Free Printable St. Patrick's Day Subway Art

Valentine's Day has come and gone, and now it's time to add a hint of green instead of red. 
Rainbows and gold.... that sounds like happiness to me!  :-)  I made this cute St. Patrick's Day subway art, placed it in a black frame and Voila!... It turned out so cute!  Feel free to print yourself out one, as I am offering it for free.  Simply place it in an 8.5x11 frame and it will look so cute and colorful on your desk in your classroom or on display in your home.  Mine is actually on a table in a hallway off  my den.  Enjoy!  
Just click the link below to print.
FREE Subway Art for St. Patrick's Day

Check out my teacher themed subway art here.
Hover over image to pin.

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God Loves You Valentine's Day Cards

My son attends the church preschool, so for a change, I can actually mention God on classroom materials. Imagine that!  I made these for him to deliver to his three year old class friends for Valentine's Day.  They would work for any age. Just print and sign a name. I stapled a heart sucker to each one. They are free to print, so I hope you can enjoy on a e future Valentine's Day. Click the link below.

God Loves You Valentine Cards

Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.

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For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

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Text Annotation Codes

The big push in the classroom is to get kids thinking about their reading.  They should be digging for deeper meaning. A basic yellow highlighter just doesn't do the job.  After all, most kids use a highlighter as a coloring tool, more like a paint brush in art class, rather than a tool to look for important information. Plus, kids should really be doing more than just shading over important points.  They need to be interacting with the text. They need to "read with a pencil". What better way to do that than to give them some codes to use while reading.  Interacting with text by using annotating codes can help the teacher monitor comprehension.  Codes can also help the reader stay focused and engaged; whether it be looking for important points, connecting the text to their life, asking questions, or just being aware of the 'ah ha!' moments.   In order to teach your students how to annotate while reading, you might like to use this code sheet.  I am offering it as a FREEBIE.  There is one for upper and lower elementary. Enjoy!
Click the link below.
Text Annotation Codes
Text Annotation


Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.

We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.
teachers pay teachers store
For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

If you are a teacher and you like what you see, please visit often.

Building Fluency

Building Fluency
Fluency-  The ability to read with  speed, accuracy, and proper expression.

Building fluency is a main focus in my upper elementary classroom.  The majority of my students can say the words on the page, but reading the words with proper speed and expression takes practice.  Working on fluency carries over to other areas of reading, such as it helps to increase comprehension. As I tell my students..... to read is to understand, and if you don't understand/comprehend what you are 'saying', you aren't really reading. Building fluency is just one reading skill that is going to help them better comprehend.
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We have all had kids in our classroom read aloud, whether it be whole class or in a small group, or even one on one.  As a teacher (and even as a student), we can easily recognize a child that struggles with fluency. It can typically be identified within the first few sentences of having them read aloud.  The same struggles we hear when they read aloud are most likely carrying over to their quiet independent reading.  Because of this, there needs to be some kind of activity within the classroom (or for homework) that focuses on building fluency.
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 In talking to other teachers about what they do in regard to building fluency, I have come to the conclusion that many teachers assess fluency, they correct fluency, but they simply are not providing activities to build fluency. As always, time is a factor.  With that said, I wanted to share a little activity I do with my students.


My Bright Idea.....

I named this fluency building activity "Read It and Repeat It".  Yep, it's as simple as that!  Just practice and improve.  I don't have the kids read an entire book, but rather I assign them a Read It and Repeat It paragraph or short passage.  I actually take a suitable passage from a book, type it, and then give a copy to each student.  The passage is not long, most likely just a paragraph, but I make sure it's one that allows for expression.  It may have commas and other punctuation that kids would typically struggle with.  When I type the passage, I can fit 3-4 on a page, so that cuts down on copies. I know you could just have students read a short passage from a book they have, but for some reason, the kids get so excited about seeing what the passage is.  Having it on the small slip of paper doesn't seem so overwhelming. 
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So, how does it work?  I have done the activity several ways.  I have made it a homework activity where I pass it out on Monday and they are required to practice reading it aloud each night. Then they come back and read it to the class on a Friday.  You don't even have to pick all kids to read aloud, as you can draw five names and just have those few read it aloud. I have also encouraged my students to make two recordings at home, and I even pass that suggestion on to the parents.  The students love to hear how much they improve, and when they do, they are amazed!!  You could even do this activity with just your weakest readers in the area of fluency.  You could easily pull them to the hallway and record them reading their passage.  They can practice reading it aloud to you each day in their reading group or even in the morning while all of the kids are arriving, and then record them again at the end of the week. You are sure to hear major improvements that will carry over to other reading activities.
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I encourage you to give it a try!  Try it once. Do it weekly.  Add it as a bi-weekly activity.  However you do it, I feel sure you will have readers that love it and want to hear themselves improve in the area of fluency
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Would you like to find out how to create with things you already have in your classroom? If so, head on over to my friend Faith's blog called 1st Grade Fantabulous.  Click HERE.
You can find more bright classroom ideas from other blogging friends by clicking the links below.  Have fun!