SassyKidz Beach Freebies!

Whew...one more day with my kiddos!  Yes...tomorrow is our last day of school!!!  I am sad to see my students go but...oh so ready for things to slow down a little.  These past few weeks have been 

C-R-A-Z-Y 

with assessments, project-based learning activities, and our end of the year activities!  One thing I've enjoyed in the evenings to help me unwind from these final and hectic days of the school year is doodling!  Yes, I am a doodler and I find it very relaxing to draw on my ipad in the evenings.   I have been playing around with some graphics and have named the kiddies below as my...SassyKidz!  If you need some clip art for your beach-themed goodies then you might like this free download.  Here you go!  Just click on the picture for the freebie link.  Hope you can use them!-Yvonne :)

 On another note...I've had several teachers asking about my Common Core Daily Practice packets for August through December!  I can't wait to get started on those this next week once I am finished with post-planning!  I will offer some type of bundle sets so please keep posted this summer.  

Everyone has been so sweet with their comments and feedback on my January through May packets.   Check out some of the comments below from teachers who have purchased these packets.  Thanks so much!-Yvonne :)

very rigorous for the end of second grade!

These are great for morning work, it helps my students practice all they learned this year.

 Thanks so much for creating these! They have saved me a ton of time and my kiddos really look forward to them!

Had to get this one too!! Awesome work!!! Looking forward to August, September, October, and November

Awesome, I've been using it daily as my classes bell work. Thanks for making my morning easier to prepare.

Class Pics and a Freebie!

Hi friends!  Wow...just finished my formal observation (whew!!!)...glad that is over with!  Now, I can relax and enjoy Halloween with my kids.  I wanted to share some of the class pics that I've taken and share some cool ideas I've been trying out this school year!

My formal observation was on Measurement and Data for Second Grade.  What a fun unit to teach this time of the year!  I made a cute little graphing center to support my unit if you'd like it.  Click here or on the picture below if you'd like my Fun Fall Graphing center!

If you haven't seen Shelley Gray's Early Finisher's Board then you seriously need to check it out.  I started using it about three weeks ago and my students LOVE it!  It is a blessing to have in your classroom.  It helps me when I am teaching reading groups and need something "extra" for my other students to do when finished with centers and morning work.  

Here are pictures of my board.  Click on the pics to link to her store.  Changing skills every two weeks seems to go quickly.  Well worth it!   Thanks Shelley!

Bucket tickets are great for positive discipline and class community building.  I have so enjoyed using Mel D's Bucket Filler activity tickets from her Bucket Filler starter kit.  I read the books she suggested and practiced how to give appropriate comments to "Fill Buckets" with my students..   We have our own student buckets in a shoe/pocket chart in the room.  My students are enjoying using Mel's tickets to compliment/fill other people's buckets.  Great idea Mel!  Click on the picture to see Mel's free packet.

I think my absolute favorite classroom incentive/management idea for this year so far is our class...Cookie Compliments and Brownie Points board!  I saw this idea on Jessica Heeren's blog...Mrs. Heeren's Happenings.  Great idea!  I first tried to adhere/glue a lightweight cookie pan to my wall and realized that it would not stay.  It kept falling off the wall.  I then decided to have UPS make me a laminated cookie pan (tagboard) and it worked beautifully!  My students are constructing arrays of cookies for class compliments and brags. Once our cookie sheets are full, we vote on a class celebration!  Jessica has given us all a great resource to use here for class management.

Overall, we are having a blast learning how to fill each others' buckets and giving class compliments.  I hope you can use these resources.   

Have a wonderful week!-Yvonne Dixon

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Graphing-Fun

Fairy Tale Fun!

Hi friends!  Wow... I've been so busy teaching my fairy tales unit that I haven't had a chance to blog and share with you all these past three weeks!  Where has September gone?  Sorry I've been MIA here on Sassy in Second!  

This is the first year in a LONG time I've taught fairy tales and I must say, I had a BLAST!  The kids loved it! 

Last year my second grade team and I had talked about putting together a fairy tale unit to try out this year.  It was a goal of mine to come up with activities that we all could use!  I've created a few packets you might like to have!  Click here if you'd like a free copy of... Jack and the Beanstalk Story Retell and Sequencing!  It is much like the Goldilocks and the Three Bears sequencing activity in my Folktales, Fairy Tales, and Fables for a Second Grade Classroom.  We all enjoyed using them and I hope you will also.  Check both of them out below.

For some math differentiation and additional practice with place value skills, I also created my...Big Bad Wolf Base Ten Tiered Math Tub!  If you like using tiered tubs then this might be one for you. 

This was a fun activity because we had used Jen Ross' (The Teacher's Cauldron) writing center activity for...Who is the Wolf?  The kids looked for fairy tales and fables that had a wolf as the villain in the story!  These tiered tubs have three levels using adorable pics from The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf!  Check out Jen's wolf writing activity from her Three Little Pigs Math and Literacy Centers!

  

I began to make my Folktales, Fairy Tales, and Fables for a Second Grade Classroom by looking at the CCSS for second grade.  I narrowed in on some focus standards and created this parent letter to kick off the unit.  I then created teaching webs to help with integration of other subjects.

Here are just a few of the amazing resources out there on the web!  Wow!!!  I've said it before and I'll say it again... new teachers starting today are so blessed to have so many teaching resources at their fingertips.  When I started teaching all we had were resource books and teacher supply stores!!!

Here are a few of the great links for you to use when teaching fables, fairy tales, or folktales!  

http://worldoftales.com/fables/Aesop_fables.html

http://www.aasd.k12.wi.us/staff/boldtkatherine/ReadingFun3-6/ReadingFun_FairyTalesFablesFolkTales.htm

http://africa.mrdonn.org/fables.html

http://www.agendaweb.org/reading/folk_fables.html

http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=c1deafab-cc88-4866-aa88-f2dfdab0e049

I decided to make a three week unit beginning with fairy tales and concluding with comparison of folktales from different cultures.  Check out what all is included! 

I hope you will consider teaching fairy tales no matter what grade you teach!  I learned from this unit that you can make your instruction meet the needs of all ages!  Thanks so much friends!-Yvonne :)

Loving My New Class!

Here I am on Thursday evening after two FULL days with my new class of second graders!!!  Yesterday was the first day of school and it went great!  I am loving getting to know my kids.  I wanted to share the new pics I just downloaded on my computer!  I am in the process of getting my Common Core portfolios all put together so we can start those on Monday!  I'll take more pics to share then!

Here are the precious goody bags tags that I downloaded from Hadar (Miss Kindergarten) and Mor 

(A Teacher's Treasure) on TpT!  Thanks to these ladies... my goody bags were a hit with my students!  They were easy to put together and each treat inside had a special meaning.  If you are looking for a goody bag idea I would highly recommend you check these freebies out!

Here is a picture of my classroom before Open House on Tuesday!  Notice the goody bags on my student desks! :)

More classroom pics! These are my Back to School Get on the Bus Math and Literacy Centers!  I like to use pocket charts...can you tell??? They are all over my classroom.

These are my math tub tickets that I use to group my kiddos for math tubs each week.  The groups change depending upon the skill levels of my students.  If you would like to use these for grouping your children, click on the picture for the download.  I usually place 4 or 5 students in each group.  They rotate around the room to a new math tub each day.

LOVE this new drawer I bought!  I plan to place math tub recording forms in here!  I have five math tubs each week...and there are five different colors.  I love it when things work out!

Another pic of my classroom before Open House!

This is my new boy/girl helpers chart I made two weeks ago.  My old one was looking very faded and I needed to update! I just used velcro strips to put up the cards.  Looking at it here, I think I will go back and add two bows with ribbon on each side and velcro!  The helper cards can actually attach to the ribbon. :)  The kids love this!

Please excuse my camera!   Here are the first EQ cards I've introduced from my Second Grade Common Core Notebook.  So far, we've just discussed the notebook in general and we came up with our class rules in groups.  I plan to have my students copy the rules they developed and staple to their evidence of learning form.  I'll share those with you then along with some pics of their portfolios.

One last pic of my room.   Open House went really well!  Since we added a sixth second grade classroom, I only have 19 students and ALL of them showed up for Meet the Teacher!  When I first started teaching 20 years ago, I was a first grade teacher at an inner city school and I was lucky if half of my families showed up.  I feel very blessed to teach where I do now.
I hope you all have a great start to your school year and enjoy meeting your new students and parents as well!  Have a great night!-Yvonne :)

Spine Labels for Common Core Notebooks!

Happy Wednesday ya'll!  I am off to the doctor today and have lots of running around to do but first I wanted to give you these great spine labels for your Standards-Based Notebooks.  I usually store my notebooks and binders in cubbies in my own classroom but I know most folks use bookshelves.  These labels will make it easier for you and your kiddos to organize and pull their notebooks when needed.  These spine labels were actually by request from a sweet someone who bought the 1st Grade Notebook and asked for them!  Why didn't I think of that?  That is what I love about teachers!  We always help each other out with cool ideas!   I will go ahead and put the labels in the 4th and 5th grade Notebooks when I post them on TpT!  Here they are for 1st-3rd.  I've updated those packs as well.  Just click on the pictures below for the grade level you need! Thanks friends and have a great day!  

                                       

I love this! What a great, creative, thorough way to assess the CC standards! The only thing I would like to see added is a template for a spine label so the kids can find their notebooks on a bookshelf.

July 7, 2012

Yvonne Dixon (TpT Seller)

Thank you!  I hope you enjoy these resources and they help your students organize their artifacts/evidence of learning the Common Core Standards!  Great idea about adding a spine label!  I will work on that and post it on my blog for all to see/download.  I so appreciate your purchase and great feedback!-Yvonne Dixon

Summer Tutoring Freebies!

Hi everyone!  I was just wondering how many of you teacher friends out there are tutoring this summer?  I have a little something that might come in handy if you are working with K-2 students or even your own children at home!:)  Several years ago I had the good fortune to receive my training as a Reading Recovery teacher!  Those of you who are blessed to be able to teach Reading Recovery...you know how valuable this program is.  I LOVED being a Reading Recovery Teacher and would do it again in a heartbeat if my district implemented the program!  Basically, it is designed for first grade students who are struggling with the reading and writing process.  I taught it for several years before moving to the county I teach in now!:)  The practices I used when teaching Reading Recovery have come in so handy with my small group instruction and tutoring students one on one in my own classroom.

Well...this summer I am working with a PRECIOUS K-1 child to help accelerate her reading process.  I am so enjoying her and wanted to share with you all! Her mom emailed me right before we got out for the summer asking if I could help her with reading.  So we set up a plan for 10 learning sessions (an hour each time), I loaded up my reading basket with books, and then I was off to the dollar store!  I am so hooked on the dollar store!  Here are some of the goodies I use for my lessons...

I usually begin with getting to know you activities/sight word checks and running records to find out what my student already knows.  Once I've determined the instructional reading level...
I head straight to my predictable readers to find books that will build on what the child already knows!  We start with a little word work/writing review to warm up our lesson.  Then we move into reading familiar  books for fluency practice.  After that, I take a running record of the book that was read the lesson before (only 1 reading).  Then we write a story in the art pad about that book.  This is partner writing (the child chooses our color for the day...she has a pen and so do I), next, we take that same sentence to a sentence strip and do a cut-up sentence puzzle! Great for phrasing and fluency practice! I place it in an envelope for her to practice later.  We conclude our lesson with the introduction of a new book (which will be the running record book for the next session).

Her Kinder teacher filled me in on her reading levels/needs so I had a head start before our first session together. I completed a Predictions of Progress Sheet and made a copy to give her parents at our first session.  I've given you a "sample" Predictions of Progress to help you see how I would use it!  Each lesson incorporates reading of familiar texts (to build fluency/phrasing /expression), word work activities, new books for instructional teaching opportunities, assessment with a running record to monitor reading behaviors and progress, and writing.  Here are pics of the freebies below!  I made them in color and b&w.  Hope you can use them!  Thanks friends and happy tutoring!-Yvonne

Making Words/Mystery Word Freebie!

Hi friends!  For those of you on summer break already, I hope you are winding down and starting to relax!  For everyone else...hang in there!   It will be here before you know it!  The teacher in me is starting to work on my summer/back to school projects and one of those was to spice up my...Making Words/Mystery Words activities packet I downloaded last year.  I'm sure you've noticed that in each of my center packets I include a Making Words center.  I LOVE Making Words!  It is an awesome time to teach children how words work!  I learned about making words when I discovered Patricia Cunningham's and Marie Clay's word work through my Reading Recovery training years ago!  It is powerful for students to see parts of words and connections of words they make in their own writing and text.
I just posted a freebie for you all to enjoy as a "Back to School" sample!  I hope you will download and try it with your kiddos!  Here is my Making Words/Mystery Word...Playground freebie!  If you like it I hope you will look at my Making Words/Mystery Words by the Month as well!  I teach this small group the first of the year and move them into centers as the children become more independent.  I hope you enjoy these!  If you have questions, let me know!  Thanks-Yvonne

Sassy Cat Beach Centers...Finally!!!

Whew!  I finally finished my "Sassy Cat Goes to the Beach" Math and Literacy Centers!  This has been one busy week for all of us at school.  I am so glad our Benchmark testing is over!!!  Time to go out tonight and relax with my hubby!  I've been working evenings to finish up my first Sassy Cat Center packet (to go with my Sassy Cat Spending Spree Math Tub) and hope you will go on over to my store to check it out!  I look forward to using these centers with my own students!  I've also downloaded my Sassy Cat Sand Play Pronouns "freebie" as a sample for you all! Be sure to get this as well for your summer fun activities.

I decided to add an extra option with this download!  I received a comment from someone that I'd like to share...
"I LOVE your centers, I just wish they weren't all in color or that you gave B&W and Color options. Keep up the great ideas."
I wrote back...  "Thank you for your purchase and feedback on my Math and Literacy Centers! I so appreciate you mentioning the color options. I wasn't aware that teachers would want B&W as an option for center pieces until you mentioned it. I've made a B&W answer sheet but not center pieces. I decided to make my center packets from here on out with both options thanks to your suggestion. Thank you for that! Please check out my Sassy Cat Goes to the Beach coming this week with color and B&W center pieces. I hope this will make things easier for you and other teachers to prepare centers/activities for your students. Thanks again!"-Yvonne Dixon (Sassy in Second)So...  I decided to offer...  BLACK AND WHITE OPTION INCLUDED IN THIS DOWNLOAD! These centers give you the option of printing in color on cardstock or black and white on colored construction paper!   Each page is duplicated to make it easier for teachers to prepare. I hope this works well for everyone! 

On another note...next week I need to begin making Mother's Day crafts.  We do "Muffins for Moms" in Second grade at our school and the children present their moms with special gifts and goodies!  I need to hit up Pinterest to get some cute ideas!  I'd love to know what everyone else is planning to do.  If you have a cool idea you'd like to share please leave a note below!  Thanks and have a great night everyone!-Yvonne

Grab a Graph!

One of the things I LOVE about the teaching profession is how we all collaborate and help each other!  I've had many student teachers over the years and I so love the excitement and knowledge they bring to my classroom each time!  This year I am blessed with a precious student teacher who is doing a fabulous job with my students!  She has been teaching graphing and data for a couple of weeks now (in addition to all the many other skills she is trying to get in before Benchmark testing!)  I asked her if I could share some pics from a graphing booklet she made with my kiddos.  Here they are!  I thought they all understood the standards beautifully once she completed this project!  She had them all break up into groups to survey different classrooms and design tally tables and bar graphs to paste in a booklet.  Here are the pics and I've also included copies of the graphs if you'd like to download them.  Hope you can use them!  Thanks!-Yvonne