Uh Oh! I've Been Reading!!

Hello everyone!! I just wanted to share with you and have you share with me about the books you have read in your Education Career.  I love to read and learn new things...especially about education in the primary grades.  I am currently reading two books:  Reading with Meaning second edition by Debbie Miller and Igniting a Passion for Reading by Steven Layne.  These are great books and have really given me amazing ideas for my class this year and  next year.  I have been inspired by them both!  I would LOVE to read up on my math skills next.  Does anyone have any suggestions? 
Here is what the covers of these books look like...I totally recommend them:)

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Meaning-Teaching-Comprehension-Primary/dp/1571109552/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397741703&sr=1-1&keywords=reading+with+meaning+2nd+edition



http://www.amazon.com/Igniting-Passion-Reading-Successful-Strategies/dp/1571103856/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397743095&sr=1-1&keywords=igniting+a+passion+for+reading
Have a Great Day!!
Stacy 



Later Gator!

Hello Everybody!!

We had our Later Gator Week this week!  I read the cute story Zack's Alligator  by Shirley Mozelle. 

I love this story so so so much!!  I bought the grow alligator from Steven Spangler.  We watched "Bridget" grow, grow, grow and then shrink, shrink, shrink. 

We wrote about our creatures and had a blast learning facts about real alligators and crocodiles!!

Please see my blog from last year to see and read more:) 

Thanks for stopping by and have a chomping good day!!

stacy gooch

sight speed fluency cards! a life saver!

Hello Everyone!!

It occurred to me one day during small reading group that flash cards with the sight words written on them in my prettiest, brightest colored markers were great and all...but where was the spark? So I thought~~what if these flash cards went beyond one word to two word phrases, three word phrases, and so on. So I created these cute little Sight Speed Cards and my students have ENJOYED..that's right...enjoyed learning those 100 sight words in the first grade!! I broke each set down to the groups of 10 Fry words. I am so excited to use these and they are too. Even better...once my student has mastered the 10 words in a set...they receive an award to take home and share with their families!! I also created 100 pages of each Fry word in the first 100 Fry Words for you to use with your students as reinforcement or small group or even homework. Please take a peek at my preview by visiting my teachers pay teachers store:)  Here are some pics:

Here is a pic of all 10 sets with 10 words in each...all Fry Words:)

I cut these out and laminate them up and...

Viola! Put them on a ring and you are all set for your firsties to start learning those words in no time!

Once they have mastered a set of words, your students earn a reward for them to keep in their folder, take home to pin up on the fridge, or make into a sticker and wear it with pride!:)  

These have truly made a difference with my lower students...they feel more confident in their daily and independent reading. Fluency speed has increased and overall success has been made!!  I have seen great results:)  I do hope these will help your students too!  I will be making this for the 2nd 100 Fry Words and the 3rd Fry Words as well:)

I also created 100 pages of Sight Word Response Sheets...one page for each Fry Word.


 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Speed-Fluency-Cards-with-the-First-100-Fry-Words-1181813

Thank you for stopping by!!
Happy Teaching!!
Stacy Gooch

Michael Recycle and Earth Day math!

Earth Day is almost here! I thought about this one day as I was recycling my milk jugs and water bottles. I thought these caps could be used as good math manipulatives! IDEA sparks shooting out everywhere....then dollar store trip. I made two math stations to use with my Michael Recycle lieracy unit.  I couldn't stop there so I made 5 math journal word problems....my students LOVED these! I really enjoy using literature as my hook....what do you use to get your students engaged?

First, I collect so many caps....whoa that's a lot! 

This  math station is using part part whole stragegy. I used, or should I say, reused water bottle caps as counters...amazing results with my struggling math students. 

 Here are the containers I purchased for these stations...which I will reuse for other stations too:)

I really like this station....because it looks like real recycling bins.  I put out more caps for counters.  This was a favorite! you can see this math unit and my other Earth Day unit at my tpt store...just click the button or brose my store right from this blog :)

Thank you for stopping by! Happy Earth Day!

math for St. Patrick`s Day!

Top o`the morning to you!  I love teaching children how to love math. I was recently at the Dollar store for some inspiration and didn't see much for St. Patrick`s Day...but I did find foam shamrocks....yay! So then I went on over to Party City....that is the place ya`ll! I grabbed some erasers and some coins, more paper shamrocks,  and leprechaun pots....what a fun trip!

Then, I thought about the needs of my students and how each one would love to learn that lesson. I created an addition/subtraction game (which by the way I am giving away free on my teachers pay teachers store) 

My students enjoyed this game so much....I really like hands on learning and I have found in my years as an educator....that is the best way to engage a 6 to 7 year old into loving and learning math!

Here are some more hands on math I made for my students....LOVE IT!! 

I hope you enjoyed these ideas! I would love to hear about your ideas too! What exciting lessons do you create for math?

The Three Million Strong TPT Sale!!

3 Million----WOW!! Teachers Pay Teachers has made my instruction so much more exciting! Thank you to all the ladies and gentlemen for creating and designing hands on materials!! In honor of this great achievement, Teachers Pay Teachers is having a sale----can I get a WOOT WOOT!! Please check out my store and all the TPT sellers' stores by clicking on the link below:)

Click the link below to see who else is throwing a sale:)
http://imbloghoppin.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-three-million-strong-tpt-teacher.html

data notebooks

I am soooooo glad I finally decided to do data notebooks! They have made life very easy when it comes to keeping track of my firsties progress....or in a few cases....no progress. In those few cases (3 to be exact) I can then create a small reading group for those children and voilà...problem solved. I created my own data notebooks to use for my students and my team of teachers. You can find these at my teacher pay teachers store by clicking the tpt button :) Here's a few pics.

first we read a story. It might be from our reading series and/or a story of the week.

This week we used Go To Sleep Groundhog! I chose a response sheet that targeted the skills we are learning. These response sheets are super duper because they each (over 70) have the Common Core stander at the bottom for you to seeand record into their data notebooks. Plus it shows parents what their child is learning....love it!

Next...if they have mastered the skill I record it in their data notebook....or just highlight the standard...easy peasy!

for each standard they master, my students earn a colorful card on a ring. This way my students and their parents see the progress they are making. Yay!

please see my earlier post from June on how I put my notebooks together. It is aaesome fun to do! I love Michael's craft store so I went crazy putting mine together.

Thanks for visiting!

Groundhogs and puppies

Happy Groundhogs Day! My firsties are having a great time learning all about groundhogs and wood chucks. First we started our unit off with the cute book...Go To Sleep Groundhog! By Judy Cox. Since the Groundhog already came out of his burrow, we predicted if this groundhog would see his shadow or not. I read the story up to the point where he finally came out. They loved it!

Then we went to our workstations

For the rest of the week we will read other groundhog stories....

Here's some pics from my Puppy Time Pals Common CoreLiteracy Stations.

We read the story Fancy Nancy Puppy Party. It is amazing how engaged they were over these puppy dogs. We did puppy compounds and y sounds like e. Fun~fun~fun! Thanks for stopping by!