Close Reading Resource Update

I am trying to prepare myself for instruction with close reading this year. There are so many great resources out there, and I want to make sure I am well-equipped to use the strongest elements of close reading in my classroom this year. At the same time, I don't want to have too much extra "stuff" to distract myself.

In a previous post titled "Freebie! Close Reading Materials"I shared the original version of my close reading product. It included printable charts for text coding strategies, a question cube template, and task cards for reading literature as well as informational text. Since then, I have continued to expand the product as I have accessed additional resources that I would like to use in my own classroom. I have recently updated the product to reflect a few revisions. The new product now contains the following items:

•  a colorful, visually-appealing poster that defines Close Reading based upon an acronym for "CLOSE"
• a black-and-white poster that defines Close Reading based upon an acronym for "CLOSE"
• a colorful, visually-appealing poster that outlines the process for multiple readings of a text, as well as the Common Core standards that align to each level of questioning
• a black-and-white poster that outlines the process for multiple readings of a text, as well as the Common Core standards that align to each level of questioning.

For those of you who need a visual image to support those wordy descriptions, this is for you:

I am trying to be more considerate of the use of ink (or lack, thereof) in the products I create. I love to create colorful designs. However, in considering my own experiences with TPT products, I have found myself to be extremely grateful for those products that contain a black-and-white option. While those colorful designs are cute, all of that printing can take a toll on your ink levels and, consequently, your pocketbook! So I tried to take this personal preference into consideration when revising this product. I'm not sure if everyone feels the same way that I do, but it's worth the extra time to provide the option for those who are conscientious of their printer ink levels!

If you are interested in these products, you can access them at the Tally Tales TPT store here. 

Do you have any other suggestions for creating TPT products? What details are you particularly grateful for when you make a purchase? Any feedback is welcome! Thanks!

Preserving Memories: Better Late than Never!

This was one of those little things I meant to do at the beginning of the summer, when the school year was fresh on my mind. It's ironic to me that I waited until the end of the summer (the last day, in fact) to actually put this sweet little photo book together. Better late than never, though, right?!? I thought I would share my little photo book with you here. 

Click below to browse through a few snapshots of our school year last year. I sure am going to miss these sweet faces this year! Looking back, this went by so quickly... time flies.

I can't wait to receive this photo book in the mail, and I am so grateful to have a creative way to save all of these sweet moments. How do you preserve your school year memories? 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Spelling Fun Freebie!

Okay, let's admit it; writing words over and over and over and over and over and... (you get the point) just isn't the most exciting way to practice spelling. We want our kiddos to have fun as they learn new words and improve their spelling skills. In an attempt to help my students enjoy spelling and word practice at home, I created a "Spelling Activity List" for students to keep in their folders and use at home each night. The students get to choose which activity they complete, and most of the activities move beyond paper-and-pencil practice.

Check out a preview:

If you are interested in using this spelling list with your students, you can grab it for free at The Tally Tales TPT store as the Spelling Activity List *Freebie* product.

For a great list of creative, fun, ways to encourage children to practice their spelling words, visit the Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas blog. This link includes an awesome list of 75 fun ways to practice and learn spelling words. I included a couple of these great ideas on my own spelling activity list, but there are many more described in detail at this blog. 

Open House!

I really cannot believe it is already time to go back to school. Where did the summer go?!? Regardless, it's that time of year again! We had our Open House for Kindergarten and First Grade last night, and I think I had more fun than any of the kids. I thought I would share a few pictures from night with you here! Don't you just love the way classrooms look so tidy before the kids come in?? ;)

If you need materials for your Open House or Back-to-School night, all of my sign-in sheets as well as the templates for my "Bursting" treat bags are available in the Tally Tales TPT store! You can access them in the product "Back to School Packet." Here's a little preview of items included in that product:

The Organization Continues...

If you didn't take advantage of the huge Mailbox sale a few weeks ago, I am afraid you might have missed something pretty spectacular. As a rule, I typically avoid indulging in every sales email flier I receive. However, when a sale boasts, "Buy 1, Get 3 Free," that is a pretty tough one to resist! I am so glad I didn't just click "delete" this time!

I realize that the sale items were not among the "Common Core Aligned" selection, but I thought I would take a chance and just align them myself. So I selected four theme kits, all of which contained activities that are already laminated (that alone makes them more valuable, right, teachers?!?).  

I selected themes that I knew would fit into my instruction at some point throughout the year.

Each kit was full of activities. These came from the "Insects and Ocean Animals Kit."

I went to work, cutting the already laminated activities, organizing them into bags, and labeling the bags with skills that correlate with our pacing guide.

Then, I filed the activities away into my new file system! (If you missed my post explaining my organizational method, you can read all about it here.) I am so grateful to have these hanging files organized!

 

These are the completed cut, bagged, and labeled centers that came from just one theme kit. This kit contained ten in all!

So, each kit contained ten centers, which gave me a total of 40 new, already-laminated (can you tell that's important to me? haha!) centers to use in my classroom this year.  

Would you like to hear the best part? I paid $10 for one kit, and the others were free. So, basically, when you factor in the shipping and handling charges, I paid a grand total of $15 for everything. I am beyond thrilled! I really was grateful to receive these, because many of the centers in the kits fell under standards for which I was a bit weak on center options. I feel so much more prepared now. :)

If you aren't subscribed to the Mailbox, I would highly recommend it! All of their new books are common-core aligned, and there really are some awesome resources available on the web site as well. 

How do you get organized?

First of all, I want to remind you to enter our giveaway, if you have not yet done so! Check out Sunday's post and enter to win a full collection of classroom organization labels! The giveaway extends throughout the week, and winners will be announced on Friday, July 5th. I am trying to return visits to blogs of new followers, and it has been so much fun to see the plethora of creative, resourceful, and fun blogs out there! Keep them coming, and I will try to keep up! Don't forget to share the giveaway with your friends as well!  :)


Next, I want to share a mild accomplishment: I have recently completed a task that I have been putting off for a long time. By "long time," I mean a good, solid six months or so of procrastination. Earlier in the school year, I spent quite some time debating on the best way to organize classroom materials. As I'm sure you other teachers can understand, I experienced mixed feelings toward the wave of Common Core change in our school. I love finding new ideas and activities to use, but oh my goodness, how do I mingle those awesome, new resources with the still-usable materials in my classroom?!? When I finally decided on a sufficient method for organizing those millions of extra resources, center ideas, samples, and other activities that we teachers accumulate, I spent several months thinking "I will tackle that project during the summer." I bought the plastic file boxes and the hanging folders I intended to use. They sat there, waiting, for months, while I was certain I would be able to find a good burst of motivation during the summer.

Enter: summer.

Motivation? Eh. Not so much.

There are just so many other things to do...

Enter: landscaping, reading, cleaning, organizing, getting settled into our still-newlywed home, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, traveling, spending much-needed time with family and friends... you get the idea.

Still, I finally made myself get it all together, and I'm pleased with the effort, in spite of the procrastination. I created a file system, based upon skill objectives for our first grade pacing guide. I separated the skills among Language Arts and Mathematics and labelled the file boxes accordingly. Then, I created a tab for each skill (I combined some skills when appropriate) and organized them into each content area strand. Then, I filed all resources into their appropriate folder! Does that make sense? Maybe a few pictures will help...

Eventually, I will need to expand files within the skills to be more specific. There are a few strands that are rather bulky and could use a bit of organization-within-the-organization (Who's thinking of Monica from Friends right about now?). Still, I think I'm off to a good start so far. Woo hoo!

What do you think? How do you organize your materials?