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Valentine's Day Close Reading activities

Valentine’s Week: Reading, Writing, and Math!

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Can you believe it is *almost* Valentine’s Day????!!!
 
Valentine's Day Close Reading activities
I feel like it was only yesterday that I stepped into my new grade, classroom, and school in August and here we already are on the final countdown to state testing???!?!?!?!?
But let’s clear that unpleasant thought from our heads and float to the love that is bubbling up in the 3rd-grade room of this Applicious teacher.
 
 

 

This week we’re using, “Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch” as our close read.

 
We’ve been able to bend this book into almost every skill I needed to cover in both reading AND writing this week! I owe a HUGE thank you to my FB fans for the suggestion! It will def become a Valentine’s staple!  If you haven’t checked out this book, be sure to! It’s perfect for any time of the year, really!
 
Close reading activities for Somebody Loves You Mr Hatch
Love these ideas? Grab these activities and MORE!
 
 
For our first read, we review the characters, setting, and plot. After reviewing that key information with our shoulder buddies, I had the kiddos write a short summary in their reading response journals (RRJ).
 
For our second read, I pulled out my secret weapon…
 
somebody loves you Mr. Hatch
 
Seriously… if you haven’t checked out this site, you need to head that way now and PIN it for future use! It has such amazing stories read by some of our favorite actors! Did I mention it’s FREE??? Yeah… #teacherscore
 
As student’s listened to the story, I had them make notes on how the main character, Mr. Hatch changes throughout the book.
 
 
Then, we reviewed character traits of Mr. Hatch at the beginning, middle, and end of the text.
 
character traits with Somebody Loves you Mr. Hatch
 
I made this fabulous reference chart as students shared their response… #chalkboardforthewin
 
Once we discussed how Mr. Hatch changed, I sent them back to their RRJ to answer this question…
 
 
The kiddos referred back to their notes while they wrote their responses…
 
responding to text
 
Tomorrow, we’ll be doing a shared reading of the book and looking at the relationship of events as we ID the problem and solution.
 
 On to writing! We’re also using this lovely story as a launching point for our writing project this week.
 
personal narrative
 
After reviewing  the concept of the story, we brainstormed some special and sweet things we’ve done for someone.
 
 
 Seriously… nuttin’ cute this week, just #gettinthejobdone We’re savin; the cute for when it really matters! 😉
 
After discussing some sweet things we could do, the kids used this brainstorm to help focus their writings.
personal narrative brainstorm

 

Tomorrow we’ll be using these brainstorms and the rubric we created together to help guide us
 
student created rubrics
 
through our personal narrative. Did I mention I’m being observed later this week with this very lesson??? Wish me luck! 😉
 
Now, we also had a little V-day fun during math centers! We’ve been working hard on memorizing our basic facts, so I thought it’d be fun to make these jumpin’ love frogs from my Valentine’s Day pack and add our multiplication facts…
 
Jumpin' through our math facts craft

 

The kids LOVED making them and they were perfect for helping us remember our facts!
 
multiplication facts craft

 

Love how creative they got with their froggies!
 
frog math craft
 
You can grab the little math fact half sheet here for FREE!
 
You can grab most of these activities here in my newly updated V-day pack, “How Sweet it is..”
 
valentines day unit
 
Be sure to re-download this unit if you already have it! There’s so much I’ve added!
 
In preparation of our little Valentine’s Day shin-dig, the kids have been bringing in their own mailboxes.
 
valentine's day mailboxes
 
I love seeing how creative they get with this! Here’s a copy of the letter I send home explaining this activity!
 
Whew! Well wish me luck this week! I’ll be back later to share the rest of our V-day fun with you!
 
 

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Hi, I'm Leigh.

The Applicious Teacher is all about creating hands-on and engaging lessons that align with the standards while still having time for your life. This is your place for ideas, tips, and resources for the REAL teacher!

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