Stop, SWAP, & Roll!

HI Friends!
I am so super excited to be participating in this awesome linky...

THANKS to Melissa from Jungle Learners for organizing this event!! She has worked very hard to make it a success!

I was lucky enough to be paired up with Kelly, a 4th grade teacher from Nevada! She is the mom of SIX boys AND she is the teacher blogger behind the adorable blog...

For the swap, we were asked to choose a product from our partner's TpT store. I choose Kelly's Dear Mrs. LaRue Reading Packet because this is one of my favorite books and I was looking for some new reading activities for my 3rd grade smarties!

As you can see, this packet is FULL of activities! It covers a wide variety of ELA standards. Kelly is very thorough! I love how she includes lesson plan ideas for the various activities. It was nice to just open this packet and get started!! 

My class is made up of gifted and high achieving students. They are all very good readers. The activities met the needs of my high readers and they were able to do them independently.  I choose activities from the packet that related to what we've been working on.

First, I gathered enough copies of Dear Mrs. LaRue so the kids could work in groups of 2s or 3s.

Before groups read the book, I assigned 3 of these vocabulary word cards to each group. Kelly has created an organizer based on the Frayer Model...which I love. The kids had to use a dictionary and thesaurus and do some deep thinking to complete the 4 boxes.

Look at the strong vocabulary in this book...

These were perfect for my high group of readers. They shared their definitions and synonyms with the rest of class after they completed their organizers.

Picture books are so rich in vocabulary and this one is no exception!

After reviewing vocabulary, groups put their Daily 5, Read with Someone, procedures in place. I monitored groups during the first reading.

This next activity had the kids thinking again. They had to take a close look at the letter and the illustrations associated with one particular scene in the book and then compare and contrast Ike's view and the truth. During this time, they noticed so many details they didn't catch during the first read. There was a lot of good conversation going on!

The next day, after a review of the story, the groups read the book a second time. We reviewed what it means to draw conclusions. I will say this was a challenge for my kids...and I'm glad. I like activities that make them THINK!

I think this next activity was one of my favorites. Students had to think creatively and write a letter to Mrs. LaRue telling her what she should have done instead of sending Ike to obedience school. These are so funny!

 I like that the students were able to write from their own point of view and "talk" to Mrs. LaRue. They seem to have felt sorry for Ike which makes me laugh!

I really love this packet. The activities gave my kids a good challenge and got them thinking and they had FUN!

Be sure to head on over to Kelly's blog and read about the product she choose from my store, Geometry Scoot.

ALL my SCOOT GAMES are 10% off today through Monday!


And be sure to head to Jungle Learners  to catch all the other blogs and products in this swap.

Would you like to try Kelly's Dear Mrs. LaRue packet?? Enter for a chance to WIN IT!
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Thanks for stopping by today!!