Writing Anchor Charts

I just finished working on my Writing Anchor Charts and it's uploaded on TPT!  My Reading Anchor Charts still seem to be a hit on TPT, so I like to create others with the same styling for anyone to use in the classroom.  There are two types of themes: Bright Chevron & Ocean Waves!

Writing Process

I included 7 steps with the writing process: Prewrite, Draft, Revise, Edit, & Publish are the usual.  I added in Peer Review & Present as optional steps.

I have done these steps with my class in the past and found good benefits from it!

Types of Writing

Persuasive, Descriptive, Expository and Narrative writing have been explained with some helpful tips.

You can easily use these to help introduce each type of writing and display as a reference for students.

Editing Marks

Tons of poster pages to display for students to use while the editing & revision stages of writing.

These are bright and easy to read.

Thinking Maps & Charts

I made sure to display all types of Thinking Maps & Charts I've used to organize information.  Each poster names the use for each.

These allow students to understand & utilize the "Prewrite" stage fo writing.

I have also included these extras & more:

• Writing Hooks
• Transitional Words
• Essay Writing Layout

Scientific Method Packet

I've been really enjoying making various anchor charts to help display as a reference in the classroom.  (And seems those on TPT have enjoyed them as well!)

Whenever I would do any lab in the classroom, whether it be one I made/found or from our science workbook, I always used a lab sheet to fill in each step of the Scientific Method.  This way the students could become more familiar with each step and be able to apply these steps in their own experiments.

We would fill in a quick worksheet with quick notes and glue them into our Science Journals with a summary and image.  Our school used those Science Journals (or Interactive Notebooks) throughout the K-5 years.  It was helpful for students in 5th grade when Science became a big part of testing.

Includes:

• Scientific Method full page posters
• Game played 2 ways (Matching Cards or SCOOT)
• 28 related vocabulary cards (great for Word Wall)
• 2 types of Lab Sheets - lower & upper levels
• Student reference sheet
• Science Safety full page posters

Like all my other anchor charts, I've made two versions.  Bright Colors/General Theme (picture at the top) & Ocean Waves Theme (below).

Please make sure to check my TPT store for more anchor charts!

Language Arts Anchor Charts, Packet #1

My Reading Anchor Charts are my most purchased item in my TPT Store, so I decided to continue using this format in other subjects.  I created a packet of 35 display full page posters to aid the teacher and students in Language Arts.  This packet focuses on Parts of Speech & Punctuation with a brief explanation and a mixture of images, examples, sentences, and side notes.  These are intended to help introduce and display for reference.

There are two versions: Bright Color/General Theme and Ocean Waves Theme

Parts of Speech Focus:

1. Adverb
2. Article
3. Conjunction
4. Interjection
5. Preposition
6. Pronoun
7. Subject-Verb Agreement
8. Adjectives, including Comparative & Superlative
9. Nouns, including Common, Proper, Singular, Plural, Possessive
10. Verbs, including Regular, Irregular, Action, Helping, Linking, Being

Punctuation Focus:

1. Apostrophe
2. Brackets
3. Colon
4. Comma
5. Dash
6. Parentheses
7. Period/Full-Stop
8. Semicolon
9. Ellipsis
10. Exclamation
11. Hyphen
12. Question Mark
13. Quotation Marks

I'll be working on more Anchor Charts as I enjoy making them.  I have plans for the following: Understanding Words (Base Words, Prefixes/Suffixes, Homophones, etc.), Text Features (Headings, Captions, Table of Context, etc.), Lang. Arts Packet #2 (Grammar, Editing, Types of Sentences, etc.). I may even venture into Math & Science Vocabulary!

Are there any Anchor Chart ideas you'd like?

Titanic Reading Unit

Do you study or discuss Titanic in your classroom?  Do you work on informational text or books written to inform the readers?  Looking for tons of activities already planned out for you? Looking to incorporate Reading & Social Studies?

Well, I'm happy to this Titanic Reading Unit with you!  I've spent the past two weeks slowly creating this reading unit and compiling all the activities I've done in the past (plus some new ones) into a packet.

I have done this unit for the past 3 years when I taught 3rd grade.  In Florida we had to prepare our 3rd graders for FCAT (standardized testing), at the time, and when we were done we still had just over 2 months left of school.  Our team always enjoyed doing this unit after that to let the students truly enjoy something.

We allowed more time than normal for research and projects.  Our students always enjoyed this unit in the past!  We even got to incorporate a field trip to the Titanic Artifact Exhibition that does a tremendous job with the students! (I've been on this field trip 3 times and I swear I learn something new each time!)

Packet Includes:

• Common Core alignment for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades
• Handouts and Games for Reading Skills: Cause & Effect, Compare & Contrast, Main Idea & Supporting Details, Figurative Language, Vocabulary Development, Sequence of Events, and more!
• Titanic Diorama Project - Handout and examples
• Passenger Profiles - research real passengers
• Reading Unit Test
• Close Reading handouts
• Answer Keys for everything
• Writing essays
• Book suggestions
• Extra activities
• Pacing Guide & more!

Please keep in mind this packet is aligned with the book The Titanic: Lost... and Found by Judy Donnelly, book is NOT included.  I bought my personal copy through Nook and share it on our projector using my iPad.

What did the students enjoy?

The students truly enjoyed their Diorama Projects and LOVED sharing them with the class! In the packet I mention this was intended as an "At Home" project, but we decided to bring in the supplies we wanted and were able to work on the projects whenever they finish their work early.  I gave time to work on just the project as well.  Most of my students did it in class and at home.  It's amazing to see what they come up with.

The students also enjoyed videos I would show of the real Titanic that researchers have taken over the years.  We also found interesting facts that the students thought were unbelievable.  AND, of course, our field trip!  They felt like they were actually on the Titanic.  They were given passenger ticket cards at the beginning of the tour, then had to find out if their passenger survived or not in the disaster.

What did I enjoy as a teacher?

I love, love, love this unit because it is quite rewarding to see the students excitedly engaged to learn more about this event in history!  I liked that I could incorporate Reading & Social Studies and allow time to expand their thinking.  It amazed me to see my 8-9 year olds handle this topic so well, a lot more understanding and mature than you would think.  I also enjoyed the variety of activities we created.

Check out this Titanic Reading Unit at TPT!

Make sure you click "Preview" to get an overview of the packet.

Reading Anchor Chart

I recently created anchor charts for various reading skills.  I have used these to introduce skills, display in the classroom for student reference, and to review skills.  These full page charts provide a bright title, definition/explanation, and a mixture of related images, examples, and further details.  I covered 29 different skills, and I hope I got them all.  (If you can think of another one, please let me know!)

There are two versions of this product.  One with a bright rainbow (chevron) background and another with an Ocean Waves background theme.  The rainbow theme is great for nearly any colorful classroom.  I created the ocean waves theme to match my ocean themed room.

I will be working on a packet for Figurative Language, Base Words, Text Features, and Parts of Speech.  

Click below to the packet you'd like to check out:

Reading Anchor Charts - Bright Rainbow

Reading Anchor Charts - Ocean Waves

Rounding Up to the Millions Place Value

Rounding Up to the Millions Place Value packet is up on my TPT store! While teaching 3rd grade (8-9 year olds), we would always start our math curriculum with estimating and place value.  It's a skill I know they learned in the previous grade and they know how to apply the skills.  However, for some reason they always struggle with it!  (Nearly every student it seems.)  As the year would proceed and we would move on to the new chapters, we would move pass this skill.  Once we revisit this skill a while later, they have a better grasp of it and didn't understand why they thought it was so difficult.

This packet includes:
* 2 different cover pages for your mini book
* 30 pages of practice from 10s to 1,000,000s, 2 examples on each page (60 total)
* 7 blank sheets to create your own practice numbers (rom 10s to 1,000,000s)

You can either copy and staple as a packet, or cut the sheets in half and create a mini practice book!

Best for grades 1st - 4th!  You can customize your packet to meet the needs of your students, especially for struggling students and those who would like enrichment practice.

Rounding & Place Value Daily Practice

Last year, I decided to do a daily number to practice rounding to each place value, naming all the place values, reviewing some vocabulary, and so on.  I found regular practice made my students more comfortable and confident in rounding.

My students enjoyed this that they even wanted to try numbers up to trillion place value!  They really enjoyed trying to say these obnoxiously large numbers.

What have you done to improve your students' skills in rounding & place value?

Word of the Day

Word of the Day was something I tried for the first time last year with my 3rd graders (8-9 year olds).  Our new curriculum had a book of challenging words to accompany enrichment reading.  I found these words were great for my class overall since I had majority of high learners.  

Using with Writing Journals

We used mini sheets and the students filled out the information I provided on the front board (word, parts of speech, definition, and my sentence example).  Then the student would write their own sentence using a form of the word and try to think of a synonym, antonym, and the word using a prefix or suffix.  After completing this, the students would glue the sheets in their writing journals and work on grammar sentences.

We did a lot of modeling and discussing of each parts at the beginning of the year.  We would discuss that the students were to copy the word, part of speech, and definition, but were not allowed to use my sentence.  A lot of my students would get stuck on writing sentences, so I gave my example but would discuss that they can only use it as a guide to create their own

With synonyms, antonyms, and prefixes/suffixes, we discussed that not all words would have these and you may not be able to fill out all parts.  After our morning announcements, I would review the word with them and let a few students share their examples, and fill out the remaining as a class.  I also allowed time to complete the sheet after discussion to fill out the final boxes and finish up their own sentences.  

Why It Helped

My students may not have been able to memorize all or some these words, and that wasn't the goal.  I did notice that my struggling students were able to read stories and come up with similar definitions just from how the story used them and could identify parts of speech, synonyms, and antonyms.

We would read in whole group and small groups, and all my students would came across words with prefixes and/or suffixes and were able to point them out on their own.  When I would ask them to evaluate the word, they could tell me the base word, its definition using the prefix/suffix, the definitions of the base word and prefix/suffix separately.

Want More?

I'm working on building on this packet.  This is currently a free download at my TPT store, but I hope to add another packet with these sheets and a listing of 4 sets of 45 words.  This way the words and information are provided for you.  Keep a look out for that in the future!

Have you used something similar to Word of the Day?
Share your thoughts!

I'm Done! Activities

Click to view the product at my TPT store!

This packet includes activities for students to do independently when they have finished their work early.  There are 6 sheets of activities: 3 sheets for Reading/Lang. Arts activities (1 cover card, 17 activity cards) and 3 sheets for Math activities (1 cover card, 17 activity cards). This packet includes both color cards and black and white. I've also included blank cards for you to create your own.

How I Used I'm Done! Activities

I used to use the typical "read a book" or "take an A.R. test" when my students were done with their work early.  This is still a rule I use when my students are currently working on their A.R. goals.  However, I've had students who had completed their goals and wanted to work on something else.  These were a big hit with my students last year!  Some of my students would even come up with ideas to add to our cards, which is why I made blank cards.

Reading/Lang. Arts Activities

These activities focus on reading skills and expanding their knowledge through writing.  My students really enjoy writing and creating their own stories, then sharing them with their classmates.

Some activities require some materials to have on hand or pre-made: 8-page paper booklet, white boards, paper (lined and blank), Writing Journal, letter tiles, and spelling & vocabulary words of the week.

Math Activities

These focus on various math skills to help practice and build knowledge.  I made this for 3rd grade and focus on a lot of the skills taught at that level.  However, some students would ask how to do a certain card with a skill that wasn't previously taught (either in our class or previous years) and I would recommend not doing those until we taught the skills in class.

Some materials needed for these activities include: number cards (like playing cards), fraction cards, whiteboards, math facts worksheets already printed, various dice, flash cards telling time, rulers or anything to measure length, and geoboards with rubberbands.

Plus, some games you may need to learn about are Top It (link downloads Word Document with directions) with Addition, which can easily be changed to Multiplication, subtraction, and fractions (only pick up 1 card at a time). More Top It games explained at Primary Chalkboard!

What activities do you like to have available
for your students when they finish early?

The Scientific Method - Lab Sheet

Go to my TPT store to purchase this product!

After learning about The Scientific Method, you can use this lab sheet as part of your Science Notebook/Lab Work.

Fill out each bubble based on the experiment you are conducting using the labels and questions as guides.  (Your students can write quick notes or 1-2 sentences in each bubble.)

This includes 2 lab sheets:
* Lab Sheet with directions to draw the experiment and write a summary on the back.
* Lab Sheet without picture and summary.

Behavior Chart (Freebie)

I have a fish/under the sea theme in my classroom and came across this behavior chart, which I purchased for my class and have been using it for 4 years now.  The positive reinforcement really made a difference in my classroom management.

I created this freebie behavior chart for you!

The Chart

This chart includes 9 pages total, with 7 chart sheets.  The idea is to start all students on "Ready to Learn!" and explained that any page here and above are considered good classroom behavior.  All pages below this are considered inappropriate classroom behavior with consequences.  In the download the pages are in order from highest to lowest.

How it Worked for Me

This was a great tool in my classroom management.  I found that my students responded to positive reinforcement and always want to go the extra step to move up on the chart.  We spent time to discuss what are the expectations for "Ready to Learn!" and what allows the students can move up.  I discuss with them that this is when they are a model student and do something/go above and beyond what is expected.  For example, helping another student without being asked, helping out in the classroom without being told, and so on.  It really did create a helping and positive classroom environment.

I would always give 1 verbal warning to the students if they aren't showing appropriate classroom behavior.  If they don't change their behavior, then they will have to move down the chart.  (The only time I have a student move down without a verbal warning is when they do something they know is inappropriate, harmful, or unsafe.)  

Let me know if you download this and use it in your class!  I'd love to hear how it worked out for you!