TPT Challenge: Make Your Masterpiece

I know I'm slow to the party. I was actually working on something else for this challenge, but I got sidetracked with this project.

On my campus, administration wants us to post our objectives/student expectations somewhere visible in the classroom-like the front of the room-and they want them to be written in 80-100 pt font, in a font that is easy to read for students, AND written in kid-friendly language so the students can understand what they are learning.

So I like to hang my SEs at the front of the classroom on my white dry erase magnetic board. I usually handwrite them every Friday-bleh! {I've done the objective frames too.}

BUT, this year I wanted to make it easier on my self and just have them pre-typed, pre-printed, and ready to go! Plus I have tons of cute magnets. . .

So I started with my Science TEKs (because I live in Texas  and those are our State Standards) and created something that meets the needs of my classroom and my admin's expectations.

I hope you can use them in you classroom. I did black and white because I feel that doing so is giving you the option to use the colored paper you like without breaking the color ink bank. Each one includes the standard, subject, the objective in kid-friendly terms, the strand, and of course some Melonheadz goodness!

They are available here. Enjoy!

Let's Talk about Books!

I'm linking up with you lovely Deanna Jump 

to share a book I found this past 13-14 school year. 

I purchased this book earlier this year because the cover art 

caught my eye in the bookstore. 

As a first grade teacher teaching "How to" {procedural} writing is a must. 

Finding good mentor texts for read-alouds is necessary. 

When I read the story I fell in L-O-V-E! 

Rocket is lured into learning to read and this sweet little bird becomes his teacher. Rocket learns to read after a few steps. My first graders loved all the connections we made to this story. They recalled when they were learning letters and sounds. They remembered that they had to practice to get better at it. They noticed the seasons passed in this story and connected it to our school year. They realized as the seasons pass they become smarter in all that they practice at school. They fell in love with Rocket and were so happy that he learned how to read. 

I loved this text because it has substance. It's not just a cute book. I used it to teach both reading and writing. My students responses were amazing! They could write a story map, sequence, inference, summarize, and the list goes on! When we set out to write our own "how to's" they could go back to the story and recall details to help them put their ideas in a sequential order. I really loved this book and hope you will check it out.