Day 9 Giveaway!!

Wow!! It's already Day 9 of our giveaway! Check out the amazing prizes up for grabs today!

Congratulations to Susan T.!! 
She won yesterday's Rafflecopter of products!

Three more talented bloggers have donated products today! Be sure to check out their blogs to read more about how they use these products and follow them for additional ideas, tips, lessons, and freebies!

Wow!  Erin at I'm Lovin Lit is giving away her awesome Interactive Writing Notebooks~Sentences and Paragraphs for the Common Core!!

Check out these amazing Winter Interactive Notebook Activities and Flip Books for ANY Text that Amanda and Stacia at Collaboration Cuties are giving away!!

The tech master, Matt, at Digital, Divide, and Conquer is giving away his super Zoo Design: Area, Perimeter, Map Skills, Project Based Learning, and More! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a new Rafflecopter with more prizes from bloggers and to re-enter for your chance to win the pencil sharpener and $50 Amazon Giftcard!!  Drawing will be midnight on January 12th!

Day 8 Giveaway!!

You have to enter to WIN!

New winners EVERY DAY!

Congratulations to Cecilia P.!! She won yesterday's Rafflecopter of products!

We are so lucky to have these three amazing ladies donating to our giveaway today! If you want new ideas, tips, lessons, and creative products you'll head on over to check out these wonderful bloggers/teachers!

Gina from Beach Sand and Lesson Plans is donating her Graphic Organizers for Analyzing Primary Sources...great for your history detectives to organize their thinking!

Michele from Coffee Cups and Lesson Plans is donating her Salt in His Shoes Comprehension, Inference, Reflective Writing Packet...lots of activities in this resource and perfect for Black History Month!

Jenny from Suntans and Lesson Plans is donating her {Math} Operation Snowball Fight-what kid doesn't like to play games?

 AND her Time is Golden: A Telling Time Game...do your students need practice telling time? Here you go!

 We've already had 7 lucky winners!!! Just think...you could be the winner of these fantastic resources!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a new Rafflecopter with more prizes from bloggers and to re-enter for your chance to win the pencil sharpener and $50 Amazon Giftcard!!  Drawing will be midnight on January 12th!

Day 7 Giveaway!!

Welcome to Day 7 of our 1000 Followers New Year Celebration Giveaway!  If you are stopping by for the first time, see the post here or here for more information about this awesome giveaway!!

I am off for my second snow/cold day in a row and have a plan to take down my Christmas tree and decorations today.  My kids and I are going a little stir crazy with not being able to go outside but I am thankful for the time to get some things done!  Yesterday, we cleaned out my six year old daughter's bedroom, I got some grading done, and read some more of Allegiant. :)

Congratulations to Andrea L.!

She won yesterday's Rafflecopter of prizes from three amazing bloggers TPT Stores!

More talented ladies have donated treasures today! Be sure to check out their blogs to read more about how they use these products and follow them for additional ideas, tips, lessons, and freebies!

Get ready for February with this Valentine's Day Fix the Sentence (Around the Room) by Theresa at Pinkadots Elementary.  

Check out this Happy Happy Happy Literacy Centers by Melissa at Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late.  There are 65 pages in this pack with a Duck Dynasty theme!

Don't miss the new Math Workshop January (10 Print and Go Games and Activities) by Deidre at A Burst of First.  It is all ready to go with snow themed games and activities!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a new Rafflecopter with more prizes from bloggers and to re-enter for your chance to win the pencil sharpener and $50 Amazon Giftcard!!  Drawing will be midnight on January 12th!

Day 6 Giveaway and Tried It Tuesday {Text Structures}!!

Are you ready to win some fabulous prizes??!!!
It's a great day...Tried It Tuesday is back in the second half of this post and I have a SNOW DAY!!    It's super cold and we are supposed to get up to 2 feet of snow, but I don't mind staying in (as long as we don't lose power!).  

Congratulations to Kathryn B.!! She won yesterday's Rafflecopter of products!

Some more fabulous ladies have donated treasures today! Be sure to check out their blogs to read more about how they use these products and follow them for additional ideas, tips, lessons, and freebies!

Bethany from Hunter's Teaching Tales is donating her Informational Writing Unit.
Perfect to teach nonfiction writing to your students!

Jennifer from Mrs. Laffin's Laughings is donating her Reading Genre Challenge-Reading Tags!

Your students will surely be motivated to explore new reading genres!

Mandy from The Fourth Grade Journey is donating her Task Card Bundle! {152 cards!!!}

Soooooo many possibilities!!! Wow!

a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now, Tried It Tuesday is back after a little break over the holidays! :)

My Tried It:

Informational Text Structure 

I could have done a better job teaching this Common Core Standard last year: 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.5 Describe the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in a text or part of a text.

It just snuck up on me and then one of the short responses questions on the state test went something like this:  How was this passage organized?  That was it for the question!  Yeah, my students definitely were not very well prepared for a question worded in that manner.  This was the first time a question was being asked in this way on the state test.  It was a tricky question and there was not a very clear text structure that stood out so I am still not sure what the state accepted for responses.  Anyway, I knew I needed to do a better job teaching this skill this year.

I used this chart from Nicole Shelby's 4th Grade Interactive Reading Notebook (aligned to the Common Core).  When I have students record information like this on a graphic organizer, I usually project the sample picture of the completed page for students to use.  It looks like this from the product's file:

This is a picture of one student's journal and their completed notes on text structures. 

I have been copying the standard in different colored papers for students to glue in their notebook.  For more information about how I organize my writer's notebooks, see my posts here and here.  

Here is a link to a free text structures chart from Scholastic (the whole chart is not shown in the picture).  You could print this chart and copy it to have students glue in their notebooks for reference.

I also purchased Rachel Lynette's Informational Text Structure task cards (see more about how I use task cards in the classroom here).

Today, I played a modified version of SCOOT using these task cards.  We were limited on time and I want to keep coming back to this skill over and over.  My students' desks are arranged in groups of fours and I gave each student one card.  We played one round of SCOOT and only rotated four times, moving in a clockwise rotation in each group of desks.  After the group had answered all four cards on their task card answer sheets, I had the group share their responses and discuss discrepancies.  Yes, there were quite a few discrepancies!  It was great for discussion and sometimes it is effective to try a little practice at a time.  

I was walking around listening to conversations and verifying correct and incorrect answers with groups.  I had the students put the task card answer sheets in their folders to be used to practice more later.  Hopefully, they will keep improving their understanding of this concept with more practice!

I hope everyone is staying warm and safe wherever you are!  Our pipes to our upstairs bathroom are frozen for the first time ever.  Hubby is trying to fix that and he's sick with Type A flu! Yuck!!

Day 5 Giveaway!!

Wahoo!!  Welcome to Day 5 of our 1000 Followers New Year Celebration Giveaway!  If you are stopping by for the first time, see the post here or here for more information about it!

Congratulations to Amanda T.!  

She won yesterday's Rafflecopter of prizes from three amazing bloggers TPT Stores!

Today, we have three more amazing blogs featured with three awesome prizes up for grabs.  

Check out these talented bloggers and their featured products!

Enter to win these engaging Place Value Picnic Stations by Elizabeth at Hodge's Herald!

Check out this best selling Multiplication Lapbook by Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B!

You could also win this Cause and Effect Differentiated Notebook Lesson by Polka Dot Lesson Plans!  Everyone can use a little extra practice with this skill!

a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway
Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a new Rafflecopter with more prizes from bloggers and to re-enter for your chance to win the pencil sharpener and $50 Amazon Giftcard!!

Also, Tried It Tuesday is back tomorrow!

Day 4 Giveaway!!

I hope you're enjoying the chance to win so many awesome prizes!

Congratulations to Jen S. for winning yesterday's prizes!!

Well...Day 4 of our giveaway is NO DIFFERENT! Creative products and bloggers coming your way!

Be sure to follow all of these amazing teachers!

Alison from Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin' is donating her Valentine's Decimals-Multiplication Task Cards. Students "LOVE" themed activities-perfect for February!

 

AMC from Looking From Third to Fourth is donating her best seller Poetry Posters. 

AND her Reading and Writing Goals Bundle.

 Both of these items are great visuals for your students!

Nick from Sweet Rhyme - Pure Reason is donating his Book of Awesome Tasks-perfect for those early finishers!

Don't forget to enter each day! New prizes will be awarded daily!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Day 3 Giveaway!!

Wahoo!!  Welcome to Day 3 of our 1000 Followers New Year Celebration Giveaway!  If you are stopping by for the first time, see the post here or here for more information about this giveaway!

The winner of yesterday's Rafflecopter with three amazing products is Lauren!  Congratulations!

Today, we have three more amazing blogs featured with four awesome prizes up for grabs.  

Check out these talented bloggers and their featured products!

This Football Themed Sight Word Practice is being given away as a prize by Aylin at Learning to the Core.  Who doesn't love a themed pack?

Check out this amazing QR Code Superhero Math Bundle: Task Card Centers by Amanda, the other brain behind the blog Learning to the Core.  

This Go For the Gold! Differentiated Common Core Math Practice for Upper Elementary is a brand new product by Diane at Fifth in the Middle.  Your students will love this themed practice just in time for the Olympic Games!

Finally, the winner of today's Rafflecopter will also win this Spot on Research Report by Jess at {I Heart Recess}.  Included in this pack is everything you and your students will need for a research report!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Don't forget to check back tomorrow for a new Rafflecopter with more prizes from bloggers and to re-enter for your chance to win the pencil sharpener and $50 Amazon Giftcard!!