Hand Turkey Writing

Turkey writing...

Yes, I know it is June.
But I have been waiting (and hoping) to share this for months! (And I have a minute right now...)

My kids LOVE all things thematic.  In November, they LOVE turkeys!
I have my kids do this as a center.  The supplies are there, they know the guidelines, and away they go!

Step 1- Trace your hand

Step 2- Color. (It works best if they color the turkey before gluing)

Step 3- Take up to (but no more than) 10 feathers.

Step 4- Write about your turkey.

Oh my goodness it is crazy how much I love these!

One other super fun turkey activity we do is make edible turkeys!
We use two fudge-striped cookies (one for the top and one for the back); one cherry cordial; one rolo; 5(ish) candy corn (mine are always whatever is leftover after Halloween!); a candy corn for the beak, one red skittle or M&M  for the waddle, and a lot of chocolate frosting!

My students take them home (too much sugar for school!) but they are so cute, they are hard to eat!!

Hope your are having a wonderful day!!
Sarah

Tools for your Toolbox--- Example of a Student Journal

When I first shared my "Tools for your Toolbox" post, I had NO idea what kind of response I would get.  I knew that I LOVED it.  I knew that people I shared it with had really caught on to the vision.  But when I let it out on to this great big web, the response was amazing!
I have had people email me from all over the state, country and event he WORLD! Wow.  It's pretty humbling. 

One thing that many teachers ask is, what do the students' journals look like? Well, they look exactly like mine, except less colorful.  I use colors to help them track the words.  It makes it SO much more clear and bold.   For the most part, we spell out everything together.  But sometimes I write ahead of them (they still give me the information TO write, I just write it faster than they do) :) so they have to track it. 

Obviously, this would be very different if I didn't have the luxury of a document camera.  Instead of having an actual journal, I would do the same thing with overheads. (It would be SO MUCH harder, but still doable.)

Anyway, ask and you shall receive... Here it is, photos of a student journal. 

I asked one of my students if I could share his journal.  (It was the second to last day of school and the other kids had already taken theirs home... He kindly agreed to let me photograph his work.) 

First thing I need to tell you, in case you look at the pictures and get nervous, is that he is a very bright, neat and organized Firsties.  Not all of my student's journals look like this.  :)

 

You can easily see that this is a well-loved journal.  Since it is kept in a desk, the pages are far from pristine... they are used :) 

 

 

The reason I offer to share my work at no cost is that I try very hard to live a "pay it forward" philosophy.  So, if you email me and I share my work with you, try and find an opportunity to share your work with someone else who needs it.  If we all shared a little, it would end up being a LOT!

 

My email is semvm0816@gmail.com  I can, and will, send you any of the pages that I can.  (Some I can't share because they were not my original creation.)  If you leave your email in the comments, I won't send it along-- which might sound mean, but it's just a time issue. :)

 

I would love to hear about your ideas and suggestions for this "tool"! :)

 

Have a wonderful day!

Sarah