[reading and handwriting fluency] non-fiction pack for spring

After attending a professional development day with Anita Archer and reading a book by E.D. Hirsch, I realized that I was neglecting 2 very important things in my everyday teaching! Daily handwriting fluency practice and scaffolding/building background knowledge with my children!

This pack, available exclusively at Teacher's Notebook, contains 3 passages geared for first graders in the spring. All are non-fiction.  This pack contains passages about rabbits, ducks, and chickens.  Information for the passages was gathered through various sources.  Passages may be very easy for some students and very challenging for others.  However, with daily reading, students will develop fluency with most (if not all) of the words.  Most of the words are either decodable or sight words. Other words are easily taught within the short framework of the passage.

Students read the passage daily together with the teacher to build reading fluency (speed, accuracy, expression). The first day of reading, the class works together to identify new vocabulary (and the meanings of those words!) along with 3 new facts they learned through the reading. Days 2-5 are spent reading the passage and then copying as much of it as they can onto a handwriting fluency page.

This stuff really works! After only 4 days of practice within my classroom, I have seen handwriting improvement in 100% of my students! Their goal is to write "just like Mrs. Reynolds." They LOVE the challenge, and yes, that improvement does transfer to other academic areas as well!

Whether you're simply looking for a few fun non-fiction passages about animals, or if you want to improve reading and handwriting fluency within your classroom , this pack will work for you!

The handwriting fluency page can be used with any reading passage!

Here's the download for that, free for my awesome blog readers!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great weekend!!