3 Freebies and an Apology

{sigh}

So, it's been a while since I've blogged.

{sigh}

Would you please accept my apology?

{grovel, beg, plead}

My spring and summer got a little a lot crazy, and my time for blogging got put on the back burner.  I had so many incredible opportunities this spring & summer, and I learned bunches!  Hopefully over the next few weeks, I can share my experiences with you here.

Well, school has started, and it is going to be a fantastic year!  My energetic little green beans are keeping me on my toes, and I'm so excited to go along this journey with them!

To make up for my lack of blogging, here are a few freebies you might find adaptable for your classroom.

Savvy Sentences
Skill: Identifying words needing capital letters and when to use a period in a sentence

As you know, I don't do traditional worksheets.  Since the ultimate goal is for students to be able to write sentences with correct conventions, I created this station which is a spin on Super Sentences.

Print these sentence cards on cardstock, laminate for durability, cut apart, and voila - you've got yourself a literacy station that's meaningful.  The direction tent can be printed on cardstock, folded in half and if you dog-ear one corner, it will stand up without splaying out.

There are 4 pages for a total of 24 sentence cards and they are editable.

Check out this poster on capitalization using the acronym M.I.N.T.S.  So clever!


Monitor Comprehension Bookmarks
Once again, I'll be using the Comprehension Toolkit with my students.  I ♥  it so much because of the results I see and hear.  These bookmarks can be used as bookmarks or can be glued into notebooks as a part of a mini-lesson on monitoring comprehension.

This Word doc has 2 bookmarks on a page.

See, Scan, Analyze
My last freebie for you came from reading Developing Visual Literacy in Science K-8.  The authors use this thinking process to help children develop the ability to reflect metacognitively about what they see.  (Great book if you ever have the opportunity to pick it up!)

I've used the See, Scan, Analyze two ways.  1) Show students a photograph and have them see, scan and analyze it using the structure of observations, inferences and emotions.  2) Give students an object to observe and follow the same structure.  While we are making our observations, inferences and emotions, we are having a rich discussion and asking lots of questions.  I encourage them to draw pictures too in the boxes.  They love doing See, Scan and Analyze.

I hope your school year is off to a wonderful start!  Best wishes for a fabulous 2012-2013!