Projects with Heart

This poetry project is something that I use at the beginning of each year. Inspired by the "Where I'm From" poetry project by George Ella Lyon in 2017, this activity provides a template students can use to write a poem telling about themselves. Usually I have the students type their final poems and then cut the poems into line strips. Then I take a black and white photo of the student. They watercolor a piece of white cardstock, glue their photo and their poetry lines any way they choose. The fi

These IB PYP Portfolio Cover Sheets can be used to divide unit sections within the student IB Portfolio. They are intended to be used to begin each unit with an opportunity for students to learn and reflect on the Central Idea and Lines of Inquiry for each Transdisciplinary Theme. Not only are students taking the time to think about what each Central Idea means to them, but they are also given a chance to consider and record preliminary questions they have about the unit. I have used these in my

This collection includes two graphic organizers to help students organize their thoughts about two of the characters in this story—Pancho Rabbit and Papá Rabbit. Students are asked to consider character traits the characters show and why the characters made the choices they did. Then they are asked what they would do if they were the character. The writing prompt is intended for students to take their notes from the graphic organizer and turn it into a piece of writing. Finally, in the refle

As students develop an understanding of the IB Learner Profile, this is a fun activity for students to show how each attribute of the Learner Profile is part of who they are. This activity is intended for a beginning of the year project, or for a piece that students may keep in their student portfolio. This colorful display makes an excellent bulletin board, especially for a hallway or classroom door for an event like Open House, Student-Led Conferences, or Back to School Night. Included in this

This project provides images and links to information to help students build their background knowledge prior to reading Encounter by Jane Yolen. It also includes tasks for completing alongside a Picture Walk and after reading the story.

This resource is intended to be used after a read aloud of the book The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig. It includes space for students to independently reflect on the story the story, 6 action choices they can take (one of which is to come up with their own action) and space to make a plan for an action they can take to show kindness. This aligns with the IB PYP Action Cycle. I find frequent read alouds and prompts like these encourage my students to take more meaningful independent actions thro

This resource includes 6 different choice boards, one for each IB PYP Transdisciplinary Theme. Each choice board shows 16 independent, partner, or team projects that students can undertake as part of the action cycle during their unit of inquiry. Projects can be included in student portfolios. The packet also includes a reflection page that can be completed with any project. In my classroom, I find this most useful as a home/school connection. Students complete projects and as part of our daily

This resource is intended to be used after a read aloud of the book I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët. It includes space for students to independently reflect on the story, 6 action choices they can take (one of which is to come up with their own action) and space to make a plan for an action they can take to show kindness. This aligns with the IB PYP Action Cycle. I find frequent read alouds and prompts like these encourage my students to take more meaningful independent actions throughout their

This resource is intended to be used after a read aloud of the book Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson. It includes space for students to independently reflect on a quote from the story, 6 action choices they can take (one of which is to come up with their own action) and space to make a plan for an action they can take to show kindness. This aligns with the IB PYP Action Cycle. I find frequent read alouds and prompts like these encourage my students to take more meaningful independent actions

This booklet is intended to support students' deeper thinking and connections about place value. Individual pages of it can be used as "Do Now" or "Reflection" work before or after a lesson, or it can supplement partner and group work mid-lesson. The packet includes 10 half-size pages that can be cut to make a booklet. It also includes language from IB PYP Learner Profile and Key Concepts.

Enjoy more of the resources you need to help your students build empathetic relationships with others and a positive self-concept.

Note: This is not specifically applicable to distance learning. It is best used in person since it is intended to be an interactive game where students draw cards and move around the room.With this 30-card scenario game and written reflection, students have the opportunity to consider real-life scenarios in which they could show empathy to another. The idea is that students each take a card, then move about the room, finding a partner when the teacher gives the signal. They discuss their card wi

This is a template to help students organize their research writing in third or fourth grade. It includes: -Cover Page with faint Title and Author lines -Table of Contents -Introduction -3 different content pages -Conclusion -Glossary -"Sources I Used" page -Rubric for 3rd grade -Rubric for 4th grade

I wanted to go beyond just the basic "Manager" roles for my cooperative learning groups, especially in Literature Circles. I needed role cards that not only gave my students a chance to do some heavy comprehension work on their own, but that also helped them with individualized sentence stems and ideas for how they might participate in their group. I also wanted roles I could switch out--some that might be more appropriate for historical fiction, while others might work better when discussing o

These activities are simple templates designed to support social-emotional learning in your classroom. They can be used with your whole group, with a small group, or partnerships.

A list of about 25 books divided by reading level (Levels I-Z) so students and parents can find books to read together (or independently) at home.

As students learn to identify the theme of a text, it can be difficult for them to track how specific story elements relate to the theme. Using this post-it catcher allows students to record their thoughts to specific prompts as they read a picture book. Finally, they synthesize the smaller chunks of information in order to come up with a complete theme statement to match the text. This can be used with any book.

In third and fourth grade, students are asked to make connections with characters and to understand underlying themes based on character traits, motivations, and actions. This resource is intended to facilitate student discussion about connections they are making to the characters in realistic fiction they read. It is also intended to help students consider how they have used some of the PYP learner profile traits (Open-Minded, Communicator, and Caring) and the key concept Connection.