Take Home Folder Cover Sheet Freebie

It's the last weekend of summer for us here in Michigan!  We start back to school on Tuesday and in preparation, I'm stuffing these cute cover sheets into 32 take home folders.  If you use the plastic take home folders maybe you'll be able to use this template also.  It's editable so you can add your student's names.  

The folders we use can be found HERE.

The folders have a clear front plastic cover to protect the cover sheet.  Inside they are labeled with "keep at home" on one side - this is for notes and graded work, and "return to school" on the other side - this is for homework and notes that need to be returned.  Look how adorable they turned out!  Click HERE for the freebie.  

I know most of you are way past needing take home folder templates, but hey, maybe you'll want to pin it for next year!  I know I'm constantly pinning ideas in my Back To School pinterest board, even in December.  LOL

I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day Weekend!  My plan is to relax and stretch out these last few days of summer before the school year craziness begins!!  What are your plans?!?

Word Study Unit

Hello everyone, I'm Kathy from...

I know, I know, I know...What is a first grade teacher doing here?

I am a first grade teacher at heart, but currently a literacy coach that teaches in grades K-5 classrooms. I spend most of my day in 5th grade working 5th graders who need extra support in Reading, ELA, and Math.

I have been working on some 5th grade word study activities with Greek and Latin roots and thought this was the perfect place to try them out.

(There's a crossword puzzle with sentences, also!)

Click on the pics above to grab a copy. 

Shared Reading in the Upper Grades - FREEBIE

Even big kids need shared reading!  It's the perfect way to model/practice comprehension strategies, summarizing and build oral fluency. The best part is that it only takes 10-15 minutes a day.  Since I love Shared Reading so much, I'm here to share my Shared Reading in the Upper Grades FREEBIE with YOU today on FIFTH GRADE FREEBIES!!  This resource outlines how we share reading each day in room 206 and it includes our shared reading note-taking graphic organizers.

So how do we share reading in room 206?  Each week I choose a 1-2 page short story, drama, poem, or nonfiction article.  Highlights Magazines, Time for Kids, Scholastic News, Zoo Books, and Kids Discover are my usual go to's.  But there are tons of great websites that offer FREE short texts too.  This text is the piece we examine all week during shared reading time.

On Day 1, (preview and predict) before I pass out the text, I give students the headline/title of the piece and they predict the genre.  First they think on their own, then write their predictions on the shared reading graphic organizer I've included HERE, secondly they share their thinking with a partner and eventually we discuss the predictions as a class. Great conversations occur from their predictions and they can't wait to see the text of the week. I pass it out and students preview the text and predict what it will be about on their graphic organizers. (think, pair, share again)  We put the text and the graphic organizer away in our reading folders for safe keeping.

On Day 2, (fluency and wonderings) I read the text aloud.  This is the day we practice our oral fluency.  You can play all kinds of fun games to enhance oral reading fluency.  My favorite is just reading a paragraph at a time and having the students repeat it when I'm done - just like I sounded.  I call off random groups of students so they never know who's next to read and it keeps them engaged.  I might say "everyone who brought cold lunch please read paragraph number one after me," or "everyone wearing blue, or sneakers, or with brown hair," or "everyone who loves video games, or animals, or pizza," etc.  It's fun and they have to listen carefully while I read, so they can read it with the same expression and fluency.  Plus, the class is hearing each paragraph twice so it increases comprehension.  After we finish the text. Students record their wonderings on their weekly shared reading graphic organizer, share with a partner, and then we discuss as a class.

On Day 3, (author's purpose or perspective) depending on the genre, students reread the text with a partner to determine the author's purpose for writing the piece and the point of view of the author (nonfiction) or perspective (fiction). Students again write their notes on their shared reading organizer and we talk about how the author's purpose, point of view/perspective influence the text.

On Day 4, (text structure) students reread a few sections of the text (that I've determined ahead of time because they contain organizational clues) independently. They take notes on the organizational structure (cause/effect, problem/solution, etc.) or the story, drama or poetry elements.

Lastly, on Day 5, (determining importance/theme/summarizing) the students reread the entire text independently and highlight the main ideas from each paragraph (nonfiction) or the evidence of the theme (fiction). Students use all of the information on their shared reading graphic organizer notes to compose a summary of the weekly piece.

There you have it!  I would love to hear how you do shared reading with your upper elementary students.  I love getting new ideas!

Enjoy!

Birthday Bulletin Board Tags

Do you create a bulletin board that lists all your students and their birthdays?  Usually in the past, I haven't but all too often I would forget about a student's birthday until the day of.  :-(  So this year I decided to hang them all around the calendar so I would remember.  Go grab a copy of the birthday tags I created for free. :-)

How do you celebrate student's birthdays?

Enjoy!

Katie

Parent Communication Cover Letter

As every teacher knows, communicating with parents is essential for a productive and supportive school year.  At my school, we have what we call a Tuesday Packet.  This packet consists of the following items:

Sample Packet Cover Letter

• Any papers, forms or notes from the office
• All the student's work from the previous week
• A Packet Cover letter (which is slightly different from teacher to teacher but contains the same general information)

Each student takes all of these items home in a weekly envelope that parents sign off on saying they received the items within it.  

By doing this on the same day each week, it eliminates the overwhelming number of papers that we know can go home throughout the week.  Also, parents know that they can expect to receive their child's graded work from the week before.  One of my favorite things about this system is that it requires me to stay on top of my grading!  Of course, sometimes I don't get EVERYTHING done but that is seldom.  This system also helps alleviate the possibility that a specific poor test or other assignment might go missing.  Why you ask?  Simply because the Packet Cover letter gives a brief list of what items the students completed that week.  See my example Cover Letter below to see just how brief my list is.  I don't go into great detail - just give a bulleted list.  This is nice for the parents so they can see what their child covered in class and what assignments they should see in the packet. If I have a test listed, they know that test should be in that packet.  Additionally, the packet letter let's me communicate with parents with any general announcements and comments or I can write specific ones to a particular family.  I also list any points in behavior or work habits that their child received from the week before (this is part of our school-wide behavior plan).  

This system really works for our school and parent feedback on it has been very positive. If you'd like a copy of my Packet Cover Letter, head on over to my TpT store and download it for free.  I provided it in doc format so you can tweak it to suit your needs.  I hope you find it useful!

Enjoy! 

Katie

Getting to Know You!

I love the first few days back to school! Even thought it's completely, utterly, mind-blowingly exhausting, there's something about the newness of everything that makes my heart happy.

I love new supplies. (I actually might have a problem. Intervention, anyone?)

New furniture arrangements. (Meaning the one I settle on after moving everything 15 times.)

New ideas to try. (Thank you TPT sale!!)

And of course, getting to know my new class of kiddos.

I love doing the fun get-to-know you games and team building activities. It's exciting to see how a new class interacts with each other and with you. It sets up the tone for the year and gives you insight on how to proceed.

And at the end of the week, we are ALL ready for bed. At 3:30.

I like to end the first week (or even the first day, depending on your preference) with an easy way for students (and myself) to reflect before heading out the door. This quick organizer asks kids to reflect on what went well and what questions they have, and it allows them to think ahead to something they are excited about.

One of my favorite things about this activity is that everyone can have their voice heard - even the kiddos who are still too shy to raise their hand or share their ideas.

Here is the 3-2-1 Back to School Graphic Organizer! Click the picture to take you over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store where you can download the first day and first week versions for free.

Have a great first week back, if you haven't started already!

First Day Student Questionnaire

On the first day of school, the students walk in, quiet and ready to work.  I take advantage of this and have them complete this questionnaire for me.  Not only does it give the students something to do immediately, SILENTLY, when they walk into class, but it answers some burning questions that *I* have about the students as well.

Click here to access the questionnaire

Once I read over the questionnaire, I have a better idea of who they are, what life is like for them at home, how long they have been at my school, who their friends are, etc...I also get to see their work habits right off the bat.  This simple little questionnaire (which takes them about 20 minutes to complete) gives me a wealth of knowledge about the students.

What is something that you do on the first day of school to get to know the kids a bit better?