I feel like the 3 weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas break are so RUSHED! Not that I’m complaining…I LOVE breaks :)…but there’s always so much I want to fit in in such a short amount of time! Last week we started learning about reindeer. Before we continue on with more reindeer fun this week, I wanted to start with some non-fiction reading and fact gathering, so that’s just what we did!
We started out by reading this non-fiction book about reindeer…
I love reading non-fiction books because my kids just eat it up! They’re SO engaged when it comes to learning new facts. Plus, it gives me a chance to teach them about the table of contents, index, vocabulary, etc. At the end of each chapter, we stop to jot facts. We started with a KWL, and it was so fun to see what they thought they knew about reindeer {they live in the North Pole, they fly, they only eat carrots :)} After we gathered all of our “What I Learned” facts, we organized them onto our Reindeer fact chart.
The kids used the fact chart for some independent writing. They had to choose three facts to write about and then make their own reindeer.
We also organized our thoughts onto a tree map and used it to sort nouns/verbs/adjectives. I used a great little printable from Deanna Jump’s Reindeer Unit for the kids to create their own tree map. There are LOTS of great ideas in that unit!!!!
We’ll do a few more little reindeer activities this week and then get ourselves ready for a BREAK!!! Can’t wait!!!
How cute! I would agree with you, I never feel like I have enough time either. Would it be too late to do reindeer in January?
ReplyDeleteGosh! Your stuff is so cute! My district is soooo strict and we aren't allowed to use anything that is not directly from our adopted curriculum... unless we make it. I have been getting so many ideas from you. I used your gingerbread men for a vocabulary synonym game. The words were from the story we were assigned to read for the week and had nothing to do with gingerbread men. Didn't stop me. The kiddos freaked out! They loved it!! Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteMrs. Carrol,
ReplyDeleteAre these adorable reindeer from Deanna Jump's unit? Or did you make them them yourself? I love them!
I love these reindeer. I can't wait to do them next year!!
ReplyDeletewww.fun-in-first.blogspot.com
I love my reindeer unit. I use reindeer games and a text pairing of a non fiction from Scholastic and the Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett though I plan on looking for the one you use too. Can't have too many books. Anyway, do you have a graph to go with the unit... Who is Your favorite Reindeer or something like that? It's the one piece I am missing for a rounded unit. Thanks.
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