A Treat for My Favorite Test Takers

Whether you're a proponent or an opponent of standardized testing, whether you're opting out or opting in, there's no denying millions of elementary and middle school children will be taking standardized tests this spring.  My child happens to be one of them.

Today starts the New York State ELA exams for students in grades 3-8.  This is day one of three days of ELA testing.  G seems focused and ready.  Now that he's in fourth grade, I think he has a better understanding of what the test will be like, and he'll be able to better manage his time this year.  He knows that we expect him to work hard, but he isn't stressed about it.  He knows we're proud of him no matter what.

To help ease the sting of the tests for his classmates, G and I put together some testing treats for his class.  We decided on the new Lego version available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  It was a difficult choice between Stars Wars and Legos, but Legos won in the end.

Aren't they cute!

Here's a look at the treats as they came together on the dining room table last night.  We went with granola bars, Smarties, and Butterfingers.  You'll have to excuse the bright Easter tablecloth. Apparently we don't have any other spring ones left from last year.

Here's my proud guy with his box of yummy goodness ready to take to school.  He wasn't too keen on posing for this shot.  I guess he's gotten to "that" age now.

If you're looking for some quick treat labels, you can find all my versions in my TpT store.  I have them individually or in one supersized bundle!

Oh, the Places You'll Go Test Prep Edition

I don't know where March went!  I meant to write this post back at the beginning of the month, but I got busy doing test prep.  I've spent the last three months working with some of our higher level students that just missed a Level 3 on our state ELA exam last year. It was the district's hope that a little extra work on writing short and extended response questions would help these students get 3's or 4's this year.

I've really loved working with these students.  They are so different than my struggling intervention students.  These kids just needed a little extra small group attention to improve their writing skills.  I'm so proud of the progress they've made.  I'm sad our time together has ended already.  Hopefully they're all enjoying their much deserved Spring break and are ready for their tests in two weeks.

One of the things I focused on with my third and fourth grade students was adding text-based evidence.  It took us a while to get the hang of it, but I feel like they've improved so much in this area.  So when Dr. Seuss' birthday rolled around and we decided to decorate our classroom doors and wall space, I just had to incorporate text-based evidence into my display.

I created text-based evidence term balloons.  You can find the balloons in my TpT store.  Then I made a cloud title using a font I found on DaFont called Doctor Soos.  It's a fun personal use font that works great for creating projects for your own classroom.  I added a little extra fun by making some Truffla inspired trees that I saw on Pinterest.  You can find several different tutorials on Pinterest by searching truffla trees. 

Here's my finished display.  I love how it turned out.  It was a fun way to keep my focus on text prep while celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday.  It was also great to see other teachers using it as a teaching tool when their classes passed by in the hall.

Easter Background Freebie

It seems hard to believe that Easter is almost here and that our school district is on spring break. It's probably difficult to believe because my yard is still full of snow and ice. Despite some rain this week, the snow is melting slowly in our narrow valley.It's pretty sad when mud would be a welcome sight!

Here's the view out my front door this morning.  It's getting better, but I still can't see grass- even under the tree!

Since I'm in the mood for Spring, I decided to post a new freebie for you.  You can pick it up in my TpT store.  Click the picture or here to download.

Don't forget there's still time to enter my 700 Followers Giveaway.  

700 Followers Giveaway, $25 TpT gift certificate, and a Sale!

It's hard to believe I've hit the 700 followers on TpT.  It's been an exciting journey.  I've always loved making my own instructional materials- even in the days when I was using PrintMaster to make my own classroom books.  Do they still make that program?  I have to say PowerPoint and Photoshop have made creating materials a whole lot easier for me.  Not to mention the amazing artists at TpT have much cuter clip art for teacher authors to use these days.

To celebrate my personal milestone, I'm having a giveaway  and a sale!  It's been months and months since I posted on the blog, but it seemed like a great time to celebrate with all of you. But before I give you the details I thought I'd share one of my latest creations with you: A new test treat label set.  I think these are the ones I'm going to make up for my son's fourth grade class.  G and his friends are still wild about building models out of snap blocks, so it all seems to fit. (No pun intended!)

You can find these and other test treat labels in my TpT store.

Now on to the giveaway!  I've decided to include the following prizes: First prize is a $25 TpT gift certificate, Second prize is your choice of any product in my store, and Third prize is your choice of any testing treat label product from my store.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Summer Sale!

In my part of the world the school is coming to an end this week. In celebration of all things summer, I'm having a 20% off sale that runs now through 6/26.  I hope you'll stop by and stock up on your Really Reading favorites.  Here's a few things you may want to check out:

Banners and Alphabets:

First Grade Journeys Sight Words:

Short Vowel Activities:

Friday Freebie: Math Testing Treat Labels

I still can't believe my son is a week away from the end of third grade!  This was the first year he had to take our state ELA and math tests.  I had already made two different versions of my testing treat labels that worked for any test, but I thought it would be fun to make a math themed set as well.  Today only you can get my math themed treat labels free in my TpT store.  Click the picture to download.  While you're there you may want to check out my latest product: Road Readers Phoneme Segmentation of Short E CVC Words.  Remember the labels are only free today, so stop by and pick them up.  Have a great Friday!

Free App Friday and Road Readers Update

I can't believe it's Friday! It's been a tiring week, but we made it through.  Our students still have nine more days of school!  For them, it seems it will never end.

Since it's Friday, I thought I'd remind you to stop over at freeappfriday.com to see what apps you can get for free today for your iOS devices.  There are quite of few free book apps as well.  I see several alphabet apps highlighted this week, so if you have preschoolers at home or school you may want to check them out.

As I look over the list, there is one that jumps right out at me: Pocket Charts: Compound Words.  That's a skill I work on with my struggling readers and it's always fun to have a game for review or practice.  I hope it's a good one!

Remember to visit freeappfriday.com to see what over apps are available for free today!

As for me, I've been working on a short e version of Road Readers.  It's almost ready to be uploaded to TpT.  It just needs the cover and then the packet is ready.  I hope to get it finished this weekend or early in the week.  Until then you can check out my freebie for the short a version or the full version on TpT.  Click the pictures below to be taken directly to the products. 

Have a great weekend!

Attitude of Gratitude Giveaway

I'm proud to join many other TpT authors in participating in Differentiation Station Creations Attitude of Gratitude giveaway. Laura is celebrating her one year TpT anniversary with this great giveaway.   I have contributed my polka dot alphabet pennants to the preschool kindergarten giveaway.  Over 80 products  have been donated to these giveaways!

Visit Laura's blog for complete details, meet some great TpT authors, and learn more about their products and stores.  You can enter the drawing that includes my product below.  Find all the giveaways at Differentiation Station Creations.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Freebie and Phoneme Segmentation

Phoneme segmentation is breaking a word into its individual sounds.  That sounds easy, but roughly 25% of first grade readers struggle to master phonemic awareness skills, especially phoneme segmentation.  This lack of mastery can lead to other reading and writing difficulties.

Why is phoneme awareness so challenging?  This happens in part because people do not focus on sounds of phonemes when producing or listening to speech.  Instead we focus on the meaning of what is being said, processing the phonemes automatically.

As a reading specialist, I always have students that need additional practice with phoneme segmentation. The challenge is to find ways to engage students in activities that will get them to notice phonemes and learn how to manipulate them to separate words into phonemes and blend phonemes to make words.  This year I was inspired by my kindergarten students love of die cast cars.  I knew if I could incorporate cars into my lessons I'd have a captive audience.  That's how the product Road Readers was born.

My Friday Freebie this week is a sample pack of pages for my Road Readers short a pack.  You get the following pages and suggestions for use:

I hope you'll stop by my TpT store and check it out.  The full pack is also available in my store that has 33 pages of phonemic awareness activities.  Click the pictures below to download the freebie and checkout the full product.  Other short vowel packs will be available soon.

We Love it When Someone Reads to Us

I think it's true that no matter how old we get most of us still love it when someone reads to us.  Whether it's at book club, a book signing, or a listening to an audio book, we love the feeling of being read to.   For some of us, it brings us back to our childhood.  For others, it gives us a whole new way to be lost in a book.  For my fifth graders, it gives them a chance to hear different authors and genres.  It gives them a chance to hear what good readers sound like and an opportunity to practice their visualization skills.  

Now that the end of the year is almost here, we're done with our Journeys intervention materials.  I took this opportunity to pick a book to read to my students.  The students and I have enjoyed this time together so much.  We can't wait for the next real aloud session to find out what happens next.  Now I'm just hoping we have time to get most of the book finished before the end of the year.  (They'll have a chance to finish the book on their own, as I bought them each a copy as an end of the year gift.)

Knowing that my fifth grade boys love Gary Paulsen, I was very excited to find his book, Masters of Disaster at a great price from Scholastic Reading Clubs.  Just looking at the cover, it seemed to be a departure from Hatchet and other titles I knew.  I thought it would be fun to see just how different it really was.  So far the book hasn't disappointed.  Even my girls have begged to hear more!

I highly recommend you pick a great book to end your year with too.  It's an experience I'm sure you'll all enjoy.

Friday Freebie: My Favorite Book Banner

Every day we inch that much closer to the last day of school.  We are just 20 days away now.  Next week the reading teachers are helping administer our state science test, field tests for our state ELA and math tests, and our end of the year Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessments.  Go team assessment!

Knowing that I wouldn't see my kiddos for a while due to testing, we took a break for our usual routine yesterday to make a pennant/banner of their favorite books.  It was a great because I was able to use the same activity for all my students in grades 1-5.  I especially enjoyed seeing what my fifth graders did for their favorite books.  For my boys it was Gary Paulsen's Mr. Tucket and my girls picked some of the books they had gotten from me as incentives like Chocolate Touch.  All in all, it was a great activity. The best part was it was a low prep activity: just print and go!

Here are a few of the end products:

Since it's Friday, I wanted to share this activity with you as my Friday Freebie.  You can download the pages from my TpT store by clicking the photo below.  If you like this product you may be interested in the full product that is also available in my store.  You can click the second picture to be taken to the full product.  Happy Friday!

Friday Freebie and a Memorial Day Sale

I hope you will stop by my TpT store this weekend.  Everything will be 20% off 5/23-5/26.  Stock up on all your favorite Really Reading products including kindergarten, first grade, and fifth grade Journeys supplements, phonics activities for K-2, fun end of the year products, and testing treats.  You can find them all at Really Reading at TpT.

    

 

Thanks for visiting today.  In celebration of Memorial day, I have a graphic organizer and writing paper freebie for you.  You can find it here.

  

NYS School Budget Vote Day...Please Remember to Vote

It's school budget vote day here in New York State, and I'd like to remind you how important it is to vote.  Investment in education shows our commitment to the future and to the vitality of our communities.  Please take the time today to vote on your district's budget.  Your vote matters.