Reading Activities

We have been VERY busy during our reading block working on finishing up our Cereal Box Biographies.  Next Friday, we have a big celebration with friends and family.  The kiddos dress up like the person they researched and present in small groups out on the front lawn of the school.  I am still attaching everything to their boxes (takes forever), but when I am done I will be sure to share lots of photos!

My kiddos have LOVED the activities I created to use with Instagram or other photographs!  Check out my full blog post here!

Today I displayed the photograph below, which I actually found on Nat Geo’s website.

(So even if you can’t access Instagram at school, this pack is still very usable!  Fabulous Photographs are all over the web!)

As a group we discussed the many aspects of the photograph in great detail.  My kiddos remembered the activity we did from my Two Bad Ants unit with descriptive settings.

The kiddos had to describe the photograph so that if we took the photograph away we could still visualize it.  They LOVED this activity  

Then they conferenced with a classmate to make sure they included all the details they could!  They were fabulous little editors for each other!

We started using some great texts from Reading A-Z in the classroom.

Since our big focus has been biographies, over the next few days we are working on Summer Olympic Legends.

The site offers great activities but I wanted to create something I *brainstormed* while driving to work

With my commute being about an hour one way each day,

I have plenty of time to think!

Before showing the kiddos the text, I had them use the first oval to illustrate/write what they think a legend was or what they think it was.

Here’s one kiddo’s Big Foot drawing!

Then we talked about how there are different types of legends- all are pasted down but some are verifiable and some are not. 

The kiddos dived into the text to learn about the Olympic legends.

The kiddos used the middle oval to illustrate/write what a legend was or give an example according to the text.  Then, in the last oval, the students extended their learning by illustrating what kind of legend they want to be.  On the lines below, the kiddos explained why they wanted to be that kind of legend. 

I will share final pictures tomorrow!  We ran out of time today because of the 4th and 5th grade races we watched and cheered on!

Grab this freebie activity by clicking below!