Motivation of Winter Break

In past years I have made a packet of books and worksheets for my students to practice over Winter Break.  When I first started teaching 10 years ago there were only a couple of students who would not read/practice over break.  Over the years, however, less and less students utilized the packages I made for them and some failed to return them.  To be quite honest . . . it was a lot of work getting those packets together and sometimes even more work getting the books back from students!

This year I've decided to save myself the headache.  I will not be sending home an optional packet.  Instead I plan on sending home a list of recommended websites and suggestions for practice at home such as Parent-Child Journals (the children and parents write back and forth within the same notebook), personal journals, letter writing, grocery lists, etc.  I also plan on encouraging my students to read the books they have at home and to visit their local library. 

For those students who do this and can produce evidence, I will reward them with a special treat (popsicle or something to that effect).  I'm including this bookmark freebie for any of you who would like to do the same.  The boomark has space for the child to record 5 books they have read and get their mom, dad, or caretaker to sign off on the bookmark confirming that these books were indeed read.  Click the link below to get the bookmarks!

Forms, Forms, Forms! over @ Classroom Freebies!

Do you need to get (or stay) organized?  I've posted a bunch of my free forms over in Classroom Freebies!  Go check it out and see if there's anything that can help you!

Start Organized!

Although it's summer right now I'm sure a lot of you are already thinking about the start of the school year.  There's always so much to do and it can get kind of overwhelming.  I know that I always try to start the year by organizing and giving everything a place and a label.  I intend on starting organized until . . . I realize how much I have to do and just how little time I have to do it in!  Then the things that were set aside to be organized and put away get shoved into any unseen spot.  You know how it goes, right?

Well would it help you if you had a way of organizing your guided reading groups before the year started?

I've tried many ways to keep myself organized with my Guided Reading groups, but a few years ago I started organizing myself using daily and weekly charts for my reading groups.  Over the years I've tweaked a few things and finally have something that really works for me. Here's what these forms look like filled out.  Click on the link to get them from my TpT.  I'm sharing these for free download (on my TpT site) for you to try if you are still looking for a better way to organize your Guided Reading groups.  (Free in PDF form.  If you're like me and like to add names, personalize the font, etc. you can purchase it for just $1.00.)  I hope you will find it helpful.



Click here to download the FREE PDF.



Click here to get the Word file.