Tag: ELA

common core · Data and assessment · ELA · literacy centers · Uncategorized · writing

Opinion Writing Pack and a FREEBIE!

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Calling all 2nd and 3rd grade teachers! Do you need an easy opinion writing unit that doesn’t take YEARS to prep, is common core aligned, engaging, and student centered? Well look no further!

OPINION WRITING PACK GRADES 2-3

 

From ready to print anchor charts, to sorts, games, graphic organizers, writing prompts, assessments, checklists, etc. this pack has pretty much EVERYTHING you need to start a successful writing unit. One of the reasons I love this unit so much is because of the resources to help scaffold and differentiate instruction when needed. If you teach ELL students, this resource is especially helpful! The graphic organizers, charts, sentence stems, etc. really help every student succeed! I even included a breakdown of how to use all the resources to implement a 4o day opinion writing unit!

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A few years back when teaching 2nd grade, I was trying so hard to teach opinion writing with the common core standards without having all the resources I really needed. I felt that my teaching was all over the place. I would use free revised Lucy Calkin’s lessons that I found online, various common core aligned lessons/activities/printables I found, and random books I had in my classroom library to help. While I was happy with how my students’ writing was improving and progressing, I felt lost, stressed, and ALWAYS thinking about WHAT I was going to teach next. I never really had a full plan with where I was going. That’s when this pack was created. It made my life so much easier, my students writing so much better, and it was actually a very fun unit to do! Other teachers have tried it and so far I’ve heard only positive results! I hope your classroom has the same success and fun as well!

PREVIEW THE ENTIRE PRODUCT HERE!

Get one of the opinion writing graphic organizers for free  HERE!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mrs. B

common core · daily 5 · Data and assessment · ELA · literacy centers · reading intervention · Uncategorized

Letter Sorting

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Before students can become fluent readers, there are many foundational skills needed. One skill is knowing the difference between lowercase and capital letters. An easy way to help your students practice this is by SORTING! Here’s an easy no prep cutting/gluing sorting page:

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Another foundational skill that readers need is the ability to distinguish between letters and words. Here’s  a sort for that!

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If you think you could use these in your class, check out all 12 of the sorts I’ve created right here: LETTER SORTING! 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Mrs. B

back to school · classroom management · Data and assessment · ELA · reading intervention · Uncategorized

How to Easily Assess Sight Words

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I always get a little anxious before report cards and conferences. I am the type of teacher that spends so much time debating what grade I’m going to give each student for every single standard. I have found that the easiest way to ensure each student is getting the most accurate and appropriate grade is to have artifacts/assessments/work samples from each student that demonstrate their knowledge on each thing. Sight Words is a big one in second grade. It comes up multiple times directly and indirectly on the report cards we use (sight word knowledge, reading fluently, reading at grade level, etc.). I want to make sure I know exactly what sight words my students know and don’t know. So, I created this easy assessment!

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Using this assessment pack, you can assess students’ sight word knowledge one on one in about 5 minutes!

Here’s what you do:
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Have one of these checklist pages printed for EVERY student. I keep an assessment binder with a divider for each student. On the divider I write their name and number so I can easily find their tab.

Give your student this sheet below. I have ones made for all the DOLCH word lists (pre-primer, primer, grade one, grade two, and grade three).

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The words on these sheets are in the same order as the checklist. As the student reads them aloud, you are highlighting or checking off the words read correctly on the checklist! It’s that simple!

I have found that this way is extremely effective, and I have a list of all the words that the student knows (and doesn’t know) when I’m ready to do report cards and parent teacher conferences. I also give these word lists out to parents at conferences so they have a copy of the words to practice at home.

HERE’S THE LINK TO THE ENTIRE ASSESSMENT PACK! 

I hope this assessment pack will help some of you before conference and report card time!

Let me know how you like it!

-Mrs. B

ELA · homework ideas · literacy centers · Uncategorized

More Parts of Speech Fun!

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I’m not sure exactly why, but I LOVE teaching parts of speech. So it’s probably not a surprise that I’ve created yet another product for them!

These printable sheets will give your students more practice with learning and understanding parts of speech while also letting them have fun! This fun pack is aligned with the Common Core to meet the language standards L 1.1 (first grade), L 2.1 (second grade) and L 3.1 (third grade).

 

Check out the full product HERE!

These are just a few pages from the 35 page product I created. They are perfect for literacy centers, independent practice, assessments, homework, or early finisher activities.

Hope you like them as much as I do!

-Mrs. B

 

classroom management · daily 5 · ELA · literacy centers · reading intervention · Uncategorized

Reading Strategy Cards

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I remember a day a few years back when I was reading with a student. That student was completely guessing on words she didn’t know. I had recently taught the class the strategy “cross checking” (Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?). I knew that we had an anchor chart displayed in the room somewhere and I kept reminding this student to look at it. It was apparent that the student needed a reminder right in front of her to help her with this strategy. So, I created READING STRATEGY CARDS! 

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Here’s what you do:

  • Print a bunch of them (I suggest at least 20 of each strategy card)
  • Laminate and cut them all out
  • Organize them in baggies, a file folder, a binder with sheet protectors and dividers, or any other way that works for you so that you know how to easily get to each strategy card
  • Have them ready wherever you work with students (mine were in a binder on my guided reading table)

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Then, when you are working with a student and you see that they need to be taught/reminded of a strategy, bring out the card, teach/reteach the strategy to them, watch them practice it, and send them off with the strategy card. They can keep them in plastic bags or keep them on binder rings.

I have all my students have all their strategy cards out in front of them while they read in the classroom. When I meet with students one on one to read, they have them out and we review them. When I meet with small guided reading groups, they have them out. When they partner read, they have them out. They are ALWAYS out when reading.

When I notice that a student doesn’t need that strategy out as a reminder anymore, I have them return the strategy card to me. This just makes it so they don’t have 15 cards out in front of them. I suggest no more than 3-5 cards at a time.

I have created 36 reading strategy cards that are all aligned with the Common Core Standards. Here are the strategies that are included:

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You can get the reading strategy cards here!

Still aren’t sure you will use them and LOVE them? Try a few out for free here!

Let me know how you like them!

-Mrs. B

back to school · ELA · social studies · Uncategorized

The Most Unique Year Long 5th Grade Reading Log That Helps Teach Social Studies!

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Are you a fifth (or fourth) grade teacher? Do you want a great way to motivate your students to read? Do you want an easy, independent student reading log that tracks your students’ reading for the ENTIRE year? Do your students need to learn the states and capitals this year? If you answered YES to any of the above questions, then look no further!

slide01CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PRODUCT!

This is a year long reading log that can be used to track student reading at home while also helping students learn the US states and capitals. Students will attempt to “travel” to each state capital by either minutes read or pages read. Each mile= 1 minute read or 1 page read.

Example: Students must read 209 minutes or 209 pages (teacher decides which one) in order to travel from Nashville, Tennessee to Frankfort, Kentucky. They continue on reading until they have reached and traveled to all 50 states and capitals!

When I tried this out with my students, I had NO IDEA just how motivating this would be. I would overhear students casually chat to each other about what state capital they were currently at, ask how many more “miles” until they reached the next state capital, etc. Then when it was actually time to focus on learning the states and capitals, it was A BREEZE! I’m so happy with the way this year long reading log played out.

Here are more pictures of what the reading log looked like:

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Example reading log
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Student checklist of all the capitals                 they’ve traveled to

 

 

Check out the full product on my TPT store!

I hope you enjoy!

-Mrs. B 🙂

 

ELA

Teaching Parts of Speech!

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I have always LOVED teaching parts of speech. Maybe it’s my love of singing and dancing (which can easily be added to these lessons), or maybe it’s my love of sorting (perfect for teaching parts of speech). Either way…it’s such an important skill that students need to master to be successful in life. Knowing parts of speech inside and out help students with reading, writing, and so much more!

Here are a couple of anchor charts that I have used for teaching nouns and adjectives…

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Disclaimer: I am an AWFUL drawer 🙂

This noun chart is pretty traditional and helps students distinguish between people, places and things. I didn’t include ideas in this chart, but you could easily add it if you wanted to. Also, I always discuss the category “animals” with students and let them debate if animals should be included in the “people” or “things” category. It’s actually a great side lesson and interesting to hear second graders give their opinions and reasonings! Try it!

 

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This adjective chart is a little different than ones I’ve used in the past. I thought it was a fun way to introduce adjectives! I’m not really sure what the “x” personality trait really means (had to google it), but it was all I could come up with. HAHA!

Now…for my love of song and dance. Below is a FREEBIE! I created this little song as a cute way to introduce and practice what nouns are! Hopefully in the near future I will create ones for adjectives, verbs, etc.

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You can download it here: The Noun Song Freebie!

Now for my love of sorting to help teach parts of speech…

I’ve linked this product to my TPT store here: Parts of Speech Sorting Extravaganza!

It includes 16 cutting/gluing sorting activities all for just $2.00. I can’t begin to tell you how many uses there are for these!  Independent practice- check! Assessments- check! Homework- check! Literacy centers- check! Perfect classwork when you have a substitute- check!

I hope these things help in your classroom!

What are your favorite ways to teach parts of speech?

-Mrs. B