Football FANatic

November! 

Where has the year gone? I mean, seriously! I feel like I was just sweating to death in the dog days of summer. But here we are, the air is chilly, the leaves have turned, we've even transitioned from all things pumpkin-spice to a peppermint paradise. 

I don't mind the change though, it actually reminds me of some of the best memories. 

I'm not talking about Thanksgiving dinners, holiday specials, or resolutions never fulfilled. 

I'm talking about...

FOOTBALL SEASON, y'all!

Sure I have fond memories of holidays past, but that's for another time. 

Football is today and everyday until the SUPER BOWL. 

I grew up in a family that L-O-V-E-S football! College, professional, tackle, flag, you name it, we love it. There is just something about the sport that brings everyone to the living room, chips and dip in hand. TV blaring, yelling from the sofa, refuting the calls because obviously we saw it better than the refs. And this passion has only continued down the bloodline. 

Football family 

#4 on the run

!!!CHAMPIONS!!!

He knows just about any stat on ANY player (former or current) in any league...if only he could remember to make his bed. 😏

When looking over his latest report card, I noticed that he really needs to sharpen his focus on reading for meaning. He's amazing at grabbing literal text and committing it to memory, but there are still gaps in his ability to chunk pieces of information together and draw conclusions. 

Oh inferential, we will master you, yet! 

So what does a teacher do to help her son?

Well duh, create a passage that he simply cannot refuse.

...and here we have it, friends, a football-themed text with all things comprehension. 

TOUCHDOWN NONFICTION Reading Comprehension

2 page passage comes in color and black/white and is easily accessible for students in grades 2nd-4th. 

And writing is a MUST, because let's be honest, EVERYONE could use writing practice and it can be a wonderful tool for assessing student knowledge of the topic or skill (i.e. determining facts, writing persuasively, comparing and contrasting). 

Games are wonderful tools for comprehension! I can ask questions until I'm blue in the face, but my students always respond better when the element of F-U-N (and a lil' bit of competition) is involved. I, purposefully, designed some of the vocab, true/false, and reading comprehension cards to require deeper thinking - is the sentence 100% true or does 1 word make it false? Could the word be associated with one football definition or be applied to more than one? Does the text explicitly state the answer or are you inferring meaning by collecting information from several sentences? These were perfect for helping my son analyze information (reading text carefully) to determine validty and draw conclusions!

Nouns and punctuation practice are always good to have on hand. It still baffles me how many students forget a period at the end of their sentences or ask me what a noun is. 

Guys c'mon, we're in 3rd grade!!! 

So nonetheless, we practice. 

Will your students enjoy reading this text and interacting with these games?

Based on my own son's non-stop questioning: 

"Mom, are you done making it yet?" 

"When will it be finished?" 

"Can I read/play it now?"

I'm thinking they might. 

Based on my son's reaction

I KNOW they will!

Download it on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking the link below:

TOUCHDOWN NONFICTION READING COMPREHENSION

I hope this text and these activities help your students TACKLE reading non-fiction text and gain YARDS of comprehension in a fun and engaging way. 

Why is Veterans Day so far from all the other patriotic holidays?

Halloween = check

Day Light Savings = check

Election Day = check

Realizing that Thanksgiving is in 3 weeks!!! = Oh CRAP!

I don't know about ya'll, but November just slapped me in the face!

"Well hello again, remember me? Yep, I'm back...and you have 

20 days until Thanksgiving

48 days until Christmas

55 days until 2016

You may want to pick up the pace, sister"

Time to put on my boots and get to work!

Speaking of boots...

I see these dirty, smelly things on a daily basis

and that's quite alright with me because they represent someone 

and something 

VERY important to me. 

Veterans Day is next Tuesday (November 11th) and while most schools recognize this national holiday by taking the day off, I do know some schools do not. And that's sad to me. Not because I want a day to myself or catch up on my errands. But because Veterans Day is a day to honor all those men and women who serve our country day in and day out so we can enjoy the freedoms we have. 

Now, I'll be REAL HONEST here, people. 

For a loooonnngg time, I thought Veterans Day was a day to remember those military members who had scarified their lives for our country. Not until I met and married my military man (almost 10 years ago) did I learn the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. 

So I was informed of the difference, but took that information at face value and understood WHO Veterans Day was for 

and WHAT Veterans Day was about.

Not until I started teaching my students about Veterans Day did I start researching WHY we even have Veterans Day. 

And that led me to my Veterans Day: History of Heroes activities

{Click on image to purchase}

 I designed it with middle to upper elementary aged 

students (2nd-4th) in mind. 

Mostly because there are so many wonderfully, amazing Veterans Day crafts and activities/ideas, geared towards ECE grade levels, all over Pinterest and offered on TPT. I love them all and have used them for the past several years. 

And while those products are beyond superb, I know it's really important to me that older students continue to learn about historical events, national holidays, and show appreciation for those that protect them. 

With that as my focus, I took students' desire to create and paired 

it with non-fiction text and voila...

here is what came to be. 

A comprehensive reading passage provides details about the history of Veterans Day and an easy-to-assemble craft gives students the opportunity to check their reading comprehension while creating a token of their learning.

  Additionally, fun fact sheets about each branch of military service give interesting details about soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines, and guardians. 

And you can’t forget the reason for this day of gratitude…students are able to describe ways they could show appreciation to our military through illustration and writing, plus detail something they’ve learned about the 5 military branches, in a cute foldable book.

I'm even going to attempt this cute little book with my preschooler and 

modify it so he can give it to his daddy. 

Happy Veterans Day to all those who serve(d) our Nation!

THANK YOU!