Partyin' with Primaries

The Best School Year Ever GIVEAWAY

As many of you may already know, the Teachers Pay Teachers website is running a HUGE SITE WIDE PROMOTION August 1st & 2nd! Everything in my store will be 28% off and the sale will continue in my store for the rest of the week, too!

And to piggy back off the sale... I am going to have a $50 TpT Gift Card Giveaway AND be running new promotions every day Monday - Friday including:

- $1 Daily Deals
- Daily Freebies
- Daily 50% Off New Releases

Here's a little sneak peak for what is coming on Monday >>>

Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win the $50 gift card... Refer a friend and double your chances to win as well! Just send them this link so they can follow along and enter in the drawing too!

Send this link to a friend >>> http://bit.ly/2apkAUq

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's to planning the BEST SCHOOL YEAR EVER!

Big Changes!!!

Hello everyone!

It's been quite a busy summer for us over here... Hubby has been working CRAZY hours and to add to the mix, our sweet baby girl #2 arrived three weeks early on June 21st! Hence, my lack of posting in May, June and July! It was a rough pregnancy but we are so thankful our sweet baby girl is here!

The transition to a family of four has been relatively smooth... for which we are so thankful! We have a wonderfully supportive family and the most amazing friends we could ever imagine! Our friends from church have been bringing up meals for FIVE weeks... And we have TWO more weeks of meals coming from my girlfriends whose husbands work with Andrew! Incredible... I don't know if I will remember how to cook after this!

Big sister ABSOLUTELY ADORES her little sister! My biggest issue is keeping big sis from smothering little sis with kisses!

Being home with these two is an absolute JOY and I am so thankful for the time with them...

Which brings me to our next BIG CHANGE... I have officially resigned from my teaching position and will be a full time stay at home mommy! It was a very difficult and bittersweet decision, but it is definitely what is right for our family at this time! We are grateful that the Lord has allowed for us to do this!

I am still planning to tutor and continue to share on my blog and through my TpT store. Both have been sources of enjoyment for me, and a blessing to our family so we'll keep that going amidst the crazy of two sweet little girls!

Thanks for reading! Keep tuned for a MAJOR GIVEAWAY to celebrate BACK TO SCHOOL PREPARATION with the BEST YEAR EVER SALE starting AUGUST 1st >>> Everything in my TpT store will be 28% off + other FUN promos!!!

Metacognition

Welcome to the third and final post of Smashing Strategies for Guided Reading, a monthly-link up between 8 teacher bloggers! Each of us will share a guided reading strategy, a teaching tip, and sometimes a freebie! Each month, you’ll have the chance to win a product relevant to each different strategy we blogged about! Time to build up those guided reading resources!

How many of you have heard of Tanny MacGregor? She is absolutely incredible... She taught for over 25 years in the Cincinnati area, and and is now a TOSA presenting at workshops around the country! One of my most treasured teaching tools is her book, Comprehension Connections. It is exactly what it sounds... a book of tools and ideas, full of ways to help students make connections to comprehension strategies.

When I first read this book, and it talked about teaching firsties metacognition... I thought it was absolutely crazy. I hardly even knew what metacognition was... (It is "thinking about your thinking," for those of you that are wondering.) Anyways despite my reluctance, I decided to jump in and give it a try!

We started by making a "reading salad," comprised of our thinking and the text. As we took a picture walk through the book, we worked together.

I pointed to the title of the book and read aloud "David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon." The students had to work together to decide whether we should add a text card or thinking card. They chose "text."

Then I pointed to my head and said, " I'm thinking that this book is going to be about a boy named David that is constantly getting in trouble." The kids nodded their heads in agreement and we add a thinking card.

This process is continued as we completed our picture walk; I also used it to pre-teach vocabulary and have any quick discussions that I had in mind before they began to read independently. I allowed each child to make a "reading salad" while they read. I proceed to listen to each of the kids read and checked for comprehension, just like I do any other day during guided reading.

Next, I gave the kids thinking stems (prompts) to help them generate sentences about metacognition during their reading.

- I'm thinking...
- I'm noticing....
- I'm wondering...
- I'm seeing...
- I'm feeling...

Kids were given sticky notes, and asked to generate at least TWO thinking stems while they were reading. This was a more concrete way for them to demonstrate their metacognition while they read! Again, I modeling this strategy for them...

I was SHOCKED to see how quickly they caught on, and were able to apply their thinking to the text through writing! How often do I sell them short?!? They're like little sponges!

We then used the sticky notes to generate complete sentences on a graphic organizer. I did this mainly because it was what they would be seeing in the future at their Daily 5 stations as a form of accountability. (Next week they will be completing these graphic organizers at Listening Station, Read to Self, Read to Someone and Computer Station).

At the end of their reading time, I did a quick -reteaching of the word metacognition and show how the text + thinking = real reading, using the Tanny MacGregor chart!.

As a whole class extension beyond the guided reading table, we each made our own "thought bubbles" that helped the students to verbalize their thinking about the books they were reading.

On the thought bubbles they each wrote out the five thinking stems, to help get their brains churning. Then they used their independent reading books (any "just right book" from their book bins) to write three sentences using their thinking stems!

I realize the picture is small but here is one example....

"In the book David Goes to School by David Shannon, I am thinking that David is in trouble. I am thinking that he needs to keep his hands to himself. I'm noticing that he is mad." -First Grade Student

Not too bad for first grade, huh?!? The kids were especially excited that we had the laptop cart that day, and once I conferenced with them to approve their sentences, they were able to type and print them out! My kids always love anything that allows them to utilize technology... and it is great typing practice for them as well! This extension project became a great hallway display for the next few weeks!

If you would like a quick copy of the thinking stems graphic organizer, feel free to download your copy here!

Don't forget to check out all the other teachers that are sharing their own Smashing Strategies for Guided Reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

TpT Flock 16 Conference

Have you ever been awestruck and overwhelmed at the same time? That is how this past weekend was for me. I had the chance to attend the Western NY TpT Conference in Rochester, NY (my hometown). It was incredible and inspiring.

The ladies that organized this meet-up... certainly did their homework! The conference was at the Woodcliff Spa and Hotel. Accomadations were simply lovely... just what a bunch of tired teacher-preneurs needed to be rejuvenated! I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to go here for an all day conference?!?

Breakfast was sponsored by teacherspayteachers headquarters, and they even sent up four staff members from New York City to attend! No detail was left unattended... Check out these adorable centerpieces that were crafted with love for each table! As we arrived, we had to choose a paint swatch that best described our TpT journey... Can you guess which color I chose?

There were four main sessions and five break-out sessions. Let me tell you... I could NOT write down all the great information the gifted speakers were passing along fast enough! The first break-out session I went to was Tabitha, from Flap Jack Education.

She was incredible... she taught us all about how to do marketing strictly using your smartphone (an area in which I am gravely lacking)... I have already downloaded some awesome apps like Word Swag, Bit.ly, and Color Story and they're making my life so much easier!

Next, I attended THE Erin Cobb (Lovin' Lit) and Heidi Babin's (The Doodle Oven) workshop.. Great Layout = Great Payout. These ladies were astounding with their knowledge (who knew Heidi was an artist before becoming a teacher?!?) and their ability to self-reflect, and grow from their mistakes. Hopefully you will be seeing some newly improved resources in my store soon!!!

Oh, and did you know about the Rule of Thirds?!? I sure didn't... apparently, objects should be placed anywhere these lines intersect to observe the Rule of Thirds! More pleasing to the eye that way... so they say! Thanks Heidi and Erin for that tip, I had no idea!

Have you ever read the Clutter Free Classroom's blog? If you haven't, then you should! Jodi, like the rest of them, is incredible. She gave so many great tips on how to be a more effective blogger. I realize, I am on a steep learning curve, so if you are reading this... I appreciate your patience!

The day just kept getting better! Up next was Jen Jones from Hello Literacy? She too, is mesmerizing.

She gave us all great tips on how brand our stores and figure out WHO WE ARE as teacher-authors. She gave us some great homework to do... That I have been mulling over, you know, in all my free time between still being sick 7 months into my pregnancy, chasing around a toddler, laundry, diapers, cooking, TpT, tutoring, volunteering, cleaning... (Oh wait, does cleaning ever happen??? Not sure if it does anymore! My poor family...)

Finally, I finished the day with a little PD on Facebook! Karen Jones... who happens to be local to Buffalo, our neighbor to the West... did a great job teaching how to use statistical analysis to advertise and grow your business via Facebook. Again, another area of growth for me. Boy, did I set a lot of goals this weekend.

If nothing else, I met a ton of new people this weekend and learned that we are all on our own journeys. Whether it's in the classroom full time, working on teachers pay teachers full time, being a mommy or anything else... This world of teacherpreneurship is a blessing to us all, and I am thankful to be apart of it! What a gift!

I love this quote by Henry Ford... He certainly knew how to forge through uncharted territory! It came to mind as I was reflecting the next morning on all I had learned...

Text Based Evidence

Welcome to the second post of Smashing Strategies for Guided Reading, a monthly-link up between 8 teacher bloggers! Each of us will share a guided reading strategy, a teaching tip, and sometimes a freebie! Each month, you’ll have the chance to win a product relevant to each different strategy we blogged about! Time to build up those guided reading resources!

Teachers everywhere hear "Common Core" and cringe... It can be so intimidating having to teach something new! After attending several workshops, I have yet to drink the cool-aid, so to speak... But I am a fan of teaching kids at an early age to find TEXT BASED EVIDENCE. As a primary school teacher, too often children are merely reading words, not reading for comprehension. You may have heard me rave about my school district before, and the incredible PD they have offered. One of the most beneficial PD workshops I ever attended was when 2nd and 3rd grade teachers sat down and talking about learning gaps... We found out our 2nd graders were not able to find text based evidence when they got to 3rd so it's been a big shift in my guided reading groups!

There are two different ways in which I teach finding text based evidence. The first is using sticky notes. In our third day of guided reading (2 read, 1 write) we always write about what we read. I give my students a few short questions to respond to in their Readers Notebooks and then give them a pile of sticky notes. They must go back in the text and pull out the answer record it in "note form" on their sticky note. Finally, they go back to their readers notebook and record in compete thoughts and sentences.

For my more visual learners, I was finding this approach difficult. So, I decided to write my own reading comprehension passages in which they could go back and highlight in different colors showing where they found their answers.

As much as I hate New York State testing, it is a reality. These passages provide them with a more authentic way of practicing "finding the answers" for the test as well.

I give my kiddos a bucket of colored markers and let them choose which color they'd like to use (always a treat)! They then proceed to use a different color to find text based evidence for each different question, labeling the highlighted portion with the corresponding question number.

This also allows for teachable moments about only highlighting pertinent information as well as organizing their thoughts! Crucial skills as they get older!!