65+ freebies for elementary, preschool and even high school teachers. Most of these freebies come by mail. Education samples for all qualifed teachers.
Woo Hoo! I'm so excited and thankful for all of you for your support! Language Arts and Math FREEBIE – Here’s a FREEBIE for you to help celebrate reaching my 2nd TPT MILESTONE. This milestone was made possible by the support from all of my followers through your purchases and feedback. Thanks to everyone for helping me achieve this milestone. In celebration of this achievement, I have created this new eight page freebie to share with everyone as my way of saying “THANK YOU” for supporting my store. This eight page freebie sampler includes language arts and math skills from the following resources available in my store. These resources include writing (tell a story), reading comprehension (Who? What? Where?), fix it up sentences, scrambled sentences, morning work, addition word problems, subtraction problems with manipulatives, and ten frames 11-20. ***This sampler also includes links throughout the pack to similar resources that you may find useful for your classroom. When printing, to save on ink, make sure to only print every other page (even pages). Click on any of the photos below to view this FREEBIE! FREEBIE for 2nd TPT Milestone Celebration! I hope you find all of these resources to be useful for your students in your classroom. Please leave me some feedback on this freebie. I love reading your comments. Thanks again to everyone who has supported my store. Also thanks to TPT for the opportunity that you provide for me and other teachers to create and share our teaching resources with others as we provide for our families. Finally, I would like to thank the many talented creators of clip art on TPT. Without you, these creations would not be possible. You may also enjoy my 29 other FREE resources. You can find them HERE!
Anger management worksheets for counseling. These engaging anger activities guide elementary students to understand that anger is a universal emotion and that each person has different triggers. By exploring various scenarios and reflecting on their own experiences, students gain valuable self-aware...
A menu of items, tips, ideas, activities, and support where Teacher's "Take-Out" educational materials to use in their classrooms. Serving classrooms K-5th Grade.
Are you ready to pull your hair out with all those plural noun rules? I have a Freebie displaying 8 Plural Noun Rules on one nice little sheet. This poster only displays 8 plural noun spelling rules with an example of each one. If your 2nd and 3rd graders struggle with plurals, this poster can help. There are so many rules to follow that it's easy to forget how to add endings when writing plural words. You’re free to download it and use it in your classroom. This also comes in a black and white version to save on color. Just click and print! Do your students struggle with plurals? I made some engaging games and centers to help students practice those rules. The Plural Pack has a Poster (freebie from above) that explains some plural rules, games and centers, and 20 worksheets. This Pack has students learning the rules, writing and spelling singular and plural nouns. Purchase Plural Pack right here at a discounted price! Here are some items you may need when teaching about plurals. I linked them to Amazon to make it easy for you: If You Were a Plural Word book Plural Poster Plural Task Cards Irregular Plural Flashcards Mad Libs Thanks for stopping by today! See you soon, Check out more Grammar activities by Teacher's Take-Out: L.2.1b
Next week our story in our reading series is Super Storms. I know, I know - but, Jen, you've said you don't DO the reading series! You're right. I don't. BUT, I DO do weather, so I did make a pack to go with the story, because I can actually use the centers in my weather unit outside of the reading series. WELL, I went to get the pack to get ready - and OH. EM. GOSH! Yeah - it was one of my FIRST packs I did .....wow. SO, I did a make-over on it - AND I added something like 10 pages to it. I think it looks much better now :) 6 different activities: ~Vocabulary cards with a graphic organizer ~Compare and contrast (in both Venn Diagram and Double-Bubble) for rain/snow and hurricane/tornado with a writing extension ~Compound concentration game ~Sentence Scramble - these are written in a way that they are writing facts about weather ~Picture and caption - after brainstorming ideas, they create a "poster" and write about it ~What I learned - using a divided circle map, they jot down what they know and learned, then write about it And here is a freebie from this pack - it's the vocabulary word graphic organizer - my kids love doing it! You will also get some examples on what I do in the "More!" box - TONS of ideas. So if you've already bought it, make sure to go download it again to get the updated version! Make sure to head on over to my FB page - there's a nice surprise for you there!
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
A while ago, I posted this on We Are Teachers. If you haven’t hopped over there to check it out, you should. There are tons of great ideas over there. This page is another good back to school…
Make learning fun for your students! Strategies, activities, freebies and more for teachers, tutors and homeschoolers. Ideas you can use today!
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in THIS post how I would be taking a giant step forward in “stepping up” my sight word instruction this upcoming year. Not that I need to “teach” sight words any differently, but offer continuous and hands on ways for my kiddos to practice them. Another area I will be offering […]
We have all heard the term, Reading is THINKING! Unfortunately, actually teaching kiddos how to think and be more metacognative while they are reading is more difficult than it sounds! This anchor chart, Reading is Thinking, has helped me to model for my students how to think, ask questions, predict, summarize, visualize, infer, and make connections while they are reading. Reading is THINKING Freebie to improve Comprehension ~ TeacherKarma.com Click on the Reading is Thinking anchor chart to get more strategies and a FREEBIE just for you. :) Best wishes!
Help those kids from getting the “summer slide” with this 100 page packet! Included is 50 pages of math and 50 pages of literacy including reading and comprehension, grammar, writing, and word work. This would also make a great addition for any beginning of the year work for 1st grade too! Click here to download. here …
I am so excited to have my new Operations and Algebraic Thinking Unit posted and ready to share with you. So far this year, my sweet kinders have learned so much in math. We have mastered 1:1 correspondence, reading and writing numerals to 20, counting to 100 by ones and tens, how to compose
Help kindergarteners compare length & use appropriate vocabulary with this FREE "Shorter and Longer" activity. Great hands on practice for comparing length.
We have a lovely school counselor this year who came to visit each of our classrooms and explain a common "Peace Process" for conflict resolution. I loved this for so many reasons and can't wait to share it with you! For one, common language across all grades is invaluable, especially when kids experience conflict at recess, in the lunch room, or even in the hallway when they are away from their classroom teacher and intermixed with other grades. Also, the fact that this process is broken down into such simple and manageable parts gives kids the confidence to go through it themselves, complete with sentence starters and all. I want to share this Peace Process with you in case you are looking for a way to help manage conflict and empower your students to problem-solve with one another. Feel free to download the freebie to share with others in your school, or even send home to parents... this can work with anyone in any situation! Step 1: Breathe The first step is the most important: make sure your body is calm enough to engage in the process of making peace. In the heat of the moment, the "fight or flight" response is in high gear, anger may be driving the show, and there is no way the rest of the process can be successful. By stopping to breathe, everyone can get back into a more calm state. How you breathe is just as important. Start by "smelling a flower" by breathing in through your nose and counting to three slowly. Then, hold for one count, and exhale our your mouth as if you're "blowing out a candle" for four counts. Practice this with your students and see how it changes the feel in the classroom. Some may be silly for the first breath or two, but after practicing for several breaths, the whole tone of the class will be calmer and more subdued. It's a good practice to keep on hand for other times during the day, too! Remind kids to take as many breaths as they need. This process can't be rushed, so even if they need some time alone to compose themselves, that's a-okay. I would still encourage a few common breaths together at the start of the process to be sure there's lots of fresh oxygen in the brain! Step 2: "I" Statements This is the first back-and-forth conversation that takes place. The person who feels harmed begins with a statement about how they felt. The framework of: "I feel ____ because ____" always gives kids a good place to start. During this time, the other person must stay silent and practice listening. This is important, because the second part of this step is to repeat what that person said. When the first person is done with their "I" Statement, the second person repeats what they heard, including all of the important parts, not just generalities. "I heard you say you felt ___ because ___" is a perfect launching point. At the end of their retell, they need to ask if they got it right. Person 1 needs to feel confident enough to say no, if needed, and retell the parts that were left out. This may need to happen a few times, especially at the beginning. The inclusion of "I heard you say..." is also crucial because it reinforces the idea that this is a listening exercise, not just an airing of grievances. Step 3: Repairing the Harm We want to encourage kids repair the harm, and sometimes "sorry" is enough. Other times, they may need an apology and an additional follow-up about what will happen if this occurs again. There may be something that they need or can do for one another, like get an ice pack or take turns with the item in question. There are other alternatives, too, and usually two or three actions are needed to repair the harm that was done. The important part is to make sure they are reasonable, and that both are agreeable to the ideas. Person 1 should feel that the harm is indeed repaired, or on the way to being repaired as best as possible. Step 4: Moving Forward While a physical touch may not always be appropriate, it is often a useful and effective starting point for moving forward. A handshake, high five, or fist bump can be powerful "wrap up" gestures that solidify the discussion and resolutions discussed. The important part, like the rest of the steps, is that both parties agree on the common gesture. Even a thumbs-up or peace sign can work. ... Always be sure to offer your presence and guidance, especially at at the beginning, as kids are working on practicing and internalizing these steps. After a while, you will not need to be as present, although you should always need to be available to help. Some conflicts go beyond the Peace Process and will need additional intervention by you or others to be truly effective and safe. However, I think you will find that this can be an excellent tool for navigating issues throughout the day. * As you introduce this to your classroom, have kids role-play through the Peace Process with common conflicts and/or issues that you have been hearing about. Extend the areas beyond the classroom and onto the playground, bus, neighborhood, and lunchroom. This activity will also get them more familiar with the steps and language in real-life scenarios. * An even more powerful way of incorporating this schoolwide is to have older student be "Peace Aides" and help younger students work through the process. How powerful for all parties involved! If you're interested in the freebie, click HERE to find it in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. Have you used a process like this at your school? Do you have additional steps or any feedback? Please leave a comment and share your experiences!
Why is teaching grammar all that important? Find out why and how to make it easier for you and more fun for your students!
Over the years, my students have come to sessions seeking help with literary devices. They have expressed confusion over the terms: literary devices, literary terms, literary elements and figurative language, and they also struggle with the many definitions. What are Literary Devices, Literary Terms, Literary Elements and Figurative Language? Literary Devices are creative writing strategies used by an author to convey his or her message(s). When used well, literary devices help readers to visualize, interpret and analyze literary texts. There are two kinds: literary techniques (which includes figurative language) and literary elements. Literary Techniques are words or phrases in texts of literature that writers use to achieve artistic or creative expression. Literary techniques also help readers to visualize, understand and appreciate literature. Literary Elements are components or pieces that make up a story or literary work. Figurative Language is the creative use of words and phrases that offers a hidden meaning beyond any literal interpretation. How Can Students Understand The Global Concept? I created an image to help students “see” the big picture as well as understand the individual components. Although I have not included all possible literary devices, I have included what I believe to be the most common ones. I hope you agree. Click Here to download a free copy of this image. Additional Resources: If you are also interested in a comprehensive publication that also offers students additional printables, a multisensory activity and a game, Click Here Cheers, Erica Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning. She is also the director of Learning to Learn and Learning Specialist Courses. Blog: https://learningspecialistmaterials.blogspot.com/ YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/warrenerica1 GSL Blog: https://goodsensorylearning.com/blogs/news Stores: www.GoodSensoryLearning.com/ Courses: http://www.learningspecialistcourses.com/ Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/694000
One of the hardest concepts to teach in second grade was time. But that challenge was also the most rewarding for me! So when I moved up to third, I figured ALL my 3rds would know how to tell and therefor elapsed time (the third grade standard) would be like a dream boat… Yeah… not […]
I was so excited to get our CSA today! It has been awhile since we had a CSA box and the girls were more than thrilled! "Mommy, let's open the box!
It amazes me how much class size affects my teaching and my students. I started the year with 31 students. I just lost my second one at the beginning of this week, so I'm down to 29. I've had 2 kids out all week on long vacations and 2 more out sick. So I've had a class of 25 ALL week!! It's been a big difference. Even though the ones gone are little angels and I still have all the hard ones, it really makes a BIG difference!! Our district and researchers keep telling us that class size doesn't make a difference but I have to beg to differ with them. It makes a HUGE difference in first grade. With a smaller class I can spread myself out more- work with more kids, more often, for longer periods of time. We can get more done- 25 kids take less time to finish an assignment than 31. With all the activities we do in first grade through out the day it can really add up. With less kids, fighting for my attention, I can give more attention to those that really need it. During class discussions, there is more participation by more kids. The shyer kids start to open up. It just feels more like a close knit community rather than a big city. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to teach less than 20. What a dream!! Back to reality. Our school has been doing training in SIOP this year. It stands for Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol. You can find out more HERE. It actually is training in teaching English Language Learner but our school does not have a very high percentage of ELLs. We actually have only 3 out of 180 in our grade level. But the SIOP model is really best practices and a great review in how to teach better. With the new common core our principal thought is would be a great help. We've had to do lesson studies and just finished one yesterday. Our team did ours on Synonyms. It's great to collaborate and work together as a team developing and analyzing a lesson. Here's a practice page we used and a cute song we found. I don't know who to give credit for the song but our kiddos really liked it. Click HERE if you'd like to grab a copy. Hey, believe it or not but it's FRIDAY tomorrow- again! Gotta love FRIDAY! I hope you all have a GREAT one.
I’m here to share a fraction anchor chart freebie and a hands-on mini lesson idea I used with my math intervention students. When we started our unit on fractions and did our pre-assessments, I quickly learned that I have a small group of students who need quite a bit of intervention. Unfortunately, many of them...
I have no idea where to start with writing tonight. I took one day off and now I'm thinking, "Oh, my goodness! Why do these people all want to follow me?" I keep trying to think of a funny story and honestly, I can't think past the football game in the background. I'm a Georgia fan at heart (sorry Dad - it's not my fault), but ultimately I'm an SEC fan! I like the guy from Hawaii on Notre Dame, but I have to say, I hope Alabama slaughters them. Now, changing directions, this week we are working on types of sentences, so I threw together a quick sheet. If you guys are anything like me, we have the new common core standards, but our old resources don't align. At the beginning of the summer, I took apart every resource I had and realigned all of my notebooks. It took 4 days to do, but they are a work of art and MUCH better than a filing cabinet. However, many times there are only 5 problems on a page or the page is too easy or too complex. So, now I'm obsessed with creating my own sheets. Anyway, I'm saying all of that to say I have three new freebies for you. The first one is a rounding sheet. Honestly, I'm not sure it's a first grade standard anymore. I thought it was when I created it, but I've looked through all of the standards and our first grade teacher's guide and I can't find it, so I'm not sure. I do know the other two sheets are in our standards. One of them covers true/false addition problems and the other one covers declarative and interrogative sentences plus punctuation marks. If you like them, CLICK HERE to get them. Oh, and for all of my cat lovers out there (See Saturday's post), my hubby has changed my picture on his phone to that picture. Now, every time I call him, the picture of the cat pops up. That's okay... I'm sure I deserve it. I did sneak a boiled egg into his work boot a few years ago ;) Hope you guys are off to a good week!
We are a Leader In Me School and talk a lot about using the 7 Habits of Happy Kids in our everyday lives. I love the idea of encouraging kids to act as leaders in the classroom and beyond. What I have noticed, however, is that sometimes "leadership" comes off as "bossypants" and that is not the route we want to take! I know you've probably heard of Sheryl Sandberg (of Facebook fame) and her campaign to end the word "bossy" (read or listen to an NPR story HERE), but I was hesitant to come straight out and use that word in our class. Instead, I wanted them to think on terms of "boss" and "leader" to recognize the differences between the two and to think about their own language choices in the classroom, in small groups, on their sports teams, and more. We first looked at this picture and talked about what we noticed: (source) This led to some discussion about leadership versus boss behavior. While the kids were discussing, I was passing out example cards to their table spots. Before I dismissed them, I shared this leadership quote from John Quincy Adams: They were then given instructions about our activity. I had printed example cards on two colors: blue for boss and green for leader (although they didn't know that yet) and they needed to read their card and find someone with an opposite color card and opposite example (good time to incorporate the word antonym, too!). I dismissed them to their tables and first had them converse with students in their table group to ensure they understood the word or phrase on their card. When they gave me the thumbs up, I told them to find their match and them meet to discuss why they went together and be able to give examples. We then began assembling our Anchor Chart. Each pair would come to the front of the class and would explain which card was descriptive of a "boss" and which was descriptive of a "leader" and why. They gave examples and I elicited a lot of help from the classroom for additional examples and language that both a boss and leader may use during that example. I would tape the cards to the Anchor Chart and we continued through each pair. There were two groups of three (with two leaders to one boss) and that worked out perfectly with my class (definitely feel free to adjust if you have lower numbers). Our completed anchor chart looked like: It was so powerful to see how often kids may think they are helping, but instead find themselves on the "boss" side of the chart instead of the "leader." I know several of the examples are repetitive, but we really talked through these and used examples from our own lives to recount when using "leader" words and language set us up for success. I also explained the "me vs. you" mentality of bosses versus the "we and us" mentality of leaders. Overall, it was a very powerful lesson and I look forward to referring back to this Anchor Chart this year, especially when "bossypants" behavior leads to conflict. I think these concrete examples can help guide the naturally strong leaders in my class to make better language decisions that can help grow them as leaders and really inspire others, just like the Adams quote! If you'd like a copy of these cards and quote, you can download this as a *freebie* HERE. How do you address bossy vs. leader behavior in your class? Share in the comments, I would love to build on this lesson!
"Cheat sheets" always helped me in school. Being a visual learner, they were a quick and easy way to memorize a lot of information in a short amount of time. Here are a list of my favorite
If the titles of my blog posts are any indication of how well I can focus on one specific task- that doesn't look very good. I never can focus on one thing in these blog posts- hence the extremely long and random combinations in my titles :) My kiddos were WIRED this week! They definitely have spring fever. My. goodness. It probably didn't help that it was Dr. Seuss day on Monday and we had a spirit week the rest of the days. Something about Wacky Wednesday doesn't exactly scream "concentration." :) Don't get me wrong- I love spirit week because I can wear jeans or comfy clothes. Plus the kiddos deserved some fun distractions. BUT. It was a complete battle between spirit/fun and testing/instruction all week. I finally had a "come to jesus" talk with the class on Friday. I actually think it helped. Last year, if I had a talk like that with my firsties, I wasn't always sure it got through, but with third graders this year, it was actually a mutual discussion. We'll see, that might just be my Saturday-induced optimism talking.... :) Speaking of spring fever, I just finished my newest "Spring Fling" and "Happy Snails" clipart sets and posted them to my store! I have used a lot of pastel colors in my spring sets, but I made a new color scheme for these sets (and some other spring sets I plan on making) because I needed some extra energizing sets after this week! Check out these little splashes of spring color.... If you want to check out these sets in my store, you can click on the links below. Happy Snails: $2.00 Spring Fling: $4.00 Onto the other part of my random blog title......If there was one word that would be tattooed across my forehead lately, it would be "EVIDENCE." If I had a dollar for every time I said that word ("Where's your evidence?" "Find evidence to support your claim" "Support your answers with evidence" "Find the evidence in the text" "Do you have evidence for that?" ETC), I could retire. Surprisingly, it doesn't bother my kiddos at all and they FEED off of showing evidence. For this reason, the most precious half piece of paper in my classroom is this little beauty: I made up my own version of a "Showing Evidence" reference sheet because I needed it to include a few more evidence stems than the ones I was finding on TpT or pinterest. In our reading lessons, we are focusing on the kiddos using text AND visual cues, so I wanted some stems specific to each. Also, we have discussed how to talk about poetry, so I wanted one in there with "stanza." My students have been using these little reference strips in pretty much every subject! They even started pulling them out in math and changing some of the wording around to work with their conclusions based on graphs, charts and word problems. God bless them and their evidence-eager hearts! One of my kids suggested that I laminate them for each student so they can "take it to fourth grade with them." I told him that I would make a special "Showing Evidence in Fourth Grade" strip....printed in COLOR....and laminated for everyone in the class if they found evidence to answer every reading comp question on the DCAS (state test). I hope I will be needing to buy lots of color ink soon! If you think your kiddos could use these same strips, you can snatch them up below from google docs. I just print them out and cut them down the middle. And, per my student's suggestion, you could laminate them so they last forever and ever :) {Snatch it HERE} Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead before bed tonight. Nothing like LOSING and hour of sleep- but at least it is more EVIDENCE that spring is on it's way......sorry I couldn't resist :)
Parent Teacher Conferences are right around the corner. The beginning of the school year has gone by SO fast! I am wanting to try something new
Phonics is a huge part of the English Language. Phonics are letters and sounds that make up how we pronounce and sound out words. The need for phonics is an important element for reading instruction. Did you know there are 44 sounds of the English language? I have a list of the 44 sounds of the English language on one nice little sheet. It's easy to read and store. This list of sounds will be handy for you to make and guide your phonics lessons. This list has a few examples for each sound. Not all examples are used. Click the picture below to download this FREE list! There are also 2 sheets of the 74 phonograms. These 2 sheets give the sound. Each bullet means how many sounds are in each phonogram. These are perfect for a reference. Send home for parents or use for your own lessons. I have created a few Vowel Sound Resources for the K-2 classroom. These resources are beginning phonics packs that are loaded with ideas to review and provide independent practice using phonics skills. Click any pack below to be taken to my TPT store to see what's in each resource.: Below you will find more phonic resource. These resources will help students understand the relationship between letters and sounds. You will find some fun ideas to review phonics skills with your students. The resources are perfect for K-2 Classroom. There are puzzles, games, and more ideas to reinforce the 44 sounds of the English language. Click on any resource below to be taken to my TPT store to see each resource up close. Here are some phonics resources you may like to help reinforce learning the 44 sounds of the English Language. I linked them to Amazon to make it easier for you to check out: Phonics Dominos Phonics Cubes Dr. Seuss Phonics Posters 44 Sound Board Happy sounding out! See you soon,
K-1 POETRY UNIT I love teaching poetry to kindergarten and first grade students! Even though I have this labeled as Unit 8 in my Writing Series , I actually teach poetry throughout the entire year. We follow the same routine and students look forward to our poetry week every month.
Are you looking for some activities for teaching suffixes? Check out these free materials including activities for Google Slides, videos, anchor charts,
Classroom Freebies Too is more freebies for more teachers!
Hey everyone! I hope you had a great holiday and if you’re like me you’re definitely enjoying your time off school. Yes I love and miss the kiddos and have seen some updates about them on FB but I’ve really enjoyed no alarms, comfy clothes, Netflix, organizing my home, and staying up late. The joys ... Read More about Read and Recall Freebie Update!
Synonyms and Antonyms Anchor Chart! This blog post contains the material to create this anchor chart, plus a FREE interactive notebook entry for synonyms and antonyms!
