Visual Plans 11-18 {Sale Items Included!}

 Linking up this morning with my plans for the week!  Don’t forget, to make the links clickable you must download the plans from GoogleDocs. Click the pics to go there!

 

 

 

 

 

So excited to continue our Roald Dahl study this week!  The kiddos are loving James and the Giant Peach.  We did a little visualizing activity last week using Dahl’s amazing descriptions of Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker!

 

 

My original goal was to have my James and the Giant Peach Giant Pack finished and uploaded by the end of last week.  I am sad to say that did not happen.  It is still a work in progress.  I am finishing up vocabulary power points and trying to make them editable! Hopefully by the end of our Thanksgiving break….that is my new goal!

 

 

This week’s Mentor Sentence comes from the book Verdi and the skill is comparative and superlative adjectives.  I made a foldable, some task cards and a couple fun activities to go with it!  You can grab them in my TpT store and they will be 15% off today and tomorrow!

 

 

We had so much fun during small group time last week with our nonsense words and context clues.  In fact, every group wanted to make up their own for more practice.  I was so impressed with the words and clues they came up with.  They kept asking if we could do it again and it just so happens that I have “A Cornucopia of Context Clues,” in my “Let’s Talk Turkey,” centers.  I will be pulling that to do at the back table this week!  They will also be 15% off today and tomorrow!

 

 

My math plans are a little light this week.  I am a notorious overplanner and we have a TON going on.  Our iPad lab opens back up this week and we will start going in to work on Study Island.  I know that will take some extra time to teach and practice!  We also have our annual Turkey Trot on Wednesday and I owe my class a kickball party since EVERY LAST. ONE. of them raised their benchmark test score! 

 

We will be doing some more work with subtraction with regrouping because I honestly feel like that is a skill they can NEVER have too  much practice with!  I made a version of subtraction scoot that is very similar to my free addition one.  The subtraction one is available in my TpT store and includes and EDITABLE version.  You can change the number of digits, make it without regrouping, or just make extra practice cards!  We will be using it whole group on Monday and then I will edit the numbers and put it in math workstations!  Subtraction Scoot will also be 15% off today and tomorrow!  Grab it while it’s on sale!

 

I didn’t put it in my visual plans, but I will have a sub on Friday.  My sister and I will be flying to Tennessee to visit my sister, my mom, and my 92 year old Memere (Grandma).  I am excited to be able to see her and have an early turkey dinner with her.  I am so thankful for Teachers Pay Teachers and every teacher who has ever downloaded and used one of my products.  Without you all, this trip would not be possible and it means so much to my family that we can all be together one last time.

 

Have a blessed week!

A Proud Teaching Moment….and a Little Freebie

I had one of those moments today,  you know the one I am talking about.  The one that makes your eyes fill up and you can’t even find the words to tell them how proud you are.  I had one. 
 

We have been working hard on using evidence from the text to support our answers.  (Yes, I am gearing up for full-fledged Common Core next year.)  We have also been working on close reading and reading text for different purposes.  Today we did our 2nd read of Wilbur’s Boast from our reading series.   The students were given a question that they had to answer and they had to show evidence from the text to support their answer.  I was super nervous.  I thought for sure that it would be one of those times I would have to really spoon feed them and we all would end up frustrated.

We did a quick review of showing evidence by making this anchor chart.
 

 

As we reread the text, the students used sticky notes to “stop and jot,” spots where they found evidence to support their answers.  Afterwards, we talked about how to take their “stop and jot,” notes and use the sentence starters to write an answer to the question.
 

It was when they started finishing up their responses and bringing them to show me that my moment occurred.  I couldn’t believe the responses I was reading.  They were so well thought out.  They had actual evidence, that actually supported their answer! 
 

I made this rubric to use to grade their responses.  You are welcome to download it for free!  Just click the picture and it will take you to it!
 

 

This week we also have been working on the prefixes re-, un-, dis-, and pre-.  We made this anchor chart.
 

 

Then we did a little cooperative learning activity using the prefix cards in my spring centers pack.

You can check out my “Bring on Spring,” centers by clicking the picture below.
 

 

I will close with this little gem.  As you may already know, my family is pretty much basketball obsessed.  March Madness is like some crazy holiday in our house!  I always love when I have a student who loves basketball as much as I do.  As I was grading vocabulary sentences this week, I came across this…..
 

 

It is sentence #3.  “Aaron Craft wasn’t boasting after he made the winning shot of the game.”  Love it!  Melt my heart, this kiddo shares my love for college basketball and Aaron Craft! 
 

I may or may not have Ohio State winning it all in my bracket…I’m just sayin’. 

Go Buckeyes!

 

Spring Break……Time For Some Catching Up!

Buckle up folks, it’s going to be a long one!  Spring Break is finally here and I couldn’t be more excited!  I finally finished my Spring themed centers….my class has been begging for them!  Here they are…….

Of course everything is Common Core aligned!  Check them out at my TpT store!

In other news….we did one of my most favorite writing lessons EVER before leaving for break!  It is by the amazing Abby Mullins.  Check it out HERE.

Every year I look forward to this week of writing.  This year, however, was one of my favorites.

#1: I always love watching the reactions of the kiddos who have never had Pop Rocks before!

#2:  This year I had the BEST simile ever written about Pop Rocks.  Keep reading to see it!

I started the week by torturing them with a gift that they weren’t allowed to open.  They had to first describe the gift bag and write some descriptive sentences about it.

The next day, they opened their gift and the Pop Rockin began!  We made a few anchor charts and talked about writing descriptively. 

Day 3, we got down to the business of writing similes.  The Pop Rocks exploded in my mouth like……  My ALL-TIME FAVORITE……an angry mom!  I just about lost it when my little lovely raised her hand and said that!  It is nice to know that I am not the only mama out there who can lose it from time to time!

I am telling you, if you don’t already own Abby’s Pop Rockin Writing pack, do yourself a favor and hop on over to TpT and pick it up.  Best time and money ever spent!  My kiddos LOVE it every year!  And we already had to talk to 2nd grade about not stealing it!  They are just a little jealous that we found it first!

Spring Break is finally upon us!  My WHOLE family is in town.  My sister and her family flew in from Tennessee for the week and my baby sister is up from Tucson.  It is going to be cousin filled. 

A little game playing!

And of course some baby lovin’!  These are my newest niece and nephew. 

Happy Spring everyone!