Saturday, February 23, 2013

Freebie Anchor Charts & St. Patrick's Day Game

The testing season is slowly but surely creeping around the corner. When you combine the stress of state testing and spring fever, it doesn't make a nice combination. In spite of all the fun, I have been working on grammar anchor charts for my kids. I LOVE making these! Anchor charts are charts used to introduce a topic. They are also a great reference to look at when you review. I created an anchor chart for antonyms and synonyms. I usually print a half page copy for each child and have them place it in their interactive skills (grammar) notebooks. Believe it or not, the kids actually do go back and look at these during writing or skills block. Especially if they are working on a skill in writing that they are trying to transfer over from skills. I use my skills block time to teach individual skills. For example, if we are learning about compound sentences, I will teach in isolation what are compound sentences. Children need to know how to identify the sentence before they can create their own. Later on in Writer's Workshop, they will practice creating compound sentences in their stories. Here is a look at the antonyms and synonyms anchor chart.



GRAB this FREEBIE Anchor Chart IN MY TpT store


The free pack includes 4th & 5th grade standards anchor chart, reference pages for students, and a generic anchor chart for all grade levels.



Saint Patrick's Day Themed Parts of Speech Card Game

I have recently started working on a strategic card game for my kids. I just finished my first set. Since testing season is approaching, we are doing lots of review. The first thing we are reviewing are parts of speech. This pack includes subjects, predicates, adjectives, and adverbs. My students love this game because they have to use a strategy while playing. The goal of the game is to make a stack. The kids have to figure out the appropriate time to place the third card so they can win the stack. The game lasts about 15-20 minutes. It depends on the students and how well they know the parts of speech.



GRAB THIS Saint Patrick's Day Parts of Speech Review Game in my TPT store.


Enjoy your weekend! Happy Blogging!

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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Oops.. I haven't quite figured out how to set the timer on my posts. So, it is a little late.

The time of year I dislike has arrived. The huge state test is right around the corner and I am feeling a little overwhelmed trying to decide what is most important to teach. Here's this months Currently from Oh Boy fourth Grade.



Listening: I usually have background noise of some sort. My house is a little too quiet tonight.

Loving: I am EXCITED tomorrow is "Friday"! Ok, not really. It's really Thursday, but we don't have school on Friday because it's a four day weekend. We no longer have our week long February break. Even though I am furloughed tomorrow, I'll take it. I need a good long restful week. I feel like the winter break went by way to fast.

Thinking: It is currently 11:47 PM! It is waaaay to late for me to be up. I have to wake up at 4:45 AM. I have to beat traffic in the morning. I know there's a teacher at my school that travels everyday from Ellijay. That's 2 hours from our school! I wonder what time she leaves every morning? Yikes!

Wanting: I REALLY need to finalize my honeymoon to Puerto Rico! Actually, I have gone as far as choosing the package & hotel, but when it came time to pay ... I get cold feet! I'm afraid I am going to end up in a scary, shady place. I need to just click it and be done with it!

Needing: Clearly I need sleep. Ha, Ha..for some reason I have already deleted my currently. I don't know what I was thinking. I usually save them, so that I can edit them. When I went to blog about needing, I had clearly not deleted my the copied text. So, I had to use a text box over my original text.

Pet Peeves: Agh! My husband is really bad at this. Please tell me I am not the only one who feels this way. The sound of the teeth on silverware is just as horribly equal as the sound of nails on a chalkboard. Eek, just thinking about it gives me the heebeejeebees :)


Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

Happy Blogging!

Aileen




Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Ignore the Dust!

Yikes! My blog has been collecting dust! I have been away for too long. With the large class sizes and double the literacy work with the new common core, I have been swamped! I have working on two things.

I just finished up a super cute Valentine's Day game! I can't wait to have my kids play it tomorrow. It's a spin off a math game my math partner uses.


VALETINE'S STACK'EMS CARD GAME


I debated whether or not to make this a freebie. I finished it too late...Especially since Valetine's Day is tomorrow.

The other thing that has been occupying my life it this enormous Topic Sentence pack. A few months ago I realized my students weren't understanding topic sentences (from finding them to writing them. I have had to take a break because our Drama Club is getting ready to perform Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs of the Black Forest.

I apologize for the short post, but I intend to clean up the dust within the next few days.

Happy Valentine's Day :) Don't eat too much sugar!



Happy Blogging!


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