Classroom Setup Ideas

Hello darlings!  I'm kind of having a mini heart attack at the moment after opening my school email.  TONS of emails!  Ahhh!  I guess I should be checking over the summer!!??!!  Well, school is starting soon and it will be time to  set up the classroom.  I always like to change it up.  Here are some pics from last year's set up...

I totally don't like it any more, so I can't wait to get in there and fix it up.  I am going to do a Teal and Green color scheme. 

Here is some of my inspiration... You can click on the pictures to go to the source page.

Happy setup!

Tackle It Tuesday: CCSS Narrative Writing Flash Sale!

Hello darlings!  Happy Tuesday!  Ready for some Common Core resources?  In honor of Tackle It Tuesday decided to put my newest bundle on sale today only for 20% off.  Aren't you glad you follow me on Facebook and on Bloglovin' so you were in on this great deal?

This Back to School Writing Bundle tackles CCSS 3.W.3.
3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
a. Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
b. Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.
c. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event orders.
d. Provide a sense of closure.

I use the Sneak Peek at Summer writing as my On Demand Writing Assessment.
The Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project states, " You’ll be able to see where a particular child’s narrative writing falls in a continuum of development, and imagine what the next steps might be for that child. Then you’ll be able to show the child pieces of writing that are just one notch beyond what the child is writing on his or her own, and even to articulate what a child is already doing in one ‘line of development’ (say, including dialogue) and then articulate what the next step might be in this particular line of development, showing the child an example of what it means to do that next step." 

The I'm Unique Poem uses m&ms for the apostrophe m in I'm which leads in to a perfect lesson or follow up on contractions.  It includes 3 different girl patterns and 2 boy patterns in back and white.

The Sweetest Thing About Me was designed to get students thinking about what makes them special.  It was made to be used for Speaking and Listening Standards, as students present to each other.

Purple Paula is designed to be a character building lesson on how to treat others.  I always start out by reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  We chart how Chrysanthemum was feeling throughout the book and site evidence from the text.  We then discuss how to treat others. The next day (or whenever you choose) I read them the short story I created about Purple Paula.  Kiddos then have to write an ending to the story that shows what they would do in this situation.  Students can then create a Purple Paula of their own. Depending on the age of your kiddos, this could also be used as an independent center.

And now for the Bloglovin Giveaway!  This lovely lady has just won a $10 Target giftcard and a choice of any product from my store!  Congrats!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Alrighty friends!  Just for you and just for today this bundle is avaiable for 20% off!

Do you have any Common Core activities to share?  Link Up!

Linky Rules:

1. Link to a BLOG POST (no stores please) that contains a free OR priced Common Core Activity.

2. Include the Tackle It Tuesday Button with a link back to my blog.

3. Include the CCSS in your title.

Back to School Writing Craftivity Bundle

Hello darlings!  Happy Sunday!  Are you crying inside because school is just around the corner or are you secretly a little excited?  Is it normal to be both?  As soon as school supplies start coming out, I do get a little happy inside.  Maybe I just like school supplies!?

I'm linking up with the lovely Michelle for Sunday Smorgasbord. It is just a bunch of randomness!

So...I've been trying to think of creative writing activities for the the beginning of the year.  I decided I wanted to make them fun so I made some crafts to go with them.  I also made a little info sheet for me, kind of like a survey, so that I could get to know my kiddos a little better.  You can download it free by clicking the picture!

Here are the activities in the Back to School Writing Craftivitiy Bundle...

I'm Unigue Poem: students use m&m's for each apostrophe in I'm then make a cut out of themselves (2 boy patterns and 3 girl patterns included)

Sneak Peek @ Summer: students complete an On Demand Narrative Writing piece and create a 3D sunglass project

The Sweetest Thing About Me: students have many choices of what to write about and then create an ice cream cone craft

Purple Paula: Original short story used to teach Character Education. Includes lesson ideas

In other random news... I went to the St. Louis Zoo the other day and took this adorable video of a baby giraffe.  He was trying to reach a tree that was out of his enclosure.  Did you know giraffes have incredibly large tongues?


 The lion was just chillin'.

So the winner of my Year Long Word Study Unit...drum roll please....

Comment #10 Naimah Gooden

Congrats!  Check your email!

Blessings!

Year Long Word Study: Throw Back Thursday

Hello darlings!  I am linking up with First Grade Parade for Throwback Thursday!  You are suppose to repost a blog post from back in the day. I decided to reshare my Word Study Program info since it is one of my most popular units.

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Original Post: Monday July 16, 2012

If you are crazy dedicated like me, you are already getting ready for the new school year! One thing I just finished was revising my Word Study (Spelling) words from last year.  My third grade team and I tried out a new "program" last year that we really loved!  It requires some work in the beginning, just like everything else we do, but it is totally worth it!  Hang in there for a LONG post!  Don't worry, if you make it to the end, there is something in it for you!

WHERE DO I START?

At the beginning of the year, you will be establishing routines and assessing your students.  For the first 2-3 weeks you will assess your students’ knowledge of high frequency words.  I get my HFW lists from Beth Newingham at the Scholastic website.http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2010/10/my-november-top-ten-list-word-study-in-action You can of course use any set of lists that you want.  Now this may sound complicated, but bear with me. There are a few different ways you can assess your students.  First of all, copy all the HFW lists and put them into a binder or folder for each student.  We keep ours in our P.I.R.A.T.E. Binder.

1.     Whole Group: (this is what I do, as it takes a lot less time) 

Based on students’ DRA scores when they come in my classroom or other records I have, I start kiddos out on a list that I think will be challenging for them.  For example, Tommy gets list A, Sally gets list B, and George gets list C.  I do this for all kiddos.  I then tell them their list number.  I give the spelling assessment as a whole class.  I will say, “1A: neighborhood, 1B: picture, 1C: wear.”  Students are told to listen for their list only and to write down their words only.  You may be saying, “She is nuts!”, but believe me, it works and the kids love it because they really have to listen.  After I give about 20 words a day, we grade the words together as a class or I take them home and grade them.  Any words kiddos got correct, they will highlight on their High Frequency Word List.  Words that are wrong, are left blank.  These will be the words the kiddos have to study for their test.  They study five a week, in order of their HFW list.

Small Groups: While kiddos are reading or working on something else, call small groups of students that are on the same level over to a table and give the words like you would a regular spelling test. After I give about 20 words a day, we grade the words together as a class or I take them home and grade them.  Any words kiddos got correct; they will highlight them on their High Frequency Word List.  Words that are wrong are left blank.  These will be the words the kiddos have to study for their test.  They study five a week, in order of their HFW list.  Repeat for the other groups.

1    Parent Volunteer:  If you are lucky enough to have a parent volunteer, you could give her a small group of kiddos with the same list, or one kiddo at a time.

I DO NOT do all HFW lists at the beginning of the school year or else we would never get started on our real lists.  When I notice kiddos are running out of words, I will give a little informal test during a conference or I will assign them words based on the words they miss in their writing.

Once kiddos have a sufficient amount of words, you will teach them the procedure for the spelling tests.

TEST PROCEDURE:

Monday: Every Monday, you will give a pretest using the pretest words for that unit. These words can be found on the Teacher word lists.  Students will never see these beforehand.  All kiddos will simply write the words on a sheet of notebook paper.  We grade these together in class.  I am watchful for the couple of kiddos that have difficulty being honest. J  If students miss one or none, they will Study List A for the week.  This is the challenge list.  If they miss two or more, they get List B.  You would be surprised how many kiddos try really hard to get List A.  The best thing is, they will fluctuate between List A and B all year. 

 After this or sometimes during morning work, kiddos are given their test back from the previous week.  Any words they missed, on HFW list, automatically become part of this week’s High Frequency List.  They will write this on their Word Study Unit List where is says High Frequency Words.  If they need new HFW, they will choose them from the lists that they did at the beginning of the year.  Make sure all words that are spelled correctly are highlighted now. They love this part!

We also have a mini notebook where we write our five HFW for the week.  This notebook is used during the test on Fridays.  I will explain why a little later.

Still with me?

Tuesday-Thursday: Word Study Activities

These are the days that we complete all kinds of word study work individually, with partners, and in groups.  Students have a Word Study notebook where they keep any work or games.

Friday: Test day

Hand out a Spelling Test to every child.  Have them write List A or B at the top.  Now you will say the words for each list.

Test Words: For example…

“1A: happy   He was happy when he saw his puppy.  Happy

1B: saw   I saw my dog in the yard.  Saw”

Pause

“2A: serious  The expression on her face was very serious.  Serious

2B: look    Please look at me.   Look”

Pause

I say the words back to back with not much of a break between list A and B.  The kiddos may struggle at the beginning, but that is why you model, model, model and practice, practice, practice!  This will save you a lot of heartache and a sub will be able to come in and do this with no problem!

Applied List:  These are the five words that have the word family or pattern that students do NOT get a head of time or get to study.  Choose five words from the Teacher List of the Applied Words.  Everyone gets the same five.  When you grade these, only grade the pattern for the week, not the entire word!

High Frequency List:  Your job is over.  Now you are going to monitor your students.  Assign each student with a Spelling Partner.  This is where the mini notebook comes in.  At the beginning of the week, students wrote their high frequency words on a page in the notebook.  Now they will switch their notebooks with a partner and the partner will give them their five words.  Students will write the word CORRECTLY in a sentence. (so they have to know the meaning).  The bottom of the page was made so it can FOLD over.  This way, kiddos can only see the High Frequency Part and NOT the rest of the test.

Here is what it would sound like with Jack and Jill.

Jack: Your first word is “happy.”

Jill: Your first word is “octopus.”

NOW they stop and each write their word in a sentence.  This saves A TON of time instead of Jack waiting for Jill and doing all her words and then they trade.  NO GOOD!  It wastes so much time.  Again, you have to model and practice, but once you do, you will be so proud of how quickly they can do this!

Jack: Number 2 “jump.”

Jill: Number 2 “entertainment.”

They would continue with all five words and then turn the paper in.

Now you simply grade the tests and give them back on Monday.

If you made it this far, I think you will LOVE this program!  I know I do!  It makes my students much more self-sufficient and it really assesses how they apply word patterns and differentiates for each child.

Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER:

Spelling in my classroom is based off of Fountas and Pinnell, Words Their Way, and Beth Newingham at Scholastic.  To get an even more detailed explanation and a video, go tohttp://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2010/10/my-november-top-ten-list-word-study-in-action Please know that I did not come up with this program, only the word lists and tests.  I tweaked things to fit my classroom.

So... do you want the words and test?   Check it out at my TPT store.  

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Want to get this whole HUGE, year long unit for free?   Just leave your email and a comment about something you liked about this post.  I will be choosing 1 random person to give the unit away to for FREE! (**July 11, 2013)

Blessings,

Tackle It Tuesday: CCSS Scootish Game

Hello darlings!  Welcome to Tackle It Tuesday: Common Core State Standards!  I hope you are able to link up with us!


This activity I wanted to share with you would work for any Common Core Standard.  I used it the last week of school when we were doing Camp Week.   As you can tell, all the desks and chairs are pushed to the back and the kiddos have their shoes off.  This game can be played at table groups as well.  It is pretty much the same as SCOOT. (Students rotate to a task card, complete it, and then move on when the music starts.)

The only difference here is that kiddos are all working on the exact same sheet or packet.  In this case, we were reviewing cursive handwriting.  I sat in the camp fire ( I know, they told me I shouldn't) and put my phone music on (ex. Firework, Party Rock Anthem, etc) and kiddos walked around the camp fire until the music stopped.  They dropped to the nearest packet and wrote as many cursive letters as they could before the music started again.

I can't even tell you how much they loved this!  It was just taking an independent activity and letting them complete it on other people's papers...  If you wanted to assess, you could have them initial by the problem they did.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!  Only a few days left!

 

Linky Rules:

1. Link to a BLOG POST (no stores please) that contains a free OR priced Common Core Activity.

2. Include the Tackle It Tuesday Button with a link back to my blog.

3. Include the CCSS in your title.

Blessings!

Made It Monday and 2 Awesome freebies!

Hello darlings!  Happy Monday! Stop it!  Stop it right now!  I know what you are thinking.. Where has the summer gone?  It is speeding by this year!  What's up with that?  It's ok, just take a deep breath!  There is still time left. (I think the above was more of a mental pep talk for myself..)

Well, I have always wanted to join Made It Monday with Tara, but I haven't "made" anything except classroom products.  Until now!  Yay, I finally "made" something!  I say this cute saying on Pinterest and I decided I could make it.

As you can see, I got a hair in my bum in the middle of the night and decided to repaint an old picture frame I had. Yep, it was like 11:30pm... notice the darkness. =)

Here is the finished product after it dried.  I simply used a black sharpie on some paper I had laying around to do the lettering. I decided to hang this in my guest bathroom. LOL!

I am also linking up at Manic Monday with this freebie!

So have you downloaded my freebie planner yet?  What are you waiting for?  

Also, don't forget to enter our Giveaway! 

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway