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Young Teacher Love: Math and ELA Student Data Tracking Binders and a Freebie!! This post was updated on 12-29-13Note: For those of you that are familiar with Robert Marzano, you can see I am following his fabulous book, The Art and Science of Teaching. For those of you that have not had the opportunity to read it, it's ok! Keep reading on, and I promise you won't even need the book! Research shows that when students track their own learning and data, they take ownership of their learning, have intrinsic motivation, and perform better on high stakes tests. Today, I want to talk to you about the next step on this Common Core/student data tracking journey.

How will I establish and communicate learning goals? The answer? I stated in a previous post that I had over 75% of my class WELL above grade level for math due to these Student Data Tracking Binders (seriously). {Click the links to check out my Student Data Tracking Binders for both ELA and Math in grades 2 through 6.} What is the purpose of the "I can" or "We can" statements? 2.) 3.) 5.) 7.) 8.) EduKate with Whole Brain.

4th Grade Frolics: MLK Mobile Activity and Sharing some Love. Happy 3 day weekend all:) I wanted to share the Martin Luther King Jr. activity we did yesterday (in case maybe anyone needed an idea for next week.....or, there's always next year) First my kiddos watched two video clips about Martin Luther King Jr. that I had downloaded from United Streaming. They were super intrigued and I have to say, I even got goose bumps during the parts of his famous speech! After the video clips we brainstormed some of the words that stood out and were important to Martin and what he stood for: Then we read the book Martin's Big Words and added to our list. I also wanted to join the wonderful linky that Mrs. Pink Slip. The Polka-dotted Teacher: Goodbye Class of 2011-2012. Wednesday was our last day of school. This has been such a challenging school year that really tested my nerves and skills as a teacher.

I was very happy to have almost all my students pass the C.R.C.T. (just my one E.S.O.L child did not pass...but she has only been speaking English for a year and a half and was expected to pass all of the tests! Umm...yeah ok...passing the English/Language arts section alone was pretty amazing...) I adapted these from B. jane brewing... and Lorraine from Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies's Classroom DIY post.

Then I gave them a little something else... but since we have learned hoe to use this resource this year (and they love it)...I challenged my students to use a thesaurus to help them find better descriptors for their classmates. I presented each student with their framed word art...and they were thrilled! I was so excited that they were excited! An update for this post explaining a little more about these name clouds can be found here. Common Core State Standards Checklists for the Classroom. Our common core standards checklists are just what you need to help you keep track of the standards taught in your classroom.

Use these to make sure you are addressing all that you need to teach throughout the course of the school year. Keep track of when you have introduced, retaught and assessed each indicator. The most important parts of the common core are the anchor standards that carry through from kindergarten to high school. These have been included with each language arts checklist so that you don’t lose sight of your essential goals for teaching and learning. ***Please keep in mind that this checklist is more to be used as a system of checks and balances in your teaching for the year and not so much a “check off” sheet for these indicators to be checked and thought of as “done”. You will be teaching so many of these concepts during your one-on-one conferencing each and every day.

Reading Writing Language Speaking & Listening Math. About WritingFix: Our Bibliography of Mentor Texts. IMG_4176. Random Name Generator. Simply 2nd Resources: My Resources. I just wanted to share some of the websites I have bookmarked on my computer. Create●Teach●Share: Boggle Board w/ Printable!!! I have been working on some new ideas for my students to do during their Daily Five "Word Work" rotation. A couple days ago I posted about my Word of the Week Graphic Organizer. Another idea I had was inspired by a couple different sources. I first saw the idea for a Boggle bulletin board on Pinterest.

Click here to see the pic. Then I saw a post on Clutter-Free Classroom that further inspired me. Here is a picture of the Boggle Bulletin Board that I put up today: {I'll have more pics from my room when I finish later this week!!!} I printed up the following letters on card stock, cut them out, and laminated them. My plan is to change the letters {bi}weekly. {Click the pic to share!} This will probably be a "last choice" for word work. I have seen so many wonderful classroom pics.

The Real Teachr: Strategy Grouping Template for Reading, Writing & Math. Happy Friday!! Yesterday I talked about different types of lesson planning sheets, and even gave you a copy of my lesson planning sheets. Another thing I used last year was a Strategy Group Planning Sheet for Reading. I came up with the idea towards the middle to end of the year, and I wish I had come up with it earlier. This planning page is a quick reference page that you can either keep in your lesson plan book, or you can keep it in your anecdotal reading records binder (I'll talk about this at a later date).

This page will give you a way to plan your strategy/skill groups and what days you want to meet with them. It also has a space for writing down your individual conference schedule. Not only will it help you plan out your week as far as your groups and conferences go, but it will also keep you on track during the week so that nothing gets forgotten. Last year, I only used this template for reading. These were all fine and dandy, but I felt like I was missing something. Books to Read Aloud for Grades 3-5. When I look back on my own elementary days (so very long ago), I can't remember what books my teacher read out loud to us, with one exception: My fourth grade teacher, Mr.

Watson. Mr. Watson read us the best books and he always stopped at the most exciting part, with all of us begging for more. He read us The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and then I had to read the whole Narnia series. We traveled across the tundra with Julie, ran away the the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Claudia, learned lessons the hard way with JD and his brother Tom. So, this all leads to the question, what can you read to delight and inspire your students? Sideways Stories from the Wayside School by Louis SacharI always start the year with my 3rd graders with Sideways Stories from Wayside School.

"Beginning of the year I always read, There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom; it lends itself to so many different discussion topics. -Georgia Koepke -Brenda Ronnebaum I do a Roald Dahl author study with my third graders. 67 Books Every Geek Should Read to Their Kids Before Age 10 | GeekDad. Confessions of a Teaching Junkie: My Teacher's SECRET Life! In an effort to add a little levity to the seriousness of testing week we did a reading/writing innovation lesson that I got from Cristie Fultz over at Ms. Fultz's Corner. I started by reading the book My Teacher's Secret Life by Stephen Krensky. Then they brainstormed about what MY secret life might be, and created circle maps to include any ideas they had.

Then they created a flow map to create their "secret life" story. They drafted, peer conferenced, revised and edited their stories coming up with these priceless ideas... I have one of my students illustrating the cover to make a class book. Click here to get the free printable masters for the pages and cover.

This was such a fun project! What great reading innovations do you have to share? Don't get booted!  Follow these rules! Classroom Rules We will work to be our best every single day! Our school rules apply in our classroom- be safe, be respectful, be responsible. I have added one more important rule... have a positive attitude! It feels good to follow classroom rules! Not only do you have a chance to earn a special "thank you" from Mrs. Classroom Clip Chart We will be using a clip chart to monitor our choices in our classroom.

Good choices mean you get to move up! Outstanding! If you move to the orange level on our clip chart, you will miss five minutes of recess to think about your choices. Sometimes I might send you to talk to our principal, Mrs. You may also be interested to read this e-book which gives more information on clip charts! Classroom Procedures We will spend a lot of time learning the procedures to make our classroom run smoothly. *Teachers- you can download my clip chart files here! Kelly's Knack: Teacher Life. I'm going to post on the main page of the blog instead, so it can be separated by posts. 2012-2013 I reorganized some parts of my room. Here are the latest pictures. July, 2012 First off, I wanted to make a poster that listed all of the things to do when you finish something early. It seems like I ended up posting it on my white board everyday anyway, so now it will be in one place for the students to reference.

Secondly, using the other half of the poster board, I made a packing-up checklist. Thirdly, I made a pocket chart to put the Boggle and analogies mentioned on the early finishers poster. And lastly for now, I made a poster to display banned words in their writing. Here it is with words on it. I had to buy this from Target. More to come later. Fabulous Fourth Grade: Favorite Sites. Here are some websites that we enjoy. Just click on the title and the link will take you to that site. Interactive Reading Comprehension This site provides many different reading comprehension skills which are great for using during EOG practice.

Math Essentials This provides math essentials for the students to practice on a regular basis. These are great for review or morning work. Math Week by Week Essentials This website provides week by week essentials for the students to continuously practice. Math Problem of the Day This sight provides powerpoints from kindergarten to fifth grade that have a problem for your students to work every day. Super Teacher Worksheets There are so many different types of worksheets that can be used in the classroom. Into the Book This is an awesome website that teaches students different reading skills. Mrs. Mini Writing Lessons This website offers ideas for different mini writing lessons. Www.portaportal.com. Teaching with a Smile: Classroom Library Linky Party. Reading Journals. I’ve started using reading journals with Sprite. It’s a way to encourage her independent interactions with the novels she’s reading.

Lincoln Novel, Bookmark, and Journal I printed and laminated these bookmarks and made a simple single fold book for her Abraham Lincoln biography (shape template). It seems that the bookmarks linked there have disappeared from the web. Here is another, less colorful, option from Busy Teacher Cafe. Jericho’s Journey and Reading Journal Here’s another one for Jericho’s Journey with a covered wagon image.

Of course, she already interacts with text but generally in discussions with me when I tend to pull things out of her. Reading Response Prompts Minioffice She can also use the reading journal to make notes about the plot or about new vocabulary words which may be helpful for notebooking pages or a writing assignment. She does both narrations and reactions in her journal. I’ve not given this reading response minioffice to Sprite yet. Reading response minioffice. Common Core / Fourth Grade Science.

Common Core / Fourth Grade Math. Math Journal Sundays. With Easter last weekend, I didn't get around to posting our math journal from last week. So, I have two entries to share with you today from our Interactive Math Journals. We're just finishing up our 2D Geometry unit. This journal entries for polygons was near the beginning of the unit. I gave each student an envelope and some coloured paper, and had them work in pairs to construct as many polygons as they could think of. They were to write the name of the polygon on the front, and on the back they were to write some of the attributes of the polygon.

For the proof of learning, I asked students to show the difference between a polygon and nonpolygon. The next entry I wanted to share with you is on division. We made a simple flap interactive tool for this one. For the math reflection, I used my question fans and asked them to connect the concept learned today (division) to another concept they have learned (specifically, multiplication). That's about it for today. GoogleEarthLandforms. Young Teacher Love. Teaching Vocabulary. Jump To FREE Vocabulary Activities Page Traditionally, teaching vocabulary often involves pre-teaching lists of words, copying down definitions from the board, and children spending endless hours looking up definitions from dictionaries. But here is what we know regarding vocabulary development: A vocabulary gap exists among students in different socioeconomic groups.

Vocabulary knowledge affects long-term student achievement. Vocabulary growth accumulates over time. We should not wait to teach children words. Current research (Akhavan 2007) suggests we shift our thinking towards: Vocabulary is an extremely broad topic and Katie and I both support this shift in thinking. Referential Vocabulary - The understanding of what a specific word refers to. Obviously, it is important that children understand and use a large number of words. Relational Vocabulary - Refers to a person's ability to understand relationships between words that share a variety of functional and conceptual relationships.

100 Best Children's Chapter Books of All-Time. 4_Overview_of_SIOP_model_Thrower. August Bulletin Board Ideas & Classroom Decorations | Page 2. Dandelions and dragonflies. Hello Mrs Sykes - Resources for Teachers: Guided Reading Guide and a Freebie Cheat Sheet! Phonics worksheets on short vowels | cvc worksheets short a, short e, short i, short o, short u. Classroom Architect. Editor's Marks Colos - MC-V1613 - TeacherStorehouse.com - Teacher supplies, school supplies. Back to School! Literacy Centers {free printable} E is for Explore!: Spelling Battleship. Writer’s Workshop Anchor Charts. Create●Teach●Share. Growing Kinders: It’s Calendar Time! Teacher Login. Freebie and Lots of Pinterest Ideas! Reading Is Thinking: Inference lesson/poetry. Greetings from the Asylum: Fun In a File Folder. Boxed Children's Books - Books by the Foot. IPEVO Point 2 View USB Camera: Electronics.

Qualitative Reading Inventory: Word Lists. Cheap Student Books & eBooks | Bargains & Discounts. Rockin Resources: Paragraph Writing. Teacher Tips on a Snow Day. Magic Play Dough. Addition & Subtraction Games.

1st Grade

Setting Up Your Student CCSS Data Binders. ClassDojo. Www.rainbowswithinreach.blogspot.com. Guided Reading. Guided Reading Binder 101: Calling All Guided Reading Gurus! WTW. Leveled_book_list. To do. Games/Experiments. Math. 4th grade/classroom websites. Reading/Writing. How does it work? A Teacher's Treasure. Amazon. Freebies. Learner.org - Teacher Professional Development. Harcourt Social Studies. Total Recall: Helping Our Students Memorize Multiplication Facts. Interactive Bulletin Boards Get Students Involved! Classroom Organization. Helpful Websites (Used Weekly) Buy for Next Year.