Peek at My Spider Week with FREEBIES!!

This week, it's all about those creepy, crawly spiders! My kids are just going to eat it all up!!

Through our study of spiders, I am also going to begin to introduce different text features to the students using this packet. We aren't going to do a whole lot this week with text features, just introduce them and make an anchor chart. We'll really dig in once they're all introduced.

In math, it's all about place value. We started last week, and the kids are having a blast with this game:

In reading stations, we are going strong. I have my kids using a checklist when they're not meeting with me for guided reading. This is the only thing that I've found to work this year. We are so limited on time. Thank goodness for Fabulous in First (I am totally obsessed with her teaching style & ideas)!

You can grab the checklist and bin labels by clicking here or below. 

Andddd.... here are my visual plans for the week. There are a TON of freebies embedded. So, if something looks interesting, just click on the cover to go to the activity!

This week, I am most excited for our new book station! I taught this one to students on Friday and they are already obsessed! You can grab the book we are using here for free.

Have a fabulous week!!!

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Fitting it all in - My Daily Schedule!

I wanted to pop on by today to give you a peek at our schedule each day. It's always so tough to configure these things and I love gathering ideas from other bloggers to help make the most of my time with the kids! Some of my favorite bloggers that I gathered ideas from for my day were Fabulous in First and First Grade Critter Cafe. I don't have any pictures yet of the schedule in place since we just finished up week 2. Once we get there, I'll be sure to update you! :)

Rise and Shine

Daily Language

Spelling Bee: Give students a whiteboard and dry erase marker. Give them a practice spelling test! 

Spell Orally: You spell a word orally and have students tell you what word you spelled. Tell students a word to spell orally and listen as they spell.

Clap/Snap Spelling: Clap low for letters that hang below the line when you write, clap in the middle of your chest for letters that are small, clap above your head for letters that are tall. Snap on the vowels!

Sight Word Game ideas from Fabulous in First!

Eraser memory game: Write new sight words on the board. Show students. Erase one. Have students write the one you erased on their whiteboard.

Hot Potato: Pass around a bag with paper potatoes. Students pull out a potato. If they can read the word, they keep it. If they can't, they put it back in the bag. If students pull out a hot potato, they lose that turn.

Link to a printable for the potatoes!

I included all sight words that we will learn in the first quarter. Perfect review!

I have/Who has: I just made some quick I have who has cards with our sight words on them. I am just changing the cards by the quarter. Download them here. Feel free to change the words!

Mind Reader: Give students clues to the sight word you are thinking of. Have them write their guesses on their whiteboard.

 Example: 'good' - I am thinking of a word that starts with a g. It means the opposite of bad.

This week we did, Pete the Cat!

Here are a few more:

Bad Apple Literacy Unit

Dino-Basketball Literacy Unit

Coming Soon: The Runaway Pumpkin!

I also love the units from Fabulous in First!

Our stations include: Listen to Reading, Word Work, Read to a Partner, Skill Work!

Skill work is where students complete activities that require a recording form.

They have 2 must turn in activities a week. Then, they can play word games!

There you go! I hope this is a helpful little post! :-) Have a fabulous weekend!!

I'll be back with some visual plans for our week 3!! :-)

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Fraction update & Visual Plans!

This week is all about that test. My kids are getting tested for a total of 4.5 hours this week.... that is an hour of our writing block for three days and a half hour out of math for three days. Lots of learning lost there, but-no worries! With the help of More Time 2 Teach, Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher and Inspired Owls Corner, we've got a fun week planned!!

Click on my plans for a closer look, and clickable links!!

If you would like an editable copy of my plans you can click here.

You'll just have to delete my stuff. :-o

We are going to be finishing up our Fraction unit! My kids have been having a blast with this one! You can read about the beginning of our unit here.

After we got back from spring break, we got into the knitty gritty of fractions! We sped through number lines! The kids loved them! 

I took the approach of giving students number line problems before I actually taught them about fractions on a number line. Students used what they knew to problem solve. They LOVE this kind of learning. My math coach introduced this way of teaching to me, and I don't know if I can ever go back. You basically flip your instruction. Give the kids a task, don't teach them and then teach them what they need to know. It's great for assessment and differentiation. Plus, it saves a lot of time!

Here are some student work samples from the problems they were given. The kids did two problem prompts a day with a partner. They problem solved together .... that means discussion about meaningful math topics! Then, as a class we went over what they found. This is where I address any misconceptions. I also did some direct teaching here if it was needed.

 You can really see the progression in learning through their problem solving books. It's really cool!

Lately, we've been working on equivalent fractions, and my personal favorite... comparing fractions! ;-P

When I introduced equivalent fractions, I took a similar approach. The kids came to the carpet with their white boards, and I just had the question and four fractions are the top. I asked the kids to try to solve the first one. (we did go over what equivalent meant).

They were cute when trying to solve for an equivalent fraction.

 They looked at me like I had lost my head. I had them work on 2/3 for about 2-3 minutes. Some students go it, and some were just plain lost. I modeled the first one. Then, as we went onto each fraction I helped them along less and less.

After our lovely whiteboard lesson, we played some equivalent bingo! The cards I used to call out for kids to find their bingo can be found here.

Now, we are playing games to work on equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions. We are using fraction strips to get better. I am pulling groups of 5 to complete activity sheets, and provide support to students who really need it.

We've been up to a lot more lately, and I'm backed up on blog posts for you... but, we'll get there!! ;)

Have a fantastic week!!

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Visual Plans -Reading Block Revised... again! ;)

I am just going to right on ahead and post these visual plans today! Why not do 2 blog posts in one day?! ;)

I've been talking to Meredith from Creativity to the Core non-stop about my reading block and how I am struggling with implementing the reading workshop approach with the station rotations and guided reading meetings that I love. I knew there had to be a way to do it and she helped organize me and guide me into what I should do. Like, she even drew pictures for me! (ah, love her!) 

I like the reading workshop idea, but I feel like there are so many gaps and it can get tedious (just my opinion). So, I am not going to delve deep into it all just yet because I just started but I am letting you peek at my plans and see how I differentiate and get it all in. It worked last week and I bet it will work again!! The kids were SO engaged and busy with meaningful work! The reading block is as follows: 

1.Mini-lesson/active learning

2. Off to stations they go

3. Stations Include: Read to self, respond to reading, skill work, teacher table and word study.

Students only visit four stations a day so each day I switch out station strips. (I will do a blog post later once I've gathered photos)!

Oh, and I am a freebie hound... so, there are a lot of freebie links in there from me and many other amazing TPT-ers!

Just click here or on the image below to see my visual plans up close & to be able to click on the product links!

I hope you can find these useful!

Have a great weekend!!

3

Our Two Day Week is AWESOME!

So, if you know me... you know my brain never ever stops turning when it comes to the 'fun stuff!' Even though I am out of first grade, I still want to make the Holidays special and an awesome learning experience for my students. It is hard to 'theme' things up in third but-the perfect book was brought to my attention and I went wild!

I began thinking of all of the fun things we can do with the book while still practicing our ever so important literary skills... "Thank You, Sarah" Literacy Resources were born! Although, I am upset that I can't get to them all... I am excited that next year-I will have an amazing book and resource to grab!

I found this book to late to be able to purchase it so I will be using the youtube version for my instruction. Thank goodness for youtube... I tell ya! Next year... we'll have the real deal!

Here are just a few of the activities included in the, "Thank You, Sarah Literacy Resources" packet that I created!

Before we begin reading we will begin with synthesizing. We will review and fill out our first box with all of our thoughts. Then, about half way through I'll pause and we will fill out the second. At the end we will fill in our last box and discuss how our thinking has changed.

This week we will also be going over Characterization once again and really digging in with this simple craftivity you see below!

 We are going to work on providing evidence to support our character traits.

We will first answer questions based on Sarah and then go even further with our craft.

We will also be working on deep thinking comprehension questions with our foldable that you see below.

 Then, we will see what else we can fit in... for the first time ever... I wish I didn't have 3 more days off school this week... I just love this stuff & I want to use it all!

If you are interested in this unit you can grab it here or enter the giveaway below!!
Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher & I are joining each other for a quick little giveaway! You can win her new Thank You, Sarah product along with mine! Just enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I've also typed up my plans for this week so you can see what else we are up to!

We are finishing up our elapsed time unit with a journal activity, interactive math activities and a menu board from Diary of a Wimpy Teacher (this girl is amazing)!

Yep... ROCKS!! I can't wait! I purchased Hope King's unit and I am also using Tanja's awesome rock unit as well!

I'll be back tomorrow with a fun debate activity that we did last week!! It's oh so fun!

0

Quick Visual Plans & Freebie!

I'm here to share what we are up to this week in third grade. It's a four day week - so, that's always a positive!! We are still going strong with Charlotte's Web and I hope that we finish the book this week. I'm itching the start something new!

I basically just wrote out a rough outline of what we are doing this week. I always throw more stuff in throughout the week as I think of it! (with Charlotte's Web) ;) I'll be back very soon to share what concepts we've covered with good ol' Charlotte. In the meantime, here are my 'basic' plans!

Just click on any of the pictures to get a closer look - all pictures are clickable... except for the telling time one.. I know, I know - you might need that one. It's almost done and I'll let you know when it's posted!! :)

My social studies is bare... I have a teacher guide that I'm following. We are learning about hemispheres, communities and maps.

These are our word study activities. They have two Must Do activities and when they finish they can do the Can do ones! :) It's all about synonyms this week. I pulled out a synonym packet I made last year for my firsties to help my third graders review! It still works great! I love it!

Here is your freebie this week! I do quick math about 3-4 times a week - it's great review and so fun!

Click below to grab!

I've got lots to share this week so stay tuned for all kinds of updates from my classroom!!! :)

6

Confession: I Over-plan... Peek at my week!

I can post my plans again this week and it really wasn't that hard to do... because I really and I mean really over-planned last week... so, needless to say, I have a lot of stuff left over from last week that we can do this week... like social studies and grammar. You know, the stuff that is already hard to squeeze in anyway! Last week we had teachers coming in and a fire truck visit that made a few things last a big longer than planned... hence-social studies didn't happen last week. Hopefully we get through it this week so we can start some science fun!

This week in math I am using my Multi-Steps Word Problem packet for math.

I can't wait to break into it because it really breaks down the different word problems for my students and I HOPE it helps them grasp this tough concept.

In math stations this week we are still using my October Math Stations.

We are also using some of our Football Math Stations as well!

This week in my plans I have a 5 day freebie for you and I'm calling it quick math. It's an idea I got in blog land and I use it at least 4 days a week to help students review math concepts. It doesn't take long at all and it's so fun! My kids ask if we are doing it everyday!

Just click here or on the picture below to access this weeks freebie!

Tomorrow, I am also starting conferences (ALREADY?!) and I have a freebie in my store that I use to organize my thoughts when I am conferring with parents.

You can find it by clicking below here:

Enjoy your week! I'm headed to school this Sunday afternoon to prep for the week and conferences while hoping this 5 day headache I've had finally goes away!! :-P

1

Visual Plans - What?! 1st, 2nd & 3rd FREEBIE too!!

I've been slacking horribly on this whole visual plan thing this year. The second week of school they were scratched onto sticky notes, next week sorta typed out and filled in as a went. Then, the past two weeks-notebook paper. We finally have a routine. I finally know how I want each day to go - so we can FINALLY start typing up these visual plans! I just love pretty lesson plans - it makes me feel all special inside! -Ha! (weirdoooo)??!! You're a teacher- you understand me!

So, here we are:

Just click the picture below to see what we are doing in third grade this week.

Also, there are interactive math journal freebies for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade inside!

-If you didn't follow me last year when I taught first... then, I would go look at my old plans... I always tend to put freebies with my lesson plans at least 95% of the time! ha ha. So, keeping up with my visuals could be very, very beneficial for you! ;) The free stuff is not posted in my store.

Some of the things I am using this week are:

Spelling Task Cards

Daily Spelling Journals

FREE

October Math Stations 

Subtraction with Regrouping (differentiated)

Track the PLOT

We will be reading Charlotte's Web this week to help us work on plot!

I'll be back soon to share what we did last week with you all! Until then, have a great Sunday!

Who dey!!

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