Spelling Choice Board

This year, our district is moving away from memorizing spelling words and more towards a word study approach that will be fully implemented next year.
THIS year has been a transition of sorts....teachers in grades 1-5 give a spelling pretest that targets a specific pattern. If they receive a 90% or above, they can choose to be exempt from spelling homework and Friday's assessment.
For students that did not receive 90% on the pretest, they are given a spelling menu/choice board and are responsible for completing 3 activities. I've created spelling menus and SB activities for each six weeks. Since we are in our last six weeks, I went ahead and created a BIG choice board and wanted to share it with you. I'd love to hear if any of your districts are transitioning from "spelling" (like we've all grown up with) to a word study approach....how's it going? What resources are you guys using? Have you seen improvement in writing/incorporation of concepts taught? Just curious....
Anyway, here is a spelling choice board you can use for grades 3-5.
Use if you'd like!
~Erin

Non-Fiction Reading Response

Our school has always had a subsciption for Time for Kids for years now and with each weekly edition, we collaborate a variety of activities for students to respond to their reading. Today, I've included one such activity...a reading response menu for non-fiction text or in this case, Time for Kids.
Use if you'd like!
~Erin

Making Words-The Scrabble-Tastic Way

So for those of you who know me, I am a Scrabble FANATIC! I've been playing Scrabble for as long as I can remember and when I started teaching, I included (of course!) teaching this wonderful game to my students. After becoming a coach, I missed sharing my love of this game, so I started the "Scrabble Squad" for 3-5 graders. Now, the Scrabble Squad has been active for over 5 years and I am STILL trying to find ways to incorporate this fun (okay, obsession) into teaching/learning. With that said, I am a HUGE fan of word work--especially Patricia Cunningham. I have taken EVERY lesson in the Sequential Phonics books and turned them into SB interactives (as well as adapted them to some of the word work patterns we have in my district).
With all of this in mind (yes, I'm long-winded tonight:) I made some fun little Mystery Word activities (adapted from Cunningham's work) for TCH, OO, DGE, & IGH words. The "mystery words" are: HATCHLINGS, HEDGEHOGS, BOOKMARKS, AND FLASHLIGHTS. Each download is 2 pages (1 page with the letters students can cut out and 1 page for the making words/sort/transfer). I've included the SB matching activities for those of you who have interactive whiteboards.
Thanks for Scrappin Doodles & Shabby Princess for their graphics!
Hope you enjoy!
~Erin

Click on the links below to download the SMART Board versions:

Bookmarks

Hedgehogs

Flashlights

Hatchlings

Cheez-It Math-Area, Perimeter, & Making Words!

So, I created my original Cheez-It math activity in 1999...yes, I've been teaching that long :) and LOVE this activity! I've added to it throughout the years and finally decided to transform it into a SB lesson.
I have an "activity page" (AKA worksheet) that goes along with it (which I'll have to find), but quite honestly, I'm more of a "record your work in your math journal" anyway. I'm going to post the SB lesson and if you think of anything that would enhance this activity, please let me know. BTW, there are a few pictures that I found randomly in the Internet to help provide examples...I guess great minds think alike :)
~Erin

It's Official!

Well, it's official...my first post. I'm not sure why I've waited this long to put my thoughts down, but well...I'm here now and excited to share!
For months (okay, years) now, I've been stalking (yes I'm obsessed) awesome bloggers out there so that I can share the great ideas with the K-5 teachers I work with. YES, I'm constantly creating my own lessons & activities, but when you work at a school with over 1200 students and 60+ teachers/staff, finding something for everyone can be quite time consuming. TPT is one of the BEST resources (other than those fabulous blogs & freebies) and I'm constantly providing feedback and thanks to the teachers willing to share their AMAZING talents. With this in mind, it is my hope that sharing the resources I've created, will in some small part give back to others. I hope you will use and enjoy....just don't forget to credit your source!
~Erin