Hi Friends…. The past two weeks we have been working on Prefixes and Suffixes in our second-grade classroom! My kiddos were having such a good time brainstorming words with prefixes and then figuring out the meaning. They really had a strong grasp of the concept… I was pretty impressed. After our whole … Prefixes, Suffixes and a FREEBIE Just for YOU! Read More »
Contraction Surgery is when students get to take on the roll of being word surgeons. They get to take words apart, take out letters, put them back together and glue them into their surgery books. It is highly interactive and meaningful.
Teaching geometry can be FUN! Take a look at these geometry videos, books, anchor charts, activities, games, and freebies! Perfect for 1st and 2nd grade!
Kids love music and it's so helpful for memorization! I've written before about using music for learning parts of speech here and here. I've had a few people say that they wish they could hear
Hi Friends…. The past two weeks we have been working on Prefixes and Suffixes in our second-grade classroom! My kiddos were having such a good time brainstorming words with prefixes and then figuring out the meaning. They really had a strong grasp of the concept… I was pretty impressed. After our whole … Prefixes, Suffixes and a FREEBIE Just for YOU! Read More »
Editing with kids doesn't have to be torture! Try these techniques to make editing fun.
Hi Friends…. The past two weeks we have been working on Prefixes and Suffixes in our second-grade classroom! My kiddos were having such a good time brainstorming words with prefixes and then figuring out the meaning. They really had a strong grasp of the concept… I was pretty impressed. After our whole … Prefixes, Suffixes and a FREEBIE Just for YOU! Read More »
What is the best way to teach main idea and details in your 1st or 2nd grade classroom? Peruse our collection of engaging ideas!
Cute ending punctuation activities for first week of school! Print worksheets, cut into pencil strips. Add marks to punctuation exercises.
When I started at my new school last year, I came into a new reading program. I was used to doing almost all of my reading instruction WHOLE CLASS, but my school uses a guided reading model all the way up to 5th grade. I definitely had to rethink my reading block! I had done centers in the past, but wanted a really clear way to maximize the time and make the transitions clear for the students. Here's how I do my guided reading block! ROTATIONS We have Guided Reading/Centers Monday-Thursday from about 1:10-2:00 and I rotate through four groups. This means each center is 12 minutes long, with about 30 seconds for a transition. 12 minutes can fly by, so the students have to work on getting those transitions DOWN. I found a FANTASTIC resource by my friend Kristen of Chalk & Apples, and it has made centers SO easy. There are tons of different icons that can be easily swapped out on different days or weeks. I change mine up all the time! In a typical week, I do guided reading with leveled passages on Monday and Wednesday, and we do literature circles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. GROUPS My students are grouped according to DRA levels, because that is what my school uses. You might use AR, Lexile, or another measure. I have four groups: Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, and High. Each group has a number, but I assign the number randomly so it doesn't match up to skill level in any way. I have 24 students in my class this year, so there will be 6 kids in each group. If you have a larger class, you can still make it work by having your higher groups work on their own while you work with a lower group and just check in! GUIDED READING I LOVE this close reading resource from Fifth in the Middle. I bought the entire bundle so I have TONS of options. Each reading comes in four reading levels, but they are on the same topic and look the same so students don't notice. There is also a paired text that I try to use for morning work toward the end of the week. There are several pages of activities for each passage, and I often have the students start these at the table with me after we've read the passage out loud. When it is their turn for guided reading, the students come to me at our back table with a pencil and a highlighter. I give them their sheets for that day and discuss what we will be looking for while we read (unfamiliar words usually) and we begin reading. I like to make sure each child reads, so however I have to break it up to make that happen. After reading through, I ask them to scan through again to find specific information. This changes week to week, so one time it might be looking for transition phrases, and another it might be looking for dates to create a timeline. Then, we talk about what everyone found and work on putting together the information on the worksheet. I, of course, provide a lot more scaffolding and support to my lower readers, while my high readers are able to do the activity on their own. LIT CIRCLES On the days that we have literature circles, the students still come to the back table with me, but this time they bring their lit circle book (which varies) and their lit circle binder. In their binder, they keep all of their jobs and their reading schedule. I have used about a GAZILLION resources for lit circles (including online blogs), but this one from Pocketful of Primary is my absolute FAVORITE: It is SOO easy to adapt to groups of different sizes and I found it very user-friendly for both the kiddos and for myself! I organize the jobs using a hanging file I found on Amazon. You can find it here: THE OTHER CENTERS So what do the kiddos do during their other blocks of time? Here's some options I cycle through: STAPLES: Partner Reading Each student has a partner from their reading group that they meet up with for this activity. I typically use "I Survived" books or similar short chapter books. I stock up through Scholastic! I have 6 shared books for the entire class, and I place a sheet inside the front cover so the students can write their names and where they ended each day they read. I always have new books ready to go for the students who finish. I do this strictly for fluency, so I don't do quizzes or worksheets. Silent Reading (KBAR) In my class, we call silent reading KBAR- Kick Back and Read. When we do a whole class KBAR, I sometimes take it outside. Spelling (Spelling City) I typically use Spelling City for centers, but sometimes do a worksheet instead. Vocabulary (Quizlet)Quizlet is AMAZING. I love using this for vocabulary! The students really enjoy it as well. Keyboarding (KWT) This is a tough one since monitoring the students' finger placement is so important. I don't do this OFTEN as a center, but throw it in now and again. Writing If we are working on a longer project (such as the state report), I have the students use this chunk of time for that. Otherwise, I sometimes provide a prompt or allow them to free write. Here's one of the resources I use: NoRedInk If you've never used this site, CHECK IT OUT! It's one of the best ways to get some extra grammar practice into your day! Be aware that the initial set up takes a bit of time because the students have to select a bunch of their favorites from different categories: books, tv shows, movies. What's neat is the site uses their preferences and their name + their friends' names when building the practice sentences. The kids get a kick out of it! Task Cards (small group) Students work with their reading group and record their answers on individual answer sheets. I have a huge selection of task cards that I keep in one of these bad boys from Michael's: Cursive (Can Do) I love that my school teaches cursive, but in fifth grade, we don't have a lot of specific time for it. To keep the kid's practicing, I assign pages from our cursive book during centers. Reading Comprehension (Reading Plus) We use Reading Plus, but there are many online reading comprehension sites. Use whatever your district provides or what works for your class! Games I will occasionally throw in a review game for the kids to play with their small group. The key is they have to be short and not too loud! Comment below if you have other questions or want to add some advice on running smooth ELA centers with Guided Reading!
Contraction Surgery is when students get to take on the roll of being word surgeons. They get to take words apart, take out letters, put them back together and glue them into their surgery books. It is highly interactive and meaningful.
Check out these cute, 1st Grade worksheets for January. Practice math, reading, and writing with these fun winter themes.
"What are the other students doing while I am meeting with small groups?”. Grab your free must-do, may-do editable chart along with more tips & tricks!
This is the second part of a mini series about songs for teaching parts of speech. If you missed the first post about nouns and verbs, you can find it here. Click on any picture
Jump & Spell is such a fun, clever, and active way for kids to practice any spelling words. perfect to get the wiggles out.
Contraction Surgery is when students get to take on the roll of being word surgeons. They get to take words apart, take out letters, put them back together and glue them into their surgery books. It is highly interactive and meaningful.
What is the best way to teach main idea and details in your 1st or 2nd grade classroom? Peruse our collection of engaging ideas!
What does the research tell us about best practices in teaching vocabulary?
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!
Learning the Parts of Speech will be fun and interactive using these Flip Flap Books®! Teaching about Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs will be made easy using this resource!
Adjective Activities Need activities to quickly engage your students and to review this key parts of speech concept? Use this adjectives activities pack to teach your students about adjectives that describe and adjectives that can compare. *********************************************************************** More Amazing Resources Prefixes and Suffixes Unit Homophone Activities Freebie Verb Activities: Action and Linking *********************************************************************** This unit is designed to make it easy for you to teach, engage, and assess your students as they learn about adjectives. This unit is broken into three separate parts to make planning your adjectives unit a breeze! TEACH IT: Teaching Posters- One for adjectives and one for adjectives that compare- hang up these posters during your adjectives study and reference them often! Adjectives Anchor Chart- just print, color, assemble! Laminate for durability. Keep up all year for students to reference. Adjective/Not an Adjective sorting pocket book- Help students understand the difference between adjectives and nouns. Listen Up for Adjectives- tie in literature! As students listen to a story, have them write down some of the adjectives they hear as well as what noun it is describing. Adjectives Gallery Walk- Use this up and moving activity to have your students practice using adjectives. Place gallery posters around the room with different objects. Then, let students rotate through adding adjectives that describe the objects. Adjectives Mystery Bags- Another hands on activity. Place items in mystery bags and have students describe them using adjectives. Comparing Using Adjectives Picture Prompts- Use as a whole group activity by displaying the prompts and having students compare the nouns. Includes recording sheet. Adjectives that Compare Tab-book- help students understand that adjectives can compare nouns with this cut and past tab book! PRACTICE IT: Quick Prints for Adjectives that describe: Sorting Out Adjectives: quick cut and paste sorting activity that has students sorting adjectives by type of descriptive word. Describe Me! Students use the picture as reference to write down adjectives that describe the picture. Includes two different picture prompts. Friendly Adjectives- Students work to describe their friend. Then, write three sentences about their friend using their adjectives. Includes support and free draw version. Quick Prints for Adjectives that Compare (Comparatives and Superlatives) Adding -er and -est Tab Book- Students work to add endings to base words to creative adjectives that compare. Then, write a sentence using the word. Adjectives That Compare- Students work to complete the chart by adding -er and -est to base words, then use 3 words in a sentence. Includes primary lines version. Add the Adjective- Students complete this cut and paste activity by completing the sentence using the comparative and superlative adjectives. Center Games: Describe It! Students match pictures with two different adjectives Let's Compare! Students work to compare the objects on the picture cards. Includes a primary and regular writing lines recording sheet. ASSESS IT! Although the quick prints can be used as part of your informal assessment routine, this unit also includes three different formal assessments. Each assessment does include an answer key. Formal Assessments Adjectives Assessment- Students work to complete sentences using word banks and multiple choice questions to asses their learning about adjectives that describe. Adjectives that Compare- Students work to use comparatives and superlatives to complete sentences. All Adjectives Assessment- An assessment that includes both descriptive adjectives and adjectives that compare. Adjective Writing As teachers, we know that just "knowing" about adjectives isn't enough. We need our students to use them in their own writings. This pack also includes a writing activity with two craft options. Amazing Me! Students work through the writing process to complete this expository writing piece about what makes them amazing! Includes primary and regular writing lines and self assessment rubric. Choose from two different craft options for publishing! Craft One: Students create a word cloud of adjectives that describe them. Craft Two: Students use their face as part of their craft option. Be sure to download the preview to see everything this unit has to offer! ******************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly! :-) Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store. ☺ ******************************************************************** If you have any questions, I’d love to hear from you! ♥ Leigh Langton from The Applicious Teacher
Teaching Character Education in the classroom is just as important as phonics and adding and subtracting.
I've done a lot of experimenting with desk arrangements over the years. I've definitely found my favorite. Keep reading, I'll tell you about it. I've also discovered that it's smart to pick a few
Buy these 1st & 2nd grade math lesson plans for November that are full of Thanksgiving math activities your students will love!
Easily organize and track math and ELA student progress for 1st & 2nd grade Common Core standards. Read about how to use it and get the FREE whole-class math checklist
What is the best way to teach main idea and details in your 1st or 2nd grade classroom? Peruse our collection of engaging ideas!
Whether you're new to literacy centers or you've been doing them for a while, it's always fun to get some new ideas and kids definitely enjoy some variety. Here's is a collection of centers
This is the second part of a mini series about songs for teaching parts of speech. If you missed the first post about nouns and verbs, you can find it here. Click on any picture
We all know how much I love self portrait activities. I love how each of my kids draw themselves to reflect their personality. So when I saw...
[social_warfare]Boom Cards. Ever heard of them? Maybe you've heard of them and have no clue what all of the fuss is about. Well, let me tell you! They are the BEST. What if you had No Prep to do? What if all of you student's work checked itself? What if students received instant feedback? Whaaaaat?!
What is the best way to teach main idea and details in your 1st or 2nd grade classroom? Peruse our collection of engaging ideas!
All the best ways to corral your charts.
Don't let Project Based Learning overwhelm you, it is a fun process where the students are engaged, learning and using their life skills.
First grade anchor charts are great tools for reminding kids about concepts in math, writing, spelling, science, and more! Check out these great ideas.
What is the best way to teach main idea and details in your 1st or 2nd grade classroom? Peruse our collection of engaging ideas!
Teaching writing DOESN'T have to be complicated! With these simple strategies, you can improve students' writing without having to work so hard.
As a teacher, you already know that the primary focus of phonics instruction is to help readers understand how letters are linked to sounds (called phonemes). Pretty easy on a basic level, right? We need to build strong phonics skills in order to create strong reading skills. As a reading specialist, what I often
