The Recycled Classroom

Organizing a classroom can be sooooo expensive.  Many organizers can cost $8 or more, plus one organizer is usually not enough.  This blog post is devoted to money saving organizing tips from recycled goodies that you might already have.

To create a paper organizer you will need cereal boxes, duct tape, and paper to cover the boxes.  Ask students to bring in their cereal boxes.  (This would make an excellent recycling unit!  I would encourage asking students to  brainstorm creative ways to recycle in the classroom.)

Cut the top part off of the boxes.  Using duct tape, tape only the sides together.

Cover with paper and enjoy.  

Create book organizers by cutting some cereal boxes at an angle.  

Fun Fraction Games

This fun fraction game can be easily made and can be an enjoyable way for your students to review fractions of a region.  Students use a piece of string to make a match.

Students have to decide which fraction matches the word form.

Instead of drawing a line, they use string.

Interactive Middle School Common Core Reading Journals

As an instructional coach, I have been looking for ways to integrate interactive notebooks with the Common Core ELA Standards.  Why?  I reaaaaalllyyy love art and it really makes the Common Core so much fun!

These are the interactive journals that I use with the middle school students that I work with.  Each student has a journal.  I carry around a bag that has chalkboard markers, black paper, watercolor paper, colored pencils, erasers and highlighters.  The blog post that shows how literary devices were incorporated with interactive journals is at this link Click Here.

Card stock black paper and chalk markers like the one shown above were used.  The chalk markers can be found at craft stores.

Students are given the black paper and special markers for taking notes.  (I have never seen students so excited to take notes until I started using interactive journals).

This is day two.  The students were introduced to different character types and were told what to focus on (Common Core Standard RL.3) before we began reading literature.  Students copied information onto their own journals.  This is watercolor paper.  (Tutorials about how to use watercolor paper are coming soon)

Before we moved into character analysis, we investigated informational text.  Common Core Standard RI.1 wants students to cite textual evidence to support their thinking.  Some of the Common Core test questions will ask students to highlight information that helped them determine their ideas and/or will ask them to drag and drop details from the text.  Students highlighted their information.

The students were asked to highlight relevant information and explain their thinking (Common Core Standards RI.1 and RI.2).

Over the course of several days, we read several texts and integrated information to help us answer two essential questions about the text (Common Core Standards RI.7 and RI.8).

Common Core Character Analysis Task Cards

Are you transitioning to the new Common Core Standards?  This resource will be a huge help as you teach character analysis to your students CCRL.3.  One of the greatest differences between current assessments and the new Common Core assessments is that students will be expected to defend their answers.  This will change how multiple-choice and written response questions are written.  This document provides practice with both!  It contains:

• 38 Common Core Aligned Character Analysis Task Cards
• 2 Additional Character Analysis Literacy Centers
• Provides Guided Practice with Tips and Strategies
• Provides Practice with the Recalling, Comprehending, Analyzing, and Evaluating Characters (Just Like Common Core)
• Practice That is Aligned to the Common Core Publisher Specification Documents and Common Core Standards
• Classroom-Tested Activities 
• Answer Keys 

$5 for the complete document

Click Here

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale

Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale on most items in my store.  Search by grade level or topic to find many items and newly released Common Core resources at great sale prices!  Remember to click the follow button to receive updates about new products and freebies!

Click Here to Search the Entire Store

Click Here for Common Core Items

Click Here To Access This Document

Going Deeper With Fractions

As we move closer to Common Core, one of my greatest goals is to ensure that students investigate the same math concept in multiple ways.  For example, if a student sees fractions in multiple formats, they will gain a deeper understanding of what fractions mean.

This chart is a great reminder of this idea.

Interactive Art Journals Part 2

As an instructional coach, I work with students at different grade levels.  These are the Common Core aligned interactive reading journals that the fourth grade students have been working on.  Instead of binders, these students were given blank books to take notes in.  As I read text aloud, students create their own books.  This gives them practice with summarizing, writing, and integrating ideas from multiple texts (Common Core Standard RI.7)  Although the students do read guided reading books and review with traditional worksheets at times, this post is devoted to the interactive notebook portion of the lesson.

During this unit, students were taught about immigration and the Industrial Revolution.  Pictures were selected and cut out before the lesson.  Students selected the illustrations that best supported the text (Common Core Standard RI.5).  They also included additional details to support the ideas within the text (Common Core Standard RI.2)

More pics and information coming soon!  Click here to see pics of interactive journals at another grade level Click Here

Setting up for interactive journals is easy.  Students need a binder, blank book, or notebook.  When students write, they really internalize their learning.  That's one of the reasons why I love journaling so much.

Click Here To Access Grade 3 Common Core Journals


Click Here For The Earth Science Notebook

Interactive Art Journals Colonial Unit Part 2

The interactive art journals are coming along very well.  The students have been begging me to take them home.  At the end of the school year I will let them.  

As we learn different concepts, students keep a record of their ideas, notes, and specific skills they need to work on in their personalized journals.  I love this idea so much because students create their OWN books as I read to them.  Through the read-alouds, the students are exposed to vocabulary beyond their grade level as well as content area vocabulary.  This is to cover Common Core Standards RL.4 and RI.4.  As I read, the students write their own summaries about what I am saying (RI.2).  They create a creative border for most pages.  They are shown step-by-step how to do the illustrations that go with some of the pages.

As we draw illustrations, I ask the students how the illustrations and text both support the text (RI.5).

After students write down details from the text that I read, I ask them to tell me the main idea.  Next, I ask them to think of an additional detail that they could add to the paragraph that supports the main idea (RI.2).  By writing about text, students are integrating the writing and reading standards.  The visuals also provide additional reinforcement.  


Updates about the interactive journals will be added soon!

The students also write phonics sounds that they need to review inside of the books.

How to Help Students that Don't Understand Main Idea

Really speaking, main idea is a topic that gains so much attention in schools because so many students have such a challenging time grasping this topic.  What can be done?

Strategies

1.  Make instruction as explicit as possible.  My main idea instruction begins with hands-on main idea manipulatives.  

This puzzle is just one of the manipulatives that students use to learn about main idea in my classroom.

2.  Assist students with sorting ideas and concepts.  This takes practice.  I have found that students really grasp the concept well and transfer this knowledge when they learn about main idea in a variety of ways.

I work with students that are gifted, on grade level, as well as students with diverse needs from K-8th grade.  When teachers have students of a variety of ability ranges, it can be a concern when it comes to having resources to meet the needs of every student and every learning style. 

This is one of the main idea/classification centers that I use with my pre-readers and less verbal autistic students. Many classrooms have students with a variety of needs whether there are students that need extra practice, autistic students, or students with speech intervention plans, I really wanted to have main idea resources for all of the students that I work with.  This is a differentiated game from the document called Hands-On Main Idea.

3.  Give students practice with stating the main idea after reading text.  A game similar to Scategories is included in my product called Hands-On Main Idea.  Students read sentences that are on game cards and determine the main idea using sentence starters that are included in the game.
To see additional main idea resources, click on a link below.

 These images are from Hands-On Main Idea, the very first main idea manipulatives.  In addition to printable manipulatives, lesson plans,  and directions for making main idea bean bags, there are several differentiated main idea games that can be used for small group instruction and appeal to a variety of learner styles such as visual learners, autistic students, or even students that have speech processing disorders.  Click Here for Hands-On Main Idea

These game pieces are from the product called Main Idea Street.  Student place houses with details on them onto the correct street that has main ideas.Access Main Idea Street Here

Students need to just practice main idea use my differentiated main idea task cards.  Level A is written at a 1st-2nd grade range and Level B is written at a 3rd-5th grade range.  Both are in one document.  Click Here For Differentiated Main Idea