April Writing Prompts

April Writing Prompts are here!!

You get 33 prompts in a pack, they are Common Core Aligned, and they are only $5.00!

Grab yours today:

April 1st Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

April 2nd Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

April 3rd Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

April 4th Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

April 5th Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

December Writing Prompts are Here!

December Common Core Writing Prompts are here!

Each packet of writing prompts includes a total of 33 Common Core aligned writing prompts:

• 11 opinion prompts
• 11 informational/expository prompts
• 11 narrative prompts

All prompts also come in three different forms to meet the needs of your classroom and your students:

• Posters for Classroom Display
• Individual Writing Prompt Cards
• Individual Lined Writing Paper

Each packet is only $5.00 and you can check them out with the links below:

1st Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

2nd Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

3rd Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

4th Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

5th Grade Common Core Writing Prompts

Enjoy!

Reflective Questions for Responding to Common Core Texts

Check out this helpful chart from TeachThought

I can see this chart being helpful as students create their own questions to ask themselves, ask others, or respond to in writing. 

Having students create their own questions is a critical thinking task in itself.

Resource Round-Up: July 3, 2013

Both of today's resources come from wwwatanabe:

1) Steps of a Close Read

2) Text-Dependent Questions

Enjoy!

TPT: Common Core Reading Assessments - 2nd Grade

My new Common Core Reading Assessments - 2nd Grade is now available!

There are 20 unique reading assessments to help track student's growth across the Common Core Reading: Literature standards.

The packet includes:
1) Terms of Use
2) General Suggestions
3) Common Core Standards
4) Note on Related Texts
5) Note on Passage Reading Levels
6) Reproducible Recording Sheets
7) 20 Unique Reading Assessment Passages

All Reading: Literature standards are covered in each passage's comprehension check.

For more information, check the pack out here: Common Core Reading Assessments - 2nd Grade

*Remember that all new products are 50% off for the first 48 hours!

TPT: Common Core Literacy Centers Packet

This Common Core Literacy Centers Packet includes 8 different centers with 160+ pages for your kiddos.  My students enjoy playing/learning at these centers.  They especially love "Puzzle Words," "Rolling for Words," and "Small Word Finder."

I use these activities with 1st and 2nd grade students who are on level and with several of my 3rd and 4th grade Tier II and III intervention kiddos.

Friday Freebie: Non-Fiction Text Feature Scavenger Hunt

This week's Friday Freebie is a Text-Feature Scavenger Hunt for Non-Fiction.  This two-page scavenger hunt works great with so many subject areas.

Using the scavenger hunt really allow kids to explore their math, history, business, health, etc. textbooks.  Doing so helps students build a better understanding of how to read all parts of their non-fiction books.  Also, students will gain an understanding of how and why their non-fiction books are structured the way they are. 

Hope you and your students find it useful!

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PK-2nd Grade

3rd-5th Grade

6th-8th Grade

9th-12th Grade

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Friday Freebie: Fluency Tracking Sheets

Since I mainly work with students in Tier III interventions, it is vital that I track their progress, but all students benefit from timely monitoring of their progress.  Formative assessments provide teachers with so much information.  Are the students on track?  Are they growing?  Are they growing at a rate that will allow them to get on track with their peers? 

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then we as teachers know that something needs to change.  If I look at the results of progress monitoring and see a stagnant line, that tells me I need to change the interventions my kiddos are getting.  Obviously these particularly strategies are not working with these particular students. 

One area that many of my students are working to improve is their reading fluency.  To help track their fluency progress, I created four Fluency Tracking Sheets. 

The four sheets have different ranges of words per minute on them, making them useable for any grade level.  They are great visuals for seeing how students are progressing.  They're available for free on TPT.  You can get to them by clicking: Fluency Tracking Sheets.

I hope you find them useful too!

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Signup for iHeartLiteracy news and special offers!

PK-2nd Grade

3rd-5th Grade

6th-8th Grade

9th-12th Grade

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

Ideas for the Classroom: Word Spinners

Back in August when I entered my new classroom for the first time, I spent most of the day going through the piles of resources in the room.  Most seemed unorganized.  I found several intervention resource series with at least one book missing, piles of miscellaneous worksheets, papers shoved in corners, a tub of reading games, and a box of random items.  I'm sure there was some order to the room that made sense to the person who was there before me, but I was lost.

I immediately started organizing things by priority.  The last box of random items fell to the bottom of the list.  Recently, however, I reopened that box, and found a packet of black arrow spinners, and I started wondering how I could use them.

Spinners are fun. I loved them when I was a kid, and it makes learning seem more like a game.  There is excitement in and anticipation when you get to spin something.  Where will it land?  What will I get?

So after thinking about my kiddos needs and what they were struggling with, I came up with these CVC spinners.

Basic Spinners

They are pretty simple and easy to make.  All you need is:

TPT: 1st Grade Common Core I Can Statements

My school is converting to the Common Core starting in January.   To prepare for this I made 80+ ELA Common Core "I Can" Statements for 1st grade.  (Other grades will be coming soon!)

They come in five designs including:

1. Polka Dots
2. Plaid (Argyle)
3. Pink & Green
4. Retro
5. Plain

You can customize the plain statements any way you like to fit your classroom.  Examples of the four other styles are below.

Polka Dots

Plaid (Argyle)

Pink & Green

Retro

TPT: Short Vowel Word Work Activities

To help build early literacy skills, I created Short Vowel Packets for each vowel.  The packets mainly work with CVC words and common word families like -an, -et, -ip, -ot, and -ug, but a few other non-CVC word families like -ill, -ock, and -uff are also included.

Here are a few FREE sample pages from the Short A Packet:

 

Each packet includes:
-Two Vowel Posters
-Five Word Work Activities and Games:
1) Circle It
2) Highlight & Rewrite
3) Word Sort
4) Matching
5) Roll 'em & Read 'em

You can purchase each vowel packet individually or bundled together for a discount.  To see a preview of the packets or to purchase them, you can find them here:

• Short A Packet
• Short E Packet
• Short I Packet
• Short O Packet
• Short U Packet
• Short A, E, I, O, and U Discount Pack

Friday Freebie: Active Reading Strategy Bookmarks

These free Active Reading Strategy Bookmarks are great for students at all grade levels.  I've used them with third graders and tenth graders and several grades in between.