Fact or Opinion Pack Common Core Giveaway & Thanksgiving Freebie!

Thanksgiving!  No work.  Family time.  Good food.  More holidays just around the corner.  Who could ask for anything more?  I LOVE it!  Well, I'm gonna make this a quickie, but my school has been having Common Core training for the last two days. The kids got lucky and got the whole week off.  Meanwhile, I've been thinking all about the increased emphasis on vocabulary and writing the Common Core brings and I decided to start in my classroom with this Fact or Opinion pack.  There are several fun activities including a whole class fact/opinion sort and an individual student sort, plus practice writing facts & opinions, interviewing others about facts & opinions, a game, and a quiz.  I can't wait to use it with my students.  I think it will be the perfect introduction to writing paragraphs and supporting them with facts and opinions.  I also tried to integrate Tier 2 vocabulary from science and social studies to review throughout the whole pack.  If you want to snag it click the image {or here}.  Just like last time I'll give it away free to the person of my husband's choosing who leaves a comment & their e-mail address.  So leave a comment already and tell me how you teach facts & opinions to your kiddos!  (If you want to see the cute edible fruit turkey I made for last year's big dinner click here... and if you're interested in seeing an earlier post about the Pilgrims and Thanksgiving with freebies click here.)  Happy Thanksgiving!!! 

Oh yes, last but not least, I almost forgot (and I know it's a tad late now, but stick it in your file for next year) here's the Thanksgiving Syllable freebie I made.  Hope you enjoy!  {Click the image to download}.

May*flowers (hehehe:)

Surprise! They're not flowers, they're Mayflowers!  Plus, it's not May yet.  But have your kids had the SpRiNg FeVeR? Because mine sure have!  Can you say CrAzY?!

Amidst all of the warm-weather-craziness I found time (@7pm last night...after I met with my Masters Project Committee Chairperson on campus, don't ask me why) to put together this cute display of our Mayflowers.  The clouds contain the words to one of the Pilgrims songs we sing... "The pilgrims boarded the Mayflower, September 1620...."  wish you could hear. 

Anyway, I just wanted to share!

Em

(See the previous post for Pilgrim freebies)

Thanksgiving in April? Freebie*

 

It's true... we have been learning all about Thanksgiving IN April, but it sure has been a lot of fun.  My school teaches the Core Knowledge Sequence, and we just finished a unit on Settlers & Explorers. Our next unit is From Colonies to Independence.  The kids and I have learned SO much.  Do you know the story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke?  What's YOUR theory? 

Anyway, we reviewed Christopher Columbus, then focused on the English settlements of Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay.  My little ones (boys especially) just soak history right up!  They love it.  Our school has a history emphasis too, so I love that it's such a big part of the Core Knowledge Curriculum. 

I made a few resources to go along with the unit and I wanted to share them with you!  I use a TON of music in my classroom, and I couldn't live without my CDs from Classroom Classics.  I usually make a PowerPoint with pictures and lyrics to accompany whatever song I'm teaching  (Next week we'll be doing one on The Ride of Paul Revere)! It's great for integrating reading practice and vocabulary.  The kids get practice using the words through singing, it increases their retention, and reinforces their reading and spelling. Plus the kids are always asking PLEASE, can we sing it one more time?! Please!!! I also let a student point to the words with my pointer, and another student is the designated clicker.  Oh how they love it. I just can't say enough about how great I think it is (obviously)!

....However, without further ado, here are two FREE worksheets I created for the unit.

 Here are the title pages of the PowerPoints. They are wonderful for telling the story of Jamestown the The Pilgrims.  Click the images to grab them on TN or find them in my TPT store!