use of proper conventions. When you see them showing consistency reward them by adding them to the Conventions Club! If at any point a member was not showing consistency I would take the opportunity to conference with them and they would be removed from the club until they again showed proper conventions in all writing. We also made sure to make it reachable for all students. I had a couple of kids last year who were working on writing 3 complete sentences with a capital and period in each. If they were meeting this goal they were a member. The club should not be unachievable for anyone. :)

Here ya go! Happy Freebie Fall Friday!!
Click the picture to grab yours.

This comes with two posters and Convention Club member cards!

And because I am the featured blogger this week over at Teacher Blog Addict I have another little something for you!

This is a simple pumpkin glyph for when your littles just can't 

focus any longer on those days before all that candy!!

Continue the hop with All Things Apple

Then go grab more freebies over at TBA!

FREEBIE Friday!

Not only do I love me some Friday I love a FREEBIE even more!

Sorry for my absence lately... I would like to say I have a good excuse, but I really don't. I have been reading 50 shades and unable to stop. I can honestly say that I have missed you all so much though and catching up on all you wonderful blogsters has been as amazing and inspiring as ever! :P

It is a bit late, but we had so much fun here on Halloween! This is probably the best Halloween I have ever had at school. We didn't party, there was no craziness but we learned (imagine that) and added some Halloween flair.....

We started with easy peasy Pumpkin Glyphs!

Then we played Don't Rob Bob. This game was inspired by The Teacher Wife. I altered it for my thirds and made it into a mental math game! This picture isn't actually from Halloween. On Halloween we played with Candy Corn pieces and it was the afternoon so I had 38. Pictures just don't happen then. 

You can get your Don't Rob Bob Game by visiting my TPT store. Students take turns saying the answer to a problem on the board. The other player attempts to take the candy or game piece from the spot they believe matches the answer. If they try to take it from the wrong spot they lose that turn. 

After that we Buddy Read our Halloween Joke Books... again super engaged! Success!

I can't find this on TPT but it was a Freebie so I am hoping it is okay to share here.

We then did Laura Candler's Pumpkin Seed Multiplication... it was perfect!

Finally, I ended the night Trick or Treating with this little sweetie. This is a T-Rex costume NOT a dragon. He's reminded me of this several times. We were set on a skeleton until the day before Halloween so of course we had to find a fill in T-Rex! He is already asking why we don't Trick or Treat again.

And now for the Friday FREEBIE. We have been working hard on conventions and sequencing. Using Lucy Caulkins we refer to making a "movie in your mind" and visualizing the story step-by-step. 

Here is a little organizer for ya! The sister and kids just arrived (literally NOW) so I am off to entertain 3 toddlers! Wish me luck ;) 

Conventions, Conventions, Conventions

I love Lucy Caulkins and wish that I could teach writing with an ounce of the passion that she does! That being said, if you are teaching with the passion of Lucy behind you, what are you using to supplement for her lack of focus on conventions?? 

At my school we celebrate the Writing Festival a month into the year. This is a time for students and teachers to celebrate writing and exhibit their writing skills. Students all through the building are working to publish their first writing piece and teachers are collaborating on ideas and scoring. 

I took a lot away from my student's pieces during this time. #1 we need a refresher on capitals and periods... PRONTO! #2 Most of us did not know what a paragraph was or how to begin one. 

Thank gooooodness for my amazing team! We put our heads together and came up with some pretty incredible stuff, if I do say so myself. Here is a list of the lessons we did this week. 

Monday: As a class we constructed a paragraph in our journals on a topic that we have all experienced. During this time we also talked about using notebook paper properly. Most didn't know what the margins even were. Together we indented our first paragraph, wrote our next lines next the margin and began two more paragraphs following the same format. This was SO simple and yet so eye opening for so many kids. They now know that we don't write past those red lines on our paper or way up at the top. The word indenting seemed foreign to them (I know it wasn't!). After constructing three short paragraphs in our journals we made this class chart to keep up all year!

We felt like it was so important for students to know and understand that what they are learning in writing they will use forever and always. It is not a skill that they are learning now and then get to suddenly stop. We will add to this chart all year!

Tuesday: I wrote several simple paragraphs. Each sentence was one line. I typed up the paragraphs without indenting, capitalizing or punctuating. I then printed the paragraphs and cut them into strips. A volunteer then laminated them and put each paragraph into a separate envelope. On Tuesday we analyzed one paragraph piece by piece. 

First, we read each line and put the paragraph in order. Next, we discussed how we should edit our paragraph. Together we physically indented our paragraph by scooting the top line over and making sure that every other paragraph lined up evenly. Finally we used vis a vis pens to add capitals and periods where they belonged. We did this together on the document camera. 

Here is a copy of the paragraphs for you to cut up and use. It is very plain jane but editing doesn't need to be fancy nancy! Just click the picture to get your copy. 

Wednesday: Now that we did the above activity together students did the same in partners. Now you see why there are multiple paragraphs. It doesn't matter if more than one group works on the same paragraph though. The key is that they are understanding editing, paragraphing, periods and capitals. 

Constructed paragraphs-- INDENTED!

Editing their paragraph...

Trying to determine the sequence.

Thursday: I completely forgot to take a picture, so sorry. I took a familiar story, "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and wrote it on chart paper with no indents, capital or periods. We read it together as a class and I did not tell them there was anything wrong. Because there was no punctuation we quickly ran out of breath and they realized what was going on! Together we indented, added capitals and periods where appropriate. We then went to work on our own writing! In conferencing every author was indenting!!!! Wooooo Hoooo!!!

Friday: This was my favorite lesson! The day before I had students tab their writing where they had left off. I made two copies of each of their writing. During writing on Friday they partnered up and read one another's writing. 

Instead of only reading their partner's they each worked together editing one partner's first. For example, both partners read their own copy of Partner A's writing. After editing, they discussed what they noticed. They both then read their own copies of Partner B's writing and discussed.

 This was so valuable. They really had to be thoughtful about each piece and compare it to the work they had done earlier in the week. After discussion, each partner filled out their own reflection. Of course I have attached it for you here! Enjoy!

I hope you have found a few conventions ideas that you will be able to use!!!

Writing Freebie!

In writing this week we have maintained our focus on ideas. Now that our Writing Workshop is up and running it is important for my wee little authors to be able to choose a thoughtful idea quickly and easily and write about it while being engaged in their own topic. Our goal each day this week was to stick with the same idea for the entire writing time (quite difficult for many, I am sure you can imagine). Most were able to do so but of course it is still a challenge for many. 

We completed our heart maps this week and I am also using Lucy Caulkins as a writing resource. In one of the first Lucy lessons I have the kids make list of places they've been, people they know, special times with friends etc. This then serves as a list of go-to ideas when normally I would hear "I caaaan't think of ANYthing". 

I hope you enjoy this freebie and that writing is off to a good start for you, as well!

Just click on the picture below to grab yours!

Writer's Workshop

I am quite happy to say that tomorrow is my Friday and it is a long weekend. Not only that but I am not going in to work on my room at all this weekend!! That is really saying a lot. Finally, this also means that tomorrow I will have a gazillion bajillion pictures to show you!!!

I mentioned before that Danni and I attended the Ruth Culham writing conference last week. Today I created a writer's workshop clip chart for my classroom. My hope is that is will help my students fully understand the writing process and use it effectively and that it will help me monitor my students and make meeting with them more meaningful.

I dunno about you but if I buy another ink cartridge my husband is going to lose his mind!! For this project I thought I would try to save a little ink while still making it cutesy. I mounted each piece on colored cardstock before laminating. I then put each piece on the ribbon and stapled it up. Make sure that when you put this up you only staple at the top of each piece so that students can use their clothespen clips to show where they are in the writing process.

You can find this chart at my TPT store! And.... the first three to comment will get it FREE!!

BOGGLE Board dilemma---solved!

5 days left of summer until I am officially back at school. I cannot believe it! I have to say however, that I am quite excited for fall. I just love wearing boots, cardigans and scarves. Just this morning when I went to take the recycling out I could smell fall in the air, like that crisp dewy smell in the air and it was just a tad bit cold. I am sure I will miss summer once it is gone but it is nice to look forward to fall!

Today, I went to the Ruth Culham writing conference. If you don't know, Ruth is the author of all of the 6 traits books. She had a lot of good information to share and my team and I are so excited to get writing going for this year. I think that most valuable piece I took away was the breakdown of the different traits. Ideas, Conventions, Sentence Fluency; it can all be so broad. It's important to break those down into separate pieces and I think this will help me keep my mini lessons more focused.

Ruth talked about teaching each trait for a week and then moving onto the next trait. The key is teaching a component of the trait. Now the question is which component to teach. Her website is full of resources and printables. I will give you some more details when we start planning more of the nitty gritty!

Culhamwriting.com

My classroom is down to the final details and I hope to post my big reveal tomorrow! CanNOT wait to meet my little darlings!!!

I put up my boggle board last week and struggled with how to easily change out the letters. As my classroom projects are drawing to an end I am losing steam and don't want to velcro or glue anything that I don't have to. If you are having the same dilemma check out my little video to find out what I did!

And... As I am updating some of my word work I have a couple of FREEBIES for ya! Just click the pictures to get yours!

Whole Class Writing Journals!

I am being a Lazy Daisy sitting here on my computer not wanting to get up, get my camera, and upload all of my classroom pictures. I do have a ton to share with you and a video too. Hoping to get to it tomorrow.

Sooooo my darlings I am dancing on the stars over my 50 followers! Yay and thanks to all of you for reading, sharing and allowing me to share with you. It is amazing to be able to collaborate with so many of you all over the world!

I have seen some pretty amazing Whole Class writing journals around. If you know me you know that I like to create most everything myself. This isn't because everything else isn't absolutely cutesy pie because it is. It is more so that I am always changing, adding and adapting to things and always want to be able to change it quickly! I am sure many of you are the same.

I created these whole class writing journal covers and love them! I plant to cut them out, glue each onto the cover of a spiral or composition book and then cover with contact paper. They are so easy and perfect to get kids motivated about writing and reading one another's writing too!

The first 3 to comment will get a set free!! Yes FREE... all I ask is for you to let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions! These are also available at my TPT store for 2 bucks!

Third Grade Word Wall

Before I tell you about my decision to have a word wall in my classroom I have to tell you about my mega anxiety and frustration with contact paper today... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Did I mention it made me very very angry!!?? I don't know what was going on with me today but it just wasn't happenin'. I was attempting to cover my ugly brown chalk board with black contact paper. Well, it was just not cooperating. The paper was sticking to itself, me, making my freshly spiral curled hair all static-y. Then once I got it on the board it just wanted to be all bumpy.

Long story short, no it's just a long story; my chalk board is no longer poopy brown! Even after all of my frustration it was a success and now I am ready to create my daily math board.

The border is actually turquoise duct tape. I forgot my camera today but I also used the duct tape to recover my kidney table. I promise to show you tomorrow because it turned out beautifully!

Onto the reason for this post! I contemplated whether or not to have a word wall in my classroom. I feel like with my particular group of students it is necessary, especially for the beginning of the year. My plan is to have a word wall to start the year and latter adapt it to also contain prefixes, suffixes, root words, etc. 

Most word wall packs only contain sight words for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. I really wanted to make sure that I had words that met the needs of students at all levels and align with what we are working on in class. The pack had words for kindergarten-sixth grade! 

You can find this word wall pack at my TPT store. It contains over 650 sight word cards that can be used for the word wall and/or as flashcards! Of course the pack also comes with super cute letters for the word wall. You can check out the owl version of this pack too!

Short?? and Sweet

First and foremost, thank you to all the little ladies out there for all of your sweet comments and nominations. I feel so lucky that so many of you have stopped by to say a little something and to nominate me and my blog!

With that said, I am on to a little fun for the next couple of days. The hubs and I are taking Conner to the beach for a little family camp trip for the next two days. I will be MIA but as soon as I get back I promise to take care of business, send my thank yous and do a few nominations of my own.

Is it completely and utterly sad that I look forward to long car rides because my toddler is strapped into his seat, the husband is busy driving and that leaves me and my laptop to do some much needed work. Ahhh it is bliss! Gosh, I am strange!

Made a wonderful purchase today and I cannnnnot wait to get it up in my room. I think it will brighten things up from the traditional plain cursive letter banner.

What sent me searching for her blog was the VOICE bulletin board headers that I have been seeing. I was expecting to purchase them from her but found that they are available on her blog for FREE, yes FREE! They are just perfect and are going to fit my beanie baby strategy posters perfectly.

Hop over to Ladybug's Teacher Files to grab yours!

Wish me luck on this road trip! My list of items to accomplish is quite extensive! (Do you now see why I added those extra ?? after short because I know I can't write a post that's really short)

Reading and Writing Strategy Posters

Visit my TPT shop to get these incredible posters! They are all connected to an animal and a reading and or writing strategy. These are a perfect match to any CAFE board and Writing board regardless of the variation. Look back soon for pictures as I get mine up!