VersaTiles Starter Set Giveaway

Have you heard of VersaTiles? I had heard of them but never seen them in action. The great people over at ETA hand2mind sent me a 1st grade Reading/Language Arts Starter Set to try. I am using it with an incoming first grader I am tutoring this summer and I am a new fan!

The numbered tiles come in a black case with the letter choices on the bottom. As the student chooses the correct answer, he places the number on the letter choice.

We used this book but the starter kit comes with 8 books at different levels of increasing complexity.  My student is still struggling with some of his letter names and sounds so we did the beginning sound picture match the first day.

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Here is a sample page

Once all the questions are answered the student closes the lid, flips it over and reopens it. The back of the tiles form a design that the student compares to the answer key at the bottom of the page.

As you can see, he got 2 wrong (yellow & blue reversed.) So the student takes those 2 out, flips it back over, and tries again. My student confused the b & d so you here you see him trying the finger trick.

 Here is a better picture of the finger trick. I have them say, "a, b (hold up the left), c, d (hold up the right.) I like this better than the bed thing because they always have their fingers with them!

After he fixes his mistakes, the student flips it back over to check again. This time he got it right!

VersaTiles are perfect to add as a Daily 5 choice or literacy center. These are exactly the kind of skills I want my students practicing and I don't have to make them! Plus I love the manipulative aspect. The boy I tutor is *very active* and he was completely engaged by manipulating the tiles and closing and flipping the case.  The self-checking immediate feedback is also a big plus. I'd highly recommend this product!

There are also different VersaTiles sets focusing on comprehension strategies, vocabulary, children's literature, even math and science! Check out the ETA hand2mind website to learn more.

The terrific people at ETA hand2mind are offering 1 lucky winner a 1st Grade VersaTiles Reading/Language Arts Starter Set! Enter via Rafflecopter until July 13th at midnight.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Writing Posters Winner

The winner of my new Writing Process Posters 

is Kim Worthey! I sent you an email, Kim. 

If you didn't win, you can grab a set for yourself for only $3 by clicking on the picture above.

Happy Fourth everyone!

Don't you just love Melonheadz clipart?

The Writing Process

I finally got around to updating my Writing Process posters.

I included the traditional 5 steps: Prewrite, Draft, Revise, Edit, and Publish.

However, I also included the variations I use with my 1st graders.  For instance, I think Prewrite is a little confusing for 6 year olds so I broke it into the two parts of Think and Plan. I've found that many kids (and adults) brainstorm but skip the planning and just start writing.

I ask my class to read their story over with their whisper phones (I made them out of PVC.) The kids love to use them and it is a great way for them to realize they left out a word (or two or three...)

I also switched over from traditional editing marks to writing the capital in green crayon and the ending mark in red crayon. The color seemed to help them notice to make the change on their final draft better.

I have students sign up for conferences after they have tried to edit and revise on their own first. I thought I might try to use name magnets or clips on the posters this year.

The students LOVE to share but there is never enough time for everyone. Again, maybe 3 magnets or clips from this poster could be picked at random.

Do you stick with the original 5 or use a variation? Maybe a little mix and match?

Get your own set for $3 in my TpT store by clicking {HERE.} 

Leave me a comment and I'll pick 1 winner tomorrow to email a set to. Your comment can be about this post, telling me you pinned this, that you are now following my TpT store, whatever you'd like.

I'm bummed today because one of our cats, Shadow, has been missing for 1 week now. This happened one other time and she did come home the 2nd week so I am trying to keep my hopes up that someone is taking care of her.

Sticky note list freebie

"Yeah, I'm a planner. No, actually I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants gal, you know, moment to moment. Yeah, that's me. " MOVIE ANYONE??

Which do you think I am? HA, was that even a question? No surprise, I am TOTALLY a list person. So I was inspired by this project from a great DIY site called Cornflower Blue.

I wanted to make them for my family so I was lazy efficient and made a smaller printable version with space for doodling-although no one else in my family seems to have the doodle bug. Do you?

 

 I decided a DAILY PLAN was needed to make sure we were all balancing our free time with our responsibilities.

 The categories work for the boys and me.
CHORES-These are in addition to the ones they have every day. For me, I am trying to break my big monthly goals into smaller parts so I don't feel so overwhelmed.
SCHOOL WORK-They have Summer Bridge workbooks, flashcards, math games,etc to keep their brain from turning to mush. I have my teaching stuff to work on.
OUTSIDE-They love hockey, football, etc but get drawn by electronics so I schedule it. I am even worse and send them out but get sucked in by the computer. Trying to change this.
READING-I require at least an hour but luckily they like to read so this isn't an issue. I would read ALL DAY if I could so this is giving me time but I also have to do the others. RATS.

The boys decided they wanted to write with a dry erase marker instead of post-its which worked for me. They hadn't finished filling it out when I snapped the picture.

Then, I started thinking about how it would be great to have a To Do version of this for my teacher organizational binder so I made a version of that as well.

If you think you may be able to use any of these sticky note lists you can download them FREE by clicking on the pic below.  I'd love to hear from you if you do.

Listening FREEBIE & 2nd grade CCSS Pack

Hi, my name is Jenn and I am addicting to teaching. 

 {"Hi, Jenn," the rest of the meeting intones.}

I am trying to relax, I am, but I find that difficult. Instead of disconnecting from teaching like I probably should, I find myself spending many hours planning, creating, and organizing because I finally have more time to do it.  Most of my teacher friends think I am nuts and have no problem leaving their classroom behind. Anyone else feeling me? I am thinking I know some bloggers who should be commenting below in a similar AA format. :-)

A lot of my brain is consumed by this Common Core leadership thing I have gotten myself into.  I am feeling kind of stressed that I am the only one at my site (20ish in the whole district) to pilot this.  I keep looking over my yearly plan at what I will need to change.  I am still not 100% clear if somethings are still mine to teach or not. For example, I am not seeing contractions or compound words as a first grade standard. Anyone who is teaching/learning common core want to chime in and tell me if I am correct on that? What are the other changes you have noticed? I bet a conversation on this would help a lot of us.

One of the things I am trying to do is tweak what I already do to make it fit the standards better. I adjusted my listening center response sheets. These are FREE in my TpT store.

1st grade:  I filled this one in as an example.

 Kindergarten

2nd grade: they would have to be taught to include the info like above with a conclusion. {This could also be used later in the year for first.}

I also added the requested 2nd Grade version of my Common Core Assessment Pack to my store along with the Kinder & 1st. {Click the picture to visit my store}

 I'd love to hear from you if you download my listening center freebie, want to talk about what standards you notice are different, or want to come up with a name for our Anonymous meetings? :-)