Independent Vocabulary Work - Freebie included

Are you interested in effective independent vocabulary activities for your class?  There are many skill specific vocabulary activities available for teachers, but what do I do with my weekly vocabulary words from my shared reading story?

I created this vocabulary journal card (FREEBIE) that has been so effective at raising vocabulary test scores,  that I wanted to share it with you!  Before students even start to work on their vocabulary independently, we always have a Monday review.  Here is my routine for my vocabulary Monday.  We review each word with this routine.

• Go over the definition
• Give an example sentence (7 words or more)
• Talk about synonyms
• Talk about related words (add and subtract prefixes or suffixes)

Then, I ask students to give me an example sentence for the vocabulary word.  Students love this part of the routine!  When they make up their own sentence, it really helps them to understand and own the word.  If the student doesn't use the word correctly, I can quickly correct the way they have used the word.   It is amazing to see all the students' hands pop up because they want to participate.  It is even more amazing to watch their vocabulary tests as they master these words. 

When we use the vocabulary journal card, students use their glossaries to look up the word.  From the glossary, they write the definition and part of speech.  On their own they will need to finish the rest of the card.  We spend several weeks doing this worksheet together before I ask them to do this independently.   In the synonym/keyword area, if you have 6-7 student thesauruses, they can try to find a synonym.  If students want to just write in a keyword, they can pick one or two words to help them remember the vocabulary word.

For related words, students try to make a related word by adding ( or subtracting) prefixes and suffixes.  Students realize that if they know root words, they can also add (or subtract) prefixes and suffixes to find create new words.  In the 7-up sentence part of this sheet, I ask of my students to write sentences with 7 words or more.  Several times a year, we have a 7-up party to celebrate our 7-up sentences.  I just ask a parent to donate the 7-up and cups, and we have a drink treat before recess. 

The last part of the card is a picture.  I love this part!  Students love this part!  Drawing a picture helps students to really understand and memorize the meaning of this word. 

I hope you love this vocabulary FREEBIE and activity as much as I do!

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/teresa.eldredge/vocabulary-journal-card 

 

My Book of Quadrilaterals

Do you use your daily calendar time to practice math skills?     Practice, Practice....Practice is still what students need.  I believe in fluency practice for math as well as reading.  I have my calendar leader run through a quick review which lasts about 5 minutes.  I change the review to match the math concepts of the week. 

Looking at CCSS.Math.Content.3.G.A.1 (reasoning with shapes and quadrilaterals), my students have been extremely successful at identifying shapes, listing attributes of shapes, drawing quadrilaterals, and classifying shapes.  As a part of our daily calendar routine, our calendar leader (a student) describes shape attributes for a specific unknown shape.  For example, the calendar leader might list the shape attributes for a rhombus.

• four sides
• two sets (pairs) of parallel lines
• no right angles
• all four side lengths are equal

The calendar leader chooses another student to name the shape.  My kids love this guessing game!  Best of all.......they are mastering the ability to match attributes with specific shapes.  We also add math vocabulary terms to this guessing game.  This only takes a few minutes of my morning, but it is so worth the time.   


In preparing to review geometry shapes for our year end state test, I developed a full-page and half-page booklet to use as an end of the year review.  The product is called My Book of Quadrilaterals.  Included in this product, there are 11 posters, 19 booklet pages in half-page and full page format, and quick quizzes.  My kids loved the half-page booklet.  I have included easy page layout and copy instructions for the half-page booklet. 


Shown below is a collage of my product.  Click the link below to download a free preview file.  

Click Here: Preview My Book of Quadrilaterals 

Where's That Note?

Have you ever spend time looking for an important note that you received from the office, a team, or your district?  I admit that I have spend my valuable planning time looking for a silly note that I really needed.   I decided to find a better solution to locate notes quickly. 

Then, I had an AHA MOMENT!  Now that we have online gradebooks, my planner has many unused pages.  I decided to glue in all the important schedules, testing dates, rotation dates and more in my gradebook.  Now, when I need to find an important note, I know it is in my gradebook.  The second AHA MOMENT hit me when I decided to use Post-it Note Durable Tabs to organize my book.  I hope this teaching hint is helpful.  I know it has saved me tons of time. 

Common Core Math Models- Let's Practice

As I teach math concepts, I am always looking for a way to reinforce concepts.   Fluency is the key.  Kids need ways to practice what they have learned.

This worksheet has been a great resource for reinforcement after teaching multiplication models.  Students can use as a daily worksheet.  The teacher just needs to supply the multiplication problem for the day.

Click here to download: MULTIPLICATION MODELS - ARRAYS, SETS, MEASUREMENT AND FACT FAMILIES 

Reading Graphic Organizer for Retelling a Story

Hello Everyone,

This is my very first blog.  I am so excited to be a part of this new world of blogging.  Teachers, I hope you find some ideas that you love and can use in your classroom. 

My first idea to share is a graphic organizer that I designed.  It is a retelling graphic organizer.  I used this graphic organizer before my class took their midyear state required DIBELS Next Test.  It was extremely successful! My student's scores for the retelling portion of this assessment were excellent. 

In using this form, we took the weekly reading story and completed the retelling graphic organizer together.   I modeled how I wanted the students to retell the story using the graphic organizers.  I explained that I wanted students to touch each part of their hand as they described the characters, setting, problem, events, and solution for the story.  Then, I called on several students to retell the story just as I had modeled.  They did a wonderful job!  My students enjoyed presenting their retelling of our story.   The best part of this lesson is that students remembered how to retell the story without looking back to the graphic organizer. 

I plan on using this retelling strategy all year long for DIBELS Next, guided reading, and Fountas and Pinnell assessments.  

Click the link below for a FREE download of this graphic organizer from my Teacher Notebook Store.

The Common Core Teacher Blog TN Shop