Treasures Readers Response Prompts Freebie

First things first, congratulations to Karen from A is for Apple, B is for Blog for correctly guessing how many years I've been teaching on my last post! I will be emailing you My Place Value to the Hundred Millions Daily Review product after I hit publish!

After four weeks of school, I think we will finally have a routine to follow next week.  While I love my kiddos, this school years beginning has been anything but smooth.  Finally, next week we have a normal week.  Title One reading has started, our intervention aides start next week, and I *think* we've found a good balance between my class and their special education teachers class for my ED students beginning on Monday, meaning we can really, really hit the ground running.  

Since next week will be a "normal" week, I plan on starting to add response questions from our reading series to our readers response notebooks.  I first blogged about my reading response notebooks {here}.   

We've been doing mini lessons on good responses with our read a loud Fudge a Mania last week, and will be starting to use them tomorrow.  Doing mini lessons and constructing responses on a common text has made a huge difference in getting my kiddos excited about their readers response journals and many of them can't wait to get their hands on them tomorrow! :)

Formative assessment and reflecting on student work is a huge thing in my district, and while looking over our first two reading tests, I could tell that we need some extra practice in responding to questions about the text, especially when it comes to restating the question.  So I created some readers response questions to go with our weekly story from our reading series.  Thanks so much to Courtney for the inspiration!

Here is a little sample of what one would look like in a journal! 

Here is a little peek at a page of questions for  The Astronaut and the Onion. I've included lots of different questions for each story.  I won't use all of them, but it's nice to have a variety!

If you'd like a copy, just click {here} to download! The background will appear once you download the actual file.  Also, there is no need to ask me to share anything from my Google Drive.  If you would like to download a file, just go to file and click on download! Easy peasy!

If you download, I'd love it if you either followed my blog or left me a comment.  Thanks! :)

Enjoy your Sunday! I hope to be in more a posting routine soon, now that the house is unpacked and school is getting into a more normal routine! :)

TpT: Dig Wait Listen Leveled Readers & Treasure's Freebies

I am so pumped to have finally finished my latest small group packet for TpT.  Usually these packets take about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to create but for some reason, this one took all day.  Not even kidding! Click on the picture to check it out at my Teacher's Pay Teachers store. 

We are starting Unit 5 tomorrow and I am EXCITED.  Mostly because my district doesn't use Unit 6.  That's when we get to do various chapter book/book club activities and I just LOVE doing those.  I'm actually a little sad because my BTF (best teacher friend) is doing the chapter book study we created together over the The Gadget War together right now.  

Well anyways, I do have a couple other Treasure's goodies to share with you.  Non Treasure's friends, if you think you can use the blank templates of these, let me know and I'll upload them as their original PPT files so you can change them to fit the needs of your classroom.
 

 Click {here} for your copy. 

Click {here} for your copy.

I try to make my graphic organizers for each story with lots of little prompts and reminders to make sure the group/independent practice is meaningful for my friends and they're not just sitting there starting at blank graphic organizer.  It's something I've brought to second from my third grade days and it's made a big difference.

I also have some Nutik leveled reader goodies, no small group pack I had some family matters to attend to over the past few weeks, but they are on my computer at school.  I'll post them for you tomorrow!

TpT: Ways to Help Planet Earth and a Freebie

Sorry to break the two posts in a day rule but I just wanted to let my Treasures Reading Series friends know I just uploaded my small group resource packet for A Way to Help Planet Earth!

Since it's a Time for Kids Week, I know I'll be doing lots more with my leveled readers.  Click on the TpT logo to head over to my store and check it out! :)

I know many of my Treasured friends don't use Treasures, so I pulled a Freebie out of my packet for you.  This review game reinforces the variant vowels OO and OU.  :)  Click {here} to download "Three in a Row!" To play, have students put the ou/oo words on the game board in the boxes and then spin the spinner.  If it lands on OO, then the students cover up an OO word, etc.  A student wins when they get three variant vowels in a row! :)

On a unrelated note, where did the weekend go? So not ready for Monday!

TPT: Goose's Story and Cause and Effect Anchor Chart Freebie

I hope all of you had a great Monday!  Even though I dread Mondays, they are actually often some of the best days I have in the classroom and today was no exception.  We had a really great day.  With the exception of DARE time.  I hate DARE.  It's like a really, really bad version of show and tell that lasts for a half hour.  Except it's lead by a police officer who hypes up the kids on stories about stranger danger and has the kids act out "screaming like a little girl and running away" if a stranger approaches them.

I only wish I were kidding.

Academically, we spiraled back to cause and effect.  I treat the mini story from Treasures as a mini lesson and after reading "Bill Helps Geese Survive", we made this anchor chart.

Again, pretty charts aren't my thing but that's not the purpose.  ;)  I have uploaded the typed portions of my anchor charts to Google Docs if you're interested. Just click {here}.

I also finished my small group resources for Goose's Story last night! Woohoo! I've been loving using these in the classroom the past few weeks. Click the preview image to check it out on Teacher's Pay Teachers.

Lastly, my kids have been reusing some old anchor charts to draw on during indoor recess.  Which is brilliant because I despise having indoor recess games because I often find the pieces all over the room.  Today they made me this sweet Valentine's Day card.  ;)  Won't lie, it made my day.

 

Signing off to blog stalk ya'll now!

TpT: Splish Splash Animal Baths and a FREEBIE

If you've read my blog for awhile, you know that my district uses the Treasures reading series.  Which sometimes is a Treasure and sometimes it is.  It depends on the day. :)  When I moved from third to second this year, one thing that scared me was teaching phonics.

Let me give you a little background.  My college thought it would be totally fine to only commit TWO weeks, TWO weeks to phonics in our literacy foundations class.  As a product of whole language as a child, this was not cool.  Luckily, I've since taken a masters class in phonics and have read a lot, so I feel a little bit better about teaching phonics.  A little better, not a lot.

The thing about Treasures is that it does have some really decent activities for phonics but not really the accompanying resources.  Or maybe they do, I just can't find them in my room.  This is what happens when you switch grades/rooms a week before school starts.  Luckily, my district had a team create some pretty awesome Smartboard files to go along with each story, making teaching the phonics skill pretty easy.  Except, I wanted to have my students have some paper/pencil activities to go with them, so the concepts would stick.  Treasures has some great build and blend activities but I don't know where the letter cards are to go with them.  So I made my own. :) 

Additionally, I am starting to switch up my reading instruction.  I do small groups once a week but it's really not enough.  I've started playing with my schedule a little bit, as much as I can.  My administration dictated my instructional schedule and I can't play with it all that much.  But while my enrichment/Title reading kiddos leave, I can be meeting with my on level kids.  It's something my kids need and I know it's best practice but our schedule is goofy! I've been reviewing my Daily Five book and I think I can make this work.  

Treasures has some great leveled readers and some decent small group lessons but nothing to go along with them.  So again, I went and made my own.  :)  I personally feel this is necessary for small groups for me because help me organize our lesson more efficiently.  Plus it holds my kids accountable during our small group time. 

If you like what you see, I've uploaded this resource pack to my Teacher's Pay Teachers Store.  

Included are resources for the build and blends scattered throughout the Teacher's Manual and resources for lessons with your approaching, on level and beyond level students.  I've tried my best to label the pages and let you know which activity sheets go with which pages in the Teacher's Manual.  :)

However, I know lots of you don't use Treasures but you still teach phonics.  So here's a little freebie for you! :)  I'm going to have my kiddos go on a OR/AR word hunt around the school and I've uploaded it to Google Docs for you.  :)  My kids love anything that gets them up and moving around, thus we play scoot with anything we can, so they will love this. :) Click {here} to download your copy!

I hope all of you who are off today are enjoying your day off. :)  If not, I hope that your class was well behaved to make up for it. :)

If anybody else uses a reading series, Treasures/Reading Street, and you do the Daily Five/Small Groups, could you please share a tip that makes it work for you?  I might not get to fully implement until next year but I'd love to hear your advice/see links to resources you've found helpful. 

Treasures Second Grade Unit 3 Review Activity Pack

Hello friends! I've been working super hard on a review unit for my kiddos to work on this week.  We will be doing benchmark assessing over the skills we learned during our third unit this week and I wanted to create a review for my kids that be engaging and purposeful.  Goodbye completing extra workbook pages and hello games and cooperative learning opprotunities!

There are lots of great activities included in this review unit.  There are review activities for summarizing, cause and effect, and using illustrations.  Additionally there is review for reading a calendar, poems with alliteration and similes, a synonym match up center, an antonym scoot, word sorts for long u and long e, double and trip consonant blends and an "I have, Who has?" for Unit Three's high frequency words.  Even if you don't use the Treasures reading program, the activities are generic enough that they would be used in any classroom to review these skills!

Click {here} to purchase the unit on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I will give away one copy of this activity pack to the person who leaves the first comment on this post, please remember this activity pack would be used in any second grade classroom, not just ones utilizing the Treasures reading program.  When commenting, please include your email, so that I can email the file to you!

Hope you all are enjoying your Sunday!  Weekends go by too fast!

Yesterday I uploaded a couple of freebies from this unit.  Click {here} to go to yesterday's post to download the long vowel sorts that are a part of my Treasures Unit 3 Review Pack.

Long E and Long U Word Sorts

Good evening! I hope that everyone is enjoying their weekend! :)  I want to welcome all my new followers! I'm so happy to have ya'll here! :)  I also want to thank you all for all your sweet comments yesterday.  I read and loved each and every single one of them. 

I've been quite the busy little bee today.  I went to Costco, which was crazy town today, did my weekly menu and ran to the grocery store.  Now my hubby is watching football and googling "shark bites" and I'm working on some things for school.  You know just a typical night in our house.  Shark bites, football and school stuff.

As I have mentioned before, my district uses the Treasures reading program.  This upcoming week is a review week/Benchmark testing week.  I wanted to my review more meaningful this week, so I've been developing lots of review activities for us to do for the first part of the week.  I'm pretty excited about it!

I just wrapped up the phonics review section and thought I'd share a freebie with you! :) Yay for freebies.  Although I am using the words from the Treasures spelling lists, these word sorts can be used with any long vowel lesson.  :)

Aren't they pretty?  My husband let me buy some pretty backgrounds and clip arts today. :)  Thanks, hun!

Click {here} to download your own copy! If you grab a copy, please leave me a comment.  :) 

Keep on loving the weekend, friends!

Click Clack Moo Leveled Readers Freebie

My district uses the Treasures reading program and it can be a love/hate relationship at times.  However, this week, I am loving it as the comprehension skill and the story actually align very well.  Tonight I'm sharing with you the set of graphic organizers I designed to use in my small groups this week.  Not only does this freebie help my students practice our weekly comprehension skill, it also helps me structure and organize my small groups more effectively.  Double win!

Click here to download your FREE copy.

I also found out the hard way this year when blog surfing, apparently the leveled readers that accompany each of the stories in Treasures can vary.  So if you plan on using this with your class, please read over the story titles, located in the top right hand corner of each page, carefully!

If you download, please let me a comment below, just so I can get an idea of how many teacher friends might be able to benefit from a resource like this. :)

We did several FUN science experiments as part of our winter unit today and my kiddos are so jazzed to make their own snowflakes covered in snow paint on Friday.  I can't wait to share the recap of the fun we've been having with you soon! 

Click Clack Moo Cause and Effect Flip Book

I've been working, working, working on my winter unit tonight but I wanted to take a break to share a cause and effect freebie that my class used today.  My district uses the Treasures reading series and this week we are reading and loving Click, Clack, Moo and for once Treasures got it right, Click, Clack, Moo is a wonderful story to use for cause and effect.   I love using flip books for cause and effect.  To use just copy the book 1-2 sided, have your students fold their paper in half hotdog style, lift up, and cut along the black lines.  Click on the picture of the flip book to download to your own FREE copy!

Happy Tuesday! :)  We're slowly but surely getting back into our routine!