Springing To Action: Top Notch Literacy Tips for Your Favorite Skills

HAPPY SPRING!

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Spring Blooming Readers Linky!
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teaching your favorite skills.
Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!


My post focuses on helping students recognize and use preposition words to help make their writing more descriptive.  A new book I discovered, The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre, is the perfect one to help them do that!


Book Summary



Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!
Realistic and beautiful watercolor illustrations by Patricia J. Wynne compliment the simple, straightforward text that is full of both action verbs and words that identify time and place.  Previewing the pages shown above is a good way to start a group discussion on how words like behind, beyond, and around help chart the journey of the bee as she looks for a place to build her colony.

Lesson Introduction



After highlighting place and time words in the story, introduce the definition of a preposition and share examples of how they are used in phrases.


Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!




Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!


Then use either chart paper or the following vocabulary cards to build a word bank or list of familiar preposition.  These can be displayed on a bulletin board or in a pocket chart.  Have students generate their own examples of sentences with prepositions to reinforce their understanding.  Some good examples follow:

The children put the toys inside the cupboard.

The pipes below the sink were broken.

The actors stood on the stage behind the curtain.


Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!


Once you have read The Bumblee Queen, go back through the text and re-read sentences with prepositional phrases to reinforce student understanding of the concept.  Examples you will find include:

The bumblebee queen begins the spring below the ground all alone.

New bees and drones emerge from the hive.

Drones from many colonies zoom across the fields, dabbing drops of bee perfume.


You could also use the vocabulary cards to coordinate a movement game where students follow your oral direction that includes one of the preposition words.  For example, you could say:

Zach, look under the front shelf and bring me a Junie B. book. 

Sierra, go across to the window and bring me a blue marker.

Joseph, walk down the hall to the drinking fountain.

How To Use My Freebie




Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!


Students can practice reading the preposition poem independently, as a group choral read or with a partner.  They can then highlight the preposition words they find.  A fill-in-the-blank practice worksheet and a write-your-own worksheet are also provided to help you reinforce and assess student understanding.


Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!


Literature Links




Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest primary grade students in poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!


Another good follow-up activity to this lesson involves providing a variety of non-fiction and fiction books about bees for your students to look through and find more preposition words.  They can then write sentences with the words from their collections.

You will find more useful bee-themed books, activities, art projects, and decor ideas
I have collected
{HERE}!

GET YOUR COPY OF THIS RESOURCE BELOW:



Be sure to check out the next blog post in our linky from Nichole over at The Craft of Teaching!

THE CRAFT OF TEACHING


Once you have read her post all about using mentor texts to teach genres,
be sure to hop through the rest of these great ideas from some of my best blogger buddies. 
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As always, thank you for stopping by!  It has been a LONG time since I have blogged and created, and it felt good to get the old juices flowing again!  My chemotherapy treatments leave my brain in a bit of a fog most days, but I hope that you will find my tips for teaching grammar skills clear and useful!

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Honeybee mentor texts are the perfect way to interest and engage primary grade students poetry and using prepositional phrases in their writing!


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3 comments

  1. Jennifer, what a great post! I'm excited to have learned about a new book...it looks adorable! Thank you :)
    Julie
    The Techie Teacher®

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I appreciate your kind comments, Julie! I hope my lesson gets students and teachers buzzing about using position words creatively in their own writing!

      Delete
  2. I love this! What a fun way to introduce and use prepositions!!

    Thanks!
    Andrea
    This Literacy Life

    ReplyDelete