Butterflies & Seeds!

Hey there!  I hope you enjoyed your relaxing and peaceful weekend!  Back to school we go… 25 days I believe left for me!  Not sure why I am counting…it’s not like I’m looking forward to summer 😉  I have been slacking and forgot to post our last two close reads; butterflies and seeds to plant!  I know a lot of you are getting familiar with the close reads or even trying them in your own classrooms!  I will try and not ramble on about things I’ve said before!*If you are new to close reads be sure to click on the right side of the screen >>> “close reads” and you can see a lot more details about how I implemented close reads and more on our daily routines for them!

First up….butterflies!  We read this nonfiction storia ebook!

Monday: State essential question…reminding students that we will be referencing this question for the week!  Also, before reading the book for the first time the students will do a turn & talk with their partners.  I like to give them a moment to tell their partners everything they already know about the theme!

Day two is always vocabulary!  I read the text again and we discuss unknown words. We share our the words and do a few turn & talks with our partners!  We also have actions for each of the words.

Days 3-4 are our text-dependent questions and collaborative questions!  Day five is our cumulative writing…this week we were focusing on one of our vocabulary words, migration!

Migration means to me that butterflies move and move to another place and lay their eggs.  Then they move back to their normal place.

Migration means butterflies travel to Mexico or Canada.

Migration is when the butterflies go to Canada and Mexico.

We also work on our close read “theme” during our content study and in writing as well some times!  I like to bring our alternate texts for them to learn additional knowledge!

Below are a view snapshots from our week on butterflies!

Label a butterfly- life size!

The kids also made their own version of the butterfly life cycle!  Easy peasy…we all know that I don’t do anything too crafty…so if I can do it, you can too!  For this activity we had 2 different versions of noodles and beans for the egg!  The paper plate had a line drawn down the center.  The kiddos colored their leaves and glued the noodles/bean down to match the life cycle!  You can snag the FREEBIE leaves/butterfly life cycle labels below!

Download the freebies below!

My sister has these adorable butterflies soaring in her room!  This shortie cannot handle a project like that 😉

This past week our close read was all about seeds to plants!  We had a lot fun this one…as always!  Same format as before… that’s what I love about close reads!  The routines and format is the same..however, the kids never get bored with it because the content is changing!

Day one bubble chart!

We also worked on the parts of a flower!

It was a nail-biter, but after a three day weekend WE HAD GRASS!

{love the snake? haha that is this week’s close read}

We wrote our conclusions……

Interested in close reads?  This bundle has been a top seller!

And here is a little snap shot of my Easter weekend….my sister, niece Lolah, and I! 🙂

Have a great week and remember…..