Friday Freebie: RTI Resources

 (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/RtI-Response-to-Intervention-If-Then-Reading-Interventions-Menu)

I Don't Like Reading Book Review

I Don't Like Reading

Lisabeth Emlyn Clark

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Children’s Fiction

Publication Date: August 21, 2017

Harry likes a lot of things like playing with his best friend Tom, climbing trees, and drawing, but Harry does not like reading. The words can make him feel dizzy or look too big or too small. Reading is really frustrating for Harry, and sometimes he gets really nervous when he thinks about reading at school.

One night, Harry finally tells mom how he feels, and after talking it over with his teacher, Harry works with a few extra adults at school like the special needs coordinator and an educational psychologist. With the team, his mom's help, and his own willingness to try, Harry realizes that he can read. It just might be a little harder for him.

I Don't Like Reading depicts the frustration many kids at school face with reading. Harry is illustrated in a way that leaves his age a bit ambiguous so readers of many ages up through upper elementary will see themselves in Harry's struggles. As Harry goes through the educational testing process, he meets with a special needs coordinator and an educational psychologist which mirrors what children go through when being tested for extra services in school. I Don't like Reading does an excellent job of identifying student frustrations and preparing them for the process they may go through if their parents choose to pursue special education services for extra help.

If you’re interested in reading I Don’t Like Reading, you can purchase a copy here on Amazon. 

*A copy of this book was provided free of charge for an honest review.

Get book suggestions for your kids right in your inbox!  Sign up for my monthly newsletter by clicking here.    

Okay Kevin Book Review

Okay Kevin

A Story to Help Children Discover How Everyone Learns Differently

James Dillon (Author)

Kara McHale (Illustrator)

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Children’s Fiction

Publication Date: April 21, 2017

Okay Kevin is a realistic story about a boy who struggles with reading. Starting in Kindergarten Kevin needs extra help to catch up with his classmates, and he feels like he's not like everyone else. By third grade, Kevin still needs help, but his reading teacher has an important job for him to do. That job helps Kevin see that he is okay just like everyone else, even if he needs a little extra help with reading.

If you're looking for a book about working hard over a long period of time and learning to be okay with your own learning differences, Okay Kevin is a great read aloud for kindergarten - 2nd grade kids and it would be a good independent read for 2nd - 4th graders.

If you’re interested in reading Okay Kevin, you can purchase a copy here on Amazon. 

*A copy of this book was provided free of charge for an honest review.

Get book suggestions for your kids right in your inbox!  Sign up for my monthly newsletter by clicking here.   

TPT Summer Challenge Week One: Makeover Madness

I joined the ladies over at Third in Hollywood, Sparking in Second, Peppy Zesty Teacherista, and Teach Create Motivate for a TPT Seller Challenge.  

The challenge for week one?  Makeover Madness.  I instantly had big plans for giving several of my products a face lift, but I soon was thrown an extra challenge.  The keyboard on my laptop stopped working.  It already takes a decent chunk of time to create (and recreate) products for TPT, but not being able to type or use basic shortcuts has been quite the extra challenge.  

I was determined to make this work though, so with the help of my computer's handy on-screen keyboard, I was able to update one of my freebies.  

Using my On-Screen Keyboard to Update my Reading Fluency Charts

What is an on-screen keyboard, you might ask.  Well, I don't recommend using it unless absolutely necessary because it is just that - a keyboard on your screen that you have to move your mouse to click on each letter you want to type.  It is rather time consuming.  

Even with this set-back, I persevered (after dragging my feet for several days).  So I present to you an updated version of my Reading Fluency Charts:

The cover had a face-lift and the charts themselves now come in two versions: one with clipart that will appeal to younger students and one with a simpler designed (without clipart) that will appeal to older students.

If you're interested in grabbing this updates freebie, head over to my TPT Store by clicking here: Reading Fluency Charts.

Let me know what you think of the new look and enjoy!

Resource Round-up: April 30, 2013

This week's Resource Round-Up is all about Sight Words.

Teaching and memorizing sight words can get a little stale for kids, so here are three ways to spice them up:

1) Sight Word Dominoes

2) Sight Word Word Chain

3) Muffin Tin Sight Words

What other great sight word games and activities do your kiddos like?

International Autism Awareness Day - April 2, 2013 - Free Apps

Today is International Autism Awareness Day.  If you are looking for information about autism and/or want to know more about it, I highly recommend Autism Speaks.

In honor of International Autism Awareness Day, many companies who provide services and materials for children and adults with autism have made their apps through itunes available for reduced price or even free.

If you use iPads or iPhones in your classroom, then you should be able to find quite a few good apps from these two websites that list many of the participating apps:

• iAutism's List
• The iMum's List

Hopefully you can find some good resources. 

28 Days of Free Literacy Resources, Ideas, and Tools: Day 3 - Librivox

Librivox!  When I taught high school English I used this resource all of the time.  The website uses volunteers to record readings of books that are now in the public domain.  No, you won’t find the newest, must-have books on this site, but you will find many of the classics including Shakespeare’s plays.

This website was a life-saver for a couple of my tenth grade students who read at a fifth to sixth grade level.  As a modification, I had them download some of our stories from Librivox with the caveat that they must follow along in their books when listening.  

So visit their site here Librivox and search through their catalog.  You can even volunteer to read a book if you’d like!

Ideas for the Classroom: Bear Hunt

This short two-day Thanksgiving week was going to be great.  I just knew it.  I was in a good mood.  My students were in a good mood.  What could go wrong? 

Well, pretty quickly Monday morning I realized that many of my students hit Thanksgiving overload.  They had done so many fun Thanksgiving activities in class, that coming down for reading intervention to find yet another thanksgiving activity left them less than enthused.

Glancing around the room for an idea as my disappointed second graders sat in front of me, I pieced together this game that I am calling “Bear Hunt.”   I used it all this week (all two days!) and my students love it.  Here it is:

Friday Freebie: Comprehension Sentence Starter Cards

Sometimes my students who struggle with comprehension simply don't know where to start.  That's where these free Comprehension Sentence Starter Cards come in. The cards can be used independently, in small groups, in large groups, or in literature circles. 

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!

Mailing List

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.

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!

Mailing List

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.