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Oh My! It's Been Way Too Long!

Hello Friends, I just wanted to apologize about the lack of posts this year!  It has been a very busy year although I only have 15 students.  I have been trying to create and sell more of my own work and spend some time with my family (two children take up way more time the older they get at least a toddler does).  I also have been putting together a Donors Choose project. Guided Reading and having a good supply of books for students is very important to me.  I usually buy all my own books and never take them from the library. This way the students have them to enjoy even after we are done reading them. I even put them out before so they can gain some background knowledge before we start a unit or topic. The real cool thing about Donors Choose is that there are donors willing to match everyone's donation!  Just enter the code SPARK at checkout and your amount DOUBLES!!!!  Hopefully soon I will have my new May activity packet finished and I can post ab...
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When your Sight Words Run Out!

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What do you do if a student already knows how to spell AND read all their sight words?  In the past I have given my entire class the same list and just tested everyone at the end of the week on that list. Then the next week we moved onto the next list. BUT...with all my differentiation training I could no longer do that.  SO, this year everyone was tested to see what words they could spell AND write at the beginning of the year.  Then, I assess them on Wednesdays with a quick sentence or two and send home new words or if they still need practice with the old words, the same words again. Now it is half way through the year and I have students that have mastered all the Dolch (that's what list I decided to use) words for all the grade levels.  So....I was thinking in the past I used to do a vocabulary word of the week with my class and then it hit me that those students that have mastered almost all the sight words can move to a vocabulary group.  I haven't iro...
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February Centers

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New February Centers are coming your way! I would like to give away what I have completed so far for a few hours when I have reached a 100 followers on my Facebook page.  I am almost there!  I have only 5 more to go! Here is a little preview of what I have so far... The math section is completed and I am currently working on an ELA section that includes centers, books and writing activities.  So head on over to my Facebook page and if you have not liked it already hit like and get ready to get some awesome freebies and read some great posts.  Have a great weekend!
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Interactive Notebooks-Tiered!

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Sorry everyone, I have been so busy and once again time got away from me,but I have a great freebie for you!  As we all know interactive notebooks are very popular right now. I have been using them for the past three years and love them!  SO...what I did was combine interactive notebooks with differentiation.  There are two ways that I differentiate my notebook activities.  One way is that I just change the numbers on the same activity.  Depending on the students needs and of course a pre assessment I use numbers that they need to be working on. Here is an example of differentiating the same journal with different numbers: The other way I have been differentiating my journals is to scaffold the task level of independence. Some students need different tasks and their level of independence may vary as well.  Therefore, I change the task and sometimes even the numbers for each activity.  This way takes a little more time but may be needed if you ...
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A Facebook Freebie

As a thank you for being a follower I am giving you frequent freebies and looks into my work.  Here is something that I have worked very hard on and have posted on before. Second Grade Dolch Sight Words List 1 These are interactive and fun activities for your students to practice a set of 5 sight words.  I also have sets already posted for pre-primer through First grade.  The Second grade set is almost finished!  You can either by the entire bundle with all the sets or each individual set.  PLUS....if you buy the bundle there are some surprise activities in there!  Please if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a message or email me at any time.
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Pre-Assessments, Centers, Guided Groups Oh My!

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Let me start off by stating that I am influenced by many people when I write and create!  So if any of this sounds familiar, its because I have done a lot of research and stalking of many, many, many people to get ideas and suggestions from.  I think most good teachers should do that!  Of course we have our original ideas too but many things most teacher do are similar in nature or what I like to call best practices.  So, that being said let me describe some important parts and procedures I have in place for my math block. First, I start every unit with a pre-assessment.  I usually give the pre-assessment a week or so before the end the unit we are on so I have time to plan my next unit. Here is a example of a few questions from a pre-assessment I have given. Here I gave the same question in three different levels to see what type of numbers the students need to be working on.  Then I take the scores and levels of the students and create some...
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Pumpkins! Pumpkins Pumpkins!

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The following set has been up loaded to TPT this week and is like my apple set PLUS MORE! Two differentiated books on the life cycle of a pumpkin Three differentiated sheets for a life cycle activity Choice of two writing activities  **choice is differentiation too Differentiated would you rather activity   These sheets are included as well as well as a senses page and senses poem too! The following is a peak at some pages from a giveaway I am having for my first 5 followers on my new Facebook page! It is not even on TPT yet!  
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