New Winners

Well, two of my original winners failed to contact me….so here are the two new winners chosen by Random Number Generator. Congrats ladies!

I have a four day Investigations math workshop tomorrow through Friday (8am-3pm…say what!). I pray to sweet baby Jesus that I learn something new. I guess this means summer is officially over. Light a candle for me ya’ll!

 

I hope to be back sometime this week to share with you how I’m organizing all my teacher stuff. That’s one of my goals for the new year.

Winners of Yesterday’s Contest

Congrats ladies!

Silly Teacher, Miss M and Kori Carey please e-mail me and let me know what item you’d like from my TpT store. You forgot to leave your e-mail addresses. You have until Saturday to let me know.

 

The Snugg

What goes into your decision to choose an iPad case? For me it’s all about durability, versatility, and yes it has to be fashionable. Well I got a chance to sample the Snugg, and I really like it!

The versatility is what I really like. When I’m blog stalking I and use the prop feature so my neck doesn’t freeze in place. I can just prop it up and stalk away.

The pen holder is great for my stylus, so when I’m playing around on the iFont Maker I can just rip my pen out and go to town!

The leather feel is also very stylish! They also have cases for iPhones and iPad minis. There is also a selection of covers for a variety of tablets. You can click on the link to check them out!

The Snugg

This contest is to win any one product in my TpT Store..not The Snugg

I tried really hard to get a free one or at least a discount coupon for one lucky followers….but no dice.

So here’s what I’m gonna do. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me your favorite app for iPad (it could be educational or not), and what color Snugg speaks to you .   I’ll choose three luck people to win any one item out of my TpT store! How does that sound?

The contest ends tonight at 10pm Central Time. Good Luck!

Differentiated Math Morning Work

Happy Sunday!
First off let me give big props to those wonderful teachers who created so many wonderful TpT products…..during the summer time no less!! Yes, I’m talking about the wonderful Katie over at Queen of the First Grade Jungle and the lovely Regan at Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits! The creative Jennifer over at First Grade Blue Skies! And all those wonderful bloggers who inspire me All. The. Time.


I have done a few constructive things in my classroom and at home to prepare for the new school year, but mostly I’ve been spending it relaxing and doing a ton of reading! If you ever peek over to the left  to check out what I’ve been reading…then you already know. Yes, I can read three books at once. If you follow me on Instagram then you can catch my monthly What I’m Reading picture.


Okay on to the reason for this post. For the last few year I’ve had a wide and I mean wide range of abilities in my classroom. I’ve run the gamut from Astrophysicist type geniuses to very low strugglers, and I’ve had to really think long and hard about how I deliver instruction to all the different type learners in my classroom, but all good teachers do that right?

I feel like I do a pretty good job of differentiating instruction throughout the day. But I never really gave much thought to morning work and how it’s structured. I mean it was something for my students to complete while I took care of all the little tasks in the classroom: taking attendance, making sure little Johnny saw the right person to get his medicine, morning announcements, etc.

But it was when I’d hear my little Astrophysicist geniuses say things like, “This is so easy.” or “Man, I can do this with my eyes closed!” Or they’d complete the page at the same time they were unpacking and talking with a table buddy.

I did a mental palm to the face and realized that I needed to put as much thought into differentiating my morning work as I do with everything else during the day. (Yes, true teacher confessions here)  So I started to tweak my morning work just a little, I’d  have the same activity, but I’d up the challenge for my advanced students. They loved it! I saw  little geniuses,  middle of the road students and strugglers all engaged. I’ve been toying with this idea over the summer and I’ve created my first set of Differentiated Math Morning Work.

There are ten activity sheets in this beginning of the year pack, with three levels for each sheet. Did you get that?



Head on over to my TpT storefront to check it out! Thanks to those of you who participated in my Flash Contest yesterday!

And yes I’m already working on the September Edition!!!

Quick Contest

 

Hey! I’ve finally created a new product! Yes I’ve dragged myself away from my summer reading to do some actual work! But you have to head on over to my Facebook page to enter! Leave your email in the comment section on FB and Like my page please…pretty, pretty please.

Good Luck!

Throwback Thursday: Writing During Small Group Instruction

I’m always working on ways to improve my small group instruction. For the past few years I’ve always had a wide range of abilities, from super gifted to struggling, and it’s always my intent to meet students where they are, and move them as fast and as far along the literacy and math continuum as I can. I mean why would I give a student who’s reading chapter books the same type of instruction that I’d give a struggler…duh…
Anyway, here’s a post that I got lots of good feedback from.
BTW don’t forget today is your last day to purchase my Aug-Dec. Promethean Board Calendars at a discounted price.

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Writing in Small Group Instruction

Hey! I hope your summer is going splendidly!
Every summer I pick an area of my classroom or an instructional strategy to focus on. This year I’m choosing getting myself organized in terms of places and spaces for my instructional tools (i.e. where to put my stuff!), and I’m honing in my focus on effective small group instruction.
I’m diving back into this book in the hopes of researching strategies and tools that will provide the most effective instructional grouping for my students. I love Fountas and Pinnell!

Framework for my small groups:
I have four different types of small groups that I use during the school year:
1. Word Work
2. Comprehension Strategies
3.Fluency
4.Guided Reading

This year with the addition of RTI to my school I’ll also pull intervention groups. I’m using these books to help in my planning for that.


During any small group lesson I’ve always used the Reading Recovery model to help me structure my groups. In any type of small group I pull there’s always a writing element, because we all know that reading and writing are closely related. The same strategies young readers use when interacting with text are the same strategies they use when composing text.

I’ve been studying the chapter in When Readers Struggle: Extending Reading Power Through Writing. This chapter discusses ways in which student’s writing can be used in small groups as a teaching tool.
There are several types of writing we can use during small group instruction. I wouldn’t do this every time,  but for my strugglers I work it in each time we meet.

Types of Writing in Small Group Instruction:
Shared/Interactive Writing
Dictated Writing
Independent Writing
The routines for using each type are:
1.Talk: Let students discuss the text that they will write. This could come directly from the text they read during guided reading.
2.Compose: Negotiate the composition of the text with your students.
3.Write: Depending on the type of writing you choose you would have a combination of teacher writing (shared writing), teacher and students sharing the pen (interactive writing), or students writing (dictated or independent writing).
The types of writing could be story summaries, writing about your favorite part, writing beginning middle and end, first next last, something you learned from the text, extension sentences..the possibilities are endless.

4. Reread: Read the text together each time you add a new word. Rereading is a powerful strategy to teach our students.
5.Revisit: After the text is written revisit the text for letter or word study. You could use prompts like “Find a long word.” “Find a short word.” “Find a word that begins with.” There is an entire page devoted to prompts to use when revisiting the text and Fountas and Pinnell also have other prompting guides.
You could also provide students with a typed copy of the text the next day, or produce a cut up sentence that the students would put back together.
When I was a Reading Recovery teacher I’d make individual writing books for my students. I’d take a ream of  paper and divide it in half, this would give me two books. Then I’d create a cover and bind the booklet together. But this year I’m expanding my small group writing journals to include pages for different things. But I also plan to include a section of plain unlined copy paper.
Click on the picture to get your copy if you’d like to use it during your small group time. There are two different cover options.

You can use any combination of the pages you’d like. I’m planning on sectioning my pages off so that we can flip to whatever type of writing we’re going to do during small group instruction.
Sorry for the long post, but I hope you find something you can use. If you download please consider following me or leaving a comment about your small group instruction.
I’m planning on posting about my next chapter: Building and Using a Repertoire of Words along with some more freebies. Have a great weekend!

Promethean Board Calendars: First Bundled Set

 

I’ve had a few requests to bundle my Promethean Board Calendars!  Well, I heard you and I’ve just uploaded the first set. This set contains calendars for August through December. Each month builds upon the next. Click the picture below to check them out. Oh, and it’s on sale for just 10.00 until Thursday!!

Next week I’m uploading the remainder of the calendars!!

Throwback Thursday: Sweet and Simple

Happy 4th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Throwback Thursday is sweet, simple and a freebie!!!!
Here are some number posters I made to go along with my ocean themed classroom!!
Enjoy!!!!
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Sea Life Numbers to 10

Last year I kinda...sorta had an ocean theme in my classroom. But this year I've decided to fully commit . I had a few minutes to kill, so I created an ocean themed 1-10 number set for my classroom. I wanted to share it with you, if you can use it click on the picture to download. Have a great Fourth of July weekend!

Sea/Beach Life Numbers 11-20

I completed numbers for 11-20 for my classroom today. If you'd like a set click on the picture to download. I used "beach/sea" type clip art for the remaining numbers. The file is large so give it  a minute :)