by Teacher’s Palette
3rd – 5th Grade

This is a free sample of an Autobiography Journaling Kit that makes a great keepsake gift to give parents at the end of the school year. In addition to giving students a fun way to practice paragraph development, it has hidden image coloring and personality quizzes that provide a colorful snapshot of the writer’s current memories and interests.

As an optional new spin on the typical All About Me/Getting to Know You activities, students will get to be writers as well as “detectives!” As writers, they will respond to specific autobiography topics by completing focused paragraphs, personality quizzes, hidden image coloring, short explanations, would-you-rather style “quirky questions,” and multiple choice items. As detectives, they will read other students’ autobiography responses and try to guess who wrote them! Teachers can use the individual handouts as a no prep writing activity, or have students compile all 26 sheets into a “mystery binder” for an ongoing writing & reading “guess-who” activity.

In case you choose to use this as a “guess who” activity, it comes with 40 individual Secret Agent names with student instructions, ready for you to hand out to each student. Instead of writing their names in their autobiography journals, students can write their assigned “Secret Agent Name.” There is also a form that students can put at the back of their autobiography binder, where other students who have read their book can write in a guess about who wrote it. As the students keep adding more material to their autobiography, their classmates can continue making guesses about whom it belongs to, so the fun continues all year long!

Each installment in this kit (AB, CD, etc.) provides students with six fun and unique ways to express themselves:

1—Focused Paragraphs – Each section has a specific paragraph topic, with helpful hints and suggestions to get students writing.

2—Hidden Image Coloring – Students get to choose their favorite among three things in a category before trying to find and color in their chosen hidden image. Everyone winds up with a unique, high-quality drawing that expresses their character.

3—Support-Your-Position – Students are asked to explain why they chose one activity or item over the other choices given (⇐ a fun way to practice essay-writing skills).

4—Multiple Choice Opinions – Students are prompted to consider multiple options and then narrow down their choice.

5—Personality Quizzes – These quizzes can be used just for fun, or to help teachers (and students) understand their preferred working style for more effective group work configurations. A “Color Tracker” makes it easy for students to look back at their responses to see if their personality type is mostly red, yellow, green, or blue.

6—“Quirky Questions” – These questions are written in the same spirit as the popular “Would-You-Rather” questions. Students will get a kick out of imagining unusual scenarios and stretching their minds to think about how they might react.

Your download includes sections C & D (“Classroom Favorites” and “Dreamy Destinations”). If you would like to purchase the entire A-Z bundle, please click here: All About Me Bundle by Teacher’s Palette

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Journal-Prompts-Secret-Identity-All-About-Me-Book-wHidden-Image-Coloring-C-D-2778262

Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative at
https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/
and get THOUSANDS OF PAGE VIEWS for your TpT products!

Victoria Leon’s TpT Store

Go to http://www.pinterest.com/TheBestofTPT/ for even more free products!

by James Whitaker
3rd – 9th Grade

[[Literary Element Series]]
Teaching Moral & Universal Theme with Aesop’s Fables
Mini-Lessons & Graphic Organizer Cards
Grades 3-9

All My Aesop’s Fables Resources are Included in the $11.99 Resource

1] Aesop’s Fables Unit Resources & Materials—130+ Pages!

If you do not want to purchase the Comprehensive Unit then you can try these Resources:

2] Aesop’s Fables Basic Graphic Organizers for Differentiation—Teaching Moral & Theme

3] Aesop’s Fables Advanced Analysis Cards

Product Overview/Preface:

This product contains over 5 pages of well thought-out, sophisticated, and effective resources to teach Aesop’s Fables, Moral, and Universal Themes of Human Nature and Society. This is a differentiated, Common Core aligned product (RL.1, 2, and 3). You can use this resource for a multitude of learning styles.

Includes:
< Aesop Author’s Card
< Literary Elements of a Fable
< Mercury & the Woodman Exemplar
< Analysis Template for any Fable
< Mercury and Woodman Shared Reading

The materials are meant for both reinforcement and rigorous instruction in analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of universal themes of human nature. You can easily guide students in making thematic connections across literature and film and help them scaffold their knowledge and build a strong foundation in high order thinking processes.

Aesop’s fables are the perfect for precursor for helping to create analytical thinkers. These short tales will help build the foundation for grappling more lengthy text with multiple messages and themes.

Use the Universal Theme cards during & for:
< Direct instruction
< Remediation & Reinforcement
< Pre-Writing for Responses to Literature & Essays
< Alternative Book Reviews, Reports, and End Projects
< Bulletin Board Displays
< Assessments and Quizzes
< Guided, Independent, Literature Circles, and Book Club Activities

Please feel free to ask any questions—I will definitely respond to all inquiries in a timely fashion.

Please Click the Photo Link Below and Check out My Other Products and Resources: SophistThoughts™

SophistThoughts™

Hopefully my products will help strengthen your lessons, help your students learn, and make your life easier. Thank you and enjoy! —J.D. Whitaker

Copyright © 2013 James D. Whitaker, SophistThoughts™
All rights reserved by author.
Permission to copy for single classroom use only.
Electronic distribution limited to single classroom use only.
Not for public display.
{{Most images used are in the Public Domain}}

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Aesops-Fables-Teaching-Theme-Moral-Analysis-Card-Freebie-1049819

Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative at
https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/
and get THOUSANDS OF PAGE VIEWS for your TpT products!

Victoria Leon’s TpT Store

Go to http://www.pinterest.com/TheBestofTPT/ for even more free products!

by Talented in Third
3rd – 5th Grade

This product will help your students learn close reading habits with the help of a free article from ReadWorks.org. The questions included will help you conduct a close reading for this informational text.

***Now includes a digital Google Slides version!!!

*****************************************************************************

It covers all of the Reading Informational Text Standards for the Common Core Third Grade Standards. It is a mixture of multiple choice, short answer, and extended answer questions. The questions are provided, which takes the guesswork out of close reading and allows you to integrate close reading into your daily schedule.

In order to do the reading, just print the article and questions for each student or group and start annotating this informational text. This would work especially well in an interactive notebook, so students can reference it in the future while doing close reading. This will also work as a class read, projected and read together, if printing is limited or not desired, with questions printed or discussed as a class.

*****************************************************************************

The close read questions included correlate to ReadWorks.org’s “Eruption” Part 2. This passage is all about how a volcano works. It is written at grade 3, lexile 820 level. This makes it an advanced individual read or a class/small group read. It can be found at: Eruption.

For this close read, I only used the third page of the text. If you are interested in the other part (pages 1 and 2), please see Close Read “Eruption”, Part 1.

This is all aligned to the Third Grade Common Core Standards, with a focus on asking questions that are aligned to the level of complexity the standards require. Many times, close readings will focus on the standards, but not at the right level of complexity, meaning students are answering questions below the level they need to. This practice doesn’t actually help them develop the skills they need. These questions will help you to focus on asking the right questions, so the practice will match the end of the year assessment, as well as helping your students develop the needed skills to do well in the future.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Close-Read-How-a-Volcano-Works-1928409

Join The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative at
https://thebestofteacherentrepreneursmarketingcooperative.net/the-best-of-teacher-entrepreneurs-marketing-cooperative-one-year-membership/
and get THOUSANDS OF PAGE VIEWS for your TpT products!

Victoria Leon’s TpT Store

Go to http://www.pinterest.com/TheBestofTPT/ for even more free products!