Show & Tell

Today was our first day of our second phase of reading training for Literacy First.  We had to go through five days of training last summer and then have three more days to complete this year.  Instead of doing it during the summer, they had everyone come in for three Thursdays in a row....  I'd much rather come during the summer to be quite honest, but whatever.  I'm not the one who makes the decisions.  (I'm not bitter or anything either about not getting paid for this training like we were initially promised either...  Grrr.)

Anyway, one of the activities for this phase is to share some thing that we have used or implemented in our classroom this year.  Each of the three schools that are training together have their own day for "show and tell." My school was up first, so I decided I'd share with you all what I took for my "show and tell!"

I decided to bring some vocabulary resources, but that by no means makes me an expert in this area.  I really struggle with making this a consistent and effective component of my reading instruction, but I do feel like it's improved this year with using the Literacy First model.

Oh, and I can't figure out how to rotate pics in Blogger...  Is that possible?  I'm too lazy to go back and rotate them once I've loaded them on here.  Ugh.

What I Took:

Word-A-Day - Grade 3 (published by Evan Moor)

Daily Vocabulary Practice - Grade 3 (published by Weekly Reader)

"My Word-A-Day Journal" (created by me and made into books at our district copy center)

Samples of Word-A-Day vocab and content area vocab from a non-fiction book.  (And a pocket chart showing how I display it in my classroom.)

This is my first year using the Word-A-Day book, but I really like it.  I've been kind of bad about consistently doing it, but if you're looking for an effective way to introduce your students to new words, this book is a great starting point.  I believe I bought my copy at Mardel during their online sale, but I know it's a pretty common find at a lot of teacher supply stores.  (Here is a link to the third grade book on Amazon.)

I used to use the Daily Vocabulary Practice book a lot more, but I've not been a consistent with it this year as I've tried to adjust things to fit Literacy First.  (They're not big on the kids doing worksheets during whole group, but I believe there's a balance and that they need to still have the writing practice.)  My favorite thing about this book is that it works on parts of speech as well as vocab in content areas like math and science.  It's a nice, easy way to fit in some language instruction with your vocab.  Weekly Reader's books aren't as common at my local teacher store, but this one can be found on Amazon as well.  (Here's the link to the third grade one.) 

My pocket charts and word strips are two items that I grab in stores whenever I see them.  I think Target's small pocket charts are pretty much one of the best things ever.  I hot glue magnetic strips on the back so that I can put them on my dry erase boards.  I get my word strips from Dollar Tree.  I've been working on getting all of my vocab and stuff labeled and in order for next year so that I can just grab what I need and not have to sort through all of them to get what I need for the week.  It's a process!

"My Word-A-Day Journals" use a Frayer Model for the students to explain each word through it's definition, examples, sentences, and a picture.  My student teacher has used this a lot with the kids this semester and I've seen a lot of success.  It takes some time for the kids to get everything completed, so my tentative plan for next year is to introduce the words during whole group time and then to have them fill out the Frayer during work stations.  I plan to use this with the Word-A-Day book as well as content area vocab.  (If you Google or Pinterest search "Frayer Model" you'll find all sorts of variations and examples.)

So, there's a little "show and tell of a few of my vocab resources!  

I'm off to go enjoy my three day weekend!  Tomorrow is our "snow day" off!  (And by that I mean, it's our comp day for not using our snow days this year after they added 10 minutes on to our day this year.  I guess  I should thank global warming?!?  LOL)

Wishing...

I've been horrible about blogging over the past several weeks.  I feel like my days have been crazy busy and my evenings have been either busy or I've just been super exhausted and unmotivated to do anything.  

Anyway, this week was conference week.  I actually enjoy conferences quite a bit, but they do wear me out.  We opted for three late nights and half a day tomorrow.  I don't think I like the extra late night (normally it's just Monday and Wednesday), but oh well...  

Moving on...

Every year the teachers at my school get to complete a wish list of items that we would like for our classrooms.  They typically tell us to assume we have $100 - 200, but this year we were told that it's probably going to be $100 maximum.  I happened to be in the office today (I'm hanging out there a lot now that I have a student teacher) when one of our secretaries happened to be opening up a box of the new Lakeshore catalogs.  

OMG!!!  Soooooooo many great things!!!

I don't live near a Lakeshore store, but I'll be near one this weekend and plan on making a stop.  I figure I haven't spent hardly any money on school items since last summer, I have a coupon, and I just got my tax refund.  I'm probably going to limit by budget to $50 or less, but I figure this might be a good time to check out some new items and pick up a few new goodies to use here in these last few months of school.  I love their materials for reading work stations and math centers as everything is very kid-friendly and easy to use without a lot of help from the teacher.

So...  Here are my current picks for my possible $150 budget ($100 from the school + $50 of my own).  

(All images are from Lakeshore.com.  Click the picture to be directed to the item on their website.)

"It's a Mystery! Comprehension Readers" - These look very similar to the fluency partner scripts I have from  Lakeshore.  I love how they have the questions right there and I think the mysteries would be fun for the kids to read.  ($49.95)

"Interactive Graphic Organizers" - This is the one item I'm really hoping they have in the store this weekend, though online it says it won't ship 'til March 1st. It's a CD-Rom of all sorts of cool graphic organizers to project and use with your Mimio (that's what we have) or SmartBoard.  I've been finding all sorts of cool graphic organizer ideas on Pinterest, but this would be way less work for me and all ready to go whenever I want to use them!  ($19.95)

"Month-by-Month Fluency Practice Kit" - This isn't a new arrival, but it's something I have wanted to add to my collection for a while.  We do about 10 minutes of fluency practice during whole group reading each day as well as a fluency station each week.  One of our second grade teachers has the lower grades version of this kit and it looks pretty cool.  I always try to insert seasonal activities whenever I can, but I always forget. I love that this is all organized by month and all ready to go!  ($39.95)

"Before, During, & After Reading Fiction Prompt Cards" - We have to do a lot of read aloud aside from our regular reading series and I think these cards would be a great way to insert in some comprehension into our read aloud time.  I like that these can be used with any book.  There's also a set for nonfiction literature, which I would also like to get my hands on as well.  ($19.95 each)

Well, that pretty much gets me to my budget.  It's not a ton, but it's all stuff that I think I would use a lot.  Lakeshore stuff can be a bit pricey at times, but there's not a lot of comparable resources out there.  In my opinion, it's usually worth the money if you know you're going to use it.  

I'll be sure to share my purchases from the weekend soon!  I'm giving myself a little "fun money" to spend out of town this weekend.  My mom and I are hitting a new outlet mall and then some other stores that we don't have in town.  (It sometimes amazes me all the great stores that we don't have here in town.  We're driving nearly 3 hours to a city pretty much the same size to hit up a handful of stores that we don't have!)  

I get 4 1/2 days off!  I totally need it!

5 school days 'til assessments begin!  

Testing Tuesday: Assessment Prep Stations

In preparation for assessment season I'd like to share a few ideas and tips for thing that I do to help prepare my students for their state tests.  We are still going off state standards for the next couple years and will be gradually moving towards Common Core.  I know things will have to change when we make that transition, but I'm not going to think about that quite yet!

A few years ago my two fellow third grade colleagues and I decided to change things up a bit for our state assessment prep.  We don't switch classes for different subjects like some schools do, but we thought that rotating our students and doing test prep groups would be a fun way to mix things up a bit.  Each teacher has unique tips, tricks, and lessons for teaching different skills so it's a nice way to share that with all of the students in our grade level.

Here's how it works...

From January to March for 30 minutes 3 days a week we rotate our classes and do a small mini lesson, game, or review session based on our tested indicators.  We typically do Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday since we have a lot of Mondays and Fridays off this time of year.  It's sometimes hard to eek out an extra 30 minutes from the day, but sometimes other things (like science, SS, and unfortunately writing) sometimes get cut.

Each teacher works on a specific skill each week.  For ease of planning, I teach reading lessons, one of my coworkers teaching reading lessons, and the other alternates between reading and math.  The nice thing about it is that we're teaching one lesson three times...  Just once to each class!

We typically do these stations at the end of the school day, so I try to do activities that are a little exciting and engaging for the students.  I use Quia a lot to create games and other activities for us to do, so that we're not stuck doing another worksheet or practice test.  (I hope to share some of my Quia activities on here soon after I make a few.)

If you have any great tips and tricks on prepping your students for state assessments, please share!  I'd love to get some fresh, new ideas!  :)

How Do You Do Math Centers?

We all have strengths and weaknesses. My strength (in my opinion) is my reading work stations. They rock. I have so many great resources and ideas for so many more. They run smoothly (most days) and my students truly enjoy spending time at their work stations.
My math centers, on the other hand, leave much to be desired. I actually like teaching math (most days), but ever since we changed to Everyday Math for our curriculum, my math centers have suffered. EM jumps around so much that it makes it very difficult to "reinforce" things that you haven't hit very hard. I also struggle with the fact that my math centers time is also my pull-out time for my special ed and gifted students. I feel like I have to cram in the "important" math stuff into the whole group hour of math. I hate that a chunk of my students miss out on math centers each day, but there are just some things I don't have a whole lot of control over.
I typically have 5 centers going each week (sometimes 4 if it's a short week). I try to have each group working on a variety of activities and mix it up with individual and group / partner activities.

Here are some of the things that we do in our math centers:

Word Problem Cards - Have bought these problem solving cards from Lakeshore over the summer because one of my teaching colleagues uses them and we all know that kids can always get better at word problems! I have the kids write in a math notebook and show their work. I usually put 4 or 5 cards in the basket each week and then have the kids write their own word problems when they are done.

AAAmath.com - This is one of my favorite websites for math practice. I love it because it's self-checking and I can just walk around and see on the screen how the kids are doing. I have the students do these either with partners or on their own and set a goal for the percent correct for that day. (For example, if they're doing subtraction with regrouping and it's review I might require 90% correct or better. If it's something new I may just look for 75 or 80% correct to start.)

Take It To Your Seat Folder Games - These folder games are awesome. I have a 2-3 set and a 3-4 set, so I have a lot of skills and topics to choose from. Assembling these can be a little time consuming, but it's worth it in the long run. (This has been a summer project.) The kids work in their small groups to complete the activity.

Everyday Math Games - Our math series has a lot of games built into the lessons, but I'm pretty awful at fitting in time during the whole group math block to play games. I've found, though, that if I teach the kids how to play games during the whole group time they're pretty good about being able to play them during their math centers. I usually give them a choice of 2 or 3 games so that they're not stuck playing the same thing for the entire centers block.

Basic Facts Practice - One thing that I really feel our kids lack is knowledge of their basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). I try to give them opportunities to practice their facts in different ways. AAAmath.com is a great website for math practice in all areas, but I do really like it for this because it shows how many problems they've answered in a certain amount of time. I also use some of the EM games to for this practice as well. Some weeks we just to plain 'ol math drills and timed tests, too.

State Assessment Prep - Math centers is a great opportunity to work on state assessment skills that our curriculum doesn't hit very hard. I've made a lot of practice sheets of my own that hit our tested indicators and the state provides practice tests online that I have the students complete during their center time as well.

Other Lakeshore (and Dollar Tree) Math Games - I've had pretty good luck getting some center activities and games on clearance from Lakeshore. A few of my games I've purchased at half price or less! I like Lakeshore's activities because they're ususally pretty engaging and work on specific skills. Dollar Tree has also pleasantly surprised me with their selection of math (and reading) games and activities. It seems to be hit and miss there, but I always check their supply whenever I go in!

Accelerated Math - Many of you are probably familiar with Accelerated Reader, well ACC Math is by the same company. I assign the students with objectives and the computer prints out assignments over those objectives. The students then fill out scan cards and I have a little scanner hooked up that grades the assignments. Based on their performance they either continue practicing those objectives or move onto other skills. There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the gist of it. I love that it does the grading for me, plus most of the kids actually like doing it because it's kind of "grown up" work.

Dice Games - EM has some games with dice and some I've made up on the spot, but we seem to be doing a lot with dice these days. They're very easy games and dice are so cheap and easy to get ahold of. Basic dice can be found at Dollar Tree and the more unique ones (9 sided, double digit, etc.) can usually be found a teacher supply store or resource center. Here are a few websites for ideas: http://www.primary-education-oasis.com/math-games-using-dice.html and http://www.math-salamanders.com/math-games-using-dice.html.

I organize all of the materials into colored baskets from Dollar Tree. The chart on our front wall lists the students names, their basket color, and what center they're at. It's super easy to manage and stay fairly well organized!

***

Well, there you have it. I wouldn't say my math centers are the best or the worst, but there's room for added improvement. Things get stepped up a lot after Christmas break as we draw closer to state assessments. I usually get to complete a wish list of items I want before the end of the school year and I have a few new math items on my watch list. I love getting the kids engaged in math. I think if I'd had a lot of these activities when I was in school I would have enjoyed math a lot more than I did. I was one of those kids who got by and did well in math, but hated every minute of it! I don't want my students to feel that way about anything I teach!

MAJOR Shopping Trip!

A few coworkers and I took a little road trip today to visit Lakeshore and Mardel and I can very honestly say that our day of shopping was a grand success! We don't really have a great teacher store in town anymore, so it's become worth it to make the almost 3 hour drive to take care of our school shopping. Plus, it's a lot more fun to shop in the stores then online and I had a fun day with some great ladies!

So, here's my collection of new items from Lakeshore... Their big summer sale started today, so we all went a little crazy, but I got some really awesome deals! If you live near a store, you need to go in and check out their clearance sales. They have a TON of other random items marked 20% off right now as well. They're running some great deals online too. (The e-mail coupon I got recently was for $20 off an online purchase of $100 or more.)

Next, we hit up Mardel. I didn't do near as much damage there, but I still found quite a few things I needed (and a few wants as well). If I remember correctly, their big teacher sale is the 20th or 21st and everything will be 20% off. This sale is also going to be online with $5 shipping.

Then when we got home I hit up Dollar Tree. Ours are just now getting their school stuff put out, so there wasn't much to get, but I did manage to snag some neat plastic magazine holders and some poster board to make new pocket charts.


Here's what I picked up at Lakeshore:

1. Spin and Answer Reading Comprehension Wheel


2. Problem Solving Card Bank


3. Read and Check Prefix / Suffix Cards


4. Nonfiction Comprehension Quickie Cards


5. Fluency and Comprehension Partner Scripts


6. Nonfiction Acticity Chart


7. Vocabulary Activity Chart


8. Tabletop Chart Stand


9. American Symbols Comprehension Cards


10. Classwords Vocab Game


11. Large dry erase pockets


12. Charlotte's Web Game Show Questions


13. Name tags


14. Sticker charts


15. Free lesson plan book

Mardel:

1. Blank star poster


2. Sports cutouts


3. Over the door pocket chart hanger


4. Small dry erase pockets


5. Star stickers


6. "Teachers Know All About Class" t-shirt

As you can see, I'm pretty much DONE spending money on school until the fall when I'll actually have income again. I think I'm pretty well set, though, and will have a lot of great activities for my students!

Folder Games, Folder Games Everywhere!

We're in for a lot of changes in how we teach reading next year and I've been trying to reorganize and add to my collection of reading, language, phonics, and writing folder games for work stations (or centers, if that's what you want to call them). From what I've been told so far (I have yet to attend 5 days of literacy training this summer), I will be doing going from doing work stations once a day to twice a day. If I've done my math correctly that means I will need about twice as much material for my students so as not to repeat things through the year. I really am all about what's easy for me and the kids to run, but still challenges them with the skills they need. You can see in the picture above how I currently have them organized. The majority of my activities are Evan Moor Take It To Your Seat Centers. I have a handfull of others that I've found and downloaded from the internet, created on my own, or have purchased at the always wonderful Dollar Tree. I've been searching around online today for more free goodies or other resources that I can purchase and add to my collection. (This is all in addition to my Lakeshore wish list and the items that I will probably purchase there when I make a trip this summer.) Now it's up to me to to print these things off, put them together, laminate them, and get them all organized.

So, this is another thing I shall add to my summer to do list... The ever-growing list that it is...

Anyone have any brilliant ideas on organization? I have them sorted into these baskets, but I am planning on adding nice little labels to the top corner with the specific skill for easier access. I'm also planning on creating some short of checklist or spreadsheet so that I can mark off the ones I've used already for that year.