It's TPT for Me!

When I can't find the perfect classroom resource or don't have time to make one, I search TPT. When I want something creative, unique or fun, it's TPT for me!

Teachers Pay Teachers is 3 million strong and for good reason! Teachers know best what they need, what motivates students and what activities are best for grade level learning objectives. The items created by teachers for teachers are always my favorites. When I can grab up something super on sale, that's even better! 

To help celebrate this magnificent milestone, I am having a sale at my store too! 
Click on my shop button below to see what's new!

Help us spread the word about the great products available at TPT and let's go for four million strong!

 I hope you find the perfect resources there too!

If you are having a sale at your shop, link up at Blog Hoppin below!



Thanks Krista from Creative Clips for the cute sale banner! :)

Reading Nonfiction Activities, Task Cards and a Giveaway!

Yes, we are reading to learn! My class is just loving our new unit all about reading nonfiction! Their favorite activity so far has been our text features hunt! This is a great, easy activity to try with your class after introducing text features! 

Nonfiction Text Features Hunt

The last time we visited the school library, each student was asked to check out a nonfiction book. It didn't matter what the reading level was or the topic, for this activity. I wanted to be sure we had a good variety of books strictly for searching for features that had already been introduced.

The kids were assigned a buddy to work with. Each was given a task and told in advance that they would be responsible for sharing out in front of the class afterward.They did not know what they would have to share, but knew that it would be important to stay on task and engaged. I like to keep them on their toes so they are always accountable in some way! The partners went on their search through their own books.

As they hunted, I tapped each group on the shoulder and told them to be ready to share an example of...and assigned one that I saw a good example of in their book as I roamed the room. 

Then, it was time to teach and share, only the students were the ones doing the teaching! Each group showed their text feature and explained how the feature helps better understand the topic! By doing this, the children were able to see a great variety in text features and to get some practice with speaking opportunities!

 I had a brainstorm during the week and decided to create a set of task cards that I can use over and over with a variety of books so that we can repeat this activity every now and again. 

I created task cards, letter cards for setting up rotation stations and cards to use to hand out to the children so they remember which task they are responsible for sharing.

I just added this new task card set to my store!

It includes recording sheets, letter cards and share cards.

 It is all ready to go for the next time we do a hunt as a scoot activity! 

If you'd like to preview it, click on the picture!

Guided Reading Groups and Book Clubs

We have been alternating between fiction and nonfiction books this year using RAZ-Kids books and other leveled books during guided reading.

 After reading fiction, the group uses Book Club Question Cards. 

Each student picks a card from the draw pile, reads it and answers the question or completes the task. It's a good, quick way for me to assess their comprehension and it keeps them accountable and engaged because they know they will get to share within group. 

While I am working with small groups,other students are running book clubs independently and these cards keep their discussions focused. I also use them after read-alouds! 

Presenting...

 A NEW SET for our nonfiction books! 

They also come in a printer-friendly black and white version! :)

You can enter to win a set of colorful nonfiction book club cards for your classroom! 

Three lucky winners will be chosen. 

Head on over to Teachers Notebook to enter 

the giveaway! 

Fancy New Frames!

Did you notice the new frames and bunting that coordinate with my blog?

 I am using them for the first time in this post! 

 The custom set is from Jen at Teaching in the Tongass. 

You get to pick the colors and she matches your color scheme perfectly!

The Chipmunk Gang

This is winter break for us. We are trying to make the best of the week and work in at least a little fun. My boy had his impacted wisdom teeth out and is sporting the famous post-op chippy cheeks. 

 See the lower impacted tooth pushing the second molar roots? And the domino effect? Not good. 

He's just 15, but with an award-winning smile after two rounds of braces, it was time!

 Before teaching, I spent many years working as an orthodontic assistant, so I am really into teeth!

I'm proud of what a trooper he has been through this surgery! Worried mom is relieved it is over with!

I've spent a lot of time getting creative this week with soft food concoctions as you might guess! 

His favorite-cottage cheese and noodles! 

 Because it's vacation, of course, I'm sick with swollen glands. Ugg~happens every time.

But...the good news is, we both get to have lots of ice cream!

Later on, it's just what the doctor ordered- a trip to Dairy Queen! 

Have you tried their cherry sundae? Yummy! That's what I'm having!

A New Student

Student Teacher, that is! Monday, I welcome my second wonderful intern for the year. Valerie is so excited and enthusiastic! I have just six short weeks with her and hope to be able to give her a great experience in that time! I'm getting ready by planning for her time while off this week. 

When I retire, I would like to be a university supervisor, mentoring the best of our future teachers!

Well, I think that is five tidbits about the week! Thanks for reading along! 

 Link up your Friday post with Doodle Bugs Teaching! 

I hope you enjoy a fantastic blizzard-free, thunderstorm-free or whatever acts of nature-free weekend!

Spelling Words Practice Ideas and Printables for Second Grade!

Techr I reele need hlp wif bein a good spelr! Not many, thankfully, but a few of my students are still struggling with applying good spelling in their writing. This year, rather than using Words Their Way, I've decided to focus on phonics skills and on correct spelling of all high frequency words from the first through the third grade list. These are the words my little writers need to use most often and the ones I need to be able to read!

These same words are also my word wall words. 

They go on the wall after a week of daily practice in a variety of ways. 

I use my cabinets in the background to display the words alphabetically.

 They are printed on colored cardstock. 

When I introduce the ten new words of the week, we look at spelling patterns and talk about word families and all of that good phonics stuff. Then we PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE in a variety of ways ~air writing, using pom-poms to cheer, march and spell, looking at the shape of the word (as in letter boxes) and of course, lots of written practice.

I am not giving a weekly spelling test! That's not to say that I won't resume regular testing next year, but I'm giving it a try. Students often memorize well for the test, but then go back to their comfortable ways of writing those same words during Writer's Workshop as their creative minds are busy thinking of other things. I feel that the true test of spelling, for my students, is being able to apply the rules and demonstrate accurate spelling (age-appropriate of course) in the context of their writing. I assess spelling in their written work. My hope is that with regular written practice, the correct spelling of these words will become automatic in time!

There are lots of favorite written practice activities I've used for years, like writing silly sentences with spelling words, and they are the kid's favs too! Sadly, some of my copies were old, dirty, outdated and probably passed along for twenty years from teacher to teacher. I refuse to send home an ugly paper :) and so I made a new and much cuter packet for use with my kiddos! I included wide primary lines on the pages to encourage handwriting practice at the same time.

If you are looking to update your spelling practice pages or just want to add a different twist to your routine, you can grab a copy of this set at my TPT store! Just click on the picture to download a copy!

I hope they will help your class "bee"come more fluent spellers!

Valentine's Day Freebies

I am just about set for Valentine's Day classroom fun on Friday! This year I'm sticking with my favorite crafts, games and party activities, but with a few new additions!

I recently posted a freebie at my TPT shop to share with you!

It wouldn't be a holiday without a cute poem in our room! 

I retyped Hug O' War by Shel Silverstein for our poetry binders. 

You can download a copy if you like from my Dropbox!

Lots of other fun learning activities are prepped and ready to go too! 

 Take a trip down memory lane with me to see last year's festivities here. 

I also found these adorable homework coupons from A Teachable Teacher at Teachers Notebook!

What a find and just in time!

I'm getting them printed and ready to attach them to my treat for the kids!

Won't they just think a night of their choosing without homework will be oh so SWEET?

Hope you can use some of these freebies in the coming days! 

Rest up for a Friday full moon party. 

It could be a wild ride!

Groundhog Day Classroom Fun!

A SHADOW??? Oh boy! I'm not all that happy with Phil right now, but I'm still sad to see him go! We said goodbye to groundhog as we finished up our furry friend activities today. The kids had lots of fun in the days that we spent learning more about groundhogs, shadows, hibernation and celebrating the silly side of the event.

 It was a jam-packed two days of playing catch-up from our snow days off so we didn't quite get to publish our peeker writing project, but the groundhog heads went up on display anyway! Isn't he cute?

The craftivity comes with paws to hold onto an expository writing piece about groundhogs. 

The kids each made their shadow predictions on Friday and we created a class graph.

 This year, I decided to make printable pieces and laminate them to reuse, rather than create a new graph each year on butcher paper. The whiteboard worked great for this!

As you can see, we ran out of room with so many YES votes! 

Oh well. Our graph is not completely accurate, but it was cute!

The students kept tally as each child voted and then created a graph on their own recording sheet. 

Afterward, we talked about our data, made comparisons, did some mental math and wrote a summary statement about our graph. 

We also read this sweet Groundhog Day story, Gregory's Shadow. It's always a favorite and a great one for leading into the science of shadows.

We talked about shadows and how they are created. The weather kept us inside, but we may venture outside to test out our groundhogs and make shadow observations as soon as we can! 

There is a great Groundhog Day video on Safari Montage for those of you who may have access. The students learned a lot about woodchucks, hibernation and the history of the Groundhog Day tradition.

We learned even more with some reading activities too! The video introduced some new vocabulary which was very helpful.

Several times each week, we work on a nonfiction selection. This reading selection about groundhogs was used as a guided highlighted reading activity. 

First, the students number each paragraph. Then, I give verbal directions about what they need to look for and highlight in the selection. 

For example, I will say...

In paragraph 3, highlight the part of the sentence that tells the reader when the groundhog goes into the burrow to hibernate. 

or... 

In paragraph 1, highlight the proper noun that names the continent where groundhogs live.

There is no script, I just make it up as I go! 

The kids are getting to be really good at this skill. 

This is a great stepping stone for being able to provide text evidence.

If you have never tried a highlighted activity like this, I highly recommend giving it a try! You get a lot of bang for your buck while combining a reading lesson with science and a holiday theme!

For reading fluency practice, we worked on repeated readings of this Fun on Groundhog Day poem. This one was great for talking about rhythm! 

After reading and coloring them, our weekly poems go into the student's poetry binder. We have a really nice collection going!

You can find all of the printables, the graphing pieces and the craft here if you are interested.

 The kiddos really enjoyed our yummy last hurrah by putting together their groundhog burrow pudding cups with Oreo dirt and a tiny Teddy Graham peeking out!

 It was easy peasy and adorable!

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek into our classroom!

 Hope you were able to get some ideas for your class too!

 :)