Needs-Based Groups

My FAVORITE part of the day is reading.  I LOVE teaching reading.  Call me crazy, but the group that I request to teach each year is the lowest group.  I have such a desire to instill that love of reading in each student, helping fill in their gaps, identify those that need to be in the RTI process and see their reading take off and SOAR!!! 

 

3-weeks needs based groups are so effective in helping students.  There can be any combination of a groups' needs taught during the 15 minutes each group rotates through.    For my particular level of students, we are working on sight words using the Instant Word List and phonics.

 

I use needs-based groups to help my struggling students in reading.  It is very precise and also very streamlined.

 

Everything I need is in this bin.

This year I am keeping the current 3-week plans in this 3-prong pocket folder.  I have 3 pages.  One for each group along with three baggies labeled group 1, group 2, and group 3 which are stored in the front pocket. These baggies contain the Instant Words each group is practicing.  In the back pocket is 1/2 sheet notebook paper we use for phonics work each day.

 

I use a this write-wipe board for the phonics work.

The spelling book which accompanies our reading series is used for the phonics portion.

In the past, I have also used a folder for each group which kept the current 3-weeks plans and Instant Words.

The front of the the 3-week lesson plans.  The bottom X-Knows should be highlighted.  I assess each student at the end of the 3 weeks.  If the student  has learned the word, the X will be highlighted.

 

The back of my lesson plan has the explicit teacher talk so that anyone (including a sub) can walk into my room and teach the lesson in the same manner I teach.

 

Do you use 3-week plans in your classroom?  How do you utilize Needs-Based Groups?

 

If you want to learn more, feel free to contact me.  You can also purchase a comprehensive 180 page unit with explicit instructions in my TPT Store or TN Store.

 

 

Also, if you haven't grabbed a TON of great freebies, please see my earlier post this week with my linky party.  It's not too late to link up!    Please read what to include and prepare your post now.  I am LOVING reading the stories behind the freebies and getting some WONDERFUL freebies.  Go load up on yours now! 

 

 

(P. S.  Don't forget to leave some love and become a follower!!!  :-)

 

 

My Favorite Freebie Linky Party

Are your pockets turned inside out because they are empty of cash?  Are you digging in your couch to see if you can find some extra coins?  Are you just spent out from ALLLLL the things you bought for your classroom to start off the year?  If so, you've come to the right place.  I am hosting a

My favorite freebie that I have made so far is:

It is my favorite because...
I think it is different, unique, and a little quirky...someething that you won't find other places.  The best part of all is that you only need to save a few cereal boxes to use it!!!

The story behind it...
One afternoon last spring when I got home, I saw that my dear hubby had set the empty cereal box on the countertop. To make matters worse, it was the same countertop over top of the trashcan!!! GRRRR...Now, how much harder could it have been to put the box into the trash? I picked it up and I'm grumbling and growling to myself about the injustice aggravation of it all, when...EPHIANY!!! I find myself looking at the Captain Crunch box and all the cute activities on the back of the box and I hear myself saying to my students, "You can read anything you want. I don't care what it is. It can even be a box of cereal!!!" Eureka!!! Just like that an idea POPPED into my head!!

How to use it...
All you need is several empty cereal boxes to make a great week of lessons for literacy stations.

 

 

For this worksheet, students will embark on a Cereal Box Scavenger Hunt.  All of these items can be found on any box of cereal.

 

Even if the students don't know what the word is, they can find words that begin with each letter of the alphabet.  (I put x/y together, just in case it was hard to find a word begining with x.)

Get some great presuasive writing in.  Your students have to make an advertistment pitch to "sell" the cereal for a television commercial. 

 

Put these task cards in your writing center.  Rotate one per week, or give each student his/her own task card to complete.

Add some Language Arts by having students do a word sort.

Now that you know a little more about this freebie, please click here or on the front cover picture above to go to my store to download your own free copy. 

 

Now, didn't planning for next week just get a little easier?

 

Continue getting more great ideas by clicking below to get some more great freebies.  Don't forget to show your appreciation by becoming a follower of all of our blogs and stores.  Becoming a follower will insure that you get notices when more great ideas are uploaded to these stores. 

 

If you REALLY want to show your appreciation, please leave some great feedback and comments.  Be sure to share with your friends and colleagues!

 

 

What is the best freebie you've made to share with others?  Link up to showcase it and tell why it's your favorite.  Be sure to post this picture along with a link back to the post.

Find more freebies at this linky party!

Some New Units and a Freebie!

I've been BUSY makig some new items for my TPT store.  Please go over and check them out to see if they are anything you need for your classroom.  Now that I'm back in my classroom, I have a TON of new ideas.  I can't wait to get them made and share with you.

Are you ready for cooler weather?

Get ready by printing and laminating this unit to decorate your classroom.

Display your students' work by using the owl accents to highlight some great work.

What's included.  All of this for $4.95.  Click here to purchase.

 These 24 games can be used to take the place of worksheets, for a study guide of a big test, to end a unit, etc. The list goes on and on. Use for comprehension questions, vocabulary lists, math problems, spelling words and more.

Make learning, review, and test prep FUN!!!

These games are simple to use with little or no prep work on your part...EASY, PEASY planning!

Download these 2 games for free on the preview.  Get all of these games for only $2.50.

Check them out here.

 

My reading group is still struggling with short vowel sounds.  So I made just a simple chart to put up.  I have posted it on Google Drive to share.  If you would like these, please click on the picture to get yours.

 

 

 

A Rafter, a Leap and a Murder?

What do these three words have in common?  If you're a 2nd grade teacher teaching the new Common Core Curriculum, then you already know the answer to this one!  They're all used in Collective Noun phrases.  Yes, that's just one of many new Common Core Standards which we are now teaching in 2nd grade.

I must admit, when I had to go to a couple of professional development meetings to rewrite our county curriculum map and rewrite our standards based report cards, I felt a little panic.  (I also felt far ahead of the game by getting an in-depth view last spring which has helped greatly!)

Almost ALL of our Language Arts Standards have been changed.  In the past, even grades just built on previous learning while teaching the material deeper and wider.  Well...no longer!  Almost everything we will teach this year will be brand new learning.

I am teaching the lowest reading group this year.  (At my request...this is my very favorite level to teach!)  So, we are starting off pretty basic.  Today, we made an anchor chart and discussed some different phrases. 

A rafter of turkeys, a leap of leopards, and a murder of crows all made the kids laugh.

Then, the students chose a phrase to write and illustrate.  Here are a few...

A bouquet of flowers

 

A bunch of balloons

a convoy of trucks

An army of soldiers

 

Are you enjoying teaching the new standards?  It's keeping us on our toes isn't it!  lol

 

Back in the Swing of Things

My kids and I are getting settled into a routine and getting used to each other.  Things seems to have calmed down, most testing is done (with the exception of DIBELS) which is being completed this week, and I am ready to go!

We've been working on the new standard for 2nd grade...working with numbers to 1,000 by counting, skip-counting, reading and writing the numbers.  My students had a ball working on these last week. 

I had severeal sentence strips with our previous standards listed on them.  They were a huge stack and I couldn't bring myself to just toss them (you know how we teachers are!), so, instead, I let my students paste their "Mini Hundreds Charts to 1,000" on them instead.

 

It took a little over 2 strips per student.  They really enjoyed getting to spread out all over the floor.

 

After they had them all pasted, we skip-counted by 5's, 10's and 100's to 1,000.  

As we skip-counted, we colored the numbers.

Here they are all finished.  These are going to be our "cheat sheets" to use tomorrow as we write numbers 1-1,000.  These had all the numbers filled in.

 

To get your own copy, click on the picture below. 

 

 

On the home front...remember, I can't stand to get rid of stuff!!!  :-(  So, when this firepit got the bottom busted out from a hail storm, I decided to make it into a flower pot!  Now, I've got a decorative, large, terra cotta flower pot in my flower bed.

 

I'm feeling pretty cool, calm and collected after the long weekend.

 

I am usually a SUPER organized teacher...just ask my co-workers!!  The first two weeks of school, I did NOT feel that way for some reason.  Maybe because of several changes I wasn't aware of when school first started.  However, I now feel back to where I like to be and I have the next month of lesson plans complete...YES...MUCH better!!!!

Check back often this week to see what all we're up to.  Are you back on an even-keel yet?

CRAZY, HECTIC, and... I LOVE IT!!!!

Okay, I think (hopefully) that I'm back!  It's been a crazy, busy, three weeks, but I think I have finally gotten my groove back and settled into a routine.  No more treading water for me...I HATE that feeling don't you??? 

No matter how crazy and hectic the beginning of the year is, I still ABSOLUTELY LOOOOOVE it!!! 

I've finally learned all 55 of my student's names, which in itself has made life a little better.  Haleys, Kaleigh, Kassandra, Chris, Christian, Christopher.... All those names that sound so similiar can really become confusing!  lol

Enough of that.  Onto the pictures!  Afterall, that's really everybody's favorite part of blogs isn't it??

Here's what we've been up to.

I love to use games and fun activities in my classroom.  This makes learning fun!!!  Here is a simple little game I named, "Race to 100!"  These are the only items you need.  I laminated several copies of the 100 chart several years ago and they are still working great!

 

I teach my students how to play this game in pairs.  It is a quick, go-to game when you have just a few minutes to fill, beginning your day, indoor recess, math centers, etc.

 

To play this game, simply put the markers off the board.  The first student rolls the die and moves that many places by starting with the number 1.  The next player then takes his turn.  Play continues in this manner until a student reaches 100. 

 

This simple and fun game helps with so many concepts:  counting, addition, place value, etc.

When students reach 100, encourage them to RACE back to 0.  Gives it a twist with some subtraction thrown in!

 

Try this game.  Your students will love it!

 

I've also been working on a new theme for my store...TURTLES!!!  This was a specialty order.  I had to much fun making the Back-to-School theme that I couldn't stop!

 

Just click on the picture to see more.

 

 

Check back often this week.  I've got lots of fun activities planned in the classroom and my camera is ready to go!

 

Happy Labor Day!

 

I hope you can use this long, relaxing weekend to stop treading water also!  :-)