Hello Mrs Sykes

Inspire Students to Graduate! There are many ways to inspire your students to graduate high school on time. I found that letting my elementary struggling students "see" the year they will graduate helped to cement the idea of finishing high school. I began sharing these posters years ago in response to a push in my district to decrease the dropout rate by keeping my kiddos focused on when they will graduate with a high school diploma! Click to view the free set, perfect for grades K-5! Click to view the free set, perfect for grades K-5! Click to view the free set, perfect for grades K-5! I hope it inspires your class as well. Includes posters for grades K-5 , perfect for posting in the classroom, library, lunchroom, office, etc. Happy teaching, friends!

Here's a round-up of some more of the best free resources online for teachers and their students.  Enjoy!! Google Scholar - Quick!  Need a quick bit of research about why kids need to limit their time watching TV?  Want to find relevant articles for your Graduate Studies class?  Google Scholar is a fabulous resource to do a quick search for articles, citations, and even case law! NewsELA.com - daily news content for students to hone their critical thinking skills using current events!  I truly can't say enough good things about this site!! Time For Kids - They aren't just for classroom magazines...  Check out their website for free informational texts, and be sure to visit their mini-sites page - tons of resources organized around a single topic! Science In the News Archive from www.ScienceA-Z.com  -  I love the rigorous vocabulary and high-interest passages in the Science in the News!  I used to use these as an occasiona...

Ok, y'all.  It's been quite a while since I've shared some of the resources available for teachers to help with ELA instruction, so here are today's Amazing Resources ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.K12Reader.com  - Ummm, ok.  I love this site!  I have been visiting the  Reading Comprehension section for 2nd grade  a lot lately.  This has been uber helpful for helping my green beans in a slightly more interesting way than just using tons of worksheets/test-prep workbooks.  I project the page on the SmartBoard, and we read, find evidence, and discuss our reasoning together. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   HarperCollins Children's Book Printables - Go ahead and check out this site!!  It has so many cute printables to go along with children's books. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.ReadToMeLV.com  - Lo...

Omigoodness, y'all!   I know I've got some issues with my clipart addiction, as I'm looking for clipart instead of Christmas shopping!!  :) I just had to share this very cool freebie I found from the blogger  Crunchy With Ketchup .  {{Love the name!!}}  He is a self-proclaimed Monster Wrangler (5th grade teacher) who is sharing some of his cool clipart with the blogging community.  Go visit to snag this super-cute multicultural clipart. Krista Walden has a fabulous set of Doodle Borders - love these!  I could use these borders on everything!! :)   What fabulous freebies have you found lately?

Found some more Amazing Resources for y'all!  Enjoy! Reading A-Z.com - I know this is nothing new for most of you, but trust me - you want to read this tip!  Did you know that you can print books in multiple languages from Reading A-Z?  This saved me last year...  I had a student who did not enjoy doing his nightly reading.  His uncle, who didn't read/speak English, would tell him to read and ask him questions about his reading.  My student would pretend to read and then make stuff up to tell his uncle.  Uncle was frustrated (rightfully so!), and I began sending home Reading A-Z books in both English and Spanish.  Problem solved!  I love when there's a simple solution.  {Subscription service} Free Common Core Posters for K-5 - Really.  There are printer-friendly *free* posters for ELA and Math for grades K-5 available for download from  Core Common Standards .  At the home page , select your grade, add the fr...

Here are a few more Amazing Resources !!  If you know of others, please share with the rest of us...  :) Your Next Read   - Super cool way to find new books.  Type in a title or type of book (or click on the images on the front page) and get a web of suggested titles.  They provide the book blurb from Amazon, too, so you can learn more about it.  I have a few students who I'll be using this with to help them "widen" their book interests!  Here is a web it created for my fav Elephant and Piggie book.  :)   http://www.wrsd.net/literacy/launch.cfm   Lessons, sample pacing guides, and resources to launch Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop.  Aligns nicely with Daily 5 and CCSS. Here's a little giggle for y'all... Have a wonderful week!!

Here's another quick round up (in no particular order) of some Amazing Resources for classrooms available online.  Best part of all?  They are all free!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If your class is stuck indoors, no worries!  Hop on over to Adventure to Fitness , and register for a free teacher account.  Mr. Marc guides the class through a dynamic and fun adventure to keep fit while exploring the arctic, the pyramids, or the jungle.  New episodes are added often, and teacher guides are available for each episode.   Be swift, be safe, be adventurers! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With all of the focus in Common Core on nonfiction text, it can be a challenge to find engaging, age-appropriate materials.   National Geographic Young Explorers has put all of their past issues online for free, and students can explore the articles or even have the articles read to them! ...

I'm at the beach this week, but I thought I'd bring you a quick round up (in no particular order) of some Amazing Resources for Reading I found online.  Best part of all?  They are all free!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project has their Reading Assessments online! Reading Assessments You can download and print assessments to determine reading level (GR levels A-Z), Letter/Sound identification, and Concepts About Print.  I'll use this for those kiddos who hang out on a level for so long that they can read the book from our AlphaKids kit, even though they are not proficient at that level.  They also have writing assessments available. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Author Mary Pope Osborne's Teacher Resource Center : Magic Tree House Teacher Resources  My second graders love Magic Tree House books, and here are teaching guides ...