Small group planning, and all that jazz...

It's always this time of year when I think, just maybe, I might pull my hair out. I love the beginning of the year planning, diving into your very first whole class novel, filling the days with rich review, reading, and just getting to know each other. It's right when you've hit that sweet spot that the beginning of the year assessment smacks you in the face. You spend hours, days even, reviewing the data, grouping and regrouping the kids, and making 8 different small group plans to best meet everyone's needs. Whether it's best practice or not, I mean, yikes!

All that said, I'm feeling a lot better about my small group system and planning this year, and I owe most of that positivity to my new found organizational skills, (so what if it took me 6 years to get here?!)

First things first, my binder.

I'll admit it. I'm a total nerd. I took the 'sisters' idea from the Daily 5 and just ran with it. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't help myself with the Harry Potter reference.

Inside I have a myriad of things. Basically, anything that has any resemblance to student data is kept here, as well as small group schedules, small group plans, whole class data sheets, etc. It's my reading lifeline!

 Reading calendars to schedule student meetings, small groups, etc.

Student reading inventories to keep track of what my kids are reading, and the progress they are making.  

 Each student gets a tab in the back of the binder. Behind there tab are the following things in this order, MAP score breakdown sheets, anecdotal reading/ monitoring sheets, writing conference notes, and the BEAR spelling inventory. This makes parent conferences SO much easier!

Reading small group schedules, to keep myself on track!

And speaking of small groups, I also keep my small group plans for each group here as well.

It might be a labor of love getting this thing organized, but it is amazing in the end to have EVERYTHING in one place!

Here is a link to some of the things I use in my binder, available at my TPT store.

 Reading Calenders, free!

 Student Book Inventory/ Reading List, free!

Small Group Reading Plan Template

Do you have a binder/ organizational system of your own? I'd love to hear about it! What do you do for writing that works for you? I could use some help there!

Happy teaching!

5 for Friday

Linking up this week with Doodle Bugs teaching :) Click on the image above to visit her fab teaching blog!

1. MEALWORMS! The first MONTH back to school in 2nd grade in my district means that these little worms are living in your classroom. Ughh.....

Making observations about the mealworms during centers time...at least the kids like having the mealworms around!

2. Back to school Bulletin Board! I love love love making new bulletin boards and this one is so quick and easy! I used paint and glitter for the "Happy New Year" and then a marker for a little insert for the word "school."  It's not that easy to see in the pic but hopefully you get the idea :)

 I made these little half sheets to fill in about the "New Year Resolutions" for 2nd grade :) 
Click HERE for your Free copy! 

3. Along with the mealworms, we also get butterflies this time of year-- although they don't become those until October :)

A quick little lifecyle Craft

4. IKEA BOXES! I tell this to everyone! Ikea has magazine boxes that come in a 5 pack for $2! You cannot beat that price!! I use them every year and the LAST (well, I usually replace maybe 1 or 2 but most of them LAST!) I reinforce them with clear packing tape along the bottom and have the kids paint and decorate them the first week of school. Here's the finished product:

5. The weather here is BEAUTIFUL! 50's and sunny....perfect temp for a carmel apple cider with my favorite girl :)

Happy Friday!!

September 11th for Kids

Its always a little tricky each year to decide how to approach your class with the topic of September 11th (or Patriot's Day as they call it).  I usually feel that it is best to focus on the patriotic celebrations of the day as well as giving thanks to first responders.  Of course your students are going to see or hear the news, commercials, adult talk, ect about September 11th and it is good to let them know what it's all about-- without scaring them. For that, I like to rely on some really great children's literature to get the discussion going. Here are a few of my favs:

This one is great for lower El! It was written by a class of first graders :)

Such a sweet story with beautiful illustrations- perfect for lower or upper El

This is a great book to show Upper EL kids how everyone came together to help out. The message is super but it is a little long for lower El to sit through-- I usually show my 2nd grade class the book and read parts of it aloud while showing the pictures-- it has some really great illustrations.

Now that we call 9/11 "Patriot Day" I think it's a great opportunity to kick off a civics unit for primary students with a discussion about what a Patriot is and what is mean to be a patriot.  I made some writing pages for a brainstorm & quick writing assignment (I even added a page with regular lines for intermediate students! I am always trying to remind myself to do that when I make products for TPT)

You can grab this simple little writing paper for FREE here:

Wouldn't it look so cute hanging up with a cute flag craft like this one that I found on Pinterest from B-inspiredmama.com??

What do you do with your class for 9-11?