Sunday Freebies - Guided Reading Forms for Running Records

I just love Sundays... They are my "lazy" days. I love laying around with the hubby, watching football, napping/dozing off throughout the day, and just enjoying being home. :-)

 

Here are a couple freebies for you. One of my colleagues asked for a copy of one of these documents the other day, so I figured it may make a good freebie.

 

The first document is a running record form. How many of you get tired of counting words ahead of time and writing them out? I certainly did. It was NOT my favorite thing. So, I came up with this super simple, but very handy and effective, form. To use this form, all you have to do is keep recording while the student is reading, until you get to the bottom! There are 100 boxes, so once you reach the bottom, you're good to go. Hope this works for you as well as it has for me! To download, just click HERE or click the picture below.

 

The other freebie I have for you today is a data sheet I use to record running record scores for my students. I print a page for each student, and I keep it in my guided reading binder. Each time I give that student a running record, I record the info (including any observations or comments) on the form. This is then handy to have, because I can see a comparison of their scores on one page. I can also easily see/use this information when discussing students at PLC (professional learning communities) or when trying to figure out if a student needs an MTSS (RTI in other states) intervention. Hope you can use this form also! To download this form, click HERE, or click the picture below.

 

Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead. If you haven't already, stop by my new Facebook page and click "like". www.facebook.com/confessionsofaprimaryteacher

 

Pin It

Informal Daily Writing Checklist

I've finally created a daily writing checklist to use during writer's conference or for informal observation as I walk around during writing time. This would also be handy for Daily 5, Work on Writing. This will help me collect data that I can then use for both grade cards and for other student data purposes.

I plan to put this sheet on a clipboard, write the date at the top, come up with how I want my coding system to be (letter grade, 3/2/1, +/-, etc), and quickly and easily mark what I observe for each student on their daily writing/work. The categories covered/included are capitalization, punctuation, and complete sentences. I won't use this every single day, but maybe a couple times a week. This then keeps all of my informal observation data in one place, or I can easily transfer it to my gradebook.

I am going to include a free copy of it in case you'd like to use it also in your classroom!

Enjoy, and I hope you can use this! I've included both a student numbered version (if you use student numbers in your classroom for confidentiality purposes) and a blank one for you to write in the students' names.

 

To download, either click HERE, or click on the picture below.

 



Pin It

Freebie: Class Information Sheet and Parent Communication Log

We all know that teaching is not just about the time spent in the classroom. :-) There are a lot of other components to teaching, and one of those is components includes making frequent contact with parents (including those "good" phone calls and notes). Here are two documents to help you with keeping the information together and recording it.

The first document is the Class Information Sheet. This is a very simple document that keeps your students' information all together in one place. While this seems like a super minimal document, it has proven quite handy for me throughout the year! I always fill it out at the beginning of the school year and post a copy by my classroom phone and put another copy in my plan binder behind the student information section. Once you've compiled it, it also makes a great resource for fieldtrips! To download it for free, go to this link HERE, or click on the picture below.

The next document is the Parent Communication Log. This document is so handy for tracking all those times that you make contact with a student's parent(s). Just keep a copy in the front of each of your student's file folders in your drawer, and fill it out each time you make contact. This information can come in extremely handy for various situations, including filling out referral paperwork. If you need more copies, just make extra copies of the 2nd page, and staple or paperclip them to the back of the 1st page. Included is an area for student and parent contact information. That way, you are only having to reference 1 document when you call, e-mail, write a note, or have a conference with a child's parent(s). Hopefully you can use this! :-) To download the Parent Communication Log, go HERE, or click on either of the pictures below to download.



Pin It

Pick-a-Partner Cards for Random Student Pairing

I created some cards as a resource for letting student pick partners in class. These cards can be used much the same way as you would use cards in the Kagan cooperative learning structure, Mix-n-Match. There are 50 cards. Just laminate and cut apart. You can store them on a ring or keep them rubber banded in a safe spot for easy access. I am having a sale on these cards on TpT - you can get them for $1 until Wednesday 7/25/12 at 11:59pm. See the last paragraph of this post for some other ideas on how you could use this same idea with general classroom objects you might already have in your classroom! If you'd like to see these cards, click HERE to go to my TpT store and purchase them. You can also click the preview picture(s) below.

You could just pass these cards out to the students and have them find their match. However, I have students use these like they would in the Kagan cooperative learning structure “Mix-and-Match”. This allows students to not only choose a partner randomly, but it also allows them to get up and move around (very important in the primary classroom)! To use, pass one card to each student (if there is an uneven number, place the extra card in the “unmatched area”). Have the students spread out in the room. Then, play some music or say a chant or something as a class. While the music is playing, have students walk around and trade cards (I always go over my expectations when it comes to this – students are to be constantly moving and constantly trading). When the music stops, students freeze. When you say, “Go!”, the students will try to find their match. When students find their match, you can either have them sit knee-to-knee, hand up/pair up, or stand back to back. They can then go do whatever it is you want them to do as a pair! If you have an odd number of students, and a player’s match is in the “unmatched area”, you can then just have him/her join a group or be your helper/checker.

I created these cards just to have something fun for the kiddos, but you certainly do not have to have set cards. In the past, I've used a regular deck of playing cards (partners have to find a number or symbol matching their number or symbol), colored puff ball (partners find their same color), pattern blocks, regular number cards (like we use in math), unifix cubes, or even sight word cards (you just need a double set and students match the sight word). You could also use rhyming word cards, vowel cards, addition/subtraction flash cards (same sums or differences), etc... This activity can be fun, educational, or both, and it allows students to interact in a positive manner that makes finding a partner an easy thing.  I hope your kiddos have as much fun with this as mine do! :-)

Pin It

Back to School Checklist Pack

Here is a helpful document I created for TpT. This Back to School Checklist Pack has everything you will need to help you get the year started off with a bang. The beginning of the school year can be such a fun, but busy, time, and these 3 checklists will keep you on track. Checklists included are:

- Back to School Checklist: Planning for the Beginning of the Year
- Beginning of Year Procedures Checklist: Ideas for Procedures to Plan for
- First Days of School Checklist: Things to Remember for the First Few Days

It's normally priced at $1.99, but I'm running a 1 day sale on it that will go until 11:59pm Saturday, 7/14/12. Come get it now for $1.00!!!

Let me know if you have any questions. To view and download, click HERE to go to my TpT store. You can also click the pictures below.

Cover Page

Preview of Procedures Checklist Page 1

Pin It

Tattles and Compliments

Confession time again: Tattles drive me insane. There just isn't enough time in the day for all the tattles that consume the lives of 6 year olds. Bless their sweet hearts, but there is just too much to do. So, this year I've started using a tattle jar/bucket. This has been an absolute sanity saver. After spending class meetings, counselor lessons, and social skills lessons on the difference between a tattle (which is a little problem) and a big problem, I put out a tattle jar with some scrap paper. I allow students to write down their tattles and put them in the bucket, and they're allowed to use it either during writer's workshop or during centers. Students now feel like they can tell me their "little problems" (which in a 6 year old's eyes is "the world"), and I can deal with them at separate times. It also allows the students some writing practice. Having only 2 times in the day for them to write their tattles down is also helpful, because I tell them that if they forget it by the time writing or centers comes around, it probably wasn't a huge deal.

To coincide with the tattle jar, we've also made a compliment jar. We've spent lots of time in our class reading the bucket filler book, talking about being bucket fillers and not bucket dippers, and talking about how to give/receive compliments. We have talked about how when you give a compliment or act like a good friend, not only are you filling the other person's bucket, but you are filling your own bucket. The compliment jar is intentionally larger than the tattle jar, because we talk about how we hope that there are more compliments than tattles. Students love writing compliments to each other, and they are so sweet about it. We always spend a few minutes at the end of the day reading and going over a few of the compliments. I read them out loud, and then the students practice saying thank you and practice accepting compliments appropriately. I then give them the compliment to take home. Because we've worked so much on sportsmanship, the students do not get upset if they haven't gotten one for the day. We then also talk about filling up everyone else's bucket, so students know to focus on other students for the next day. It's fun to see visiting adults and teachers come into our classroom and get involved with writing compliments to the students!

While neither one of these jars is super fancy, they definitely serve their purposes!!! :-) Maybe next year I will have some time to make some super cute ones to replace these ones!

Pin It

Word Wall Management and Organization

How many people actually have the space for a full-on word wall that takes up an entire wall space? I certainly am not that lucky! While I do have one giant bulletin board in my clasroom, I use it to display student work. I am constantly running out of wall space, ceiling space, hanging space, and just about every other kind of space. While I am so lucky to have a whole wall of windows for all the natural light, they definitely take up room. I've been looking and thinking and playing for years with how to manage my word wall. I've done it countless ways, but I think I've at last found a system I'm ok with. It may not be the best, most beautiful thing ever, but it works, and I'll take that!!

 

First, I printed up giant 11 x 17 posters with big letters on them. I mounted them on 12 x 18 construction paper, laminated the letters, and cut them out. Then, I mounted velcro strips to the back, and "hung" the word wall letters from the marker trays/ledges of my two white boards. The letters hang down over that tiny amount of wall space underneath the white boards, but don't take up any wall space or bulletin boards now! When we are introducing new words, I just write the new word straight onto the letter poster, and students can see them or come look at them anytime they need to. Students can even take the letter card they need back to their special writing spots or to their desks if they have to, because they can easily be detached/reattached. It's a win-win!

Pin It