Noun Town and Adventure Verbs

I can't believe it's only Tuesday...Seriously?  I already feel like I need the weekend for a break.

Part of the problem is that it was my day for some of my Littles to take the WELPA.  It's a language test for the ELL Littles.  Don't ask what it stands for cause I really don't know.  I am sure that I have been told in numerous meetings, but it didn't stick :)  This afternoon, 13 of my Littles were pulled to take this test.  The 13 Littles that weren't ELL stayed with me.  It's one of those situations where you don't want to do too much because the ones who are being tested need the information.  So, I pulled out some partner games and things that we don't always have a chance to do. You would have thought that the Littles left in my care would have been a piece of cake to manage.  I mean it's ONLY 13 of them!

OH. NO... 

It was such a different dynamic and some that are normally the role models for all, thought that we were on "first grade vacation."  I hope tomorrow is back to normal!

So a few years back I saw the idea for creating "Noun Town" when teaching about nouns and naming parts of sentences.  I wish I knew where I saw the original idea, but I don't.  I found the idea before pinterest was around to organize my blog stalking :)   I thought I would share this idea with you all...in case you didn't know about it already.  First, we brainstorm a list of nouns that could be in our town.  I write them on sticky notes.  I love that they suggested a Microsoft building , diamond store and a dinosaur. Then I have each student choose 1 sticky note to create for noun town.  If they finish early, they can make something that would be good for a town to have multiples of like trees or cars.  I take all their town nouns and glue them on a poster to make Noun Town.  Usually the next day we label the town. 

To reinforce verbs and telling parts of sentences, we create "adventure verbs" of things that you can do in Noun Town.  Again,  I write their ideas on sticky notes and they get to choose one to illustrate. It was an activity loved by all FO SHO!  And, it has lasting effects on their writing :)









 Here's my favorite Adventure Verb at Noun Town :) 









And, here's how I display them together: 

Happy Teaching, Friends!  I sure hope Wednesday is nicer to me than today!