Introducing..... Genre Response Sheets!

I started this blog not only to chronicle and share my teaching experiences, but also to help share what we do in our classroom with others.  Along with that, I have decided to try my hand at selling some products on Teachers Pay Teachers, and I have officially opened my shop for business!  Over the past year, I discovered how TpT was a great resource for my first grade team and early on I started thinking about trying my hand as a seller on the site.  Since my pre-teaching background is in Marketing and Design, I knew I could put together some fun and engaging activities for our kiddos, and I experimented with making some of my own materials last year.  Along with the awesome guidance and help from my team of veteran teachers, I started to learn more of what was needed to align with our state standards and how to make materials that were worthwhile for our students.  Now, I'm taking that show on the road and opening my shop!

Introducing.... Silver Scissors TpT Store

I posted my first product in my store last night and was beyond thrilled (and in disbelief) that someone has already downloaded it!  Woo!!  My first real share!  And here's the best part, the first item in my shop is TOTALLY FREE!  So I hope more will continue to find it, download it and put it to use in their classrooms this fall.

So what exactly is my inaugural item on TpT?  Genre Response Sheets.  These are record sheets that we use with our first graders right off that bat when school starts, and continue to use throughout the entire year.

As we introduce new literature genres to the students, we use these response sheets to help them capture and understand what makes up each genre.  Early on in the year, we complete these whole-class, usually with a clipboard on the floor, after having just read our book in that particular genre.  Over time, as the kiddos become more independent and understand the response sheets, they are able to complete them on their own.  Older students could do these on their own as well.  

When introducing each genre, we also use small posters to go over the different features of each one, and add the posters to the wall as we introduce them over time. (There are tons of great genre posters on TpT, search around!)  Sometimes, I'll even make an anchor chart to go over the features of a genre, so we can make it together.  These posters and anchor charts help the kids complete the response sheets on their own as well.  Once the sheets are finished and checked over, the students get them back and are able to add them to their Reader's Notebooks.  This way, they can always look back on them throughout the year when they need help determining or recalling what genre they are reading later on. Kiddos LOVE being able to collect their work in their notebooks, and really get excited when it's time to add a new response sheet into their genre collection.

Here's an example of how we introduce a genre and use the response sheet in our classroom.  After reading The Relatives Came, by Cynthia Rylant, aloud to the whole class, I will introduce the features of a realistic fiction book and we will fill out the corresponding response sheet together, talking about how The Relatives Came fits the Realistic Fiction genre (Have YOU ever had relatives come and stay at your house?  What was that like?)

My first graders may only be comfortable writing a phrase to start with in the first box, but over time they are pros at filling in a complete sentence and then adding a list of features in the second box.  For the example box, they can also write in the book we just read together, but once they start to understand how this works, they also like to add their own books that they have read before.  And then they wrap it up by rating if they like this genre or not, and include why or why not.

I've included response sheets for the following genres and book types:

Realistic Fiction

Traditional Literature

Informational

Historical Fiction

Biography

Autobiography

Fantasy

Poetry

Mystery

Science Fiction

Mythology

Fables

I also included a code for each genre on the top of these pages, which we use to list all the books we read in books logs in our Reader's Notebooks.  More on those to come soon! 

Try these out in your own room this fall, and let me know how you and your students like them!

Genre Response Sheets... FREE at Silver Scissors TpT