Fundations Compatible Word Wall Trick Words!

Word Wall Words.....  Which to use?  How many to include?  How to teach them?  I don't know about your school but Word Walls always seems to be a debate at my school.

This year I have decided to focus my Word Wall teaching and learning on the 93 First Grade Fundations Trick Words. 

My goal for my first graders is to be able to both Read and Spell these words as quickly as possible.  They will be "no excuse" words and I will hold them accountable for them in both their reading and writing. 

In order to get these Fundations Trick Words on my word wall I needed to create my own.  So here is the Fundations Compatible Trick Word Word Wall Cards through unit 3, of level 1, as a freebie to you for being one of my followers!  As I complete the rest of the word wall word cards I will post them in my TpT store!



 

 

I've also been using my Fundations Compatible Troubling Trick Words, First Grade Word Study Pack to support the learning of these word wall words!  They help add some independent practice and the kids love doing them.  I use them in lots of different ways such as for morning work, to end a Fundations lesson, center activities or even for homework!  They are great!  You can brag my Troubling Trick Word Pack from my TpT store!

 

 

 

Troubling Trick Words! Fundations Aligned! and a GIVEAWAY!!



 

 



I had so much success using my Troubling Trick Word activity pages with my first grade class this past year that I decided to bundle all the Fundations suggested first grade trick words in one pack and offer it to you on TpT at a reduced cost! 

The words are grouped by units and can be used for homework, morning work or center work!

I've always felt that my Fundations Trick Word study needed a bit more substance than what is perscribed by Fundations and these seemed to offer my class the perfect additional independent work for my kids!  I hope they help your students too!

 

Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a FREE copy of this Troubling Trick Word Pack!

Check back Sunday night to see the winner!  Be sure to leave me your email address!

Good Luck!

xoxo

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Support Packs!

I'm working on revising and renaming my support packs (that can be used as a companion to Fundations!) so they don't infringe on any rights, and  hopefully they will be up again shortly!  I'll keep you posted!

Xo

TROUBLING TRICK WORDS!!

Yea!!  I’m so excited to have finished the first 8 units of TROUBLING TRICK WORDS!!   I’ve been using these FUNdations support pages endlessly in my classroom and they have been a HUGE SUCCESS!

They have been a perfect addition to our weekly FUNdations Trick Word Study and they kids are having great fun with them!

I have my students complete the pages as morning work, right after FUNdations lessons, or during center time.  And best of all they are EASY, NO COLOR, and NO PREP for me!  Just photo copy and the kids are ready to begin working on their Trick Words!

Grab this great TroublingTrick Word Pack, covering the first 54 LEVEL 1 TRICK WORDS, in my TpT store! 

More Trick Word Support Pages on the way soon!

Leave a comment and become new follower of my blog and I'll send you the Trick Word pack for free!  Remember to leave your email address in your comment!

FUNdations support pack Unit 6, Level 1

Just wanted to check in quick to let you know that I've finished my support pack for Unit 6!  And since a few of you have been asking for then sooner than later, I decided to post the units as I finish.  When I have several finished I will also bundle them up!  

In unit 6 (-s suffix) I took the pack one step further and created dictation pages that can be sent home to help get parents involved in their child's learning.  I send the dictation pages home weekly in my homework packet and its great reinforcement and practice!  And parents appreciate knowing whats going on and having an opportunity to be involved.  

The first two people to leave a comment and become a new follower of my blog, will be sent the pack for free!  Leave me your email address!

Number Bonds!

I've made it a goal of mine this year to teach number bonds to fluency for ALL my kids.  I know that might not be a reality for EVERYONE but I'm going to try!  I'm sure many of you have already heard all the "reasons" and "hype" behind teaching number bonds instead of just straight forward fact families.  Its a big push with the common core and the foundation of Singapore Math.  Bonds helps students understand how numbers work!

After giving myself this goal a few weeks ago I'm now realizing this will be a HUGE challenge for me and my students.  I can't even recall how many time I've heard my students just flat out say to me "Mrs. Coster, I just DON'T get it!"  But I keep plugging along and teaching it in a new way, with new manipulative and new examples each day, because I truly believe in its value and that I will be giving my students the strongest foundation in "numbers" possible!  (And this is on top of all the OTHER math lessons I need to be covering!!)

To help practice my kids have been working with BOND BOARDS, which are basically Whole-Part-Part mats.  They practice with a partner on a number that is a challenge for them.  Every student in my class started with the number 5 and are working their way up to a higher number after passing a Bond Fluency Challenge!  Before we take the challenge they practice with their BOND BOARDS and it has been so helpful!  One of my "I just don't get it students" finally got it after about 10 different lessons and ways of explaining it and I was soo happy and excited for them!  So if you are up for the challenge or just want to expose your kids to number bonds these work boards might help you!

Just laminate the boards so they can be written on with dry erase markers and reused!  Give out counters to match the number on the board and have the kids play with a partners.  One partner hides one part while the other partner figures out the visible and missing parts and records them on the board.  Then partners switch roles!

I hope this helps!

Leave a comment and become a follower of my blog and I will send you a set of the boards!!  Leave your email address in your comment!

FUNdations Support Pack!!

FUNdations is often not much fun at all, so I wanted to "spice" things up a bit by creating activities and worksheets that would be engaging, fun and supports the FUNDations curriculum.  So here it is!!

I'm finally done with my FUNdations Support Pack!!!  Yeaaaa!!  I've been working really hard to get this finished and have been trying it out with my first graders!  Its been such a big hit and my students are learning so much! 

I've been using the support pages for classwork right after a FUNdations lesson, during centers and for homework!  

The pack is broken down by units and then weeks.  Each unit has support for all weeks prescribed in the FUNdations curriculum along with an ADDITIONAL week of support work in case your kiddos need more practice or extra help.

The activities are NO PREP and just need to be printed and copied!  Save that prep time and color ink!!

Below are pictures of the pack in action in my classroom...

A Support Pack for Units 6, 7. 8 and 9 will be out soon!

The first TWO people who leave a comment on my new pack and become a member/follower of my blog will be sent the Support Pack for free!!

love Love LOVE it!!

So what do you think?!?!  I just love my new blog design from Designs by Kassie!  She did such an awesome job and worked hard so to make the blog a perfect fit for me and my classroom!  Check her out by clicking her button below!

Sisters! And a Welcome Back SALE!!

Sorry for my looong absence from my blog, but I have a GREAT excuse!  In February our family welcomed a new baby girl!  She has added so much joy and love to our lives, we couldn't be more excited, happy and content!  

So along with my RETURN to my blog I'm throwing a WELCOME BACK SALE on Tuesday and Wednesday!  This sale is in addition to TpT's Appreciation sale!  Hop on over to my TpT Store and go shopping!!  Remember to use code TAD13 for the ultimate discount!

Enjoy!

~Jillian

APPR Evidence Binder Posted to TpT!!

*EVIDENCE BINDER POSTED*

I finally uploaded the template I used to create an Evidence Binder for standards 1 & 5 to TpT!!

This helped me so much through the NYS Annual Professional Performance REview evaluation process and I hope my LOTS of time spent can help save you some time!!

Check it out in my TpT store!

~Jillian COster

Where Has the Time GONE!!! Holidays and APPR!

I can't believe it is the end of JANUARY already!  Time is just FLYING by!  I'm sorry I haven't updated and checked in recently.  It was a crazy busy holiday season at school and at home!

If any of you are NY teachers you are all to familiar with APPR!  Well, just before break I experienced my first round of observations under this new evaluation system and it was SOOOOO much work! 

I created a binder to keep track of how I meet each teaching standard and even though it took HOURS to put together and create, I know its going to be so helpful in the evaluation process and years to come!  I am working on posting a copy of my APPR Binder Template on TpT as soon as possible!  If you are involved in this new APPR process nad your school is using the NYSUT RUBRIC I highly suggest checking it out and saving yourself lots of time by using, changing and making your own out of what I've already done!

The Binder Template helps you organize and collect performance evidence, for your evaluator, for Standards 1 and 5 which are basically "UN-OBSERVABLE." 

Put the Standards templates, in sheet protectors, and then in a binder.  Behind each standard add all the "evidence" from your teaching that shows how you HIGHLY :-) met each standard!!

Geometric Snowman!

My class has been learning about plane shapes so I created this fun GEOMETIC SNOWMAN activity and it was a great success and lots of fun!

First we used the SmartBoard to sort squares, triangles, rectangles and circles.  They we used these shapes to solve a riddle and build the secret picture!  A SNOWMAN! 

After we created the snowman using the shapes on the SmartBoard, the kids had to create their own Geometric Snowman out of construction paper, using only squares, triangles, rectangles and circles!

The snowmen came out fantastic and they had a great time exploring shapes!

Check out the accompanying SmartBOard FREEBIE in my TpT store!

Enjoy!

Jillian Coster

Ho! Ho! Happy Holidays! 20% off!!

YEAH!!  It's CYBER MONDAY AND TUESDAY!!  Head over to my TpT store to check out my sale!  EVERYTHING in my store is 20% off on 11/26 and 11/27!!  And if you enter promo code CMT12 at checkout you will get another 10% off!  Happy Holiday shopping!  

Click the button below to head to my store!

SANTA'S HELPER!

Ahh!!  Where has the time gone?!?!  I can't believe we are down to the last few days of November and the Holiday Rush is now HERE!!  Well to help get in the spirit of the holiday's at school, I re-created an addition fluency game to have a jazz of holiday!! 

Santa's Helper and Holiday Helper are games of addition fluency!  They are aligned with the Common Core and will help your students gain fluency in addition facts up to 12.  Check then out in my TpT Store or by clicking the pictures below!  

*Please note, they are basically the same games!  After I created Santa's Helper I felt I should re-name it to be sensitive to those who don't believe in SANTA!!

~Jillian

Turkey Hunt Math Game!

Here it is!  Turkey Hunt!

My First Graders continue to ask NON-STOP "When can we play MONSTER MASH?" so I decided to make a new version with a TURKEY theme!

Same idea as Monster Mash, the students play on level 1 or 2 game boards and roll dice to add addition facts up to 12 or 20, and "catch" turkeys!

I've seen so much improvement with their addition fluency and they are always so excited to practice their facts this way!  I'm already thinking of a new version with a HOLIDAY Theme where they play to help SANTA!  Check back soon!

The first three people to comment and become new followers of my blog will be sent Turkey Hunt for FREE!  Leave me your email!

~ Jillian Coster

Monster Smash Math Game! Addition!

With so much of the common core's focus being on fluency, I've been trying to give my kids lots of experiences with addition facts in fun, interactive and engaging ways. So Monster Smash was born! The kids LOVE this game and ask me to play it ALL the time. The object of the game is to "catch" the most monsters by solving addition equations rolled on dice. I've created two levels. Level one focused on facts to 12 and level two focuses on facts up to 20!   Check it out in my TpT store!

My kids have enjoyed this game so much I've decided to create more seasonal versions of the game! Look for them soon!

Let me know your thoughts! The first three people to comment and follow my blog will be sent Monster Smash for free!! Leave me your email!

ADDITION BINGO!!

New Game!  I just created a new Addition Bingo Game that is really helping my kiddos build their fluency with facts up to 20.  They are having so much fun with it! 

Check it out in my TpT store!  

The game description is listed below!

Addition Bingo is Common Core Aligned and will help your students practice addition fluency up to facts of 20, in a fun,

Exciting, interactive way!

Addition Bingo comes with 5 Bingo Boards and 5 different sets of calling cards!

Set 1: Addition Doubles

Set 2: Addends of 2

Set 3:  Addends of 3

Set 4:  Addends of 4

Set 5: Addends of 5

Print, Laminate, cut out calling cards and PLAY!

First student to cover 5 spaces in a row or column wins!

The first 3 people to follow my blog and let me know their thoughts on ADDITION BINGO will be sent my Addition Bingo game for free!  Leave me your e-mail!

~ Jillian  

Guided Reading!

Along with Reading Workshop, I also pull several Guided Reading Groups each day.  I’ve always had a hard time with record keeping and having an efficient system for recording books that I send home, and then hopefully are returned, after I finish with a reading group.

NOT ANYMORE!!!

This form has been working great!  I am able to quickly record the title, level, date of reading group, students in the group, teaching points, ideas for next time and check off if the book was sent home.  The following day, if the book is left on my back table, I check off that it was returned!

First 10 people to comment and follow my blog will be sent this form for free!  Leave your e-mail address!  Enjoy!

~ Jillian COster

* UPDATE - I also made this great bookmark which helps keep track of which book was sent home with who!  I quickly write their name on the bookmark, tuck it inside the book and send it home!  The kids return the book with the bookmark inside the next day!  They love using the bookmark!  It makes them feel like "BIG" readers!

FUNDations GAMES!

CVC Word Concentration!  My kids have been having a great time with this game!  And it definetely has helped boost their reading and spelling of CVC words.  

Don't Let The Wind Blow The Leaves has been a huge hit with my first graders.  The kids pull CVC word leaf cards from the pile, spell it out-loud, then read it!  If they pull a WIND card, all their leaves have blown away and they must be returned to the pile!

Check these games out in my TpT store!

and CVC Bingo!

CVC Words BINGO!

We have been busy studying CVC words along with Fundations Unit 2.  But, for many of the kids it can get monotonous and a bit boring so I’ve been trying to come up with a few different ways to make it more fun!  First I thought of DON’tSpill the APPLES and now CVC BINGO!

Students can practice sounding out, blending and reading cvc words all while playing a fun game of BINGO!  It has been lots of fun!  Check it out in my TpT store or by clicking the picture below!  Enjoy!

~ Jillian