Guided Reading Literacy Stations

 I love using my Literacy Station Signs and I Can Task Cards to help me organize my guided reading and literacy station rotations.  Since I have an ocean themed classroom, I call them Sea Centers. I have four guided reading groups so I have four literacy stations that the students must complete each week.  Each group goes to one station each day. 

Literacy Station Rotations

 The literacy station signs are a great visual to post at each station since they match the border to the pocket chart headers and task cards. My students know exactly where they need to be during my guided reading and literacy station block. 

 Below are some examples of the task cards I put at each station.

 

 

 

Once they complete their station for that day, they can complete an anchor activity.  I have four different colored boxes (I bought them last year from Target) labeled with my 4 reading groups so they know which anchor activities to complete.  Each basket contains extension activities to extend their learning.  I use a variety of anchor activities, but my favorite ones to use are called Activity Cards for Early Finishers from TheMailbox.com.

Anchor Activity Boxes

  On Friday, students have time to finish any station they did not get to complete during the week.  Once they complete all of their stations, they can do Fun Friday!  Fun Friday is an opportunity to play a fun reading game of their choice while I do running records on my students.  I always remind them to do a whisper voice when I am doing my assessments.  This cute voice level chart freebie from Teaming Up to Teach really helps!

Below are some of my favorite items from Lakeshore Learning that I use in my literacy stations. 

My students love these leveled writing activity pockets!  They also make it easy for differentiation.

The partner scripts were a fun addition to my reading center.  Students love taking turns reading the engaging stories and then asking each other questions about the story.

Prefix or Suffix Flower Craftivity and Butterfly Life Cycle

Have you ever had a stressful week at school and you just need a little pick-me-up?  There is nothing like hanging up a cute craftivity that my students made to put a smile on my face.  This fun craftivity is just what my students needed to practice using words with prefixes and writing them in sentences!

 

First, they wrote the prefix in the middle of the flower (mid_). Next, they wrote 8 words with that prefix on each petal (midnight, midday, etc..).  Then, they wrote 5 sentences with the words from the petals on an index card or piece of paper. Next, they colored and cut out the flowers and pot. They then glued their sentences to the flower pot on construction paper. I gave each student two flowers since we were learning about the prefixes mid_ and mis _ the same week.

Butterfly Life Cycle Pasta Activity

Here is another fun activity we did when we learned about the life cycle of a butterfly.  I had my students go on a nature walk to collect sticks, leaves, and flowers to use on their plate to make it look more realistic.  They divided their plate into 4 sections egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly.  They then glued the items they found onto their plate.  They then used dried split peas or rice for the eggs, rotini pasta for the caterpillar, shell pasta for the chrysalis, and bowtie pasta for the butterfly.  

Happy Birthday to My Blog!

 

Happy 1st birthday to my blog!  I am excited to announce that my blog is having its first birthday this month on June 22nd! 

Fun Pictograph Activity!

For the past two weeks we have been learning about different types of graphs.  The first week we studied pictographs.  I had my students create a class pictograph of their pets.  Each student drew their pet or pet they would like to have on an index card and then placed it on the graph in the appropriate row.  We then created different questions that we could ask using our pictograph.    

I Love My Promethean Board!

This year I got a Promethean Board in my classroom and I love it!  I use it everyday.  I am so use to using it that I don't know what my life would be like without it.  I find many resources at www.prometheanplanet.com.  The flip charts really keep my class engaged and involved in their learning.  Another valuable resource I came across is an interactive game called Addition and Subtraction Number Bonds.  My class is obsessed with playing the four games from this CD and I have seen an improvement in their fluency with their facts since they have been playing it.  Even if you don't have an interactive whiteboard, you may still have your students play the games on a computer.     

Another valuable resource I use with my students is the Daily Interactive Math Station from Lakeshore Learning.  I am such a huge fan!  I use this game to review some previously learned concepts in a fun and engaging way!  I like how I can choose which activities I want to use for each day of the week. 

 

 

 

Another game that my students really enjoy is Bubble Pop! Math Challenge.  I like how you can choose between addition, subtraction, money, and time so you get more bang for your buck!  My students love playing this game in their math station.

 

Crazy about Contractions!

Before spring break, we learned about making and using different contractions.  Below you will find a fun activity we used to practice this skill. 

Contraction Poster

I hang this contraction poster in my classroom as an anchor chart for my students to refer to as we study this skill.  Click on the picture below to check out my ocean themed grammar posters at my TPT store!

Contraction Flowers

This is one of my favorite activities to use with contractions!  I have my students create their own flowers from construction paper.  They write the contraction on the flower and the two words that make up the contraction on the leaves.  They can make clouds out of white paper, but some chose to draw them instead.  The raindrops from the clouds are apostrophes to water the flowers.  Too cute!

Penguins on Parade!

Penguins on Parade!

 Since students love learning about penguins, they each research facts about a particular penguin.  They then write a research report about the description, habitat, diet, and other interesting facts about their penguin.  After they write their report, students measure out the actual length of their penguin on white butcher paper.  Each student then finds photographs of their penguin to use to create a life-sized replica of their penguin.  This is such a fun project and integrates Science, Math, and Writing all in one!  After all of the penguins are finished, we have a penguin parade by lining them up from smallest to largest.  We then display them in the hallway for everyone to enjoy!