I've got a little Secret Code Spelling sheet here. I have the students write each spelling word then draw the picture for each letter next to the word to make a code. I use this as a Word Work center, but if you need a time filler - or something for your sub plans, this sheet could be put under the document camera and done whole group with the spelling list for the week. For a variation, you can have the kids mix up their spelling words and write the code only, then give it to a classmate to "break the code". Not matter how you do it, my students like this one:) Click on the picture to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and download this for FREE. While you are at my store, check out some of my new and best selling products including: My Original Writing Center - My best selling product! Don't miss this STEAL: Sight Word Mega Bundle Read It, Build It, Write ItAll 220 Dolch Sight Words Included Reader's Toolbox of Reading Strategies Sight Words Superhero: Everything You Need to Motivate and Reward Sight Word Recognition Sight Words Superhero Add-On Pack: 130 Pages of Sight Word Games and Activities! And MUCH more - click here to see more great products! And, don't forget to follow my store to get a free kit each month!!! Past "Follower Freebies" include" Click here to see how to get free kits each month: Mrs. Gilchrist's Follower Freebies
Stations are a great way to get in a ton of review with your students. Check out 27 activities for stations in Spanish class in this post!
I shared this pic on Instagram (follow me for more FlapJack love!) and had a few requests to explain my stations I used for practicing multiplication facts. So here goes: Station #1 – Poke Cards These cards I have created myself. They are lots of fun and students check each other for accuracy. These are …
Ah! Does anyone else get excited when the ALA announces the Newberry and Caldecott winners each year? I do! I've never participated in a Mock Caldecott or anything mainly because I'd just rather read the winner or winners--depending on how busy my book situation is ha! You can get a copy here! Here's the rundown on this years book: Jordan, a smart kid with crazy artistic talent, his going to be the new kid at a fancy private school. Yikes! It's always hard being the new kid. He is paired up with a friend to show him around and during his first day finds himself with Andy, not the nicest kid in school. Because he is quick on his feet, Jordan finds a nice friend group. Now while this is a surface skim summary, Jordan and his friend ___ struggle with the fact that teachers can never remember their names and assume their athletic abilities based on their skin color. There are in's and out's and up's and down's but the book portrays what it's like to be a regular African American kid in a rich white school. This year's Newberry Award Winner is New Kid by Jerry Craft and every page of this book eye catching and awesome! It is definitely worth reading. I am so glad that they chose this graphic novel (!!! what! what!) and I love the story. The main things that I love about this book is that they are 1. SO FUNNY--so of course you are going to keep reading 2. Relatable--Jordan (the main character goes through so many 3. SO much DISCUSSION--this book is jam packed with things that need to be discussed in today's classrooms. I also spotted this at the book fair--so keep your eye out for New Kid--it's completely worth it and your students will love reading this Newberry book!
Freaking out over how in the world can you actually use centers and stations in your classroom without being completely overwhelmed? Concerned that you don’t have enough time, don’t know how to enforce student accountability, don’t know what the stations should look like, or panicking that you simply can’t keep up? These are absolutely valid
Its been one of those busy weeks, so I’ve not actually created anything “new” but decided to share something I used last spring. The idea developed after @lmhenry9 tweeted a need…
Each Monday we collaborate with our building's new and Dual Language staff members for a professional development session based on what they highlight as their needs and/or desires for learning! This week we focused on Daily 5 ideas as all of our staff are currently working hard to get their stations and guided reading up and running! The teachers who attending the session came up with a variety of wonderful ideas and activities that could potentially be used throughout the year in these work stations. I thought some of you may enjoy taking a gander at what they came up with as well! Just a little background... we utilized a strategy many of you may be familiar with called "Round Robin" to gather ideas during our meeting. The staff were given the anchor charts with only the titles and asked to add any activity ideas they were doing, would like to do, etc. based on the title on their paper. We gave each group 1 minute to brainstorm and write their ideas, and then they were asked to pass the poster to the next group. We continued to do this until all posters had made it to all groups. This is a great strategy that you could use with your students as well to assess their background knowledge and/or learning of concepts. You could even do it at the beginning of the year to see what activities they already know and enjoy doing during Daily 5 if they are familiar with it from the year past! This may give you some insight as to what they may want to do in your classroom as well! Alright now onto the posters...keep in mind these were quickly written by our staff and we discussed them a bit after as well, so not everything may make perfect sense! But feel free to ask questions in the comments if you have any and I would be happy to try my best to answer! After our meeting, I also took some time to type up all of their ideas onto one page for them to hold on to and refer to throughout the year. You are welcome to a copy if you'd like- just click on the image below :)! (Graphics: Scrappin Doodles, Priscilla Concepcion)
Have you been wanting to try stations in your Secondary ELA classroom but aren't sure where to start? Read through this quick post where we share 8 station ideas and how to use them with your ELA students.
Idioms Activity with Puzzles and Pictures Use these idiom puzzles with your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade classroom or home school students. They will enjoy using these idioms activities during your grammar or ELA literacy centers, stations, or rotations. It's also great for review and early or fast finishers. These idiom puzzles for kids are a great lesson to help students master a tricky concept. {first, second, third graders, homeschool} 17 Different Puzzles This is a fun way to practice idioms which can be a hard concept for some students. You can put these at your literacy centers or use them for early finishers. You can take a look at Set 2 by clicking below: Idioms Set 2 I have also created 7 booklets and worksheets. You can click below to see them. Idioms Booklets and Worksheets You may also be interested in my bundle set, which includes both Set 1 and Set 2 Idioms Puzzles, booklets and Worksheets Idioms Bundle Set ★LET’S GET CONNECTED!★ TEACHING SECOND GRADE BLOG TEACHING SECOND GRADE FACEBOOK TEACHING SECOND GRADE PINTEREST TEACHING SECOND GRADE INSTAGRAM ◼◼HOW TO GET CREDIT TOWARDS FUTURE PURCHASES!◼◼ Go to your My Purchases page. Next to each purchase you will see a "Provide Feedback" button. Click on that button and it will take you to a page where you can leave a rating and a comment about the product. Every time you provide feedback, you will earn TPT credits. These can be applied to future purchases to save you money! Yay! ☛☛FOLLOW MY TPT STORE☚☚ Click the green star beside my name at the top of this page OR at the top of my store page. By doing this, you will see when I add new products or have upcoming sales! >>TERMS OF USE<< All rights reserved. Purchase of this item entitles only the purchaser the right to reproduce the pages for classroom use only. Duplication for an entire school (system) or commercial purposes is strictly forbidden without written permission from the author. Copying any part of this product and placing it on the internet, in any form (not even on a personal / classroom website) is strictly forbidden. This is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright ACT or DMCA. These items can and will be traced back to the publishing site.
These fun and engaging hands on measurement activities will help teachers plan and implement lessons on length, capacity and mass. Includes a FREEBIE!
Our kindergarten math book only has one short chapter on geometry, so I probably don't spend as much time on it as I should. However, I thin...
Your new favorite teaching strategy: This pared-down version of learning stations keeps the movement, interactivity and variety while minimizing the prep work.
I love helping my math students review by using stations mazes! It's the perfect hands on way to keep middle and high school students engaged. They are perfect to use the day after the notes or lesson. This post has a FREE polynomials stations maze for Algebra 2. It is perfect to use at the end of a polynomial functions unit.
Magnet Science Stations for Little Ones. Printable signs/instructions for 8 magnet science stations to help little ones explore & learn with magnets.
Discover fun and developmentally appropriate teaching strategies and resources tailored for your primary classroom. Let me show you how I make learning hands-on and engaging through sensory, game-play, and creative teaching strategies!
No need to scour Pinterest and Google images for math strategies posters. We’ve got all the 2nd grade math anchor charts you need - and we'll tell you easy ways to use mini charts with students!
How do you choose the spelling words you want to use in your weekly spelling activities?
Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!
Your new favorite teaching strategy: This pared-down version of learning stations keeps the movement, interactivity and variety while minimizing the prep work.
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 […]
This was made for stations in my classroom. There are five different stations that review slope, y-intercept, parallel & perpedicular lines, real-world word problems, point-slope formula and graphing. This was originally used for a review for a chapter test, but could be used for an in class a...
I mentioned in an earlier post about how I love stations, and I am trying to use them more in my class this year instead of avoiding them like the plague last year. You know why I love stations so much? Because after the first time we used them this year (see my post on that here), my students have been asking when we are going to use them again - and today, when they walked in and saw that we were doing stations for the 2nd time this week, they actually said (out-loud), "Stations! Yes!" Now, I don't know about most of you but when I get my students to exclaim in excitement about something they get to do with math - well... it's fabulous! I am going to tell you about the first set of stations we did this week, and leave the second set until later. We are working on integers right now, and I really wanted them to have some more practice with adding and subtraction before we moved on to multiplying and dividing. I did not want to just use worksheets because they're so boring. An entire class period of worksheets sounded miserable, and I'm the teacher! Anyways, I planned out four stations for the students to cycle through. I love that even though the last time we did stations was a month ago, my students still knew how the system worked. This is how I organize my station rotations. Cute? No. Simple and effective? Yes. (Just ignore the poll in the top corner - that was for something else I was keeping track of) These are not the stations I used for this post, but you can see how I organize them in this picture. My first station was an adding and subtracting integers memory game. I laid all the cards out on the table face down and ready to go for the first group. Every group after that was responsible for putting the cards back in the same way they found them so the next group was ready to play the minute they started the station. Students took turns flipping over two cards - they had to say what the answer was to every expression they flipped over. If they found a match they kept the cards and went again. If they didn't find a match, it was the next player's turn. This game always starts a little slow, but once they can start remembering where the cards are it gets really fun as they can't find the match but the next person can. I am selling this game on my TeachersPayTeachers store. Memory Game all laid out and ready to play! The second station was very similar to a station I did last time (algebraic expression posters) - but this time they were only practicing the order of operations. This is something that we already covered, and students had a test on but it is so important that I like reviewing constantly throughout the year. Students solved each of the expressions on the poster and moved post-it notes labeled 1-9 around to show the answer. Each post-it note gets used exactly one time. If they find they need the same number or that they haven't used a number then they know they've made a mistake. After they are done, I quickly check them and have them get a new poster to complete. I have them work on these in pairs, and I love hearing their conversations as they discuss the correct order to solve the problems. One of the posters that they worked on! The third station was also very similar to a station I did last time (self-correcting excel spreadsheet). This time they were practicing adding and subtracting integers. If you want a copy of this, just click on the image below. It looks really funny on google drive, but downloads correctly. Students solve each of the problems, and type the answer in the second column. They then check the third column to see if they are right or not. I was planning on having them go to www.multiplication.com (LOVE this site, especially since I still have students who don't know their facts!), but our Internet was down. (Don't you hate when that happens?!?) Instead I had them work on their homework - an adding and subtracting integer worksheet. It wasn't nearly as entertaining, but the kiddos all seemed to appreciate having time to do their homework in class. This is the Adding and Subtracting Integers spreadsheet they did - see how in the third column it tells them whether they are right or wrong? The fourth station was my favorite. My students have done some graphing before, but never with all four quadrants of the coordinate plane. We did a coordinate graphing picture earlier in the unit to practice, but I wanted to do a little more with it so I created this game. It's battleship with the coordinate plane! And, I made it with a Pirates of the Caribbean theme! All of the ships are named after ships from the movie series, and my students LOVED it! They were either the pirates or the royal navy, and hid their respective ships on their coordinate plane. Then they took turns trying to find their opponent's ships by calling out coordinate pairs and marking them on their board. I originally made a version that can be printed out on paper where you would break everyone into pairs, and pass out a pirates sheet to one player and a royal navy sheet to the other player. Then, realizing that this would be a lot more fun with dry erase markers, I made a more permanent version using manila folders and laminating them. Then, because I was so excited about it, I decided to sell it in my TeachersPayTeachers store. The front of the folders - are you going to be the Pirates, or the Royal Navy? My brilliant students actually figured out that if you use a binder clip the board would stand up on its own. They're geniuses. Playing the game! My second time with stations went really well - I just need to remember to set the timer at the beginning of each station! Also, this was a good reminder that I always need a back up in case the Internet is down and I've planned an activity using it - this is when having good 'go-to' games are awesome (which I will talk about in a later post, I swear)! What are some activities you use to practice integers? Do you have any 'go-to' back up activities for when technology decides not to cooperate? ~Brittany
Using learning stations is a fantastic way to increase engagement in the English Language Arts classroom. Learn more in this blog post.
Math centers make me leap with joy, and so this blog series is a blast to write! Today we are talking about math center schedules. If you missed any of the other posts in the series, you can click below to get caught up. Part 1: Why You Need to Have Math Centers Part 2:
Ready to create learning stations? They require a purposeful and strategic design in order for the experience to be meaningful. Start here!
The first few weeks of school are all about setting the foundation. We're establishing routines and procedures, encouraging a growth mindset culture, building classroom community, etc. I also like to spend some time laying the foundation for what students will need to be successful writers throughout the year, especially since writing is a focus that threads through all subject areas. In second grade especially, sentence structure is a great place to start. We review the 4 parts that every sentence has to have in order to be a complete sentence:
I love learning about arrays because they are so visual which allows for a lot of really fun rectangular arrays activities and practice! I l...
There is a Level 1 which is MUCH easier- students write in ONE letter to play for each beat of rhythmic values. Level 2 students have to write (and practice) playing different notes for EACH rhythmic value- much harder. It's a great way to differentiate for your "superstars".
These fun, engaging, NO PREP word work activities help students practice their words effectively and are the perfect option for your 1st or 2nd grade class!
Students will love using these Lovely Landforms Writing Mats in Literacy and Writing Centers. Colorful pictures, along with vocabulary words, are the perfect way to help your students describe and use these words in their writing! Also included in this center is writing paper with lines. mini-book w...
Practice recognizing consonant digraph with My Teaching Station printable Beginning Digraph Picture Match worksheet. In this printable activity, your child will match the correct consonant digraph with the picture.
Hello darlings! Just a few more days until I leave 3 Teacher Chick and launch my new blog That Teaching Spark. The blog still looks yucky and I am just waiting on the designer for some finishing touches! She has been awesome! Make sure to check back for some amazing gift card giveaways, TPT Product giveaways, and crafty giveaways! This post is an overview of the Word Study Program I use in third grade. Stick with me though, because you could do the same thing in your classroom, you just need some word lists. These pics will take you through the program step by step. It is a mash up of Words Their Way, Fountas and Pinnell, and Beth Newingham. Click the pic to get the entire program from my store! Wow! You stuck with me this far! You deserve a freebie! What program have you been using? Is it differentiated? Amy
I love to incorporate fun stuff like games as often as possible into my lessons. When students play learning games in class, they feel like...
Using Math Stations in Middle School can be daunting but when you have tried and tested materials you know that they can and will work in your classroom.
Engaging, student-centered vocabulary activities for secondary students, vocabulary lessons, vocabulary practice, vocabulary ideas
I've been working on the units -ink and -ank with my first graders lately. Earlier in the year, I was working on it with one of my 2nd grad...
