29 June 2013

Mighty Messages

I have a to-do list a mile long, and summer just seems to be flyin' by.  I can finally check something else off of my list-YAY.  I finished up my mighty message posters and I think they will be just what I needed.  We talk about story theme all year in the classroom, so these posters will get a whole lot of use.   These posters have "I Can . . . Statements, so students can really take ownership of these messages/themes and connect them to their own lives.  I also think it will definitely help with behavior in the classroom.  If a student is not sharing, I can remind them of the mighty message, and have them go take a looksy at our chart.

 


There are also recording pages included, 
so students can record all the books they read under the correct theme. 
 I plan to introduce each of the mighty messages the first couple of weeks of school to set the stage for a positive classroom climate.  They will write about a time they demonstrated each of the mighty messages in their own lives.

If you are interested in this resource, please check it out in  my TPT store.  Simply click the image below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mighty-Messages-744034

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16 June 2013

Math Fact Practice and Punch Cards

I created punch cards to use along with my math fact drills last summer.  But, I quickly realized that I didn't like any of the drills that I had saved over the years.  I wanted something to go along with the punch cards that I had created- I needed drills for 0's, 1's, 2's, etc.  All the drills I had were either mixed drills or had too many problems for students to reasonably finish in a minute.  I knew I was going to have to make something that would work perfectly with my punch cards.

Below are the punch cards. One for each of the operations. 

I titled the pages- A Minute to Win it, because in order to win a punch, they must get a 100% in less than a minute.  I'm not a drill kinda teacher, but  my students really loved doing them! They were begging me during the day for opportunities to retest on whatever number they were trying to earn.  How could I resist that?

 Below are examples of the Minute To Win It pages for each operation:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Fact-Punch-Cards-with-Minute-Drills-730322


Each of the Minute to Win It pages are half pages with 21 problems.  Research says that students should be able to accurately solve 25 problems in under a minute, so I gave them some leeway and went with 21 problems.  The division pages are the only ones that have 20 problems.  Some of the multiplication and division are trickier, so they may need more than a minute, especially when they're doing their 11's and 12's.

I also made 3 Mixed Reviews for each of the operations.  I thought they would make great reviews or even possible quizzes.

Even though I named them punch cards, I didn't actually use them as punch cards.  I decided to go simple last year, and simply had them glue them in their math journals.  I just initialed each time they completed a number.  This worked out great because I didn't have to worry about lost punch cards.

If you are interested in math fact practice pages for your students, you can check it out in my TPT store by clicking here.

* If you already have drills that you like, you can also get the punch cards only in my TPT store.

13 June 2013

Literature Response

I am so glad summer is finally here. Yay!
I thought before I get totally in summer mode, I would share a couple of things we worked on at the very end of the year.  I decided to create new response forms for both fiction and nonfiction.  I tried it out with my kiddos at the end of the year, and they really liked the new format.  You'll notice the spot for a fluency check.  I like to have my students time each other as quick fluency checks on their library books.  I also do  fluency spot checks to make sure they are checking out "just right" books.  I keep it simple, they time each other for a min. and write down their fluency.  You can get the Book Bonanza in my TPT store by clicking HERE






I also created a mini literacy unit to go along with the Big Al by Andrew Clements.  I absolutely love this book and thought it would be fun unit for the beginning of the year.  It has a heart warming message about friendship, so it would actually work well any time during the school year.  I had a smaller group of second graders at the very end of the year for our extended year program, and we had a great time with Big Al.  Here are a few pics of their work.

Click HERE to head to my TPT store.





You can get all the activities above by heading over to my TPT store.  Of course, I had to end with a FREEBIE.  So, this is a little activity to use along with all those extra Scholastic flyers you might have lying around.  I like to use it in a balanced literacy station.  Click on the image below to grab your freebie.