Meet up Monday

I am linking up with Teaching Tribune for Meet up Monday! This week we are sharing the 3 things we are thankful for!

Click the button below to see what other awesome educators are thankful for!

It's a Math Made it Monday

I am linking up for the first time this summer with 4th Grade Frolics and her Monday Made It!

Today was a Math Monday Made It! I made two sets of manipulatives today! I am very excited about the two sets I made! 

My first center I made is for my math workshop for my Guided Math Lessons! I saw this on Pinterest and Kindergarten Smorgasboard and ran with it! I loved the idea of magnetic ten frames! So I bought the cookie sheets from the Dollar Store, blue rocks and rainbow tape from AC Moore and my magnet roller from Beckers! 

First, I have to admit, I am not one to measure. I like to do things by eye so I looked at the cookie sheet and peeled the tape and placed it where it looked good. I repeated this to create a ten frame. Four strips vertically and one strip in the middle horizontally. ow for those of you who need to measure, just divide the cookie sheet into 5 equal sections and with a ruler draw a line with your sharpie. Then measure half way and then draw a horizontal line with your sharpie. Put your tape on the lines you have drawn!

Can I just say that I absolutely love this magnetic roller!!!!!! I have been using the same roll of magnetic tape for 6 projects so far. All you have to do is roll it on the floor to the desired length and cut. It is easy and simple. So to make my counters, I bought blue rocks from AC Moore and put a small magnet on the smooth side. Two bags of rocks make enough counters for 10 ten frames. Just a bit of advice: take a cloth and wipe the smooth part of the rock off. The magnet will stick better.

See below for what the finished workshop looks like!

Now for the storage! I bought a green container at the Dollar Store and with my Silhouette Cameo I cut out the words Ten Frames in black vinyl and adhered it to the front. I then cut out hot pink polka dots with my cameo and put them all around the container!

To make the containers for the counters, I found the cutest set of green containers at the Dollar Store. They come in a pack of 2. They snap on both sides. I then cut the word counters out of black vinyl on my Cameo and put it across the top. Each container easily holds 20 counters!

So there you have it, my ten frame workshop! 

My second set of manipulatives I made today are Rekenreks!

I used the materials pictured below:

The foam sheets are from Michaels! They came in a set of 65 for 6.99. I used my 40% off coupon and my teacher discount!

The two bags of beads are from Walmart. They are found in the craft section. They are 1.99 for 500 beads per bag.I bought blue and red beads. I also bought the pipecleaners at Walmart. It was a bag of 100 for 1.99.

To make the Rekenreks, you will need 1 foam sheet, 2 pipe cleaners and 10 beads of each color.

Poke the foam sheet on the left hand side towards the top with the black pipe cleaner. Place 5 red beads and then 5 blue beads on the pipe cleaner. Poke the other end of the pipe cleaner through the foam sheet on the right side. Flip it over and twist the ends of the pipe cleaner around each other to keep it from coming out. Repeat this for the second strand of beads.

Here is the finished product.

Here is the class set of Rekenreks!

So hit the button below to go to some other awesome blogs to see what those amazing educators made today!

Book Talk Tuesday on a Thursday

Boy, it seems that I am behind with everything this week! I am linking up again this week with Deanna Jump for her weekly Book Talk! I really love this linky because it is providing us with some awesome children's literature to use with our kiddos. it is nice to have this resource!!!


So, my choice for the

is How to Wash A Woolly Mammoth written by Michelle Robinson. Can I just tell you I LOOOOOOVVVVEEE this book! 

This is a about a little girl who owns a woolly mammoth and wants to give it a bath. The book has adorable pictures and easy text for the readers to read and to understand. It provides us with the steps of how to wash a woolly mammoth. The illustrations tell the story beautifully and the kids loved it! The pictures made them giggle! I recommend this book to anyone who teaches how to writing!!

Here are some of the pages:

Here are a few things I made to use with this book. Feel free to use them!

Thanks for visiting and click on the picture below to see some more awesome books!!

Notice and Note Book Study Post

Welcome back for another post about the book, Notice and Note. Today I am explaining the signposts!

When we are teaching the signposts, we need to teach them in order. The author suggests this order:
    1. Contrasts and Contradictions
    2. Aha Moments
    3. Tough Questions
These should be taught first because they appear frequently. The readers who struggle will be able to identify them and the anchor question is one that the reader can hold on to as they read.
   4. Words of the Wiser- Critical lesson
   5. Again and Again
   6. Memory of Moments

Like the author states, this is their order, if it does not fit your with what you are teaching then create your own order of these signposts.

Remember, when teaching the signposts, teach them. they should not be taught as a minilesson. these are new concepts and the students will need time to learn and understand these. It is important that we make sure we have enough time to teach these rigorously. Also, when we teach these make sure you do it with a piece of children's literature that illustrates the signpost. The text should illustrate the signpost several times throughout the text not just once.

Finally, don't be afraid to experiment. It all depends on your class and their skills!


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Wordless Wednesday on a Thursday!

I am linking up with Sugar and Spice for

Here is my dining room! Needed three pictures to show you the full effect!

This is one of my summer projects! What is one of yours!

click below to link up or see some other wordless posts!

Using Guided Math with Small Groups

I am so excited to be talking about this awesome book again this week! Last week we were discussing when whole group instruction is needed and valid. This week we are talking about small group instruction! I don't know about you but I LOVE small groups! This is the perfect time to get to know my students and watch them grow!!!

When we hear about small groups, the first thing that comes to our minds is Reading! This is something that needs to be changed! Not only does Reading need small groups but so does Math! That is why Guided Math is such an awesome classroom setup!!!!!

Small groups are amazing and provide us with so much vital information and opportunities to insure that all of our students succeed! I love this chapter! I love this book! Here are a couple questions for you to consider!

Well, that is it until next week! Click below to read more views on chapter 5! 

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Meet Me Monday on a Wednesday!

I am linking up with the Teaching Tribune for the Meet Me Monday linky. I know today is Wednesday but it is better late than never! :)

Here are three random things about me!!!

Click on the picture below to learn about some other amazing educators!

Analyzing Data: The Literacy Teacher's Playbook Book Study

This is a long but informative chapter! This chapter is on analyzing data. In the last chapter, it discussed engagement inventories. This was great. In this chapter, we are being acquainted with not only the different logs we can use to analyze the data but questions to ask to get the best data for the different skills. I found this information to be very insightful and informative!!!!

The author gave us an example of a table we can use to summarize the data. I have made it a little more elementary. Grab your free copy here:

Engagement Inventories: Provides information about their behavior while reading. 

the author provided us with the following questions to look for:

Can they settle into reading immediately?

Are they easily distracted and if so is their reading interrupted for extended periods of time?

If distracted do they have strategies to reengage their reading?

Reading Log: When designing a reading log, for younger readers it can focus on the title, author, and the page number. But as the readers mature one should also keep track of the reading level, number of words, wpm, and approximate total # of books read in 30 minutes. These logs tell us so much information. We see what types of books they prefer and which ones they read more fluently and with more zest! 

One important question that can be asked and answered with this log is if the student is reading the best books for their reading level?

Reading Interest Inventory: This inventory can provide you with a plethora of information as long as you ask open ended questions. These questions will spark conversation about the students reading interests and will give you a better picture of them as a reader. 

Writing about Reading: This will provide you with information about their ability to work within a skill. This will give you information about their understanding. By taking their writing and putting them in piles according to their ability, it will provide you with the data about who is grasping the concept and the skill and who still needs to work on it.

Whole book comprehension Assessments: What you are looking for varies in these assessments. It will vary by levels and the type of text being read. 

Fluency Assessment: This record will give us an insight into how well the child is reading. Are they reading with accuracy and speed? Do they have expression?  can they comprehend what they are reading?

As you can see, there is a lot of information in this chapter and this is not even all of it. We broke the chapter into 2 parts! 

Click below to read some more insightful posts about this chapter from some other awesome educators!

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Notice and Note Book Study Section 7

Welcome back! Today I am going to be talking about:

I enjoyed this section. In section 6, we talked about the signposts and there are a lot of materials on Teachers Pay Teachers regarding the signposts as well as videos on youtube. Now, we are talking about the anchor questions that accompany the signposts! I was at first a little taken back about the fact that we are asking just one question. I know in my lessons there are a variety of questions that are asked and focused on. As I read on, I began to see their point. There is one question that we are focusing on and all the other questions are ones that we ask naturally! Light Bulb!!!! After reading this section, I look at the art of questioning in a new way. I know I have things to work on and thanks to this book, I have a great resource to use! 

Here is a cute song I found on youtube about signposts and questions:


Click on the different educators below to read more awesome posts about this section!

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Notice and Note Section 6

Welcome back for Section 6 of Notice and Note! This is an awesome book about close reading and it's strategies! 

There are 6 signposts:

*Compare and Contrast

*Aha Moments

*Tough Questions

*Words of the Wiser

*Again and Again

*Memory Moment

Compare and Contrast: When the character acts in a way that you, the reader, does not expect.

Aha Moment: When the character finally understands something

Tough Questions: When the character in the story asks questions and the reader gets to see what is bothering that character.

Words of the Wiser: When the character who is older shares their understanding or advice.

Again and Again: Repetition in the novel. Normally when something is repeated then it is important and one should pay close attention.

Memory Moment: When the memory of a character is shared it is because it has something to do with what is happening in the novel or story at this time. The reader knows that by paying attention to the memory they learn some important information.

This was an interesting section! Here are two videos I found about the 6 signposts!


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see you Tuesday for Section 7!

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