Celebrate the Weekend with a Freebie and some Shout-Outs

Woohoo!  It's FINALLY the weekend!  Did this week seem like the longest ever?  (  I know.. many of you were on spring break this week so I'm sure it was the shortest week ever.. but those of you at school this week what did you think?)  I'm doing the happy dance today because our state testing is OVER!!! The sun is shining... the birds are chirping....  the huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.    I have so many fabulous activities planned next week before spring break.  I can't wait.

Yesterday afternoon while my students were celebrating the end of state testing with their Pig-Out Party and games, I was working on reading certificates for the 3rd grade classrooms.  How many of you have the Accelerated Reader program at your school?  Our district uses the program as an additional independent reading program besides our reading series.  Our kiddos take the S.T.A.R. test each quarter to help determine their independent reading level and reading goal for the quarter.  Each classroom has a data board to display the student's efforts each quarter in reaching their goal.  In our grade level the students receive incentives along the way towards reaching their quarterly goal.  Our grade level also has a short assembly at the end of each month to honor those from each class for their top reading efforts.    I have heard many good things and not so good things about the Accelerated Reader program from other teachers and parents.  I think this program works for some kids and not others....  I want my students to be lifelong learners and LOVE to read....   There are some kiddos that I feel this program does the opposite and turns the student off of reading.  Reading a good book is not fun and exciting to them anymore.  I would love to hear what you think about the program and how your school uses it.  I know there are some other great independent reading programs out there. I would love to hear about those also and how they are implemented in your school.

I use Books Are Great with my students as their nightly reading homework.  I don't generally assign much homework aside from studying for a test , but B.A.G. is something the students have each night.  They simply need to read a book for an allotted amount of time and then complete their B.A.G. form by writing a sentence about what they read.  The book must be at their reading level.  I tell parents that they are welcome to read with their child and ask their child questions about the book they are reading.  It is up to them.  I have the B.A.G. booklet, parent letter, rubric if you wish to use this as a weekly homework or quarterly grade, and a form that students can use in order to create a sentence about what they read on my TPT store for FREE right now.  It will be FREE until Sunday evening at midnight.  Check it out HERE.


Here are some free STAR reading certificates for your students also.  Check it out HERE.

I have some shout-outs to some wonderful ladies!  First, have you had a chance to check out the graphics by The 3AM Teacher?  These are absolutely wonderful.  You can find them Here at The 3AM teacher TPT store.  I just created a place value unit using some of these wonderful graphics.  This unit would be perfect for 2nd or 3rd grade and is aligned to the Common Core Standards.  Included in this unit are : Base Ten Blocks matching game, Place Value Matching Card Game, Standard and Expanded Form Game, and worksheets to go with each area.  You can find it HERE at my TPT store. It's $3.00.

Also, if you need a writing craftivity for your students this week about St. Patrick's Day please check out Amber from Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher Pot of Gold activity.  This is fabulous and only $1.25.  This is one of the activities my students will be doing this week.  You can find this activity HERE.



















Lastly, I want to say Thank you to Jen from Teacher's Cauldron.  I had posted Thursday about an item in my TPT store in which all the proceeds would go to the American Cancer Society.  Jen also posted this in her blog.  Thanks Jen!  I plan on letting everyone know at the end of each TPT quarter how much would be donated to the American Cancer Society from the sell of this item.  If you haven't seen this item... check it out HERE.  It's $2.50   I made it in honor of my Mom who passed away from cancer on March 10, 2009.  She was my SUPER HERO.

Have a FABULOUS weekend!