More Christmas literature

Hi all, just thought I would recap a quick Christmas themed lesson that I conducted with my 3rd grade English learner this afternoon.  She is at the early production level.  I used the book, Noni, the Christms Reindeer.  She isn't strong enough to help pull Santa's sleigh, but she sure is good at filling it. 


Santa uses many synonyms in this book to describe the toys Noni brings back. 

Good

Great

Grand

Marvelous

Tremendous

Outstanding

Fantastic

Some of these vary in intensity, according to how excited one is becoming.  We started the lesson sharing ideas about these words and talking about their similarities.  I asked my student to think of things she liked, and then to think of things that she really, really liked!  We used these words and demonstrated the facial expressions that may accompany them.   Then, we began to read the book together, as shared reading.  In addition to talking about how Noni must feel at different points in the story, we made predictions and kept looking out for the above synonyms. 

I also wanted to share one other Christmas book I discovered.  This one is told from a mouse family's perspective, observing all of the goings-on in the human family with which they live.  I think this book is great for English learners, because it introduces them to many common holiday words and concepts.  You might have to help them over words like "Mistletoe".  If you have some real  mistletoe to bring in, you could show them how it is hung. 

Enjoy, and hope this helps.

The Cat that Climbed the Christmas Tree

Hi all, I am sharing my very first freebies with you all.  This is the first one of these that I've ever created in Word, and my first time trying to convert to Google Docs without losing anything.  So, please bear with me, and definitely let me know if something's not working, or needs to be changed.  Any tips about this stuff are much appreciated. 

The Cat That Climbed The Christmas Tree is one of my favorite holiday books.  It's a whimsical, dreamy account of a cat bringing everything on the tree to life!  I usually use it with more proficient readers because the sentences can be just a little long, and it has some advanced vocabulary.  It would make a great read-aloud at any level though. 

There are a lot of homophones associated with Christmas...  rain, rein, reign, deer, dear...  It's an excellent time to highlight these if students are ready.  That's why I've created a holiday homophones sheet.  I usually do a guided, small-group lesson with homophones and use this for independent practice afterward. 

Here is a vocabulary practice sheet for the book. 
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B53C_aWsKg7UZ012N1pxUTRtNlk


And here is the Holiday Homophones sheet.
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B53C_aWsKg7UV0RGX1IyX0pXRHc
Enjoy, and Happy Holidays!!

P. S.  I have no idea why the conversion keeps removing or misalligning my clip art.  I've about had it for tonight, will try again tomorrow.  If anyone has any ideas, please enlighten me. ;)

December currently

Well folks, it's that time again, time for Farley's wonderful linky party.  Through it, I've found so many wonderful blogs.  If you're not already familiar with it, I would totally suggest checking it out.  So here's my Currently: 

So I have my Christmas tree, I wanted to get one before they got too picked over, but it's sitting out in the back yard in a bucket of water.  I just am not ready to put it up yet.  It is taking me longer this year to get into that special holiday mood.  I'm just so tired of all the commercialism and all that jazz.  I promise, I'll try to post more this month.  My schedule is just so crazy lately... 
Happy teaching!