I get asked all of the time on Facebook what books I recommend for third grade read alouds or classroom libraries. I keep typing out my list of favorites and then it occurred to me- I should make this

A.R. or Accelerated Reader is easily supported with this super-helpful packet of reading logs, bulletin board, award certificates, and more! Students will be motivated by the materials, and teachers love the ready-to-go packet! CLICK THE PREVIEW BUTTON above to see everything included. This Accelerated Reader packet includes: Reading Log Covers Reading Log Sheet (primary and intermediate options) A.R. Reading Records Bulletin Board Set Student Bookmarks Point Club Directions, Posters, & Student Name Cards Award Certificates Color and B/W Options Point Club posters and certificates include all the following levels, making it easier for you to choose what works best for your own classroom: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, and 500. Award Certificates are provided for the same levels. I've also included a blank poster and certificate for your convenience. Black and White versions of Reading Log Cover, Bookmarks, Point Club Posters, and Certificates are all also included for easier printing options. Don't forget that leaving feedback earns you points toward FREE TPT purchases. I love that feedback! Also, FOLLOW ME and be notified when new products are uploaded. New products are always 50% off for the first 24 hours they are posted. It pays to follow me! Please feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you so much, Shelly Rees

Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!

Escape from boring language arts drills!

I started a reading incentive program with my students a few years ago. I noticed that they were not completing many of the books that they were reading. They were reading. They were reading everyday in fact. But, once library day came, they returned their books, half finished. So I started using goal setting and bookmarks for reading. 1. Students set a monthly goal for the number of books they are planning on finishing. A copy of our goal setting sheets. We keep them in our data notebooks. 2. Students fill out bookmarks. On these bookmarks, they write a summary of the book that they have written. Next year, they will also be writing a recommendation for the book. A copy of this years bookmark. What I'm going to use next year, front and back. 3. Students get to add a sticker to our data wall chart. To hold all students accountable, students who read over their goal, get to add a colored sticker to the top of the chart. All other students add silver stickers to the chart. When everyone reaches their goal, they receive a classroom award. Our reading data wall. 4. I have students keep their bookmarks on a ring in our classroom library. They are very proud of their bookmarks and always count their bookmarks. I challenged the students to try to read 40 books this year. The picture above shows the bookmarks that 1 student has done so far this year. 5. Next year, I'm going to have my students also keep a yearly chart on the number of books they read. Here's a link to this product at my store. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Independent-ReadingData-folder Have a great night!

Introducing our "This Sped Teacher Loves Cats and Books" shirt, specially tailored for the compassionate educator in special education who adores feline companionship and enjoys diving into a good book. This thoughtful gift celebrates their passion for teaching and their love for reading, making it a perfect addition to their wardrobe Product Description: ⇝ Bella and Canvas Brand Shirts ⇝ Unisex Adult Sizing ⇝ Rolled Sleeves in pictures are for styling purposes only ⇝ Props used in photos for are NOT included with purchase ⇝ Please consult the listing image for information regarding the sizes available for the T-shirt. ⇝ When applicable, white shirts will be printed with black letters. ⇝ CARE INSTRUCTIONS * WASHING: Machine wash lukewarm or cold, inside-out, gentle cycle with mild detergent and similar colors. * DRYING: Hang-dry for the longest life or tumble-dry on low. * IRONING: Medium iron inside-out ONLY if necessary. Do NOT iron the design area. ⇝ DON’Ts: * Do NOT use bleach * Do NOT use fabric softeners * Do NOT dry clean ⇝ IMPORTANT NOTES ↳ Due to the customized nature of the item, all sales are final and non-refundable. We utilize a top-notch direct to garment (DTG) process to print our designs, which employs fabric-grade ink directly onto the garment, fusing with the fibers to achieve a seamless blend. This technique enables us to achieve a vintage-style appearance in many of our designs, as well as a texture that is comparable to screenprinting, while avoiding the thick and rubbery sensation of vinyl. *It is common for there to be slight discrepancies in color and size when compared to what is displayed on a computer screen, but rest assured that this is normal. Created with www.kittl.com. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us through Etsy messaging.

15 Must Have Chapter Book Series for 3rd Grade Students www.allabout3rdgrade.com

Are your students learning about the salmon life cycle? Are you planning a trip to a fish hatchery? This engaging project allows students to research the life cycle of a salmon, take notes, write a report and complete the salmon craft. This project integrates your science unit on Ecology, beginning research, and informational writing. Students are able to work in groups to study each stage of the salmon life cycle, work independently, or in writing centers. Students are guided through their research by the images of the egg, alevin, fry, parr, smolt, salmon, and spawning salmon. The finished project can be fanned out in a circular shape to show the never-ending life cycle of salmon. This Salmon project includes: a list of recommended resources for teachers salmon life cycle word wall cards salmon life cycle graphic organizer for students to label graphic organizers for taking notes publishing pages in the fan format complete answer keys Process: Students use the provided note-taking sheets to research the salmon's life cycle. They then transfer the notes onto the fans. The note taking sheets are filled with writing prompts to help students write, and the publishing pages match the prewriting sheets exactly, make the publishing process simple! This project is ideal for: practicing note-taking introducing research for center work fast finishers independent projects group work as a supplement to your science unit on ecology as learning before a fish hatchery visit See what teachers are saying! ❤️ "I have used this year after year with my students in Washington State with our Salmon Unit. It is such an engaging activity for students with lots of learning involved. We LOVE it!" Stephani Ann ❤️ "The Salmon life cycle is a huge part of our ecology study. These were an AWESOME addition to our unit." Jennifer C. Related Projects for Life Cycles ⭐ Life Cycle of a Bee: Fact Fan Research Project ⭐ Life Cycle of a Butterfly: Fact Fan Research Project ⭐ Life Cycle of a Chicken: Fact Fan Research Project ⭐ Life Cycle of a Frog: Fact Fan Research Project

Here's a list of Accelerated Reader levels by color. Find AR books according to your child's reading level and purchase them for less here too!

These quick tips are not mine, but the amazing handiwork of my current cooperating teacher (who doesn’t have a blog). I never thought as an experienced teacher that some of the most valuable …

Here's a list of Accelerated Reader levels by color. Find AR books according to your child's reading level and purchase them for less here too!

Comprehension Questions Map Activity List of possible activities AR book level: 5.0 Points: 1.0 Non-fiction book

My school requires a summer reading assignment for each grade level. In my 4th grade class, students read one required book and three "free choice" books from a list I provide. This year, I asked rising 4th grade students to read The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies. I do not like to dwell on the summer reading for too long at the beginning of the year, but I do want students to complete some sort of writing assessment. This year students created a fun Amazon book listing. First, we looked at actual book listings for favorite books I had read over the summer (hint, hint... generating book recommendations for your students). We identified key features in an Amazon book page and items that seemed to be the same in every book listing. Students discussed the differences between the book summary at the top of the listing and the book reviews at the bottom of the site page. We noted that the summaries contained more facts and less opinion, but the summaries did try to entice a reader. We also noticed how the summaries did not give away the ending or any surprise twists but created a little bit of a cliff hanger for a potential reader. Finally, we discussed the "Frequently Bought Together" section in each Amazon listing and the purpose of that feature. I designed an Amazon-like template and gave the students a copy. Each student completed an Amazon book listing for The Lemonade War that included the title of the book, author, a book level that the students determined like 3rd to 5th grade or 8-11 years old, year published, star rating, summary, and three additional book suggestions. It is a simple writing activity that could be used for any novel. It incorporates many literature skills like summarizing and identifying important details and main characters. I was also able to sneak some library skills into the assignment by having students look for the year published and choose a reading level for the book. My favorite piece of the assignment is asking students to generate three additional book suggestions that would be good "next reads" to share with classmates. To download a copy of the Amazon template (and see a few more writing activities for novel studies), CLICK HERE. To purchase a complete Lemonade War novel unit CLICK HERE. Happy Reading! Caitlin TheRoomMom

Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas for using the AR Book Widget to level your elementary classroom library books! The AR Widget Code for your web site or blog is available for download on this post.

AR - Accelerated Reader Level and Goal Bookmarks Our librarian was the inspiration for these bookmarks. She noticed that students forgot their levels and goals while at the library choosing new books. These handy bookmarks travel easily to the library or computer lab. I have a very honest class this year. So, when one student wrote his user name and password on the front I realized it might be a good idea for all of them. Two versions of each bookmark are included – with and without student information. Bookmarks included - 4 (now 5!) different colored bookmarks for easily changing quarters - 4 bookmarks with student information space - 3 levels for each color (Now 5 Levels each!) - 3 levels of print-friendly bookmarks with and without student info Economy printing - Each bookmark has a different background pattern so they can be printed in gray-scale if desired instead of using the gray version. Updates - This went from 4 pages to 70+ based on feedback. Thank you! 10/28/15 - I added a higher level book mark and a low-ink gray-scale bookmark. 8/10/16 - I added an even higher level book mark up to 9.4 8/14/16 - Edited one page with two levels on it. I created a Lexile Level Book Mark Goals based on customer feedback. Thanks for the questions and suggestions! 9/22/16 - The highest level bookmark has been corrected - some numbers were missing. 1/24/17 - Added a lower version beginning at 0.1 to all 4 colors, and gray-scale versions. 6/9/17- Replaced password prompts with blank lines and added a new color - Purple! 10/23/18 - Fixed how title appears in PDF. 7/20/19 I updated teacher suggestions and added a new version online: AR Goal Bookmarks Naturals Encourage Perfect Scores on AR tests with these 100% Punch Cards Matching Well Done Cards (I use these for everything from AR to behavior) Natural Toned AR Bookmarks Teaching Tip Update Now that I've used these for 3 years I have a routine that works well. My book boxes are organized by half points (3.0-3.4; 3.5-4.0 etc.) so I realized one line on the bookmark is a level of books. The student and I discuss their current level and I circle that number. Then we discuss which books levels they could read around that number and I put a line around those. So a student with a 2.4 level circled might be able to read books from 2.0-2.9 boxes. I have one or two students who need a higher level bookmark than the rest of the class. I simply print off a different sheet for them. Graphics by http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teaching-Super-Power and http://digiscrapkits.com/digiscraps/ Thank you for visiting Creative Core Integrations by Kim Shelley Your students might enjoy these activities: - Spelling Task Cards Open Ended for any list - For differentiated word problems check out these CGI problems that your students create with sentence frames: Addition and Subtraction Bundle and Multiplication and Division Bundle - Integrated Social Studies and ELA Government Main Idea Task Cards - Keep students on track for their goals with AR Goal Bookmarks For the Year - For a Lexile Version (thanks to customer feedback) check out: Lexile Bookmarks - Celebrate Positive Clip Chart Success: I Was Off The Chart FREEBIE - Celebrate Great Grades: I Got an A Punch Cards - Personal Goal Accomplishment: Well Done Punch Cards

Poetry books for upper elementary classrooms can be tricky to find. Students are beyond the simple poems of younger grades, but might not be quite ready for the poetry they'll read in high school. Free verse books are a great way to keep students engaged in poems! Want to watch or listen? Check out the

Reading fair project ideas. School reading fair projects for elementary school, middle school, and highs school students.

Reading level measurements aren't perfect and neither are the conversions but as a general guide, it's a handy tool to keep around.

I am sorry that I haven't been able to post for the last few days. My oldest had a stomach bug on Wednesday, my two-year-old had it yesterday, and my husband has it now. I am the last one standing....YIKES! As I have been Cloroxing the house (and myself) I keep repeating, "I will not get sick. I will NOT get sick." So far, it seems to be working. I was only in school for three days this week because of snow on Tuesday and then the beginning of the sickness on Wednesday. We surprisingly have gotten a lot accomplished. In my Daily Five journey, we are up to four minutes of Read to Self, and I have been amazed at the outcome! They are so into it! In fact, I had several kiddos who were really upset with me when we finished Read to Self! Hopefully, it will continue to go smoothly. While on the topic of reading, as some of you may know, our school uses the Accelerated Reader program. In December we used a reading incentive of adding links to a paper chain on our holiday tree for every 100% earned. In January, we are having Bead-Azzling Readers. On a bulletin board, I have pinned a small gift bag for each child (so there is no comparison about how many beads a child has, etc.). Every time they get a 100% on an AR test, they get to pick a bead from the 100% box. To encourage my kiddos to read more chapter books and non-fiction, they will get an additional bead for every 100. At the end of the month, they will make necklaces with the beads they have earned. I was a little nervous at first about what the boys would say, but they have been just as excited as the girls. Here are some pictures of the Bead-Azzling Readers board and the bead boxes: The 100% beads are just regular beads that you get about 1000 in a container. The non-fiction beads are star shaped. The chapter book beads look like the 100% beads, just much larger. I got all of the beads at my new favorite place - Hobby Lobby. I am curious, do your schools participate in the AR program? Happy Friday!

Does your school use Accelerated Reader as part of your reading program? My building is completely AR CRAZY~ in a good way! I am here with some AR photos and resources to share with you! This is how we AR! I work AR reading and testing into my Daily 5 rotations. It's a no-brainer and after training my kiddos on procedures, it runs itself. I STAR test my students to find their reading range and assign a best-fit level to each student. Our entire classroom library is organized by AR level. I don't have a check-out policy or sign-up. The kids borrow a book, read it and test the next day. The book gets returned and they pull another at the same level until they have read them all. Then they level up themselves. This is my book browsing and cozy reading corner. I have several shelves set up throughout the room so the book baskets are easy to get to. Each book bin is labeled with an AR range so the kids know which one is their browsing basket. Here are some editable AR labels with the levels shown as I organize them. They are matchy, matchy for baskets you may have purchased in this popular color scheme. If you like them, you can find a set here. Tracking Progress My former teammate, Kathy, shared an idea for communicating progress to parents with a weekly chart. This is SUPER for holding the students accountable for what is largely an independent activity. This handy chart gets stapled into a file folder and sent home on Fridays. We open the program where all sorts of tracking information is easily found. The teacher enters the date range and can record the average percentage on tests, the points earned for the week and the average book level. I retest every five weeks and then students may be assigned a new reading range. If you think you could use this chart with your class, you can download a copy I recreated here. Rewarding Effort Luckily, we have a pretty big budget devoted to AR. Several teachers volunteer to organize a brag tag incentive program. The tags are collected from grades K-5 and kept on a ball chain. You may know that I teach at my neighborhood school. This is my son's loot from his years as a student there. Each tag is fun and different so the students enjoy collecting them. We award them for points and certifications like this nonfiction tag. The necklaces stay at school so the students can wear them at assemblies. I hang them from push pins on this bulletin board. If your school uses AR, you can purchase awesome tags from School Life that last forever like the ones shown above. However, if your school has no budget for things like that, they can be costly for you to reorder year after year. A less expensive way to go is to create your own tags you can reprint year after year! You may like these for your readers! Just print them, laminate, punch a hole at the top of the tag, string on a ball chain or length of yarn, and you have a tag necklace for your kiddos to begin their collection! Click on the picture or here if you'd like to see them at my store. They're a hot bargain at just 2 dollars! Top Point Earners In addition to the tag, each student gets a raffle ticket. At the end of the year, we hold a huge school-wide bonanza and drawings for prizes including iPods and lots of other things kids go wild for. All students have a chance to win. The kids who reach point totals in the hundreds are given t-shirts too. Several students hold all-time point total SCHOOL RECORDS and they have wall plaques in their honor. The best incentive is that the top earners get to be excused from school to attend a field trip where they enjoy bowling, lunch, a trip to the bookstore and ice cream. Before they leave, they parade down the hall and we cheer for them. Then we wave their bus off. This photo was taken in June, but it seems like we just waved them off yesterday. Soon we will be right back at it and I'll be training my new group of kiddos on AR procedures. Big or small, any AR program is great for encouraging reading practice in a structured way. If you use AR in your classroom, I'd love to hear about YOUR IDEAS for rewards, management or record-keeping!

I can't believe this school year is almost over! I have only 5 days of school left, Friday is our last day. I will miss my kiddos dearly but am super excited to start my summer vacation. Next school year will bring so many changes for me~~new partner teacher (SUPER excited!!), best friend coming back to teach at my school (YAHOO!!), my baby girl is starting 8th grade at another school (BOO HOO!), and 3rd grade will switch classes next year (SCARED!!)!! I will need the summer to get ready for my 27+ new students next year. I love planning over the summer and will need this summer to prepare for switching classes. Switching won't be so bad, I will teach religion to 2 classes. I am really happy about not teaching science and social studies too!! I always have a hard time fitting these 2 subjects in on a daily basis. My students have been really busy these last 2 weeks doing my favorite all-time writing assignment~~~My Favorite Summer Vacation! I just love this writing and really LOVE how the finished essays turn out. Check them out below. You can click (HERE) to download the sunglasses template. You need to make 2 copies and tape them together. See below!! This year I decided to give out Candy Awards. I literally ran all over town looking for each type of candy. I even had my honey helping me (He was so cute going from store to store!)! I had the hardest time finding Lifesavers (Who would believe that?!). You can download your own set of Candy Awards from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits. I found these awards during the summer and have been saving them all year. Check them out below! I can't wait to share them with my students tomorrow!!! Here is just a taste of what the awards look like! They are precious!!!! Here is a fun project I did with my class last week. I found this idea on Pinterest and just HAD to try it with my class! Look at the pictures below and try to see the shape! I am in LOVE with this!!

I found this lesson idea over at Art Projects for Kids and decided to try it with my grade three students. I am a new fan of Amedeo Modigliani and the kids are too. After looking at many of the ar…

Your students will be entertained while making connections with Suds and his friends in Mrs. Simms class! Third Grade Angels is a wonderful, encouraging story for students in grades 2, 3, and 4. The product format is half page (my students LOVE the smaller booklet format). The half page packets can be easily tucked inside the book. Included in the packet: -comprehension questions for each chapter -vocabulary -answer key for chapter questions -venn diagram graphic organizer for character comparison Third Grade Angels is an AR level 2.9 book. Fourth Grades Rats is coming soon, so please check back if you find this resource helpful! We hope your students enjoy this Jerry Spinelli book. Please leave your comments and feedback, we enjoy hearing from you. Also, we would love to have you follow us to receive notifications about our new TpT products, sales, and freebies. Thanks for visiting and checking out our store! ~ Judy & Rachel ~

Elementary teachers know how beneficial AR is for their students. Here's an item that is meant to help our little readers become more autonomous when using AR and choosing the best books for themselves. This product combines two of my favorite items:the AR Bookmark and AR Punchcard! It provides your students with a visual tool to identify the books in their reading range as well as to track how many times they earn a hundred percent on their AR quizzes. Every time your student earns 100%, hole punch the bookmark. For every 5 hole punches, celebrate your student's achievement and reward as you see fit. Simply copy, cut, and laminate to increase durability. Make sure to keep a hole punch handy! Happy teaching:)

Track AR goal percentage, books read, genre, and more! Multiple versions of each tracking page so that you can pick the one that suits your needs. Pages included: - AR Percentage - AR Points tracker (5, 10, 20, and blank) - Book Tracker (10, 20, blank) - Quarter overview pages of the categories above *Graphing and non-graphing pages included

Upper & Lower Grade Reading Logs - 8 pages print and done! 2 Versions: upper and lower grade. Book spine bulletin board page included. Included: -2 Reading Log cover pages if you want to make them into packets -2 20 row/4 week reading logs (date, book title, signature) ideal for upper grades -2 10 row/2 week reading logs with more space (date, book title, signature) ideal for lower grades -2 Book spine coloring activities (students add to the spine and color it when they are done. These look amazing on a bulletin board or on student desks for open house. Thank you for supporting a fellow teacher. Please consider checking out my other items. Items you may be interested in: -Name tents tags with activities -Editable Bathroom Logs -Editable & Printable Classroom Seating Chart (Google Slides 8.5X11) -26 Google Classroom Moving Animated Banners -Reading Log set -End of the Year Digital Memory Book (Google Classroom Ready!) -Editable Where is the teacher clip poster -Free updating: Binder covers and spines for each subject (master copies etc.) -Easy Communication Log record sheet (multiple versions) -Printable Letter, number, and symbol flags for bulletin boards and desks

4 Things to Share! Money Gift Bag : A #1 hit at every party! My friend showed me this gift giving idea two years ago, and now it's expec...

Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas for using the AR Book Widget to level your elementary classroom library books! The AR Widget Code for your web site or blog is available for download on this post.

Try these diverse beginning chapter books for your growing readers, around ages six to nine that reflect the diversity in our world.

" Madeline We've been rowing Madeline the last two weeks. Elli says her favorite part is where Madeline says, "Pooh-pooh" to the ti...

Many say the psychological effects of homeschooling later in life are damaging. But that wasn't my experience. But, what does the evidence say about it?

There are many ways to organize your classroom library. You can organize it by guided reading level, genre, author, topic, etc. I have always organized my classroom library into three sections: chapter books, picture books, and nonfiction books. That works well for me, but not everyone's classroom library needs to look the same. Today I'm going to share with you how one of my teacher friends (Mrs. Strauss) organized her classroom library. Since our school has purchased many AR books, she decided to organize her books based on AR book levels. Here are the steps you need to take: 1. Visit the official AR site and find the levels of each book. Write the levels on each book. You can get fancy and make address labels, but my friend simply had her daughter write the level inside each book. 2. Buy some bookshelves (Walmart has $15 bookshelves). 3. Buys some bins (Dollar store!!) 4. Print the AR book bin labels (freebie below - click image to download PDF file). Click image to download AR book bin labels. (Levels 2-7) ------------------------------------------------------------------ How do you organize your classroom library? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Visit my blog @ Learning With Mrs S. Visit my TPT Store Follow me on Pinterest! Follow me on Facebook :) Follow me on Instagram!

This is a main idea reading response sheet that your students can use with any book. Print out the full sheet version or the two half sheets for reading response notebooks!