Main Idea Butterflies

Main Idea...Main Idea...Main Idea

No matter what grade level you teach, you have to work on finding the main idea of a passage.

ReadWorks.org is a great site for finding informational passages on lots of topics. The passages are Lexile leveled. You might want to run them through a text complexity analyzer, because all of the passages are not complex, even though they might be of a higher Lexile level.

Click on the image above to visit the site. There's lots of good info.

My third graders read one of the passages from the site, Insects on the Move.

 One of the topics of our State Department's Common Core training this past summer was giving the students the main idea and letting them determine the details that back it up. I gave them the main idea, and they found the details. 

They wrote the main idea I gave them on the body of a butterfly and a detail on each of the spots. Doing this in small groups gave me a lot of insight because I had the chance to actually hear them as they worked through the passage aloud. One of my kiddos said the work was easy because the details were really the main ideas of each paragraph. Don't you love it when they get it?

Go to my TpT Store quickly! I put everything on sale for the Labor Day weekend.  Click {HERE} to visit!

Be sure to check out my Teachers Notebook Shop. If you follow my shop, you can enter my giveaway for a chance to win a copy of "My Teacher Likes to Say," my packet on figurative language and quotation marks. Click {HERE} to visit.

And speaking of giveaways......stay tuned because as soon as I reach 1300 followers, I will be giving away everything I have in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Lots of my blogging friends have joined in and are offering unbelievable prizes, too!

Over in the Meadow Freebie

I know you've heard the children's rhyme, "Over in the Meadow." Ever since we used it last week, it's been playing over and over and OVER in my head! It's the perfect poem to use to introduce setting in poetry. First, I sketched out the bare bones of a meadow.

Then, we gave groups of our first graders a different verse of the poem and asked them to illustrate it.

They loved drawing the pictures and talking about the different animals. It was a simple, fun way to review setting. Click on the pic below to get a copy of the poem. Cut apart the verses and you are ready to go! 

I'm having a giveaway in my Teachers Notebook Shop. Click {HERE} to follow my shop and enter. You could win a copy of "My Teacher Likes to Say" activities on punctuating dialogue and figurative language.

Happy Friday!

It's Our Fall Break!

We started school on August 5 and are officially on what YOU would call Fall Break, but what we here in Shelbyville call "Out for the Horse Show!"

Our town is the Walking Horse Capital of the World and home of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. Schools are out during the run of the show. This is the first year in my entire life that I'm not going to the show at all. 

I'm heading to the beach for some R & R on a girls' trip. 

Before I leave, I wanted to pass on an offer from EAI.

Exploragons are a hands-on tool that lets students explore geometric concepts. Students snap the flexible sticks together to explore polygons and plane geometry. The kit includes the coolest protractor I have ever seen. The sticks snap right on to the protractor so your kiddos can measure angles. There are dry erase task cards that are perfect for small group and math station work AND a deck of Quick Check cards. These cards are perfect for a self-checking formative assessment for your kiddos. The kits are great for helping your students meet the Common Core geometry standards.

EAI is offering free shipping on all Expoloragon orders of at least $30.00 through September 30 if you use the code PPFREESHP13 when you order. 

I am taking a complete break from blogging and all things school-related until I get back from the beach. Have a wonderful week. I'll be thinking of you while I'm sitting with my toes in the sand and a book in my hand!

What a Great Idea!

I came across this idea on Pinterest this morning and loved, loved, loved it! 

It's so simple, yet can make such an impact.

Ms. Fultz at Ms. Fultz's Corner had the brilliant idea that if every follower on her blog donated just one dollar to a Donor's Choose project, then we would have an impact on many, many teachers, and many, many kids!

If all my followers donated, that would be almost $1300 helping our fellow teachers!

Such a simple, easy thing we can do to help other teachers. 

I'm heading over to Donors Choose to donate to a special friend of mine. She has three literacy projects she has designed. I know her personally and have seen first hand what an engaging, caring teacher she is. If you are inspired by Ms. Fultz's post, please drop by Mrs. Aymett's site and give your dollar today!

Setting of a Poem -- Freebie

Try introducing poetry early this year.

I love this simple poem by Walt Whitman. 

Give it to your kiddos and let them discuss the way the words make a picture in their minds. I love listening in on their conversations.

After their discussions, ask them to illustrate the setting of the poem and write at least three sentences of seven words in length that tell why they drew the picture.

Click {HERE} to get the activity.

This addresses the following third grade Common Core standards, but will apply to other grade levels, as well.

RL 3.5  Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stance; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

L 3.1.i  Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

L 3.2 Demonstrate command of the capitalization, punctuate, and spelling when writing.

Today is the last day of the big Teachers Pay Teachers Sale. 

Click on the pic above to visit my store.

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!

Whacka! Whacka! Cause and Effect Freebie!

We are working hard to help our students answer Why? questions. This past week's focus has been on cause and effect. The students have loved matching up a cause with the right effect. 

Here is one of the activities we used during small groups. The kiddos loved whacking the sentence strips and identifying the cause or effect. 

The entire package is on my TpT store.

Don't forget that the Teacher Pay Teachers Back to School Sale is August 18 - 19. 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 August 18 - 19 at a great price!

A Pirate's Treasure of Multisyllable Long Vowel Words and the Giveaway Winner!

I love all things pirate! Don't you?

You and your little mates can combine decoding multisyllable words with long vowel sounds and writing sentences with this activity.

Students draw a pirate card and a shark card. They use the word on the pirate card to write the type of sentence on the shark card.

Just click on the pic above to get the activity.

Congratulations to Andrea L. She is the winner of my Back to School Giveaway and gets the Thinking Mats from Carson Dellosa. Check your email, Andrea!

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Short Vowels and Syllables Freebie!

After being a Common Core ELA coach for our state this summer, I've tried to put more emphasis on the Reading Foundations skills in third grade. I have made several activities that require students to recognize the syllables of words. Here's a freebie for you that is all about multisyllable short vowel words.

Just click on the pic above to get the freebie!

You still have until midnight to enter my giveaway for the Carson Dellosa Thinking Mats.

Click on the above pic to enter the Rafflecopter. Good luck!

Happy Monday!

Back to School Bash on Teachers Notebook!

Have you seen all the Back to School Bundles posted on Teachers Notebook?

Every bundle is 80 percent off and is chock full of great products to get you in the Back to School mood.

Click on the pics below for two samples of the bundles. You won't believe the products you can get!

EVERYTHING in my shop is marked 20 percent off until August 18.

Click on the banner below to enter my Giveaway on Teachers Notebook. Two lucky winners will win a copy of "You Auto Know!"

Big Math Topic for Third Grade

One of the biggest component's of the Third Grade Math curriculum is mastering multiplication and division facts.

Our students must be able to fluently multiply and divide within 100, as well as know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers. (3.OA.C.7)

Laura Candler sent me a digital copy of her book, Mastering Math Facts, Multiplication and Division: Aligned with the Common Core, to review.

The book contains lessons for teaching multiplication and division concepts, a motivational program to get your kiddos excited about mastering their facts, and ready to make activities!

The book is available by clicking on the picture above. If you order now, you can receive a free digital copy for easily making copies.

This book is well-laid out, full of "Laura's Tips" with suggestions for implementation, and patterns for motivational displays.

Be sure to visit Laura's website by clicking {HERE} for more info.

Back to School Celebration!

Let's celebrate my first full day of school with a FABULOUS giveaway from Carson-Dellosa!

Click on the pic above for more info!

They are offering one lucky Pitner's Potpourri blog follower their Thinking Mats for Math for your grade level to celebrate our favorite time of year! 

I  L.O.V.E these fun activities for reinforcing Common Core standards. Each set includes 15 write on-wipe off mats with matching game cards. Teach the rules to your class once, then pull them out again and again and again for Math stations or small group  or individual work. There is also a sixteen page resource guide that includes recording sheets that lets the student.....are you ready for this????....lets the students explain their work!

I am telling you, even if you don't win, you most definitely want to order your own set of these worthwhile sets of activities.

Enter by using the Rafflecopter below.



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If you haven't checked out the fun on A Classy*y Collaboration's Schoolapalooza, click on the pic below! Be sure to visit between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. EST and you can get a fabulous freebie!

First Day of School!

Today was our first day of school. It was an abbreviated day, so it was only two hours.

Since I've moved to the Title I program at our school, I didn't have a homeroom to greet or give treats to. I'll give you a freebie instead....just to make up for that empty feeling I have right now.

I'm looking forward to the change, but until we get our rosters and get the kiddos in the lab, I'm a little lonely!

Click on the pic above to get a freebie on punctuating dialogue to accompany the story, The Trial of Cardigan Jones, by Tim Egan. It's the second story in the Journeys 3rd grade basal.

Have you visited A Class*y Collaboration this week for the Schoolapalooza? Every night through August 9, you can score some fabulous freebies from the authors. Be sure to visit between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. EST to get your freebies.

Click on the pic above to join the fun!

Morning Work Freebie!

Lots of you have asked and I've answered!

I've made my Morning Work for the first nine weeks of third grade. The activities are based on the ELA and Math Common Core Standards for third grade.

To celebrate our back to school next week, I'm giving you the first week for free!

Just click on the pic below to get the work.

If you'd like the whole pack, click {HERE} to visit my store for more info!

We have our Learning Loop and visit all of our students today. It's going to be a fun day!