Place Value Freebie

Busiest year of teaching EVER... if I weren't 11 years into this career, and didn't LOVE my obsession, I mean job, as much as I do... phew! Can we say LOTS of changes this year??? Any teacher out there reading this can TOTALLY relate, right???

ANYWAYS, one of our "changes" is to write a weekly Math objective... last week we worked on Place Value. We teach the focused standard/objective all week and assess it every Friday (in addition to our Math curriculum, btw). And then graph our grade-level results the following Wednesday... do you do something like that too??? ANYWAYS, I shared some freebie here for place value practice that I made. They cover tens and ones place value. If you're interested, follow the link here for the 3 practice pages!



And if you have to choose an objective for Math for next week... HERE YA GO!!! Do place value!!! LOL! But seriously, If there is ANYTHING I want other teachers to get from this blog, is to help make OUR jobs easier. Thanks for your support of me! I hope that I am supporting you, as well!!

Coffee note, tried the new Starbucks Blonde coffee this weekend... brewed a few pots while creating teaching things on my computer and was home with two sick kids... MY NEW FAVORITE (for at home brewing)!!! Delish!!! Cheers!!



FREE Phonics Find for Treasures U3 W2

Here is a handy worksheet that I hope you find useful! I call it a Phonics Find! It connects with the Treasures Reading Series for Unit 3 Week 2 and the Decodable Reader story Job Time for the Pines. The phonics focus/letter-sound card for the week is the long i sound with the spelling i_e and the 5 picture. This worksheet focuses on the kids finding words from the story that contain that phonics feature (such as: Mike, time, bike, smiles, exc). I also have the student find and locate the High Frequency Words in the story and write the page number. With explicit teaching instruction, we need to help our students understand that these HFW are not just for memorizing in isolation but that it applies to the text. (Seems like Captain Obvious, but not for everyone, right??) As a bonus, I added that the students circle the words that are verbs since that is the Grammar focus for the Unit. Finally, page 2 includes some simple comprehension questions from the story that the students will need to generate and write a response in a complete sentence. Click here to download for FREE!



FREE DOWNLOAD!!

Just an idea, but you could use this in a reading center. I just put a few Decodable Readers at the center and have the students re-read the story and then complete the Phonics Find worksheet. They could do this independently or with a partner. I hope you find it useful!!
Thanks for visiting!!

Spelling Homework Packet

Spelling in 1st grade is ACTUALLY valuable... from teaching other grades, I'm not so sure that is so true, but for little firsties, it is!!! They need that opportunity to apply the phonics skills acquired each week to their writing. This year I wanted to simplify the spelling homework process so that my studnts could complete the packet independently and with minimal direction each week. We all know that we are pressed for time. Keeping the homework process consistant has been great!! I have set it up so each day (Monday - Thursday) the kids have something to do with their spelling words.

Monday: See it. Say it. Cover and spell it two times.

Tuesday: Building Blocks of Spelling (using small, tall and fall letter squares)

Wednesday: Rainbow Writing (use 3 different colors to write the word 3x's)

Thursday: Sentence Writing (write 5 sentences using the spelling words)

Check it out!! It might be something useful for BOTH you AND your students! It's great to have the spelling for each week already done so I can run the packets for the entire Unit at a time and be done with that prep for a few weeks! I hope you also find it useful!! Check out the packet in my TpT store!Thanks for visiting!!

Treasures Center Unit 3

Just wanted to share that I have posted the Center Worksheets for Treasures Unit 3 that I created to align with the Workstation Flipbooks. If you are using Treasures reading series, take a minute to take a look and see how these worksheets can streamline your centertime so you can be freed up to work with your small groups. There are 41 pages total in this set for $5.00! Thanks for visiting! I appreciate it!!

Treasures and Center Time

We all know that centers can be the MOST challenging part of the day, especially with 1st graders, however, in my opinion, it's my FAVORITE (and my students too!) time of the day. I value every minute that I get to work with students in a small group or individually. And the assessment geek that I am, I LOVE assessing, and in 1st it is mostly one-on-one!!! My point... center time is crucial!!! So with my district implementing the new ELA adoption from Macmillan/McGraw-Hill California Treasures, we were "trained" in their idea of homogenius grouping for Literacy Workstations using the Flip Charts. I'm not going to lie, I HATED the idea... and at my first attempt, I HATED them even more...

BUT... with time, I have been able to create center activities that align with the Flip Charts and support the Focus Question for the week, while ensuring my students are engaged and able to produce a valuable product in the end. I take the suggestions from the Flip Charts and then layout the page so they follow step-by-step to produce at each center. My main focus is to get them writing as much as possible during their center time. Also, Treasures states that their Flip Charts should take 20 minutes. I needed my students to stay engaged for the entire 20 minutes so these Center Worksheets help acheive that goal! I have also added icons along the left column to help remind the students what the next step is to keep them focused and constantly working. I have 4 Special Ed students in my class this year and the icons have greatly helped these particular students, along with those students that are struggling with reading.

Please consider checking out these center worksheets in order to better use your Treasures materials in implementing your use of the Flip Charts and Literacy Workstations. I hope that your students are able to produce the same AWESOME and ENGAGING results! I spend A TON of time creating things for our TREASURES reading series so I hope that you will pop back often to check on what I have to share with you next!!

Thanks for visiting!! May your next cup of coffee bring you some relaxation!

A new ankle, a new car, a new year...

Just like many of you, the new school year is quickly approaching. I have mixed feelings about it. You see, I haven't worked in 5 months... Sounds nice, and seriously, I can't even count the number of times I have thought that IF I just had more time, I could create some AMAZING lesson plans... this wasn't exactly what I meant in having time off, and no AMAZING lesson plans have ever come during this time off.

You know how they say, "Be careful what you ask for!" well, I should have listened because one of the last things I remember saying at lunch to my co-workers was, "I think it's time for 'Johnny' to have a different teacher." See, he was VERY difficult and although I adored him, he drove me nuts. (You know the type, right?) I MEANT that maybe HE should switch classrooms and be in class for the last trimester with one of my fellow 1st grade team members, both of which were willing to take him... WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WAS, I was in a MAJOR car accident on April 7th driving home from work after picking up my two girls. Here is a link where I blogged about the accident on my scrapbooking blog that I had started. So, HE did get a different teacher, he got a long-term sub to finish out the year while I was in the hospital and later home... in a wheelchair.

I ended up with a broken vertebrae, stitches and staples in my left knee which was open to the kneecap, and 2 plates and 7 screws in my right ankle. I had to be in a wheelchair for 3 months and started walking about 3 weeks ago. I still have daily swelling and pain, which is why I'm so nervous about returning to work. I go to the doctor next week and may end up with some limitations to my job, but mainly just no recess duty so I can ice during recess (which might actually be a good thing since  I HATE strongly dislike recess duty anyways).

But to put a positive spin on it, because I don't want to be "Debbie Downer", or better yet, Cynical Cyndy (it kinda works), I am REALLY excited about the new school year. Yesterday, I bought a brand-spankin' new Toyota Sienna SE which I am COMPLETELY in LOVE with. I drove around scoping out B2S prices today only because I wanted to drive my new car. My physical therapy today measured that I have regained full mobility in my flexing of my right foot, and am still working and improving on the pointing, but my NEW ankle is getting better each day. AND I truly am excited to get back to work (not just for a FULL paycheck, although I will love that) but for the distraction and the fresh start to getting life back to "normal". My oldest daughter will be starting Kindergarten at my school this year and I will be the English component of the Dual-Immersion program for 1st grade. We also just hired a new Superintendent. We have some changes ahead and I can't wait to get back to life as I remember it being.

And finally, a HUGE thank you to all you blogging teachers, because over the past 5 months, I would often read and visit blogs to help distract my mind from the pain and the boredom of having to be immobile. So please forgive me for not sharing A BUNCH yet, but I promise I will once I back in school mode. I'm ALMOST there! Just really started working on things this week. I'm beginning to feel "normal" again with motivation to return to my life before my accident, minus running (can't do that for a year, at least). Here's to a new school year!!! With coffee!!!

My Teacher Always Says...

I'm joining in on a linky party over at Mrs. Bainbridge's Class. She has sent up a linky party to share things that you are always finding yourself repeating in the classroom... you know, the lines that even your own students repeat... yikes!

1. "Does this require me to call 911?" Okay, I LOVE sarcasm! I am VERY sarcastic!!! But I have the rule that there are NO INTERUPTIONS during my reading groups unless it is an emergency, so when a student comes over to ask something or tattle, usually the later, I will ask the above question. Somtimes I just do it to entertain myself!

2. "Is this your very best work?" Sometimes when I see my firsties slacking off in their neatness and effort, I will step over to the turn in papers basket and then stand there and collect their papers asking this very question. It's amazing how sometimes they turn around to go "make some changes." Love it!

3. "That is inapproriate behavior!" I just LOVE when I hear my firsties repeat it! It just sounds so grown up when they use such big words! Ha! I swear, I keep myself entertained!

Join the party by following this link! I'd love to see and read what others are ALWAYS saying! Please, make me laugh while I enjoy my coffee and realize I'm not alone in this crazy teaching world! LOL! And thank you for visiting!And THANK YOU to my new followers! How exciting!!!