Interactive Read Alouds {freebie}

This week has been crazy and I am definitely exhausted. We had training for Reading and Writing Workshop and aligning to the common core. It was a very valuable training and we focused on Interactive Read Aloud's during Readers Workshop for the most of the day. I was definitely lacking in this area, so I was grateful for all the plans that came out of it and I implemented it the next day!

I used the book Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems (my kids ADORE Mo) and focused on problem and solution. Then I had the kids sequence the story into beginning, middle, end on the Smartboard with pictures, and then they identified the problem and solution again! Then I brought it into Writers Workshop, and had the kids think of personal narratives that included a problem and solution. It turned out pretty good! I was never good about tying the books together in both workshops, and this was helpful!

Next week we are going to use the book Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge and write about special memories and treasures we have. We will continue to think about problem and solution during our interactive read alouds.

If you haven't read it, its a super sweet and sad book about a little boy who lives next to an old folks home and his favorite person there has lost her memory. He goes and finds special objects to bring to her to help give her memories back. I kinda get choked up when I read it!

To help the kids with their writing, I made this graphic organizer to help them plan. It's scaffolded with sentence starters for my struggling writers. You can get one for yourself, which includes writing paper {here}

I heart the Olympics

Don't you love the Olympics? All the patriotism, awesome displays of athleticism, hot mens gymnastics teams...

I've been watching all weekend since they started. I have always loved the gymnastics events. I'm the same age as Dominique Moceanu, so when the Mag 7 won in 1996, it was the COOLEST thing ever. I actually got to meet Dominique Dawes a few years later, which was amazing. I actually started my daughter in gymnastics and she LOVES her tumbling tots class, and she's actually really good at it, for a two year old!

I've been watching the swimming too, and Ryan Lochte is from my area. He can be my Olympic boo.

I'm not just sitting here ogling, no, I am doing some school work too! I found this post from Ladybugs Teaching Files and I had to do it. I can't afford new seat pockets so I made these from Home Depot! Here's the original post: She's Kinda Amazing

I started with plain Home Depot two-pocket nail aprons.

I designed a zebra print label to cover the Home Depot logo. Taking from Kristin, it's 5"x5" and covers it PERFECTLY. I attached some Velcro squares to each corner of the label.

 I got this, but its not cute enough for me. Too plain.

So I found my zebra print duct tape. Since these aprons are a little flimsy, I thought it'd be good to reinforce them.

Ta-da!!! I cut the strings off since I am going to velcro them to the kids chairs and just taped around the edges.

The kids aren't going to use these to hold their folders, but I figure their pencil boxes and independent reading books can go in them. I am going to use a system similar to this found on Pinterest to store their folders, journals and notebooks.

So I haven't given a freebie out in awhile, and thought the labels would be useful to you if you decide to use this cute idea! Click {here} to get yours. 

I need an intervention!

Today I realized that I am a writing utensil hoarder.

Just in my classroom. I have about 100 pens/pencils/markers just for my use. Something is wrong with me. And I feel an intense need to go get more. 

I have been working on my To Do list and adding to it as I go around my room and see what else needs to be taken care of! But I do enjoy checking things off my list. Today I cleaned out my mailboxes, organized/cleaned out the guided reading area, washed my whiteboards, organized my math manipulatives, and revamped my Guided Reading plan binder. I've been busy. Good thing the kiddos are working hard while I'm doing all this! Here is some photo evidence of what I've done today.

Made labels for my canvas boxes of teacher books.

Made an adorable little caddy for my dry erase supplies with stickers from my bloggy Christmas exchange!

Created new baskets for guided reading groups for next year with my same awesome zebra stickers.

And re-did my guided reading binder. Its no secret that I'm not guided readings biggest fan but I have gotten better at it. I thought long and hard about how I wanted my lesson plans to look and created one that I hope will work for me next year.

And to top that off, I posted three new items in my TPT store, and the Guided Reading plan template is there, for FREE!!! I also posted the beach/zebra clip chart as well as a FILLABLE curriculum plan! I had no idea the curriculum plan would be SO popular! So I made a blank one people can fill in to meet their own needs.

Just because I love you, here is my {Guided Reading plan template}, free for you. Because you're an awesome teacher and you do a great job with your kids every day. :)

Freebie Posters!

I saw a cute blog post today about classroom manners and she posted cute bee themed manners posters. If bee theme is your thing, you can get her original posters {here}

They are adorable and her blog is super cute! Bee things aren't my thing, so I made my own classroom manners posters, inspired by hers! I also ADORE the clipart from My Cute Graphics so I wanted to use some in a new creation. Click the picture below to get your copy of my classroom manners posters. If you decide to download, please consider being a follower of my blog if you are not already. Thank you! :)

Couple of Freebies!!!

Some Free Stuff!! For you! Yay! First I wanted to share this cute writing paper I made the other day. It's formatted for a friendly letter so I hope you can use it!

{Star Writing Paper}

Next, my Teacher Binder pack that I made based on my Teacher Binder post below. I am including both resources in case you missed the Reading Binder pack post from before!

{Plan Binder Pack}

{Reading Assessment Binder Pack}

I hope these can be useful to you! Next I just want to quickly share some of the amazingness I discovered this week when doing writing tasks. First, here is a writing sample from one of my second graders from September 2011. They had to write about a special memory. Notice the lack of complete sentences, fluent handwriting, and basic cohesiveness.

Now, here is this child's last writing sample from this week, May 2012.

Wow! What a great difference!!! I am so proud. But check this next one out. Same task - write about a special memory. This child chose to write about going to a waterpark. Great idea!

But barely readable as a second grade student. This student has shown the most impressive growth out of all of my kids this year. CHECK. THIS. OUT.

COULD YOU JUST DIE?!?!?! I almost cried. What a HUGE difference a year makes. I'm so proud of her. Plus, she says she wants to travel to Texas to meet cowboys. Can't blame her for that one. :)

Enjoy your freebies!

Teacher Binders 2.0

Wow! The response to my Teacher Binder post (below) was unbelievable! I am so excited that people are inspired by something I have done. It's pretty cool! So with all the people asking for the forms, I made a little pack of how to set up your own binders. I started with the reading assessment binder. I included forms that I made myself. Some of the other forms are district specific so I did not include those in case your district has different requirements. Here it is, and the Lesson Plan binder is coming soon!

{Reading Assessment Binder Pack}

I worked so hard....

I have never made a bundle of anything but I have always wanted to based on all the things I see on Pinterest and TPT. So today I decided to make a little packet of persuasive and compare/contrast writing tasks. I realized I didn't know how to create a PDF bundle so I did a little research and downloaded the free trial of Acrobat Pro. And I made a pdf bundle! OMG it was amazing! I was sooo proud of my technological advances. So feel free to check it out for yourself! I am sure I will get better with more practice. Hope you enjoy it!

Summertime Writing Pack

Common Core Crazy!!

This weekend I found some good pins on Pinterest that got me motivated to start thinking about my future with the common core standards. For example, I really liked this one of the anchor chart with the standards written right on it. So now I am going to start doing that!

So today, I started using my really awesome Common Core App from www.masteryconnect.com to go through my writing units and label them with the corresponding standard. It was pretty simple to do and I was darn proud of myself when I was able to do this:

Gooo me! Then I went to my reading binder that is full of lessons I printed out from the amazing site: www.readworks.org . I swear I am in love with that site. I just did the 1st and 2nd grade main idea units with my kids and it is so clear and their books are perfectly selected for the lessons. My kids really are showing their understanding and comprehension. It's just what I was looking for! Each of their lessons are aligned to either your states or the common core standards. All you have to do is click in the lesson and select your state or the common core to see the standard alignment. Then I created a scope and sequence according to theirs and added the corresponding standards for the units in a chart that I can stick in front of the binder, so I know exactly what standards I am addressing in each unit and not have to guess. I will have that as a freebie at the end of the post if anyone uses Read Works materials!

I am making sure to write down what I have common core aligned so I know for next year. Another project I tackled was organizing my teacher bookshelf. I am sick of staring at the titles, them falling over, and hunting for a book that I bought six canvas drawers, labeled them and sorted my books accordingly. I think I still need six more for the rest of the books but I love the way it looks right now!

And for your freebie - i present you with the document I made today to help with my reading comprehension units.
Read Works 1st Grade Scope and Sequence

What We've Been Doing...

I haven't been here in so long and I have 2 awards waiting for me! Wow! I will be posting responses to them very soon!

I wanted to post a few pics of what's been going on in my classroom as of late.

I found this adorable website with tons of fun math games for the smartboard and for the computer! My kids are in love with this site! {Math Games Site}

On Pinterest, someone had pinned a Post-It plan book. I thought it was cute and creative, so I wanted to try it myself! {Here}  is the link to the original post.

hHere is my plan book for next week. One of the best things about this book is that I don't have to erase whenever I need to make a change in plans. I can just take out the Post It, toss it, and replace it with a new one! I kind of love that. I miss my fancy shmancy fonts on my plan pages but I think this is going to work for me!

The star shows that we have an assembly on Thursday. An author is visiting, and i just stuck the star note there to show that I have something different in the schedule.

I also easily planned out my week of writers workshop, using this text.

The mini lessons in it are exactly what my students need right now. We are going to work on the mechanics of writing, capitals, punctuation, complete sentences, etc. We spent the last 2 weeks doing research and writing All About Books. We had a big watermelon idea and picked smaller seed ideas to go it. This concept hit home with my kids. I was excited to see it go over so well! I created an organizer to help them pick topics to research.
Freebie for You!

Then they put facts on note cards that they found during their research, typed them up and used MaxWrite to make it look fun and professional. They are going to do a home project called Super Snoopers now that they have the basics of research. Phew!

Long Time...No See!!!

Wow its been a long time since I have blogged. So much has been going on! February break was last week, and to be honest - I was MISERABLE. Why?
1. It was that "time" of le month. bleeeccchhhh.
2. I could not get my 2 year old to nap in her bed to save. my. life. She has a will stronger than me and hubster combined! She won the battle several times. I fail as a mom!
3. I actually looked forward to going back to work!!! I know. I iz ca-razy!

It was a decent week back at work. My kids had a hard time adjusting but we got through it. We read some Dr. Seuss books, made some Wocket in my Pocket crafts and while my first graders worked on ordinal numbers, my second graders took a test on double digit subtraction. Yes, for one of them, the test took all week.

I also found out some not so happy things about someone going behind my back and trying to undermine me, but I'm not sure I want to talk about it here. All I know is that I don't like it when someone tries to make me look bad. It really upsets me but I don't know how to be assertive and handle it. Confrontation scares me!

Next week/month we are doing school-wide Read Across America activities and are kicking off with an assembly tomorrow. Later in March we are having a "Dress as Your Favorite Book Character" Day, and I have NO ideas. Last year I was Amelia Bedelia, who I *loved* as a kid, and no one knew who she was! For shame! Please leave some cute ideas in the comments if you have any easy costume ideas!

Now a Special Ed/Case Manager Freebie!!

First up, annual reviews are coming up and I made a summary sheet that I can fill in and use to read off of at the CSE's and help draft their IEP's for next year. It really helped me get my thoughts in coherent order!
Click for Page 1
Click for Page 2

What Bothers You?!?!

So this was a pretty crazy week for me.

Last week I got diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist. Thanks a lot, color guard, Pinterest, blogging and Words with Friends! I have to wear a super awesome black brace when I sleep and when I don't wear it, my hand gets all swollen and tingly and numb. SWEEEET!

We had Monday off, which was lovely, and I only had 3 days with my kids because I had a workshop on Friday. It was on persuasive writing and it was pretty interesting. Our literacy coach is great and took us through a mini-lesson that she would do with the kids, and we had to create a list of things that bother us. Is there a better topic to have teachers write about on a Friday??? :)

• people who chew loudly 
• being cold
• people who don't use their turn signals 
• too many bills to pay
• not having cable
• having to eat healthy and not being able to eat all the yummy things i find on pinterest 
• my sore hand
• sophia's temper tantrums 
• snoring 

Those are just the "publishable" ones on my list. ;) It was a very cute idea that I would like to try with my kids later this year. We had to create a writers workshop unit on persuasive writing based on the Common Core Standards. A teacher in my group had a folder of good ideas that she had handwritten for her group last year and I particularly liked her goal sheet. So I took it and with her permission, made it "Alicia-Cute". I am sharing it with all of you! Enjoy!!

{Persuasive Writing Goal Sheet}

HELP!!! {sob} and a FREEBIE

OMG.

So today I introduced the concept of regrouping to my second graders. By the end of it, I wanted to scream and pull all my hair out! They had the hardest time understanding that 10 ones is the same as 1 ten! I used base 10 blocks and had them decide if they needed to regroup by counting out 10 ones and trading them for a 10 stick. However, they could not even tell me if 14 was more than 10. {dies}

SERIOUSLY?!?!? I know I teach a self-contained class but these kids are SMART. Only one of them was with me the whole time and somewhat understood what we were doing. So my desperate PLEA for help is for anyone to leave a comment with an idea for me to help them understand that 10 is the same as 10 is the same as 10. And 8 is not the same as 10. And 14 is more than 10. I found some games online that I plan to do with them tomorrow that should help but I really could use some help! Thanks in advance!

And here is your freebie. It's a Friendly Letter Anchor Chart. I print mine 3x3 from my printer so its large enough to hang, teach from, and they can read it clearly. Enjoy!!!

EnVision Math Freebie

For anyone who uses EnVision math, I created these flash cards for Topic 3, 2nd grade. I will have them cut out the cards, match them up and glue them into their math journal before we begin the topic. I will have kindergarten and first grade ones up as soon as I make them. For now...

{Second Grade Topic 3 Math Vocabulary Cards} 

{First Grade Topic 3 Math Vocabulary Cards}

{Kindergarten Topic 4 Math Vocabulary Cards}

Fun Day and a Freebie

Today was a pretty fun day, despite the fact that my little friend came in. Sigh. And we had meltdowns. And he had to be restrained for an hour. And then he got sent home. Apparently tomorrow they are starting home tutoring until Monday, his official start date for his new placement.

This week we started studying the parts of stories and how to write a story. Yesterday was brainstorming day and we used this anchor chart to start our study.

After brainstorming ideas, I took them to the computer lab to use an awesome website called Kerpoof. They. LOVE. this. site. Its pretty fun when you get into it! I had them do Spell a Picture and we used it to create a scene for our stories we were writing, instead of drawing a picture. Here's what one of my little ladies came up with.

I like this because they have to spell the word right to get the right picture to show up. I helped them with spelling and they created their own scenes. What I also like is their words spelled are on the right hand side in a list, so they can use that to help them write those words in their stories.

After the computer lab, we came back to talk about beginning, middle and end of stories. I made this chart to start us off.

I had them work on the beginnings of their stories using a graphic organizer that looks just like the chart. They struggled with choosing a main character and then telling what the character was doing but this is the first time we're doing it this year. Tomorrow I am going to work on the middle, and I will have them think of 3 events to happen in the middle of the story. After that we'll work on the end and then draft in their journals, then publish.

After all that writing this morning, we had some fun with a Halloween graphing activity!

I love how hard he is working on making his coloring neat!

I got those erasers from Target Dollar Spot and put them in individual bags with directions. I differentiated each one (I only have 6 kids so its easy to do) so they couldn't copy each other. They did really well with this but a few needed extreme 1:1 to get it done because they were so unfocused. Oh well. It was fun anyway!

Here's your freebie! It is in word, so my fun font won't show up but you can edit it to use whatever font you like. I used DJ Groovey. {Halloween Graphing Recording Sheet}

Personal Narrative Freebie

I am planning on starting personal narratives next week and made 2 charts for the unit! I printed them out poster size and are going to laminate them for use in the classroom. I will use the chart below to model planning a personal narrative story, and the kids will have the exact same for their planning. I will laminate it and write on it with a Vis-A-Vis marker so I can reuse it later. Basically, draw a picture of your moment in the large box, and in the 4 small boxes, write 4 words or phrases that tell about the moment.
example: Sophia Swims - yellow alligator bathing suit, warm water, splash, face dunk!
I will post the anchor chart I made tomorrow, it has clipart on it that I can't give out, so I have to fix it and then I'll put it up. Here ya go!

Guided Reading + Free ABC Book

Last year I found the book, The Next Step In Guided Reading by Jan Richardson. It saved my guided reading life! It breaks lessons down into manageable parts, and it was exactly what I needed. Read this book!

So some of my kids are REALLY low. This book has a section for Pre-A level kids and I found the topics to be *ding, ding* exactly what I needed! Fancy that! I plan on starting guided reading tomorrow, so I made a ABC tracing book for my kinders to work on.
My hero Jan says, "Students who cannot identify at least 40 upper - and lowercase letters in the alphabet (counting both uppercase and lowercase letters), should trace an alphabet book with a tutor every day." This leads to better alphabet knowledge and helps the students with concept knowledge.
Click here to get your own ABC book. The directions are on the front cover. Hopefully you will find it useful!

Anchor Chart Notebooks

I was on Pinterest the other night and saw someone had pinned anchor chart notebooks. The blog they linked back to explained that the teacher felt guilty about throwing away anchor charts that they made in class. So what she did was take a photo of the charts they made, printed one out for each student and glued them in a notebook for the students! I loved this idea because I like having places that my kids can go to for reference right at their fingertips. I went to Wal-mart this morning and got spiral notebooks for $.20 each and just made some cute covers for them. If I was any good at the modge podge, I'd totally do that, but modge podge and I have a violent history. I plan on just taping them on with my trusty packing tape. Love!
Click the link to get your copy!

Anchor Chart Notebook Covers

Birthday Freebies

Over at Peace, Love and Learning is having a giveaway of a super duper cute birthday packet for your classroom! I love the cupcake birthday months! Go check it out and get your own!

Birthday Giveaway

Ahh..summer: my BFF - UPDATED 7/8/11

I <3 summer. Who doesn't? Even though I love having the time to pretend to be a stay at home mom with my daughter, I can't get myself out of the teaching groove fully. I am always thinking about next year and of course, shopping for next year. I went to another Target today and walked out with a nice little stash from their dollar section, obvs. Blogging outside = love.

This summer I have set a couple teaching goals for myself. First of all, I need to get my head wrapped around some sort of consistent writing program. My school doesn't really have a program that everyone uses, although I see Lucy Calkins' Units of Study in a lot of classrooms. Honestly, I don't really like that program. I tried it with my kids and I found it to be way too abstract for them. My kids need extremely explicit, clear instruction, more than the typical classroom. I have found myself to be a walking dictionary in my classroom as well and I want to make my kids more independent in their writing. So many of them are reluctant to write, and this is disheartening to me. I found some success using Guided Writing in my guided reading groups, based on The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson. I want to build on that this year.

So in order to do so, I purchased two books from Amazon.com, recommended from friendly folks on Proteacher.

I read through No More I'm Done in one sitting basically, and like what she has to say. I tried setting up a writing center in my room previously but thought the kids would actually write at it. Ha. So I'm going to try again and set it up the way she recommends, as just a place to keep supplies. I have begun pulling together some materials for my writing folders as well. I am going to use them instead of journals. I will use the marble notebooks I ordered at the end of the year for math journals instead! :) Like Jennifer Jacobsen, I am going to assemble them with word walls and alphabet charts so the kids have their resources right at their fingertips rather than looking up around the room, and forgetting what they were doing when they look back down!


I am also going to use this alphabet chart that I found on Busy Teacher's Cafe. It was adorable!

Alphabet Chart

I am going to continue reading my lovely books, and start planning the rest of my writing instruction!!! Then, it's on to organizing my science and social studies units. Let me tell you, teaching 3 grade levels in one class is a LOT of work!!!I'm going into my 3rd year of it and am still getting my head on straight. Phew!

How do you teach writing in your classroom??