Five for Friday: Weekly Linky 5/2/14

(Click on the image for a direct link to Doodle Bugs Teaching, you can see the whole linky party!)

Close Reading & Written Comprehension:

We are still going strong this week again during our small groups!!! We have been using all Information Text passages in my students Complex Lexile Bands (we’ve been staying in the 700 range with my “yellow bubble” students). We have held on to a passage for multiple meetings & have continued to use our Close Reading strategies & re-visiting the text multiple times. The kids are marking & noting away with very little prompting. Engagement, conversations, questioning & written comprehension have all gone up! This week I gradually released students to question each other to start text conversations. I was shocked! They were covering standards from the Common Core in Speaking & Listening! The students were also using our “sentence frames” when responding to each other. I heard the words “because”, “I think” & “the text said” many times. I have also caught myself preparing to “scaffold” with students in my head, & then 1 of them would start speaking & questioning on their own to kick the conversation off. I just smiled & gave them a high five! Needless to say every Friday I give them a treat for their work all week, tomorrow is definitely a deserving 2 treat day!!!! I kinda want to stay part time Title I teacher & loop with this group of 16 kids from 2nd to 3rd Grade. I want to continue my work with them:-)

Here are a few pictures of my students working this week & their work…

I apologize in advance for the camera photos, not so clear:-(…

And my room is a portable split in 1/2, my side is for Title I Reading / my Literacy Coach office & the other side in for UNCW’s Reading Recovery Program. You’ll see the observation wall for training in some photos. I’m just explaining myself b/c people always ask:-)

2nd Grade is studying Life Cycles right now, so this fit perfectly with our Science & Informational Text standards.

Reading “Closely” with pencil in hand!

Discussion time! Text Talkers!

My 2 Favorite Close Reading Resources:

Here are my go to products…

(Click on the images for a direct link to these products)

2nd Grade Close Reading & Text Evidence –

Informational Text

(52 passages)

Close Reading: Information Text (Common Core Style)

Here’s the 1 binder I have organized them in, used the front side for 1 & the backside for 1:

I just don’t even know where to start, but 2 different products, same purposes & I completely love them both!!! You gotta check them out for yourself! Click on the preview files for a better look, well worth it! I promise:-)

May Free-For-All:

It’s time again! May is here! Hop on over to my Facebook page by clicking HERE to grab some exclusive FREEBIES! Grab a little trial of my new Kindergarten Language Interactive Notebook! Limited time only:-)

May the 4th be with you! My top 4 Sale!:

Sunday, May 4th only my Top 4 Best Sellers are marked down 20% off!!! Come back to my blog this Sunday, May 4th to read all about them:-) Grab any or all of my top 4 products for a “steal” (literally)!!!