Getting ready for President's Day

I am doing my best to plan ahead for next two weeks worth of activities as I will have an IEP meeting almost every single day. This last week of relative freedom before the storm is quickly becoming my catch-all so to speak.

I introduced my students to North Country Night this past week. I'm using this book as a review of wh- questions. I pulled out the story recall rope and dissected the meaning of each question word again. One of my students complained that the activity was "too hard." I've learned that this student will say this about every single thing we do until I point out that it's something they are already doing. The question words were no exception (sadly, it's a review for all of my groups in the first place). I wrote out all of the question words on the table with my expo marker. Every time I asked a question, I would point to the word that I used so they could see what type of question they answered. I had the group beaming with joy by the end of the session as they realized just how well they are doing with these words. We've made it through the first three pages of the book so far and I'm hoping that we'll make it through 6 pages this week. 

Next week, I am going to start introducing my students to President's day using two picture books that I found at Goodwill for $1 a piece. I like these books because the author gives a good introduction to their lives and highlights the most important facts. There are plenty of other books that you can check out from your local library (I just found out that Doreen Rappaport has written one for Lincoln). 

                                     

I have found several good activities to incorporate with my books on EnchantedLearning.com (Washington and Lincoln) and Apples4theTeacher to go along with our toliet paper presidents craft. I also made a President's Day activity pack for my language groups. Here is a copy for you.