Happy Memorial Day! Big Deal-Big Day!
Celebrating the war veterans in my life. Upper left is my stepdad, Joe Mashburn, who served in the Navy during the Korean War on an aircraft carrier that transported Navy helicopters, and his father (not pictured) who also served in the Navy during World War II. Upper right is my great grandfather, Victor Manning, who served in the calvary during World War I. Lower right is Lee Hood, a long time family friend, who served in the Vietnam War on the USS Impervious...that an ocean minesweeper made out of wood and the picture on the lower left is the Vietnam memory beads he made and gave to me to symbolize the 58,000 men and women that died in the Vietnam War. He just so happened to be in Raleigh yesterday. He's on the Lead Team for the Run to the Wall motorcycle ride...where 250,000 veterans on motorcycles will ride in the Memorial Day Parade today in Washington D.C. For more information on Run to the Wall, go to http://www.rttw.org. It's quite fascinating to read about how they coordinate gas, food and lodging for mass groups of motorcyclists across the country. In honor of the amazing men and women that serve and served our country, I'm having a Memorial Day Sale in my TpT store today through Wednesday.
Also, celebrating a very special day today. Sixteen years ago today, my first child, Kelsey May, was born. Geez! Has is been 16 years already? Where did the time go??? I mean it. Wow! Everyone says it, and it's so true. Happy birthday, sweet thing! Mama Jones (that's what she calls me) loves you to bits!
Speaking of today being Memorial Day and my daughter's birthday...I am en route to Georgia where I'll be providing some #helloliteracypd to the teachers at Hillside Elementary and Northwood Elementary in Fulton County Schools tomorrow and Wednesday. I have to say, I feel love down there, it feels so good to keep being invited back. <3 You are welcome to follow along virtually at #helloliteracy on Twitter.
Speaking of Hello Literacy, today and tomorrow might be a good time to let you know that I've added several new products to my store lately, that I don't actually think I've blogged about. The first one is my #hashtag fluency product, which kids L.O.V.E. - for real!!! I have created 10 hashtag lists (that get gradually more challenging with each list) and 5 different fun and engaging activities and games to practice fluency. It you don't have it, it would be something fun and different for these last few weeks of school and if you already have fluency stations or fluency centers set up in your room, the kids would know exactly what to do and you don't even need to miss an assessment beat. Be sure to check out the preview, too.
To see this product in action, check out Linda Kamp's sweet #fluencyfun! blog post over at Around the Kampfire...
I've also included several editable files so you can create some of your own classroom hashtags.
Grab #hashtagfluency HERE.
I've also added several more Fluency Fact Card sets if you haven't seen.
Itty Bitty Insects Fluency Fact Cards
And, the research base for using these fluency fact cards in the first place...
And, the research base for using these fluency fact cards in the first place...
In addition to my fluency packs, I also created 30 10-question multiple choice assessments aligned to each of the 30 benchmark titles in the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Kit (for the blue kit). These assessments were designed to be used as an alternate assessment...you know, if you're like me, you've had that same child try to pass the book about Ray and his dad that live out a van until Ray's dad gets a job, and the student can't pass the level because they don't "get" the symbolism of the rain at the beginning of the story and the sunny skies on the last page!!!! Yes, both you and the student are just as frustrated and the student is thinking, "You're going to make me read this AGAIN?" Yep, but this time, use my comprhension check instead. Here's a few snapshots:
Both lower level (literal) and higher level (inferential) questions from each of the three strands of the CCSS for ELA. Here's a correlation table included for each assessment.
And my latest series, is a set of short, fun, and interesting informational articles for any reading experience or close reading. Each passage is designed to be read and reread in one session. Click on the image below to see everything that's included for just $5.00.
Each article is designed to look like a real magazine article. Each article is written at four different lexile levels from grade 3-8. However, these kid-friendly topics are certainly appropriate as K-2 read alouds or gifted youngers. Here's a few more snapshops:
I wrote these articles to really teach and reinforce each of the five different text structures, so you'll you'll notice that each article is a different text structure, and all the articles in this set have to due with 21st century global awareness...the articles aren't related but there is a common theme in the set.
A "lesson plan" is included per article with guiding questions for discussion and the vocabulary from each article is already divided for you into Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 words.
Two text-specific graphic organizers are provided per article with standards correlation listed at the bottom of the page.
Various printing and options for use are included, in addition to suggested ways to use these with your interactive notebooks.
This is Volume 1 and Volume 2 is almost ready...thanks to Laura Candler who suggested I get a Virgin Mobile Mifi Hotspot...I am able to work in the car today...on my way to Georgia.
Click on the image to get it now on sale for $4.00...(that's a 52 page steal!)
Volume 2 is almost ready, proofing it now, so check back tomorrow...it will be on sale, too!
Volume 2 is almost ready, proofing it now, so check back tomorrow...it will be on sale, too!
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