This is a guest post by blogger Amanda Ross.  If you like what you see here, you can check out her blog,  First Grade Garden , for more of her writing.  

Hi there! This is Amanda from   First Grade Garden  back today to talk to you about one of my students’ favorite characters: Mrs. Wishy-Washy! We love all the books featuring her. I especially love that there is a whole series of early readers featuring her. The books are simple enough for my first graders to read independently.

Today I’m going to share with you an activity for kindergarten or first grade that goes with the original Mrs. Wishy-Washy book, but can be adapted to any of your favorite stories!

Predictable sentences are short, simple sentences that follow a pattern. You can write predictable sentences together on chart paper by filling in the blank of a simple sentence frame such as “I like ____.” or “I can ____.” This is a great activity for practicing sight words, 1:1 correspondence, and fluency.

The activity I did with my class was to simplify the story of Mrs. Wishy-Washy’s farm by using simple, predictable sentences that   mostly   follow the same pattern. I printed the cards out on cardstock and stuck them in a pocket chart, but you could write them on chart paper or sentence strips!

When you use predictable sentences with a favorite book, it is a great way to practice retelling! You can even cut apart all the words of the sentences and have students recreate the story themselves in the pocket chart as a literacy center!

In the download below, I have included the cards for the predictable story chart. Try it out with your own class!

Amanda Ross is a first grade teacher in Canada. She has been teaching for seven years. The last three years have been in first grade, and that’s where she plans to stay! She is currently on maternity leave with her daughter Zoe, but she will be heading back to first grade in September. You can find her over at her teaching blog,   First Grade Garden . 

To learn more about   Joy Cowley Early Birds ,   click here to visit our website , or click the series highlights image to the left below to download information sheets with key features .  To download the freebie, click the image to the right.