Weekend Warriors~I {heart} January

This month the Weekend Warriors are bringing you ideas for Valentine's Day.

Since I am on maternity leave I won't be in my classroom on Valentin'e Day but I had pinned this little experiment I wanted to try, Maybe next year :)

It's super simple. All you need are conversation hearts and things to drop them in such as honey, vinegar, salt, bleach, etc. You can try mixing them and then microwaving or freezing also to see different results. The kids make predictions about what they think each ingredient will do to their hearts and then record their observations. Wonderful science experiment!

I want to offer you a freebie today for Valentine's Day as well. If you like my facebook page and click on more at the top and then fan freebies you can download these math games for free. There are three games and each comes with an easier and harder version. Each one also comes with a practice sheet and a game to complete after the center activity is complete. Click on the pictures to go to my facebook page to download.

Now make sure you check out the rest of the blogs for more Valentine's Day ideas and freebies. Thanks for stopping by!

Sailing Into Second	Bright Concepts 4 Teachers	Crayons and Whimsy	Primarily Speaking
The Tutu Teacher	Creative Lesson Cafe	Saddle Up Second Grade	Second Grade Perks
Lucky To Be In First	A Burst of First	A Sunny Day In First Grade	First Grade Smiles
Hippo Hooray for Second Grade

InLinkz.com

Organization Blog Hop

I love anything that has to do with organization and if you are like me then you are going to LOVE this blog hop. 

I picked out a few things I do in my room to help keep myself organized to share with you today. 

Being organized means that right now I am planned and have copies made for at least the next two weeks. This is how I store my future copies. Simple and cheap, my two favorite words. I took two magazine boxes and cut file folders in half to make dividers. Behind each is the copies for that day.

On Friday afternoons I take the papers from the magazine file and put them in this pocket chart from Highlights. I use this to organize my papers we will need during the week. I labeled different sections of the chart with the days of the week and then on Friday afternoon I just slide in all of my copies in the appropriate place. It also helps during the day for me to see what we have left to accomplish {or sometimes what I forgot about...Oops!} I actually thumbtacked mine to the front of a bookshelf to hide the ugliness behind it.

This next idea is super simple it just took me actually getting it together but it makes my guided reading/math life so much easier. I used a crate and hanging folders to organize all of my group materials. Each group has their own color folder and I keep two sets in the crate. One has materials for this week and the ones behind have their materials for next week.

The huge binders separate my math and reading sections. Click {HERE} to download the binder labels. You can't see but in front of the binders is another hanging folder that stores the materials I need for all groups such as my schedule of who meets when, reading strategy cards that I printed 4/page on, laminated, and put on a ring{I got them HERE from Cara Carroll}light pointers {Read that post HERE}, and my response sticks that we use with our leveled readers. Keep reading to see how to get those for FREE!

This past summer I decided to get my reading center organized. I made the READ posters and just bought dollar store frames to hang them in. If you want the posters click {HERE}. I got white baskets from the Dollar Tree and bought some chevron tape to make the book baskets. The chalkboard labels have the book levels that are in the basket. I would share those but they are specific to the levels of books in each of my baskets. The boxes on top are our Daily 5 boxes. These boxes are wonderful to keep my students organized. It holds everything they need when they go to their Daily 5 choices.They grab their box and on the wall behind the boxes I put a long strip of masking tape and put their number where their box goes so they know right where to put it. I wasn't sure this would work but it has!

Here is how I organize my monthly materials. I bought 5 large tubs from Wal-Mart and keep two months in each. Sorry about the sloppy picture. My cabinets are not the nicest.

In the tubs I just keep one month on one side and the other month on the other side. As you can see on the right (Short/Long Vowel game) I use large clasp envelopes and laminate the student directions to the front so I can just pull them each month and stick them in a center.

As a thank you for checking out my blog today you can get a fan freebie from my facebook page.  As I mentioned above it is my reading response sticks for small groups. Just click on the facebook button below and click on more then fan freebies to download. There is a 1st and 2nd grade version.

After you do that make sure you hop on the the next blog for more organization ideas from my super sweet friend Angela at The Daily Alphabet!

Reading Skills Set

I noticed when I started this post that I hadn't posted anything since the end of November and I have to apologize for that. I was scheduled to have a C-section in January but God had other plans for this little family of mine. On December 8th I had my baby girl, Adelyn Reece, 6 weeks early. It can only be considered a blessing from God that she was perfectly healthy. The doctors kept telling us they were amazed that she was doing as well as she was. God is so good!

I'm on maternity leave until the middle of March so I won't have a lot to post between now and then but I do have a great deal going on with Educents for the next couple of weeks that I wanted to share with you. I have bundled 3 of my reading skill packets, Close Reading, Figuring out the Main Idea, and Safari Adventure. Right now you can get all 3 of these packets for just $12.00 which is 40% off. But.......keep reading to the end to see how you can get them for just $2.00. Just click on the picture below or {HERE} to be taken to the bundle.

Here is a little more about each individual packet:

With the implementation of common core standards close reading is a must now. I have started this with my class and can see a tremendous growth in their reading skills. The college and career readiness (CCR) anchor standards are often overlooked and the first one states that students must read closely. This packet will help you do just that along with covering the rest of the college and career readiness (CCR) anchor standards. The passages are suitable for 1st-4th grades. With some 1st graders it may be beneficial to scaffold the reading by breaking up the passage into chunks. You might preview the text and discuss key vocabulary, or chunk the text and read and discuss as you go.

What’s included:
What is close reading
Close reading includes
What are text dependent questions
How I use this in my classroom
Be a text talker poster(2 versions)
Show your thinking poster(2 versions)
A close reader is poster
Talk about it poster (for partner talk)
Another example of what close reading might look like

Article Titles Included (all with at least 2 pages of questions):
Two Giant Pandas
Polar Bears
Australia
Bats
Let’s Go Green (recycling)
Staying Healthy
Sweet Dreams
Hibernation
Volcanoes
Community Helpers
Harriet Tubman

This packet covers several reading skills along with some language and math skills plus it has tons of cute crafts.

 

 

Moral of a story

 

 

 

Comparing and contrasting the main idea of two different stories

 

More comparing and contrasting stories

 

Story writing with adjectives

 

 

Irregular plural nouns

 

It also includes lots of games

 

There is even an animal research project as a bonus

 

This packet has games, centers, practice pages, crafts, and more to practice main idea and supporting details.

So make sure you head over and check this deal out {HERE} to get these at 40% off. Remember how I said if you read to the end you can see how to get them for just $2.00?? Well if you click {HERE} to sign up with Educents you automatically get a $10 credit to spend however you like. 

Happy Shopping!