Hey y'all!  If you are anything like me, then your teaching resources wishlist is so so LONG! I'm always finding new resources that I want to purchase. The struggle can be so real!! Today, I want to make your teacher life easier by sharing with you three resources that will help with organization and your reading instruction. These three resources are a favorite amoung so many teachers and I can't wait to share them with you guys! Be sure to let me know which resource is a must have for you.       

I created this set of flap journals as a need arose in my classroom for my second graders to respond to more texts.  I thought it would be fun to have a little journal for the books that they were reading.  Since then, I have created more sets to fit in with author studies but the fiction one is still my favorite set because you can use it with any book. I also added a Google Drive edition that allows you to upload the flap journals into Google Classroom. It is such a time saver and allows for easy student responses to the texts that they are reading.

I always struggled to find the balance between providing equal amounts of fiction and nonfiction texts. I noticed that we were reading more fiction books in my guided reading small groups and my students were begging me for more nonfiction reads. One of the first sets of nonfiction readers that I created for my students were these Arctic Animals informational texts. These texts were a big interest and my second graders LOVED them. I also have a Google Drive edition of these texts and activities that you can upload to Google Classroom.

This was one of the first products that I created and put in my store.  I love being organized and transportation was where I needed help organizing.  I'm always worried that a student will change transportation and I would accidentally send them home the wrong way. Is anyone else worried about this? When I introduced this ribbon display, my students and myself could easily unclip their name and move it if their transportation had changed for the day. This resources let's you easily manage dismisal and it can take away so much stress. Plus, chevron and chalkboard is still my fav!

Are you ready to put some of these resources on your wishlist? Head over to The Learning Chambers on TpT and feel free to share any questions that you have about implementation in the comments below.

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Stephanie

Happy New Year!  I'm linking up with the wonderful ladies from Primary Possibilities to share some ideas for the new year.

Before I left school for winter break, my teaching partner and I discussed that we both wanted to work on our kids written comprehension responses after reading.  I feel like they write down enough to answer the questions but often can't really explain with evidence from the text.  Anyone else feel the same?

This year my kids are LOVING informational animal texts.  I decided to start writing some animal texts for them to respond to and to respond using evidence.

I love how she labeled her picture "arctic fox in the summer" and was even able to point out in the text where it explains that arctic foxes have brown fur in the summer.  She highlighted the evidence in the text on her own.

The skills that I'm focusing on in this Arctic Informational Text Unit is fact writing, answering questions with evidence from the text (I have my students highlight in the text where they found the answer), and main idea/supporting details.  There are 7 animals for them to read about and I'll be putting them in a reading station for the new year.

Click on the product cover below to check it out in my store.

You can also check out the Arctic Fox Informational Text freebie by clicking HERE.

My goal is to model for my students how to find the facts in the text and then how to record our thinking.  I think slowing down the process will really help them respond with evidence from the text.  I will also be using these graphic organizers to help model for my students a way to record our thinking by taking notes.

Click on the product cover below to check it out in my store.

My plan is to create more of these informational animal text units for my kiddos.  I know it will help improve not only their comprehension but their written responses too.  I can't wait to share more units with you guys in the new year.

Make sure you click on the blog button below to head over to Primary Possibilities to check out more new ideas for the new year.

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Stephanie