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.
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,
Are you working on parts of speech this school year? This printable pack includes a game for finding the difference between a noun and a verb, nouns vs. proper nouns, multiple parts of speech, and a create your own option. Even better, this is a free printable pack! Each game includes its own set of rules and printable word cards to go with it. There are even two game boards to offer some variety in game play.
BOOM! This worksheet is full of all kinds of sound-based words, from creaks to squeaks.
Punctuation, Parts of Speech and Sentence Structure English Grammar Sentence Structure and Types of Sentences There are four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. Vowels and consonants of English Alphabets There are 26 alphabets and they are further divided into 5 vowels and 21 consonants. Punctuation Marks Everyone Needs to Master in English
Kids' writing ideas from Pinterest, including paint chip synonyms, printable Boggle game, traffic signal transitions, and paper plate Venn diagram.
Learners will practice differentiating between homonyms "it's" and "its" by completing eight sentences with the correct word.
Diagramming sentences helps kids see English grammar at-a-glance. It's easier to practice analyzing English parts of speech on the diagram charts and worksheets.
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Are you looking for some preposition activities to add to your lessons? Check out these posters, videos, anchor charts, and teaching ideas.
Discover the essential rules and tips for mastering punctuation in English!
Teach contractions and practice making them with this FUN Band-aid Contractions Activity. Print Printable Contraction Games.
Helping verbs are auxiliary verbs that help to make a sentence more complete. They assist the main verb in conveying more information about the action.
This anchor chart set will help your students learn everything they need to know about prefixes, suffixes, base words, and root words. The half size fits perfectly in students interactive notebooks and there are three options for printing! I hope you enjoy! If you love this freebie, check out some o...
The main difference between Myth and Legend is that Myths talk about supernatural characters like gods but Legends talk about historical figures and events.
A blog dedicated to all Elementary English Language Teachers. Find resources and ideas to plan your lessons.
Students draw ships on the upper board as indicated below. Then they make sentences in +, - or ? in any tense. They have to guess the enemies' strategy. Have fun! - ESL worksheets
Introduce your third-grade writer to sensory words with this worksheet about sorting adjectives under the correct senses.
Students learn in a variety of ways. Teaching English with hands-on activities can help language students learn and practice English vocabulary, grammar, concepts, and ideas. Here are six hands-on activities and games for teaching English + illustrations
Capitalization Rules! In this lesson, you will learn rules for capitalization of letters in written English. Following these rules will help you understand
This worksheet is perfect for helping students practice adding the ED suffix to spelling words. Just print and go! This worksheet is no prep and easy to use. This worksheet is perfect for helping students practice adding the ED suffix to spelling words. Just print and go! This worksheet is no prep and easy to use, making it a great resource for busy teachers. Add ED Suffix Worksheet
Try this synonyms worksheet with your third grader. This synonyms worksheet gets your child to find words with the same meanings. Download to complete online or as a printable!
We only have a few months before it is time for my students to take the California Standards Test. I have been busy reviewing with my students. Every month I use my spiral rev…
I am back with a freebie! There are so many different instances in which a comma should be used. I have just released a handy student reference chart that students can attach inside of their student notebooks or place inside of a folder.Click Here To Access It.
