Halloween Themed Reading Graphic Organizers

Oh my word friends, my students LOVE reading any seasonal book.  Doesn't matter what the holiday or season, they love them.  I think it's because of the connections they can make while reading, but whatever the case, seasonal books can get some of my most reluctant readers reading.  

I've collected lots of Halloween books from book orders and check out a large collection from the library.  I can hardly keep my kiddos hands off them.  Since a majority of the Halloween books I check out or own are below their reading level, I've usually required my kiddos to fill out a graphic organizer on the seasonal books they read.  Since my kiddos are usually so motivated to read the books, their organizers are of top notch quality.  This practice is highly beneficial for me as a  reference of high quality work later in the year, plus I've always found my kiddos can always benefit from independent graphic organizer completion.  

Yesterday while watching my Buckeyes' nail biting one point win, I created some graphic organizers to use with my kiddos for our Halloween book collection. 

 

Skills reviewed are: sequencing, story mapping, making connections, character traits, asking questions, main idea and detail, somebody wanted but so, and character cause and effect.  There are eleven different organizers in all and I have options for primary writing lines for my first and second grade teacher friends. :) 

I plan on keeping multiple copies of each organizer in a binder separated by tabs in my classroom for easy access for my kiddos.  I always give my kiddos a STAR Card, one of my school's PBS rewards, for high quality graphic organizers.  Considering our reward cart is coming around again at the end of October, I think I'll be reviewing lots of graphic organizers! :) 

However in your classroom, the possibilities are endless.  You can use these organizers for ANY book you read in October, what kiddos doesn't like Halloween clip art, for Halloween books you read together as a class, or for readers response journals.  I hope your kiddos love them as much as I think mine will! :) They are available at both of my stores, and are part of my fall TpT sale this weekend. 

Would you like to win a copy of your own?  Just leave a comment below with your email.  The first person to correct guess my favorite Halloween candy will have a free copy sent their way! :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend my friends!

Place Value to the Hundred Millions Daily Review

Oh my word ya'll.  We're currently studying place value.  To the hundred millions.  It's scary at times because those numbers are big, not easily represented with manipulitives, and well...big. 

We are trucking along, slowly, but after reviewing some of my formative assessments, I could clearly see my whole class could benefit from a targeted daily review.  I used to do a fully blown math meeting a l a Hope King last year when I taught second grade, it was perfect for filling gaps/holes.  However, this year our schedule doesn't really allow for a full blown meeting, but my kiddos DO need a targeted math review of concepts daily.  

So last night, I created four weekly reviews that cover all of our key place value standards.  

These are perfect for bell work, morning work, or homework.  I sent one home today as part of my kiddos weekly homework and have my kiddos work on each day's problem/skill when they come back in from recess.  We started today and we loved it! Quick enough that we can get started on math quickly but still meaty enough that it makes a big difference. :)   Here's a little sneak peak. :)

This daily four week review is available in both of my stores. 

Want to win a copy?  You can! The first person who leaves a comment that correctly guesses how many years I've been teaching wins their very own copy! :)  Don't forget your email address!

My favorite back to school activity: Cooking Up a Great Year Together!

Question time....
What do these popular children's books...

Click on the titles to check them out on Amazon! 

The Rainbow Fish

The Wizard, The Fairy, and the Magic Chicken 

Enemy Pie  

Pigsty 

Chrysanthemum

Ruby the Copycat 

and this bowl have in common?

At first glance one might say not a lot, but those books and this random bowl of snacks make up my one of my favorite back to school activities, Cooking Up a Great Year Together!

In the words of Farley, I puffy heart this activity.  It combines so many of my favorite things: food, children's literature, character education, AND community building! :)  

Each day, I read my kiddos a book about one of following character traits below.  Each character trait stands for an ingredient for a great year together! :)

I hang these posters up in my classroom one by one, once each character trait is introduced, and keep them up all year long. I refer back to them as needed throughout the year. :) 

After reading the book, each student fills out a graphic organizer about the character trait the book was about.  So we know what that character trait looks like, feels like, sounds like, etc. :)

Once everyone has filled out their graphic organizers, we combine our ideas to make anchor charts to hang up in our classroom. 

I love, love having these anchor charts up during the first few weeks of school while we are settling into our routines and expectations. :)  Since I have a tiny room, I plan on taking pictures of the anchor charts and having them available for my friends throughout the year, especially as they forget what each trait looks like, sounds like, and feels like in our classroom. 

After reading the book, filling out the organizer, and then making the anchor chart, I introduce a snack item that goes with the book.  When I read Rainbow Fish, I show the kiddos a bag of goldfish and when I read Chrysanthemum, I show a bag of mini marshmallows,etc. .  Once we have read all six books, we put all the ingredients together in a big bowl and enjoy a special snack together while we review what each ingredient represents.

 
The ingredients I use changes each year, due to allergies, but I usually have goldfish (sharing), fruit loops (be yourself), pretzels (be a good friend), marshmallows (kindness), animal crackers (responsibility), and popcorn (teamwork).  This special snack is one of my kiddos favorite things all year long, and it does help the concept stick! Many times when they bring pretzels for a snack they comment that "this reminds me of friendship." 

This really is one of my favorite ways to build community in my classroom, and it really opens the door for some powerful discussions about good character in a non threatening way.  I'm always so amazed by the discussions we have in my classroom when we do this activity every year!

I have uploaded this activity to both of my stores, and I hope you give it a look when you plan out your back to school activities.  I'm not just saying this because it's my product, I'm saying it because it really is a great way to get kiddos to understand some abstract character traits and how displaying good character really does help us have a great year together! :) I have also included multiple options for books for each trait to make finding/securing books easier.  Over the years, I have purchased most of my favorites, but I also check out some from my local library as well. I also included several possible books for each topic because I am departmentalized, so my teaching partner and I both talk about the same trait on the same day.  It's nice for our kids to hear two books about the same topic and discuss it what it looks like in the classroom with both of us. For example, for teamwork, I might read The Wizard, the Fairy, and the Magic Chicken but my teaching partner might read Cook-a-doodle-doo. Some of my favorites are out of print BUT are easily found buying from outside sellers on Amazon or on Half.com. In many cases, the books are used, but I just select one that is in good condition.   I do suggest buying a few weeks ahead of time if you do that.  Most are quick but sometimes media mail can be slow.

Just click on the picture below for to check it out!  If you purchase, I hope you LOVE it! :)

Back to School Product Maddness

Holy Smokes, I can't believe that I've been on summer vacation for a month now!  I'll be teaching summer school next month, and before I know it school will be here.  My husband and I will be closing on our house right around school starting, so I've been trying to get most of my back to school products ready now, so I can be ready for the new year in the midst of the crazy sauce that will be back to school this year.  

One of my favorite writing assignments to do all year to have my kiddos research the story of their names.  They always get a kick out of learning how/why they were given their name.  In fact, I get a kick out of it too! I've had students named after actresses, after athletes,  after a family member, and after places.  They always love hearing what their name means too.  


While the book Chrysanthemum is great to introduce this project, my favorite book to read is actually When Jo Lewis Won the Title. It's a book that is less popular and therefore my kiddos pay a lot more attention while I read it, plus I use Chrysanthemum in another back to school activity that I'll be blogging about later this summer. :)

Amazon

This is one of my all time favorite books.  It's a touching story of how a grandfather tells his granddaughter all about the story of her name.  It's not only a great story of self acceptance, but a beautiful piece of multicultural literature as well.  After reading the book, I have my students complete a homework assignment where they ask their parents some questions about their name.  Then we review the structure of an informational paragraph, and my kiddos write an informational paragraph all about their name.  Once finished, we make mini versions of ourselves and hang our completed writings up outside. It makes an adorable back to school bulletin board! :)  Here's a little sample picture.  :)  The one on the left is the actual true story of my name. :) The little guy on the right is the story of my dad's name.  My hubs was sleeping at the time that I made my sample. ;)

 I've uploaded all my Story of My Name resources to my stores. 

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We have a half hour math tutorial block at my school, and I'd like to do more with small groups during that time rather than doing whole group lessons.  To do more with small groups, I need purposeful activities for the rest of my kiddos to do. I dabbled in centers/workstations last year, and love it, but I felt I was always grasping at straws trying to get activities ready.  So I decided to get a head start this summer by preparing my centers.  I started with this Back to School themed centers to refresh my fourth graders on some of the skills they learned in third grade. 

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Teachers Notebook

 To keep myself sane, I plan on using half of my back to school centers and half of Hope's monthly centers for two weeks and then introduce the other half of my centers and Hope's for the rest of the month.   

I also like to spend a little bit of time reviewing sentences, and the various types at the beginning of the year. Oh and reminding them over and over that sentences have capital letters and punctuation.   Texting certainly hasn't done my kiddos any favors.  I can't tell you how many papers I see without any capital letters or any type of punctuation.  I created a little activity pack to make what can be a dull subject, a little more exciting. 

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Teachers Notebook

Okay so the first person who comments gets all THREE of my new products for free.  Don't forget to leave your email address. :)

Place Value Block winners I will be sending you your files in the morning! :)  So sorry about the delay! 

This weekend has flown by! I had the best time with my hubs at a Greek festival today, and he's off again tomorrow! I'm a lucky, lucky girl! :)

Place Value Block {A Math Craftivity}

One of the things that I loved about teaching math was the games, centers, and projects.  I especially loved creating our Place Value Block bulletin board every year! 

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This activity pack/craft is perfect for students grades first-fifth. It has many templates and recording sheets to best meet the needs of your students. 

Your students can practice writing and expressing numbers from twenty to numbers in the hundred millions, with and without decimals, with this pack! Many thanks to my followers over the years for sharing ways to make this product better than ever! :) 

Once your students have decorated their houses and generated a number for their house (I've included ways your students can generate the numbers to use), they represent the number on their house in word, number, and expanded forms.  The forms for the year students also include options for the model (picture) form.  This file can be used as an end of unit activity, or a formative during your place value unit! 

I always loved seeing how creative my students are during this project, and I especially loved putting all of our houses together to make the cutest little block of houses that you ever saw! 

My Place Value Block Craft is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Rockin' Through the Fry Words and Phrases

In preparation for my upcoming move to fourth grade, I've been reflecting a lot on the time I spent teaching third grade and recently interviewed for a summer school program in my district for struggling readers who are entering fourth my district. 

In the interview I answered a lot of questions about my experience teaching full language arts inclusion during the four years I taught third grade. It was an experience that I LOVED, and it also got my brain ticking on what I could next year in my classroom, as I'll be doing full inclusion in ELA again. 

Something that stuck out at me when thinking back on my experience with my friends on IEPs, and my struggling readers in general, was that many of them did not have a strong sight word vocabulary.  When supporting them in small groups, most words they needed help on while reading were sight words, think Fry and Dolch list words.   Of course many of my other students knew how to read tons and tons of the first 600 fry words, but could probably not spell many of the sight words they can read. 

There is so much focus on sight words in kindergarten and first grade in my district, but not so much in second, third, or fourth grades.  Which is the exact opposite of what my kiddos needed, and I'm very guilty for not including it in my instruction like I should have.  Sweet former students, I'm so sorry. :(

The inspiration struck me the other night for a resource that I can't wait to use next year, and hopefully in the summer program I interviewed for as well!

Oh my goodness, this file is a big one! I took the rockstar theme and ran with it, creating a 100+ file to support my kiddos at school, and at home, in developing their sight word vocabularies in the older grades.  I included large flash card for the fourth 100 fry words and phrases to use in the classroom in various games and centers, suggestions for the their classroom use are included.

I also created take home flashcards for the fourth 100 fry words and phrases, which are perfect for parent helpers and at home practice. Again, I included a sheet for ideas for their use as well.  

I also included a fry word sound check for you you to be able to assess your kiddos on their fry words, and an award to present to them once they have mastered all the fourth 100 fry words. 

 

I'm so excited to use this product in my classroom, and to eventually create similar files for the third hundred, fifth hundred, and sixth hundred.  I'm especially excited to use the cards for whole class games and activities, not just with my struggling readers!

If you would like to check out my Rockin' Through the Fry Words and Phrases for the Fourth 100 Fry Words and Phrases, it is available at both of my shops.  

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Teachers Notebook

Tomorrow I have a fun window shopping post lined up to share with you!  :)  I saw the rough sketch of my new blog design today, and LOVED it.  I can't wait to share it with y'all!

Math Contracts for Addition Facts {Giveaway}

A couple of times on this little ole blog, I've talked about my homework routine, and how math fact practice is a part of it.  I received many emails/comments about my math contracts, and I have been working hard on making my contracts into something I feel that could be used by all teachers in grades 1-5.  So far, I have addition completed, and will be working on subtraction, multiplication, and division soon.

 Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook

I feel that fact fluency is really important.  I can vividly remember the tears and frustration my kiddos expressed when I taught third grade and we were doing two and three digit addition, with and without regrouping.  Most of those tears happened because they didn't know their basic math facts, and would have to use 100s charts, fingers, or snapping cubes to figure out the answers to the basic facts. Then try to apply the strategies we were currently learning in class for higher level concepts involving addition. 

You can only imagine how frustrated the kiddos got when we did two and three digit multiplication, when they didn't have their basic multiplication facts mastered.  :(

For many years, my district has used the Investigations math program.  For many reasons I love it. I love the critical thinking components, the rich discussions, and the encouragement to use more than one strategy to solve a problem.  However, it does not, at least with our very early edition, address math fact fluency.  So for many years, we didn't push that in our rooms, thus developing very strong problem solvers who didn't have multiplication, addition, subtraction, or division facts mastered by fifth grade, making the introduction of higher level thinking concepts using these basic facts very hard.  

For the past few years, my district has been doing fact fluency assessments, which has helped, but there was still a need for more to be done in terms of math fact fluency.   While I tried to fit in a few minutes in class, but it wasn't enough.  So I started the math contracts as part of my homework routine.  I had my students take them home on Tuesdays, and they were due the next Tuesday.  The mix of games and paper practice was the perfect fit for many of my families.  For example, on a busy night, they might not have time to sit down and do a spinner game together, but they do have on the suggested apps downloaded on their phone, so little Susy practiced her facts while waiting for dance practice.  

I do believe strongly in developmentally appropriate practices in mathematics, and believe that my students should have a strong understanding of the concept, strategies mastered for the concept (such as drawing a picture, number lines, etc),  and then move onto practice of a concept with for speed and accuracy.  

With this in mind, I've tinkered with my math fact contracts to create something I think works for everyone.  Included in my math contracts for addition facts pack is a basic contract that can just be used for general addition fact practice, as well has contracts that focus on sums to 10, sums to 12, and sums to 18.  Well it was appropriate for my third graders and end of the year second graders to practice sums to 18 for speed and accuracy for homework, I don't know if it's necessarily appropriate for a first grader, especially in the beginning and middle of the year.   


Below is a screenshot for the contract that focuses on sums to 10.

I addressed this in my teacher note in the download that there will be some boxes that may go over or under the focus sum.  I feel that this is okay.  Sprinkling of problems a little above the targeted sum can present a manageable challenge, while problems with a smaller sum than the targeted focus is always a good review!

 You can check out my math contracts in both of my stores, but you could also win a copy of your own too!  Just enter using the Rafflecopter below.  I'll be picking a winner on Friday!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, my followers on TpT, you probably got a message saying Fourth and Ten posted a new item, that IS me! Some of you may have noticed a URL change as well.  I'm slowly transitioning to my new name.  I hope to have a blog redesign completed soon!

Updated Telling Time to the Five Minute Pack {Mini Giveaway}

Since I'm out of school for the summer, and most of my family out of town for Memorial Day, I've found myself with extra time on my hands this weekend.  Which is so refreshing! I decided to put that time to good use by updating one of my earliest TpT files, my Telling Time to the Five Minute Activity Pack.  Although it has sold very well, I've been wanting to "pretty" it up and add some suggestions that were left in the feedback.  It looks a lot better now after its little makeover!

If you have already purchased this item, please log into TpT and download this new and improved version.  Included is a fun three in a row game that my students loved playing, two time to the five minute move abouts/scoots/read the rooms, and a match up game.  I've included detailed directions so now these activities are perfect for math centers/tubs. It's on sale through tonight at both of my stores.

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Teachers Notebook

I'll be giving away TWO copies of this file! All you have to do is be the first two people to comment on this post. :) Please, please, please leave your email, otherwise I can not send the file to you!

I've also been able to start my summer reading, I've had lots of book titles pinned, just waiting for summer to be here...I just started Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan.  So far, I've really enjoyed it!

You can check it out on amazon here. :)

Well, I'm off to watch Food Network Star and cuddle up with up the pup! Have a great night! :)

School's Out for Summer....sale

 One of the traditions I really missed this year from my old school was our principal blaring "Schools Out for Summer" on the PA system once the buses left, so I got on You Tube tonight and found this little treat.




Yes, it's Alice Cooper and The Muppets.  It's a little scary and a little bit fantastic all at the same time.


To celebrate summer, even though I have a work day tomorrow and a classroom to pack before I can relax, I'm throwing a sale at my Teacher's Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook stores! 

Many thanks to Ginger for the adorable graphic!

I'm a little bit worn out physically and mentally, I'll be back to share my favorite last day of school activity! 

For those of you not on summer break, TWO more days! Then a long weekend! HOORAY!

S'More Day and Division Freebie

Two days left.  I can do this.  I can do this. I can do this.  Tomorrow is step up day, and my kiddos are headed to a third grade classroom for about fifteen minutes.  While I talk to first graders about second grade. I've been warning my kiddos about the importance of first impressions so they get their acts together and really wow the third grade teacher they visit, all while keeping their current teacher happy at the same time. Win, win. 

Today was s'more day.  We made s'mores, which surprisingly only a handful of my kids had ever had before,and wrote about what we would do if we had s'more time in second grade. Most of my friends wanted more recess, more field trips, and more fun and field days if they had s'more time in second grade. 

If you want to do a s'more day with your class, I have uploaded the craftivity templates and writing paper for grades 1-5 to my stores.

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Teachers Notebook 

Edit: While I loved the big s'mores my kiddos made because they were adorable, I wasn't thrilled with how bulky they were.  S'mores are supposed to be tiny, right?  So I've revised the file to include big and little s'mores!

 I love, love, love the little s'mores!  They are more s'more size and the writing paper is now half of a piece of portrait sized copy paper.  They are so precious!

We still have some academics to squeeze in, we mastered the basics of multiplication, now it's time for division.  We watched a great Brainpop Jr. on equal groups and started working on these pizza themed mini book about division.  

 Today we went over the definitions for division and practiced writing division story problems. 

 Tomorrow we'll be working on solving word problems and hopefully doing a to be determined hands on activity to get them up and moving on our second to last day of school!

 

Pizza, Pizza Division is a freebie at my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook stores! Enjoy!

I'm off to drink some coffee, the end of the year chore list continues!