Summer Stock-Up

Let's face it....we're teachers so do we really take off for summer break? If you're anything like me your brain never stops thinking about things involving the classroom and students and how something could be made better. That's why we are bringing you "Summer Stock Up."  Tons of amazing teachers will be blogging about products that can help you get started back on the right track next school year. There are different categories you can browse through for all different grade levels.

I'm going to introduce you to my brand new product Common Core Reading Strategy Mini Lessons.

I have struggled to get a grasp on how I want my reading block to flow. I tried purchasing some different guided reading packets but nothing was working. I finally decided to come up with my own set of mini lessons. The way this will work in my classroom next year is each morning we start off with a 10-15 minute mini lesson. In the packet there are 15 mini lessons in all. Now this will in no way give you a mini lesson for each day of the year but I don't teach a brand new skill every day. In my class we teach a skill for a week and then even come back to review it later on in the year.

These are the skills covered:
text to self connection 
text to text connection 
text to world connection 
making and adjusting predictions 
making a mental picture or image 
using text features 
problem and solution 
summarizing the text 
main idea and supporting details 
author’s purpose 
cause and effect 
comparing and contrasting texts 
asking questions 
recognizing literary elements 
retelling 

With each lesson you will get:

*a mini lesson statement
*the common core standard it aligns to
*suggested books to use when teaching the lesson
*ideas for how to teach the lesson
*a mini poster
*questions to ask during the lesson
*questions to ask after independent practice
*an organizer to use whole group as you teach the lesson 
*an organizer for students to use during independent practice

During the mini lesson you will read a book to the class from the suggested book list or one of your own choice. Follow the mini lesson provided and discuss the mini poster included for better understanding.

We have a poster maker at my school. I turn the whole group organizer into a poster and laminate and record answers with a dry erase marker. This organizer stays up all week for students to refer back to. If you do not have a poster maker you can still display the organizer on the overhead and record answers that way.

After the whole group mini lesson students will practice the skill during independent reading time. During this time there is an organizer for students to use to record their own thinking. This will help them remember their thoughts when it is time to share what they discovered while reading that day own their own. 

Not sure if this would be something you could use? No problem, head over to my facebook page and pick up a free sample lesson complete with what each mini lesson comes with. This is available in my shop in a 2nd and 1st grade version. The free sample is the 2nd grade version but the only difference is the standard numbers on the top.

Now on to the next product I want to share with you: Polka Dot Phonics Cards

This packet comes with phonics posters that I use to display on the wall behind my guided reading table. That way when a student comes to a word they don't know we find the spelling pattern on one of the cards and they figure the word out on their own (most of the time). They come with 2 per page or 4 per page depending on how much wall space you have.

The next thing (and my favorite) included is a black and white version for students. I copied these on color card stock and gave each student a copy to keep in their Daily 5 bag. They are already familiar with the cards from seeing them on the wall during reading group so this way they have their own copy to refer to when reading independently. I am also considering putting a copy in their desks to use when not at Daily 5. I loved seeing my little ones pull these out last year to help a friend during read to someone. Depending on how many you want on each page it comes with 9 per page and 6 per page. 

So there you have it....two new products to get you started off to a great new school year. Don't forget to head over to my facebook page and pick up that sample mini lesson. From now through June 28th these two products will be 20% off in my TPT shop so if you like the sample make sure you stop by and pick up the entire packet while it's on sale. Click here for Common Core Reading Strategy Mini Lessons {2nd Grade}. Click here for Common Core Reading Strategy Mini Lessons {1st Grade}. Click here for Polka Dot Phonics Cards. If you want to read about more products from other bloggers click on the button below. You can also enter my giveaway below until June 24th and pick one of these products of your choice for free if you win! Thanks for reading! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How Math Workshop Flows in My Room

I'm here to bring you week two of "The Diggin' Into Series."

 I hope everyone was able to read all of the great blog post last weekend on classroom organization. If not click {HERE} to go back and check it out. 

.....organize my math block. I changed up the way I do math time this past year and I fell in love with my new routine. Here is what a day in my math class looks like.

I start my math block with alternating every other day using this Common Core Daily Calendar Routine. You can read about how this works {HERE}

And these Common Core Math Warm Ups which we use our desk and dry erase markers to write answers. There is a short post about those {HERE}

On Mondays we don't do either though. I use this day to introduce all of the games they will be playing throughout the next two weeks so when they go to play they won't be totally lost. 

We then have a 10 minute mini lesson before we bust out into our rotations.

Here is what my guided reading rotation board looks like.

The numbers across the top are the rotation number and the numbers down the side are the group numbers. The group signs on the right have their number with Velcro so they know what group they are in. I do four 15-20 minute rotations each day so that I am able to meet with every student. Since we only have a 10 minute whole group mini lesson it is important to meet with all students and this is where I vary the lessons depending on their level.

 The shapes say "Teacher Time" "Own My Own" "Math Games/Manipulatives" and "Practice Math Facts." Teacher time of course is with me. On my own is a workbook page or some type of page that covers the skill from the mini lesson or a math journal prompt. Notice the smaller rectangle below the blue octagon? That is blank and I write what page number in their workbook or whatever it is I want them to work on. For practice math facts we use Fast Math which is awesome. For math games we use games that cover various skills. 

At the end of the rotation I ring a bell and they know to clean up and quickly check the board to go to their next rotation. The first week we did it, they were awesome. They caught on so quickly and now when someone is in my room during math they are amazed at how our math block just flows and all kids are engaged and staying on task and how they all know what they need to be doing without me saying a word. 

I have shared this before but here it is again in case you missed it. If you use Envision for math {HERE} is a pacing guide my district sent us with the lessons that align from common core along with several other lessons and activities that I use during teacher time. 

If you are interested in the products I mentioned above that I start off my math block with, you can get them for 20% off for the next three days by clicking on the item link below:

The Daily Calendar Routine

Daily Common Core Math Warm Up

Well that's it for today but make sure you head over to Where the Magic Happens to follow the linky and check out more math workshop ideas. 

Oh and if you like my Facebook page you can grab a fan freebie that will be a big help in getting started for the new school year.

Diggin' Into Next Year ~ Classroom Organization

...........organization in my classroom. If you asked around at my school they would tell you I am the most organized teacher in our school. I want everything in its place so I know right where it is when I need it. I can't stand things just lying around. So here is what I do in my room to help with that. 

The first is I chose this pocket chart as my free item from Highlights. Did you know if you send home their subscription forms all parents have to do is sign that they do not want the subscription and you get free items from that?? I chose this red pocket chart that I use 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 so I am ready for the next week. 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 this 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 since I'm an ahead of the game kind of planner. Most weeks we use close reading passages in our small groups. 

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. 

Here are just a few simple ideas. The basket on top say sharp and not sharp so the kiddos know where to put pencils. The tubs below this have each subject and are known as our "I'm not finished yet" tubs. If time is up they know where to put unfinished work (and that they have to get it back out during recess).

This is how I store my math materials and craft stuff. Everything has a box and label so I know right where to go to get what I need.

My next idea to share with you is how I have set up my reading area for next year. This past year I just had all books on a shelf since I just moved to this room and didn't have a chance to organize them. This drove me INSANE. Here is how it is set up for next year. I bought these tubs at the dollar store and used some chevron tape and hot glued labels with book levels on the fronts. I would share the labels with you but it would never work for you the same as it does for me. Some labels have several levels while others have one or two labels simply based on how many books I had of that certain level. 

The next idea is how I will store my monthly materials next year. This past year I used gift boxes that I put a sticker label on the front of. I noticed the more materials I accumulated the more smashed my boxes got from being stacked on top of each other so I had to go with something more sturdy. I bought these large tubs at Walmart and put two months per tub. I labeled them and keep everything for that month inside (mostly centers).

Each of my centers are in a large envelope with the directions laminated on the front. This is mostly what goes in these tubs.

As I mentioned above my monthly tubs have a lot of centers. Here are some of the ones I have stored. Each of these will be 20% for the next three days!

Thanks so much to Laura over at Where the Magic Happens for hosting this. Check out her blog for the full list of bloggers giving some amazing organization ideas!