Literacy Centers

I'm stopping by for a quick post about how I run my Literacy Centers. I have between 25-30 minutes for Literacy Centers towards the end of the day. Since the time is so short, my kiddos only visit one center a day. I have five centers set up, so by the end of the week, they have visited all five {fingers crossed…some loves forget what they've already done and do a center twice in a week…sigh}. They keep all their papers in a folder and turn them in at the end of the week.

Here are my centers…

Word Work

I have a table set up that my kiddos go to for this center. Here I give them a choice of two activities that they must do with their spelling words each week. After they finish an activity, they may write their words on white boards or build their words on a cookie sheet using magnetic alphabet letters. The key for me is to have everything at their center that they may need. This way they do not have to get up once they get to their station {well, except for Xtra Math…I'll get to that in a minute}. Here is a closer look at the word work activities that they must complete.

You can find these activities, and some more, in my little shop for FREE!

Work on Writing

I have another table set up for this center. Here my kiddos grab their monthly writing journal and get to writin'. I let them write about whatever they want because I usually give them topics to write about during our writing block and I wanted them to have this opportunity to let their creative juices flow. I do give them writing prompts, picture cards, word cards, writing mats, etc… just in case they are stuck. Again, they have everything they need for this center at the table {dictionaries, sight word dictionaries, pencils}. 

You can find these monthly journal covers and lined papers here.

Picture of the Day

I use the amazing Jen Jones Picture of the Day pack! My kiddos love it! I project the picture on my SMARTBoard and give them a recording sheet and they go to town making their observations and inferences.

Reading

This center is set up in my reading corner. I have a basket of books that I check out from the Media Center, or if they're lucky {HA!}, I let my kiddos pick one book a piece to check out for our reading center. When they do this, I make sure to remind them to choose good fit books! That includes picking books to meet our purpose for this center, which is to respond to reading. This means the books need to be sort of short because they only have 25-30 minutes at this center. The reading booklets are from the fab Amy Lemons.

Guided Reading

This is my meet with the teacher center. I pull one group a day back to my table and we usually read a book from our reading series Good Habits Great Readers and do an activity to go along with the book. This week, we have been working on main idea and details in nonfiction text.

Back to Xtra Math… I love, love, love {Did I mention love?!} Xtra Math. It really helps my kiddos develop their math fact fluency. Better yet, each kid can do it at their own pace. I have this going as a sixth center I guess you can say, but since it goes pretty quick, I let my kids leave their center when it is their turn on Xtra Math and then they return to their center when they are finished. My kids have done really well with discreetly telling the next person it is their turn {it really helped that Xtra Math has a video to show them how to do this}. The only center my kids cannot leave is Guided Reading. If you haven't checked out Xtra Math, do it!! I don't think you'll be disappointed! 

Well… I think that about covers it. There is my Literacy Centers in a nutshell.

and oh yeah… TGI almost Friday. That full moon thing this week just wasn't doing it for me!

Staying Organized {Freebie}

If your anything like me…you're majorly a tiny bit OCD… especially when it comes to organizing! I needed something to help me tackle the two main tasks, I feel, that I spend the most time on each week. Planning and copying are the most time consuming parts about being a teacher. I actually like to plan {call me crazy}, but I loathe copying. I needed a better system than just making a series of to do lists each week, so I created this weekly checklist…

I believe {fingers crossed} this will keep me organized each week and keep me from wondering "Did I already copy that?" or "What am I missing?". As you can see, I made a checklist for the subjects I teach. I have a planning checklist and a daily copies checklist. I also included a weekly copies checklist for those copies that I consistently need each week like word problem booklets, spelling lists, homework, word work activities, bucket filler slips, etc… Then, I also put a weekly prep checklist in to check off things like pre-created anchor charts, laminating, craftivity examples, books I need to checkout from the media center, etc… Finally, there is a little reminders section for, well, reminders. 

I also made a blank one with just lines for y'all…

If you can use this, you can grab a copy here! 

Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday! I fully intend to watch The Globes tonight including all of the Red Carpet festivities! 

Five for Friday

It's Friday and that means it's time to link up with Doodle Bugs for her Five for Friday linky! 

1. Why do short weeks seem just as long as regular weeks? Boy am I tired and it was only a three day week with kids! Monday and Tuesday were teacher workdays. Monday was planned, but Tuesday was due to extremely cold weather. In Georgia we just don't do well with cold. This southern girl is a complete wimp when the temps drop below 60. Ha! I did enjoy two days of nothing but planning and getting report cards done. Wouldn't it be nice to have at least one teacher workday a week? Ahhh… I can dream can't I?

2. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know that we took a little trip to London and Paris over the break. We had an amazing time and can't wait to start planning our next European vacation! 

3. This precious girl is a new addition to our little family. It's been awhile since my other two fur babies were puppies and I totally forgot how exhausting it was to have a little one. She's cute though, so that makes up for it!

4. I may have cried a little Monday night after my Noles won! My team finally pulled through for me! 

5. We jumped right back into the swing of things Wednesday with fairy tales. We are working on comparing and contrasting different versions of the same fairy tale. I love having access to a poster maker at school! It makes it super easy for me to make anchor charts! We talked about story elements as a class and the kiddos wrote on their graphic organizer while I wrote on this one…

We read The Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Cowboy, and The Gingerbread Girl. As we read, we talked about how each of these stories were the same and how they were different. 

You can download a copy of this graphic organizer here.

{KG Fonts, Ink n Little Things, Pink Cat Studio}

Enjoy your weekend friends and link up with Doodle Bugs!!

Intervention Block Continued

I posted yesterday about how I run my intervention block. I wanted to share a couple more pictures of what I do when I work with individual/small groups of students during this time. 

I only have about 20-25 minutes to dedicate as my "intervention block". We do this first thing in the morning after morning work. No, I do not check morning work every morning for every student. I have in the past, but I decided early on this year that having a little block of time to work with students one-on-one was what my class needed instead. I also do Guided Reading… another post is coming on that later in the week. :)

Here are a couple of examples of what I do with my kids…

{That's So Second Grade I Mustache You… What's That Digit Worth?}

{A Cupcake for the Teacher Sentence Builders}

{The 100 Chart handout was a Freebie and I can't find the original link, so if that's you please let me know. I'd love to give you credit! ;)}

{Cara Carroll Cookin' Up Compound Words}

Again, I use any resource I have to reinforce skills/concepts my kiddos are having trouble retaining. I don't do literacy stations in my classroom, but I love using literacy center activities during this time. 

I also like to keep ANYTHING I might need handy at my teacher table. That way, I don't have to go searching for pencils, post-its, sight word cards, etc.

I like to jot down quick notes throughout the week on what I notice is giving my kids trouble. That way, when I go to plan, I have an idea of who I need to pull for what. Each post-it is covering a numbered square because I assign each of my kids numbers. I mostly focus on reading foundational skills and math concepts.

{I use to use these post-its to document behavior until I started using ClassDojo}
If you would like a copy of these pages you can find them here.

I hope this gives you some new ideas to use in your class! Does anyone else do anything similar? I'd love to know how you fit in intervention time with your kiddos!

Intervention Block

I'm stopping by for a quick post to share how I run my intervention block. First off… at my school we are not required to have an official block of time dedicated as an "intervention block". We do, however, have blocks of time that the EIP {Early Intervention Program} teachers pull small groups of kids. After reading Jamie's {2nd Grade Stuff} post on her daily schedule, I knew I had to carve out time for an intervention block to give me a chance to work with kids on specific skills that they are having a little more difficulty grasping. This time also allows me to work with my RTI {Response to Intervention} kiddos. 

Here's what it looks like…

While I work with kids in small groups, or one-on-one, my other kiddos are working on independent practice activities. Each of my tables keep their intervention block materials in these pink baskets.

In these baskets, each student has their own baggie.

I put different activities in their baggies each week. These activities focus on specific skills each student needs more practice with. For example, I placed a handwriting practice page and a nonfiction book in this little guy's bag.

I also require all of my kids to complete one word problem and one reading comprehension activity each day.

{Reading Comprehension Notebook from Jodi Southard}

{Word Problems from Surfin' Through Second}

While they work independently, I pull kids back to my teacher table. I keep all my materials in these plastic bins.

I don't limit myself to only reading. When I plan the week before, I jot down certain skills {reading, writing, math} I see kids needing extra practice with and pull any books, centers, manipulatives, handouts, etc. I can use to reinforce the skill. I keep a bucket full of manipulatives, for both reading and math, by my table for easy access. Here is my math manipulative bucket.

So there it is… nothing Earth shattering, but it works for me! ;)

Don't forget about the HUGE sale going on right now on TPT. Stop by my little shop for 20% off. Use the code CYBER for an additional 10% off.

Happy shopping!!

It's here! It's here!

Stop.the.world. It's the most wonderful day of the year! {Well… if you're an online shopping addict like me! Ha!} Cyber Monday is tomorrow y'all! As you're busy filling up those virtual shopping baskets don't forget that TPT is having their own little Cyber Monday sale too!!

My little shop will be on sale for 20% off tomorrow and Tuesday. TPT is throwing in an additional 10% off on top of that. That deal my friends can't.be.beat. So, head on over and pick up your favorite teaching goodies and while your there… stop by my little shop and snag you up some good deals! 

Here are a few of my favorite things I use to get me through the cold winter months…

Just in case you're dreaming about summer wanting to get a head start on end of the year planning {sigh}…

Happy shopping y'all! 

Freebies

I hope everyone is enjoying their three day weekend! I wanted to pop in and share two freebies for you. I hope you can use them, or at least get your own ideas from them!

Different Ways to Show a Number

For any Georgia teachers out there...

Introduction to Georgia Regions {Activating Prior Knowledge}

I'm using the what I know and what I want to know pages to begin our unit on the regions of Georgia. I'm going to have my kiddos write as much as they can think of in the blank space around the state. At the end of the unit, we will use the last page to write about what we learned.

Fonts from KG Fonts and Cara Carroll. 

Graphics from Krista Wallden, Clip Art by Carrie, and Fancy Dog Studio.