Read Across America Preparation

Read Across America is around the corner, and as an organizer there are many things that I have to do to get ready for this wonderful event. This is what I did this year:

Getting Presenters: I used the same invitation that I used last year to invite guest readers to our school.

Gifts for our presenters: During the summer, Target sells their Dr. Seuss items in the dollar section. This year I had to call in favors and had a friend and family members buy these wonderful gifts for our presenters. I filled the bowls, cups, and boxes with different candies, attached a tag, and tied it together to make this a gift to remember. : )

Getting kids ready: This is an exciting event that students look forward to, either to eat some great green eggs and ham or just to have something different occur in their class. One thing they tend to forget is that at the same time that they are having fun, they are also learning in one way or another.

     

Certificates for Presenters: 

The poem on the side of the certificate is from NEA's Read Across America Poem Page. I thought it was a cute message to include in the certificate as a reminder of what the presenters did on March 1st.

The great background was from Scrapdiggity. So the process of creating the certificate was easy.

Making sure the readers don't forget:

With busy schedules it is easy to space out an extra activity. So I took two of Dr. Seuss's quotes and made it into a poem with additional information and lines that I wanted to add. I was able to be creative and fun with this reminder. I just hope the readers will not get offended.

What else? Well there is much more, but those will have to wait until that day. So that I can take great pictures to commemorate this great event. : ) Enjoy

UPDATE: I can not believe I never uploaded and shared the documents. On my pages I have added the invitation and reminder for Read Across America. On the top right side you will find them. 

Referencing

As part of my Master's work I have learned how to reference my sources using the APA 6th edition style. It has been a learning experience and I am excited to share that learning with my students. 

We have started our Common Core Unit on bats and as part of our final assignment the students will write a report about a particular bat and reference the source for their information.  

I started by teaching how to reference a website that they would use. Students learned the basics of referencing a website and where to find the information that they needed. 

Once my students understood the basics of referencing a website (since that is what we were using at the time). I continued to build upon that with the basics of referencing a book. Just like the website reference students did not only have to learn how to create a reference but also how to find the components in the book. 

Once all of it was put together I am proud to show what my 3rd graders have learned. They did not only learn about bats, learning about the different information that is found in a website or book, but also APA formatting for referencing. I am a proud teacher. 

Project, Project, Project 3

Project 3:

This one is not done nor close to being done. I am in the process of creating a document that test every concept that I was able to see that can be tested from the 2nd grade common core (Language Arts and Math). Being a linear thinker I need to see things in a check list form.

The way I will be using this document is by giving the students the checklist. Then I will give them each test. In order for students to check off a concept they first must pass 3 test on that concept, to ensure that they weren't just lucky that day. I have created/will create 4 tests for each concept. I will not give all 4 test in one day or even week. I will spread them out so constantly evaluate the concept. In the boxes below the the concept name the student will write the test date and if they passed or not. When they have passed 3 test they will be able to check off the concept.

What is a passing grade? That is up to you. For me it will be no more than 1 question wrong per test. If they do get only 1 question wrong they will write their score on their check list and then try to see if they can figure out the correct answer.

Here is an exclusive preview of the document. So far I have all the checklists and tests for the concepts in the first 2 pages, which has equal to 58 pages so far. Yikes this will be a large document.

Please leave comments of what you think of it so far. Suggestions?

I feel so proud of myself. After several months of working on this project I am finally done.

I have correlated documents into one to better understand and read the common core standards. Kinder has been the longest project I have worked on as I just did not have the time to do so. So far I have completed Kinder, First, and Second Grade. YAY.

You can find them all in my teacher store.Being a linear thinker, the standards document given to us was driving me crazy since I had to flip back and forth too find all the standards that had to do with one concept. So I have arranged the math standards in a way that it is easier to find by concept.