Writing this blog post makes me miss first grade so much! This was the first big room transformation we did at our school that year. We were learning about spiders, so it was the perfect transformation for the week of Halloween. We used lots of spider web and spiders all over our classrooms, which I will share in this post. Our interactive read aloud that week was Spiders by Gail Gibbons. We covered lots of informational text standards but focused on main topic and retell of key details for our assessment. Here is a peek at the focus wall. If you have owned this unit for a while, it has been recently updated, so be sure to download it again!
This is the second week working on main topic, so it follows the same format as Pumpkin Circle. I wanted it to be familiar, and the end goal is an informational writing piece on spiders. There are five days of lesson plans and sticky note text dependent questions. Just print and teach!
These main topic and key details posters can be printed on cardstock and hung on your focus wall for student reference.
We use this main topic and key details anchor chart throughout the week. I like to print these as a poster and laminate. That way they are ready from year to year.
There are four vocabulary words included, along with a teaching routine that is fabulous for learning new vocabulary!
The spider below was part of the decor! He is made from garbage bags and stuffed with paper from the recycling bin. I stapled it together and stuck him to my board with heavy magnets. The tablecloths, spiders, and our headbands were from Walmart.
Daily Independent Tasks
The students were so excited to learn all about spiders! We began the read aloud with a KWL chart on day one.
On day two, students chose one on the spiders from the text do describe using key details from the text. Afterwards, they could draw and label that spider. They LOVED doing this!
We made connections on day 3, describing whether or not they were afraid of spiders. They had to use details from the text to support their thinking. These were really fun to share with each other!
Aaaarrgghh! Spider! is a really cute book to add to your text set! We read this and made a class graph to incorporate a little math.
Culminating Task and Assessment
By day four, they were read to identify the main topic and key details. We added those to this spider craft. You can differentiate on how many key details you expect them to include on the legs. They used white crayons to write on the black construction paper.
Since we put the key details on a craft the day before, we made this anchor chart on day five to plan their informational writing. We then participated in a shared writing using those key details. Students had their own copies on clip boards that they could use to follow along. There are two different versions for differentiation included.
Students also took a comprehension assessment at the end of the week.
Digital Interactive Read Aloud
Since so many are distance learning right now, I have created a digital version using Google Slides TM. It's included in the October set or you can purchase it separately. These are very similar to the PowerPoint lessons I use in my classroom, but you can assign slides to your remote learners to complete the independent tasks each day. Just create another copy for each day of the week and delete the slides you don't want students to have. You can display the slides from the original copy during your live or recorded lessons. It will keep you on track and ensure you cover all components of the lesson. Here are a few of the slides included! There are five days of lessons that include an agenda, learning target, success criteria, learning video and posters, vocabulary cards with tasks, read aloud, daily questions, daily tasks, exit ticket, wrap up, and self assessments for each of the five days! These are a lifesaver!
Click on any of the images to check out this engaging resource! There are even more details on each resource's preview, so check them out! Happy fall!
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