Need a Fast and Fun Noun Freebie?

Add a timer to an activity and it's magic!

Kids love to be able to set the timer and race against the clock to complete a task. Print off these cards, add a timer, put in a literacy station and you've got a fun game the kiddos will love. Geared to first and second grades, this is fun practice on identifying nouns.

Just click on the link below to get your freebie.

Show the love by commenting how you've used timers with your kiddos!

Easter Silent E Game -- Freebie

I love, love, love these cute rabbits!

They're going to make reading words ending in silent e fun, fun, fun!

Make this activity for a literacy station. Your kiddos can play it against another student or on teams. They must read words correctly, trying to read four in a row.

Click on the pic above to get your freebie.

Hop on down to the comments and let me know how your kiddos like the game.

I Mustache You All About Closed Syllables -- Freebie

One of the main goals for our third graders is to decode multi-syllable words. We devoted a lot of time this past year to helping them learn the six syllable types so that they can break multi-syllble words apart into decodable units. Teaching the six syllable types was a big part of this. If the kiddos can recognize the six syllable types and use that knowledge to decode words, that's half the battle!

This freebie gives practice mapping closed one syllable words. It can be used in all grades, even kindergarten! The higher grades can use it for remediation.

Click on the pic below to get your copy.

If you haven't been following A Class*y Collaboration this summer, click {HERE} to catch up! We've added some brand new authors with lots of new ideas for you.

Books to Teach Relationship between Illustrations and Text

Common Core requires students at all levels to be able to pull information from illustrations that accompany the text to add meaning to what is being read.

Kindergarten: RL K.7  With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

First Grade:  RL 1.7  Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

Second GradeL RL 2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Third Grade:  RL 3.7  Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

The first two books will help you plan lessons to meet this standard and are probably already on your bookshelf.

All of Chris Van Allsburg's books have wonderful illustrations. Jumanji is just one. Remind students to look for the little white bull terrier that appears  in most of his books and write reasons why the dog belongs in the particular story.

Jumanji

Who doesn't love the zany antics of Gloria?

Cover up the words with Post-its and let students guess which safety rule is illustrated.

Officer Buckle and Gloria

You might not have a copy of Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, but if you don't, go order one now.  I have one of the portfolio sets so that I can post one of the pictures and the caption in the room or in a literacy station. My students love when I put one of these up. They will scour the picture for details.

Here's a link to the portfolio edition.

And last, but not least, is a collection of short stories written by familiar authors telling what they think happened in the Harris Burdick pictures. This one is on my wish list, but I think it will be fun to share these stories with my kiddos after they write their own.

Do you have any other books that are your favorites for linking illustrations with the text? Share them in a comment. I'll choose one of the comments to win a product of your choice from my TpT store. Leave your comment and email address before 11:59 p.m. on Monday, June 2.

My Favorite Snow Books -- and Another First Five Wins!

Since snow is still on my mind, I'm pulling out all my snow books to use with my kiddos. Here's a list of some of my favorites and a freebie to go with them. (I've included links to Amazon so you can get more info about the books.)

Here's an oldie, but goodie. I love anything by Ezra Jack Keats

Another oldie, but goodie….

White Snow, Bright Snow, by Tresselt and Duvoisin

Snowmen at Night, by Carolyn Buehner

My kiddos are always entranced by learning about Snowflake Bentley.

They pour over the pics in Snowflakes in Photographs by Bentley himself.

I don't have this version, but the description says it includes a CD of the snowflakes. Just imagine what you could do with that!

Gail Gibbons will always have a place on my bookshelf. She is a great introduction to informational text.

Here's your freebie for both snow-themed literature and informational text. I've included the CC ELA standards for first, second, and third grades. These graphic organizers help guide your students' thinking about what they have read.

Just click on the pic above to get the file.

I'll also give away a free product from my TpT store to the first five people who follow my TpT store and comment with the name they use to follow, their email address, and the product they want me to send.

Turkey's Possessives -- Freebie

Today, I am thankful that I teach in a school system that tries to make decisions that put the best interests of the students first. That's not always the case in some places.

Your freebie for today is a quick, fun activity to review possessive nouns. Students draw a card, determine if the noun is a plural possessive or singular possessive noun, and record it on a graphic organizer. You can have them make the graphic organizer or use the one I included. 

After writing the nouns, they highlight the apostrophe with a marker. Everything to the left of the apostrophe is highlighted in a different color. This helps them actually see the noun before the apostrophe is added.

After sorting the possessive nouns, students choose four nouns and use them in sentences.

Click on the picture above to get your Thanksgiving freebie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wild About Books - Freebie!

Have you read

Wild About Books, by Judy Sierra?

It's a rollicking ride following librarian Molly McGrew's trip to the zoo in her bookmobile.

You can address so many Common Core standards with this book.

Check out my full packet on Teachers Pay Teachers for more!

In the meantime, here is a freebie for you.

Students must write details from the beginning, middle, and end of the story, using complete sentences.

Just click on the pic above to get the freebie!

Don't forget that the Teacher Pay Teachers Back to School Sale is today and tomorrow. Lots of stores have their products marked 20 percent off and Teachers Pay Teachers is adding an additional percentage off that!

Enter the Promo Code BTS13 at checkout.

Just click on the pic below to go now and add my products to your Wish List so you can pick them up at a great price!

Guided Math Book Study - Chapter 4 - Freebie

I've been following Teaching Blog Addict's book study on Guided Math for a few weeks. The focus of chapter four is whole group instruction. Author Laney Sammons recommends using children's literature as an activating strategy for the lesson's skill. Since my math class was right after my literacy block last year, literature was a good transition from one subject to the other. I use lots of my activities tied to math and literature as a whole group activity before I put it in a math station. Here is one.

The illustrations in Eve Merriam's 12 Ways to Get to 11 catch students' attention. They write math equations to fit the descriptions in the book, then write their own description of a situation, adding an illustration and equation.

Just click on the pic above to get the file.

{How many ways can you leave a comment?}

Have you entered my giveaway celebrating my wonderful 600 followers? For a chance at a $20.00 Amazon gift card, just click {HERE}!