Creating a Monthly Reflection Memory Book with Your Students

How to Create the Monthly Reflection Memory Book

Some years ago I came up with the idea of having my students create a monthly reflection memory book for the year. I had them keep a monthly calendar of what was going on both at school and in their own lives at home. We would try and set aside time at least a few days a week at the end of the day to record any memorable moments.
At the end of each month, I would have my students take a look at their calendar page and use it to write a monthly summary. I would collect and hold onto both the calendar sheets and their monthly summary sheets.

Reflection on the Memory Book by a Former Student

Just this past Spring, a former parent came back and told me as they were preparing for high school graduation, she and her daughter found her special 3rd grade memory calendar book. They sat and pored over the details, remembering together some of the important family moments that had been recorded by the young student so many years ago. The parent ended our conversation by telling me just how special that book is to them. It had been tucked away for years in a bin of school memories and truly brought joy to both mother and daughter when they found it and looked back at their year.

Resources to Help You Easily Create Your Reflection Book With Your Students

If you would like to start a project like this, you could go online and find some easy, printable calendars. I just searched Google and many options came up. Or you can purchase my Editable Calendar Pack with Lifetime Updates. You will never need to search for calendar pages for this project or other projects again with this pack.

Then combine the calendars with my Monthly Writing Paper Pack and you will have everything you need to make your Monthly Reflection Memory Book with your students. This pack comes with 4 unique pages for each month. Each design comes with Primary Lines and Upper Elementary Lines. A digital Google Slides and Powerpoint Version is also included.

Freebies! Grab the Free Sample

You can even try out a sample of my Monthly Writing Paper Pack Free Sample. Both the sample and full pack come with Printable and Digital Versions. The free sample comes with one page for January and one page for July.

Sign Up for My Newsletter to Get the Free Cover

If you want to take your calendars and monthly writing pages and create your end of year reflection book. Hop on over to my email list and sign up to receive this free Monthly Reflection Book Cover Freebie. You will get access to this cover and other freebies in my VIP Resource Library.

There are many other ways you could use these writing papers from journal prompts, to monthly writing assessments, to class pen pal letters. The sky is the limit to your imagination with these easy to use Monthly Writing Pages for Print and Digital.

Summer Writing Prompts

Summer Writing Activity

Summer Writing Prompts for upper elementary and middle school.

Recommended for grades 4th-8th, these 16 writing prompts will get students in the mood to write some fun stories, descriptions, poetry and more!

Looking for more writing prompt resources?

Visual Would you Rather opinion writing prompts

Writing Choice Boards- 10 month set

Holiday writing prompt Bundle

FREE digital activities for The Very Impatient Caterpillar

Whether you are a parent doing homeschool lessons, a teacher assigning digital lessons, or we're all back in the classroom, a digital picture book challenge will keep your students learning and practicing many literacy skills in an engaging way.

The Very Impatient Caterpillar is a laugh out loud story about a little caterpillar who doesn't know much about metamorphosis. Here's a link to the story on Storytime with

 Ryan & Craig: 

This FREE digital challenge for The Very Impatient Caterpillar has 4 challenges for students to complete. They'll need a piece of paper and a pencil to write mystery words and letters they'll discover as they solve each challenge.

The story video and challenges #1 and #2 are Google Slides with moveable pieces.

 The video link is filtered through SafeYouTube so there are no ads or any other distractors.

For challenge #1, students put the story events in order. When they finish, they go to the next slide and move the magnifying glass around to find a hidden message. The message tells them that the letters in red make a word from the story. 

Challenge #2 is a nonfiction passage about metamorphosis with questions. The letters of their answers make a word from the story.

Challenges #3 and #4 are Google Forms. Students must answer correctly before moving on to the next question. For challenge #3, they determine if the statement is a fact or an opinion. They are given the mystery letter when they finish.

For challenge #4, students answer multiple-choice questions about the story. After the questions are answered, they are given the mystery letter to write on their paper.

Now it's time to crack the final codeword. Students should have two mystery words and two mystery letters on their scratch paper. 

Answer keys and directions for assigning via Google Classroom and Google Drive are included.

These activities are for 2nd and 3rd graders. 

This digital picture book challenge can be downloaded from my TpT store:

The Very Impatient Caterpillar Digital Picture Book Challenge

If you like this free challenge, check out more picture book challenges that each have six tasks.

I Wanna Iguana

Stuck

My Lucky Day

Chrysanthemum

Can I Be Your Dog?

Officer Buckle and Gloria

Three Hens and a Peacock

Thelma the Unicorn

The Giving Tree

Diary of a Worm

October Teacher Talk 2019

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It's October Teacher Talk Time.....Well, the first month of school is over and it's BOO-tober, time for Halloween fun, Columbus Day, Stop Bullying Month and beautiful fall weather.  We have so many great tips and ideas for you from awesome educators. Be sure to take a look at what everyone has to say.

If you're interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here....The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, be sure to mention one of our names.

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Bullying No Way!

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

Monthly Read Aloud Books for We Teach So Hard Podcasts about Bullying and how to help stop it from happening.

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 Bullyproof Your Kids for Life
By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning 

 Using a great read-aloud to start the conversation this month about dealing with bullies.

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Stand Up to Bullying 
By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools 

 Bullying. It has become such a buzz word that is often casually thrown around. October is National Bullying Prevention Month and picture books are the perfect way to elicit conversations.
 

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   The Empathy Project Update: Explorations into Empathy, Part 2
By Tracy Willis of Wild Child Designs 

 The 2nd installment in The Empathy Project, this post uses a visible thinking routine and a popular picture book to teach upper elementary students about empathy.

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 Surprise!

By Renee Heiss of All American Teacher Tools

 Surprises provide the best motivation

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 Pause...In the Neighborhood
By Gini Musmanno of Reading Spotlight 

 Pause.. for a moment in Mister Rogers neighborhood. He still has much to teach us today.


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 Independent Reading Success in the Classroom
By Marcy Howe of It's A Teacher Thing 

 Learn tips for creating a successful independent reading program in your classroom.

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 Fall into Figurative Language
By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess

 Fall is the perfect season to study figurative language. 


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 Real World Math
By Michelle Webb of Teaching Ideas For Those Who Love Teaching

How to incorporate real world math into your daily teaching.

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My Favourite ELL Resources for Back to School

As I am looking forward to a new school year in my new school, I have already started planning and creating new resources. Since I have my classroom now and I can finally make the big decisions about the teaching materials I would love to use, I am all excited to be able to say good-bye to textbooks and use what I believe best responds to my learners' needs. If you are looking for some engaging and valuable resources for your textbook-less ESL class or you wish to supplement your own materials, here is a list of my favourite teaching resources that I have successfully used for years. These student-tested teaching materials along with some of my new creations are now available in bundled options in my Teachers Pay Teachers store so you can access them in one place. 

THE ESL TEACHER'S BACK-TO-SCHOOL KIT COLLECTION & THE ESL TEACHER'S MEGA BUNDLE


 
























1. Persuasive/opinion text guided writing resource  (with mentor texts and differentiated activities)

My most cherished resource, which I have improved several times over the years, is my Opinion Text Writing workbook. This differentiated resource has been extremely useful to my learners, especially to struggling writers. The included mentor texts and guided writing practice have helped my learners improve their writing skills beyond expectations. You may find this item in Bundle C along with the self-assessment forms, ESL evaluation grids and annotating and reading strategies handout. 

2. Close reading: annotating and reading strategies handout
If you love teaching reading strategies as I do or you would like to improve your learners' reading skills, thus, understanding of texts, my annotating and reading strategies handout may also be useful in your ESL or ELA class. You may find this resource in Bundles C and D.

3. Thematic unit with a touch of growth mindset

Bundle A also includes a time-saving complete unit on taking risks. I teach high school ESL, so I always look for topics my learners are able to relate to. I enjoy starting the school year with this unit because I want to show my students that taking risks is something they should not be afraid of. In addition, I also want them to know that taking calculated risks and stepping out of their comfort zone are actions that will keep them moving forward not only in English class, but in life, too. 

4. Growth mindset posters and schedule/routine labels

Bundles A and B contain my recent watercolour classroom decor set including growth mindset posters, matching schedule/routine and teacher toolbox labels. If you would like to have a minimalist, but elegant classroom organization tool for your secondary ESL classroom, this watercolour set is your go-to resource. If you are not into watercolour classroom sets, Bundles D and E contain a different classroom set I also enjoyed creating. If you prefer having floral-themed growth mindset posters and matching schedule/routine labels in your class, you can opt for either Bundle D or E. 

5. Useful ESL posters - ESL competencies, student interaction, genre posters, spatial prepositions
I also love to have posters showing the ESL competencies in my classroom as I refer to them regularly. My collection of useful posters for the ESL class will nicely blend in with the purple watercolour classroom posters and labels. These practical ESL posters may be used as quick study guides, for example, when teaching the feature article. If you teach enriched ESL students in Quebec, a feature article poster should be a must-have item in your class. I have also created a couple of genre posters for my ESL class because we ask our learners to write journals, have them write or read biographies, essays, poetry or science fiction short stories and novels, yet, we spend little time on analysis and genre features. Rather, we expect our students to transfer knowledge from their L1, so we can focus more on content and language than in-depth structural analysis. These posters can help students refresh their memory of the main characteristics of different genres seen in their L1 literature classes. I believe that understanding the features of different text types not only helps learners to make more valuable self-to-text, text-to-text and text-to-world connections, but it also makes them better writers. So, I think that genre posters might come in handy in any ESL class. These posters are available in Bundles A, B and E.

6. ESL Evaluation grids

Another essential tool all ESL teachers should have is a set of print & go evaluation grids for all competencies. It has taken me years to perfect my assessment grids that also align with the ESL curricular requirements in Quebec. When I was a first-year teacher, my assessment rubrics were very detailed and made grading a burden. I wanted to be very thorough, but I soon realized that what I was doing was counterproductive. So, I have come up with more user-friendly rubrics that definitely make grading quicker and easier. Even though I know my assessment grids by heart now, I always give a copy to my students so they know what my expectations are and how I will evaluate their performance. For instance, at the beginning of the year, I hand out three essential assessment grids that my students need to keep in their binders: oral interaction (speaking skills), general rubric for reinvestment of understanding (reading skills) and writing. When grading their journals, written productions or written responses to texts, I use only a small quick scoring rubric stapled in learners' notebook, and invite them to have a look at the more detailed assessment grid in their binder to check what they did well and what still needs improvement based on the scoring rubric. You will find these evaluation grids (Quick scoring rubrics are already included.) in Bundles B, C, D and E. 

7. Self-assessment forms
I also like to hold my students accountable for their learning, so that is why I use self-assessment forms that my students need to complete after each class, group work, oral interaction and end of the term. These self-assessment forms are available in Bundle C, and you may use them on a daily, weekly or monthly basis or when your students complete a group assignment or interact orally. 

8. Thematic conversation task cards

Since oral interaction is at the heart of ESL, my collection of thematic task cards will certainly make your students talk. You can use them as speaking or writing prompts. All these conversation prompts are student tested and student approved. :) 

9. Back to school Student Information Handout
I have become tired of plain student survey forms, so I have come up with a student information handout that is more fun to complete. 

Look for "THE ESL TEACHER'S BACK-TO-SCHOOL KIT" bundles in my Teachers Pay Teachers store so you can save up to 30% on my favourite resources for back to school. Of course, you may also download all bundled items separately.

Let me know about your favourite resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, so I could make them available in a bundled format for back to school.  To visit my store, click here: Versatile Teacher Toolkit ESL and ELA Resources
Happy teaching!


Kynga C. 

You may also find these other bundled resources useful:                                                                                                                                                               

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Writing Prompts take the guesswork out of writing

Writing can be challenging for some students.  Not knowing what to write about is one reason.  One way to help students take the guesswork out of what to write is by providing a variety of

 writing prompts.

Writing prompts can be specific or general.  Sometimes just providing an interesting topic or picture can help students begin the writing process.  Having a variety of writing prompts on hand helps prevent students from wasting time trying to figure out what to write about.

Some students will need further assistance to begin the writing process.  Providing students with mentor sentences and modeling the writing process gives students a good starting point.

Writing should be fun!  Giving interesting topics, prompts and ideas helps keep reluctant writers interested.  Allow students to free-write about a topic of their choice whenever possible.  This can be done as a daily warm-up, journal entry or as a reward for completed work. 

Looking for interesting writing prompts for your classroom?  This 10-month writing choiceboard set allows student choice and includes a variety of writing to include: story starters, writing descriptions, letters, poetry, songs, opinion and informative writing.

Writing Choice Boards 10-month Classroom Set

Kris McWilliams

Mistakes Allow Thinking to Happen

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April Teacher Talk

Posted by Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

It's April already, the school year is almost over.  Now it's time to look forward toward spring vacation if it hasn't already come and gone. Stop by our blog linky and see what great tips and advice are there just for you.

If you're interested in joining this unique group of teacher entrepreneurs, blogging buddies and/or our blog linky, sign up here....The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs Marketing Cooperative. If you decide to join, be sure to mention one of our names.

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 Spring Activities

By Retta London of Rainbow City Learning

Begin with mud and splash into fun learning this Spring.

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Music to Calm the Soul and Enhance Learning

By Deann Marin of Socrates Lantern

“Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.” –Ludwig van Beethoven. Why is it that for many of us, music is an essential part of our personal lives yet when we go to work or school we turn it off?

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 The Elephant in the Classroom

By Gini Musmanno of Reading Spotlight 

 Where is the elephant in the classroom? The recent college admissions scandal might give us a clue.

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 Scaredy Squirrel - Mentor Text

By Alison Monk of The Literacy Garden 

 What happens when Scaredy Squirrel visits YOUR home? This free writing activity will get your writers excited!

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 I Feel Bad for People Who Say They Feel Badly

By Charlene Tess of Charlene Tess 

 Do you know how to decide between the words bad and badly? Many people don't.

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 7 Tips to Help Students Revise Their Essay

By Sally Hansen of Purposeful Plans 

 Try out these 7 helpful tips to guide your students during the revising phase. Your writers can use these tips throughout during the writing process.

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 How to Start Book Clubs in Your Classroom

By Marcy Howe of It's a Teacher Thing 

 Are you considering using book clubs in your classroom? Learn five things you should do before you introduce book clubs to your class.

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 Make Mistakes on Purpose

By Erik Arndt of Insights to English

 When students have the opportunity to correct the teacher, it reinforces that language point, assesses the students' understanding of that language point, gives the learner confidence, and teaches students to problem-solve.

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 Exploring Patterns With Project-Based Learning: Rotations, Reflections & Translations

 By Tracy Willis of Mossy Oak Musings

Explore 4th and 5th grade geometry concepts with project-based learning. It's always surprising who excels with this type of project, and who finds them challenging. This one doesn't disappoint!

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Whole Body Learning

By Kathie Yonemura of Tried and True Teaching Tools

 Geometry was a daunting subject for me in high school. So when I started teaching, I was determined to think of a way to teach geometry that was fun and interactive.

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 Be sure to visit all of our teachers for some awesome ideas to use with your students.

 

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