Ten Freebies for Back to School!

Yes, you read that right, that's a full ten back to school freebies!

  

These are  some of the things that always help me through those first busy of weeks of school! 

 

Here's a freebie to help organize your literacy centers, including what the children do when they're not with you!

Literacy Center Cards! 

 

 

We all know those children who struggle to learn sight words. This Research Based Freebie will help!

Spelling Fun - Brain Friendly Task Cards 

 

 Here's a great way to keep communication open with parents, and give them some information that will help their children be successful!

Parent Communication Brochure for Back to School or September

This system has helped many children master their basic math facts. This freebie is the first of 8 research based, brain friendly levels toward math fact fluency.

Brain Friendly Addition and Subtraction Fact Freebie

 

Have your students mastered addition and subtraction facts? Move them on to multiplication and division! As with the addition and subtraction facts above, these are research based and brain friendly. This freebie is the first of 8 levels toward multiplication and division fact fluency!

 

Brain Friendly Multiplication and Division Freebie

 

This freebie is a great way to start the year in Science and Social Studies.

 

Science and Social Studies Printables for August & September Sampler

 

  

Looking for some fun ways to get the children comfortable with each other and learn to work together? These Team Building Games are very popular!

6 Team Building Games and Activities 

 

 

I use these tools as a "school office" with my students. These hands-on tools help children become independent learners!

 

Hands-On Tools for Learning: Sampler

 

 

Here's a fun way to get the kiddos thinking about their learning and how they can take charge of their learning.

I Can Stretch My Brain!

 

This one will help the kiddos get all those summertime wiggles out!

Back to School Brain Breaks

If you find these freebies useful, I'd love if you left some feedback!

I hope these freebies make your teaching life a bit easier!

 

 

Seven Ideas for Reading Accurately

I've finished my DIBELS, and my kids are all over the ball park as far as their needs go. I have noticed that several students had high "Words Correct Per Minute", but their accuracy was low. These kids read loads of words, but were adding, changing, and omitting lots of words. These same kids also had trouble with punctuation, and retelling the story. They need work on accuracy!

Here are some ideas for working on accuracy.

1.  Tell them that's what they need to work on. Yes, seriously, give them the feedback they need. That's the number one trick to improvement, knowing what you need to work at! If necessary, go back to the "finger pointing" stage to help them focus on the words that are really there.

2.  Partner reading - One partner reads, the other partner checks to make sure they're reading accurately. This works best if the children are evenly matched at their own reading level.

3. Read with an adult - Grab a spare adult somewhere to read with students! It might be a teacher assistant, a parent volunteer, or maybe even the librarian, phys. ed. teacher or music teacher! Anyone that has a few minutes can sit down with a child and listen to them read. (Make sure they are ready to give feedback!)

4. Have them read "out soft" - often!  The more they read so someone can hear, the more accurate they will become. That "sense of an audience" really makes a difference. When my students come to reading group, I have them bring a book they are working on, and they are expected to sit down and start reading it "out soft". That means: loud enough so that I can hear them across the reading table, but not loud enough to be heard from across the room. They find it a little awkward at first, but it doesn't take long for them to feel comfortable reading their book just loud enough to be heard. This trick also gives me a chance to listen to individuals, give a little extra time to some kids, and has the children warmed up and ready for reading group. I notice huge improvements in accuracy and fluency when I start doing this!

5. Readers Theater - As mentioned above, that "sense of an audience" is a big motivator! Plus, Readers Theater can be fun, which is another plus! There are plenty of sources of scripts out there. Just google it! Just beware of the danger of readers theater: after reading it a few times, they memorize the script. Then it isn't real reading anymore!

6.  Reading song lyrics - Music is very closely related to the memory. If they already know the song, they'll be able to read the lyrics. Give out song sheets and have them "finger read". As above, just make sure they are truly reading, not reciting something that they have memorized. (Nothing wrong with memorization, but that's not the skill we're trying to improve!)

7.  Practice sight words and phrases - In order to read accurately, they've got to know the words! Experts recommend that children learn sight words in context. See the freebie below for several phrases using the Dolch pre-primer list. There are plenty more of these for other levels, too!

 

What are your ideas for building accuracy?