Earth Day Word Sort

Just popped in to share a little word sort freebie.  Click on the picture to download it.  :)

Sunny Days in Second Grade hosted an Earth Day Freebie Linky. There are tons of great activities posted.  Be sure to check it out.

 Additionally, it's Manic Monday!  Stop on over to see Charity and all the great freebies posted on Classroom Freebies.

Happy Earth Day, friends!

Perfect Penguin Picks

School was closed today due to icy conditions.  It's the perfect reason to share my favorite penguin book picks and a word sort freebie.  

Little Penguin's Tale by Audrey Wood
Little Penguin is a delightful bird who wanders off on an adventure  while his Grand Nanny is telling a story.  He learns an important lesson along the way. 

Penguins by Gail Gibbons
This is the perfect non-fiction companion to Little Penguins Tale.  Students can learn all about where penguins live, how they grow, and what they eat.

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester
Tacky isn't your average penguin.  This story illustrates the advantages of being an individual.  If you enjoy this story, try reading Three Cheers for Tacky, too.  Your students will love this odd bird!

Penguins by Emily Rose Townsend
This book is another great non-fiction choice, written in simple words that young students can grasp.

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
Mr. Popper is one of my favorite chapter book read-alouds for the primary classroom.  Old fashion fun and laughter fill the pages. 

And now for a freebie...

Making Words is a great activity to use in a whole group setting or at a center.  You can download a little penguin word sort here.  I'm just starting to post files, so I would love to hear what you think about this sort.  Please leave feedback.  :)

Time for you to share...What are your favorite penguin picks?  I'd love to know!

MLK Day Activities

Read-Alouds

Here are a few of my very favorite read-aloud books to celebrate Martin Luther King Day.

Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport is a fabulous read aloud.  If you plan to read just one book about Martin Luther King, this should be the one.  I love the inspirational quotes on each page.  Although segregation is a difficult topic to tackle with students, this book opens the door for thoughtful discussions. 

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo is another good choice for younger children.  The text is written in clear, easy to understand words for children.  The scratch-art style illustrations are beautiful! 

Here are a few other books worth checking out too!

                    

Activities

One activity my students  enjoy is Readers' Theater.  I love Readers' Theater, too, because my students want to read the scripts multiple times.  It's a sneaky way to get children to practice fluency and expression (and it builds self-confidence as well).  

I found a cute little play, Big Words, Strong Words by Bobbi Katz, that is perfect for Readers' Theater.  You can download it here from Scholastic.   

Another activity I use often with my students is word sorting (or making words).  Students use a set of letter tiles to build words and write them.  I can focus on particular phonics skill that we are studying or allow students to explore patterns on their own.  The goal is to discover the 'Mystery Word' by using all the letter tiles to form one final word.  

I created three word sort activities for Martin Luther King Day to share with you.  This is the first time that I've posted a document to Blogger, so I'm crossing my fingers that it works.  Just click on the links below to download the files from Google Docs.

Dreams Sort                   Freedom Sort                       Birthday Sort

I would love to have your feedback about these sorts, so please leave me a comment.  

What do you do to celebrate Martin Luther King Day in your classroom?  Please share!  :)