Product Swap Numero 2!

Back again for another product swap. This time, I am reviewing a product from the lovely Sally over @ Elementary Matters.

After perusing her store (of which there are a variety of delightful options I may add), I finally decided upon her "Par 3- Short Vowel Sounds" game. I thought this would be useful as we review these sounds   at the beginning of this school year. I must say I am glad I got it all printed out and ready to go as I am going to be using it in one of my small groups this coming week! So here goes:
The Overview...

And now the breakdown...

Above is the game instruction sheet. I love that it requires very little preparation or materials (which makes it more likely at least for me that I will use it!). All you need are the game boards, which she has so nicely already created for you, dice, and any old item you like to use for your students to cover their words (if you already have Bingo chips in your classroom these would work great!).

The game comes with nine different gameboards filled with a variety of short vowel words. As you can see, I only printed 6 because I knew I would have a group no larger than this. You could print the others as well for variety if you would like or if you were working with a larger group!

So now let's play...it's super simple! Each student will roll the die. From here, they will use the instructional page to determine what short vowel sound the number on the die represents. For example, my imaginary student rolled a "3", which corresponds with the short "I" on the sheet. Therefore, he/she must search for a word on the game board which contains this vowel sound and put the piece there, as is shown in the photo.

This process will continue until one student has successfully covered three words in a row...

in which they will then call out "Par 3" and be the winner of that game round. Students should catch on quite quickly in my eyes as it is a sporty rendition of Bingo (that I think all of the boys in your room will love!).

So there you have it. If you are interested, head on over to Sally's store, by clicking here to snag a copy of your own! It is even on sale right now for only $1.60 until Monday!

Also, if you love this sporty themed take on the traditional Bingo, I encourage you to check out the rest of her store, as she has a variety of other sports themed Bingo games to reinforce important math and literacy concepts. 

Finally, as this is a swap, my new friend Sally also reviewed one of my products over at her blog. Check out the review she did on "My Spelling Reference Book" here. 

Finally, in honor of all of this magical swapping fun, I will be hosting a sale until Monday in my TpT store for you all to maybe go and grab a copy of the reference book if it looks like it is up your alley or any of my other products you have been eyeing! If you make a purchase, I would really appreciate and value your feedback! Happy long weekend :)!

Comparing Numbers w/ Pac-Man

Today we did a review of number comparisons. To make it a little more interesting, as well as comprehensible, I love using good ole' Pac-Man. Shockingly, whenever I ask my students if they have heard of this early videogame character, many say that they have! For those that have not, as soon as I say "video game" their ears perk up. I always show the kiddos a picture of what the videogame screen looks like and explain how it works. 

Once we have established who "Pac-Man" is, I tie it to comparing numbers!

We discuss how the object of the game is for Pac-Man to eat all of the dots. Therefore, he always wants to eat the biggest number possible! I have the kids help me determine which of the two numbers I have presented Pac-Man would then eat, and then introduce the vocabularly we would use to read the number sentence correctly. For "equal" numbers, we talk about how because the numbers are the same, Pac-Man could go either way. We talk about how his mouth open on either side looks like an equal sign! It is open on both sides :).

Here is a quick activity sheet the kids completed to help reinforce the idea!

Click on the image to get it in English or Spanish!

Independent Reading Anchor Charts

Thought I'd share a few quick anchor charts I have created with my kids with you all that I use to get our independent reading time up and going effectively. 

I start the year by introducing the three ways to read a book: "Read the Pictures", "Read the Words", "Retell the Story". I demonstrate all three to the students, then give them several opportunities to practice while I monitor their reading. Retelling is something we work on all year long!

Another activity we do, which is very similar to the Daily 5 "I PICK" to find good fit books, is a lesson based on the text "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". I have used "I PICK" before as well, but I really like this lesson because it ties in this familiar story for the students. We read the text....

...then we discuss how we can take a lesson from Goldilocks in selecting books to read. "She" shares that we should not select books that are "too hard" or "too easy", but rather we want to read books that are "just right". We always tie it back to the whole papa bear, mama bear, baby bear deal! Here is the anchor chart we do with this text.

To assist my students in selecting "just right" books, I also teach them how to use the "Five Finger Rule". I expect them to use this rule each time they visit the classroom library as a quick reference to determine if a book is at their level. Here is the poster I have hanging in our classroom library reminding them how to use this strategy:

If you would like a copy of this poster for your classroom in English or Spanish, click here. This mini poster was inspired by an article on the site Colorin Colorado, check out the article on this rule they share here.

Going along with all of this, I also work with my students at the beginning of the year to identify the difference between "real" reading and "fake" reading. I discussed how I do this in a previous post. Click here to learn more about this beginning of the year reading lesson as well!

What are some of your favorite beginning of the year lessons to prep the kiddos for independent reading?

We are super because...

Thought I'd share our beginning of the year bulletin board with you all! 

It is titled: "Presenting the superkids..."

There were two parts to creating this board. First, my wonderful paraprofessional put together a "super themed" street scene and created blue and red capes out of butched paper. She then took a photo of each student laying across the city scene as if they were flying through the air. The kids got to select which color cape they wanted! Here are a few examples:

Then we completed the "super themed" writing piece to go along with our photos. We had a discussion about what makes us super and/or what are some super things we do or actions that we can take that superheroes do as well. Here are some examples of our work:

"I am super because I do my best work."

"I am super because I am responsible". (This may have been a day where we really hit home our PBIS expectations ;))

Here is the template if you'd like as well in English/Spanish.- Just click on it! (I tried to add the accent with a line to "súper in the Spanish" version, but I could not figure out how to create a line small enough. So I just "sharpied" it. Yes I just created a new verb.)

Super "Real" Readers!

I have to start this post by saying that this idea was inspired by the amazing Hope King @ Second Grade Shenanigans. As soon as I came across it, I knew it had to be done! 

This week we have been trucking along with our Reader's Workshop/Daily 5 practice. I had it in my plans to teach the concept of "real" vs. "fake" reading from Tanny McGregor's "Comprehension Connections". This is already one of my favorite lessons...as it is always great to "trick" the kiddos into thinking that I am doing a great job reading, and then reveal...I didn't understand the words I read to them! (There is always silent stares, mouths agape in shock :)). But as soon as I saw Hope's lesson about turning this into a "super themed" lesson- I changed my initial plans and jumped on board. So here is a little glimpse into what we did:

First, we created our "Super Reader" class anchor chart cape together relaying what real readers do on one side, and what fake reading looks like on the other. This one is getting hung on our wall.

Then the kids created their own capes. I asked them to copy down all of the characteristics of only a "real reader" on their capes that we had identified. After that, I asked them to draw pictures representing what real reading looks like to go with their statements. 

Here is one of my student's finished cape! Check out those "super reader" drawings! I am pretty sure I see a flying book!

Finally, (the most fun part), we wore our capes while we practiced "real reading" of course, during our independent reading time. (We just punched two holes and added some black yarn to put them around their necks.)

Today my students took their capes home to share with their parents and wear as a reminder that we need to do "real reading" at home as well!

Such a "super" lesson- thanks again Hope!

Themed Journal Cover Freebie

We have been working tirelessly to get our Daily 5 routines in place! That being said, I created these fun, themed journal covers for our "Work on Writing" center. My students can select any of the journals and must write a story with beginning, middle, and end related to the cover topic. I also asked them to write their name and date on the top of each page written, so that I can scan through and check out their work for the week. 

Click on the image to take you to my TpT store to download these free covers in English and Spanish. 

If you use them, I would appreciate your feedback!

I also had some of you request a copy of my PBIS expectation posters from my expectations post here.

I have uploaded them to Google Docs for you in English/Spanish! Click on the image to grab a free copy of these as well if you were one of the interested parties!

Linking these little diddy's up with Classroom Freebies as well! Click on the image to check out other weekly freebies!

The Giving Class

Quick activity to share with you all that we did in class today during our English block, based on the text "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein.

This week we are focusing on our first school CBIS/PBIS expectation of how to "Be a Model". I shared with my students that one of the best ways we can do this is by helping others.

We read the story "The Giving Tree", chatted about how the tree helped the boy, and from here discussed how we can be more giving and helpful like the tree to others in our classroom and school. 

Then we created a class book, based on "The Giving Tree", entitled "The Giving Class". (Sorry for the awkward yellow color of all my photos...I think I need to examine the settings on my camera!).

Here are some examples of what my kiddos came up with:

My primary and ELL teachers, I am sure you can translate ;). 

Photo #1: I can help others in my school by sharing my supplies with others.

Photo #2: I can help others in my school by sharing materials. Note the superheroes!

My kiddos def. are using their Spanish knowledge to help them with their English sounds!

Photo #1: I can help others in my school by earning honor badges for the class. (This is our PBIS incentive- anyone else utilize these?! My kids are all about earning them for the whole class and working together!)

Photo #2: I can help others in my school by helping others get up!

I am excited to read our finished product to the class tomorrow!

Here is a freebie of the class book page we used for the activity if you would like to use it with you class! Border is by Scrappin Doodles and Font is from Kevin and Amanda.