Packin' Up! Prepping your Student Information Binder with The Friendly Teacher + FREEBIES & A GIVEAWAY

I have one more week, my friends. I am nearing the finish line and I can smell the late nights, sleeping in, frequent bathroom breaks, and lots of uninterrupted Netflix time!

But, before I head out for the summer there are a few things I like to prep for the next year. I like to do the simple things that stay the same year to year. One of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is get all my organization binders ready for the next year. I put my lesson planner together, my daily five binder, my math stations binder, and most importantly my student information binder.

I am here today to share with you my 100% free student information binder. Do you ever have an IEP meeting and you are scrambling for data??!? Or that one parent who calls you out on every single thing and you just can't remember exactly what you said?! That is where this binder comes in handy! I put all of the data for my students in one binder. Their parent communication, intervention data, checklists, and so on! I just put mine together for the next school year and would love to share with you all of its loveliness (soon it will lose all its beauty when I put my not so teacher like handwriting all over it)

First, I have to put a cute cover on it because DUH! :) Grab this cover in a bunch of different colors here for FREE! :)

Then, I separate my binder into sections for each student. I choose to use construction paper to separate the sections. I choose this because then I can write little notes about the students on the dividers or things I need to remember! It makes for a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone! ;)


My first sheet is their reading and writing checklist. I conference with my kids in both reading and writing once a quarter. I keep all the notes from this conference on this little sheet! It is all in the same binder so it is simple when it comes to these conferences!
Grab this sheet for FREE here!

Then, I like to keep their intervention data sheets. I keep one for each kid so I can mark down anytime I work with them one on one. Yes, you may not need to mark everyone down, but if you ever run into a situation where you do need this data you are always prepared! So, I call a kid up work with them on a skill and jot it in their binder. LIFE SAVER when it comes to IAT meetings! I got these sheets from the AMAZING JD's Rockin' Readers for free!! Pick them up here!

The last thing I shove in this binder is a parent communication form. I use this form to track any incidents where I talk to the parents or the principal. This keeps me organized and I never run into a situation where I can't remember what I said or did! WOHOO! Grab this sheet here for FREE! Or click the picture and it will take you right to it!

As the year goes on, I may print emails and put them in the binder, put test scores, or important papers! I like to add a sheet protector for each kid to shove these things in, so I don't have to hole punch anymore! :) I just love that I have all the documentation in one place for each student! By preparing these before I leave for summer I am 100% more likely to use it!!! Prepare now so next year you are an organized teacher superhero! Happy summer, friends!

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Spring into...a Garden Full of Grammar!

Spring time is a great time to start reviewing all those grammar and spelling rules you've taught throughout the year. My Garden Full of Garden pack has so many ways to keep students engaged during this crazy time of year. 

These contraction spinners are a great way for students to review contractions. There are 7 versions of these worksheets and they can all be completed independently. Plus, other contraction matching and sorting activities.

Do your students like to SCOOT?! I've got task cards that are perfect for this. Students can practice identifying pronouns, adjectives, and irregular past tense verbs.

Here are some of the sorting pages included as well. Students can sort nouns, verbs, and adverbs.

And who doesn't like to color?! I gave these to my second graders to color after they finished working on their math benchmarks (which can be so draining). It was a great way to review the different parts of speech and keep my early finishers quiet. #shhhhh

Now, are you ready for a giveaway?! You can win this pack because it's in this K-2 bundle! YEAY!! Plus, there are a ton of other goodies from our Elementary Entourage friends. Check out the bottom of this post to enter.

OR 

{Click here to get it now}

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Spring into...Fluency & Fitness {w/Tickled Pink in Primary}

It's supposed to be Spring, but here in Indiana it snowed this week! Good news though, we have a TON of goodies to giveaway! 

At this point in the year, students (and teachers)  start to get a bit antsy for school to end and the focus tends to decline. My Fluency & Fitness bundles are a great way to get students up and moving, yet keep them learning at the same time. Students absolutely LOVE these, and they even ask to do them!! I don't think they even realize it's learning, because they are having so much fun (teacher win!) 

I picked 2 of my best selling bundles for our giveaway. Below you can see a class doing the Fry's 1st 100 Sight Words Fluency & Fitness. This bundle is included in the K-2 giveaway. 

These students are mastering the math facts with the Multiplication Fluency & Fitness Bundle.This bundle is in the 3-5 giveaway. 

You can even print the slides into small flashcards and use them during center time.

I have created over 30 different Fluency & Fitness bundles and keep getting requests for more! These bundles are great for any time of the year to get kids up and moving, but especially now when students are needing to get their wiggles out more and more. 

Enter below to win all of these awesome products!!!

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Spring into...Genetic Traits {with iTeachSTEM}

Spring has FINALLY arrived!

As I sit here at my computer, I can see the beautiful blossoms on the trees and I can hear the birds tweeting. The sun is shining and and my puppies are enjoying playing outside in the back yard.

I love spring time!

I'm super excited to be able to share not one, but TWO of my most popular resources with you this month! They are both from my Genetics and Heredity Unit.

This is by far one of my favorite activities to do with my students when learning about inherited and environmental traits. I've actually had this activity in my TPT store for a long time (since 2012, I think) but I recently gave it a facelift with new fonts, cute monster clip art, and a few extra pages to make implementing it in the classroom VERY low-prep. 

(1) Copy the student pages:

(2) Gather some pennies:

(3) Print Monster Parents Posters:

Students are generally able to follow the printed directions without much guidance. I've even left this activity with a substitute before without any issues. And every year, students have a blast "making monsters babies". They each turn out so unique.

One of the best parts of this activity is seeing the many different monsters that are drawn by students and discussing how despite having the same set of traits (same mom and dad) they each ended up with a different set of traits. We talk a lot about how we look similar to our parents but not exactly like them. We also talk about how our siblings are not exactly like us physically.

Have you ever played SCOOT with your students? It's so incredibly simple and can be used with any topic. My students LOVE playing and actually BEG to play SCOOT anytime we have extra time in class. They don't even seem to realize that they are practicing skills or studying a topic while they are "playing" the game.

Our Tennessee standards for fifth graders requires them to be able to differentiate between an inherited trait and one that can be attributed to the environment. This SCOOT game provides students with 30 examples of traits that are either inherited or environmental. They must read the statement and decide (quickly) if it is describing a trait that is inherited or one that is environmental.

The cards in this kit have lots of great uses:

* Fast-paced SCOOT game (instructions included)

* Science center sort (partner or individual practice)

* Quiz questions (shown on document camera to whole class)

Both of these resources are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and I'd love it if you checked them out. If you'd like to win a free copy of them (and a bunch of other excellent resources) enter the rafflecopter below. Be sure to enter for the grade level bundle you'd like - or enter both! Good luck and happy spring!

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Spring Into....CVC Word Family Poems!

Gathering great resources for the classroom is something many teachers do all year long, not just at back to school. Now that spring is here, it can be time to refresh or give some new life to our teaching day, and we at EE are so excited to be able to give away some brand new resources to a lucky winner!

In Kindergarten, we work hard on learning to read! We unlock reading through mastering our letters and sounds, and then we move on to master blending and reading CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words.

Being able to read CVC words fluently helps kids see and become familiar with patterns in words, especially when looking at word families or word chunks (cat, bat, hat, mat, etc)

Word family poems are quick, fun, and simple way to practice building up fluency with CVC words!

There are 23 printable poems in the set, each one focusing on a different short vowel word family. This allows students to identify the patterns and rhymes in the poems and to get repetitive practice with reading them. 

The poems are made up of CVC words and beginning sight words, so they not only work on identifying word families and patterns, but build up sight word fluency too! 

You can choose to read the poems one at a time and then send them home for additional practice, or you can choose to collect them in a poetry notebook so that your kids can read them over again during Read to Self time or in small groups.

The great thing about them being printable is that there are tons of options - you could even send a set home and keep one at school!

The entire set of CVC poems is available HERE in my TpT store. You can also find it combined with alphabet and CVCe poems in the Phonics Poems Bundle. 

Know what's even better? You can WIN it, along with tons of other resources but entering the Rafflecopter below!

Happy Teaching!

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Spring Into... Reading Response Question Cards {with Stephany from Primary Possibilities}

I'm always trying to find ways to make reading time more meaningful.  Whole group, read a louds, silent reading...no matter what the form of reading, these reading response questions are a great way to get your students thinking about what they just read.  

You can simply print out the cards which include each question for that area of reading (author, illustrations, mood, etc.)

You can also print out each question individually and keep them in a bucket to pull from randomly.

We are so excited to be giving away two awesome bundles that include the products featured in our blog posts this month (including this one)!  All you have to do to win is enter the Rafflecopters below.  There is a primary and an intermediate packet up for grabs!

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