Singular and Plural Nouns... something free and something new!

Can you tell what my current grammar unit is?

Between today's title and the new fairy tale nouns game I posted about earlier this week, you've probably guessed it... we're learning about NOUNS!

Next week is singular and plural nouns so we'll be going trick-or-treating through the halls, looking for singular and plural nouns!  I'll be putting up 20 noun cards and 4 "TRICK" cards.  Students will roam the halls searching for the nouns.  On their recording sheet, they'll mark an S for the singular noun cards and a P for plural nouns... I'm hoping the "TRICKS" will make them think they've found a word... but as they approach it, they'll see the card says "TRICK" instead of giving a word they need!  Bwa ha ha ha!

I've just added that new activity to TpT!  Just click the pic below for more info!

 Find it on TpT!

We'll also be doing a singular and plural page puzzle.  I *heart* page puzzles.

Here's how they work- I'll be copying the page on colored paper, cutting out the pieces, and putting them in a baggie.  Each group will get one baggie.  On my signal, they'll take out the pieces and try to put them back together by matching up each singular noun with its correct plural version.

Here's the kicker... I have distractors in there to try and trick them.  So, they really have to know how to go between plural and singular versions to get it done correctly.  The first group with the correct completed page puzzle will get something like a Nerd.  Will yours kids do anything for one Nerd or is it just me?

Just click the pic below for the page puzzle... it's an activity best tried rather than explained.  I hope it makes sense!

New Math Dice Game Freebie!

It's only Tuesday, friends!

At my school, we have a school wide intervention time called "Success Time".  We are currently working on math interventions... and specifically mastering math facts!

My kiddos are working on getting down their 2s and 3s.  Tomorrow we'll be playing a dice game, which I just added to my free math games pack on TpT!  The pack only has three games in it right now, but as I made more, I do plan to add them, so stay tuned for new developments!

Find it on TpT!

Yesterday I finished a common/proper noun SCOOT game using fairy tale related words.  We played it today and the kiddos had a lot of fun!  They were all in a tizzy when they came in because I had taped the word cards to their desks... so someone had "baby bear" and "mother pig" on their desk and someone was "jack" and "goldilocks"... so, well, you can imagine!

Find it on TpT!

Also, just a "did you see this yet" reminder for a visualization freebie... Just click if you missed it!

Graphic Organizers for Big Kids... and a FREEBIE!

Hey there!

Today was a super success for me... laundry, a cookie, worked out, and went shopping with my seeister!!!  I'm a clothes junkie and I got a ton for only $70.00!!!  Woot woot!

I also finished a graphic organizer pack that I've been working on for a while.  We've been using these in class and I've finally finished with the last minute touches.

I'm so psyched to show you my Graphic Organizers for Big Kids pack!  It is CCSS aligned for grades 3-5 for many of the RL and RI standards.

Find it on TpT

Here's one we've just finished using while we read The Chocolate Touch.  I love using that book for teaching character development and visualizing- I have a little mini-pack for it on TpT too!  Anywho... this organizer is one of the 25 included in the pack, but I'm sharing it with you for free!

You just need to run it front-to-back and have students write in the chapter numbers.  We only used 12 for The Chocolate Touch, so no worries if you don't use them all.  Students drew their visualizations while I read and then we talked about them after each chapter.  At the end, they wrote about how the character changed in the spot at the bottom of the page.

Click the pic for the freebie in Google Docs!  And I'd love to know what you think!  :)

 

Ask And Ye Shall Receive...

I had a request for a set of fillable class grids that were NOT monthly themed... and... hot off the presses, here it is!

Find it on TpT!

This set has 30 themed grids that range from subject areas to gnomes to s'mores!  What a fun way to get organized!

The file itself is a zipped file- inside is a PDF file that isn't editable and a Powerpoint file that IS editable... down to adding your own page headings too!

They'll be on sale for $5.00 for the weekend!  If you need to get organized or want to create your own grade book, this might be just the thing for you!  Check out the preview file to see everything that is included.

I also have a monthly themed one that I LOVE and use for checking off homework, Reading Response Journal completion, and AR points!

Updated First Grade Treasures Spelling Packet

Howdy friends!

Just a quick post to let you know that, if you downloaded my Treasures spelling packet for 1st grade, I have added another zipped folder to that file to accommodate the newer version of the Treasures reading series.

I sent out a notification on TpT to those who have already purchased it, but also wanted to shout it out here, just in case you missed it from TpT

Here's the link- if you already purchased it, you should just log back into your purchases and re-download if needed!

That's it!

Did you grab your free spider poetry craftivity yet?  Here's the TpT link!

Spider Poetry Craftivity Freebie!!!!

Happy Tuesday!

We finished the MEAP today and then had a fun afternoon!

We made GACK which was I am thrilled that I lived through!  ;)  And we also learned about spiders and write spider cinquain poems.  Then we made a little spider web... complete with a spider... to display along with our poetry!

Check out what this sweetie did...

And here are some of them hanging across my room...

Enjoy the week!

Wait... I mentioned FREEBIE...

Well, if you click the picture below you can go to Teachers pay Teachers to download a free craftivity packet with the poetry pages and directions for this project!  I think this is a great freebie... enjoy!  I'd love some comment lovin' if you think you'll use it.

I've Been Boo'd and New Daily Five Freebie!

It's Sunday, friends.  That means this girl is about to start stressing over football... c'mon LIONS!!!!!

Before I spend the afternoon pulling my hair out, I've been working hard this morning.  So far this is what I've accomplished:

1.) ridiculously tasty mushroom, swiss, asparagus, and bacon omelet for breakfast
2.) bathrooms cleaned
3.) kitchen floor washed
4.) downstairs dusted
5.) half of the laundry done

Hubby even pitched in and vacuumed AND cleaned one of the bathrooms!  :)

My sixth accomplishment is a new Daily Five freebie.

Before I get to that... Christi at Ms. Fultz's Corner Boo'd me!  I don't often participate in these just because I don't have a lot of extra time... but this is a great way to spread the word about some of my favorite bloggy friends!

 

So... I'm going to BOO three more bloggy friends!

1.)  Patty at 2nd in Line.  I love me some Patty!  Not only are we Draw Something buddies, but she teaches only about 10 miles away from me.  She is always sharing GREAT things and recently opened a TpT store to share her easy to implement activities!  And she's so funny too!  I hope you'll check her out...

2.)  Amy at The Resource(ful) Room.  You will not believe the amazing things that Amy shares... FOR FREE!  She's super sweet and I know you'll looooove checking out her blog!

3.)  Have you seen the Teacher Idea Factory???  If not, you are totally missing out!  Go check out my sweet friend Kelley.  You'll be so glad you did!

Thanks, Christi, for Boo'ing me!

Ok.  Daily Five Freebie...

So far this year I've been doing Daily Five in a very loose and modified way.  I just don't have the time to do it the way I want to.  I am so excited because, in two weeks, we're changing how we rotate our students and I'm going to have TWICE the amount of time I currently have for teaching reading so I'll be able to do Daily Five how I want to do it!

Right now, my kids don't really get to make choices so I don't have a choice board set up in my room.  When the schedule change happens, I'll be teaching ELA to half of the 3rd grade only so I will be able to have a choice board!

Today I made my bunting header for my board.  I don't have a picture to share with you yet, but I will share the letters.  It just spells Daily*Five after it's printed and assembled.  Look for a pic coming soon!

I just added it to TpT for free- click the pic below to grab it.

Happy Sunday... GO LIONS!

Happy Halloween... Quick Project!

**Ok- it's been a busy week.  I scheduled this for Wednesday (or so I thought!) but it never actually published... so keep in mind I wrote it on Wednesday!**

It's conference week, ya'll!  I'm at a lull between conferences and thought I should do a quick post since I won't be back tomorrow or Friday on the ol'blog!

Anywho... we've been taking the MEAP test this week and it's going well.  Yesterday the kiddos needed something fun after the test so we did my favorite favorite fall project.  I don't know why I love this so much, I just *really* do.  It's quick and fun and the kids love it!  And it looks super cool!

Each kid needs a piece of orange and a piece of black paper.  And a bit of yellow if you so desire.

On the orange, they should draw a pumpkin.

Then, cut it out and cut it into strips.  Remind them not to cut a billion strips... as they cut each strip, they glue the strips IN ORDER on the black piece of paper and leave just a *teeny* space between each strip so the black shows through.

Too many strips = too much work!

After the pumpkin is (sort of) re-assembled, they cut around it and leave a teeny bit of black around that too.

You can have them use yellow paper to add jack-o-lantern features and... there you have it!

I have no bulletin board outside of my room so these are taped up oustide of my door.  I LOVE IT!

Main Idea, Cause and Effect, Author's Purpose, Context Clues, and Character Traits... *New Flippy Books Alert!*

I just put the finishing touches on a new set of reading comprehension flippy books!

This 2nd set is just like my first but has new skills- author's purpose, cause and effect, character traits, main idea & details, and context clues!

Find it on TpT or Teacher's Notebook

Want a set for free?  I'll give a set to the first two to comment!

My first set has 6 flippy books for visualizing, predicting, inferring, connections, questions, and summarizing.  Here's a link to that one on TpT if you'd like to check it out!

AR Bookmark Freebie!

It's Sunday!  We're getting ready to go have brunch with my parents... how snobby sounding is that?!  ;)  My lovely mother got a Groupon and we're capitalizing on it today!  After that, it's heading in to school for me for the rest of the afternoon.

One of the things I'll be working on today at school is making copies of an AR bookmark for my students.  Each student will get two copies of the bookmark- one for school and one for home.

I'll have them fill it out tomorrow by writing their name, coloring the circles to reflect the AR levels they can read- some kids will have only two, most have three, and one of my students has four so that's why there are so many circles!- and then they will declare their weekly reading goal by writing the number of picture books and/or chapter books they want to read and test on weekly.

One of the ways they can move up in AR levels is by passing a certain number of picture and chapter books (which depends on the color of the book), so I'm hoping this will serve to help them set their goal and to be a handy bookmark too!

I have my own personal AR soapbox, which I have put away for now... so, enjoy the freebie!  :)

Just click on the pic to download from Google Docs!

I've done a few other AR related posts lately... if you missed them, click HERE to read more!

For some reason I've never blogged about this AR freebie- it's in my TpT store:

Enjoy the day!  Fortunately the Lions aren't playing today so there's one less bit of stress on this gal for today!

Product Swap... Best Item EVER.

Yay!  I'm so excited to be participating in the 2nd annual new quarter TpT product swap!  Thanks Jessica Stanford for organizing this again!  And Michelle Tsivgadellis for the great graphic!


Last time I reviewed 3rd grade Treasures materials and this time I was paired up with the lovely Tracy Tegeler at Creekside Teacher Tales.




I have to tell you that it was so difficult to choose an item from her TpT shop to review because so many of her free items were so amazing that I just wanted to review all of them!

In the end, I decided on her "Forever Homes" pack (which is 20% off until tomorrow!!!) and... OH MY WORD.  I was absolutely blown away by the hard work she put into it and the a-freaking-mazing number of skills students will be using when they do these activities!

Here's the scoop on the pack...

Students are trying to place homeless dogs *tear* with the right family.  They have to read each dog's information card and use critical thinking skills to figure out which family would be right for each dog.

Talk about thinking!

Not only are students reading, but they are questioning, inferring, analyzing, and applying their knowledge to a near and dear activity!  Who doesn't want to see dogs in a happy home... even if it's just one on paper!

So take sweet Molly in to consideration... the Jackson's, Hopewell's, and Littleton's all want to adopt her.  The students need to read her info and analyze the applications for the three families to see which one can best meet her needs.  At the end, they would write a letter congratulating the family on being chosen and explaining why they were selected.  Not only that... but the letters are leveled so you can differentiate this activity to fit your students' needs!

 
This pack is seriously amazing.

Here's my own sweet dog that came from the animal shelter and made our house a home in 2005... Sam!

Yes... I know.  He's ridiculously cute!  Anyway... back to the pack... Wait... what was that?  You want to see our other dog-son, Squeaks, who is also a rescue dog?  Oh.  Ok.

Yes.  So handsome!

Now... back to the pack for realz!

Check out the printing and laminating I did to get this product ready for my classroom:

 
Now, I haven't had a chance to use it with my kiddos yet... we're gearing up for the MEAP test next week and have been SO busy in class!

But I absolutely cannot wait to introduce this to my students.  I know it will be AWESOME!!!!!

And Tracy is reviewing my "Partner Reading Party" which is (I think) a GREAT pack full of super fun ways for partners to interact with one another as they read together.  It's 20% off until tomorrow... so it's only $4.00!  I hope you'll check it out... I'm so excited to see what she thinks of this pack.  It's one of my favorite products in my store and one I'm so proud of!

An "APP"ealing post that I am ex"SITE"d to Share With You!

You know... "app"ealing... and ex"SITE"d... hahaha.  It's Friday friends.

Are you using apps in your room at all to enhance instruction?  I have two Nooks that I LOVE LOVE LOVE and am constantly finding new ways to use them in my classroom.

My friends at Marygrove College have put together a definitive list of tons of apps and great websites.  FIFTY of them!... many are free!!!... and I'd love for you to check it out!

Just click the picture below to check it out... I know you won't be disappointed! 

Happy weekend.  We're going out for my b-day dinner tonight to our favorite restaurant.  I'm PSYCHED!

AR Book Check Chart Freebie!

This picture of my AR Book Check Chart generated a lot of buzz after I posted it the other day... now that I look at it, it's super ugly!  I should have coordinated my paper colors better!

I can't take credit for it.  My amazing 4th grade teacher friend made something similar for her students and I knew I HAD to do it in my room too.

So here's how it works:

At the end of the day on Friday, it's one of the student's jobs to make sure everyone has three of these slips- picture book 1, picture book 2, and chapter book.

As students take quizzes on books they have read independently the following week, they remove the slip if they pass the test.  If they do not pass (80% or higher), they cannot remove the slip.  They can also not count books that I read to them for this.  This is for independently read books only.

This has helped me tremendously!  As an easy management tool, it allows me to just glance at the chart and see who needs an extra reminder or who has been working their tail off!

If you click the pic below, you can get a copy of the cards I used (just run them on three different colors of paper and laminate) and the sign hanging above my pocket chart!

Enjoy!

And... sale reminder at my TpT store... 20% off until the end of tomorrow!

Birthday Sale!

Today's my b-day!

To celebrate, everything is 20% off at my TpT store!

My students were super sweet.  I got lots of pictures, apples, and well wishes throughout the day.  And my hubby sent me beautiful flowers to school and got me tickets to see the musical "Sister Act" in Chicago next month!  Not that I've ever mentioned it (a million times) on here, but I am a HUGE musical fanatic!  I also love me some "Sister Act"... so I'm super geeked!

Happy October 3rd to you!!!

Repenting! And Pocket Chart Pics

OMG.  I love my job.

This is how my conversation with one of my sweet little friends went at the end of the day:

me:  Third graders, there are so many pencils on the floor!  Let's pick them up.  I want them.  Please put them in my pencil cup.
sweet little friend:  Mrs. Bainbridge, you are a sinner.
me- laughing:  what?
sweet little friend:  Mrs. Bainbridge this is serious.  You are breaking one of the Ten Commandments!
me- trying not to laugh:  Which one?  Do not take pencils away from kids?
sweet little friend:  Mrs. Bainbridge...
me-  Which one am I breaking?
sweet little friend-  The last one- thou shall not covet thy neighbor's things.  Those are not your pencils, so you should not be wanting them.
me-  Oh.  Thank you so much for sharing that with me.

*LOVE*!

So... to change gears a bit... here is what I have done with three of my Target Pocket charts:

1.)  classroom jobs chart (on the left)- what I was using was a little too cumbersome.  I like this better!

2.)  RRJ sweet treat chance chart (in the pic above on the right)-  if you do your RRJ each night for the week, you have a chance to get a sweet treat during one secret week of the month!  If you aren't sure what I'm talking about... check out my RRJ blog posts!  If you don't do your RRJ, your name gets flipped over and you're out of the running for the week... but better still get that RRJ done!

3.)  Keeping track of AR tests taken during a week- on Monday, each student begins the week with three papers behind their name- picture book 1, picture book 2, chapter book.  As they do quizzes during the week, they remove one paper and I can see at a quick glance who I need to give some extra lovin' and support and reminder and nags to!

So, that's that!  Just 20ish more charts to figure out what to do with!  Hope that helps you with some ideas!

And remember not to covet thy students' pencils!