It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That time when we are enjoying spending time with our families and friends. For some of us that can also translate to spending all day in our pajamas and binge watching TV shows on Netflix. Whatever you are doing, it is safe to say that you are not thinking about what you are planning to work on with your students when you return to school in the new year. We all have those coworkers who have already made their copies and have everything ready to go while others of us are sitting back like, I’ll deal with that on January 5th. I must admit that I’m that coworker. My copies are ready to go and I have my plans all set. This is a great thing for you, because I’m here to share 5 days of my Language Arts plans for the week after winter break.
These lessons can be used one each day or depending on your kiddos, you could do two things on one day. If this is your first experience with my blog, I’m an Intervention Specialist Teacher (I’m important so I capitalize it) and I teach resource room Language Arts and Math. This year, I focus primarily on 6th grade, but I feel that my lessons can work well as low as second grade, especially if you have some students who enjoy a challenge. These lessons can also be used as centers or morning bell work. Just figure out how it can work for you.
This bundle consists of two writing prompts, reading comprehension and some vocabulary work. For day one I have a winter break writing prompt because my students always want to share what they did over breaks so why not turn it into an assignment. Students can use the graphic organizer to gather their thoughts. It can be used to focus on one paragraph or make copies for student to compose a multi-paragraph piece. For the rest of day one or even on day two, students can take those thoughts and create their sloppy copy. From this sheet they can use whatever editing strategy you are using with your class. My kiddos are a little older so they are using a self-editing checklist. You could also do peer editing or have students work directly with you through writing conferences as I like to call them. Once their edits have been approved by you, they could move on and type a final copy in google docs and even present in front of the class. Excuse my crude “Sample” handwriting, lol! Still getting the hang of using a writing pad with the computer.
Day three brings in some reading comprehension. This is my own original story. Yes, I know that there are no Newbery Medals in my near future, but it gets the job done! Students will need crayons or colored pencils to complete this activity. I usually don’t allow markers on this because if you have a student that doesn’t have a steady hand, the paper can get a little messy. Some students will speed through this activity, so this would be a good day to complete any benchmarking tasks or fluency checks you need to do. You could also have students start on the next activity which is about finishing the story or save it for day four. Students have to use their imaginations to complete the story. You could also have them go through the editing process with this piece as well. Once the final copy is complete, again they could present to the class. Day five students are reviewing some new vocabulary words from the story. Yes, I threw in some words that students don’t see everyday. They have to find the definitions and use each word in a sentence. This can also be completed quickly by students but if people are also presenting stories and editing work, you will have a lot going on in your classroom!
I hope this has eased some of your anxiety so that you can get back to binge watching that show! I’m offering this bundle for sale on my website for only $5.00, but for my blog readers you can get it for 50% off (yup, only $2.50) using discount code WINBRK. The discount code is good until January 12, 2020.