Friday Freebie {Dolch Sight Word Assessment}

Happy Friday, y'all!
One of the most important tools to have in your classroom is a good, comprehensive assessment. Student assessments tell us where we are, where we need to be, and where we are going. Track your students' growth using the Make, Take & Teach Dolch Sight Word Assessment and Progress Monitoring protocols. This download includes assessment materials for 220 Dolch sight words, student recording forms and progress monitoring charts! Perfect for your school's Response to Intervention (RtI) initiative.

Click picture to download

Phonemic Awareness vs. Phonics- What is the Difference?

Ready for BTS13?

Who blew their entire first paycheck at the TPT Back to School Sale this weekend?  This girl did!  At least now I can say my wish list is only a mile long instead of three.  :)  I bought some really fantastic resources for my new classes this year.  I can't wait to use them.  One of the Language Arts activities I picked out was called "A Dab Will Do Ya."  My K-1 kiddos love to use those bingo markers and dot paints every time I pull them out.  Plus, you can get them at the Dollar Store for super cheap.  The pack that I purchased at TPT from The Printable Princess contains 60 pages of fun and covers these skills:

Differentiate between letter and number
Differentiate between uppercase and lowercase letters
Letter and number formation
Letter matching
Match uppercase to lowercase letters
Beginning sounds
Number matching
Ten frames (a basic introduction)
Counting to 10

Here is a FREE 10 page sample highlighting beginning sounds and CVC words with short vowels.  Check it out.  :)

Teacher Binders- Let's Get Organized!

Psssst......
Are you still using that yucky green lesson plan and grade book from the 70s? Do you usually have stacks of papers up to your eyebrows on every corner of your desk?  Would you like to have your lesson plans, standards, and assessments right at your fingertips at all times?  Then I've got the perfect solution for you. Check out my Binder Organizers on TPT or TN.  I have used these for two years now, and they help to keep me so organized. My binder is my lifeline, and I have it all down to a science.  I always know EXACTLY where to find things. Take a look at my Sock Monkey and Hipster Monster designs here-

If you click on my TPT button on the top right side of my page, it will take you to my store.  Hope this tool will help you in your endeavors to stay organized and be the best teacher you can be!!!

TPT Sale Today and Tomorrow! Don't miss it!

Hey all!

Friday Freebie! {Word Wall Letters}

Hi friends!
Well, summer is officially drawing to a close... Hope everyone is ready for a fantastic school year.  I was finally able to get into my classroom (I was switched to a new room over the summer) and WHOA, was it a mess!!  After some reorganizing, purging, and cleaning, I am super happy with my new space.  We lost two of our Interventionists this year- (I'll miss you Jamie and Karen!!!) so we are in the process of hiring two more before October.  Luckily this year, we are only going to be two to a room instead of three.  Can't tell you how happy I am about that.  Anyway...

Since we have a room that needs to be shared, I set up two very large free-standing white boards to bisect the room.  It helps with noise and to keep the kids from being too distracted.  I have been racking my brain trying to think of something to do with these monsters.  At first I was going to cover them just like bulletin boards or use them to hang anchor charts.  But then it hit me-  these would be perfect for constructing a word wall!  I didn't have the wall space to do that last year, and I think it would help my students so much with their sight word recognition and their writing.

I am going to use washi tape or duct tape to separate my boards into squares-  kinda like this:

So, without further ado, here is the perfect freebie this week-  an adorable chevron (it's all the rage!) word wall letters set.

Click to download

I'll try to get some before and after pictures of my teaching space put up on the blog.  Hope everyone has a great teacher work week!  :)

National Geographic LOVES teachers! {Website Wednesday}

Those of you that know me know that I love to read and learn about nature- animals, plants, weather, bugs, etc....  I stumbled across something today that just rocked my socks off! Did you know that National Geographic has a Young Explorer magazine just for kids?  Even better, it comes with a teacher's guide that has lesson plans, activities, and even discussion questions for use in the classroom- and you can download it all for free, my friends!  This would be fantastic for a whole group lesson on the smart board or for independent computer centers.  The possibilities are endless!!

Check out Nat Geo's Young Explorer site today!!

Friday Freebie!

Hey there!

Ready for your Friday Freebie?  Here is a cute little back to school booklet featuring School Tools.  It is a reading and writing activity all rolled into one- a great way to get your students accustomed to recognizing and spelling all of those important school words.  Click the pic to download!

Fry Words Freebie!

Happy Wednesday, y'all!  

I have an AMAZING free download for you today.  I am printing it off as I speak (or type)!  It is a fun Fry Phrases game that would be great as a small group or center activity.  These phrases contain the first 100 words from the Fry Instant Word List, which represent 50 percent of all the words children encounter in elementary school reading. Repeated reading of a few phrases per week gives students practice reading high-frequency words and developing fluency and general proficiency.  Thanks a bunch to Kristen Smith at A Day In First Grade for this activity.  It is just perfect for differentiating my groups who are moving on from simple sight word recognition to something a little more challenging.

Click Photo to download

For this game, students will work on reading the first 100 Fry phrases with accuracy and fluency. The students first pick a phrase card.  Then they pick out a "voice" card and  read in that voice with emotion and gusto!  My kids are going to LOVE this one.  So fun!

Looking For a Book to Read?

Are you an avid reader?  Are your kids avid readers?  Is trying to get your kids to read like pulling teeth?  At my house it seems that no matter how much my husband and I model this behavior and/or talk about the importance of reading, my boys just aren't buying it.  This summer is all about playing outside and cooling off with a movie or the X-Box.  Hopefully once school rolls around, they will pick up where they left off and get back on track!

I came across this wonderful list that I wanted to share with you.  NPR's 100 Must Reads for Children 9-14 is a collection of amazing stories, classic and contemporary.  Both of my sons fall in this age range, and I remember reading many of these books when I was that age ( a long, lonnnng time ago!) so I was excited about having this list as a resource.  How many of these titles have you read?

Friday Freebie

Hi all!
This week's Friday Freebie comes from Maria M., a teacher/blogger who runs a site called KinderCraze. She does great technology tutorials and creates wonderful resources for the elementary classroom. She was kind enough to share this cute calendar freebie, and I am thrilled to pass it along to you.

This packet includes 2.5" square cards for you to cut out and display on the classroom calendar. The cards remind students (and teachers!) of upcoming school or classroom events such as an assembly, early dismissal, birthday, testing, and more.  Click here to download from TpT. Enjoy!

We Are ALL Smart!

Hi friends!
It's hard to believe that we are approaching August- the summer is just flying by.  I have to say, I am getting really excited about seeing my students again.  I have missed them like crazy!  There are many great things about being an Interventionist, but one of the best things is that I get to work with some of the same students year after year.

Many of my kiddos come to me feeling kind of crummy about themselves, not understanding why they can't just pick up on concepts as easily as their classmates do.  They sometimes have a hard time dealing with the fact that they have to leave their regular classroom to receive extra help in my room.  Their self esteem is not as high as it could be due to their learning difficulties or their lack of support at home.  I try my very hardest to build them up while they are with me- academically as well as emotionally.  I try to make them understand that we are all unique and special in our own way.  There are many ways to learn, and we all have positive attributes that help us to learn.

I am very inspired by Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences and the belief that as humans we all have strengths and weaknesses in different areas.  Read more about these theories here.  I display posters, that are written and illustrated in kid-friendly language, describing these theories in my classroom for the students to view.  I like that every student can identify with at least one of the domains and see that they each have characteristics of value.

Last week I found this amazing resource from Stephanie at Falling Into First, and I want to share it with you. She created a back to school unit incorporating the eight Theories of Multiple Intelligences: Word Smart, Music Smart, Body Smart, Art Smart, Number Smart, Self Smart, Team Smart, and Nature Smart.  Her unit includes a story to read to your new class. In the story, the little girl is sad on the first day of school because someone told her only smart kids can go to school, and she doesn't feel smart. Her teacher assures her everyone is smart, then proceeds to introduce her to her classmates and share their different types of smart.

After reading the story, the students each get a sticky note with their name on it.  They will then choose one type of smart that they feel they relate to most and stick their sticky note underneath it.

Brilliant!!!

The main idea of this lesson is to show the kids that everyone has strengths they can feel proud of and show them that "book smart" isn't the only type of smart that is valued. Students will also complete a short writing piece about the smart they select. When they finish their writing they are given one of these bracelets to wear proudly around the school!

In addition to this fabulous activity, there are many other back to school get-to-know-you type lessons in this pack.  Hop on over to Falling Into First to read more about this lesson and download either a first, second, or third grade pack for yourself!!  Worth every cent! :)

Monday Make-It!

Hello, everybody!
Today I thought I would post a tutorial for a recent project that I made for my classroom.  Like most teachers, by the end of the first marking period of school, my desk drawers become over-run with supplies and junk.  After seeing all of the adorable "teacher toolboxes" floating around Pinterest, I decided to make one of my own with the help of Melissa M. from Common Core and So Much More.  She so graciously posted the adorable labels for each drawer on TPT for FREE!  She even made the document editable so that you can customize your drawers. Thanks, Melissa! Click here to download your labels...

OK, now- I can tell you from experience, this toolbox looks much bigger online than it is in person.  When I saw it in the store, I was surprised.  The box is somewhat shallow, but with that being said, it still holds all of the important stuff.  If you want to use it to hold pencils and ball point pens, they can't be full-sized.  You can put sharpened pencils and smaller sized pens in the drawers.  Sharpies and markers, however, will fit! :)

My box was purchased at Home Depot.  Here is what it looks like:

Just go to www.homedepot.com and type in your zip code to see if your local store carries it. You can order it online or pay for in-store pick up.  I felt that the price was pretty reasonable in order to save my sanity!  :)

Next you will need to gather your supplies:

• scissors
• white card stock
• clear double sided tape: 
  
  
  
  After I downloaded my labels from TPT, I added a text box to every one and filled in each drawer's description.  I printed them on card stock for durability and cut each one out.  I used the double sided tape on the FRONT of the label to adhere each one to the drawer.
  
  
  Here is my finished project:
  
  
  
  
  
  Can't wait to use it this year!  Let me know how yours turns out.  :)
  
  
  
  

Friday Freebie!

Howdy, friends!

Summer is rolling along, and I am enjoying this relaxing time with my family and friends.  Hope you are too! I have decided to make a new goal for myself this week- No matter how busy I may get, I am going to post a FANTASTIC freebie for my readers each and every Friday.  The purpose of my blog is to share creative educational resources with my teacher friends out there, and with parents of elementary schoolers as well. I never want to lose sight of my goal. So, I hope you enjoy my posts.

This week's freebie comes from First Grade Funtastic.  It is an extensive (and adorable!) pack of activities to use with Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes. All of the books in the Pete the Cat series are so engaging to young learners. Your kiddos are going to flip for this one!

So many skills are covered in this freebie pack for grades K-2: 

graphing, sight word recognition, rhyming, sequencing....  Click here to download!

Summer Vacation

Hello, all!
Wow, it's been awhile since I have been on Blogger.  Hope everyone is having a fantastic and fun-filled summer!  Let me dust the cobwebs off this little ol' blog and post something useful for my followers.

Now- if you are anything like me, you are already itching to get back to school.  (yes, I'm aware it is only mid-July...)  I'm kind of weird like that!!!  I have been scouring Pinterest, TpT, and Teacher's Notebook looking for wonderful ideas to use next year with my kiddos.  My computer is smoking, I've been downloading so many products!  I have also been working diligently on creating a new and improved binder system for 2013-14 to help me keep all of my lesson plans, data, and paperwork at my fingertips.  Teaching so many groups in both Math and Language Arts requires some serious organization!!

I'm in love with the new chalkboard craze, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and make something super cute AND super useful!  I present to you Sock Monkeys-

and Hipster Monsters!

I created a couple of versions of this- one in PDF, and a fully editable version in Powerpoint.  They are now for sale in both my TpT and TN stores. 

Each version has 18 different binder divider pages and tabs- 

Title Page

Lesson Plans

Class Roster

Calendars

Meeting Notes

Attendance

RtI

IEPs/504s

Standards

Student Information

Data

Conferencing

Grades

Assessments

Center Groups

Curriculum Maps

Parent Communications

Substitute Information

Also included are two spines for your binder, as well as a bonus Welcome sign for your classroom!

  Go check them out!

It's hard to believe...

but it is my very last week with my kiddos.  Our school's RtI budget has officially run out!  It has been such an amazing year.  I am happy to report that the vast majority of my students have made HUGE strides in both Reading and Math thanks to Tier II instruction.  I am submitting my collection of data to the Intervention Team on Friday.  I will be smiling ear to ear when I present this information to my principal, and I know she will be ecstatic when she sees it.  The classroom teachers and I might have even clapped giddily (and/or jumped up and down- shhhhh!) while reviewing our students' post test scores today.  It is very exciting to see such growth from children who were truly struggling in school this year.

As summer draws near, I would like to leave you with a wonderful activity for your students to remember their 2012-13 school year.  Endeavors such as these one day become special mementos- I even have a few of these childhood projects tucked away myself!  Thank you to Jessica Travis from Wild About Firsties for this adorable memory book. 

Click to Download

I wish all of my readers a very safe, happy, and relaxing summer.  Even though I will be away from the classroom, you know us teachers- we NEVER stop learning!  I will be sure to update my blog often and post about all of the exciting classroom ideas that I come across over the summer months.  Sayonara for now, sweeties!

Website of the Week

 Ok, friends...  I cannot believe it has taken me this long to share my favorite Reading website with you.  Many (if not all!) of my teacher friends out there are very familiar with this site, but those of you with young children who aren't, let me direct you to Starfall!!!!  Children who are learning their alphabet, letter sounds, or are already on the road to reading will LOVE this educational website.  There are hundreds of activities for children of all ages to enjoy.  Their systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ESL).  We all know how important phonics instruction is, and Starfall has it by the boat load!  Hope you enjoy. :)

Stupendous Subitization

Subitizing is "instantly seeing how many."  Subitizing is a relatively new concept for me. Children often have little experience with subitizing. When I first learned about this concept, I thought it pertained only to kindergarten, first grade, and struggling students beyond those years. However, I have now seen that children of all ages benefit from subitizing.

What is subitizing, and why is it important? Clements and Sarama (2009) define two types of subitizing. The first, perceptual subitizing, pertains to the ability to both perceive intuitively and simultaneously the amount in small number sets. No counting is necessary, you just know the amount when you see it. Children develop the prerequisite skills for perceptual subitization at a young age. According to Clements and Sarama, children begin naming collections of 1, 2, and 3 from ages 1-2. By age three, children can also create collections made of 1-3 objects, sometimes 4. Perceptual subitization up to a collection of 4 occurs at age four, and the recognition of sets of 5 develops at age five.

The second type, conceptual subitizing, relates to the ability to instantly see the parts, and join them together to make a whole. For example, given a picture of five arranged with three and two dots, a conceptual subitizer would see 3 and 2, and know that makes 5. Again, no mathematical operations may be consciously enacted, but rather, an instant recognition that the parts make that whole. As children progress, subitizing helps with the visualization of operations and mental math. Conceptual subitizing to five and ten begins at age five. By age six, children are able to conceptually subitize to 20. At this age, five and ten-frames are helpful organizers for promoting subitizing at these higher levels. Skip and counting and place value with subitization begin at age seven, and by age eight, children see multiplicative relationships, such as 5 groups of 10, and 4 groups of 3, which makes 50 and 12, so 62 dots. As you can see, children benefit from subitizing activities well into third grade and beyond.

In my search for spectacular subitization activities for my Tier II students, I have come across a few really great ones.  Just click the pictures to download these freebies!

Happy subitizing!!!

#EdCampRVA!

Last weekend, my teaching partner, Jamie, and I were fortunate enough to attend Richmond's very FIRST EdCamp at St. Christopher's School.  Wow!  What a great experience.  EdCampRVA was presented as an "unconference" for educators in the Richmond area.  Teachers and administrators of all walks of life and backgrounds met to discuss the latest trends and topics in education.

Jamie and I were kind of unsure about how this whole thing would go down.  Our business minded husbands thought we were crazy for signing up for a meeting that had no "agenda".  We assured them that when you put a hundred teachers in a room, amazing things magically occur.  Boy, were we right!!!  We couldn't imagine how the "unstructured" structure of this event would come to fruition, but the EdCamp planners made it all come together.  Very quickly, I might add...

First, all of the campers brainstormed ideas that we wanted to learn more or teach others about-  areas of concern, areas of expertise, or topics and skills that we wanted to integrate into our own classrooms.  This was the batch of ideas that we came up with.  Pretty awesome, huh?

When we arrived at EdCamp, along with our name tags, we were given three sticky dots.  These dots were used as votes to indicate which mini-seminars we wanted to attend.  Each room in the school was a designated meeting place for the campers.  

Next, we read the wall and made decisions about what topics would be most beneficial for each of us.  We placed our stickers on our choices and were told to "vote with our feet", meaning that if we weren't getting what we were looking for out of the group, that we should move on to something else- no feelings should be hurt.  We wrote down our personal schedule for the day and went about our merry way- learning, sharing, and meeting other fabulous educators in the process!  :)

At the end of the day, we walked away with new contacts, fresh ideas, and a renewed love of learning!  I will DEFINITELY be attending EdCampRVA again in the future.  

Sound interesting to you?  

Start one in your own hometown- nothing beats this kind of grassroots collaboration!

Hop on Twitter and search #edcamp.  :)

Spring has Sprung...

Hey Y'all!  We are back from Spring Break and ready to roll.  Although the kiddos seem a little tired today, I know they are happy to be back at school and are ready to get back in the swing of things.  It's the final nine week period of the school year, and I am dedicated to keeping all of my kiddos on track!  We still have many skills to cover and lots of work to do.  Now that all of my K/1 students seem to have their letter sounds mastered, we are moving on to sight word recognition.  I have SO many wonderful sight word activities to share with you.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

My number one fave is this SUPER HERO sight word activity from Erin at SmallTypes.  My first graders absolutely loved this writing activity, as you can see below!

Visit Erin's TpT store to download this awesome freebie! 

Next is this really creative freebie from the Moffatt Girls... Now, if you have never visited their wonderful, amazing, fantastic, incredible blog, you MUST go check it out right this second. 

THE MOFFATT GIRLS ROCK!

Their TpT store is also chock full of freebies and exciting educational ideas.  Anywho, here is a "Crack the Code" activity that I am going to be using this week.  I thought this was such a clever idea.  I always wondered what I could do with all those little whimsical picture fonts... now I know!

Click the pic to claim your freebie!

My third and final activity comes from Kimberlee Fulbright at Two Fulbright Hugs.  This sight word extravaganza has FIFTY (yes I said fifty!) sheets of Fry Sight Word practice for your little learners.
This freebie is so comprehensive, you need not look any further!
The students will read, write, color, cut and paste their way to sight word stardom.  :)

Click image to download

Hope these activities will be useful in your classroom or at home.  Please follow me by email if you'd like to get my posts sent straight to your inbox.  Thanks for following, friends! :)

It's Spring Break Time!

Hoppy Easter, friends!!!

This week has been a bit of a bust...  We had a snow day on Monday, and we have another half day on Friday (which means that I don't come to school)!  However, before my little bunnies hop off to Spring Break, I wanted to do a fun little activity that is ALWAYS a hit.
Meet the delicious springtime treat known as BunnyMallows...

Aren't they cute??

What kid doesn't like to enjoy a special snack at school?  Teachers love when we can incorporate learning into eating treats!  Here is the perfect activity for when the kiddos are all hopped up, waiting for the Easter Bunny to come.  Thanks to A Cupcake for the Teacher for this deliciously delightful math lesson.  This comprehensive packet of activities reviews skills like sorting, counting, graphing, adding, and subtracting with pretty pastel marshmallows.
It just can't be beat!

Click on the bunny below for your freebie.

Enjoy your Spring Break!   

Luke- I am your teacher....

Today's blog post title must be spoken in Darth Vader's voice.  Now try it again!  :)

Love this free poster from @chroniclebooks! Just click to download and print-

It's National Incredible Kid Day!

Did you know that March 15th is National Incredible Kid Day?!?  I am lucky have so many incredible kids in my life (especially my two biological ones), and I can't wait to tell them just how wonderful they are today.  Here's a graphic you can print out for your kiddos to tell them why you think they are so incredible.  Imagine the smiles that this one little piece of paper will generate!

Enjoy,
Tori

Standardized Test Stress!

It's Thursday, and I am spending my second morning in a row
with a class full of fifth graders.  

Why, you ask?

It's standardized testing time!!!

I've been an elementary school teacher for almost two decades.  I started teaching around the time that kids were only required to take the occasional IQ or achievement test maybe once or twice during their K-5 careers.  Now in 2013, the students are being tested every single year, multiple times per year- even my Kindergartners.
Let's just say that I am not a fan...

This blog post from Love Teach Blog made me cackle (internally of course because if you make a peep, it's a testing irregularity, and the world stops turning)...  I realized that I'm not the only one who feels sorry for teachers and their students, and truly disagrees with the way that our educational system stresses this one-size-doesn't-fit-all, mind-numbing form of data collection.

Anywho... on a more positive note- If you are reading this you are probably a teacher or a parent who is looking for ways to help your children feel positive about testing and "showing what they know."  Here is a cute freebie that will be sure to get your kiddos prepared for their upcoming tests.  Many struggling readers have difficulty with testing of any kind.  Standardized tests often use vocabulary that kids are not familiar with.  Imagine how hard it would be to do your best if you weren't even sure what the directions were!  This game, created by Angelia Grimes-Graeme at Extra Special Teaching is a fun way to review "testing words" that they may see in the future.  

I hope it is helpful in your class's preparation for testing day.

Peace out from your friendly test proctor!!