Fiction/Nonfiction....and BIG news!

We are blessed to work right next to Fort Leavenworth, therefore we have today off! I am excited because I have class tomorrow, therefore I leave school early. Wednesday I have a meeting at our board office for Learning Council and then we have an Early Release Day. It is going to be a quick and hopefully painless week!

Last week we started our Life Cycle units in Reading and Science. We planned to read a nonfiction story and then a fiction story so the students can see the difference. We are also trying to throw in an Eric Carle author study too!

We compared and contrasted the two stories and then the kids made cute spiders. On the legs they had to make some type of pattern.

Next we read two more books and talked about what makes up a fiction or nonfiction text. 

The kids made their own copy of this chart to keep in their book bags. They can pull it out to help them decide if the book they are reading is fiction or nonfiction. 

Opps it is upside down!! Sorry!

Here is what the kids did during word work this week. I think this is their favorite part of the Daily 5!! 

Here is a picture of the cranberry bars  bread! We used the wrong type of pan! They turned our really good, but we will be making them correctly next time! 

On to my BIG news.....drum roll please.....I think I am going to finally take the plunge and open a TpT shop! I figured I will need something to do when I am done with my masters in 3 weeks! :) I will let you all know when I have it up and going. My first unit is going to be a BIG number sense packet with numbers going to 1,000! 

Happy Monday! 

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Sight Word Polka Dot Freebie

In this post I shared my sight word freebie with a bug theme for my magnet letter word work center. I stated that if you would like me to change the theme to anything please let me know and Lisa asked for polka dots, so Lisa got polka dots!!

Click here to get your own copy of all eleven lists!!

I hope everyone has a great Saturday! We are going to dinner with our neighbors who have the cutest baby ever!! I can't wait to hold him!! 

Word Wall

One of my favorite bloggy friends, Jen is having a linky party to show off your word wall!! Click on her button to link up with her! Here are pictures of my word wall. I use it a little differently then I think most people do. I put up a new set of words each month according to the month. I think of words the students might use during writers workshop that have to do with the month. For example: May I put up mother, flowers, spring, green, bugs, etc. I write the words on sentence strips and each month's words are the same color. My letters are on the back of note cards and I used stick on letters.

I have my word wall by the computers and my other writing resources!

Thanks Jen for the great linky party!! P.S. I found this GREAT new blog! She is dedicated to reviewing children's books! If you are as obsessed with books like me your should check it out!!
[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Long i Word Sort Freebie and Happy Thanksgiving

Next week we will be working on some of the long i spellings. In my "maydo" basket I always like to make a spelling sort that the kids can do. They love doing these and they are very easy to make! I thought I would share the one I made.

Click Here

I will probably not be posting during the break....I have A LOT I want to get done:

1. Finish my HUGE project for my masters class
2. Read 2 chapters in Leading Lesson Study, I am very excited to be chosen to complete this project for my building!
3. Make a Christmas wreath with one of my bffs. (I will take pics)
4. SHOPPING
5. I would say put my Christmas decorations out buuuut I already have them ALL out...ok I love Christmas time!
6.My favorite, hang out with my family!!!
7. Work on my next reading unit.
8. Finally....maybe relax!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Remember to always embrace the big things that happen, but remember the little things that happen!

Word Family Freebies

It's almost Friday!!! "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming!" We are almost there! I am sad because I will not see my kids at all next week. I am apart of MTSS training at my District Board Office on Monday and Tuesday, then we are off for the holiday break.

Our school has what we call "Pioneer Time." This is when we group our kids into small groups for reading and math. I know everyone school and district calls it something different! My group is focused on some of the more advanced phonics sounds. We are currently working on digraphs. We always practice sounding out words, but I was frustrated because I was having to come up with the words on the spur of the moment. I therefore decided I was going to make word family cards for the specific sounds we were working on. I print them out then glue them on COLORFUL card stock and laminate. I also have them on a ring so they are handy. I totally had to share with all of my blog friends! I will continue to share as I add more, but here is what I have so far:

nk and ng word families

th, sh, ch, and wh word families

I hope everyone has a GREAT Friday! I am super excited to be going to dinner to celebrate my wonderful mother's birthday tomorrow and of course we will be Christmas shopping all weekend together too! I can't wait for our first snow! Totally ready to wear my boots, scarves, and hats!!!!