Here are some developmental writing rubrics and standards or expectations-based rubrics for kindergarten teachers.

Every year I love to help my students really reflect on themselves as readers–and I strive to help them understand that reading is more than just getting the words right…as we start the year I really try to help them understand all the different factors that impact the ability to read and make sense of […]

I was talking about this book with a colleague the other day. More like singing its praises. It was then that I thought I needed to share this resource with my blog friends. If you teach intermediate grade writers, YOU WANT THIS BOOK! The title of this gem is Razzle Dazzle Writing: Achieving Excellence Through 50 Target Skills by Melissa Forney. I love this book! It is so on-target with the skills it covers and so appropriate for intermediate grade writers. This book is perfect for 3rd grade through middle school. If I don't tell you another thing about it, you should just go buy the book because it is selling on Amazon.com for a very cheap $13.57! Honestly, I would quickly pay at least twice that for this book without blinking. Ms. Forney also has a sister book for the K-2 set called Primary Pizzazz Writing. I haven't seen it in person, but it looks like a winner. The pages of Razzle Dazzle Writing are meant to be copied for your friends and used as a teaching and reference tool. Here is a checklist from the book that notes the 50 skills covered: As you can see, the topic lend themselves to your everyday teaching throughout the year. However, this book is also great for test prep. Ugghhhh! I hate to even utter those words, but they are a fact of life for us these days. Let me be clear though that Ms. Forney is very clear in the book that it's not all about the writing prompt. She does state that our friends need to know the difference between prompted writing and free writing. I also believe this. As much as we would like our friends to embrace writing and freely write as they are inspired, the reality is when the state test comes they are going to be directed via a prompt to do a very specific type of writing. I used the mini lessons in this book to create an anchor chart on understanding the different types of prompts: And, here is another chart I created using one of Melissa Forney's lessons on using a "writing glove" to help your friends properly address narrative prompts. Sigh! Just noticed that I spelled dilemma incorrectly on the chart. Will be fixing that in class ASAP. Sorry about that! Ms. Forney has great ideas for this mini lesson. The book even includes reproducible gloves for your friends to cut out and put on a stick. The creation of these two anchor charts is directly inspired, if not copied, right from Razzle Dazzle Writing. I tweaked a bit for my friends, but the book is so well put together you can essentially photocopy what you need and do your lesson with minimal prep. Razzle Dazzle Writing includes tons of pages you can copy for your friends to keep as reference, there are also poems and reader's theater scripts that are included to reinforce many of the lessons. The poems are fun and easily understandable for your friends. The reader's theater scripts get right to the point in a fun way , yet they are short enough to be done as part of a mini lesson. I have yet to find anything in this book that isn't a perfect fit for my friends. Melissa Forney has an incredible web site where you can learn more about her books and philosophy. Click HERE to be taken to Forney Educational, Inc. There are also free downloads available on the site. THIS PDF DOWNLOAD is for a booklet titled Young Writer's Survival Guide. It is an excellent resource for your friends. Many of the topics in this guide are topics covered in more depth as different mini lessons in Razzle Dazzle Writing. That PDF alone should convince you to buy the book! So, have I gushed enough? I hope so! This is not a paid endorsement. This is a post on a book that I find myself going back to again and again and think you will, too. If you know this book, please share your thoughts. If you end up getting this book, let us know how you like it. On a totally different topic, every time I think of the name of this book, it makes me think of this scene from the movie Stripes with Bill Murray. I know, totally dating myself yet again! Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a copy of Testing Miss Malarkey and assorted other goodies!

A post with a FREEBIE to help families with what questions to ask about reading at home with their students. This powerful resource is a game changer!

Friday was one of those fun, engaging, awesome days of learning. It was play-based, rigorous, and had my operating room of 1st grader doctors begging for more. Today I wanted to share with you more…

A collaborative blog by Pre K and Kindergarten specialists. Child growth and development, information, free printables.

Understanding characters can be tricky! Learn my favorite strategies for helping students master character traits and changes.

I'll reveal an embarrassing fact about myself. The people that work at the print counter at Office Max know me. I'm mean really know me. I coached the new guy on how to find the right barcode in his binder, so I could check out the last time I went. (Yesterday.) As in, they even recognize my husband because I send him over there a bunch to pick stuff up for me. (I have a nice husband.) I'm at the print counter at Office Max waaaaaay too often. Here's the thing, though. You know how you see a poster at the teacher store, and it's almost what you want? And you're thinking to yourself, "Gosh, if it just said _____________ instead, it would be perfect!" This happens to me often, especially with writing. We use Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for writing, and let me tell you, there are no Lucy Calkins teaching posters at Lakeshore. Yes, I could make it on chart paper. But I can't. Because I expect my posters to look like this: I Do, We Do, You Do The First Grade Parade Working for the Classroom The Inspired Apple And they never do. Ever. So what's an OCD girl to do but make them herself on the computer? If you have the newest version of Word, you can do some snazzy stuff. Check out this post I read on Teaching Blog Addict that tells how to use Word to make a blog button: Blog Button in 3 Tutorials. You can make some good looking graphic work. I didn't know about all this business in the newest Word, but I do have Printshop. I even recently downloaded Photoshop Elements. I love it, but it's a bit of a time commitment to figure it out. So go create your 11x17 file in one of these programs and get to the next step. Moving right along. At Office Max or Office Depot, you can upload a file to their website (or bring in a flash drive), and they'll print out an 11x17 color poster on nice, glossy card stock for you. For less than $2. Seriously. It works like this: After that, you put in your name/number/etc. and then select which store you want to pick it up from. Office Depot's process works EXACTLY the same, except you also have the option to pay online. I'm sure Staples has something similar. Sadly, no Staples near me. Try it out for yourself! Here are two posters I've made: Plot Poster Love **To download, click on the name of the file (shown above the image). The link will open and just click download. Voila! Happy poster making!

Well, 10 days away from Christmas Break {note…I initially wrote this last week and I never finished it…yikes!} and I feel like I have finally hit my reading-teacher groove. After months of training and trying, we have finally ‘fit’ it ALL into our 50 minute class period: flashback, mini-lesson, guided practice/Kagan structure, exit slip, AND...

4 Kinds of Sentences have two versions on how they label the sentences. Younger students learn that sentences can be statements, questions, commands, and exclamations. By 4th grade, students learn that those kinds of sentences have a new name. They learn the words declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamation. I call them the "grown up" words for statements, questions, commands, and exclamations. To help, here are two posters with the different 4 Kinds of Sentences. One poster shows the sentences of Statement, Command, Question, and Exclamation. The other poster shows the sentences of Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory. Click the picture to download both posters. Both posters come in a black and white copy too. Hang the posters on your Language Arts Wall or use when teaching a mini lesson on the 4 Kinds of Sentences to remind students about each kind of sentence. I have also created activity packs to go along with each of the 4 Kinds of Sentences. Each pack includes 36 task cards. Use the task cards for a reading center to identify the 4 kinds of sentences. Or use the task cards for small groups or engaging games. I have also included a pack of writing centers and worksheets. There is plenty to do in this pack. It is loaded with sentences. Students need to identify each of the 4 Kinds of Sentences. Plus these task cards and worksheets are uploaded into Google Slides and Google Forms to use with Google Classrooms. Below has a few pictures of what's included in these packs. Click on the pictures to read more about it. Purchase 4 Kinds of Sentence Pack (statement, questions, command, exclamation) right here at a discounted price! ********************************************************** I have also created a second set of the 4 Kinds of Sentences that have to do with Declarative-Interrogative-Imperative-Exclamatory sentences. This pack is also loaded with sentences. This set includes 36 task cards to identify sentences and/ or use with the other games and centers in this pack. It also has writing centers and worksheets dedicated to sentences. Plus these task cards and worksheets are uploaded into Google Slides and Google Forms to use with Google Classrooms. Click on the picture to read more about this pack. Purchase 4 Kinds of Sentence Pack (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamatory) right here at a discounted price! Try These: 4 Kinds of Sentences Task Cards: These packs below only includes task cards, no games or centers. Students read the sentence on the task card and decide which kind of sentence it is. Thanks for stopping by today! See you soon, Click the picture on the left to see more resources from Teacher's Take-Out!

Via Pinterest.

Hey friends! Well I have to say that writing the past couple weeks was so wonderful! I will be completely honest and say that some weeks our writing time is good and some weeks it’s GREAT! The past couple of weeks the kids were “on” and really had a passion for what they were writing about. When […]

I am sharing the tools, tricks, and resources I’ve developed in my 25+ years in the classroom to help you take back your personal time and successfully meet

Fun With Firsties

Must use anchor charts for spelling and phonics.

I'm so excited about this Chapter. I've replayed and adjusted and maneuvered how word work is going to look and function in my classroom. All this thinking and pondering usually happens in the middle of the night when I'm in a dead sleep and wake up to an A-HA moment. Does this happen to anyone but me? Well, I've learned to sleep with a notebook next to my bed and as a result, I think I have a pretty good plan of action.

Effortlessly Communicate Your K–8 Curriculum With These Student Handouts Curriculum % %

Hi everyone, My little learners have been working SO hard on their reading these past few months and I am VERY excited to show what what they have been up to!

Here are some developmental writing rubrics and standards or expectations-based rubrics for kindergarten teachers.

Folktales, Fables, Fairytales, and Tall Tales come up at some point throughout the year with all grade levels from Kinder to 5th grade. Over the years, I’ve found some absolutely WONDERFUL anchor charts that helped me create a visual reminder for my students. Here are some of my favorites! These... Read more

Hello Everyone!! Happy New year to all of you! The end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016 have been very emotional for me. We started off our winter break visiting my son, Jordan in Indiana. He has m

If you're tired of teaching parts of speech lessons only to have kids forget all about it the next day, try these easy ideas and activities!

A few years ago (maybe five or six) our state standards changed for reading, pretty dramatically. I know all of you who have been through...

Encourage your children to 'dig deep' for detailed sentences! See the full image at http://t.co/uHvrre5CWY

I love teaching character traits!

Here is a silly drawing games that is a lot of fun for kids to play. In this drawing game, you use dice to decide what parts of the drawing you will draw. We have included a face drawing game and a landscape drawing game. This is a lot of fun and it helps children who might not be able to draw freely and creatively...this will help them draw more freely and creatively. This will also increase silliness.

Teaching about character traits in reading can be challenging but fun! One of the hardest parts for kids is that in most pieces of literature, the character traits are somewhat abstract. The author doesn’t directly tell the reader what the character is like, which forces kids to have to learn to piece it together by […]

It's that time of the year when my classroom budget is sitting very close to $0. But something about spring break makes me want to spend some $$$! Instead of spending real money, I thought I'd just share some of my dream purchases. #1: Apple iPad2 I would love to get my hands on one of these babies! I'd like to look at all those awesome educational apps I keep hearing about. I would also L-O-V-E to get 5 or so of these guys to put in a center or use during reading groups or help struggling students or challenge my advanced students. The possibilities seem endless. #2: A Silhouette Oh. My. Gosh. I am dying over this little machine! I think I could play on this thing all day. I'm thinking of all sorts of fun Mother's Day presents! My classroom needs one of these in the near future! 3. More Self-Inking Stamps I bought a set of stamps like these 4 years ago, and I'm down to my last few. I use them everyday to stamp my students' homework folders. 4. Post-its I love Post-its. Every shape and size! I especially love the easel pads and I use the regular size {pretty much} daily. But the thing I love the MOST are these little divider tabs! They're great for students' notebooks and I use mine in my teacher binder(s). 5. Class Sets of WWII Books I'm reading this book right now as a read aloud and my students love it. It has some great teaching points and really illustrates what life was like in America during WWII. I want a class set so ALL students can have their eyes in the book. One of my favorite WWII books. Boys especially love it because it talks a lot about the battles in the Pacific. I love how it integrates Native American studies and tells how important the Navajos were in helping to win the war. Another great WWII book. I love the idea of using these three books to help teach my World War Two unit. It will help students understand three very different parts of the war. I'm sure there are hundreds of more things I'd like to buy for my classroom, if I really sat and thought about it... but I'll stop here. I'm thinking about writing some Donorschoose.org grants in the near future for some of these things. I'll add that to my never-ending 'to do' list! :) Oh, and one thing I'm going to need: Dr. Pepper.

Looking for a book list for making inferences and predictions? Here you go! Be sure to check out all the book lists I have for teaching comprehension. *This post contains affiliate links. Making inferences and predictions are highly related comprehension strategies. In fact, most books for teaching comprehension lump them together. For the younger ... Read More about Book List for Making Inferences and Predictions

Ein bisschen Spass muss sein! Die Zeit zwischen Sommer- und Herbstferien ist gleichzeitig Elternabend-Zeit. Informationen werden ausgetauscht, Fragen geklärt, wichtige Punkte werden besprochen und es wird sich kennengelernt. An meinem Elternabend läuft immer eine Powerpoint-Präsentation mit den wichtigsten Punkten. Ich finde das übersichtlich und praktisch. Nachdem ich über mich erzählt habe, stellen sich die Eltern […]

In our everyday speech we use contractions. Contractions are a kind of “short cut” in the way we use words to communicate. Think about it for a bit. If you were going to tell a friend that you aren’t going to lunch, are you likely to say, “I am not going to lunch” or “I’m […]

Goofballs? Sillies, even. Inspired by the end of Three Thirty to Four (this is my best attempt to not just draw the entirety of Sweet Baby Useless Boy… it’s not working) go read it✨ An Archive of O…

I {puffy heart} anchor charts! That is what this blog post is all about….anchor charts and my love for them. When I first started teaching, I went to the teacher stores that sell workbooks, bulletin board paper and sets, and posters. Posters that I remember from when I was a child, like this one: Who ... Read More about Anchoring the Standards: Teaching & Documenting the Common Core Standards with Anchor Charts Part 1

This article discusses the benefits of assessing the learning styles of students early on and using them to reduce the number of special education referrals.

I’m linking up with Doodle Bug’s Teaching for Five for Friday! Here’s a few things from our first week back! I made these little notebooks for my team for our MANY back to school meetings! I used these sweet little frames from Ashley Hughes and I found the notebooks at Fry’s grocery store. It may […]