TEACH SMARTER NOT HARDER Part 1

It's about time, teachers, for more efficient teaching.

Do you love combining disciplines for more efficient teaching?  I sure do.  To that end, I have made a new product line that blends vocabulary, spelling, and fractions with critical thinking.  I call them VOCABULARY FRACTIONS.  Each product includes 20 task cards that ask students to combine fractional parts of words to create thematic terminology. 

Here's an example from the Sports Edition:

Altogether, there are 15 sets of VOCABULARY FRACTIONS and 3 bundles.  The 1st bundle includes 5 products.

The second bundle combines VOCABULARY FRACTIONS for 6 holidays.

The 3rd bundle is part of my FOREST FRIENDS CURRICULA.  This bundle offers 3 products and 1 free unit.

If you would like to try them before you buy them, download this FREE set:

To quote one student, "These made my brain hurt, but I love them!"  I think your learners will feel the same way.

Come back soon for more ideas about WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER.

COMPOUND WORDS LITERACY CENTER for COWPOKES

It's about time, teachers, for compound words!

Check out this adorable literacy center that celebrates compound words COWBOY STYLE!  All of the words are related to cowboys to delight your little cowpokes.

This literacy center is self-correcting.  Just flip the pairs over to reveal a cowboy picture.  Your little buckaroos will shout, "YEE-HAW!"

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FLASH FREEBIE!  FLASH FREEBIE!  FLASH FREEBIE!  

Grab this literacy center for upper grades while it's FREE!  I would love some feedback on this center, so if you download it, please take a minute to leave a rating on TpT.  TYIA!

• 2 decks with 48 cards each
• CCSS aligned
• Recording sheet
• Answer key
• Open ended extension

It's About Time for a Gingerbread Man Unit!

December is the perfect month for a gingerbread man unit.  Just in time for your study, I have 2 literacy centers to extend the learning.

Contraction Cookies is CCSS aligned for grades 1-3, but would be a great resource for kindergarteners who are already proficient readers.  Not surprisingly, it provides practice with contractions.  It is HOLIDAY NEUTRAL, so you can use it with students who do not participate in holiday activities, and/or employ the center at other times of the year.

Gingerbread Man Compound Words also extends your gingerbread man study.  It, too, is CCSS aligned for gr. 1-3.  The compound words are seasonal, but not holiday specific (e.g. peppermint, snowball).  So, once again, this center is appropriate for children who do not join in holiday celebrations.  

Both literacy centers include labels for your center folder, work mats, gingerbread men word cards, recording sheets, and answer keys.

Enjoy your gingerbread man time!

Fractions Task Cards

It's about time, teachers, for some fraction task cards.

Because I'm obsessed with my forest friends classroom theme, these task cards are adorned with woodland elements.

The task cards are aligned with these CCSS:

• CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.1 Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b. 
• CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.3 Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size. 
• CCSS.Math.Content.3.NF.A.3b Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3. Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

This product is 50% off today, May 9, 2016, only.  Grab a great bargain.

You can check out my other forest friends products here.

Emergent Readers for Spring

The Nia Readers are a set of 4 emergent level books for beginning readers. As is typical of emergent readers, these books have consistent print placement and simple, supportive illustrations. The subject matter is familiar to young children; the language structure is natural. Each book features a set of high frequency words in predictable, repetitive sentence patterns. One or two changes are included in each book to ensure that students are attending to the text; not just repeating a memorized pattern.

• Nia’s Toys focuses on these high frequency words: has, a, & no. The text pattern is “Nia has a [toy name supported by picture]."  The last two pages break the pattern. Simple, black and white pictures are attractive and inviting for the children to color.

• Nia Colors the Easter Eggs is a book of seasonal interest. It is a counting book that provides practice with color words. The text pattern is “Nia colors [number] eggs [color word]."  The last page provides a change in the pattern. I recommend inviting the children to color the eggs as described by the text before reading the book independently.

• Nia Goes to the Park tells about her activities at a park and provides a focus on high frequency prepositions (on, in, and with). Other high frequency words include: plays, the, her, & a. The text pattern is “Nia plays [preposition] [article] [noun supported by picture]."  The last two pages break the pattern.

• Nia’s Cupcakes is the most difficult of The Nia Readers. Predictable text is supported by the illustrations. High frequency words include: she, put, on, made, some & color words. The text pattern is “Nia/she put [numeral] [color word] jelly bean(s) on [numeral] cupcake(s).” The numbers are not in sequential order, thus requiring the reader to attend to the text. Similarly, the initial noun varies between “Nia” and “She,” providing additional opportunities for the teacher to determine the student’s attention to the text. Again, you may wish to direct the children to color the illustrations in compliance with the text, thereby offering additional support.  Nia's Cupcakes also invites cross curricular extensions, such as: How many cupcakes did Nia decorate? How many jelly beans did she use altogether? Count, tally, and graph the colors of jelly beans used.

The Nia Readers make great take-home books.  My students are always thrilled by that reality.

BTW, these books are named after my adorable granddaughter. Love her to the moon and back 10,000 times!

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