Indiana Teachers $1 Sale!

Indiana's weather this past Winter was... well... awful!  Ice, snow, snow days, inside recess, delays, make-up days, extended days... so we (Indiana TpT sellers) are MORE than happy to see that Spring is HERE!!  To celebrate we are having a dollar product sale!  

We have gathered up some awesome products and placed them on sale for $1... but they are only available for this price on Sunday!  You can use the link-up below to browse the items that we are offering at this amazing price.   I know I am loading up my TpT cart with some great deals!

And don't forget... many of these sellers are also having 20% off of the rest of the products in their stores so make sure you take a look around the rest of what they have to offer!

Stephany

An InLinkz Link-up

Five for Friday

 

  This week my kindergarten students have been learning about nonfiction texts.  We have also been learning about dinosaurs.  Kids love to read and learn about dinosaurs.  Even the girls in my class are enjoying this unit of study.  I created two products to use with the dinosaur units that I already have.  The first is an emergent reader text that can be found here.  The second is a Cookie Excavation freebie.  It can be downloaded for free here.  The neat thing about the cookie excavation is that the kids do not even realize that they are learning.  My students were so engaged during the excavation activity.  And... who doesn't love eating after discovering?

 

Since we are a Title I School we are required to have Title I Parent Nights.  On Tuesday evening, we had a technology night.  Parents could come in with their students to learn about educational websites they could use at home and how to access their child's PowerSchool account.  Click here to download the pages that went home with each grade level.

Every year after Spring Break we have Penny Wars at our school and donate the money to a charity.  This year we donated the money raised to the Make*A*Wish Foundation.  Counting all of the money is a disgusting job...but the kids LOVE plotting against other classes!

Don't forget to support Teachers for Taytum!!  This is the last weekend to purchase from over 40 sellers.  Several teacher bloggers have come together to help raise awareness for this incredible cause.  All of the profits made from the sales will be donated in Taytum’s honor to help support the research of the March of Dimes, March for Babies.  There are four bundles available.  Click on any of the images below to purchase the bundles.

 

We are all three having sales in our stores this weekend!  20% off to celebrate spring!  Check out the links below to head to other stores with sales happening.  If you are having a sale feel free to link up and use the image below.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Tracking Mastery & Reteaching

I think over the course of the last few years I have had tuned, retuned, and re-retuned how I track standard mastery in my classroom a million times.  It's hard to find a way that isn't totally time confusing and one that you don't have to have a road map drawn out for evaluators to understand.  You know what I am talking about... "Well I mark an X here and then highlight in pink for every time they fail but only if I retaught it twice.. but the purple check mark means that they mastered the pre-test....  This paper over here is the results of the second assessment after the pre-assessment and a green highlight means that they mastered it but if it's just half green that means they barely mastered it..." and by the end of the explanation everyone is looking at you like you are nuts. 

I came up with these super easy tracking sheets for mastery of the first grade Common Core Math Standards.  Basically there are 4 columns for each of the math standards.  If they master it on the first try, they get a check and I highlight it yellow.  If they master it after that they get a check and a pink highlight.  If you decide to reassess the whole class then they will just have a bunch of lovely checks... if you only assess a few after small group reteaching.. they just get the check in that column.  It's pretty easy to see this and know automatically by color of highlights who is struggling each time you teach a skill.  It's also super easy to see what standards you can reteach and what kids need pulled over during that reteaching time.  Basically, once you earn that check no matter if it is yellow or pink... you have shown mastery of that skill.  

You can download these tracking sheets for free in my TpT store!  Just click on the image below!

How do you keep track of mastery, reteaching and all that super time confusing but necessary data?  Leave a comment and share your ideas!! 

Stephany

Math Madness Wednesdays: Subtraction Tips and Tricks

I am linking up again with Krista over at Teaching Momster for her Math Madness Wednesday Linky. Her topic this week is subtraction tips and tricks.

One of my favorite apps for subtraction is called "Math Puppy"  The free version of this app works on subtraction skills.  The students find the subtraction answer to make a Bingo.  My students use this app along with the hundreds chart to find the answer.  It is a super cute app and my students love it... they begged me to download it onto all the iPads that we borrow from the reading lab.  You can find it by clicking HERE!

Another way I love to teach beginning subtraction skills is with manipulatives.  My students love Play-dough so any chance to use it is exciting.  I created this super simple freebie where students make play-dough shapes and then "smash" the number they are subtracting.  This gives them a visual of what is left (the number of play-dough pieces that aren't smashed).    They record the entire subtraction number sentence on the recording sheet!

You can grab this up for free in my store!

Don't forget to check out our Teachers for Taytum Bundles... they are only available for a short time!!

Make sure you check out the other great subtraction ideas over at Teaching Momster!

Happy Subtracting!

Stephany

I'm Having a Baby!

 

Yes!!  I am due for a possible induction in about two weeks.  I spent some time over spring break preparing for my maternity sub.  First, I purchased a one-inch binder.  I created a cover that matches all of the items and labels that I will be using for my substitute.

 

  

Next, I created pages for each section of the binder.  I put in the sections that I felt were most important.  The pages are in plastic page protectors for durability.

 

Then, I made a template of basic lesson plans for each day.  I created one page for each day of the week.  The times and basic information for each subject is listed.

  

I decided I should create an updated student contact information book for the substitute teacher.  This way, student information is easy accessible and accurate.

 I put all of the material for each week into weekly tubs.  This way, the substitute teacher can grab the tub and have all the material and resources for the week together.

 Inside each tub, I attached matching labels with basic information.  I use Kim Adsit's Reader's Workshop.  I used plastic protectors to hold each week's information.

Hello Two Peas in a Pod's Daily Phonological Awareness is absolutely wonderful.  I printed each lesson plan for the months of April and May.  I put the plan in the picture book.  Finally, I labeled with the Phonological Awareness label to the front of the book.

I also use Randi's Daily Sentence Editing books in my classroom.  After printing each week, I added a label to explain how to use them daily.

Whew!!  That is a lot of organizing and labeling.  I am more at ease to go on maternity leave and am confident my students will continue with most of the classroom procedures and daily lessons that I have been using all year.

If you are looking for the Long Term Substitute Binder pages, please check it out here for FREE.

 

Endless Possibilities,

Stephanie

Trade and Grade

I am so excited to participate in the first "Trade and Grade" with an excellent group of blogger friends!  We are "trading" products and then "grading" them to let you know how we used them, how we liked them and to give you a tiny snippet you can use in your classroom to test out on your own!

 I am even more excited to be paired up with Brenda Frady from Primary Inspired... she is a fellow Hoosier, has tons of great ideas and is so super sweet!  I have loved working with her and discovering her products!  You can find Brenda's blog Primary Inspired by clicking on her button below!

I decided to review Brenda's I-Spy Addition packet.  I do math stations in my classroom and I have to say that my kids were BEGGING to go to this station.  When the kiddos want to go somewhere other than Sumdog on the computers you know you have a winner!  Students search through the pictures to find addition problems, add the problem up and then write down the sum.  They tally the sum each time they find it and then graph how many of each sum they find.  There are so many different skills in one activity!

Once I saw the I Spy Addition packet I knew I had to have more!  The I-Spy Sight Words was just as big of a hit in my Word Work center.  My students found the words in the -or and -ar pattern, recorded them and then graphed them.  This was a much needed pick-me-up for my Word Work center at this time of the year!

 Finally, I added the March writing packet to my writing center.  It's amazing how much just changing out themed writing paper can inspire students to write!  Also included in these packets are writing prompts.  Brenda shows them on popsicle sticks in her preview.  I simply placed them on a metal ring and hung them from a hook on the center.  You could also place them in a jar for students to pull out randomly.  I will probably change this up each month so the kids stay excited to see the prompts!  It is such an easy, fun, and quick way to revive your writing station for each season!

There are activities like these to use throughout the year!   Click on the image below to head to Brenda's TpT Store to check them out!

Brenda is offering up this awesome freebie preview of her activity for Spring!  You can click HERE or on the picture below to go grab it up!  You don't want to miss out on it!

Head on over to Primary Inspired to see Brenda's review of my "Newspaper Word Work" printable packet by clicking on the image below!

You can win some of the products included in the "Trade and Grade" by entering the rafflecopter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Click on the "Trade and Grade" images below to go check the link-up of other bloggers who are trading & grading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Grading!
Stephany

Math Madness Wednesdays: Graphing

I am linking up with Krista at Teaching Momster for another Math Madness link up!  You can find great math teaching ideas by following these posts!

Graphing is another one of my favorite topics to teach in math.  You can literally tie graphing into ANY topic that you teach so that when you are ready to actually teach, assess and graph the skill your kiddos are rockstars on the skill!  So far this year I think we have graphed (and this doesn't include everything) Jitter Juice, type of apple you liked best, type of apple treat you liked best, favorite Halloween candy,  favorite Thanksgiving Day food,  and the list goes on... we started graphing the first day and we have pretty much done it the entire year at least once a week.   I usually use my large pocket charts or anchor chart paper to make large class graphs which save on paper and copies.  I find graphing to be a great way to tie in those topics you want to teach but need to correlate to standards.

Last week we used an activity from my Shamrock math centers where the kids rolled a large dice and then graphed their results.  You can grab up the freebie for this HERE...

You can use regular dice where students either graph simply the number they roll on one dice or the sum of what they rolled on two dice.  

Ideas for graphing in primary classrooms:
~Mystery Box: Have students pull a certain number of items from a mystery box.  They tally and graph the items as they pull them out.  You can easily change this out monthly with Dollar Tree items that are themed for the month.  I plan  
~Graphing Predictions:  Students make predictions on a book you are going to read.  After you have read the book, answer questions about how many students were right or wrong with their predictions.
~Graphing Attendance: Have a generic question up for the day such as "Which food do you like better?"  Students must choose an answer and then place their picture on the graph.  You can use this as a discussion during your calendar/morning meeting time and at the same time, you get to see who is in attendance.   Have a student reset the pictures at the end of the day so they are ready for the next day!  Plus you get to know your students better with each question!
~ Lunch Count:  Students place their picture on the lunch count picture of their choice.  My blogging partner Stephanie has lunch count pictures that are perfect for this (You can get them by clicking HERE).  This is a great way to discuss how many more or less chose a certain food.

Don't forget to check out our fundraiser for the March of Dimes!  There are some great bundle available!

Happy Graphing!
Stephany