Scholastic News GIVEAWAY & free sneak peek for my readers!!!!

Do you get Scholastic News? I was asked to do an honest review and I have to say, I'm impressed. Clearly real teachers are involved in the creation of these materials. {I wish I always felt that way about a certain math and basal series...}

I am a visual learner so I hope you'll appreciate a review through pictures.
I'll be honest, I probably don't read as much nonfiction as I should with my students. It is sometimes difficult to find text that is first grade appropriate and not too time consuming to read.  These issues do a terrific job practicing skills like text features, finding the main idea, vocabulary, map skills, etc.  I was also presently surprised at how cross-curricular they are. I didn't expect ABC order in the Seuss issue but that works for me!

A peek at the student copies of the March issues. Correlates great to my plans for Seuss, St. Pat's, spring, etc

As we all know, we are in the digital age and Scholastic is keeping up. With your subscription you get some cool new features and the nice people at Scholastic have made some of these links available as a special treat for my readers!

For every issue of Scholastic News, there is a video that introduces the topic and provides background knowledge for the students. It is available in English and Spanish. Here is a video we watched today about the life of Dr. Seuss.  Click on the picture to go watch it.

There is also a game for every single issue of Scholastic News. Many of them are like this one—reading comprehension—and others use the theme of the issue to test another skill, such as synonyms or ending sounds or math skills. The game below is meant to be played after reading the March issue “Peek at Plants.” The class can play it in teams if you have a projector or as individuals in your computer center. Click on the image below to go check it out.

There is also a Words to Know section on the website where you can project the vocabulary with the definition and picture.

The Teacher's Edition includes lesson plans, correlating worksheets, and reminders of the feature video and game for this issue. A planning calendar lists the topics covered for the whole year so you can plan ahead. Each issue is correlated to the Common Core Standards.

 A Big Book version is provided for your instruction and I put mine in the Big Book Reading station.

 I also really like the posters that are included. They are like anchor charts {see, I told you they have a team who knows how we actually teach!}

I am pleased to announce that one lucky follower of my blog will win a year subscription to Scholastic News (any grade!)

To enter:
1.  Check that you follow my blog (I swear Blogger has unfollowed me before) AND my TpT store  and then leave me ONE comment with your email.

2. You can earn a bonus entry by blogging {or tweeting, pinning, posting on facebook} about this giveaway. Provide the link to the post in your comment please. This could be some traffic back for you, too!

If you can't wait and want to subscribe now go  here.

The winner will be chosen one week from today on March 7th. GOOD LUCK!

Shop 'til You Drop

Are you as excited about the HUGE Leap Day sale at TpT as I am? My wishlist is getting pretty full in anticipation.  I will be offering 20% off and then you get to add the extra 10% off from TpT! Use promo code: L2P9Y.

If you have been thinking of buying something of mine, now is the time! Here are some ideas...

Sight Word Superstars: Building Fry List Fluency is my best seller!

Another very popular item! This week all the word problems are about Seuss characters!

 

My math games are FUN so the students beg to play and forget they are practicing essential skills!

Need to keep your above-level readers challenged? My packets might be just the thing!

Click HERE to go to my store. Don't forget to download my FREE Lucky ABC order while you are there! Happy Shopping!

Any Nate the Great fans?

I have been getting a lot of requests for more book club packets. I am so glad you guys like them! Here is a 2 pack I used with my 2nd grade readers recently. I love Nate the Great. It could be because I have fond memories of getting my first son hooked on reading with them. He went thru a huge detective phase, carrying a notebook around, constantly scribbling down clues. ADORABLE!  It could be because I love how Nate is always stopping to eat pancakes and never forgets to leave a note for his mother when he goes out on a case. :-)

This packet challenges them to use context clues to determine the meaning of a word.

I meet the group on Monday, going over the book and packet to make sure they understand what to do. During Daily 5, they read to self, read with a Book Club member, or work on their packet.






They know if they come to a difficult question to confer quietly with a Book Club member since I am busy conducting guided reading groups.




There are 3 thinking maps in this packet. A double bubble to compare/contrast two characters, a double bubble to compare/contrast the two books, and a tree map cut and paste to sort words from the story into the parts of speech. 

When they finish the book, they take an AR test before moving on to regular Daily 5 choices.  I added some fun to this packet by asking them to read words backwards like Nate did in the book. Their favorite activity by far though was when I mixed up a secret formula for invisible ink and let them write a secret message. When it was dry, they switched papers with a Book Club member and painted with grape juice to reveal the message! Directions are included in the download.

I love when the Book Club meets again to discuss the book. Reading "real" books gets the students much more engaged and I get better insight into where their comprehension skills are.

This 2 pack is now available in my TpT store. Don't forget to pick up the Lucky ABC Order freebie while you are there.

St. Patrick's Day FREEBIE and math gold!

I was lucky to have a week off this week when I know many of you didn't.  To share my good luck I made you a Lucky ABC order center.

You can download it for FREE by clicking on the picture below.

I have been getting so many positive comments about my math games, I was inspired to make another one with my time off this week.  Pot O' Gold focuses on students verbalizing the strategies they use to solve addition problems. I focused on the strategies of doubles, near doubles, and making ten.
{Topic 16.1 Envision users!} I will use "gold" as the cover up pieces but you could use counters.

 
Partner 1 picks a card and tells his partner not only the answer but what strategy he used to solve the addition problem. The included math talk cards provide sentence frames to aid your students in practicing this skill.

 I also included a double ten-frame so students who need the extra scaffolding can use counters to help them make ten.

Only $2 in my TpT store right now. Click on the preview below to go check it out.

Seuss FREEBIES

Have you been following my blog for a whole year? If not, I thought you may be interested in some FREE Seuss things I made last year as you prep for next week. Maybe you oldsters forgot you had these? Don't tell me I'm the only one who downloads so much I sometimes forget what I have?

We will make green eggs and ham again and then graph if students liked them or not.

 

Need a few more center ideas?

You can download all of the above here.
Here is a syllable sort
Seuss Syllable Sort

And a verb worksheet

Seuss Verbs
I love when I find freebies I can use so I hope you found (or remembered)  something today. Thanks for following and commenting. Comments make my day so I am really trying to do the same and make more comments on your blogs. I follow ALL of you :-) so know you are APPRECIATED, even if you don't hear from me. I love this blog community we have going and I KNOW my teaching is the better for it!