Meet the Teacher Night 2014

Meet the Teacher Night is in the books!

I survived.

I met {almost} all my kids.

And, I only forgot to prepare ONE thing!

I'd say that's pretty good, wouldn't you?!

I even managed to get changed into my Meet the Teacher outfit on time without sweating through it. Usually I scramble to get 954 more things done after changing, but not this time. That's a first! Ha! {And it's probably because I totally forgot to set out my Extra Supplies baggies...oops!}

Sorry for the poor-quality picture. It was taken with my 1st grade team, but I cut them out because they probably don't want their picture all over my blog! :) I had a pretty comfy outfit for the night though. I love me some linen pants and loose fitting shirts! 

This year is the first year that I didn't have Meet the Teacher the night before school starts. Our first day of school is Monday, August 25 and we had Meet the Teacher on Thursday, August 21.

Over all, the night went really well. My little guys and girls are so, so cute and I'm looking forward to all the fun we'll have together this year!

As the students came in with their families, I asked them to find their desk where I had neatly outlined my expectations for the night. In one pile, I put all of the information they were to take home and in another pile I put all of the information that they needed to complete before leaving.

It worked out so well and allowed me to have the freedom of going from desk to desk to meet my sweet babies and their families, instead of being stuck answering endless questions. So nice!

I also made a little take home gift for each of my students and I tried to make a REALLY big deal of it. It was Back to School MAGIC Confetti I put all the magic I could find {mostly in the form of glitter and sequins from WalMart - less than $2 total - and cut up colored paper} into that little bag with a sweet poem that I found via Primarily Speaking.

I used the poem she listed on her blog and designed it to match my classroom theme - blue and green {some theme, huh?!}.

If you looked at that picture carefully, you may have noticed that I told my students it was "Back to School Magic GLITTER," not confetti. Leave it to ME to mistakenly type glitter instead of confetti. Oh well, my kids were TOTALLY buying it!!!

If you would like a FREE copy of this poem for your students, click HERE!

Coming up next will be my classroom pictures, but first I have to finish my room! :) Soon...I'm *this close* to being done! Have a great weekend!

Classroom Library Readbox Labels - Free Download

Hey there!

I feel so lost in the mix and CRAZY right now! I've headed back up to school this week and I've been working like crazy in my classroom. I even recruited a classroom helper, my 10 year old sister. :)

It's been a lot of fun, but just like last year, I'm just ready to get the classroom decor and organization done so that I can begin preparing for my first day of school, August 27.

As I'm making things for my own classroom, I'm always keeping you all in mind. I have some Chevron print classroom labels in the works (mine are done, but yours aren't) that I plan on sharing soon. But, FIRST, I have some classroom library Readbox labels to share.

Classroom Library Readbox Labels - Free Download

I first saw this idea on...Pinterest!

I thought it was adorable and that it would work perfectly for sprucing up my classroom library a tad. So, these done and uploaded AND FREE to you!!!

I hope to be back soon with pictures of my classroom this year and more downloadable products for YOUR classroom. Stay busy, my friends! It's ALMOST here!

Enjoy!!

STAAR Wars Bulletin Board Designs - Texas Standardized Testing

It's April and the STAAR test is right. around. the. corner. My students have been working so, so very hard this year and while I'm nervous about their performance on the state assessment, I'm ready for them to show off their knowledge!

Since I teach third graders, we'll be testing on April 23 & 24. We have two weeks before the test. Two weeks for my partner and I to remind our students just HOW smart they are, just HOW much they've learned this year, just HOW much they can do completely on their own! We're all about boosting self confidence over the next couple of weeks and we have several things up our sleeves in order to make that happen...

I'm starting off slow, though, and I'm showing you one of those things first.

{I hope to be able to show you the other in time for testing in case you'd like to use it in some way for your kids, but we'll see how quick we can get it done!}

So, first are the STAAR WARS bulletin boards we have created! This theme has been floating around throughout many different places, but we chose to rock this theme when 5th grade teachers on our campus let us order some shirts they had designed that were STAAR WARS-themed.

Here are some larger images if you'd like to see each in more detail. We used the tagline, "May the skills be with you" and posted strategies (for math AND reading) in each of the bursts!

The only "negative" critique we got from our students is that, "Luke has BLOND hair!" Duh! What were we thinking?! {We're totally not Star Wars people; we had NO clue.}

We took the shirt idea and decided that since our boards were facing each other, we could, in some way, make it look like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker were "fighting" across our hallway.

I'm a little unsure of whether or not we achieved that completely, but regardless, our kids have loved the bulletin boards! We're all about making our kids happy because that's what helps them become successful! :)

In case you'd like to design a STAAR WARS bulletin board of your own, I'm supplying you with the letters and some taglines to attach to your bulletin board...for free! As far as Darth and Luke go, well, I may or may not have "free-handed".

Note: "Free-handed" requires quotes because I cut them and drew them without an outline, but I relied heavily on images of both Darth and Luke that I had googled. It really wasn't that difficult, although my teaching partner refused to believe me. My advice though: give it a shot! You CAN do it! :)

Want to create one of your own? Download these STAAR Wars Bulletin Board Letters & Taglines for free from my TeachersPayTeachers store. Enjoy!! :)

Reading Strategy Posters - Free Download

At this point in the year, we have touched on nearly every reading comprehension strategy at least ONCE (if not more). Now, we're truly focusing on mastery of these skills throughout various texts, which can be challenging for students.

I feel like my students learn best when I try to make a personal connection to their life. If I can talk about something that's relevant to their interests, they're usually all ears & willing to hear me out & work hard.

So...introducing...Reading Strategy Posters for BOYS & GIRLS!

Ladies & gentlemen, you will LOVE these for your classroom, just as much as I KNOW my students are going to LOVE them (and FREAK out) when I show them these tomorrow.

Pretty, Pretty Princess Reading Strategy Poster - Free Download

Playstation Controller Reading Strategy Poster - Free Download

The best part...in case you hadn't noticed...?  They're FREE for you guys!!!

Click over to my TpT shop to download FREE Reading Strategy Posters!  :)

Author's Purpose Assessment - Digital Download

Last week we covered Author's Purpose thoroughly. I posted about three books you should use to teach author's purpose, too!

In that same post, I shared an Author's Purpose poster freebie for you to use in your classroom. Now, I'm back with another Author's Purpose resource for your classroom!

This one is for assessment. I needed something that I felt was just as thorough as the lessons I used to teach author's purpose, which is exactly what I have for you...

Author's Purpose Assessment - Digital Download

This assessment is a 3 page multiple-choice assessment with varied degrees of questioning. It will definitely save you some time!

Enjoy!!!

Author's Purpose PIE Poster - Free Download

This week in my class we are discussing Author's Purpose.

We are using the PIE acronym to help us remember the different reasons that authors write various texts. I broke down each purpose into one day.

So far, I feel like this has worked out really, really well for me & my students. Monday we didn't have school, but below I'm listing a breakdown of how I taught Author's Purpose this week.

Tuesday - To Persuade

We read Earrings By: Judith Viorst & discussed how the character in this story desperately tried to persuade her parents to let her get pierced ears. The students were even able to make text-to-self connections as they admitted they knew exactly how to persuade their parents!

I had one student say, "I know if I can't persuade my mom to get me something, I can talk to my grandma!"

It was really too funny!!!





Wednesday - To Inform

We read How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World By: Marjorie Priceman.

We discussed how some texts are written to teach us how to do things, or to share information & knowledge with us (even though sometimes we already know about the topic the author has written about).

This book talks about someone going through so much trouble just to make an apple pie.

One of my students said, "You mean she did ALL that for an apple pie?!"




Note: With both of the above stories, I helped my students identify that the author's purpose wasn't to persuade or inform; it was actually to entertain. We talked in depth about how each story taught us about a process (persuasion & informing) so that we understood what those things were in order to identify the author's purpose in other text, however!

Thursday - To Entertain

On Thursday we read a story that my students were very familiar with, Click Clack Moo Cows that Type By: Doreen Cronin.

Last year, my kids saw this play at a theatre as second graders. :)

As we read this story, we discussed how its sole purpose was to entertain us.

The cows in the story were trying to persuade the farmer, but the author originally wrote this story to make us, as readers, laugh.

{Click here to download this FREE Author's Purpose PIE Poster.}

Because we've been talking about this in depth, I also decided to make this FREE Author's Purpose PIE Poster for you to download. This is EXACTLY how I've taught my kids to identify the author's purpose. Of course, I've even made NEW Author's Purpose Anchor Charts that I'll have to post at a later date. Darn...still haven't gotten in the habit of taking my camera to school!

Prefixes & Suffixes Checkers - Free Download

I always, always stress myself out about Literacy Station activities.

I know that there are endless resources to use, but I want to make sure that what my students spend their time doing is of the best quality possible (for me, the time, etc.) and that they're having fun while working, too!

Prefixes and Suffixes Checkers was not my original idea. It was one of those things that I saw on Pinterest and then I carried my own version of it into my own classroom. The original version that I found had words that didn't fit well with our curriculum at the time.

So...

Prefix and Suffix Checkers

Free Download!!!

This concept takes a classic game that nearly every one of my students knows how to play and makes them think a little harder (or a lot...shhh!) while they play. The best part? I got the Checkers board games for this from the Dollar Store!

You download the Prefix and Suffix Checkers template from my TeachersPayTeachers store, cut out the squares, and attach them to the checkers board (I just used folded tape; I don't worry about ruining the $1 boards).

Go ahead, get started with letting your students have fun while secretly learning. I won't tell them a THING! ;)

Making Inferences with Poetry - Free Download

This year on our campus we hosted a Literacy Night  - truly a lot of fun!

Literacy Night for us this year was an entire night (5:30 - 7:00 p.m.) of planned activities for students to do.  The Literacy Committee started off choosing a date and theme.  Then, each grade level selected an activity to prepare for students.

Our theme this year was "Winter Wonderland!"

The activities that each grade level chose didn't have to relate to the theme, but the decorations for the entire event related to that. There was a large mural that had been painted on cloth and displayed outside. Icicle lights hung from the breezeway covers outside. It was such a NEAT theme & I wish I had taken pictures to share!!

The activity I planned for the students was making inferences through poetry. I had already received some poetry from the Literacy Specialist that I worked with at the end of last year during my long term sub position, and then I Googled & found more online.

{Click here to download FREE Inference Poetry.}

AngelFire.com has oodles of making inferences poems! I chose four of them for Literacy Night and "prettied" them up with fancy fonts. Then, I printed them on thick, colored card stock & laminated them. I made a set of 4 for each poem & scattered them across the table so that each was readily accessible by different children throughout the night.

Students read the poem & inferred what it's talking about. There are many different topics - from a tongue to a magic wand. Some of them are pretty funny, too! The kids really enjoyed them!

Hope you're all having a restful, merry Winter Break away from school. I'm so thankful for this time with my family!!

All Grade Level Weekly Lesson Plan Template - Free Download

When I first started my current teaching assignment, it was mid-year and the classroom was every bit of chaotic. Why? The students were going through change.

Third grade is challenging enough, but give the students a new teacher in the second semester of school and you're in charge of creating order in the midst of confusion and kids just thinkin' about summer.

As another teacher phrased it, I had hit the ground running. I didn't have time to hardly think about what classroom management procedures I wanted to implement, let alone sit down with gobs of time to construct elaborate lessons for each second of my day.

Click Here to Download the All Grade Level Weekly Lesson Plan Template (FREE)

This weekly lesson plan template is something I had to create for myself. I didn't see it as an option, and it's been a lifesaver ever since! I quickly jot down my plans for week after week and now, as school is coming to a close, I realize that I'm much more relaxed than I initially was.

What a treat that has been! :)  Some days I feel like I literally walk in my room refreshed from a good night's sleep, flip to my lesson plan template, and let the fun begin.

This download is certainly for the busy teacher that would rather spend more time teaching the fun stuff than planning it! Enjoy...

Click Here to Download the All Grade Level Weekly Lesson Plan Template (FREE)