Diving into 2018 in the Classroom

Have you gone completely paperless?  I do value teaching with a digital lense but I still love bulletin boards with students' work prominently on display.  I find that bulletin board creations are becoming more information boards.  Here's a fun way to keep a goal setting board up for a while.  I don't use the word resolution but rather "goals".  Using hockey stick writing templates, students can write their goals for the new year.

 

You'll find this free download here:

Keep students busy with this fun roll a story.  All you need is a 6 sided number cube and the prompt board.  Graphic organizers and writing paper is included:

This fun clip art is a great way to decorate newsletters or resources:

Add some fun writing paper to your writing stations.  You'll find a collection of papers for both emergent and established writers. 

  

Start the new year off with some fun math stations. This unit includes 4 activities. The first is number of the day. Using the new year, students will look at place value and fill in a number of the day chart. The next activity involves patterns found in a January calendar.The third activity (Race to Midnight) involves measuring time to 5 minute intervals. The final activity is to reach the target number using cards numbered 0 to 9. The target number is the new year. 

The whole bundle is available here:

Wishing you a prosperous, safe, happy and healthy new year!

Ringing in 2018 with Dollar Deals....

It's that time of year again!  The TpT Focused Success group is bringing some fabulous dollar deals your way for two days only!

Search the hashtag #RingIn2018

My second font bundle is only $1.00 and so is my Winter Literacy Bundle. 

'Twas the Week Before Christmas Break

With concerts galore and a multitude of interruptions,  here are some fun ways to keep your students busy with Math and Literacy Stations.  Offering choice activities and providing task cards and lapbooks is always a good approach to keeping your students engaged. Here's a sample of the things that I have tried in classes from grades 3 to 6:

Christmas Writing Folder

This interactive folder is a great springboard to assist your students with three writing forms and a bonus Wanted Poster. You will find a descriptive task called Open the Doors to Christmas. With this four door book, students will use 4 of their senses to describe the Christmas season. A procedural writing task is included. Students will write about how to ready their place for Santa. A letter writing activity is included. This is a choice with students deciding on who they would like to direct the letter to at the North Pole. Various letter writing choices are provided. A fun task is to have students create wanted posters for jobs at Santa's workshop. A sample is provided to encourage descriptive details and drawings to make this poster task a fun one.Templates, rubrics and folder assembly instructions are included. All you need is a regular sized folder. 

Idioms Word Work

This unit has expressions on word cards ready for cutting and laminating. Students will be provided with a blank template and task cards filled with an expression related to a Christmas theme. They will then be asked to sketch a situation using the idiomatic expression on the card and then write and sketch their interpretation of it. This is a great addition to your Word Work Station or can be used as an extra activity for early finishers. 


Christmas Writing Task Cards

Task cards are individualized with title and writing prompts. In addition to 24 prompts, you will find graphic organizers and specialty writing paper to assist students with the writing process. These task cards will make a great addition to a writing station. 


Christmas Math Stations

Keep your students engaged in fun math activities with a Christmas theme. Activities include: construction of a Gingerbread House based on money amounts, December calendar math activities involving patterning and operations, completing a hidden picture using decimal operations and playing a Race to the Gingerbread House game based on odd and even sums.

The Gingerbread House construction and Race to the Gingerbread House game may be differentiated. Game boards, instructions, answers and number cards are included.

Christmas Memories Recount Writing

This is a great home-school connection or addition to your literacy writing station. Students are encouraged to write about their special Christmas memories. A helpful planning sheet is included for your struggling writers. This writing activity will encourage writing at any grade level. 


Christmas Writing Paper

This package includes Christmas letter writing paper and lined paper for emergent and established writers. Art work created includes a reindeer, penguin and dog. Bonus gift tags are included in this package.

Silly Christmas Sentences for Fluent Readers

Silly sentences have always been a fun way to explore sentence building and recognizing parts of speech. Students in grades 3 through 6 will have the opportunity to use subject, verb and complement cards to build and simplify silly sentences. Challenging verb cards are included with this unit as well as nouns associated with the Christmas theme, a blank sentence building template, display and label cards and a synonym chart. This is a perfect activity to use in your Word Work Stations or as an extra project for early finishers. 

Christmas Part Part Whole Number Cards

Part-part-whole cards are designed to assist students in computation of number sums. This unit of 25 part-part-whole cards will allow students to practice sums from 2 to 10. The unit includes 2 variations for the numbers 2 and 3 and 3 variations for the numbers 4 to 10. With numbers hidden with flaps, Students can then justify what the missing part is and lift the flap to verify their answers. Cards may be used during a number talks, during guided math groups or for individual assessments. 

Christmas Roll a Story

Students will be prompted to tell or write story with a Christmas theme. This unit includes a story prompt sheet, graphic organizers, word lists (Christmas & transition words), rubric and specialty writing paper with full and half lined pages.

Christmas Write the Room

This is a fun way to have students recognize and learn to write Christmas words. Used as a literacy station, printed cards on cardstock can be placed around the room at students’ height. Using a clipboard and recording sheet, students will write the correct word beside the correct number. There are two variations of the recording sheet for differentiation. Cards contain shape box letters and images to reinforce letter formation and word recognition. 

Free Downloads

Christmas Writing Choice Board Freebie

This writing choice board freebie is a great addition to your Writing Station or a useful activity for early finishers. Eight writing options plus a free one are included.

Free Clip Art

Christmas Frames

Christmas Free Download

Christmas concerts, decorations, gift making and read alouds to share.  It's that time of year.  Excitement is in the air.  Keep those early finishers busy with this writing choice board:

Christmas Writing Choice Board

It Takes a Village

Over 25 years in and I've noticed something: people matter!  Yes children matter but people matter too!  I am talking about those people who make a school run smoothly.  These are the unsung heroes:  custodians, secretaries, educational assistants, librarians, early childhood education workers,volunteers and parents.  We often think of favourite teachers, favourite principals and vice-principals. I've learned to stop to thank the people who build that village from the ground up.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my calendar had been turned to the new month.  Then I thought, that has happened every month since I started my new position.  The evening custodian does this.  I thanked him.  He was over the moon because I figured out who the calendar fairy was.

Then there's the secretary.  She or he often have the answers that the principal doesn't.  They know how to make injuries less hurtful, answer phones respectfully, take in mail, distribute it accordingly, rarely have time for a break and manage to carry on a smile throughout the day.

Support staff for students amaze me.  Some are assigned to small numbers of children throughout the day.  They accompany them on recess breaks, support their social and emotional needs, help them thrive when things are rough and advocate wholeheartedly for children in their care.

It doesn't stop there.  The librarian is a wealth of knowledge.  Knowing where every resource is, how to use it and who to recommend it to is no easy feat.  Then, there's the read aloud.  Have you ever heard a more beautiful rendition of a story?  There is one librarian I know who gets into full character portrayals and even brings in props.  Imagine typewriters, telescopes and musical instruments.  The books come alive!

Lastly, parents and volunteers are the icing on the cake.  They bring that village to life with countless hours, costume making, prop building, reading, homework helping and community building.  It does take a village.