Sometimes it can be a challenge to organize your curriculum in a way that is easy to use. Deedee Wills and I have been working on reorganizing and updating our writing workshop units. I prefer to keep my units in these 2" binders. You can find the spine labels at the end of this post. I will walk you through a unit to show you how it's organized. Each unit starts with a unit overview. You can also easily see the standards that are addressed in the unit. A writing continuum ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/curriculum map
Kindergarten Math Lessons and Activities for the First 20 Days!
Kindergarten math lesson plans for teaching numbers to 5, 2D shapes, and 3D shapes. This resource provides detailed instruction for your first 4 weeks of math! Kindergarten Math: The First 20 Days The first few weeks of school are a hectic time for kindergarten teachers! You are making sure to cover all procedures and routines, all while beginning to teach the kindergarten math curriculum. Many teachers get started with academics right away in order to stay on track for the expected ... continue reading...
Engaging Readers: Getting it ORGANIZED!
Hey There! Happy Hump day! We've had a few questions about how we organize our new Engaging Readers units so I thought I'd do a quick blog post to show you! These are the supplies I used to organize mine. I used a 1" binder sheet protectors Binder pocket (one pocket holds all four books) ziploc baggies Clear packing tape Printables for the spine and fronts of sheet protectors click HERE to get yours. First, I put our cutie patootie cover (thanks to ... continue reading...
Leonardo the Terrible Monster Reading Lesson Plans for K-1
Leonardo the Terrible Monster reading comprehension lesson plans with student response activities. Print and teach lessons to engage your students in reading! Leonardo the Terrible Monster This story by Mo Willems is one of my favorite stories to read, especially in October around Halloween. If you are not familiar with this book, it is about a monster named Leonardo. Leonardo is not a scary monster, no matter how hard he tries! He does some research and thinks he finds the perfect little ... continue reading...
Common Core Standards Organization and Wishy Washy!
I've had a lot of questions about how I organize my Common Core Standards and Essential Questions. I display them on posters which are hot glued to ribbon. The standards are attached with velcro so that they are easy to change in and out. (Please excuse the bad picture above. The standards shown are from the 1st grade set. Notice that the clipart images match the standard and that the essential question clipart also matches. This helps the little ones who can't read understand the ... continue reading...
Oceans of Fun!
I got up bright and early this morning and drove 2 hrs. in search of the perfect wedding dress for my daughter Taylor. SUCCESS! But, I'm one tired mamma so this is going to be a super quick post! We just started our ocean unit. Nothing gets boys excited more than sharks! (okay...maybe dinosaurs...but they still LOVE sharks too). We used interactive writing to label the parts of a shark. Comparing sharks and whales. Schema Chart Writing ... continue reading...
The Gruffalo Lesson Plans | Reading Comprehension for K-2
The Gruffalo lesson plans for K-2. Engaging 5-day lesson plans with differentiated reading response, vocabulary, sentence study, and a craft for this fun story! The Gruffalo A clever mouse outsmarts some woodland animals who want to eat him with the story of a Gruffalo. Little does he know, a Gruffalo is real and loves to eat mice. Your students will love this award-winning story! Through our engaging lesson plans students will strengthen their reading comprehension skills and have fun ... continue reading...
Inferring with Primary Students: The Case of the Missing Toy Sack
Inferring with Primary Students: Christmas Inference Detectives Activities for Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring with Primary Students: Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring is an important comprehension skill for young readers to have and I love giving them lots of practice with this skill. We infer each week with the story we are reading, but I also like to give them opportunities to infer outside of the text. Inferring is just putting clues together and using that voice inside ... continue reading...
Going Buggy! Butterfly and Mantis
Whoo-wee! This week was CRAZY! Our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders were taking the CRCT test this week which meant no planning time and very little recess. I don't drink but this week just about drove me to it! I don't know about you guys but I am ready for Summer vacation. We get out of school on May 25th so the countdown has begun. :) Even though it was a crazy week we still had lots of fun learning all about insects. We learned about butterflies and drew the life cycle of a ... continue reading...
Gingerbread Fun and Freebies
Gingerbread Fun Classroom activities for kindergarten with a free file. Math, literacy, crafts, and more! Kindergarten holiday play ideas too! Gingerbread Glyphs These are our Gingerbread glyphs. Aren't they cute? I love activities that incorporate reading, math AND fun! The kids cut all of their own pieces so they all turn out unique. This is the book that goes along with the glyph. Glyphs are a great way to incorporate collecting and analyzing data. NOTE: Some of the pictures ... continue reading...
Aliens Love Underpants!
We love the book, Aliens Love Underpants! We made aliens and wrote about what we would do if an alien came to visit. The kids had some cute answers. This is a song I wrote. We put it together in the pocket chart and at literacy centers they put the poem in order and drew an illustration to go with it. This is one of our math journal prompts. Alien Bubble Map A mixed up sentence using some of the words from ... continue reading...
15 Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas You Will Love!
Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas! Here are some of my favorite bulletin board ideas I found that are perfect for back to school. Back to School Bulletin Board Ideas With back to school right around the corner, it is time to start thinking about ideas for the perfect back to school bulletin board display. Here is a collection of 15 bulletin board ideas I think would be great for back to school. Bulletin Board #1: We Fit Together This is a cute idea to show your students ... continue reading...
Nerdy Birdy Tweets Close Reading
Second Grade Close Reading for Nerdy Birdy Tweets by Aaron Reynolds. Reading comprehension ideas with student response activities. Grammar, vocabulary, and a cute craft too! Nerdy Birdy Tweets by Aaron Reynolds is a new favorite of mine! Nerdy Birdy discovers the world of Tweetster and quickly learn a good lesson about friendship. Take a look at the five-day lesson plan for 2nd grade in our Engaging Readers Unit for January. Second Grade Close Reading Lessons: Nerdy Birdy Tweets Problem ... continue reading...
Spring Books You Won’t Want to Miss!
Spring books for kindergarten and first grade. See some of my favorite read-aloud lesson and activities for spring! Ideas and directed drawing too. Spring Books: Piggie Pie Ya'll know I love Piggie Pie! There is so much you can do with this book. Let me share a few of the activities we have in our Engaging Readers Unit. These photos are from Stephanie Stewart who teaches first grade. Here students worked on sequencing the story. Then students add the retelling to their ... continue reading...
Math Workshop {handouts with FREEBIES}
Math Workshop for Kindergarten and First grade students. Hey friends, I hope that you are enjoying your weekend! This is a recap of the session that I did on Thursday at the SDE Kindergarten Conference here in Florida. In this session I explained how Deedee Wills and I structure the lessons in our math units so that the kids gain a deeper understanding of the math concepts that we are teaching. Our lessons follow a 5 step process as outlined ... continue reading...