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  • Ideas by Jivey

    Jivey shares ideas and lessons to make literacy accessible for all.

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    Five for Fr-aturday and Sparking Student Motivation!

    November 1, 2014

    I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs just a little late this weekend to share some things we did this week!

    Honestly, the work week was difficult to start because I was returning from a long weekend in Orlando! I got to see my BBB, Joanne, and went to Hollywood Studios, Universal, and Sea World. It was a jam-packed, awesome weekend!

    BBB Joanne and Jivey
    With Ideas by Jivey
    With Ideas by Jivey

    So even though I would have loved to have stayed with Joanne and the minions and the dolphins, I put on my big-girl britches and had some fun with my kiddos! We are building up to writing about/describing a planet next week (we are currently studying the solar system) using precise language, so this week, we practiced describing food, amusement parks, and monsters! First, I displayed five pictures of hamburgers on the board and told them, “Last night, I ate the most delicious burger! It was so yummy I ate it all… do you know which burger I ate?” Of course, they all looked at me like I was crazy. So then, I showed them which one I ate:

    With Ideas by Jivey

    …and they had to help me write about it so that someone would know what burger I had eaten. We just finished working with sensory details last week, too, so they immediately started using that language. It was perfect! I told them I didn’t want a list of things on my burger. We needed to describe it so well that someone would want to eat it when we were done! They came up with sentences like, “As I sank my teeth into the humongous juicy grilled burger, some of the sesame seeds from the bun got stuck in my teeth. It was a good thing I had a napkin because there was so much ketchup, it dripped onto my chin. The lettuce added the perfect amount of crunch.” I was seriously impressed!

    I wanted them to write on their own, too, so the next day, I set up “stations” around the room with sets of pictures. I divided the class into four groups, set my timer, and they rotated every five minutes to each of the sets. They would choose one of the pictures to write about in detail, and do the same type of writing we did with the hamburger. You have never heard a class so quiet!! They absolutely loved this activity! There were pictures of sandwiches…

    With Ideas by Jivey
     …pictures of amusement parks… 
    With Ideas by Jivey
     …pictures of ice cream sundaes…
    With Ideas by Jivey
    …and pictures of cakes!
    With Ideas by Jivey
    Stay tuned next week to see the final product of this writing activity!

    We spent the week doing some fun activities with the book, I Need My Monster, by Amanda Noll. I love using this book the week of Halloween! You may remember the monster writing activity we did last year– well it fit perfectly with using precise language, so we had to do it again! :o)

    I am linking this activity to Head Over Heels for Teaching (Joanne!) for her Sparking Student Motivation linky, because my kids seriously loved this! The students had to write about the monster they created well enough that someone else could draw their monster without seeing it. It took us two days to do the activity in its entirety. The first day, they drew a monster and began writing about it. We have recess right after writing, so when it was time to go, I told them to wrap up the sentence they were writing and we would finish tomorrow. Usually, that is met with an immediate slam of the notebook closed and everyone jumping up to get in line… well not that day! No one stopped writing! I had to tell them to stop! I guess writing about monsters is better than recess?? 😛

    The second day, they finished their paragraph and revised to make sure it was descriptive enough. Then, they got with a partner and read their paragraph while the partner drew- never showing their monster to their partner. Here are just two of the many successes from this year’s class!

    With Ideas by Jivey

    With Ideas by Jivey

    We finished up using the paired texts for epidemics and germs this week (a freebie!). I explained a couple of weeks ago about how and why I have students annotate during close reading… I updated the post to also include this activity that I have my students do after annotating:

    Freebie paired texts for epidemics and germs with Ideas by Jivey

    I have the students turn knee to knee and share their thoughts, what was important, and their questions with each other. This often prompts new thinking for the students when they hear each others’ thoughts. It is a great way to promote conversation in the classroom!

    We have Book Character Dress-Up Day for Halloween at my school. My grade level team dressed up as Magic School Bus characters- I was Ralphie! :o)

    Character Day with Ideas by Jivey

    So much fun!!

    Everyone have a great weekend! Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour tonight! WOOT!

    by Jessica Ivey 
    Uncategorized

    Sparking Student Motivation: Fun Informational Passages!

    October 19, 2014

    Let me tell you what I LOVE.

    I LOVE tricking kids into thinking working is super fun. 😛

    My kids were begging me last week to learn more and write more. Have you ever heard of such a thing???

    I shared with you last week that I am working on getting my students to respond deeper using Jennifer Findley’s Rigorous Reader’s Response Letters. We are also working on reading informational paired texts… and we were working on some skills with Stellaluna this past week… so I decided to write some articles about bats for them to use for close reading and annotating, and for them to use for their response letters! The first day, I gave them the first article on Kitti’s Hog-Nosed Bat- the smallest mammal in the world! We did some close reading, then I had them practice their first independent response letter using the same checklist from last week. Seriously, with their excitement level, you would have thought I’d just given them candy. They could not WAIT to write about what they had learned about these bats, and what they could infer. Some of them are seriously impressing me with their inferring skills too! Check this one out:

    Spark Student Motivation with Ideas by Ivey

    As I was peeking at some of their responses, a few were still not going as deep as I wanted, so on Friday, I had a few students share (including the one above) and then we did another class shared writing response. Here is what the students suggested I write:

    Spark Student Motivation with Ideas by Ivey

    Then, I let them know they were getting another article about bats that day- they cheered! One of my students said, “Ms. Ivey, can we do more articles next week about other animals? This is fun!” I swear, I am not making this up!! (I actually thought to myself at that moment- I can link this up with Joanne!! Ha!!)

    They did the same thing as the previous day with their new passage about a megabat- the Spectacled Flying Fox. I will most likely use these responses for a grade since we have practiced a bit now.

    Spark Student Motivation with Ideas by Ivey

    I decided to take these articles a step further and add some paired text multiple choice and constructed response questions…. then I thought, if they liked these articles so much, I’m going to need more… so I made some for owls and spiders, too! (‘Tis the season after all!)

    And of course, you know I can’t keep them all to myself… you can get them in my TPT store!

    For the first 48 hours, this product is 20% off! I hope you enjoy!

    by Jessica Ivey 
    Uncategorized

    Five For Friday Halloween Style

    November 1, 2013

    Our Halloween-type festivities (without ever using the word “Halloween” of course) were SOOOOO much fun! I’m going to share all of our good times, Five For Friday Style!

    We used The Widow’s Broom for reading activities and our mentor sentence this week. They did a great job imitating the sentence on their own, being sure to include a prepositional phrase at the beginning and end of their sentence! It was hard to choose just four this time for the wall of fame!

    This sentence was offered as a freebie in my TPT store– snatch it up for next year if you use mentor sentences in your room…or to do next week! It’s technically not a “Halloween book!”

    We focused on prepositional phrases in grammar this week. A friend sent me this link to Lesson Plan SOS’s blog and I knew I had to do it this week! The kids each made two “ghost pops” out of Tootsie Pops, tissues, and string. They hid them around the room as everyone had their head down (so they couldn’t see where they were being hidden of course) and I played the Ghostbuster’s Theme Song.

    Then, once they were hidden, they had to go find two ghosts and write sentences about where their ghosts were WITH prepositional phrases! They loved it! And loved eating their Tootsie Pops too.

    Another fun grammar activity I like to throw in when I can are Mad Libs! I have some Halloween ones, so we completed those. It’s GREAT parts of speech practice, and they love reading their crazy stories!

    How FUN does this look?!?!?

    My kids wrote SPOOOOOOOKY stories on Thursday with only the light of their glowstick. They had an ABSOLUTE blast. Seriously. I turned on Pandora’s Spooky Symphonies station and they wrote and wrote and wrote. Not a PEEP out of them!

    Some of them totally impressed me with their stories too! We had to go to the floor and share them (with only the glowsticks of course) and some of them were pretty scary! LOL

    Check out my amazing fourth grade team!! We were the crayons who (didn’t) quit fourth grade! :o) It was such a fun day, and we got a ton of compliments -funny because it was such an easy costume to create! 😛

    I’m saving one of our fun activities from this week to share tomorrow for my BBB Joanne’s Saturday linky- be sure to come back tomorrow and check it out! :o)

    by Jessica Ivey 
    Uncategorized

    Happy Halloween!! :o) Monster Writing Idea!

    October 31, 2013

    I wanted to share a fun activity we did yesterday for writing! It is included in my I Need My Monster TPT Unit! After reading the book, I drew a monster, but didn’t show my kids. Then I wrote a description of him and read it to my students. They drew the monster as I read them the description:

    My name is Melvin. I am a green monster. My body is oval-shaped like a potato and covered with warts. I look out from under your bed with my one blue eye, right in the middle of my head. You’ll hear me breathing with my big mouth, but I hope you don’t laugh because I only have five teeth: 3 on top and 2 on the bottom. It’s because I can’t brush my teeth! My stubby arms won’t reach, and I can hardly pick up a toothbrush with my fat fingers. I run around on four feet, and sometimes I trip on my long lizard-like tail!

    Here was my monster…

    …and here are a couple of my students’ monsters drawn from my description!

    Pretty good huh? 🙂

    We talked about the things I could have described better, like the shape of the teeth and legs and shoes… and then they got to work on their own.

    Then, they got with a partner, and without showing their monster, read their descriptions and their partners drew. They really did an excellent job! Here are a couple that came really close in their drawings!

    I hope everyone has a fantastic Halloween! :o)

    by Jessica Ivey 
    Uncategorized

    I’ve Been Boo’ed!

    October 23, 2013

    Gary over at Scrappy Guy Designs is having a fun linky to share about how we “celebrate” Halloween, but remain PC about it. I didn’t do much of anything last year except read some fun books, but the year before, we had PUMPKIN MANIA!! Some parents donated pumpkins to carve, and we actually did educational pumpkin activities ALL DAY, including carving our pumpkins!

    Looking back at these pictures made me miss my kiddos so much! I actually looped with that crew from 3rd to 4th. They were such a fun bunch!! And the parents were SPECTACULAR. They were the only reason we could HAVE Pumpkin Mania!

    This year, I have a few who can’t celebrate, so I’ll stick with my PC book, I Need My Monster for the week- we’ll be doing lots of fun language arts activities with it… and I’m tempted to somehow incorporate the idea Joanne shared today, too, but with a monster mask!! Some of my girls will totally pee their pants!!! 😛

    by Jessica Ivey 
    Uncategorized

    I Need My Monster: Mentor Text for Halloween

    September 29, 2013

    I’m linking up with Collaboration Cuties this morning to share an adorable book with you! 🙂

    One of my favorite books to read at Halloween time that’s still “PC” for kiddos that can’t celebrate Halloween is I Need My Monster by Amanda Knoll.

    It’s an adorable book about a boy’s monster that goes on vacation, and each replacement monster just isn’t good enough. It’s a great story to look at awesome adjectives and vivid verbs in writing- each monster is described thoroughly! 🙂 Here is a freebie you can use with it if you want to grab it up!

    This freebie came from my language arts unit for the book, which you can get in my store here if you’re interested! (And remember, my store is on sale 20% off through the end of today!)

    The unit includes the freebie above to practice with amazing adjectives and vivacious verbs from the book that describe the monsters and their “scary” traits, as well as pages for text-to-self connections; practicing describing, following directions, and listening through drawing and describing a monster to someone else; quotations practice; distinguishing between adjectives and adverbs; and a writing prompt taken from the point of view of a monster in the story. It’s definitely at least a week’s worth of activities you can do with your kiddos! 🙂

    I am so sad to leave my BBB Joanne today! 🙁 But we had a blast together, and definitely will be getting together again! And check out my adorable new minions shirt I got yesterday. 😛

    by Jessica Ivey 

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    Ideas By Jivey

    2 days ago

    Ideas By Jivey
    Wondering how to make your ELA block come together? Check out this post where I lay out some suggestions of ways to plan your schedule! ... See MoreSee Less

    Planning a Language Arts Schedule (How To Fit It All In!)

    www.ideasbyjivey.com

    Jivey shares ideas and lessons to make literacy accessible for all.
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    Ideas By Jivey

    4 days ago

    Ideas By Jivey
    🌞 Groundhog Gets A Say is a fun book for kids of any age, but I especially liked to use this mentor text to tie in some research skills and opinion writing!The book is written as a narrative, but is filled with facts about groundhogs as the main character tries to convince everyone that he deserves more than just ONE day of recognition.The unit I made for this book includes printables for text features, note-taking from text, fact and opinion, main idea and details, context clues, a writing brainstorm organizer, plus a mentor sentence lesson for relative pronouns and contextual vocabulary activities! I'd love you to check it out on my website: www.ideasbyjivey.com/product/groundhog-gets-a-say-unit/Or if you prefer, you can get it here on TPT: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Groundhog-Gets-A-Say-Mentor-Text-Digital-Print-Unit-520756 ... See MoreSee Less

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    Ideas By Jivey

    6 days ago

    Ideas By Jivey
    😍 The latest seasonal club unit for upper grades is completed, and you'll definitely want to grab it before next week! Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub is an informative mentor text about groundhogs, Groundhog Day, and weather, but it's presented in an entertaining way that will keep your students laughing while they learn. 😂✅ With this unit I created, you'll receive a week of explicit lesson plans to go along with the book. 🤓 You'll get everything you need to teach about organized notetaking, tier 3 vocabulary, word parts, and types of sentences, plus you'll be able integrate it all with science: weather, seasons, and groundhogs! Grab it at this link: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Groundhog-Weather-School-Mentor-Text-Unit-Grades-3-5-Groundho... ... See MoreSee Less

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    Are you reading a fun book for Groundhog Day? 🌞 Are you reading a fun book for Groundhog Day? 🌞 ❄️ 

Check out my February book idea list! Link in profile! Need a unit to go along with one of these? DM me the title for a link! 

#groundhogday #groundhogdayintheclassroom #ideasbyjivey #iteachtoo #mentortexts #mentorsentences 

 https://www.amazon.com/shop/ideasbyjivey/list/30LEKEOLP7026?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_aipsflist_aipsfideasbyjivey_NSV9QRK52KNNAPCEJ5B7
    🌞 Groundhog Gets A Say is a fun book for kids o 🌞 Groundhog Gets A Say is a fun book for kids of any age, but I especially liked to use this #mentortext to tie in some research skills and #opinionwriting!

The book is written as a narrative, but is filled with facts about groundhogs as the main character tries to convince everyone that he deserves more than just ONE day of recognition.

The unit I made for this book includes printables for text features, note-taking from text, fact and opinion, main idea and details, context clues, a writing brainstorm organizer, plus a #mentorsentence lesson for relative pronouns and contextual vocabulary activities! 

I'd love you to check it out on my website at the link in my profile: https://www.ideasbyjivey.com/product/groundhog-gets-a-say-unit/

You can also find it in my TPT store, too! 

#ideasbyjivey #teachersfollowteachers #groundhogdayintheclassroom #upperelementary #mentortextmonday
    😍 The latest seasonal club unit for #uppergrade 😍 The latest seasonal club unit for #uppergrades is completed, and you'll definitely want to grab it before next week! 

Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub is an informative #mentortext about groundhogs, Groundhog Day, and weather, but it's presented in an entertaining way that will keep your students laughing while they learn. 😂

✅ With this unit I created, you'll receive a week of explicit lesson plans to go along with the book. 

🤓 You'll get everything you need to teach about organized notetaking, tier 3 vocabulary, word parts, and types of sentences, plus you'll be able integrate it all with science: weather, seasons, and groundhogs! 

Grab it at the link in my profile: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Groundhog-Weather-School-Mentor-Text-Unit-Grades-3-5-Groundhog-Day-Seasons-9006611 #ideasbyjivey #mentorsentence #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers #groundhogdayintheclassroom #upperelementary #iteach345
    ❄️ There are so many fantastic #picturebooks t ❄️ There are so many fantastic #picturebooks to use in January with a snowy winter theme. 

📖 If you work with early emergent readers, this #mentorsentences mini-unit is perfect for you! 

There are lessons for five snowy winter-themed books to help students grasp language through a balanced literacy approach. 

Check it out at the link in my profile! #ideasbyjivey #iteachk #mentortexts #teacherspayteachers #teachersfollowteachers https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mentor-Sentences-Mini-Unit-Snowy-Winter-Books-for-Early-Emergent-Readers-2293853
    Can students actually think critically about... GR Can students actually think critically about... GRAMMAR?!? 🤔

You bet they can! 🥳

Check out how at the link in my profile! https://www.ideasbyjivey.com/higher-order-thinking-questions-for-grammar-and-writing/ 

#ideasbyjivey #mentorsentences #mentorsentence #iteachtoo #teachersfollowteachers #teachgrammar #iteach2nd #iteach3rd #iteach4th #iteach5th
    😍 A NEW FAVORITE! 🩰 Have you gotten your ha 😍 A NEW FAVORITE!

🩰 Have you gotten your hands on The Snow Dancer by Addie Boswell? What a BEAUTIFUL #picturebook, not only in the illustrations but also the words!

📘 This #mentortext is chock full of figurative language- don't miss grabbing this unit if you teach grades 3-5! 

You will have everything you need to use with the book including explicit lesson plans and teacher samples (it's ready to teach- no prep work!) to teach about figurative language like similes, onomatopoeia, personification, and hyperbole, as well as vivid verbs, visualization, and writing small moment stories. 

Check it out at the link in my profile! #ideasbyjivey #mentortextsforwriting #teacherspayteachers #iteach345 #iteach3rd #iteach4th #iteach5th #mentortextmonday

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Snow-Dancer-Mentor-Text-Unit-for-Grades-3-5-8787748
    I didn’t always use mentor sentences in my class I didn’t always use mentor sentences in my classroom... but once I started, there was no going back.

They are a total gamechanger! Come see why at the link in my profile: https://www.ideasbyjivey.com/taking-it-back-to-archives-mentor/

#ideasbyjivey #mentorsentences #iteach345 #teachersfollowteachers
    🐘 Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev is a p 🐘 Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev is a picture book about inclusion and true friendship. It's the perfect #picturebook to use in the primary grades!

I created a weeklong unit for this wonderful #mentortext to help you incorporate social/emotional learning to develop relationship skills all while identifying character challenges, writing explanatory text, analyzing a poem that pairs with the book, relating to literature, and understanding contractions.

😍 You'll get explicit lesson plans AND teacher samples- you'll have everything you need to teach all of ELA for a week!

Check it out at the link in my profile. #ideasbyjivey #teacherspayteachers #iteach12 #iteach1st #iteach2nd #mentortexts 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Strictly-No-Elephants-Mentor-Text-Unit-for-Grades-1-2-8501981
    🍯 Did you know January 18 is Winnie The Pooh Da 🍯 Did you know January 18 is Winnie The Pooh Day? It's AA Milne's birthday! 

Grab this weeklong unit for grades 3-5 to use with the #picturebook, Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick: the true story of how the beloved bear became famous! 🐻

✏️ With the unit I created, you'll really dive into helping students read like writers and write like readers by discovering the purpose for dialogue. You'll get a week of explicit lesson plans that teach the purpose of dialogue, types of nonfiction, forming fact-based opinions, and quotation mark usage using the book, Finding Winnie.

Get the weeklong unit at the link in my profile. #ideasbyjivey #mentortextmonday #mentorsentences #iteach345 #iteachwriting #iteach3rd #iteach4th #iteach5th #teacherspayteachers #winniethepoohday #mentortexts

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Finding-Winnie-Mentor-Text-Unit-for-Grades-3-5-7576748
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