nonfiction comes to life...

I have been racking my brain lately to make sure that I do things that are engaging. I have really wanted to make sure this year is engaging especially because there are four tested areas in fifth grade in Florida. FOUR. How the heck do you do it all? I want to say you do and you can and here's all the tricks but yeah right. I don't have the tricks BUT I do have ideas and hopefully they're going to be just as strong as the year goes on. 

One of my first ideas this year was to follow Hope King and set the stage to engage or on Instagram known as #setthestagetoengage. If you don't follow her...you should. I wanted my kids to review text features so I brought it to life. Figuratively speaking of course. I used anchor chart paper to draw a person. I used 1 for about every 3 people. Then we used nonfiction articles and we found all of these amazing text features within the article. They had to use the article pieces to "save" the persons life. It was a super simple lesson and it showed me that the students most definitely understood text features. 
*Supplies- * Please know that the following links contain affiliate links. this means that I earn some money if you purchase through the links provided on my website.
- Face masks for doctors- 
- Gloves - 
Hair Net
- nonfiction articles
- a person drawn on anchor chart paper

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What are the components of Guided Math?

Hey everyone! Last week I posted about what Guided Math is. If you want to read it then check out (here). This is a four week post about Guided Math. This is week 2. 

What are the components of Guided Math?

Y'all let me tell you... There are a lot of ways to do Guided Math. No really...there's a lot. I may have one way that is effective for me and another way that may be effective for you. There is so much that goes into Guided Math but once you get into the rhythm you'll be set. This will be a long(er) post so hopefully you can bare with me through it!

What does my math block look like?

If you have a different amount of time, then I would definitely recommend manipulating the times. I personally like to make sure that I get to all my groups daily but sometimes I do run out of time and will need to pull the last group later. 

How do I make the groups?

I break them up by levels. I have a low level, the middle level (which is usually two groups) and then the high group. I know a lot of people say to see your low group first but I don't do that. Wait! Before you freak out- hear me out. My math block in first grade was first thing in the morning. If I pulled my low kids first, I would have to make sure the rest of my kids are settled (which usually only happens in the first group) and then that first group lost out on time that honestly...they really needed. I pulled my second highest group because they are the ones that will move (or gain levels.) 

What are the other students doing while I'm in small group?

Interactive Notebooks, Math Journals, Hands on Activities, Independent Work, Xtra Math and Ten Marks. I don't have a rotation however I know there are many people out there that do have boards. One of my favorites is Sweet Tooth Teaching. I really like her work-it's nice and clean!

How do I implement?

Come back next week so you can read all about how to implement Guided Math!!!

Leave your comments below so I can hear different ideas about how you run Guided Math in your classroom. 

September Dive Into Reading

Hey everyone!
I would like to formally introduce you to my friend Sarah! Sarah and I are great friends and we have created an amazing product for you! Last year, when I came back from maternity leave I was a mess in so many ways. One of the big ways was that I never felt successful as a teacher. I feel like I was barely keeping my head above the water. I needed something to use in my classroom for reading so I could just print the lesson plans, any vocabulary words, and the crafts and be DONE! This is how Dive Into Reading began. 

We are creating all of these units for every grade but bare with us. We are starting with first grade and then up to fifth grade. What does each unit entail?

I wanted to add some pictures as well you get a really good idea of what comes in each unit!

****This unit will be posted on Wednesday, June 15th****

We are so proud of this that we are actually giving away the entire first unit! 

Sign up below!

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Stop and Jot

Stop and Jot. At one point, I wanted to scream. Like literally scream at the top of my lungs. Why? I didn't have an effective way to do Stop and Jot. I teach first graders, and they are NO WHERE close to being able to do alone and/or when they get to certain parts of their book. They will literally do it at EVERY SINGLE PAGE no matter how many times I say NOOOOOOOOO- and then die a little inside.

Then...I had an idea. My idea came from being able to sit with my kids and get a way to have a formative assessment on the kids. I created a mini book. My kids did not give me enough spiral notebooks in the beginning of the year to allow me to make 20 notebooks. That is how the mini-books were born.

The mini-books just have the title of the book that we are reading, the words Stop and Jot, and then a cute image. I stapled it to 5 lined pages so that I can just have them answer questions when I am ready for them. These are about 1/4 of a sheet of computer paper/lined paper. It all fit really nicely together.

Here is the stack of them waiting for the kids to start using them. At the end of the week, I am able to look at their book and determine if they understood the question and answered it correctly. Then I will be able to have a formative assessment on the kids. Hopefully, my next post will allow me to show you what I do with the formative assessment and how I collect the formative assessment. If you would like a master copy of this and editable then leave a comment so I can email the master copy to you!!

Enjoy!!

Erin Condren

I LOVE Erin Condren. Not only is she the cutest CEO ever but she makes the most amazing things. Check out Sparkle the Moon post about her Life Planners. Since I am in an Erin Condren mood... I am going to show you her Teacher Planner. I want to state that I am not affiliated with EC, just a fan.

Here is the cover of the planner. It is very sturdy and pretty thick! She uses a laminate on this to make it sturdy and very durable. 

When you open it- of course you are going to see a super awesome quote- but you will also see several cool pages. You will see your year at-a-glance. Personally, I use this page as a way to track events and birthdays.

After that, you will find the month. This is just a view of the month. A few tabs later you will be able to add things to your lesson plans. A note on the tabs. They are laminated. Yes. Laminated. I was so happy because that keeps it so strong that you are ecstatic it doesn't break. You will have to enter in your own dates to this. I also put some important dates here as well...

Once you turn the page, you will see three full pages of a place for you to take notes. I this as my notes for faculty meetings, staff meetings, or even a quick *REMEMBER.* 

After you go past the monthly events, you will get to the lesson plans. Unfortunately, it is not filled in and silly me forgot to get the pictures of last years planner! However...on the left side is the date, and the top is the subject. At first honestly...I HATED it! But then when I labeled the top of the planner (last year) I realized how much I loved being able to see the entire week's lessons.

Not only do you get all of the amazing things...you ALSO get stickers. I love stickers and I love that it is the perfect size to fit in the boxes. Amazing!

I hope that you are now running (or typing) as fast as you can to get to ErinCondren.com !!! You will not regret it!

xoxo,

Ronnie

Oh my goodness

Can you believe that is almost June? I have so much to tell you! Let's start off with what has happened since January.

1. I got engaged!!
2. My best friend found out she was pregnant!
3, My best friend got engaged!
4. FCAT {our state test}
5. I passed my first graduate class!

The first thing I want to show you is my Erin Condren Lesson Plan Book. I found it through the amazing Pinterest and decided after falling in love with it, to buy it.

I open the box and TADA. Even the outside of the box is pretty!

You can have the planner customized with your name and school!

This is for the students who are absent. Every time a student is absent, we are supposed to get a note when a student is absent. This is perfect for us. It has the name, date, reason and if a note came in!

Sorry this is sideways! {whoops} but this is a monthly calendar which I know will be used. The only problem is that the dates are not written in here which {knowing me} will lead to problems/errors.

The left picture has the dates and the right is the last part of the lesson plans. I  love this so much because it is color coded for each day. Also, the "Make EVERYDAY a happyday" is like a bookmark. I can easily find the week.

These last four pictures are stickers. They come with many different things on them as a reminder. They will be placed on the left side of the week. 

Haha! I am already ready to start next year just because of this beautiful planner!!