Monday, September 10, 2012

Student Story Ideas!

So my little writers have been working SO hard to write new and interesting stories! But I have been hearing a lot of "Miss Moellering, I don't know what to write about...." lately. I have been having a hard time finding time to confer and set our writing goals because I am spending so much time thinking of ideas for my friends.

So they told me they would like a place to go to help them get some ideas. So I created two different ways for students to get writing ideas.

First, I made story sticks. These sticks give the students a simple idea to create a story from. I just bought a bag of colored craft sticks from Dollar Tree and wrote the story idea on both sides. The sticks are all kept in an old peanut butter container (these are the BEST for storage of everything!)

My rule is that the student gets to choose 3 sticks, and then they must choose a story idea from those 3. If not, some of my friends would spend ther whole writer's workshop looking for an idea :)

 

Some examples of story ideas are:
  • magic carpet ride
  • building an igloo
  • getthing a bad haircut
  • swimming in the ocean
  • trip on a rocket ship
  • biggest bubblegum bubble ever
  • being in the circus
  • secret clubhouse
  • giant water balloons
  • if I could fly
  • if I was invisible
  • if I had a secret power
  • building a fort
  • going to the dentist
  • a trip in a submarine
  • my new invention
  • crazy pink hair
  • finding monsters under your bed
  • star in your own TV show
  • play a trick on your mom
  • my dream vacation
  • you just won 1,000,000
  • baby kangaroo in your class
  • zoo animals invade your school
  • aliens bring you on their ship
  • flying an airplane
  • the mysterious talliwaggle
  • you found a magic wand
  • my crazy grandma
  • when I'm 100 years old
  • the day my dog could talk
  • if I were the President
  • my best day ever
  • my amazing treehouse
  • there is no such thing as TV
  • you are on a deserted island
  • you wake up as a chipmunk
  • you wake up as an alien
  • you wake up as an earthworm
  • you wake up as a butterfly
  • my trip to the rings of Saturn
  • my incredible rock concert
  • the day I met a mermaid
  • the day I met a vampire
  • the day I met a ghost
  • you shrink to the size of an ant
  • you grow to the size of a house
  • you get sucked into the TV
  • you get sucked into the computer

Second, I made something I called You Pick 3! Once again, I used the colored popsicle sticks and peanut butter container for storage. For this, however, it is important to have 3 different colors of popsicle sticks in the jar, because the 3 colors stand for the person, place, and thing that the student will then write about. 




Some examples of people:
  • astronaut
  • king/queen
  • race car driver
  • magician
  • firefighter
  • Phineas and Ferb
  • explorer
  • robot
  • mail carrier
  • basketball player
  • sumo wrestler
  • dinosaur
  • Little Red Riding Hood
  • parrot
  • monkey
  • wizard
  • cowboy/cowgirl
  • alien catcher
  • ninja
  • babysitter
  • grandma
  • the President
  • clown
Some examples of places:
  • ocean
  • hospital
  • castle
  • waterslide
  • candy factory
  • rain forest
  • dark cave
  • volcano
  • McDonalds
  • Starbucks
  • beach
  • Africa
  • China
  • Neptune
  • airport
  • school
  • playground
  • park
  • the Moon
  • Walmart
  • doctor's office

Some examples of things:
  • eggs
  • snakes
  • purple ketchup
  • flower
  • sledding
  • dolphin
  • fire
  • marbles
  • toothbrush
  • lightbulb
  • toilet paper
  • umbrella
  • tacos
  • peanut butter
  • ice
  • lava
  • string cheese
  • remote control
Another "idea helper" I am letting my kids use is not something I made, but is an awesome online resource from Scholastic. It is called the Scholastic Story Starter Machine!


It is awesome! You can level it for your grade, and then the students are able to pull the level for a cute story idea! I just have my students take their idea back to their own writing paper, but for a special treat, sometimes I let them type their story on the computer!

Then, we needed a "visual" (look at my kiddos using correct terminology!) to give us ideas. So yesterday, I had the kids write 3 ideas on a sticky note. I took those ideas and made a poster of ideas for writing that will be posted all year.

Picture to come tomorrow..... :)

I know, I know...I am an amazing artist (not...). The kids seem to enjoy it though!

Lastly, we have an ideas packet that we fill out at the beginning of the year. I do this even before we start writing any stories. I show the kids my ideas packet with tons of ideas. They will probably still need a lot of direction :) You can get my ideas packet on Googledocs here!







I am hoping that after this week, my ears will finally stop ringing with "I don't know what to write about...." I can only dream :)

Enjoy your Tuesday!
Sarah

Monday, September 3, 2012

New TPT products GIVEAWAY and Teacher Certification Degrees interview!

Happy long weekend everyone! I have enjoyed relaxing and doing absolutely nothing and it has been fantastic!

So first, I have a few new TPT products that I would like to share with you. (Seriously, I will be sharing it with many of you for free!)

First, I have an awesome way to introduce and motivate your students to learn their sight words! It's called My Sweet Sight Words and you can find it on my TPT store!



Included in the pack are:
-letter to parents (1 page)
-take-home sweet sight word list (1 page)
-work work pages for each sight word (38 pages)
-review pages for each candy (5 pages)
-teacher assessment pages for each candy (5 pages)
-certificates for each candy (5 pages)
-overall student data page (1 page)











This is the dolch pre-primer edition of words, and I am currently working on the primer and first grade editions!

If you follow my blog and post about this on your blog, I will e-mail it to you for free! Be sure to leave a comment about it below!

Second, I have made a really awesome calendar assistant for your primary classrooms! My Calendar Journals are sure to help your students become more comfortable and confident in their calendar skills.




Right now, the calendar journals for August, September, and October are posted, and the rest of the months will come along as the year goes on! 








If you follow my blog and post about this on your blog, I will e-mail it to you for free! Be sure to leave a comment about it below!

Last, I have the perfect back to school solution to review those important literacy and math skills! My Back to School Literacy and Math Stations pack is on my TPT store.














If you follow my blog and post about this on your blog, I will e-mail it to you for free! Be sure to leave a comment about it below!

So that is a chance to get $20 worth of my TPT products for free! And all you have to do is follow my blog and post about this giveaway on your blog! Awesome deal right? I know! I would just love to build up some love for my TPT store!

Also, just to brag about myself a little bit...I received an email from Teacher Certification Degrees (the one that gives out the top blog awards!) and they asked me if they could interview me for the Q and A section of the website! How cool right? If you would be interested, you can find the interview here!



I will be posting soon about the latest happenings in my classroom so stay tuned!

And remember if you follow my blog and post about my products, I will send them to you for free (just leave your email!)!

Happy short week!
Sarah


 
Pin It button on image hover