Reading Strategies Chart Freebie

I must be getting excited to get back to school because I have been thinking about it a lot lately!  I have been cruising Pinterest like crazy, and getting all kinds of good ideas for what I want to do this year.  I made this a couple of years ago and I have found that my students refer to frequently during guided reading time.  I hope your students find it useful, as well. 

Click here to get it!

Manic Monday Freebie

Four weeks into the school year and I am just beginning to feel like I have a grasp on things and can take some time to blog!  

After some initial assessments, I realized that my 2nd graders are still struggling with recognizing tens and ones.  So, I had them do this last week while I worked with another group, and they were able to get started and succeed (even my low ones) with a minimum of instruction.  

They use two dice (or they can roll one die twice) to make a two-digit number.  They write the number in the small box, and draw the number (using tens and ones) in the larger box. The file has two pages: a direction sheet (the picture shows black and white, but it is in color) in student-friendly language, and a student recording sheet (I make it double-sided). 

Click here to get it!

Manic Monday Freebie

We have been working on money lately, and I have been making things like crazy to keep my students practicing in fun and engaging ways.  I've also been hooked on scavenger hunt activities lately.  The group of kids I have this year really like them.  So, I've made up some money scavenger hunts, and this one is for you for free!!  This one consists of 12 coin jars, each with a group of coins in it.  The coins are the same in each jar, although both sides of the coin are depicted.  Click here to get it.

If you are looking for cards with mixed groups of coins, you can find them here, and if you are looking for money word riddles, you can find them here.

Word Worth Place Value

I have been thinking about my fast finishers lately, and how to keep them working and not bothering the students around them.  I have come up with some activities that I think will help, and I want to give you one for free!  If you like it, and it works for you, go on over to Teachers Pay Teachers and pick up the rest.  Click here to get it.

Line Plot Freebie

In honor of the new year, I have posted a math freebie on TpT.  Part of the second grade Common Core involves the collection of data and then using that data to create a line plot, so I made this center to help my students become more comfortable with making line plots.  The center contains 100 colorful bears with numbers from 1-10 on their bellies.  The students will grab a handful of bears and group them by the numbers on their bellies, thus creating a data set.  They will then turn their data sets into a line plot. 

 Click here to get it.

Holiday Fun Stuff & FREEBIE

We finished up two holiday crafts that we've been working on for a couple of days now.  They are adorable!  I have had so many teachers stop by my room and ask about them that I just had to share.  The first one is from Surfin' Through Second and is called Elf Yourself!  Head on over for a template.  Here is how my student elves turned out:

I have them put up outside my door and I can hear kids and teachers chuckling every time they walk past!

The other project we completed is to give to our parents for Christmas.  I got the idea from Classroom DIY, but I changed it a little bit.  If you click on the link you will find complete instructions.  Here's how ours came out:

Classroom DIY had her (?) students do a subway art style tile.  Since my students are 2nd graders, I had them create a drawing instead.  I made a tile-sized template for them to draw on.  They made their drawings in pencil, I outlined them in Sharpie, and then they colored them in with Sharpies.  I completed the rest of according to Classroom DIY's instructions.  My students will be taking them home on Friday to give to their parents for Christmas.  I'm very pleased with how they came out, and I think their parents will be tickled.

Thanks for the fantastic ideas Classroom DIY and Surfin' Through Second!

I also have a freebie for you: a Las Posadas mini-book.  I made this a couple of years ago to help my students understand the Mexican tradition of Las Posadas.  I hope you like it!  Click here to get it.

Math Freebie

Once again I found something awesome on Pinterest (thanks Inspired Apple!), but had to change it.  The original is in glorious color, but I have no way to print it off in color.  So, I made a black and white version and colored it in myself.  Click here to get it.  Here is what it looked like after I colored it in.  Enjoy!

Fun Halloween Freebie

I found a fun Halloween freebie over at Teachers Pay Teachers today.  It was created by Lil Country Kindergarten and you can get it for yourself by clicking here. 

Since I teach second grade, I modified it a bit for my purposes.  My students have been working on expanded form, so instead of having them color in numbers (which is perfectly appropriate for kindergarten), I made up a sheet that requires them to collapse numbers that are in expanded form to come up with the numbers that they need to color in.  You can get it here for free.  Thanks LilCountryKindergarten, and happy Halloween!

Awesome Freebie

Thanks to Kindergarten Cupcake Crumbs for this awesome freebie.  I made it for back-to-school night and the parents in my class were tickled.

Click here to get it!

Summarizing Poster Freebie

I originally saw this awesome poster on Pinterest, and followed the link to the blog I Teach. What's Your Super Power? (click on the picture it to get it)

  

Very excited to see something so great for free, I immediately downloaded it and ran out to get it made into a poster at my local print shop.  "You want how much to print it?!!!!!"  Waaaaay too much!  So, I headed over to school to print it off on the poster printer.  Hmmm . . . it didn't come out well.  Back to the drawing board again; I ended up making my own version in black and white which I will print on the poster printer and color in myself.  It's not as fancy, but for those of you out there that run into the same problem as I did, here it is:

Click here to get it!  I put this up on the cupboard behind my guided reading table.  I put a small stack of post-its in each box, and once we are done reading we will be able to work together to quickly summarize the story.

**UPDATE: Vistaprint will print it in 18"-24" full-color format for $16.90 plus shipping and taxes (it came out to $23 and change for me).  That's still on the pricey side in my opinion, but it's about half of what my local printer wanted.  Then upon checkout, they offered me another poster for half price, so I ended up paying about $32 for two posters.

FREEBIE

Happy Thursday!  My students use Words Their Way for spelling instruction.  They work with the same set of words all week, and I am constantly searching for fun ways for them to practice their words.  The one I made for this week is called Buddy Check Spelling.  Students pair up and give each other words from their sort to spell.

New FREEBIE

I uploaded a new freebie.  It is a center focused on place value, expanded form, and standard form.  Students cut out cards that say thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones.  They put these cards face down.  They flip one over, and roll a die to determine what they will write on their paper.  They do this four times until they create a four- digit number.  The worksheet guides them to write this number in expanded form and in standard form.  Click here to get it.

Free Bunny Bump

I discovered a wonderful new FREE addition game from Sunny Days in Second Grade that my students now beg to play.  To play, students add three numbers together, and then place a colored chip on that space on the game board.  If their partner rolls the dice and gets the same answer, they can bump that student off the space they are on.  My kids love it!  You can find it here.

To manage the dice, I put them into a small plastic baby food container (you can see one in the picture).  It keeps them from flying around the room, and from making too much noise banging on the table.  I got the containers from a parent that had a little one at home (just ask, and you will find someone).

New FREEBIE!

My students love playing this game!  Crazy Carrots is a fun way for students to practice reading sight words.  This set is the first 100 sight words (I have more sets, and if you really like this one, I will put up more!); perfect for kinder or 1st.  I also use them in second grade with my lower readers that need more practice reading sight words.  If you're interested, you can download it here.

New Freebie

We have been working on measurement, and I became inspired during my search for resources to create a freebie that went along with measurement.  It is a center that has students measuring objects around the classroom using a ruler or a yardstick.  Kids will have fun searching out and measuring the things around them!  Click here to download it.