5th grade State Writing Assessment Review {Freebies}

How do you prepare for the upcoming STATE writing assessment? My plan this week:

• Discuss the types of writing -- the parts of each piece - have discussion about each
• Discuss what a good writing piece looks like (for each type of writing)
• Discuss the six traits and how they can be used to spice up their writing
• Discuss which graphic organizers would best be used during pre-writing for each type of writing

• Discuss & practice breaking down various writing prompts... really asking ourselves, "What is it they are asking me to do, exactly?"

**When I say discuss, students will have discussions about each defending their responses**

To assist in the first part, I made a few graphic organizers to keep the kiddos focused!! Hope you can use this FREEBIE! Click the picture to grab a copy (all 6 included in the download):

What a SALE!!

Although I am still new to TpT, I decided to join along with the BIG event coming this Thursday and Friday. TpT is now 3 MILLION teachers strong... yes, I said 3 MILLION! Wow! This means there are TONS of resources out there from great educators. I have already marked my items as low as I can possibly go, but I am STILL joining in the sale. Stop on by my page to grab something this week. Thank you in advance, as your purchases will benefit my classroom!!

The sale is Feb. 27th & 28th. Use promo code tpt3 to get up to 28% off of some items on TpT. :) Click the image to visit my store!

Are you feeling LUCKY?

With St Patrick's Day quickly approaching, I still wanted to challenge my students to use figurative language on a regular basis. They have worked on reading logs all year (their only homework), but to change it up they will be working on building these figurative language skills. They still get some of the types mixed up, only because most of these are new to them this year (although I did look back and saw that figurative language begins in 3rd grade with discussing literal and non-literal meanings). Here is a fun way to practice these skills (see below):

Are you feeling lucky?? You have the opportunity to win this set for FREE if you link up with me for my NEW linky this coming Wednesday!! Check back Wednesday for more details!

{Click image to see more}

Thank you in advance for supporting our classroom with any purchase you make!

Sharing is Caring Sunday ~ Spring Freebie!!

Thank you for visiting on Sharing is Caring Sunday!! I am enjoying this wonderful Spring-like weather here in NE Georgia, so I thought it only necessary to share a new item I made as this week's FREEBIE:

{Click on the image for the FREEBIE}

{#s 10 -20 in the FREEBIE}

Come back each Sunday for a different FREEBIE!! :)

Close Reading Questioning...

Sometimes students think they are close reading, but they are only rereading. There needs to be a purpose when you close read. In addition, you have to look deeply at the message the author is trying to convey. This set allows students to think about different aspects of a text by asking specific questions to guide them in the close reading process.

This Close Reading Poster and Recording sheet set was designed to assist students in the close reading process. These activities are most suitable for grade 3+

This set includes the following:

* Poster Title "Close Reading Marks"
* 6 Chloe Reading Mark posters
* 14 Question Yourself While You Read Posters
* Close Reading Marks Recording sheet
* Close Reading Topics Recording sheet (author's point of view, evidence to support claims, etc.)
* 2 Close Reading Question Yourself While You Read recording sheets
* 1 Blank sheet (for personalization write in)

Recording sheets can be used with ANY close reading. 

**Do not forget the FREEBIE tomorrow**

Click the image to check out the set:

Take a Journey Through a Text!

We all want our students to read, but wouldn't it be great to have them REALLY read and dig deep into their texts?

I am extremely excited about this newest creation, as it will be VERY helpful in the next few weeks for review and assessing what kids know and are able to do {or not do}. We have some board members and business folks visiting a couple of classrooms (MINE included). During their visit, they want to see how we are utilizing technology. Well, I need to review during this time and touch on some areas with a few students who are not grasping certain skills. With this in mind, I wanted to create something of quality that can be used time and time again.

Putting all of that in perspective, I designed the "Take a Journey Through Your Text" activity set to allow students the opportunity to close read and dig deeper into a text in a variety of ways.

This was created to be used on multiple occasions & can be used with ANY text. These activities are most suitable for grade 3+

This "Take a Journey Through Your Text" close reading activity set covers the following standards:

Grades 3+
* ELACC RL1
* ELACC RL2
* ELACC RL3
* ELACC RL4
* ELACC RL6

* ELACC RI1
* ELACC RI2
* ELACC RI4
* ELACC RI5

This set includes the following items:

* Directions for Show What I Know Tech Method
* Directions for Text Journey (paper/pencil format)
* Show What I Know Menu # 1
* Show What I Know Menu # 2
* Rubric for Show What I Know Tech Method
* Rubric for Text Journey (paper/pencil format)
* 13 Journey pages including:
* Figurative Language
* Inferences
* Textual Evidence/Main Idea
* Textual Structure
* Vocabulary
* Sentence Structure
* Visualization
* Context Clues
* Summarizing
* Theme
* Character Analysis 
* Point of View

Each activity calls for students to close read in order to site evidence in various ways, touching on each of the standards above. This is a great assessment activity, could be used as homework, or to just enhance your lessons along the way. 

Click the image to take a closer peek!

Signs of Spring & Mini-Contest

It has been warmer since last week's WINTER BLAST! This warmer weather is making me think about SPRING! Yay! Spring also means allergy trouble for me, but I love the warmer weather too much not to be excited. :)

With signs of Spring in the air, I wanted to share a couple creations that are more Spring Themed:

Comment below (leave an email address)

and follow me on TpT to enter to win one of the below sets for FREE!

{Your choice of which item}

Drawing will be held on Sunday!

{Click each to visit page}

 

Five for Friday

In addition to spring on my mind... Let me share Five for Friday from Doodle Bugs Teaching!!

Been enjoying all of this post-winter storm weather. Outside time with my family is SO important!

Stressing a little that I have had 4 winter days and then a week of Winter Break out of the classroom. Don't get me wrong, I love time with my family, but I needed those FOUR days to conduct a MOCK writing assessment. Now, I am super pushed for time, because on top of that, we have some mock CRCT testing to do for the state in math... eek! The 5th grade State Writing assessment is March 5th, so it is GO time when I return Monday!

On top of creating new materials, I have also been preparing items for an upcoming Kids Consignment sale (for the beginning of March). Inputing items, tagging, items, etc.

Happy about the upcoming weather forecast AND the fact that I get to wear my FLIP FLOPS this week! Oh boy, that means I need to pedicure my toes..

Excited to begin a NEW linky beginning NEXT Wednesday. It is always my goal to walk closer to and have a close relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. To help me (and maybe others) focus more on HIM, I wanted to do a little something as a mid-week refresher. I hope you will join me in order to...

I am also enjoying the Sharing is Caring Sunday each week and the fact that people really appreciate it. Let me know what you think about it, and if you feel it is beneficial. 

Longest break ever... and Turtle Time

We had 4 days of snowy weather out of school and then winter break right after that... Feels as if I haven't been in the classroom for AGES!! Cannot wait to get back at it! In the meantime, I have been spending time with my family and doing a little creating here and there.

As a 5th grade teacher, and having been a Kindergarten teacher, my heart just breaks when students make it all the way to 5th having difficulty reading. I truly believe this began in K and 1st grade. As I was thinking about what a STRONG foundation our students need, I thought back to an activity I did in Kindergarten, which inspired this newest creation. Back then, I found little turtle clip art, printed them and pasted them to craft sticks. We used them to help us SLOW down and stretch each individual sound when blending sounds to read words. This was a hit with the children, as they were very eager to grab a turtle during "turtle time" reading during small group. I wanted to add a little touch to this idea by creating reading cards and practice sheets to assist in building this foundation. You can find the following in my TpT store. Don't forget to come back each Sunday for a Sharing is Caring Sunday Freebie!!

This Turtle Time Set helps students SLOWLY stretch sounds in order to blend and read words. This set includes the following:

* Directions for Use
* Turtles (assemble onto craft sticks)
* 4 Worksheets for practice
* 56 Blending cards (Real Words with picture representation)
* 56 Blending cards (without picture representation)
* 58 Nonsense word cards

This activity is great for small group introduction and then moved into an independent center activity. 

Thank you for supporting our classroom with your purchase!!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Blending-Sounds-Stretching-Sounds-Slowly-1123833

Added Some Items (2 Freebies)

I added a few items tonight. A couple FREEBIES and some K-1 and 5th grade items. Some items are new, some are not. Check out my shopping links above by clicking on the grade level. Enjoy!

Some items added are: