More Back to School Time Savers

While there is no magic recipe for setting up your room and preparing to meet your students, there are many things that can ease you into it. I have a few suggestions for items to include in your backpack that may help alleviate some of the stress of going back to school. 

If you teach emergent readers, you know that word work is an essential component of reading instruction.  As a Reading Recovery teacher, I have spent years honing this aspect of literacy education. You can reap some benefits from my experience by perusing my 8 part blog series that starts here.  You may also wish to check out Word Work: A Guide for Teachers of Young Children.  

If blank bulletin boards bother you, download these FREE writing posters that coordinate with 6 Traits of Quality Writing. They can stay up all year!  Did I mention that they are FREE?

As students progress in reading and writing, an essential skill is breaking words into syllables.  Syllabication skills are included in EVERY elementary grade level of the CCSS.  As a literacy specialist, I have come to recognize that many struggling readers and writers do not have a good grasp of these skills.  Take some time to teach syllabication. The return is huge!

To help you with this task, I have several editions of Rules of Syllabication products that make excellent bulletin boards and/or center anchor charts.  The rules in each of the following are the same; the graphics and size of the posters vary by theme.

You may also like the Under the Sea Edition Bundle which includes the rule posters from the Under the Sea Edition above and a delightfully animated power point presentation.

As you are preparing centers and small groups, you may find the following syllabication activities helpful.  Friendly Frog's Syllables Book and Friendly Frog in Outer Space are both well suited to small group instruction or independent work.

Friendly Frog is very popular with my students.  Hence, he is a frequent visitor to our centers. The kiddos are always excited to see him back.  You can find these centers here.

Until next time...

Back to School Time Savers

Let me help you save time and energy at this hectic time of year.  

Here are a few items that may help you get ready . . .

• Pick a Pack of Poetry Posters is a collection of 20 posters that provide a quick reference for you and your students about 20 types of poetry.  Each poster is in full color, making them attractive and inviting for display in your classroom. You can see 10 of these posters by checking out my blog series for poetry month.  This 10 part series starts here.

• Back to School Poetry Possibilities contains 19 poems about going back to school and the changes associated with fall.  Each poem has individually tailored activities, skill lessons, and writing prompts to go with it. Have you been considering using poetry anthologies? This unit will get you off to a great start! The poems are copy ready for your students.  

• If you are hesitant about including poetry in your daily teaching or if you are looking for tips to establish a poetry center, please check out my 8 part blog series about using poetry in the classroom.  It starts here.

• Poetry centers can be daunting and time consuming. If that's your fear or experience, then you may wish to try Poetry Task Cards for Elementary Classrooms. There are 52 task cards with skills ranging from simple identification of high frequency words to employing figurative language in writing original poetry.

• Do you need help getting started with poetry anthologies?  I have just the thing for you -- an introductory poem that's FREE! Go here.

• Poetry Possibilities - Fall offers 26 more poems about the season and its holidays and special events.  Like the Back to School unit, each poem has a teaching point, skill lessons, and activity suggestions.

Until next time . . .

No Whine Zone

Lately, life has been a lot more stressful for me as I have been caring for 2 hip replacement patients that are near and dear to me (my mom and my husband).   My calling is teaching, not nursing. However, I don't believe in whining; in fact I post this sign in my classroom.  So, to give myself a little lift, I'm having a sale in my TpT store.  

8/1/13 - 8/5/13 everything in my store is marked down and the vast majority are just 99₵.  I just know those cha-chings are going to put a spring in my step.  Better yet, they will give my husband a grin, as he has put the cha-ching app on his phone, too. 

Won't you help me turn lemons into lemonade?

 

Hink Pinks for Kinders

My followers surely know by now that I'm "the Hink Pink guru," having dozens of units of Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, and Hinkity Pinkities in my teaching repository. I've even invented Hitinkity Pitinkities at the urging of my enrichment students. 

Recently, a lovely kindergarten teacher friend asked if I had resources for pre-readers. Indeed, I did not.   But, I have been inspired by her question. Thus, I take pleasure in . . .

Examine the picture while searching for a 2 word phrase that describes it.  The 2 words must rhyme and they can only have 1 syllable each.  Did you get it?  The answer is PINK DRINK.

Try these:

Obviously, 2 beach balls are pictured.  Note the green arrow.  It points to the smaller of the 2 balls.  Hence, the answer to this one is SMALL BALL.

It should be getting easier now.  After all, experience is the best teacher.  The answer to this one is BLUE SHOE.

Working with Hink Pinks has myriad benefits for students.  They offer fun word play and learning is always best when it's fun.  Hink Pinks challenge children to think critically and creatively.  They increase vocabulary and hone rhymes.  Although they may not know what a synonym is, your kiddos will quickly learn to think of words that mean the same thing.  And, Hink Pinks are even aligned with the CCSS.

I invite you to download my Freebie Hink Pinks for Kinders.   Introduce them to your students by solving ALL of them together, modeling your thinking as you do so. Hink Pinks can be tricky at first.  That's why it is key to work through several together.  Once your students get the hang of it, they will be hooked.  Then you can post a Hink Pink card at a center or use it for fast finishers.  Grab a card for a sponge activity or choose one each morning for an anchor activity.

Once your students are hooked, you may want to try these Hink Pink units for Kinders:

 

HP for Kinders I                             HP for Kinders II

Pinteresting Boards for 2nd Grade Teachers

If you teach second grade, you should check out these collaborative boards on Pinterest:

• 2nd Grade Blogs
• 2nd Grade -- $5 & Under
• Math for Second Grade
• Grades 1-2: TPT
• Super Second Grade
• Sailin' in Second
• Common Core Math K-2
• Common Core Literacy K-2
• Second Grade Free Stuff
• *Kinder, First, and Second Grade Common Core Math
• 2nd Grade Specific
• Second Grade Materials under $3
• K-2nd Worksheet Free Zone
• SecondGradeSquad
• 2nd Grade Collaboration
• K-3rd Freebie Round-Up!
• Super 2nd Grade
• TLAP in 2nd Grade
• Teaching Resources to Share K-2
• Teaching Resources to Share K-2 Math
• 2nd Grade Classroom
• 2nd Gr. Common Core
• 2nd Gr. Common Core - Collaborative
• 2nd Grade :)
• Back to School K-2

If you have a favorite 2nd grade collaborative board on Pinterest that isn't listed, please put the address in a comment. I'll gladly add more to the list.

Happy pinning!

G/T and Enrichment Differentiation

Do you find it taxing, daunting even, to provide challenges for your gifted and talented students?  Is differentiation difficult?  Do enrichment opportunities elude you?

If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, then I have many gifts for you.

Because I am passionate about G/T, differentiation, and enrichment, I've been creating materials for these areas for more decades then I care to admit.  My experience with G/T and enrichment students ranges from teaching multi-age gifted students in a private school -- to creating district-wide programs for pull-out enrichment -- to providing differentiated instruction in my heterogeneous classroom -- to instructing university students in graduate level gifted education courses.

Among the materials I create are language arts curricula combined with critical thinking and problem solving.  One of the most popular categories is Hink Pinks, Hinky Pinkies, Hinkity Pinkities, and Hitinkity Pitinkities.  Kiddos love them because they are learning disguised as fun. Teachers can't get enough of them because they really make students think.

You can unwrap a FREE gift of these ridiculously fun and addictive word riddles by clicking here.  Currently, there are 3 more FREE Hink Pink, et al. products that you can grab by going here.  Try them; I think you'll like them.

99¢ Store on TpT

I'm pleased to announce the launch of my 99¢ store on TPT.  There are dozens of products listed there for just 99¢.  The inventory will change often, so stop in frequently for incredible bargains.  Go here!

I've spent years creating and refining products so that you can save your TIME for family, friends, and fun.