5 easy to implement solutions to help your sweet, but slow finishers, get their work done! The reasons behind not finishing are many : some kids are still weak in the skills that they need in order to finish, some kids don’t care about finishing, some kids don’t want to do the next task so the dawdle , some enjoy the constant pushing and encouragement to finish. #1 Let’s start with those who lack in skills needed. Offer to help on 1 problem and let them know that you want to hear them think through the next problem. (This gives some accountability for them to listen to you while you are helping.) When it is their turn to do a problem out loud ( the think through it) don’t jump in and offer assistance too fast. Praise their thinking and willingness to work hard. Fill in gaps in the understanding This is great modeling for the potential peer tutors who are seated near you and are probably listening in. These steps show the other children at the table how to help this struggler should the struggle continue. #2 Buddy Helpers and the GREEN Pen of Greatness Give those fast finishers something meaningful to do. Allow them to assist a friend using the 4 steps above and this poster below. If you give your peer tutors a green pen you can watch this “helping bug” spread like the flu… just kidding spread like wildfire. Maybe your slower finishers just need to motivation to get done so they can get their hands on a green pen! Green Pen The idea for the green pen comes from Amy Green. Brilliant idea! Teacher roams around with some green pens. Completed work gets a green star. In my class we do hearts. Author of completed and accurate work can go on to other things of interest or take another green pen and go help/ look over the work of other friends in class!!! (((purchase a box of green pens from Office Max {here})))) #3 Helping Reluctant Finishers Get it Done: Using Motivational 1/4 sheet and Visual Timers Now what do you do with a child that just does not want to finish? They have the skills, but finishing is not something that they care about. Or they don’t want to do the next assignment, so they are making a “meal” of this one! If this is habitual, call home. It can be a quick call just letting mom, dad, auntie, or other family member know that it’s becoming a habit for the child to not finish even though s/he has the skills to do so. Offer the child a little help. Mention that you have noticed they are not getting their work done. This just isn’t how we do things. Remind them they can ALWAYS ask for help, but you have noticed they KNOW how, but just are moving slower than they should. Give them a 1/4 sheet of paper to help them keep track of finishing on time. Most kids love having the teacher “notice” this change of effort. You can place a sticker over each child. Kids love the dot marker. For some reason that perfectly shaped blob makes everyone happy. Or just make it simple and put a heart over every finished assignment. Utilize a visual timer so they can tell if they are running out of time. I love the classroom timers site!!! Your students will be able to pace themselves better as they watch the fuse burn. The fireworks show is awesome at the end. Have something they miss out on if not done. I will say I have kept a child in for 5 minutes of recess occasionally. Don’t throw things at me. Listen, I think the “don’t take their recess away” movement is right! Seriously don’t throw things at me. But missing 5 minutes of recess really sends a message too. Staying in for 5 minutes in the course of an entire school year can yield a harder worker! #4 Decide if not finishing is OK: Modified Work Some of the kiddos in my room are struggling on every little thing all the time. This is because their age is not matching their academic age. For example, I have a 1st grade 6 year old who is precious, but is at a mid kinder level. Isn’t it OK for him to finish half of the work and tap out? This is modifying. Seriously, if he can do 4 problems (even with help) wouldn’t that indicate that he could eventually finish them all? But the eventual part is the struggle. We don’t have “eventually” in the school day. A phone call home or parent meeting should happen first before work modification begins. All parties need to agree on this. Once you all agree, have the child complete a given amount and then store the unfinished work. #5 Have a Spot to Store Unfinished work: I store mine in this Pacon paper sorter! In December I went back to work after the break and brought in the Pacon Paper sorter. I called it the work in progress condo. I can keep projects we are in the middle of in there and my students can keep their own work in progress there too! I adore Pacon as a company and this paper sorter is the best. Let me tell you why. It was inexpensive. It was so easy to put together, and I am ALL thumbs. It can be painted or covered in contact paper to customize. It easily stores the unfinished work of my slower finishers and the “in progress” work from my week-long intervention groups!!! This product is sturdy and isn’t too big! It fits perfectly under an easel or stands up tall along a bookshelf. It also sits beautifully on a counter top. You can also set it on it’s back to be accessed from the top. LOVE THIS PRODUCT. You must order one NOW. OK but get this… my class is a little “willful” this year. Out of 30 kids I have 14 only children and 1st born kids who “just” got their 1st sibling. This year has been a struggle to keep them engaged in work vs. pretending school is one big playdate. So, look at the brilliant idea I came up with to keep the talking down a bit!!! Lord have mercy, just that little bit of space between desk groups has really cut down on the talking and has improved work completion too!!! Can I get an Amen? I am giving myself a high five right now!!!! You can also stand the sorter up on it’s end. I am going to buy another one and put it in my guided reading area to hold the awesome materials I keep on hand there. Unfinished work and Parent Communication: What do I do with this unfinished work? I send it home on Friday. I attach a note that says something like this: “This is work that your child was not able to finish in class. We discussed work modification, but I wanted you to have this at home in case you can have an older brother or sister or tutor help your child continue to practice the skills we are doing in class.” Grab this parent letter and other freebies below. Remember: high expectations- I expect you to do what I ask and try hard (even if that means doing 1/2 page I asked of you) meaningful relationships - The green pen and helpers Kelley Dolling of the Teacher Idea Factory says you have to “sell the sizzle” in order to get things done. I hope the sizzle of the green pen and the posters and freebies motivate your little stars to rock this out. Download all the freebies from my store on Teacher’s Pay Teachers by clicking the button below: Make a teacher friend’s day! Share this post with them. Pass on great info and freebies so we can all help our slow finishers.

This unit is going to be fabulous and fun for your students. Their brains are going explode with joyfully RIGOROUS learning. My students have loved this unit for 5 years running. {preview shows every page in large format} What's Inside? For every sense you will find: an Anchor Chart a Little Book an Activity Word Work Fluency Brainstorming or Smart Charts Writing pages in 3 formats and Assessment Options. Details: Anchor Charts feature art I commissioned from Melonheadz especially for this unit. The 5 little books are sight word readers. They are also patterned so that they are easy to read. "I will eat the watermelon. It will taste good" "I can eat an ice cream It will taste good" The fluency is written at a higher level for more advanced first graders or struggling second graders. The journal pages come in 3 formats. 1st grade fill in the blanks and 2 kinds of lines for free response journal writing. Each journal comes with brainstorming pages that will make you look like an anchor chart pro. Even your struggling writers will have tremendous success ! Word Work pages are just perfect for first grade or start of second grade. Included are activities that I use to teach each sense, as well as 3 different assessments to choose from. Please look at the preview because I have shown you every single page in the 21 slide preview. The pictures are nice and big ! There is even a freebie at the end of the preview. Enjoy! My blog has tons of freebies that are not posted here on TpT. Please feel free to swing by and stay a while. Click the word "blog" next to my picture on the top. I send you lots of love and, as always, may your heart and your grade book be full. Katie Legal Stuff: DJ INKERS clipart used 1112175863 This is my sole, intellectual property. Purchase is for a single user unless multiple licenses have been purchased. 5 Senses by Katie Knight is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Key Words Sense of Sight, Sense of Smell, 5 Senses, Sense of Hearing, Sense of Touch, Sense of Taste, Anchor Charts, emergent readers, beginning reader, little book, fluency passages, Bulletin Boards, Journal Writing, Expository Writing, Primary Grades Science, Common Core informational text.

5 easy to implement solutions to help your sweet, but slow finishers, get their work done! The reasons behind not finishing are many : some kids are still weak in the skills that they need in order to finish, some kids don’t care about finishing, some kids don’t want to do the next task so the dawdle , some enjoy the constant pushing and encouragement to finish. #1 Let’s start with those who lack in skills needed. Offer to help on 1 problem and let them know that you want to hear them think through the next problem. (This gives some accountability for them to listen to you while you are helping.) When it is their turn to do a problem out loud ( the think through it) don’t jump in and offer assistance too fast. Praise their thinking and willingness to work hard. Fill in gaps in the understanding This is great modeling for the potential peer tutors who are seated near you and are probably listening in. These steps show the other children at the table how to help this struggler should the struggle continue. #2 Buddy Helpers and the GREEN Pen of Greatness Give those fast finishers something meaningful to do. Allow them to assist a friend using the 4 steps above and this poster below. If you give your peer tutors a green pen you can watch this “helping bug” spread like the flu… just kidding spread like wildfire. Maybe your slower finishers just need to motivation to get done so they can get their hands on a green pen! Green Pen The idea for the green pen comes from Amy Green. Brilliant idea! Teacher roams around with some green pens. Completed work gets a green star. In my class we do hearts. Author of completed and accurate work can go on to other things of interest or take another green pen and go help/ look over the work of other friends in class!!! (((purchase a box of green pens from Office Max {here})))) #3 Helping Reluctant Finishers Get it Done: Using Motivational 1/4 sheet and Visual Timers Now what do you do with a child that just does not want to finish? They have the skills, but finishing is not something that they care about. Or they don’t want to do the next assignment, so they are making a “meal” of this one! If this is habitual, call home. It can be a quick call just letting mom, dad, auntie, or other family member know that it’s becoming a habit for the child to not finish even though s/he has the skills to do so. Offer the child a little help. Mention that you have noticed they are not getting their work done. This just isn’t how we do things. Remind them they can ALWAYS ask for help, but you have noticed they KNOW how, but just are moving slower than they should. Give them a 1/4 sheet of paper to help them keep track of finishing on time. Most kids love having the teacher “notice” this change of effort. You can place a sticker over each child. Kids love the dot marker. For some reason that perfectly shaped blob makes everyone happy. Or just make it simple and put a heart over every finished assignment. Utilize a visual timer so they can tell if they are running out of time. I love the classroom timers site!!! Your students will be able to pace themselves better as they watch the fuse burn. The fireworks show is awesome at the end. Have something they miss out on if not done. I will say I have kept a child in for 5 minutes of recess occasionally. Don’t throw things at me. Listen, I think the “don’t take their recess away” movement is right! Seriously don’t throw things at me. But missing 5 minutes of recess really sends a message too. Staying in for 5 minutes in the course of an entire school year can yield a harder worker! #4 Decide if not finishing is OK: Modified Work Some of the kiddos in my room are struggling on every little thing all the time. This is because their age is not matching their academic age. For example, I have a 1st grade 6 year old who is precious, but is at a mid kinder level. Isn’t it OK for him to finish half of the work and tap out? This is modifying. Seriously, if he can do 4 problems (even with help) wouldn’t that indicate that he could eventually finish them all? But the eventual part is the struggle. We don’t have “eventually” in the school day. A phone call home or parent meeting should happen first before work modification begins. All parties need to agree on this. Once you all agree, have the child complete a given amount and then store the unfinished work. #5 Have a Spot to Store Unfinished work: I store mine in this Pacon paper sorter! In December I went back to work after the break and brought in the Pacon Paper sorter. I called it the work in progress condo. I can keep projects we are in the middle of in there and my students can keep their own work in progress there too! I adore Pacon as a company and this paper sorter is the best. Let me tell you why. It was inexpensive. It was so easy to put together, and I am ALL thumbs. It can be painted or covered in contact paper to customize. It easily stores the unfinished work of my slower finishers and the “in progress” work from my week-long intervention groups!!! This product is sturdy and isn’t too big! It fits perfectly under an easel or stands up tall along a bookshelf. It also sits beautifully on a counter top. You can also set it on it’s back to be accessed from the top. LOVE THIS PRODUCT. You must order one NOW. OK but get this… my class is a little “willful” this year. Out of 30 kids I have 14 only children and 1st born kids who “just” got their 1st sibling. This year has been a struggle to keep them engaged in work vs. pretending school is one big playdate. So, look at the brilliant idea I came up with to keep the talking down a bit!!! Lord have mercy, just that little bit of space between desk groups has really cut down on the talking and has improved work completion too!!! Can I get an Amen? I am giving myself a high five right now!!!! You can also stand the sorter up on it’s end. I am going to buy another one and put it in my guided reading area to hold the awesome materials I keep on hand there. Unfinished work and Parent Communication: What do I do with this unfinished work? I send it home on Friday. I attach a note that says something like this: “This is work that your child was not able to finish in class. We discussed work modification, but I wanted you to have this at home in case you can have an older brother or sister or tutor help your child continue to practice the skills we are doing in class.” Grab this parent letter and other freebies below. Remember: high expectations- I expect you to do what I ask and try hard (even if that means doing 1/2 page I asked of you) meaningful relationships - The green pen and helpers Kelley Dolling of the Teacher Idea Factory says you have to “sell the sizzle” in order to get things done. I hope the sizzle of the green pen and the posters and freebies motivate your little stars to rock this out. Download all the freebies from my store on Teacher’s Pay Teachers by clicking the button below: Make a teacher friend’s day! Share this post with them. Pass on great info and freebies so we can all help our slow finishers.

Yes! I am finally done! Friday was my last day! My last week of school was AMAZING! It was great because I kept teaching. Oh don't get me wrong we watched a movie or two this week. I ain't gonna lie to you! But I kept them VERY busy the other 4 and 1/2 hours of the day ! ! ! If I stop teaching they stop behaving! This is often worse than the start of school, because I find myself so annoyed with them. "They KNOW better than to act this way." I think in my frazzled brain! I also know better than to ask them to silent read for 45 minutes so I can clean... So I planned a packed week including a fabulous science activity. This activity is SUPER engaging, easy to pull together, CHEAP, and makes me love being a teacher! I sent kids around with a black trash bag asking for bottles. I forgot to tell them we only needed 30, they came back with 100. Little over achievers, just like there teacher! But that was perfect because I used the extra bottles to let them do the project at home too. I brought a feather, gravel, pennies, a sponge to school. I meant to bring foil, but forgot... Oh well. So I cut up some plastic instead of using the foil. You have to roll with it... We huddled up around a big bowl of water and tested out a feather and talked about why it floats, then we dropped a rock in and talked about why it sank. We generalized about why things float and sink. Imagine a picture here Why no picture? Remember I am FRAZZLED! My teacher brain cannot remember everything. Then the kids grabbed one of everything and headed to their desks to work in buddy pairs. They predicted what their supplies would do. Would they sink or float? Then, in go the sponge, penny, rock, and plastic or foil. Kids know that they must communicate and take turn at all times when we are working as teams. Tip: only fill the bottle only 1/3 of the way. This means the label we add will not cover the floating objects. Tip 2: add the label last so that it does not get soaked. Then each child got a thinking mat. They drew and labeled each object inside their bottle, then they explained why some things sink and some things float . Friends, I tell you they were smiling, engaged, leaning, and most importantly not complaining, pinching, chit chatting, or doing any of the stuff that drives us crazy as teachers! I made bulletin board component for this because … well that’s what I do…I really like bulletin boards…. I created the lettering. All you have to do is print and cut. I have way more than 14 kids ( I have 30) but this fits in the camera frame. I also did this photo idea from Primary Practice. The minute I saw I knew I needed to do it! The results are just too danged cute! And it took them a long time to do the writing! SCORE for being able to clean up my room. I think the parents appreciated that their child did some meaningful work this last week of school. The kids glued their picture to the paper below and wrote all about what their jobs will be like and why they chose that job. This little guy (who is a gem and my Citizen of the Year award winner) wrote that he “will try be very smart in the way he fights and try not to die”. But don’t hear darkness in what he said. Nope, not this kid. He is sunshine and helpfulness. He wrote that with optimism and a cheerful plan for being a great “army guy”. If you would like the writing template, grab it my dear, and enjoy! Next year I will staple the students’ writing next to the giant lettering for an Open House display. I miss the ipad… darn thieves. Are you in love with the new trend of grey and yellow? I think it is a nod back to the 80’s grey and peach trend. I liked it then, and I love the new variation now! I am Loving this bag! Polka dots and chevron, too cute! So what do you think would happen if you throw last year’s grade book into the pool as part of your “Welcome Summer” victory dance? Will it sink or float? I plan to find out today! I’ll let you know!

This has come out of a place of needing my students to print neatly and actually making it happen. Through daily 5 minute board work lessons & cool pages, my students really are printing like Jedi Masters. I have found that some kids don't "see" or have not learned to look at the lines so they are not able to use them. Seeing, naming, and using the lines is key. In class we call them sky line, tree line, dirt line. How many times do you get crazy “k”s like this? Or worse, the ALWAYS capital K... drives me nuts too. These cards HELP. Because we name the lines, we have a common vocabulary. I can talk about the dirt line (bottom line) and how I want that k to touch the dirt line. Or in the case of a lower case g, I can remind the kids, they don't start at the sky line. They start at the tree line and go down into the roots! During 5 minute board work.... nobody can hide at their desk forming letters incorrectly. I can all of them! VICTORY!!! After I model, help, and help some more, we move on to the practice pages. Here are samples of the pages included! Each page has the letter inside real words with a picture clues. Words are kept short to make them readable to young eyes. By the end of the alphabet I have transitioned into sentences. As a bonus, I included the 4 diagraphs! I named the groups based on how the letter is formed. And I created “stay sharp” pages to review. We do one page once a week, and let me tell you they work hard on these pages because neat work means a skittle. If I have a child who is making the letters p, q, j, y, and g incorrectly I can hand them the " roots letters " review page for homework. This is also why they work hard on review pages because no one wants extra homework. I have included pictures because some of us need the see the whole thing before they can feel comfortable taking the plunge. So for those of us who want to see it all, here you go. These are the ball and stick letters. Letters with Roots Letters with Roots Sky Scrapers Middle Men Curved Letters I also made Digraphs Pages as a Bonus!!! Plus you get the board work cards and a detailed description of how to use them. Click here to see other feedback These two pages are a little freebie for you. They are waiting for you at TpT in the “Download Preview”. Enjoy!

5 easy to implement solutions to help your sweet, but slow finishers, get their work done! The reasons behind not finishing are many : some kids are still weak in the skills that they need in order to finish, some kids don’t care about finishing, some kids don’t want to do the next task so the dawdle , some enjoy the constant pushing and encouragement to finish. #1 Let’s start with those who lack in skills needed. Offer to help on 1 problem and let them know that you want to hear them think through the next problem. (This gives some accountability for them to listen to you while you are helping.) When it is their turn to do a problem out loud ( the think through it) don’t jump in and offer assistance too fast. Praise their thinking and willingness to work hard. Fill in gaps in the understanding This is great modeling for the potential peer tutors who are seated near you and are probably listening in. These steps show the other children at the table how to help this struggler should the struggle continue. #2 Buddy Helpers and the GREEN Pen of Greatness Give those fast finishers something meaningful to do. Allow them to assist a friend using the 4 steps above and this poster below. If you give your peer tutors a green pen you can watch this “helping bug” spread like the flu… just kidding spread like wildfire. Maybe your slower finishers just need to motivation to get done so they can get their hands on a green pen! Green Pen The idea for the green pen comes from Amy Green. Brilliant idea! Teacher roams around with some green pens. Completed work gets a green star. In my class we do hearts. Author of completed and accurate work can go on to other things of interest or take another green pen and go help/ look over the work of other friends in class!!! (((purchase a box of green pens from Office Max {here})))) #3 Helping Reluctant Finishers Get it Done: Using Motivational 1/4 sheet and Visual Timers Now what do you do with a child that just does not want to finish? They have the skills, but finishing is not something that they care about. Or they don’t want to do the next assignment, so they are making a “meal” of this one! If this is habitual, call home. It can be a quick call just letting mom, dad, auntie, or other family member know that it’s becoming a habit for the child to not finish even though s/he has the skills to do so. Offer the child a little help. Mention that you have noticed they are not getting their work done. This just isn’t how we do things. Remind them they can ALWAYS ask for help, but you have noticed they KNOW how, but just are moving slower than they should. Give them a 1/4 sheet of paper to help them keep track of finishing on time. Most kids love having the teacher “notice” this change of effort. You can place a sticker over each child. Kids love the dot marker. For some reason that perfectly shaped blob makes everyone happy. Or just make it simple and put a heart over every finished assignment. Utilize a visual timer so they can tell if they are running out of time. I love the classroom timers site!!! Your students will be able to pace themselves better as they watch the fuse burn. The fireworks show is awesome at the end. Have something they miss out on if not done. I will say I have kept a child in for 5 minutes of recess occasionally. Don’t throw things at me. Listen, I think the “don’t take their recess away” movement is right! Seriously don’t throw things at me. But missing 5 minutes of recess really sends a message too. Staying in for 5 minutes in the course of an entire school year can yield a harder worker! #4 Decide if not finishing is OK: Modified Work Some of the kiddos in my room are struggling on every little thing all the time. This is because their age is not matching their academic age. For example, I have a 1st grade 6 year old who is precious, but is at a mid kinder level. Isn’t it OK for him to finish half of the work and tap out? This is modifying. Seriously, if he can do 4 problems (even with help) wouldn’t that indicate that he could eventually finish them all? But the eventual part is the struggle. We don’t have “eventually” in the school day. A phone call home or parent meeting should happen first before work modification begins. All parties need to agree on this. Once you all agree, have the child complete a given amount and then store the unfinished work. #5 Have a Spot to Store Unfinished work: I store mine in this Pacon paper sorter! In December I went back to work after the break and brought in the Pacon Paper sorter. I called it the work in progress condo. I can keep projects we are in the middle of in there and my students can keep their own work in progress there too! I adore Pacon as a company and this paper sorter is the best. Let me tell you why. It was inexpensive. It was so easy to put together, and I am ALL thumbs. It can be painted or covered in contact paper to customize. It easily stores the unfinished work of my slower finishers and the “in progress” work from my week-long intervention groups!!! This product is sturdy and isn’t too big! It fits perfectly under an easel or stands up tall along a bookshelf. It also sits beautifully on a counter top. You can also set it on it’s back to be accessed from the top. LOVE THIS PRODUCT. You must order one NOW. OK but get this… my class is a little “willful” this year. Out of 30 kids I have 14 only children and 1st born kids who “just” got their 1st sibling. This year has been a struggle to keep them engaged in work vs. pretending school is one big playdate. So, look at the brilliant idea I came up with to keep the talking down a bit!!! Lord have mercy, just that little bit of space between desk groups has really cut down on the talking and has improved work completion too!!! Can I get an Amen? I am giving myself a high five right now!!!! You can also stand the sorter up on it’s end. I am going to buy another one and put it in my guided reading area to hold the awesome materials I keep on hand there. Unfinished work and Parent Communication: What do I do with this unfinished work? I send it home on Friday. I attach a note that says something like this: “This is work that your child was not able to finish in class. We discussed work modification, but I wanted you to have this at home in case you can have an older brother or sister or tutor help your child continue to practice the skills we are doing in class.” Grab this parent letter and other freebies below. Remember: high expectations- I expect you to do what I ask and try hard (even if that means doing 1/2 page I asked of you) meaningful relationships - The green pen and helpers Kelley Dolling of the Teacher Idea Factory says you have to “sell the sizzle” in order to get things done. I hope the sizzle of the green pen and the posters and freebies motivate your little stars to rock this out. Download all the freebies from my store on Teacher’s Pay Teachers by clicking the button below: Make a teacher friend’s day! Share this post with them. Pass on great info and freebies so we can all help our slow finishers.

Do you ever scramble to type a quick note to remind parents about X,Y, and Z? This pack will save you from all that drama. These notes are provided in full and quarter sheet formats so that you can choose the number copies you want to run! Simply grab, copy, and go! It could not be easier! The Par...

2 Little Books, 7 math and writing activities, and 2 tests will make your school days incredibly fun and rigorous! {The Preview shows all 64 pages in large photos} This curriculum was designed for the start of first grade. Activities are engaging but not overwhelming. Little books are sight word in...

This little gem of a behavior system will have your students behaving like angels!Please do leave me feedback and follow. Your feedback is like votes, pats on the back, and high fives. Following ensures you get emailed the next time I post a unit or freebie that will benefit your students!Enjoy! Ka...

Are you ready for a Monster Truck Rally? Let me hear you scream ! Yes, my friends, that is how I started math this week. My students have been losing their minds and begging to do math. But get this... they are begging to do HOMEWORK! Can we do monster truck homework too !?! So, what is all this excitement about? This unit! It has 10 plus days of fabulous double digit addition practice. This unit helps them practice with and without regrouping. Just in case you think your girls might not dig this… I give you “ladybug truck” below. They get 2 minutes to decorate their truck before beginning. All pages come in full color seen above and black line master seen below. I teach double digit addition using a flag. The flag is a SUPER helpful math tool when they are just learning. It's like training wheels. They use it a while then ditch it when they are ready to fly. They divide the ones and tens place with the flag pole. To provide a visual cue on where to carry a flag is drawn. I provide the flags on the paper for the kids at the beginning of the unit but at the end of the unit the child must draw them if they still need them. After 6 days of practice we move on to the “DEMOLITION DERBY”. If you have never been to a derby, it is really fun ( in a smash a beer with your forehead kind of way) . Every summer my dad took me to a derby so I have fond memories. This is what a derby looks like. The last car standing, wins money and hopefully avoids an ambulance ride. I set up our white board to look like this. Here is how the Demolition Derby works: The kids solve and circle if they regroup. The car's side with the most regrouping wins. The winning car gets the winners cup and the losing car gets pulled off the whiteboard and put into the auto body shop. My students were losing their minds as we did this !!! They have never had so much fun! This has my kids engaged, excited, and happy these last few weeks! Cue the angels singing! Then they got to make their own trucks and make a HUGE Demolition Derby Bulletin Board!!! Their little heads were about to explode! I love the orange chevron lettering. It’s the small things that make me happy! You’ll be happy too because the lettering is included in the unit. The kids were dying over who was crashing into who. I cared the most about the math that is found underneath. This has been 2 solid weeks of learning and fun! I can’t wait to do this again next year! Do you want to try it out? Want to win one? First to comment wins and two rafflecopter winners as well. You must be a follower to win. If you are the first to comment, leave your email :0) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yes! I am finally done! Friday was my last day! My last week of school was AMAZING! It was great because I kept teaching. Oh don't get me wrong we watched a movie or two this week. I ain't gonna lie to you! But I kept them VERY busy the other 4 and 1/2 hours of the day ! ! ! If I stop teaching they stop behaving! This is often worse than the start of school, because I find myself so annoyed with them. "They KNOW better than to act this way." I think in my frazzled brain! I also know better than to ask them to silent read for 45 minutes so I can clean... So I planned a packed week including a fabulous science activity. This activity is SUPER engaging, easy to pull together, CHEAP, and makes me love being a teacher! I sent kids around with a black trash bag asking for bottles. I forgot to tell them we only needed 30, they came back with 100. Little over achievers, just like there teacher! But that was perfect because I used the extra bottles to let them do the project at home too. I brought a feather, gravel, pennies, a sponge to school. I meant to bring foil, but forgot... Oh well. So I cut up some plastic instead of using the foil. You have to roll with it... We huddled up around a big bowl of water and tested out a feather and talked about why it floats, then we dropped a rock in and talked about why it sank. We generalized about why things float and sink. Imagine a picture here Why no picture? Remember I am FRAZZLED! My teacher brain cannot remember everything. Then the kids grabbed one of everything and headed to their desks to work in buddy pairs. They predicted what their supplies would do. Would they sink or float? Then, in go the sponge, penny, rock, and plastic or foil. Kids know that they must communicate and take turn at all times when we are working as teams. Tip: only fill the bottle only 1/3 of the way. This means the label we add will not cover the floating objects. Tip 2: add the label last so that it does not get soaked. Then each child got a thinking mat. They drew and labeled each object inside their bottle, then they explained why some things sink and some things float . Friends, I tell you they were smiling, engaged, leaning, and most importantly not complaining, pinching, chit chatting, or doing any of the stuff that drives us crazy as teachers! I made bulletin board component for this because … well that’s what I do…I really like bulletin boards…. I created the lettering. All you have to do is print and cut. I have way more than 14 kids ( I have 30) but this fits in the camera frame. I also did this photo idea from Primary Practice. The minute I saw I knew I needed to do it! The results are just too danged cute! And it took them a long time to do the writing! SCORE for being able to clean up my room. I think the parents appreciated that their child did some meaningful work this last week of school. The kids glued their picture to the paper below and wrote all about what their jobs will be like and why they chose that job. This little guy (who is a gem and my Citizen of the Year award winner) wrote that he “will try be very smart in the way he fights and try not to die”. But don’t hear darkness in what he said. Nope, not this kid. He is sunshine and helpfulness. He wrote that with optimism and a cheerful plan for being a great “army guy”. If you would like the writing template, grab it my dear, and enjoy! Next year I will staple the students’ writing next to the giant lettering for an Open House display. I miss the ipad… darn thieves. Are you in love with the new trend of grey and yellow? I think it is a nod back to the 80’s grey and peach trend. I liked it then, and I love the new variation now! I am Loving this bag! Polka dots and chevron, too cute! So what do you think would happen if you throw last year’s grade book into the pool as part of your “Welcome Summer” victory dance? Will it sink or float? I plan to find out today! I’ll let you know!

This has come out of a place of needing my students to print neatly and actually making it happen. Through daily 5 minute board work lessons & cool pages, my students really are printing like Jedi Masters. I have found that some kids don't "see" or have not learned to look at the lines so they are not able to use them. Seeing, naming, and using the lines is key. In class we call them sky line, tree line, dirt line. How many times do you get crazy “k”s like this? Or worse, the ALWAYS capital K... drives me nuts too. These cards HELP. Because we name the lines, we have a common vocabulary. I can talk about the dirt line (bottom line) and how I want that k to touch the dirt line. Or in the case of a lower case g, I can remind the kids, they don't start at the sky line. They start at the tree line and go down into the roots! During 5 minute board work.... nobody can hide at their desk forming letters incorrectly. I can all of them! VICTORY!!! After I model, help, and help some more, we move on to the practice pages. Here are samples of the pages included! Each page has the letter inside real words with a picture clues. Words are kept short to make them readable to young eyes. By the end of the alphabet I have transitioned into sentences. As a bonus, I included the 4 diagraphs! I named the groups based on how the letter is formed. And I created “stay sharp” pages to review. We do one page once a week, and let me tell you they work hard on these pages because neat work means a skittle. If I have a child who is making the letters p, q, j, y, and g incorrectly I can hand them the " roots letters " review page for homework. This is also why they work hard on review pages because no one wants extra homework. I have included pictures because some of us need the see the whole thing before they can feel comfortable taking the plunge. So for those of us who want to see it all, here you go. These are the ball and stick letters. Letters with Roots Letters with Roots Sky Scrapers Middle Men Curved Letters I also made Digraphs Pages as a Bonus!!! Plus you get the board work cards and a detailed description of how to use them. Click here to see other feedback These two pages are a little freebie for you. They are waiting for you at TpT in the “Download Preview”. Enjoy!

It Is Hot is a perfect passage for early readers! One sentence per line Picture clues to help your youngest readers. 1st grade July, Aug, September Kindergarten Spring It Is Hot passage for end of first / start of second: Text has 2 paragraphs a great way to send 1st a gentle fun way to start second. check out the preview These differentiated passages are perfect for fluency, comprehension, and close reading. I have included a full writing unit to help your students write the "perfect paragraph" including that tricky sense of closure! The darling art will bring this unit to life, delight your learners, and make your classroom beautiful! What's Included: Two Differentiated Passages (End of Kinder-First Grade) available in 3 different formats Beginning Reader Passage Easy Reading Fluency Passages with and without numbers Comprehension Questions Focus on: Looking back into the text Color coding where the answer was found Art project Copy machine ready, no tracing Directions are in words and pictures. Perfect for a substitute teacher. Bulletin Board lettering that is quick and easy to cut out Print or copy directly onto construction paper cut to 8.5X11 Bulletin Board lettering Says : "It Is Hot" Full Writing unit / Shared Research Brainstorming pages I put under the doc cam and complete with the kids Quick write for easy writing and grading Themed writing pages Bonus: Lesson plan for how I use this unit Picture cards that help build vocabulary and make the text more comprehensible. This unit is available in 2 Bundles: Fall Literacy (392 Happy Customers) Literacy All Year (630 Happy Customers) High Praise for Literacy All Year Units: "NEVER have I had such a comprehensive unit that is absolutely perfect for ALL my kiddos. The graphic organizers that support the writing... top notch. My kids were writing paragraphs with openings and closings WEEK ONE. I send home the reading practice for homework. I was dumbfounded when my ELS kids... still in early reading behaviors... touched and read the passages top to bottom. Worth EVERY penny. I wish I had bundled!" -Suzan Sudlow "First off, thank you for being such an inspirational speaker at the K-1 conference! You inspired me to do more, and your bundles have helped me up my game without making my life harder! Thank you for adding all the pictures and examples." -Natalia C To See the Whole Literacy All Year Series Click Here. Link stays on TpT and in my store.

PowerPoint Lesson Plan Template: Editable Darling Format Amazing Colors that you can adapt to your taste! How to use: DIY Tutorial Video is included- Easy to follow directions for customization DIY directions are included in words and in screenshot pictures Full tutorial video can be viewed by clicking here Tutorial Video Bonus: These are my real lesson plans from my real 1st grade classroom. If you are looking for a starting point for teaching primary. THIS is a great place to start.

This has come out of a place of needing my students to print neatly and actually making it happen. Through daily 5 minute board work lessons & cool pages, my students really are printing like Jedi Masters. I have found that some kids don't "see" or have not learned to look at the lines so they are not able to use them. Seeing, naming, and using the lines is key. In class we call them sky line, tree line, dirt line. How many times do you get crazy “k”s like this? Or worse, the ALWAYS capital K... drives me nuts too. These cards HELP. Because we name the lines, we have a common vocabulary. I can talk about the dirt line (bottom line) and how I want that k to touch the dirt line. Or in the case of a lower case g, I can remind the kids, they don't start at the sky line. They start at the tree line and go down into the roots! During 5 minute board work.... nobody can hide at their desk forming letters incorrectly. I can all of them! VICTORY!!! After I model, help, and help some more, we move on to the practice pages. Here are samples of the pages included! Each page has the letter inside real words with a picture clues. Words are kept short to make them readable to young eyes. By the end of the alphabet I have transitioned into sentences. As a bonus, I included the 4 diagraphs! I named the groups based on how the letter is formed. And I created “stay sharp” pages to review. We do one page once a week, and let me tell you they work hard on these pages because neat work means a skittle. If I have a child who is making the letters p, q, j, y, and g incorrectly I can hand them the " roots letters " review page for homework. This is also why they work hard on review pages because no one wants extra homework. I have included pictures because some of us need the see the whole thing before they can feel comfortable taking the plunge. So for those of us who want to see it all, here you go. These are the ball and stick letters. Letters with Roots Letters with Roots Sky Scrapers Middle Men Curved Letters I also made Digraphs Pages as a Bonus!!! Plus you get the board work cards and a detailed description of how to use them. Click here to see other feedback These two pages are a little freebie for you. They are waiting for you at TpT in the “Download Preview”. Enjoy!

I finished it! {Cue the Angels singing and my family cheering!} This has been a real labor of love. From commissioning the art, from Melonheadz to writing and writing and WrItInG…. then editing, and editing (eyes crossing) and editing (Thank you Lisa and Greg for the help of editing) It’s been a long haul, but I am pleased to introduce…… Like Mammals of the Woods and American Symbols this unit falls into the category of “Common Core: Informational Reading and More” The fluency passages are differentiated to provide you materials to challenge all levels of reading in your classroom. The differentiation also means that this unit can reach first – third graders. My first graders read the same passage all week for fluency practice. Third graders might use these pages as comprehension builders. Every passage has a page like this that can be used as a test or photocopied on the back as reading comprehension. Here are the heroes I covered in this unit Johnny Appleseed Betsy Ross George Washington Helen Keller Abe Lincoln Harriet Tubman Alexander Graham Bell Susan B. Anthony Amelia Earhart Bessie Coleman Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks Barack Obama To keep the fluency readable for first graders ( which can be tricky, might I add) I provided a background information card to be read to them before hand. This introduces key vocabulary. It is pretty enough to be displayed on the wall while that hero is being studied. The second and third grade fluency passages don’t really need these background info cards, but can still be read to them ahead of time as a form of introduction. This time I have added a great grammar component to support teaching the parts of speech and subject/predicate for my 3rd grade peeps. I have provided cool anchor charts as tools. My most favorite part is the art! I am in love! Of course, all of the art has an academic component, which makes it smart art. Here’s Johnny…. I cannot tell a lie, this George is cute. Honestly, Abe is a sweetheart too! MKL is C-U-T-E. Of course, the art comes with directions in pictures and words. Here is a sample. I also gave you a ton of fun ways to support the Common Core in your classroom. Speaking of needs, when you are talking about history, timelines are super helpful. I gave you all the materials you need to create a HUGE timeline in your room! You get an 8-10 inch full color graphic of each hero. Also provided are date markers. This is really a labor of love and I hope you enjoy it. Head over to TpT by clicking here {here} The first person to comment wins my new unit! But comment away, because I will choose another winner on Monday 7th. You must be a follower on my blog to win. (I need to be able to find your name in my followers box) Congrats Michelle, comment #11 for winning my Place Value Leprechaun.

I am gearing up to teach one of my favorite units! I have made it available to you on TpT ! Last year, I added a fluency component so that my students could build their reading skills while learning Science. Last week, I differentiated the passages so that I have pages for high and low readers. They look so similar that students won’t know the difference! I love teaching about mammals using fluency passages! My students are thrilled to take them home and show off their skills and knowledge! Because the students, read and reread them, their reading skill soar! Here are the Titles of the Fluency Passages: What is a mammal? Dolphins are mammals too? Beavers Being Nocturnal Raccoons Opossums Porcupines Skunks Preparing for winter in the woods Migration Hibernation My students LoVeD the fluency passages last year. So this year, I have added over 50 pages of Common Core practice, and 5 new art projects! Here is a list of activities: Hibernation Science Directions Hibernation Science Journal What is a Mammal: Student Book sample pages True and False Practice Which mammal is your favorite? Full Color Math Graphing Activity/ Bulletin Board Odd or Even? Full Color Math Center/ Game Woodsy Math- 120 Chart adding and subtracting Phonics in motion Clip art to make Anchor Charts for phonics in motion Silly Animals Syllable Clap- can be used for alliteration as well Journals for First and Second Grade Pick a Poem The Smart Art is my favorite! All the art is ready for the photocopier. No tracing required! I hate tracing. Hate it! Building Beavers Art: Academic Component: combine 2 simple sentences into 1 compound sentence. This can be displayed on your bulletin Board as an anchor chart and as your “Posting” of the Common Core Standard. This is a sample of the student page. All of my art has an academic component that goes either directly onto the art or next to the art on the bulletin board. Raccoon Art Academic Component: write your favorite fact Skunk Academic Component: mini booklet called “I’m Warning You!” Porcupine Place Value Academic Component – Ones and tens / Ones, tens, and hundreds Here is a glimpse of the booklet pages inside the Place Value Porcupine. Upside-down Opossum Facts Art- Deciding between true and false opossum statements I love the assessments that go with this unit. The tests are differentiated as well! In 2 weeks, I can FILL my grade book, and that makes me happy! I go back to work in 1 week, so I am using this week to make bulletin board titles, and do some early Christmas shopping! Tis the Season. I can’t wait to go back to work and to have engaging lessons to pull the students out of their Santa Stupors. It seems like as soon as Target puts up Christmas trees, my students go brain dead and get silly. But this unit is going to do the trick to keep them engaged, learning, and behaving like “Super Students” not like kids on the “Naughty List”. You can get this unit and a whole lot of joy {here} at Teachers Pay Teachers! Seeing a unit is action is way better! Click on "Mammals of the Woods" in the labels section to see the unit being used with real kids in the real world!

This has come out of a place of needing my students to print neatly and actually making it happen. Through daily 5 minute board work lessons & cool pages, my students really are printing like Jedi Masters. I have found that some kids don't "see" or have not learned to look at the lines so they are not able to use them. Seeing, naming, and using the lines is key. In class we call them sky line, tree line, dirt line. How many times do you get crazy “k”s like this? Or worse, the ALWAYS capital K... drives me nuts too. These cards HELP. Because we name the lines, we have a common vocabulary. I can talk about the dirt line (bottom line) and how I want that k to touch the dirt line. Or in the case of a lower case g, I can remind the kids, they don't start at the sky line. They start at the tree line and go down into the roots! During 5 minute board work.... nobody can hide at their desk forming letters incorrectly. I can all of them! VICTORY!!! After I model, help, and help some more, we move on to the practice pages. Here are samples of the pages included! Each page has the letter inside real words with a picture clues. Words are kept short to make them readable to young eyes. By the end of the alphabet I have transitioned into sentences. As a bonus, I included the 4 diagraphs! I named the groups based on how the letter is formed. And I created “stay sharp” pages to review. We do one page once a week, and let me tell you they work hard on these pages because neat work means a skittle. If I have a child who is making the letters p, q, j, y, and g incorrectly I can hand them the " roots letters " review page for homework. This is also why they work hard on review pages because no one wants extra homework. I have included pictures because some of us need the see the whole thing before they can feel comfortable taking the plunge. So for those of us who want to see it all, here you go. These are the ball and stick letters. Letters with Roots Letters with Roots Sky Scrapers Middle Men Curved Letters I also made Digraphs Pages as a Bonus!!! Plus you get the board work cards and a detailed description of how to use them. Click here to see other feedback These two pages are a little freebie for you. They are waiting for you at TpT in the “Download Preview”. Enjoy!

Short vowel and CVC word work activities are essential for kids learning to read. This unit features short vowel o phonics tri-folds that are easy to prep and use for small or whole group instruction. This unit is included in the Tri-fold Short Vowel BIG BUNDLEThese also make wonderful homework ac...

I use these to make my phonics wall interactive! Now we can do making words activities with our giant phonics cards. Talk about fun! ABC and Digraphs are the only cards included. This freebie is not editable. ...

I am gearing up to teach one of my favorite units! I have made it available to you on TpT ! Last year, I added a fluency component so that my students could build their reading skills while learning Science. Last week, I differentiated the passages so that I have pages for high and low readers. They look so similar that students won’t know the difference! I love teaching about mammals using fluency passages! My students are thrilled to take them home and show off their skills and knowledge! Because the students, read and reread them, their reading skill soar! Here are the Titles of the Fluency Passages: What is a mammal? Dolphins are mammals too? Beavers Being Nocturnal Raccoons Opossums Porcupines Skunks Preparing for winter in the woods Migration Hibernation My students LoVeD the fluency passages last year. So this year, I have added over 50 pages of Common Core practice, and 5 new art projects! Here is a list of activities: Hibernation Science Directions Hibernation Science Journal What is a Mammal: Student Book sample pages True and False Practice Which mammal is your favorite? Full Color Math Graphing Activity/ Bulletin Board Odd or Even? Full Color Math Center/ Game Woodsy Math- 120 Chart adding and subtracting Phonics in motion Clip art to make Anchor Charts for phonics in motion Silly Animals Syllable Clap- can be used for alliteration as well Journals for First and Second Grade Pick a Poem The Smart Art is my favorite! All the art is ready for the photocopier. No tracing required! I hate tracing. Hate it! Building Beavers Art: Academic Component: combine 2 simple sentences into 1 compound sentence. This can be displayed on your bulletin Board as an anchor chart and as your “Posting” of the Common Core Standard. This is a sample of the student page. All of my art has an academic component that goes either directly onto the art or next to the art on the bulletin board. Raccoon Art Academic Component: write your favorite fact Skunk Academic Component: mini booklet called “I’m Warning You!” Porcupine Place Value Academic Component – Ones and tens / Ones, tens, and hundreds Here is a glimpse of the booklet pages inside the Place Value Porcupine. Upside-down Opossum Facts Art- Deciding between true and false opossum statements I love the assessments that go with this unit. The tests are differentiated as well! In 2 weeks, I can FILL my grade book, and that makes me happy! I go back to work in 1 week, so I am using this week to make bulletin board titles, and do some early Christmas shopping! Tis the Season. I can’t wait to go back to work and to have engaging lessons to pull the students out of their Santa Stupors. It seems like as soon as Target puts up Christmas trees, my students go brain dead and get silly. But this unit is going to do the trick to keep them engaged, learning, and behaving like “Super Students” not like kids on the “Naughty List”. You can get this unit and a whole lot of joy {here} at Teachers Pay Teachers! Seeing a unit is action is way better! Click on "Mammals of the Woods" in the labels section to see the unit being used with real kids in the real world!

American Symbols is one of my FAVORITE units to teach. It must be yours too because over 12,000 teachers have purchased this unit from Teachers Pay Teachers ! It meets the Common Core Standards for Informational Reading with rigor and brings your classroom joy while reading! Updated with more crafts and symbols see below! My students LOVED this unit! I got 4 parent notes telling me how much they enjoyed hearing their child talk informatively and passionately about Social Studies. One parent said that their child doesn't talk much at the dinner table, and now he won't stop talking about school and symbols! I think it's because the unit is written to be kid friendly and engaging! Here are a few of the Statue of Liberty pages I wrote a week of fluency for the Statue of Liberty too. Each Symbol has a full writing unit Remember the update has even more art! 2 Interactive Little Books have been included for launching the unit and explaining what a "symbol" is. Oral Speaking "pledge page" with assessment rubric Tons of Activities like these: Math Graphing Bulletin Board You also get full color pages of all 5 symbols to make your bulletin board so cute. Also, you need a great way to show your graphing data. I included all the pages that kids need in order to understand that symbols are everywhere! Need grades for your grade book? Me too! I created several tests. Bonus American Symbols Mock Election Material The Reading Fluency passage comes in three levels. Low First Grade First/ Low Second Second Grade Anchor Charts and Registration to Vote Time to vote Anchor Chart, Secret Ballot, and Graphing to discover the winner Easy Graph (Tally Marks) "Harder" Graph ******* Update 1 ****** I am excited art added and has become available as BUNDLE! The one above has art as a bundle If you don't want / need the art, you can buy without it too. 62 Printables and 6 art projects! Pick and choose or do them all. This has open house written all over it! 2 student books 3 math and literacy activities 1 game 8 fluency & reading comprehension pages 5 writing units (From pre-write to publish) Syllables Activity Vocabulary Word Searches Clues Page (possible assessment if you choose) 2 patriotic student writing pages 1 oral speaking activity with parent note & grading rubric 3 assessments 6 art projects ***** Update 2 ***** So many of you asked for The Washington Monument to be added. 

Well hello lovers! October has arrived and I am giddy. I am buying candy, decorating, and in general wanting to color with orange, yellow, and brown crayons! Fall makes me happy! Great classroom behavior makes me happy too, thus I have a fun little gimmick for you! So if you have read this blog more than once you know I pretty much live at Target. Look at what they have in the dollar bin! GIANT GOOGLY EYES! Yep! I am screaming at you! GIANT GOOGLY eyes. I have a googly eye problem. I can never have enough. “Eye” might be and eye hoarder. This is a gallon sized bag and it is far too empty for my comfort, but I am waiting until the Oriental Trading Black Friday sale to buy more. No shipping cost. I’m frugal. What can I say? Anyway, so the BIG eyes! Right away I had a plan! This is what I threw up at recess and we were behaving like champions! Then, I got super cute tonight, and made this freebie for you. You don’t need the Target googly eyes to use the freebie. The freebie (shown below) has the eyes on there for you! I did that because I hate going to Target, only to find that they are sold out. Here is what happens. I read an amazing blog post and want to do it too, but whatever they blogged about requires something from the dollar bin at Target. So I get in my car, driving way too fast to get there before they sell out, but my fast driving does not help. They are sold out!!!! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY. So just in case your Target has sold out of those big eyes (or you are reading this in February) just print the free download and you will get the picture below and more goodies too! Woo-Hoo!!! So this baby (above) goes on my whiteboard once I laminate it! Now this picture below is how they earn the 10 happy faces to have a party. I have a daily competition of happy verses sad moments. For example: You talk while I am talking. We are all sad. {Sad Tally Mark}You pick your nose and eat it. We are all sad. {Sad Tally Mark} Recent happy moment: Student whom I shall call “Human Bowling Ball” rammed into me and instead of continuing on her way, she said, “Excuse me. I’m sorry Mrs. Knight.” Progress people. Progress!!! She earned us a happy tally! The whole class thanks each other too, if the situation calls for it. The kid who found the missing glue stick cap just about got a standing ovation when he earned a happy tally. At the end of the day if there are more happy than sad moments they get to earn a happy face! I originally drew mine, but I don’t like my drawings much, so I pulled this together with Krista’s clip art! I am going laminate and really wow the kids with these! After 10 happy days we will have a reward… popcorn and Charlie Brown are in our future! This is my favorite part!!! You know the big bag of eyes??? I poured a few of them into a small container and if “ Eye like what I see” at a certain table group, they get this little trophy of sorts. If your table has the eyes when we line up, you line up first. If your table has it at the end of the day, then you get one of these!!! I simply write their name and reward them by shouting them out in front of their friends. Everyone loves their 15 minutes of fame! I am big into shouting out great behavior. We have a mini assembly at the end of every school day. It takes 30 seconds and it means the world to the kids! It’s a very personal touch and we are all thriving with the little extra bit of love and praise. So enjoy people! I hope you like what you see and follow me. I love my readers, and I love your comments too! So leave me some love because “Eye” like hearing from you all! I hope your classroom behavior is better than ever!!!

This is my Week 1 go-to curriculum in First Grade. What? Hold the Phone! Screeching tires!!!!!! Chicka Chicka Boom Boom in first grade???? Teacher to the Core has gone off her rocker?!? Yes this book is used and loved by all kinder teachers, but vowels are hard for first graders to identify. Kinders end their year delving into medial vowels and so I start my year with a little warm up on identifying vowels. I use this unit! It is designed to suit the needs of kinder and first grade teachers. Pages are differentiated for varied skill level. The vowel search pages help the kids see / search for the vowels, just like they need to in real reading. Kids highlight the vowels (shown below) and the picture appears. Kinder pages have less letters. I don't want them to be overwhelmed. This is the same page, but designed for first grade. Then, they take those skills to searching for vowels in real words. They highlight the vowel. I also added pages where kids can fill in the medial vowel. The practice pages are fun and engaging. I like to see my students smile for sure. Plus the "Smart Art" is toooo cute. I developed the art project my first year in first grade. Wow that was 4 years ago. I was panicked to come to first grade, but it is a dreamy-dream spending the day with these students! Now, I have added these fun little pages to the Smart Art in order to meet the Common Core Reading Foundational Skills Standard I hope you hop on over to TpT if you love what you see. Click { here } to go to TpT

This little baby is perfect for your 1st-3rd classroom. Start it as a bulletin board, then create a class book with it when you are done. This unit gives you up to 3 days of "more than one" practice and makes a great showcase of class learning. If you are a homeschooler, then this packet could take you through 2 months of daily practice. Please, be sure to download the preview: a picture is worth a 1,000 words. You can also visit my blog and read a post with tons of pictures: Just click the link Plural Nouns: More Than One Day 1: Start using the booklet that teaches the 3 main rules for making words(nouns) plural or to mean more than one. (See the Preview) Rule 1. add an s Rule 2. add es Rule 3. change the y to an i and add -es The anchor poster that displays the 3 rules is very helpful. (See Preview) Day 2: Worksheet page reviews the 3 main rules. Day 3: Each child gets their own noun "poster" in which they change a singular noun into a plural noun (more than one) After writing the word in the plural form they need to circle the rule they used in order to make their word plural. The 39 nouns included are: tree(s) writer(s) helper(s) butterfly(ies) bunny(ies) lizard(s) marshmallow(s) cookie(s) cherry(ies) bird(s) princess(es) prince(s) puppy(ies) elephant(s) turtle(s) zebra(s) fox(es) gumball(s) lollipop(s) candy(ies) flower(s) snail(s) pirate(s) toucan(s) frog(s) backpack(s) crayon(s) bus(es) kid(s) grape(s) hand(s) car(s) book(s) lunch(es) lion(s) umbrella(s) color(s) base ten block(s) bee(s) District people who visit my classroom make a bee-line to this board every time. It is striking since every child has chosen a different word. Visit my blog to see it in action: www.teachertothecore.blogspot.com You are going to love this unit! Clip art thanks to Scrap N Doodles and DJ Inkers: 1112175836 (DJ) 50251 (Scrap n Doodles)

This is a great little math game that I allow my students to play while I am doing guided reading. Included in the download is a video of me explaining how I do it. I hope you have fun and enjoy this game with your students!

Use this little "cheat sheet" to help you grade things fast so you can get on with your life! I wrote a blog post of 5 grading tips with another freebie! Please visit me and share your grading tips with us! http://tinyurl.com/make-grading-easy Please leave feedback! It's like a hug, high five, or a thank you note! It means a lot to a TpT seller!

Are you desperate for your students to have a great time learning and behave while doing it? Me too! Are you sick of messy desks, dropped clips/flipped cards, and noisy table groups? Sister (or mister) I am right there with you! This fun little gimmick will keep your group going for a few weeks. Th...

Shared research projects are so fun! Having paper that helps kids write with ease is a HUGE benefit.This paper introduced kids to the idea that we cite where we get our information. But it does this in such a kid-friendly way!Enjoy and PLEASE leave feedback. ...

We are really bugging out in my classroom! I am about 3 weeks from open house, but we are almost ready! Each afternoon, I dedicate 20 minutes to informational reading. We have been using my Bugging Out Unit to read, write, and explore the world of insects. I started the our unit of informational reading with this great close reading passage. I asked the kids, “Are you an insect?” “No!” they yelled! I asked are you sure? How do you know? They didn’t know. So we read the passage below titled “Are you an insect?” After reading it once, we determined that while we are similar to insects (legs, heads, abdomens), we are very different and indeed NOT insects. (What a relief- That was a close one!) We did a second close read of the passage to see if we were able to remember main parts of an insect’s body. Then we began studying specific insects. We began with these darling busy bees. I started our 2-week study on bugs with a fluency passage called “Busy Busy Honeybees”. The kids were insane for the videos I showed them on making honey, queen bees, bee dancing, and finding nectar. Of course, I included all those links in this unit. The common core wants us learning from multi media. I took that to heart when lesson planning for my students. As a bonus we watched the Magic School Bus video on Bees! After bees we headed into our study of ants! I made a giant ant hill and we began learning about the different jobs an ant might have inside the anthill. We color coded our answers on the Anthill passage to verify our thinking was correct. The children all got to chose a job in anthill and do a little write up in our folded art. This art took us minutes, but the the learning and visual impact are big! Our ladybug study started with a grammar lesson. We discussed compound words and how the compound word actually reveals meaning. A snowman is a man-like shape made out of snow. A backpack is a pack we wear on our backs. It was the biggest ah-ha moment for them. They were dazzled! We created compound word ladybugs, read about the life cycle of the ladybug, and enjoyed another week of fluency. Our study on the praying mantis was outrageous and fun. I bought a preying mantis egg case and the children are obsessed with watching over it. The passage and art were full of rigor and fun! Lastly, we moved onto butterflies, which are my favorite bug! We read text, color coded our questions and answers, made stunning art, and we wrote. The kids wrote like champions because they had learned so much! The Q-Tip Art paining was so easy!!!! These butterflies took us 5 minutes!!! The art and Butterfly Fact and Opinion is a freebie from me to you! Just a few more things to do, like our ladybug writing and I am getting close to being ready! This is such a fun time in the year and I can’t wait for this Open House to be my best yet!!! If you are looking for a great lesson plans and activities about bugs, look no further. Remember to download your free monarch butterfly activity.

Are you ready for a Monster Truck Rally? Let me hear you scream ! Yes, my friends, that is how I started math this week. My students have been losing their minds and begging to do math. But get this... they are begging to do HOMEWORK! Can we do monster truck homework too !?! So, what is all this excitement about? This unit! It has 10 plus days of fabulous double digit addition practice. This unit helps them practice with and without regrouping. Just in case you think your girls might not dig this… I give you “ladybug truck” below. They get 2 minutes to decorate their truck before beginning. All pages come in full color seen above and black line master seen below. I teach double digit addition using a flag. The flag is a SUPER helpful math tool when they are just learning. It's like training wheels. They use it a while then ditch it when they are ready to fly. They divide the ones and tens place with the flag pole. To provide a visual cue on where to carry a flag is drawn. I provide the flags on the paper for the kids at the beginning of the unit but at the end of the unit the child must draw them if they still need them. After 6 days of practice we move on to the “DEMOLITION DERBY”. If you have never been to a derby, it is really fun ( in a smash a beer with your forehead kind of way) . Every summer my dad took me to a derby so I have fond memories. This is what a derby looks like. The last car standing, wins money and hopefully avoids an ambulance ride. I set up our white board to look like this. Here is how the Demolition Derby works: The kids solve and circle if they regroup. The car's side with the most regrouping wins. The winning car gets the winners cup and the losing car gets pulled off the whiteboard and put into the auto body shop. My students were losing their minds as we did this !!! They have never had so much fun! This has my kids engaged, excited, and happy these last few weeks! Cue the angels singing! Then they got to make their own trucks and make a HUGE Demolition Derby Bulletin Board!!! Their little heads were about to explode! I love the orange chevron lettering. It’s the small things that make me happy! You’ll be happy too because the lettering is included in the unit. The kids were dying over who was crashing into who. I cared the most about the math that is found underneath. This has been 2 solid weeks of learning and fun! I can’t wait to do this again next year! Do you want to try it out? Want to win one? First to comment wins and two rafflecopter winners as well. You must be a follower to win. If you are the first to comment, leave your email :0) a Rafflecopter giveaway

What if everyone did that? What if everyone threw trash out their car windows? What if all the kids at school did not line up at the bell? ...

GoNoodle is where it’s at people! If you are looking for a great way to give your kids smart brain breaks, then look no further than GoNoodle! I love this free site so much I am rockin’ the T-Shirt!!!! Let me tell you all about the JOY GoNoodle has brought to my room! My class, who dawdles through everything, is killing themselves to get to brain break time. No brain break until we are done with a given activity and all answers are correct. I now have 20-25 minutes of extra time in my day because they are working so much harder and with greater accuracy! Kids were more centered and focused. They loved the school day more. I loved the school day more. They are happy, I am happy. Speaking of happy, here are our top 3 favorite brain breaks! Did you see the HAPPY song? We are in heaven! Kids who had barely spoken all year and would not dance to music prior to GoNoodle were willing to dance and even break dance with the GoNoodle videos! They did not get riled up and bounce off the walls all day either due to Air Time! Here is how Air Time works: Kids sit, delightful music plays, and they breathe. As they breathe in and out, they blow a bubble across the United States. It is mesmerizing. Air time settles them, rejuvenates them, helps them relax, and teaches them a fun fact about the US. They beg for Air Time. This picture was taken 10 seconds after dancing to the “Happy Song”. It is remarkable to see the instantaneous “settle” that comes over them. I did air time at lunch one day, and let me tell you, it relaxed me too! Go Noodle has brought us joy because the kids fall in love with their champ. They watch their champ change as the kids brain-break with him. My kids were so in love with “Freckles” (our champ) that they begged to do a “Draw & Write” lesson. Of course, I did it with them and, of course, I have a freebie so your kids can do it too! Simply decide how many transformations you want to draw! Did I mention your champ changes? Oh yes, your champ changes!!!! And your kids WILL scream as he goes into the trans-morf-i-gigger thingy. He goes inside “Scrawny” and comes out “Brawny”! Your champ will even graduate after level 5! My students flipped over helping our champ get a diploma!!! If you want to draw your champ as he changes, I recommend this 1st page if you teach 1st graders. Simply fill in the champ level and draw. The pages below are a little more ambitious! Drawing can be a great brain break too! I am no artist, but you are welcome to use the “Freckles” step-by-step included in the free download. This resource is free and can be downloaded from Google Docs by clicking the graphic below. Did I mention GoNoodle is FREE???? Yes, it is FREE and fun!!! There is a paid option, but I had the time of my life with the free version!!! Your students will love picking a champ, dancing, running, and singing. They will love growing and becoming academically stronger right along with their champ! You will enjoy watching your students cut loose, knowing that air time will bring them right back down and center them for the next lesson you are about to teach them! Research tells us that brain breaks actually make the kids more absorbent to materials presented to them. GoNoodle gave us more fun in our day and better results! That’s why I love it! Are you ready to GoNoodle? Click the button below! Click {here} to head on over to Primary Chalkboard. We are giving away a GoNoodle Premium membership. Plus, you can see all of us in our GoNoodle T-Shirts! Here is a preview of some fellow chalkies! Click our button below to head over to Primary Chalkboard!

This Apple Poem is a perfect passage for early readers! I have included a full writing unit to help your students write the "perfect paragraph" including that tricky sense of closure! The darling art will bring this unit to life, delight your learners, and make your classroom beautiful! What's Included: Two Differentiated Passages available in 4 different formats Easy Reading More complex text Fluency Passages with and without numbers Comprehension Questions Focus on: Looking back into the text Sequencing how to make applesauce Art project Copy machine ready, no tracing Directions are in words and pictures. Perfect for a substitute teacher. Bulletin Board lettering that is quick and easy to cut out Print or copy directly onto construction paper cut to 8.5X11 Bulletin Board lettering Option 1 : "The Best Way to Eat Apples" [Opinion Writing]" Bulletin Board Lettering Option 2: "Apple Poem" Writing Copy the Poem or Opinion Writing Bonus: Lesson plan for how I use this unit Picture cards that help build vocabulary and make the text more comprehensible. This unit is available in 2 Bundles: Fall Literacy (392 Happy Customers) Literacy All Year (630 Happy Customers) High Praise for Literacy All Year Units: "NEVER have I had such a comprehensive unit that is absolutely perfect for ALL my kiddos. The graphic organizers that support the writing... top notch. My kids were writing paragraphs with openings and closings WEEK ONE. I send home the reading practice for homework. I was dumbfounded when my ELS kids... still in early reading behaviors... touched and read the passages top to bottom. Worth EVERY penny. I wish I had bundled!" -Suzan Sudlow "First off, thank you for being such an inspirational speaker at the K-1 conference! You inspired me to do more, and your bundles have helped me up my game without making my life harder! Thank you for adding all the pictures and examples." -Natalia C To See the Whole Literacy All Year Series Click Here. Link stays on TpT and in my store.

This MEGA bundle has been purchased by over 700 happy teachers! You receive 44 full weeks of curriculum, intervention, and "Comprehension and Fluency 101". Its over 1,000 pages! Buying the bundle is a choice to save big at a 50% savings! This year-long unit contains: weekly thematic informational reading easy reading passages with 2-4 comprehension questions on the bottom higher level text passages fluency passages fluency charts comprehension / quiz pages Dec - June full writing units (brainstorming, writing, publishing pages) art to match The passages were carefully written and are research based! Preview Literacy All Year Click the preview button for a short sound-free video The Reading Passages I have read all the fluency and guided reading books, so that you don't have to. You can trust that these passages and writing units were skillfully created with first grade reading skills and first grade readers in mind. Passages have been written to be VERY readable with teacher support. This year-long bundle begins with very simple passages that have 1 sentence per line with picture clues and sound just like a guided reading book. The are decodable to support the Science of Reading, yet picture clues are provided to also help kids visualize vocabulary. The year-long bundle ends with students reading multiple, rich-text paragraphs that will help them move seamlessly to chapter books and higher leveled text they will encounter in 2nd and 3rd grade. I have done the work in creating this 1,000 page unit so that you are freed up to be the very best and most prepared teacher possible! Reading Format Choices All reading passages are available in 3 formats 1. Shared reading (no fluency numbers) 2. Weekly fluency passage Classroom Use (with fluency numbers but no parent signature) Homework Option 1 (nightly parent signature) Homework Option 2 (nightly timed data) 3. Easier reading with comprehension questions on the bottom Fall fluency has VERY easy reading with 1 sentence per line and picture clues. ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ ✏️ The Writing Units My students never complain about writing because they have a mind full of ideas after reading these quality passages. They simply cannot wait to share what they have learned. Each unit will take your students from Pre-writing with graphic organizers Quick write Delightful lined pages with made to match graphics! ✏️ Listen to what Susan had to say about the writing units : On August 21, 2016, Suzan Sudlow (TpT Seller) said: NEVER have I had such a comprehensive unit that is absolutely perfect for ALL my kiddos. The graphic organizers that support the writing....top notch. My kids were writing paragraphs with opening and closing sentences WEEK 1. I send home the homework for the reading practice, I was dumbfounded when my ESL kids...still in reading behaviors....touched and read the pieces...top to bottom! Worth EVERY penny. ✏️ Like Susan said, graphic organizers and my unique "Quick Write" pages help ensure that first graders are successful in getting what's on their mind onto the paper all the while using proper grammar and mechanics. You won't believe how easy writing becomes when kids use the "Quick Write" page and how easy it is for you to grade and give fast feedback! Social Studies, Science, SEL and Engagement In about 5 minutes a day, I fit in fluency instruction, reading practice, and Science or Social Studies. The topics covered in these units were carefully chosen to be aligned with the "Heroes and Holidays" themes children love. Seasonal Science reading is also included September has a unit on SEL emotions April and May feature some SEL Reader's Theater that connects school and home life. Assessment and Data Collection Dec-June you will also have an optional quiz to test students' reading comprehension. This will give you the data you need for grades and parent communication. The quizzes are designed in true Common Core format: multiple correct answers sequencing free response labeling matching ✂️ ✂️ ✂️ ✂️ ✂️ ✂️ ✂️ Art and Engagement The art is my key to student buy-in and engagement. My students love the high interest passages, but when they see the art they go bonkers with anticipation and sustained effort. I do art on Wed to keep the momentum for the week going. They write on Thursday and Friday. So they are motivated to get their writing up on the board with their art. Personal Testimony I am a 1st grade teacher who believes in and does guided reading. I noticed that as my class size climbed to 32 students, it became much harder to read with every child every day. Enter daily fluency practice. The year I went from 20 students to 32, I created these passages to meet the needs of my readers. With 12 more students in my room and adding in these passages as shared reading / fluency, I had the most growth and reading that I have ever seen in my 17 years of teaching. The data proved that these passages practiced daily was what a busy teacher needs. That's why I am offering this unit to you. That is why I travel all over the United States speaking at K-1 teaching conferences about fluency and comprehension. I am letting you in on my time-tested secrets with a bonus unit called Comprehension and Fluency 101. It's a TpT top seller and gives you weekly guide for how I do fluency in my classroom. You will get step-by-step implementation guides, my weekly lesson plan, posters, and anchor charts. You will also get 4 highly engaging games and activities that will make daily re-reading fun! Punctuation Poppers and Crazy Professor are the favored games BY FAR! Individual Table of Contents: All units listed below follow this format: 1. Easy Reading Passage 2. A longer passage with and without numbers for homework, fluency, or challenge 2. An art unit 3. Bulletin board lettering to be displayed with the student art work and writing 4. Coordinating writing unit containing graphic organizer to process thinking A "quick write" organizer with a theme-unique topic sentence and sense of closure various forms of lined paper for publishing Monthly Themes Scope and Sequence: August: A Cat Can (phonics focus short a) We Go to Bed (phonics focus short e) It is Hot (Phonics focus short o) Tim Needs a Hug / Reimagined as SEL Emotions (Short u /i focus) September: We Love to Eat (focus on color words / adjectives) Apple Tree Poem Making Applesauce (opinion and informational writing choices) Johnny Appleseed October In School We Have / School supplies Spiders Christopher Columbus Consider not using Columbus unless required by school district. If you must use a FREE Indigenous People's Day Passage has been added. Also a FREE Skeletons unit has been included to replace this unit. Pumpkins Grow Skeletons November: I Can Tell That it is Fall Poem Long Ago and Now Time to be Thankful (Thankful heart- not limited to the American Thanksgiving) Making No-Bake Pumpkin Pie December Is a Reindeer a Mammal? Train Ride-Polar Express How To Make Cocoa January Why Do They Hibernate? The Life of Martin Luther King Jr. The Life of Rosa Parks What is Ground Hog Day? February What is Chinese New Year / Lunar New Year is the more inclusive name and is included in this unit. I Know How to Care For My Teeth The Life of George Washington The Life of Abe Lincoln Bonus Activity Comparing Lincoln and Washington Opinion Writing Piece March “March Comes In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb” Solid, Liquid, Gas Matter Unit Rainbows, Gold, and Leprechauns Making Shamrock Shakes April Fluency Proud as a Peacock (SEL Reader's Theater) Planet Protectors / Earth Day How Tweet it Is / Bird Nests Seed, Sprout, Flower Little Ladybugs May Fluency Busy Bees Little Cupcakes How Tweet It Is Memorial Day/ Remembrance Day June CCSS "How To" Text Unit How to Make Lemonade How to Make S'mores How to Make Play Dough How to Make Dirt in a Cup Intervention: Use unneeded August passages Plus two more included in the intervention packet Click below to see smaller bundles or scroll to the bottom and see all included units. Fall Bundled Unit -16 Weeks Winter Bundled Unit -16 Weeks Spring Bundled Units- 12 weeks Intervention Unit- 8 weeks Comprehension 101- Ten Proven Strategies to Teach Reading Comprehension and Fluency How I Use these units: My students read the passage with me every morning for 2 minutes. They also read them with buddies in class, and as homework. As time provides we use the reading games included in this unit (comprehension and fluency 101) The games can be used with any and all of the passages Wed we brainstorm and do the art Thursday we write Friday those who need to finish writing do so. This MEGA Bundle Contains 49 Real-world, Science or Social Studies Reading Passages 49 Quick Writes 49 Writing Tasks (informational, opinion, and narrative) 28 Quizzes Dec-June 46 Coordinating Art Projects 46 Bulletin board lettering phrases to match the art Intervention Packet to help your low first and low second graders Comprehension 101* with proven strategies to teach reading Comprehension 101 is a top selling TpT item: It was featured in the newsletter highlighting reading strategies. Comprehension 101 has sold nearly 2,000 copies. It's the real deal, and will help you get results, raise test scores, and includes games and strategies to make reading delightful for you and your students! This is included in the Mega Bundle

This is a classroom management life saver! Stop nagging and start bragging. Perfect for use in place of or alongside a clip chart or flip chart! These are positive rewards / awards that take mere seconds to fill out and are easy to award at the end of the day. If your school does PBIS, then this will coordinate beautifully! See how I do it ! Click Here ✔ I celebrate 7 kids a day with a super easy system. ✔ I use my clip chart all day to keep the kids on track ✔ I end my day with a 30 second award ceremony celebrating GREAT behaviors. ✔ This sends the kids out the door on a positive note and beaming with pride. ✔ I systematically celebrate 7 kids a day with a super easy system. ✔ That means every child gets a positive note home 1 time a week and it only took me a few seconds! ✔ I even have awards for subs to hand out Each award comes in full sheet and ¼ sheet sizes. What other buyers have said On May 10, 2017, Classroom Collections for Mrs Cossel (TpT Seller) said: You sold me with this great resource in looking for LESS drama in the day :D I love celebrating the day with positive shout outs!! #greatforPBIS On March 27, 2017, Tara M. said: A great resource for all of my kiddos to feel proud of themselves as well as others! On March 25, 2017, Shannon M. said: This is my Kiddos favorite part of the day! It also helps create a positive classroom environment. Great product! List of awards (and growing) Rocked the First Day of School Rocked the Sight Word Assessment Rocked the Math Facts Assessment Multiplication Rock Star Diva of Division Duke of Division Word Smith AR Star AR Star []25% []50% []75% []100% AR Star 100% Goal Accomplished STAR Reader Printing Prince Printing Princess Neat and Clean Desk Area Weekly Goals Reached (boy) (girl) Monthly Goals Reached (boy) (girl) Great Writing Work 2 awards (boy) (girl) Best Buddy Worker (boy) (girl) Rocked Her Oral Presentation Rocked His Oral Presentation Great Problem Solver Helping Hand 2 awards (girl) (boy) Comforted a friend 2 awards (girl) (boy) Big Help to New Student 2 (girl) (boy) Showed Kindness 2 (girl) (boy) Brightened My Day 2 (girl) (boy) Got a Compliment 2 (girl) (boy) Amazing Effort 2 awards (girl) (boy) Best Attitude Award 2 (girl) (boy) JiJi Genius [] 25 []50 []75 []100% JiJi Genius []10% []20 []30 to []100% Jiji Genius 100% Reached 100% AR Goal Reached! Math Facts Completed! 100 Mile Club []10% []20 []30 to []100% 100 Mile Marvel- 100 Miles Run ! Peacemaker Award AVOIDING DRAMA Solved a disagreement Avoided a fight Shared playground equipment Great Problem Solver Compromised with a friend GUIDED READING ACTIVITIES Read Silently the Whole Time (3 variations) Rocked Buddy Reading Word Smith Keep up the Great Writing Quality Word Work (2 variations) Listened to Reading (2 variations) SUB NOTES On Task Focused and Calm on the Carpet Raising Hands Listening Carefully HAS IMPROVED Neatness in classwork (girl) (boy) Improved on __________ Improved on Turning in Homework Improved on Class Participation Improved on Use of Class Time Neatness Printing (girl) (boy)Cursive (girl) (boy)Handwriting (girl) (boy) Improvement in Oral Speaking(girl) (boy) Bonus: Homework Hero: Parent Award for helping with homework. Parents need encouragement too! More Notes Added: Completed Sight words Completed Math Facts Read first chapter book

Well hello lovers! October has arrived and I am giddy. I am buying candy, decorating, and in general wanting to color with orange, yellow, and brown crayons! Fall makes me happy! Great classroom behavior makes me happy too, thus I have a fun little gimmick for you! So if you have read this blog more than once you know I pretty much live at Target. Look at what they have in the dollar bin! GIANT GOOGLY EYES! Yep! I am screaming at you! GIANT GOOGLY eyes. I have a googly eye problem. I can never have enough. “Eye” might be and eye hoarder. This is a gallon sized bag and it is far too empty for my comfort, but I am waiting until the Oriental Trading Black Friday sale to buy more. No shipping cost. I’m frugal. What can I say? Anyway, so the BIG eyes! Right away I had a plan! This is what I threw up at recess and we were behaving like champions! Then, I got super cute tonight, and made this freebie for you. You don’t need the Target googly eyes to use the freebie. The freebie (shown below) has the eyes on there for you! I did that because I hate going to Target, only to find that they are sold out. Here is what happens. I read an amazing blog post and want to do it too, but whatever they blogged about requires something from the dollar bin at Target. So I get in my car, driving way too fast to get there before they sell out, but my fast driving does not help. They are sold out!!!! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY. So just in case your Target has sold out of those big eyes (or you are reading this in February) just print the free download and you will get the picture below and more goodies too! Woo-Hoo!!! So this baby (above) goes on my whiteboard once I laminate it! Now this picture below is how they earn the 10 happy faces to have a party. I have a daily competition of happy verses sad moments. For example: You talk while I am talking. We are all sad. {Sad Tally Mark}You pick your nose and eat it. We are all sad. {Sad Tally Mark} Recent happy moment: Student whom I shall call “Human Bowling Ball” rammed into me and instead of continuing on her way, she said, “Excuse me. I’m sorry Mrs. Knight.” Progress people. Progress!!! She earned us a happy tally! The whole class thanks each other too, if the situation calls for it. The kid who found the missing glue stick cap just about got a standing ovation when he earned a happy tally. At the end of the day if there are more happy than sad moments they get to earn a happy face! I originally drew mine, but I don’t like my drawings much, so I pulled this together with Krista’s clip art! I am going laminate and really wow the kids with these! After 10 happy days we will have a reward… popcorn and Charlie Brown are in our future! This is my favorite part!!! You know the big bag of eyes??? I poured a few of them into a small container and if “ Eye like what I see” at a certain table group, they get this little trophy of sorts. If your table has the eyes when we line up, you line up first. If your table has it at the end of the day, then you get one of these!!! I simply write their name and reward them by shouting them out in front of their friends. Everyone loves their 15 minutes of fame! I am big into shouting out great behavior. We have a mini assembly at the end of every school day. It takes 30 seconds and it means the world to the kids! It’s a very personal touch and we are all thriving with the little extra bit of love and praise. So enjoy people! I hope you like what you see and follow me. I love my readers, and I love your comments too! So leave me some love because “Eye” like hearing from you all! I hope your classroom behavior is better than ever!!!

First graders have lots of reasons for turning in messy work. Let's address those issues, use free resources, and get neater printing fast! Build Deeper Meaning: Formation issues can happen because sometimes kids do not have enough practice or their practice has not been meaningful enough. To help build meaning, I do a few things. I read the kids the book Living Letters. This book helps the kids understand that a “writing line” has 3 parts and certain letters LIVE on certain parts of the line. My students love this book and their printing rapidly improves when I add this extra layer/story meaning to their paper and pencil lives. Build Connections: When you teach the letters, teach them in connection with each other. Do not teach them in ABC order. Teach them in line formation order. I teach them in this order: 1. Skyscrapers 2. Dirt letters 3. Grass letters 4. Vowel Review I teach the skyscraper/ sky letters first when I have their full attention the 1st fay of school. Plus, I want to eradicate kids forming their letters from the bottom up RIGHT away. Skyscraper Letters: b d f h k l t Dirt Letters: g j p qu y (I teach qu together because they stick like glue) Grass Letters: a c e i m n o r s u v w x z Vowel Review: a e i o u and _y _____y like in my puppy Meaningful Play: This magnetic wand is so fun! The dot goes on the front and the wand goes behind. The child pulls the wand down from the back of the card and the dot appears to magically travel along the arrow path. This pulling down movement on a large card makes this activity a large motor skill. The mind, arm, and hand are working together to pull the magnetic dot along the letter's correct path. This builds a visual memory along with movement which means the learning will make more of an impression on the brain. The large card brilliantly illustrates the arrow path. This something that is hard to see on paper even if you are using a font with the arrows on it. Buy these cards and magnetic wand {here} Grip Issues: Let’s talk honestly about grip. Kids can come up with strange ways to hold a pencil. Some kids look like they are wielding a weapon, but all kids with grip issues resist fixing that grip. These pencils are AMAZING for several reasons: The triangle shape instantly fixes grip issues. In the picture above, I just handed him the pencil. I didn’t say ANYTHING. He moved the pencil around in his fingers with a total expression of “wonder” and asked if he could use it the rest of the day. They do not have the stigma of an “added” pencil grip They are inexpensive! Amazon, Target, and the dollar store all carry these pencils! Links for purchase {here} , I just got 8 pencils for less than $2.50 on Amazon as an "add-on" item! The leads are thick so they don’t break easily. Lead refills are on Amazon. Leads can be purchased {here} Management with the leads is easy: My 1st graders know that if they play with the leads I take the pencil-they get a plain yellow one for a while- so that’s no problem at all. Skill or Will? Poor printing is sometimes a matter of skill and sometimes a matter of will. This journal paper addresses BOTH. It’s my gift to you. Dotted “Road Lines” have a thick clear bottom line for all the letters to touch. The alphabet is printed on the page for easy reference. Lowercase vowels are printed in BOLD for very easy reference. Kids can easily be corrected by you and fix their errors themselves. (see next picture) Now you don’t have to waste your time writing the letter correctly for them- simply circle on their poorly written letter and the correct letter from the alphabet to the left. Boom, boom, done! You don’t even have to check to see if they fixed their errors! A kid-friend / shoulder partner can verify that the fixes have been made!!!! Finger spacing: Finger spacing is no joke. If they don’t have it, it’s a disaster!!!! Tape can help. It’s a teeny bit of a hassle, but it works. You can also have kids trace over orange highlighter. Washi tape is the easiest because it’s thin and fits on a tape dispenser. However, washi tape isn’t cheap! I have asked parents to send some in to help their child. I have been very fortunate that they were more than willing to help. I have also used colorful masking tape found at Target. That's what you see in the photo. I have found that after a few days the kids don’t need the tape anymore. It’s like a 2 day magic bullet that saves you an entire year of squinting to figure out what they wrote. Boys like how tactile the tape is. Boys with printing issues often see writing as a chore, and the tape just makes it more fun. Parents see the tape on their child’s writing and it’s a very visible intervention. They will LOVE you for helping their child. Their child will love their new writing skills too! Self-Editing: This does not have a lot to do with printing, but it’s a component of my journal paper and an ESSENTIAL component in my writing program. So, I wanted to take a moment to show you how my first graders use a green and red/pink crayon to build self-editing skills. To grab this paper go {here} or click the images below and enjoy! Do you think your other teacher pals want neater printing as well? You bet they do! Feel free to use any of the share buttons below !

Getting kids to complete their work can be tough at times!!! This product has all kinds of freebies and the blog post is filled with inspiring ideas! Enjoy and rock out that feedback because your words, ideas, and feedback REALLY matter to me!

First graders have lots of reasons for turning in messy work. Let's address those issues, use free resources, and get neater printing fast! Build Deeper Meaning: Formation issues can happen because sometimes kids do not have enough practice or their practice has not been meaningful enough. To help build meaning, I do a few things. I read the kids the book Living Letters. This book helps the kids understand that a “writing line” has 3 parts and certain letters LIVE on certain parts of the line. My students love this book and their printing rapidly improves when I add this extra layer/story meaning to their paper and pencil lives. Build Connections: When you teach the letters, teach them in connection with each other. Do not teach them in ABC order. Teach them in line formation order. I teach them in this order: 1. Skyscrapers 2. Dirt letters 3. Grass letters 4. Vowel Review I teach the skyscraper/ sky letters first when I have their full attention the 1st fay of school. Plus, I want to eradicate kids forming their letters from the bottom up RIGHT away. Skyscraper Letters: b d f h k l t Dirt Letters: g j p qu y (I teach qu together because they stick like glue) Grass Letters: a c e i m n o r s u v w x z Vowel Review: a e i o u and _y _____y like in my puppy Meaningful Play: This magnetic wand is so fun! The dot goes on the front and the wand goes behind. The child pulls the wand down from the back of the card and the dot appears to magically travel along the arrow path. This pulling down movement on a large card makes this activity a large motor skill. The mind, arm, and hand are working together to pull the magnetic dot along the letter's correct path. This builds a visual memory along with movement which means the learning will make more of an impression on the brain. The large card brilliantly illustrates the arrow path. This something that is hard to see on paper even if you are using a font with the arrows on it. Buy these cards and magnetic wand {here} Grip Issues: Let’s talk honestly about grip. Kids can come up with strange ways to hold a pencil. Some kids look like they are wielding a weapon, but all kids with grip issues resist fixing that grip. These pencils are AMAZING for several reasons: The triangle shape instantly fixes grip issues. In the picture above, I just handed him the pencil. I didn’t say ANYTHING. He moved the pencil around in his fingers with a total expression of “wonder” and asked if he could use it the rest of the day. They do not have the stigma of an “added” pencil grip They are inexpensive! Amazon, Target, and the dollar store all carry these pencils! Links for purchase {here} , I just got 8 pencils for less than $2.50 on Amazon as an "add-on" item! The leads are thick so they don’t break easily. Lead refills are on Amazon. Leads can be purchased {here} Management with the leads is easy: My 1st graders know that if they play with the leads I take the pencil-they get a plain yellow one for a while- so that’s no problem at all. Skill or Will? Poor printing is sometimes a matter of skill and sometimes a matter of will. This journal paper addresses BOTH. It’s my gift to you. Dotted “Road Lines” have a thick clear bottom line for all the letters to touch. The alphabet is printed on the page for easy reference. Lowercase vowels are printed in BOLD for very easy reference. Kids can easily be corrected by you and fix their errors themselves. (see next picture) Now you don’t have to waste your time writing the letter correctly for them- simply circle on their poorly written letter and the correct letter from the alphabet to the left. Boom, boom, done! You don’t even have to check to see if they fixed their errors! A kid-friend / shoulder partner can verify that the fixes have been made!!!! Finger spacing: Finger spacing is no joke. If they don’t have it, it’s a disaster!!!! Tape can help. It’s a teeny bit of a hassle, but it works. You can also have kids trace over orange highlighter. Washi tape is the easiest because it’s thin and fits on a tape dispenser. However, washi tape isn’t cheap! I have asked parents to send some in to help their child. I have been very fortunate that they were more than willing to help. I have also used colorful masking tape found at Target. That's what you see in the photo. I have found that after a few days the kids don’t need the tape anymore. It’s like a 2 day magic bullet that saves you an entire year of squinting to figure out what they wrote. Boys like how tactile the tape is. Boys with printing issues often see writing as a chore, and the tape just makes it more fun. Parents see the tape on their child’s writing and it’s a very visible intervention. They will LOVE you for helping their child. Their child will love their new writing skills too! Self-Editing: This does not have a lot to do with printing, but it’s a component of my journal paper and an ESSENTIAL component in my writing program. So, I wanted to take a moment to show you how my first graders use a green and red/pink crayon to build self-editing skills. To grab this paper go {here} or click the images below and enjoy! Do you think your other teacher pals want neater printing as well? You bet they do! Feel free to use any of the share buttons below !