Celebrating Easter with a SALE and a Mental Math FLASH FREEBIE!

I hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing weekend with friends and family!

One of my goals this year was to sharpen our mental math skills.  Throughout the day I ask crazy mental math questions...

What is 20 plus 40.  Now subtract 8.  What is the number?

We make it a contest, first kid with their hand up gets a chance.  First right answer gets something.... but they don't know what.  Sometimes it is a high-five, or moving their clip up, a fancy eraser, or a treat.   They don't know and that is the fun of it!

At first it was HARD....  we had some tears, but we have kept on it and overall we are all getting better at it.   Can I say perseverance!

We have been off this past week, so I thought what better way to start back on Monday...  a game of SCOOT!  Mental math challenge!

I just finished these task cards today and to celebrate the holiday weekend, they will be a FLASH FREEBIE today.  Just click on the picture to download them from my TPT store!  Please leave feedback when you have a chance.

I made this set printer-friendly to save on colored ink.  I just ran mine on colored copy paper and they look great.  My number #1 helper is laminating them for me as I type.  What a good kid he is....  I guess he is hoping the Easter Bunny is good to him tomorrow.  

I also have a few kiddos that are extremely advanced in math.  I love to give them an extra challenge, so I made another set that uses simple multiplication and division as well as the addition and subtraction.  When I use 2 sets of cards so I can differentiate better, I just make them different colors and the kids know which set they follow.  This group follows the blue cards and this group follows the pink cards.

Here is a hardest page from the "challenging" pack.

I am joining in with a BUNCH of other TPT sellers for a special sale tomorrow!  No codes are needed. Just click and BUY!  You can search for sellers that are having a sale by using #eastersale!

Happy Shopping!

 

St. Patrick's Day!

I can't believe that it is already the middle of March.  Only one week until spring break!

Here is a little taste of what we are doing this week!

Today we read There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover!  This is part of series of books that we have read throughout the year.  The kids are familiar with the format and were so excited when they saw it in the book basket.

After we read the book we worked in groups to see if we could recall all the things she ate and put them in the right order.  We have done this type of activity with all the books, except this was the first time they didn't have retelling cards.  They had to make them up themselves.

Each group had a stack of large index cards and went to work.

Once the group had all of their cards done, they sorted them into the right order.

Then, we came back and reread the book again to see if they had them in the correct order.  I am happy to report that 5 out of 6 groups had them right!  We were all so excited!

We glued the cards onto sentence strips so we could hang them up!  The kids were so proud of their work.  When we do projects like these I like to have them do some reflecting.  Not only on their work, but comparing it to what others came up with.  It really helps them improve their ideas and creativity.  Some groups numbered their cards, while some added backgrounds, and one drew a picture of the Old Lady.  

Being good during the week before spring break is hard....  even for me!  So to help use remember to do our best we have a daily contest.  Each morning a new friend at the table gets to be keeper of the group's bucket.  We earn coins all day long for staying on task, being kind, answering tough questions with correct or thoughtful answers, and everything else that makes a happy classroom.  At the end of the day each table counts up their money.  The table with the most money gets a treat from the candy jar!  The only thing is they better be sure they have counted correctly.  If they tell me an incorrect amount their group is disqualified.  It is great for reviewing coins and makes them work so hard to earn them. If your kiddos are having a tough time this week, you might want to give it a try.

This is the BIG WINNER for today!

We usually have time for a game of SCOOT on Tuesdays.  This week we will be reviewing time with this little packet called What Time is it Mr. Leprechaun?

   

It focuses on telling time to the 5 minutes and is something we can always use more practice with.  It has 20 game cards and answer sheet.

SCOOT might be my most FAVORITE game of all time!  It is super easy.  Just post the task cards around the room and the kids move from card to card and write their answers on their answer sheet. SO MUCH FUN!  It gets them up and moving.

We are also doing a little work care of the Easter Bunny!

Like it or not, state testing is right around the corner.  So I try to hit at least 5 tested skills during the week for review.  We will become "Editing EGGSberts" by editing some Easter themed sentences to practice capitals, dates, and commas.

I'm also still "a work in progress" with organizing my classroom.  Every time I think I'm finished something else catches my eye and start moving things again.  Here is the best way I found to keep all my anchor charts organized.

I attach them to hangers with binder clips.  I can usually put 2 or 3 on each hanger.

One $12 clothes rack from Walmart holds all my hangers.  The best part is when someone needs a refresher or we are reviewing, I can quickly pull the chart off the hanger.  Easy as PIE!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Teaching!

Verbs, Place Value, and Writing!

We sure have been busy in Room 11!

I finally feel like we have a schedule and routine going.  We have added 2 new students to the mix and overall I am seeing some real progress with this bunch!

Last week we attacked VERBS!  The kids loved being a VERB SUPERHERO and came up with some fun adjectives to describe their superhero.  We made flip books, played charades, and designed some verb superheroes!

Here are some pictures of our wonderful work!

We also made flip books sorting words into 2 categories - verbs and not verbs.  The kids had so much fun with this activity and sorted the words like masters!  I couldn't have been happier with how well they did and they had such a great time!

We spent a good part of the week working on place value.  Since we have no textbook that the kids can write in, I decided to create a whole new unit to use with place value this year.  I love to use anchor charts on my board to teach the skills and I wanted to have tons of different activities so they could practice this skill.

Some of the activities we did as a whole class, some in small groups, and some for reteaching.  As we worked, I added several different levels so that all the kids were doing the same basic activity.  I leveled several of the activities so that some of us were working on just 10's and 100's and others could add the 1,000's.  The kids really enjoyed it and were so engaged, so tonight I'm going to start working on more leveled activities for money next week.

Here are some pictures of our place value unit in action!  We made these cute flip books - each kiddo picked their own number to show what they know!  

We all made a 2 digit accordion with no trouble at all!

The 3 digit ones took a little help from the teacher, but once we finished the kids had the best time "pulling" their number apart!  We are masters of expanded form now!

We did lots and lots of hands-on activities with this unit.  I really loved using the anchor charts on my screen each day to go over place value with the kids.  The kids loved that most of the activities were leveled, so my high kids weren't bored at all and my lower kiddos could work without feeling rushed!   

Where did September go?  One smart kiddo reminded me that we needed to write in our learning journals Tuesday.  I completely forgot!  Thank goodness she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES these journals, so I'm sure she will remind me every month.

When we do these journals, we brainstorm together and create a list.  I do this for two reasons - one it helps so much with the "How do I spell...." and it also gives the lower kids some ideas to get them started.  They actually named over 20 things we worked on this month....  that made me SMILE!

If you don't have monthly learning journals, it is never to late to start.  They are great at Open House and make a wonderful end of the year keepsake.

So that is a wrap for this week!

Happy Teaching!

Focusing on some new ideas!

I only have a week of summer vacation and then it is OVER!

Where did the summer go?  I ask myself that every year.

Today I finished up a bunch of new things for my kiddos this year!

I didn't do so well with AR last year.  I am ashamed to admit that my kids earned the least number of points in my grade level.....  sad!  I have a board, goals, and prizes but they just weren't into it.  One of my goals this year is to get my kids excited about reading and taking tests.  I looked around on Pinterest and got a few ideas. Then, I turned to my teaching BFF.  Her kids always have a ton of points and....

It's All About AR was BORN!

An easy to use, cute way to keep everyone on track with their AR goals!

It has lots of choices, so it matches anyone's room.  I wanted green, but my BFF had to have red!  So I've included different options.  It even has a parent letter to be signed and returned, so you know they are aware of their child's goal.

I have also finished the final part of my Superhero Math Fact series.  Kids struggle with math facts, so I wanted to find a different system to make them more successful.  It started off with addition and now multiplication is complete.

Each packet follows the same format.  The facts are broken down into 3 different sections (instead of just the 1's or 5's.) and all of the printables look the same.  This way the more advanced kids can move on and my strugglers can take more time.  It has lots of practice pages and the facts come up over and over to give them more practice.  Each section ends with a color page where you solve the math fact and color accordingly.  My kids loved this part!

Superhero Addition

Superhero Subtraction

Superhero Multiplication

Superhero BUNDLE!

I've taken the addition packet and made them into booklets for my kids to start right away!  I don't know why, but kids LOVE things bound together in a booklet!  

Tomorrow I am off to Nashville for a last minute get away with my teaching buddy, her daughter, and my son.  We are taking them back to school shopping....  two teenagers...  wish us LUCK!

  

Reflections on my summer so far....

Today was my first "official" day of summer vacation!

I've spent the last three weeks teaching for the Department of Education in TN.  To those familiar with TN, it was part of the summer TN Core trainings.  This year, our training focused heavily on ELA tier 1 teaching. I took lots of pictures and want to share some of the most memorable activities that we did.

During the training, we stressed the importance of teaching vocabulary.  Did you know that over 50% of reading comprehension is tied to the student's ability to understand vocabulary?  It isn't about teaching a list of words from the story, it is about helping the kids use their context clues and learn vocabulary as it is embedded into the text.

Crazy... when you think that so many of us give out a list of words to study each week and test them with a matching test on Friday.  NO MORE!   Each week I will be testing the kids on their ability to understand the vocabulary in a new text and writing about it.

Here is a way to help the kiddos "dissect" vocabulary within the text.  This is a "tier 2 word" from the story Lon Po Po.   Tier 2 words are high frequency/multi-meaning words.  If you haven't read about vocabulary tiers yet, just google it.  Very good information to have and it will change your vocabulary instruction!

The format for this acitvity is always the same.  The word and a picture are at the top.  In the next section, they define the word in their own words.  Next, they write a sentence.  The last section is the actual word taken from the context of the story.

I've used this activity in my classroom at the end of the year and the kids LOVED IT!

We also spent some time working on using close reading and repeated reading.  I have to admit, before this training I don't think that I spend enough time rereading text over the course of several days, so it will certainly be something that I focus on this year.  I have already picked out a bunch of books to help the kids uncover the multiple layers of meaning throughout the book.

We stressed the you don't have to reread the whole story.   After the first read through, you can reread smaller sections to help the kids really connect the meaning/purpose of the story.  So the first day you start off by reading the whole thing, then on rereads you can either read a small section or specific part.  

We had lots of fun creating these posters during our discussion.

Another area we talked about was decoding.  So much of our instruction seems to be using isolated lists of words.  We encouraged our teachers to try and write a text for the students to read using a specific pattern/sound.  Here are some of the examples, that they wrote in less than 5 minutes.    While we discussed the benefits of using this in our classroom, we saw how easy you could differentiate this for your best readers... having them write their own TEXT!  This allows those already reading fluently to still participate during this type of activity.   How cool would it be for the class to decode a text that was written by a classmate?

Another activity we did to practice decoding was to break a story apart on sentence strips.  The students read their strip and together they work to put the story in the correct order.  It was more challenging than you think!  I tried this with my kids in May and they couldn't get enough of it!  They worked in teams to write their own 10 sentence story and for the next 4 days we practiced this activity with the stories they wrote.  Doesn't get much better than that!  Here are some teachers trying the strategy out. This was a favorite of my teacher participants!

This wasn't actually in my training, but I saw it in another room and had to share.  You put sight words in the snack size ziplock bags.  Attach the bags together using tape on the back.  Then, you can mix the words up and change them out in a snap!  What a fantastic idea!

That is about all for today....
It has been a busy three weeks!

People always ask me why in the world I spend the first month of summer vacation teaching teachers? The answer is simple.....  I LOVE IT!  At the end of the 3 weeks I know that I've touched so many more classrooms and hopefully gave a few teachers some new ideas that will make their classrooms a better place!

Happy Teaching!
Tracy

Testing Time!

Like it or not....  it is testing time!  With the stakes so high everyone is feeling the pressure.  From the teachers, to the kids, parents, and everyone who works in every building within a school system.  How do we make it as easy as we can for the kids?  That is the million dollar question.

I try really hard to make these next few weeks as fun as I can.  We go outside and use sidewalk chalk to practice our computation skills, ABC order, and even some questions that just require them to listen and write a,b,c, or d.  (I think those might be the toughest of all!)

I'm going to phase in the "review" slowly over the next few weeks.  Tomorrow we return from spring break and we will start the ball rolling by reviewing this anchor chart.

We give the SAT10 and honestly I have never been happy with the test prep materials that we had.  So I created my own materials that I use.  We use color cards (inside that packet) to signal our answers.
The kids seem to love this.  I think it is because they don't have to write anything and we make a big deal about waiting to the exact moment to show your answer.  Sometimes I have them press their card on their tummies and come and show me.  That really helps everyone feel comfortable and know it is OK to make mistakes when we review.  That's why we do it!

I was so pleased with the math.  It has a little bit of everything!  I tried to ask the questions different ways and put lots of answers in that would be correct if they did the computation wrong.  This is something we all need to work on.  We really push NOT looking at the answers and then doing the problems a second time to make sure that you are right.  Click on the picture to see more about this resource.

This is the ELA review.  It was a labor of love.  It took a great deal of research to pin point all of the different skills that the test might cover.  Each skill is identified at the top of the page and then you have several different samples of that type of problem.  We work on this packet a little differently than the math.  We work all the problems on the page and get our answers.  Then, we check in with our partner and compare our answers.  Finally, we work through them as a class.  We do a lot of talking and reasoning out the right answers.  Helping the kids understand that a problem might have an answer that is right, but this other answer is even a better choice is so hard for them.  Click on the picture to see more.

If you like these packets, they are also available in a bundle to save you some money!  Here is the link:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grade-2-Lang-ArtsMath-Test-Prep-Bundle-Standardized-Testing-and-SAT-10-628608

If you teach 1st or 3rd....  NO WORRIES!  I have also written packets for those grades as well.

First Grade Bundle:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grade-1-Test-Prep-Bundle-Math-and-ELA-great-for-SAT-10-1152301

Third Grade:  (Math Only)
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grade-3-Math-Test-Prep-Get-Ready-for-Standardized-Testing-1040795

Well this teacher needs to spend some family time with the boys before it is back to work tomorrow!

Happy Teaching!
Tracy

For the Love of Pinterest!

We have been out of school for three days now for snow.  How did I pass the time.....  I spent lots of time on Pinterest.  How can you spend hours and hours without even realizing it?  I don't know!  I thought I would take a second to share two of my boards.  These two are my favorites.

The first board I created was for Common Core Ideas in Grades K-3.  I have lots of bloggers, teachers, and TPT authors that pin on this board.  If you love to pin like I do, I would love to have you join us! All you have to do is follow the board and then send me an email with your Pinterest information (tracysmith827@gmail.com) and I will add you.

This are some of the great pins just added to the board.  We try to pin lots of free ideas and freebies so that we have a good balance.  Click the board to see some of the great stuff we have found to teach our kiddos!

Another board I have is for holiday ideas for grades K-5.  I really enjoy the different holiday times with the kids.  So I started the board so I could save the pins and overnight it got so many followers I decided to make it a priority to find things each week related to the events coming up in school.  Here are some of the fantastic things I have found while planning for Dr. Suess Week and Read Across America.  Click on the picture and take a look at the wonderful ideas all of these extremely creative people have come up with.  This board features almost all freebies.  I do find a few things here and there that you have to purchase but 99% of the board is IDEAS and FREEBIES!

I hope these boards might help a few people get some new ideas for their classroom!  If you have a great Pinterest board, let us know about it in the comments sections so we can follow it!

Well this teacher better get to bed!  Can't wait to see my kids tomorrow!  

Happy Teaching!

Tracy

No Copies, No Prep Reading Instruction!

This year my big area to work on has been reading instruction.  We are reading a lot more novels and I am always looking for ways to make it better.  One day when were low on paper and I didn't have time to make copies I decided to throw all of the questions I was going to ask about the chapter we were reading onto Powerpoint.  It worked so well that I came up with a new idea....  no copies reading instruction.

I started off small and then added borders and clipart.  Soon my little idea had become the only way I teach novels these days.  Everything is projectable!  No Prep for the teacher! It requires text evidence! Best of all no paper!  Most important.... My kids love it!

When the kids come in each morning, on my screen is the chapter they need to read and a question/thought for them to think about while they read.  After we have had a chance to read on our own, we work through the next slide that has questions for that chapter.  Sometimes we do them as a group, we might work on them at tables in small groups, or sometimes we even write our own answers out on notebook paper.  Whichever we do it, the kids love it!

It has also been really easy for kids to use if they are absent.  They still get all of the questions the other kids had and I can just print out the slides they missed.  So it was almost like they didn't miss the instruction at all!

We have been out of school for two days with ice covered roads.  So I used my time and made up a new packet for us to use this week.  It goes with the Magic Tree House, Abe Lincoln at Last!  If you haven't read it with your kids, I highly recommend it.  You can teach so many common core skills within this book.  It has a great twist in it that really uses text evidence well.  Here are a few pages from the packet.  Click on them to see the packet in my TPT store.

This is one of the "While You Read" pages.  Each chapter has one to give the kids something to focus on while they are reading.  

Each chapter has a list of questions to help you discuss the chapter with the kids. 

At the end of the book, this packet has 3 different activities for the kids to do.  This one focuses on sequencing.

I hope everyone has a great day!  I'm off to work on finishing our science fair project.  Yes, it is due tomorrow!  Nothing like waiting till the last minute!

Happy Teaching!
Tracy

January and February FUN!

Well I have been MIA for a bit.  I was waiting on my new blog design and decided to take a break. Well the new design didn't work out and I am currently looking for someone new that doesn't have a ton of orders in front of me.  So I decided it was time to go back to old set up until the new one can be designed.

My focus in January and February has been reading, reading, and more reading.  I am not a fan of our reading series, so I have really had to create a lot of materials that we could use in our classroom.  I was so lucky to have a dear friend retire (not lucky that she retired because I miss her SO MUCH!)   She left me a bunch of novel sets that we have been using for our reading instruction.  Without them I would be sunk!  So we have really jumped into chapter books and the kids love it.

To work on work attack, I created a series of powerpoint slides with the national reading vocabulary words on them.  Nothing fancy, but at least they are colorful.  We do a set every morning and the kids are really picking up on them.  I like to have them trade the letters out.  So for the word "jump", I might tell them drop the "j" and make it an "l" and they say "lump".  They think it is a game!  I can really see this helping my lower kids build confidence.  I also might ask them the baseword, prefix, suffix, antonym, synonym, make it plural, or the part of speech.  Anything I can think of to keep them on their toes.  Click on the picture to see more about this product.

We love SCOOT games in our classroom.  I post task cards around the room and the kids get their clipboards and solve the questions.  Here is a an array SCOOT game from one of my favorite TPT authors....  AMY LEMONS!  

We have also broke out a 3rd grade packet for Roll and Read.  They think they are so grown up and can't wait to read the BIG words.  It keeps them engaged while I do my face to face lesson with my RTI friend.  I snapped a few pictures of them yesterday.

Tomorrow is an inservice day for us!  I'm really excited about my presentation this time.  It is all on phonics!  Not something that I am an expert in, but I sure hope it goes well.  I tried to capture the best ideas I could find to teach phonics for 2nd graders.  I will blog about it over the weekend!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Happy Teaching!

Tracy

Teaching Reading Strategies!

We have been working really hard on using solid reading strategies.  I wanted to find something to use with any fiction text we read and also be able to use it with some non-fiction as well.  After searching Pinterest and TPT, I couldn't find something that had all of the strategies that I know my kids need to be able to use when they read.  So over the last few months I have been working here and there on my newest product.  Here it is!

It includes a section to cover the following reading strategies:

1.  Predicting

2.  Asking Questions

3.  Making Connections

4.  Inferring 

5.  Monitor and Clarify

6.  Visualizing

7.  Evaluating Text

8.  Summarizing 

Each section starts off with an anchor chart.  You can print or project it.  What I love about it is that the kids know exactly what they are trying to learn.  

The next part is teacher questions that focus on the reading strategy.  Print these off and put them on a ring to use over and over again.  It is also great to make a set for the kids to use when they are talking with each other about the text.

This is one of my favorite foldables.  It makes a long accordion when you put it together.  This look so cute on desks or on a table.
 

This is one of activities that is easy to differentiate for your class.  It has two levels and even a blank flower so kids can pick their own words.

I love to give the kids bookmarks while we learn.  Each section has bookmark to remind the kids of the reading strategy.  We tape them to our desks and then after we finish learning about the strategy, we put them in our binders so we can refer to them again.

So that is a peek into my latest product.  I hope you love it as much as I do!  Click on any of the pictures to see more of the pages in this product.

Happy Teaching!
Tracy