Classroom DIY Guided Reading Edition

Hey friends! I wanted to share with you a few tricks I've used over the years. Sometimes everything cannot be colored ink and graphics. Sometimes you just need simple, but effective ideas.

One thing I always keep in my binder are these little response cards. It's so easy for the kids to write about the story or the word work we were doing for the day. To make them, just download them HERE. Just print and insert into a sheet protecter and you are DONE. Store them inside your reading binder for easy access. 

One day I was found an entire box, like a big box, of index cards. So I started thinking of ways I could use them effectively. At the time, my students were not taking the entire "Read To Self" time seriously. They would "pretend" read or not think about the story while reading it. This had to be fixed PRONTO, so I was excited when I found the cards. I needed a way to spice it up while keeping the time useful. I made these  labels and added them to my color coded index cards. I've found so many uses for these cards. I started with them in the "Read to Self" Center. Students had to pick two cards to act out once they finished a book & before starting a new one. I've also kept them inside my guided reading binder, and used them in the "I'm Finished" bin. 

Another easy DIY activity to implement is these Rhyme Time mats. 

I just printed them on colored yardstick and placed them into a sheet protector. I use these as a warm up activity for guided reading. It's easy to skip some of the basic skills when our students are on or above grade level, but rhyming should not be one of those things. No matter where my students are reading, I always teach them rhyming skills. It's important for students to look in the patterns of words and recognize these features. It teaches them to actually think about the words and the similarities in other words. 

All of these activities are FREE and can be accessed HERE and HERE. 

Math Intervention Activities

Hey friends! I don't know about y'all but the end is near! We have about 5 weeks left of school..FIVE! Seems like the year has just flown by.

Math Intervention Tips

I wanted to share with you some math interventions that really helped our lessons in math become easy for us!  I've used this year. As y'all know, I follow a guided math model in my classroom. My student are working in math stations or centers while I'm working with student who struggle in the target  skill. With some of my students, I practiced number sense all.year.long. It has helped them grow into strong little math stars! 

We've used this Math Intervention Binder this year and it's been a huge help. Best part is, there's very little prep! I just printed it and stuck it in page protectors. It's so great for small group or one on one instruction. My favorite thing about this binder, is that when it comes to data, I always had a list of the interventions I've tried. The neat thing about teachers, is that we ALL do interventions and we all have our own little tricks that help. So I feel like you can never have enough because you never know what will work for each little friend.

Math Intervention Binder

This Math Intervention Binder is divided up into the following sections: 

Number Sense, Shapes, Patterns, Place Value, Addition Strategies, Subtraction Strategies,  Graphing, Greater than/Less than, Time and Money! I started at beginning of the binder and worked my way through each page with my RTI students. This way I have direct documentation to specific interventions I've used. It makes data collection SO much easier!

This activity is so helpful because the students can visually see the number and the different ways we can break it down. The great thing is, you can use ANY number you want! I have used a variety of manipulative for this, but by far, my kids love using the big buttons. I have no idea why, but hey, it works so I use it!!  In this activity, we practiced building the number 7 in a variety of ways. I wanted my friend to see all of the different ways we can make the number seven. Using two different color manipulatives helps too. 

I want my students to develop a very strong sense of numbers. They should be able to explain what each number means and the different ways you can create it.I like to let them use their imagination on how many different ways we can get the same number. Let them talk, and let them explain what each number means!!  Once they get this, they are able to blossom in the other strands of math. 

The activity above is great because we combine reading with math. Before this binder, my students always struggle with reading and writing number words. We start these activities in the beginning and they are consistently using these skills throughout the year!! 

The point and say activities are great because of the variety of numbers included. Reading numbers is so important to developing a strong understanding of number sense.

The counting pages are also so helpful! It's nice to have everything in one spot and to be able to decide the pages you want to use.

Addition strategies are my favorite! My kiddos LOVED these! 

More number sense practice

                                            

*Number sense- breaking down numbers and understanding what numbers mean, counting, recognizing and identifying numbers, writing numerals to 10, writing numbers to 20, 30, 50, and 100, describing numbers, skip counting by 2's, 5's, 10's , color and count, dice number recognition, number words, find and color, and many more!

*Shapes- Students will work on identifying 2d shapes. Shapes included: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, octagon, pentagon, heptagon, star, heart, diamond, oval. (10 Pages)

*Patterns~Pattern Anchor Charts, Create a Pattern, Pattern For Square (10 Pages)

*Place Value- Hundreds, Tens and Ones number practice, anchor charts, break it down practice pages

*Addition Strategies~ Addition assessments, Zero's the name, Addition Allie, Draw it!, Doubles, Doubles plus one 

*Subtraction Strategies~ Subtraction Sam, Number Line is All Mine, and Draw it, subtraction assessments

*Counting Coins~ Coin posters, coin match ups, individual counting mats, individual coin counting, combination coin counting, and more!  

 The money section includes 25 pages.  The visual aides and desk references are great for students who need a lot of visual cues and support. 

I used this in the binder AND as a desk reference for some of my kiddos.

We practiced counting coins nearly ALL year long. Next year, this will be a skill I start right away instead of waiting until after Christmas. I thought  that by starting after Christmas I would still be ahead of the pacing guide, so my kids would have more time to practice..but I think they would benefit from starting at the beginning of the year to give them more time with this difficult concept. 

*Telling Time~ Students have a variety of ways to practice telling time and a fun little story to go along with your intervention groups!

Click HERE or any picture to go check out the binder. 

Here's another look inside our binder

https://youtu.be/xjxo236aJS0

Our  second grade math binder has many of the same concepts. Our second grade teachers have really seen a lot of growth using this binder.

Interactive Number Journal

How is that I have two children that are COMPLETE opposite?!?! One (oldest) dislikes school with a PASSION. You would think we were asking him to run 100 miles in the pouring rain when all he has to do is homework. The other one (kinder) gets sad when it's Saturday because there is no school! He even asks for MORE homework. Every day he wants to do extra "school time" as he calls it. We had our first conference the other day and his teacher said he is also very eager in the classroom!!! I don't know WHERE this comes from!! He loves math and numbers, and I wanted a way to practice those number words early on. I know how tricky they can be later on...So I came up with this little fun Interactive Math Number Journal! You can use this journal in several ways. My little one wanted to glue it into his own spiral notebook. But I thought it would be cut and easy in the classroom to glue it onto construction paper. That way you can work on it as you need to. I plan on making a set with higher numbers, because he will get to 20 pretty quickly!!!  

It includes numbers 1-20!!

His favorite part is the high light the number section :) 

CVC Words Practice

Hey friends! I wanted to share with you some resources for teaching CVC Words!!

Interactive Flip Charts are a great resource when teaching CVC Words!

I use these in my small groups. I give the students a word, and ask them to make it. You can also start with the picture, have them sound out the  word and build it. Once students are familiar with CVC words, you could also use these at a center as writing prompts. I included blank picture cards for “nonsense” words. You do not have to attach all the picture cards at once. I sometimes just use certain vowel sounds.

Another great resource is my Soaring-Through-Math-and-Literacy-Fun-8-Centers

 CVC Word Sort- (Two Sets included, one with pictures and one without pictures )                               

                                    

This packet includes several centers, but my favorite, is the CVC Word Sort! 

This airplane and hot air balloon themed center mini packet is perfect for any time of the year! It's great to get those reluctant readers engaged in the reading process. My boys LOVE this packet! 

Included:

CVC Word Sort- (Two Sets included, one with pictures and one without pictures )
Soaring Sight Words (A Sight Word Game)
Hot Air Balloon Fun (Synonym Matching Game)
Rainbow Rhyming Fun (2 Levels)
Flying High With Word Families (Word Sort)
Soaring Through Parts of Speech
Soaring Double Facts
Flying Time (A time telling center)

This rhyming activity is also included!

*Great TpT CVC Word Packets*

CVC-Words-Literacy-Center-Packet-

CVC-Word-Searches

CVC-Words-Phoneme-Replacement-

Kindergarten-Morning-Work-continued-Daily-Language-Arts-and-Math-Review-

I also use magnetic letters and scrabble tiles to have students build CVC Words.  For more CVC Word Ideas--follow my CVC Word Pinterest Board!!! 

Back To School Work Stations and Centers

Hey friends! In case you haven't heard...TpT is having a HUGE sale!!! 

Shop in my my store and receive 28% off!! ALSO, If you purchase 3 items, you receive one item for free! Just e-mail me at Benoitcreated@gmail.com with your TpT User name and the item you wish!!

This is a great time to load up on some of my  best sellers--like my Making Words Packet! This packet is great for literacy centers or 

independent work!! 

This packet includes 10 printables for making words. Students cut letters out and arrange them together to make words. Several different levels included to meet the needs of all your students.

Happy Shopping Friends! I am headed over to empty my wish list NOW!! 

CVC Words and Legos..Endless Possibilities!

I know you are all probably so exhausted from getting your rooms ready and the beginning of the year frenzy! It is SUCH a rush! But I tell ya what..I'd give anything to be feeling that right now! I miss it so much!

One thing about me is that I LOVE Legos! I love using them at home and in the classroom! They promote higher order thinking and creativity, and those are skills that are very hard to teach!

I wanted to share a few of my favorite things and resources with you all!

This next trick as been around for a while.. but I wanted to tell you how I use it!

 Magnet tape and a cookie sheet!!! I bought my cookie sheets at Wal Mart for a STEAL of .92 cents!

I am working with my little guy on sight words! We are always working on these I feel like. But  I need to change it up.  So I used my Sight Word cards from my Ultimate Literacy Center Packet and good ole fashioned Legos! My kiddos LOVE Legos...what kid doesn't??!?! 

 We used two different color Legos as our game pieces :) 

We just played a good ole fashioned Tic Tac Toe...only with reading..and Legos! This really got my kiddo excited about reading! That is a VERY hard thing to do! I was so proud of my little one, after a few different levels of this, the little one was breezing through the sight words! The Legos really helped because it got the little one to WANT to play the game! That's a hard thing to do! 

Once we got the sight words down pat, we moved on to ABC Order

The card arranged nicely onto the cookie sheet! It's amazing how a little magnetic tape makes a difference with kiddos! I wanted to shout, we've done this activity before and you could care less!! Haha, but I kept those thoughts to myself :) 

I just thought I'd share an easy way to spruce up your literacy centers...it's an old trick..but boy is it a good one!!! 

All of these activities came from my Ultimate-Literacy-Center-Packet-20-Centers