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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

STAAR TEST FUNK

Have y'all SEEN THIS??!!! OMG! I just love it!

Keep it moving! Share with a friend! I think our kiddos need to see this on Friday!  I put a copy of the lyrics (written by a teacher in Denton) in my Dropbox. You can download them here.

‘Cause STAAR test we’re gonna give it to ya’
It’s testing day and we’ve learned a lot
Don't believe me just watch (come on)


Melissa

Monday, March 16, 2015

New Website for K/1 Teachers

Oh y'all I just love this new site! It's the first time I've ever seen good examples of leveled texts for FREE READING online! Share this with families for sure. Put this in a work station. Good stuff y'all. Spread the Word!

Unite for Literacy Library



Melissa

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Do You Teach 4th Grade?

If you teach 4th grade... then you know you have TWO MORE WEEKS (one of those may be Spring Break) until the STAAR test!

The KEY to this week is to keep doing what you've done! Hopefully that means mini-lessons each day and time for kids to write every day while you give them crucial feedback in conferences! Sound familiar? Yep- I'm talking about Writer's Workshop. We can give them ONE MORE WEEK of Writer's Workshop!

In addition to this Writer's Workshop time, we can also give kids a little leg-up on the editing and revising portion of the test. First let me say, TEST PREP is not the ticket! But teaching that prepares... that's what I'm all about!

So... in preparing kids for the editing and revision portion of the test, I created the following activities. They are open ended editing and revision questions that will get kiddos looking closely at writing. Better yet- their ideas and thoughts will apply to their own writing too! It's a win-win!

 






Go ahead... get your FREE Editing and Revising passages with questions from my TpT store! There are five compositions for Expository and five compositions for Personal Narrative! Download BOTH!


Cheers!  Happy Writing and may the SCORES (THE FOURS) be with you!

Melissa

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Fun FREEBIE!

Hello out there!

I wanted to share something FUN I found lately! Did you like playing UNO growing up?

Me too! So of course you can imagine my joy when I found THIS free TpT download! 


Get your FREE download at her store here

BUT to make it better... I shared the idea with my Kinder and First grade teachers who use Fundations... and one the FIRST GRADE teachers MADE a Fundations UNO!  
  
Hot diggity! You can your free copy of that here!

Have fun y'all! 

Melissa

Monday, March 2, 2015

March Currently

It's that time again.  I'm linking up with Farley! This may be one of her cutest designs yet. I'm always thankful for the opportunity to link up at the FIRST OF THE MONTH and for a GUARANTEED REASON TO BLOG!


Listening:I love this Pandora channel! Do you know it? It's often popular music, but usually instrumental!  I have told my upper elementary teachers and middle school teachers about it! They love it too. It allows me to stay focused, but also have some jams while I work.

Loving:  My husband gets a bad rap- cause I'm usually talking about him when he's not on my good list. But let it be known- I married a really good guy! And he puts up with SO MUCH from me! So I'm loving on him tonight!

Thinking: Oh it's bad y'all.  I was going to clean this weekend and I wasn't feeling well on Sunday... so there is still dust... still dog hair... and that bathroom counter... yeah... well... hoping some cleaning happens soon!

Wanting: Oh man! Ice cream is my weakness! But going to GET it is not something I am wanting. They really should deliver. I'd pay twice the price if it could just show up at my door...

Needing: Ugh. Don't remind me!

Spring Break Plans:  I'm so excited. I'm able to mix business with pleasure. Two days in a district near LA. It will be my first time there. Then the hubby and I are packing up the car to drive to New Mexico! We haven't been skiing in over 5 years.. and I can't wait to fall in love with him all over again-on the slopes!

Have a great March y'all! I need to believe that spring is coming.  I'm ready for time on the boat. Longer days and no more tights! I hate wearing tights!

Happy spring! Speaking of spring- it's time to change over my blog design too!

Melissa