Spelling

It's always interesting to me to see how everyone does Spelling in their room. It's so varied for each classroom. I have had several teammates ask me lately about my spelling plan, so I thought I'd write it out here.

I want  the kiddos to become better spellers and not just memorize the words for the week. We focus on spelling patterns, rather than the individual words. After practicing the pattern, students should be able to encode the words (spell) and also decode words (read) that follow the same pattern. The goal is to master the spelling pattern and not just memorize individual words. This helps not only in spelling words, but in reading. I also think it's very important to focus ont he meaning of words, so we really delve into what the words mean so they remember it better and can see the pattern in words.

  

We take a spelling pre-test each Friday. These are over the regular words from our Wonders Reading Series for the next week. These words haven't been taught or practiced yet, so I for sure know if they already "get" the spelling pattern. It is a quick pre-test just to see what they already know. If a student gets all of the words correct, then I know that they are familiar with that spelling pattern. I don't want to just test them to be testing them, so I give them challenge words. These words follow the same spelling pattern, but in a harder format with more advanced spelling patterns. For example, if our regular spelling words were short u and we had the word "mud", then a challenge word might be "club", which sticks with the same pattern, but adds a blend to make it more challenging. I like this because I can differentiate spelling just like I do everything else. 

If they have challenge words, I write it on their pre-test, and circle their challenge words on their newsletter and homework, so they know to practice those words for the week. Some weeks, I have several on challenge words, other weeks, I just have a few.

I give the weekly spelling test on Friday after practicing it in class and on their homework. I call my challenge words friends back to my table and I whisper their words to them as I call out the regular words for the rest of the class. I also give everyone mystery words. These are words that they haven't practiced, but go along with the spelling pattern. This way I know for sure that they have mastered the pattern and not just memorized the words. I also give 2 sight words from our weekly story, so they are practicing them each week as well. Finally, I give 2 bonus words. These are much harder words that follow the pattern. They aren't expected to know these words, but if they get it than yippee! I have given bonus points in the past, but the last 2 years, I have just given a skittle for each bonus word they got correct. They LOVE the skittle! Haha! They love the bonus words and can't wait to see what they are each week.

I love doing spelling this way and I love being able to differentiate and make it fun for them. How do you do spelling in your classroom?

My packet this week is all about spelling! Check it out if you'd like some cutesy spelling pages each week.

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

So Much to Do, So Little Spring Break

How is it already the last Saturday of Spring Break?! I'm pretty sure it just started yesterday! My to-do list is still SOOOOO long! Oh well, it will all get done sometime. maybe in the summer?!

Looks like I've become a once-a-month blogger. Rats! That was not my intention. Hey! I bet I'll do really well this summer. :)

We've done so many awesome things lately, most of it spring related, even though spring wasn't in sight for so long. Thankfully, this week has finally felt like spring, just in time for Spring Break! Let's review the past month in pictures.

Dr. Seuss Week! This is one of my favorite weeks of the year! I am pretty sure I say that about most weeks, but I really, really love this week! :) We had a snow day, so that disrupted our plans a bit, but we fit in most everything. Who wouldn't love silly socks?

 Exploring adjectives by eating PopRocks while wearing Dr. Seuss hats! What could be better?

Dressing up as our favorite Seuss character! Such fun! I was the Lorax, of course! Although I put together 3 different costumes. I can't wait until next year's costume.

 We made Oobelek! Fun and grossness at the same time=awesome!

We also learned the r-controlled vowel, "ar" this week, so we had to take off our Seuss hats and put on our pirate patches! Can't miss going on a treasure hunt, that's for sure! Look what we found! Argh, Matey!

I also coordinated a school-wide Book Drive to celebrate Read Across America Day. I was soooo proud of the kiddos for bringing in their gently-used books. We had sooooo many books that each kiddo got to choose TWO new-to-them books, and we still had plenty to donate to a local charity. This is just one side of the cafeteria and there were more books on the other side!!

We couldn't leave Dr. Seuss week without eating green eggs and ham, of course! Yum, yum!

We also had Schlopp, schlopp, beautiful schlopp!

Then it was St. Patrick's Day! We started out by figuring out what two primary colors would make green. Was it blue and red? Nope. 

How about yellow and red? Nope again!

Yellow and blue? Let's see....

Woohoo! Yellow and blue make green!

Then silly Larry the Leprechaun left us some magic leprechaun pudding. We had to make it ourselves and guess what?! There were tiny gold nuggets in the pudding. It was delicious!

 Then he left a giant mess! Plus, we had all invented leprechaun traps and he was so sneaky, he didn't get caught in one of them!

Then we topped off the day with Shamrock Shakes, complete with green cherries! Scrumptious.

 What says spring more than flying a kite?! We did a narrative writing about a day we flew a kite, so we had to go try it out, of course!

We also made terrariums and aquariums, complete with real live bugs and fish! 

Spring is amazing and I am so glad it is finally here! Although that means that there is not too much longer with my little cuties. 2nd grade will be here before we know it! 

This week was Spring Break. I can't wait to hear all about their adventures. I did get to visit with one of my favorite teacher friends from my old school. I also did my student teaching with her. She is fantastic, and I'm so glad I got to see her and her sweet kiddo. I miss my RSE friends!

Last but not least, I finished my Unit 6 Wonders Selection Tests. Now all the units are complete! I know you guys love them, so don't forget to grab them before you start unit 6. 

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Snow Day!

We finally got a snow day with a miniscule amount of snow! Woohoo! Usually, I hate being out because all of my plans get messed up, but I wasn't really planned for this week anyway, so it worked out perfectly. They canceled early enough that I hadn't started my frantic planning. It is Dr. Seuss week though, so I am a little bummed about that. Hopefully, I can fit in all of our fun stuff. Who knows if we will be closed tomorrow, too?  Maybe some of you are out of school today, too. Check out my newest products.

Unit 5 Selection Tests for 1st Grade Wonders Reading. A comprehension test for all ten Anthology Stories. I can't believe there is only one unit left to go!

My next product is something that the lower grade teachers in my school wanted in poster form. I really liked how it turned out, and hope it is what they were looking for. I thought I'd go ahead and put it on TpT for everyone to use.

There is one in color and one in black and white. It can be blown up to poster-size, put in your Math Center or given as a student helper. My kiddos love looking at our Math Strategies and trying to pick a way that no one else does. It really helps them grasp the different ways to make numbers. This has helped our Math Tasks so much!


Enjoy your snow day!

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Long Time, No See

I know, I know. I've been missing in action for quite a while. Here I am! December is busy, what can I say?!

I'm on Winter break now. I took last week to celebrate Christmas, spend time with my family, and catch up around the house. This week will be all about getting ahead for school. I hope!

We did do some fabulous stuff this last month though. I was so busy trying to get everything done that I didn't take many pictures though! I know. I'm terrible.

I'll backtrack a little and show you what we did though. For Thanksgiving we made our own pumpkin pies. Cuteness!

 We started out by crushing up graham crackers for the crust. They LOVED this part!

 Then we got our filling all ready.

 Mixed it all up.

 Filled our crusts.

 Then completed the pies with whipped cream, of course!

We did LOTS of other things. We learned about that Bossy E, became Pilgrims and Indians, learned all about the Mayflower, and so much more.

Let's skip to December. It was filled with present making, adjective finding, Christmasy things, Polar Express, and so much more. I wish I could show you more, but alas, I was a terrible teacher photographer.

Look at the super cute presents we made though!! LOVE! Don't mind my messy area. Don't try to say yours doesn't look like that the day before the Christmas party, too!  We did Handprint Santas, Melted Glue Snowmen, Thumbprint Reindeer, and Frosty kids. We also made a handprint calendar, but no picture of that. I love them. I hope their parents did too.

Finally, I made something for you! Unit 4's Wonders Selection Tests. Hopefully, I'm ahead of you! I hope they are helping you out! Enjoy!

Maybe you'll see me again before the break is over!

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Assessment Queen!

Ha! Want to know something funny. All through school and student teaching, I constantly felt that I was lacking in the assessment category. That was the area I put that needed improvement every time I was asked. I wasn't good at making them up, and of course, I hated giving them. There are so much more fun things we could be doing rather than testing! :) But alas, the world of teaching is a lot about testing. So, apparently I turned that weakness into a strength and didn't even know it! I guess it just came gradually with time, but now it seems most of what I do is making tests! I made all of the assessments for our grade level this year. I made many for you on Teachers pay Teachers, and I've made some more!

We got a new Reading series this year, McGraw Hill's Reading Wonders. We noticed that they didn't have a weekly assessment that went with the story for the week. The booklet they gave us is like a 6 page test and it doesn't cover anything about the story. I wanted to be able to gauge the skill and what they were getting from what we had worked on all week long, so I started making a weekly test for the story. Then my team started using it, and what do you know... another TpT product was born. I figure lot of you could use these weekly tests as well. I might as well share.

Unit One is probably done for most of you, but I do have that ready to go. You can get it for next year. :)

Unit 2 is ready to go for you now. Click on the picture below to get it on TpT. I've also included the info sheet so you can see what you are getting and a sample sheet so you can see what page 1 of a test looks like. I hope they help you out. They will be scaffolded as the Units progress. Right now, I am reading the test out loud to the students. I will start letting them read it after Christmas probably. They are simple enough that they can be read on their own now as well. I just want to get them used to taking the test, so I can for sure see what they know, rather than maybe a guess because they didn't read it correctly. I will be adding Unit 3 soon. I hope you enjoy and they make life easier for you!

Fall Break is over for us! I can't believe it goes by so quickly, but at the same time seems so long! I am going to be struggling in the morning, that's for sure! 

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

Assessments Galore!

Woohoo! It's F A L L     B R E A K! Don't get me wrong. I love my kiddos and love to teach, but boy, have I missed sleep! :) We aren't doing anything special this week, so I finally feel like I can stop running all over the place and just relax and take things slow. Plus, I get to work on things that I've not had time for like my Common Core Assessments Packs that I've been working on for weeks!

Our team does common assessments for the whole grade level every 3 weeks. We do this to get an accurate picture of where each child is and where we might need to intervene. I happened to be the one to make them all for the grade level, so I get to share them with you! We took each standard and made an assessment to match. We even did them in smaller tiered- incremements so we aren't moving on if the kiddos aren't getting the basics.

We give the assessment to every child throughout the grade level. Then, for those kiddos that might be struggling or just aren't there yet, we usually re-teach the skill in a small intervention group.  I made a Form B or 2nd assessment so we can re-test after the skill has been re-taught. Hopefully, by this point they've mastered the skill. If not, further intervention is needed and we go from there.

So, here are the assessments packets I've got for you today!

This is my Reading Foundations Assessment for skill 1.RF.2. It's a Form A and For B for each of the 4 subgroups. It gives the standard you are assessing, the teacher and student instructions, and the assessment form. It is a quick, easy way to assess your students often so you always know what they are mastering. It's a great price, so click on the picture above to check it out today!

Finally, I've combined my Math Common Core Assessments into one, big mega pack. It's 47 pages of Math Assessments! That's a lot of Math! That's a lost of assessments! Believe me, this pack will make your life much easier by giving you the data you need, and helps you get a firm grasp on what your kiddos are retaining. This packet tests all the skills for Operations and Algebraic Equations, as well as Numbers and Operations in Base Ten. I have these assessments in separate packs, specific to the standard, but this is the better deal because you get all of them in one for a lower price. Click on the picture below to take you to my TpT store.

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney

It's Done!

Woohoo! FINALLY! My Math Common Assessments are all done! I have all of the Operations and Algebraic Thinking and Numbers and Operation in Base Ten complete and ready for you! Whew! That was a lot of work, but they will be worth it for both myself and all of you. It will save us a lot of time and headache, and it's a great way to have that important data that is always needed. I will be combining the packets into one which will be 48 pages worth of Common Core goodness, but for now, I've put both packets on sale! They are both 20% off in my store for the next 3 days. Now is your chance to get them while they are cheap!  :) The year has just begun and we have a lot of assessing to do. Might as well get that monkey off your back so all you have to worry about is the actual giving of the assessment, rather than making your own or finding one here and there. These are all in one place, plus there are so many options to choose from. You can do smaller assessments for a quick look at your student's progress. You can give an in-depth one that covers everything on the standard. You can re-teach and retest with the Form B, etc. Many, many options. I hope to save you some time and headache. Your life will definitely be easier, at least where Math is concerned. :)

Plus, did I mention they are on sale for 3 days! Get them while they are hot! 

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney