All I Want for Black Friday is….

Hi sweet friends!  I'm only a day and a half into my Thanksgiving Break, and I am LOVING this time to get refreshed!  AND…..get all of my lists GOING!  I've got 

• Grocery lists (Low Country Boil for our alternative Thanksgiving dinner this year) and…
• My online shopping lists are going by the DAY!  I'm al title addicted to Jane.com right now.
• My Back-to-School lists to squeeze in all of the academics before  Benchmark Testing & have some fun along the way!

So, I was super excited to join in the FABULOUS ladies at The Primary Pack a super fun linky!

Here goes!

I've got some BIGGIES on my list this year!  

I'm really hoping to gift MYSELF with a new laptop!  I've worked SUPER hard this year to help with the extras for my  TWO kids in college!  I've been using my school-issued Mac Air…which is a DREAM, but teachers do not have Admin rights!  It is so frustrating!  AND….I might have filled it up by linking up my Google Drive to it.  Just maybe…..
I'm also hoping  that my sweet hubs will catch the hints I've been dropping about some Hunter Boots for this winter.  I may live in Alabama, but honey…it gets cold and just stays WET!  Our parking lot always seems to have several inches of water.  I've already had to change my shoes and wear slippers in my classroom TWICE and it's only November.  Dear daughter says they're kind of heavy' heavy but…Hey!  won't that my my steps on my Fitbit WORTH  more??  I just love how cozy and SASSY they look!

Do you think he'll take the hints????  Any helpful advice?

The TOP two products on my list are these two beauties!  

I've joined a new team this year, and they really love doing a huge unit on Tall Tales!  Can not WAIT!  I already have Rachel Lamb's awesome unit, but I think this set will complement that one perfectly!  Hope King is super talented!
My class this year is just WAY too pokey with the cutting and pasting in our math INBs this year.  We just finished up the addition set of this No-Cut series by Teach Clubhouse, and it was just perfect!  Now…I'm hoping to snag a sale!  I'm pretty certain some CLIP ART will wind up in my final purchases, too.  Oy!  The addiction!

Click the image to find this in my store!

Now is the perfect time to prep for those three final weeks of the school year before Winter Break!  I think  you'd love this set I used in my classroom last year!  You can read about how I put it together last year HERE.  My kids went bananas over the little gift bags!  How sweet is THAT!  I loved setting them out and having purposeful centers that reviewed some key skills.  We were hitting fractions pretty hard when I snapped this picture---the Freezing Fractions and Fraction Frenzy task cards are part of other task card sets.

If you use Reading Street and haven't stumbled upon these, I'm about to make your life a bit easier!

Click the image to see all of my Reading Street Interactive Notebooks & Focus Wall Posters

I absolutely love INBs, and the set I created to use in my classroom has been SO well received my by sweet TpT friends!  I completed 3rd grade last year and am creating 4th grade THIS year!

They come in a paper saving format with two per page!  Definitely a plus for me!  Makes it so much easier to use my pretty paper, too!

So many of my pages are versatile enough that you can use them with ANY reading passage--not just the basal reader pages!  I just love the structure of having a routine that includes three elements each and every week:

• Comprehension Skill
• Vocabulary Skill
• Selection Vocabulary

My Focus Walls for 3rd grade Reading Street provide a "One & Done" set up that allows you to switch out each week in a snap!

Hope you have a WONDERFUL holiday sweet friends!

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Classroom Decor & Interactive Notebook Must Haves

Hi friends...old & new!  Thanks for stopping in!

I'm super excited to be sharing not one...but TWO different items to inspire your Summer Stock-Up!  

One of my favorite categories is create for myself and for others are my series of Editable Labels, Deskplates & Banners.

I don't know about you, but when if comes to personalizing my classroom....I want OPTIONS!  I want multi-use.  I want to PRINT, LAMINATE, and GO.  So, I've created this series in hopes that those like myself can choose a color or theme they like & have a resource to turn to all year.

The sizes and the number of options inside each set is a bit different--based on the needs of who I created the sets FOR, however, there are some common elements that I think are vital and in each set.

All of the sets come with:

Banners in two sizes...ready to insert your letters in your favorite font.  Print...laminate...and go!

--The landscape fits 2-3 of the pieces to a page

--The portrait fits one piece per page

This is a snapshot of my own classroom while I was setting up for Back to School.
I use the Blue & Green set in my room.

I also have used the other style of banner for my "I Can" wall and my "Daily 5" wall.  You can grab this one in my store for FREE, too!  Click HERE to grab it anytime!

I use this style of banner strung together with a thin ribbon.
Add decorative ribbon on each end.  Pin to the wall.  Done!

Labels

In the Landscape folder, you have these choices that fit on one page:

• 2 Large Deskplates  Some of my newer sets also include lined Deskplates that are Print & Go: Ready to manually your students names in your preferred writing model.
• 4 Task Card sized labels

In the Portrait folder, you have these choices that fit on one page:

• 4 Smaller Deskplates
• 8 Small Task Card sized label

All of these labels come to you ready to insert a text box, choose your favorite font & color, and type the label.  These labels have limitless choices!

These large task card labels are perfect for my large library bins to create JUST the genre titles I need!
No wasted ink using labels that don't work for me.

Chalkboard & White Centers

I like having lots of options while keeping my look cohesive.  Having the choice between white centered labels and banners provides the look I want at any given time.  

The look of the same label really changes when you add the chalkboard center, doesn't it?  Pick and choose when you want that look and when you don't.  No need to buy two different sets.  It's included!

Cute Clips/ No Clips Options

There are times when I want my theme to show in my decor and times when I don't.  All of my labels come with and without clips on the side.  

You choose!

Get a closer look by looking at my previews at each of my products be clicking HERE!

All are 20% off!

There are a lot of interactive notebooks out there.  I have a love affair with them!  Finding just what I needed to support our reading program was a struggle.  So, what I have created is once again based on what I needed and shared if there were those of similar needs.  These have become my best setting items in my store...which is so humbling considering I really thought I had a very narrow audience.  How wrong I was!  In a nutshell... I"m sharing....

I am a bit biased but these Interactive Notebooks have saved me!  I just love them!  So, if you use Reading Street in THIRD or FOURTH grade, let me share how this beauties can add a wonderful learning routine on a weekly basis.

Three Pages for Each Week

Each week includes:

• A Full page for the weekly Selection Vocabulary
• A Full page  includes 2 Half-Pages of the weekly Comprehension Skill
• A Full page includes 2 Half-Pages of the weekly Vocabulary Skill

Notice I wrote...HALF Pages

Yes, this paper saving resource cut your paper usage in half.  We are on a tight copy limit as well as paper usage, so I am print conscious.  These have helped tremendously!

I really prefer using composition notebooks, so this smaller size will fit either a spiral notebook OR composition notebooks.

The Selection Vocabulary pages fit nicely on a two page spread.  Perfect for independent work while you meet with your small groups.  Definitions can go on the outside while the inside expectations can vary from group-to-group or week-to-week.  Meaningful sentences, illustrations, synonyms, antonyms, etc.  You are the teacher!  Make it your own!

  

I'd love for you to see the previews in my store to see all the pieces you will get!

Or click HERE to go there now!  All sets are 20% off!

UPDATE! 9/12/15

After so many requests, I've bundled my 4th Grade INBs as a growing bundle! click on the image below and see it in my store!

That's it for me!  Now click below to see more!!

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Reading Interactive Notebooks Supporting Reading Street

Summer is here!  And time to kick off the first weekly Monday Made It!

4th Grade Frolics

  My first and biggest MMI has been a very long project.  In fact, it's been in the works for 13 years.  Yep, my baby boy graduated from high school!  I'm so proud of his accomplishment, and the future he holds in his hands.  So much fear in sending your child off to college--are they ready, should they stay home the first year.  These are all things I can't know, but I do know that our successes and failures happen for a reason.  I wish him well in the fall when he ventures across the state line to attend Mississippi State University

I've been doing versions of Math Interactive Notebooks for the last several years.  They've progressed from simple post-it notes to these elaborate flap pages.  My kids LOVE the chance to get out their scissors and glue, as we work together to establish meaning and a resource for our learning.  I have really done very little with them in reading and really want to change that!  My Math INB are usually done in spiral notebooks, but I really like composition notebooks, too.  The covers are much more durable.  Plus, kids are less likely to rip pages out for other things!

Now that you have 100 blank pages, with all the skills and such to fill them, how do you keep it all organized?  I've given this a lot of thought, and here is my plan for next school year.  Reading Street is broken up into 6 units with 5 weeks embedded in each one.  I've decided that I will focus on 2 skills a week and the Selection Vocabulary OR Amazing Words.  I'm still up in the air about this, so for blogging purposes, I'm including the selection vocab.

First, the kids will need to set up the Table of Contents.

I used the red guidelines as the natural dividers for the sections.  I have "Unit", "Table of Contents", "Pg".  So, for  Unit 1 Week 1, they will label "1.1" and a line for whatever skills to be covered.  Of course, these skills would be introduced on different days, but you can see how it will be referenced.  

Next, skip over three pages (planning a page front to back for the 6 units)

I always have my kids cut the "perimeters" first before we ever get going in our Math INB.  Perfect time to introduce this word to their Academic Vocabulary. All the cutting and chit chat will get out of their system, and we can focus on the task at hand all at once.  I know some shy away from INBs for this reason.   Trust me, if you establish a routine, it goes quickly and they start to anticipate what to do. 

The biggest hurdle is getting them to only glue the strip and not the WHOLE page!  Having a finished product displayed on your Elmo helps.  That said, once you train them to the procedure, it will go super quick.  Cut the flaps once it is glued down will help keep the paper more manageable.  If you cut the flaps THEN glue, it's harder to glue the strip down straight.  

Sorry this is sideways- I guess my camera didn't flip with me.  But as you can see, you are ready to record.  You have 2 places to record, it is really up to you.  We will likely define the terms to go with the text book on one side.  Then on the lined parts, students will need to find examples from their reading.  In this case, it could be the literature from Unit 1 Week 1, and I would expect that when we revisit this skill, they can cite from their own reading.  Or you may differentiate how you approach this and do as your small group lesson.  

I set up the Vocabulary Skill Page a little differently because of the skill.

Gluing happens in the middle strip.

We will likely do examples as part of the whole group or small group lesson.  The INB part might be done together or part of the Word Work assignment.  My example shows the homonym in the center and an illustration on the outside.

 The inside includes a meaningful sentence and another illustration that goes with that sentence.

To set up the Selection Vocabulary/Amazing Words section, flip to the VERY middle of the book to start the vocabulary section.  We will use both sides each week in a two-page spread.

 I have the kids cut one perimeter, then cut in half.  Like with the other flap books, glue the strips first and cut the flaps after.

We used to do a version of this on a single sheet of paper each week. Folded, quartered, and using one  box for each word.  It was very meaningful, but what to do with it after the week is over?  I had trouble saving and filing them, so this was a great solution.  I use this for Word Work each week, too. Definition on the front, illustration and sentence on the inside.  As the year progresses, we add synonyms and antonyms.  Finding synonyms/antonyms for these words is SUCH a challenge sometimes, but it becomes a puzzle once they know that some words don't have clear cut choices to be found in the dictionary. I really need them to think deeper about vocabulary!

  So, using only 2 full sheets a week for the INBs (one for the vocabulary and half each for the other skills), I have three meaningful activities as part of our routine.  Minimal prep-Maximum impact.

To go with this first unit, I've put together a task card set that is great to pull out during this and anytime during the year

Click here to see in my TpT store

I love making and USING task cards with my kids.  They are a great way to check for understanding at the beginning of a topic and for assessments, too.  I've chosen 12 homonyms that are used twice.  On the answer document, the students choose either "A" or "B".  

That part is pretty sample, but the kids need to choose a word or phrase that was the clue to help them choose.  Citing words from the text and finding context clues is an important skill.  

1/2

I say HALF because I'm not quite done, but I am pretty excited about updating my Reading Focus Wall this summer.  I've put together a collection of posters for the first week of Unit 1 and plan to make them for the YEAR!  Hope to stay focused on that one!  Here's a sneak peak!

I haven't quite decided if I want to bundle them as Reading Street or as Skill and Strategy posters. My Interactive Notebook Pages will be available then, too! If you'll follow my store on TpT, you'll see them as soon as they are up though!!

My TPT Store

That's me for this week!  I even spent some time at the pool! But laundry......... that's another matter!

Hope you'll check back on Thursday each week this summer and read all the responses from The Primary Gal's book Study of Guided Math!  I'm half-way thru the chapter 2 prepping for my blog post.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Debbi

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