Best Game!

I'm joining the linky at The Teacher's Chair again today.  The topic is best game.  I want to share a game called, "Mr. Picky-Eater."

You can use this game/activity to practice all kinds of skills.  Here is how you play...

1.  Display a chart with text.  I usually use a poetry chart or morning message.

2. Make a t-chart like this: 

                      

3. Decide on a characteristic for sorting. The possibilities are endless- words with tail letters, words with 5 (or any number of) letters, words with 3 syllables, words with blends, words with inflectional endings, plurals, proper nouns, words with long vowels sounds, etc.

4.  Tell the students that Mr. Picky-Eater is hungry.  He is hungry for words.  BUT, he's very picky.  He's only hungry for a certain kind of word each day.  Their job is to figure out what kind of words Mr. Picky-Eater is hungry for that day so they can feed him.

5.  The students then take turns guessing words from the displayed text.  As they guess words, write them on the "yummy" side if the word has the desired feature.  Write other guesses on the "yucky" side.  

6.  After a few words have been placed on the t-chart, some kids will tell you they know what Mr. Picky-Eater is hungry for (even if they don't).  Tell them not to say what they're thinking but instead to give you a yummy word.  Keep playing until most of the class has figured out the sorting rule.

7.  Then allow students to guess the rule.  Test their guesses by going through the words listed on the t-chart.  If the rule holds up, see if there are more words you can feed Mr. Picky-Eater.  

Your kids will LOVE this game.  My students are always excited when they see the "yummy/yucky" chart on display in the morning. They know we're going to feed Mr. Picky-Eater and they NEVER get tired of doing it!

Here are some samples, see if you can guess what Mr. Picky-Eater is hungry for. :) I put the answers below.

                           

See how easy it is?  The answers are:

1. compound words

2. words with four letters

3. nouns

There you have it.  If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.  I can't wait to see what games everyone else has to share!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

Mrs. C.

Favorite Read Alouds

I LOVE reading aloud to my class!  It is a favorite time of the day for everyone in 2-C!  The Teacher's Chair is having a week long linky and today's theme is favorite read alouds.  So here are a few of my faves...

This book is hilarious!  The kids love hearing it over and over again. They also enjoy reading it to themselves early in the year. :)

I think Margie Palatini is awesome!  All of her books are amazing. But I have to say this is my favorite of the bunch...

Mo Willams is the author of two of my favorites:

Can you tell by now that I enjoy humorous books? Ha!

My Hero is Mem Fox.  Her book Radical Reflections changed my professional life.  Several coworkers and I went to hear her speak years ago.  We sat in the front row and cried we were so thrilled to be seeing/hearing her in person.  So, of course I read all of her books with my class.  These two are tops...

Here are a few favorite chapter book read alouds.

Now I am off to school to work in my classroom.  We start Aug. 9! I'm so ready to meet my new kiddos for the year!  I look forward to seeing the other posts in this link because I'm always looking for the latest, greatest books out there! 

-Mrs. C.

Welcome, Bloghoppers!

I am so excited to be participating in the bloghop.  Because I know you have lots of blogs to visit, I will keep this post short.

I am very new to the blogging and TpT scene, but am enjoying it greatly.  I hope you will follow me because I have a lot to share.  Remember to sign up for the $75 gift card after visiting and joining all of the blogs in the hop.

If you are looking for a fun project to do with your class at the beginning of the new school year, you should consider my Back-to-School Jungle Safari.  You can help your children become familiar with the faces and places in the school as well as practice appropriate lining up and hallway behavior.  If you're worried about tying the activity into the standards, riddles you read to the students require them to make inferences about where you will go and who you will see on the safari.  While this ties in very well with a jungle theme, you don't have to be learning about the jungle to enjoy the activity.  You can find the product here.

I have a super-fun, "magnify-cent" math freebie for you today. Yes, the title is a pun.  Your students will use magnifying glasses to find tiny equations on picture pages.  They'll then record the equations on an accountability sheet.  Your kiddos will LOVE this.  YOU WILL LOVE IT TOO because it's very easy to prepare.  Once you purchase a couple of magnifying glasses, I hope you will want more sets for your classroom.  You can read more about it and download your copy here. Enjoy!

Now, it's time for you to hop on over to Kinder Cakes with Sarah Redmond.  Thanks again for hoppin by.    

Yours in education,

Mrs. C.

Mark Your Calendars

This Saturday I will be joining 18 other Hoosier bloggers in conducting a blog hop!  Each of us will be offering one free product.  We will also tell about a back to school product we have for sale or have purchased.

This blog hop will go in a circle; you can start anywhere.  There is a $75 giftcard giveaway at the end of the hop.  You will need to visit and follow all of the blogs to enter.

The hop starts at 9 a.m. EST.  See you then!

Mrs. C.

Can't Live Without and News

Once again, I am joining the Wednesday Wisdom linky at Primary Possibilities.  This time the topic is "Can't Live Without."  Here's my list:

#1 is my SMARTBoard.  I don't know how I ever taught without this!  This device makes it easy for EVERYONE to see whatever is on display...a lesson, the internet, a movie clip, or a game.  Making activities for my SMARTBoard is easy and the kiddos love to write on it or manipulate pieces.  

#2 is planbook.com.  I LOVE being able to make templates for each day of the week.  Then I plug in my plans.  There is also a drop-down menu for the CCSS so my standards can be listed with every lesson very easily.  The standards can be printed out or I can choose to display the numbers only.  It's very convenient.  I print my plans out for each day and keep them on a clipboard.  Subs have left good comments about all of the details in my plans and have followed them well.  Did I mention that plans are saved from year-to-year so I can refer to last year's plans when working on plans for the upcoming year?

#3 is this awesome pencil sharpener.  It's made by Exacto. I got mine at Office Max it was costly, but it was worth every penny.  We only sharpen pencils in the morning in my classroom, so our sharpener has to be quick, easy-to-use, and dependable. This one is all three...

#4 is this set of mailboxes.  I use mine differently than most people.  My students put their homework in their boxes in the morning and get their morning work out.  This allows me to individualize morning work and tell that everyone has turned in homework at a glance.  My students turn their work folders in when they are finished for the day.  Again I can tell at a glance if anyone still needs to turn in work.  I got these from Really Good Stuff.  I had cheaper ones before but they didn't hold up well; I'm glad I invested in these.

So my news is this...I just got off the phone with my principal.  He told me I have been named the Knox County Farm Bureau Teacher of the Year.  This is my second time to receive this honor and I am thrilled!

Now I'm off to work in my classroom for the day.  I hope everyone is enjoying these last couple of weeks of summer1

Mrs. C.

Freebies!

Hello!

Before I leave for a short vacation tomorrow I wanted to share some free products I've created.  I have been making materials for my own room and my colleagues for years.  But I must admit sharing things I've created on the internet is both invigorating and terrifying!

Here are three freebies that I have at my new TpT store that I would love for you to check out.  I hope you find you can use them with your students!

The first is a practice game for the Dolch pre-primer words. I am sure you can't tell what game I have played on my iphone all summer. HA! If you like this game, there are more sets including a bundled set at my TpT store.

Then I wanted to capitalize on the excitement generated by "Monsters U" this summer.  So I came up with Monsters You Can Math With.  I would really appreciate feedback on this product.  My goal was to tie a Singapore Math component, math talks, in with the CCSS.  I plan to do this for first and second grades too as soon as time allows...

Next I fell in love with a graphic set from Dancing Crayon Designs.

I just had to use it for something!  I ended up creating HUNG UP ON 

A-B-C ORDER. 

Is this cute or what? (Even with an iphone cord in place of the string.) I think kids will love it! 

There are three leveled sets of 14 cards for the students to work with and an accountability sheet.  Check it out for yourself. 

Enjoy these last few weeks of summer break!

Magic Trash!

Wow!  I can’t believe school is starting in less than a month.  Although I am never really out of teacher mode, it’s time to get into full-blown back-to-school mode now!

My friends at Primary Possibilities have another wonderful Wednesday Wisdom post about procedures.  I wanted to share a simple and effective tip I use to keep my classroom tidy.  At the end of the day or after a messy project, I tell the students, “I have my eye on a piece (or a couple of pieces) of magic trash.”  Now the kiddos know that the person who picks up and throws away the piece of trash I have my eye on will get a treat or a buccaneer buck.  They also know they can’t talk or the trash loses its magic.  So… they quickly and quietly pick up every little speck of trash.  It works like a charm and they never get tired of it!  If you like a tidy classroom, I strongly recommend letting magic trash work for you.

I can’t wait to read all of the other ideas shared…

Mrs. C.

Hello!

I am a second grade teacher with almost 30 years of experience in the classroom teaching first and second grades. I am also trained in Reading Recovery. I firmly believe happy kids who feel cared about learn the most, so I do my best to provide a fun and loving environment for my students.

I chose teaching as a profession because I wanted a job that would provide daily challenges and surprises. I also wanted a career in which I could continually grow and learn. So far, I haven't been disappointed with my choice! 

I live and grew up in southern Indiana.  My husband and I have five children ranging in age from 25-16.  Now that our nest is nearly empty, I am taking the plunge into the educational blogging world! I have been a stalker forever! :)

About a dozen years ago, I began working for an area education cooperative as a trainer and coach for fellow teachers.  I worked as a presenter at several area and national workshops as well.  I loved sharing my ideas and experiences with others.  I also found that I learned and grew from all of my travels and interactions with other educators. But, God had other plans for me at that time, which leads me to another fact I am happy to share about myself... I am a nine year survivor of recurrent stage IV endometrial cancer. The battle I fought the next two years took everything I had.  But I have been in my second remission for seven years this month. I'm grateful for every day of good health, time with my family, and time for my passion, teaching!

I have just opened a store at TpT.  (Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?) I will be working hard to share my ideas in what I hope will be top-quality products.   Right now I have only posted one set of products, but I hope to get several more posted over the summer.  I currently offer one free product. I will try to offer more soon.  I welcome any and all feedback. :)

I also want to invite you to visit my classroom website.  This was my first year to have a class site so it's very basic.  But since I have been stalking so many others these last several years, the least I can do is share.

Yours in education,
Sherri Caballero (aka Mrs. C.)