President's Day Freebie!

Happy Monday!  I am so envious of all of you who have off today!  My husband is off with my little girl, and I hope they are heading back to the store today to get my new purse with the 20% off coupon!  If not, I will be one unhappy Momma!

On to the real stuff!  I needed a good poem for my first graders this week for President's Day, but I just could not find one that I liked.  Either they were waayy too hard or waayy too corny, so did what I always do in this situation ~ wrote my own!  And, I am going to share it with you, my followers!  Click here or the picture below for your copy!

I use poetry each week to help with fluency and various word activities.  Many times I use sight words, but I also work with the spelling features the students need or other special words.  Last week, I focused on contractions with my second graders.  They loved it!

We read the poem all week, sometimes chorally, sometimes partner, sometimes alone, but always reading it.  On Wednesday, we get out the highlighters and highlight words in the poem.  On Thursday, we illustrate the poems on the back of it.  I keep them in a file for my students and then bind them together for a book to read.  They take them home over the summer and keep them forever.  This year I had several students tell me how much they enjoyed reading their poetry books over the summer.   Wow!  Love that from the kids!

I hope you enjoy the freebie!

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Thursday Book Talk ~ George Washington's Cows

Happy Valentine's Day!  I was going to review a Valentine's Day book, but I am thinking President's Day now for next week!  I was looking for a book to read with my son and found this one on his shelf.  I just couldn't pass it up!

 The book George Washington's Cows by David Small is a fun look at why George Washington decided to "go into politics".  The book looks at his life at Mount Vernon, his home in Virginia, along with his farm animals.  The cows live in the house and are pampered.  His pigs were servants in the house and loved to clean.  And his sheep appeared to be intelligent.

The book gives an entertaining look into the life of the Father of Our Country.  The illustrations are fun to look at and will intrigue young children.

It is perfect for students in the elementary school, and children will enjoy hearing it.  I plan to use this next week with a group of students who will be learning about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  This will add a little lighthearted humor to what they already know.

After learning about both presidents, I plan to have the students write about Abraham Lincoln and one of his "animals" in a funny way.  They will tell what the animals did in his home before he was president.  Depending on your students' abilities, you could even have it rhyme like the book does. 

I have included a freebie writing page for you to use.  It can really be for anything, but I am going to use it for our Abraham Lincoln book.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  We don't do much special here, especially on a weeknight!  Enjoy the freebie!

Until next time!

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