Epic! is a fabulous app that students can use in the classroom. It is basically a giant online library of books that students have access to across the world for free. There are fiction, non-fiction, read to's, chapters and more. Lots of range, lots of topics and even quizzes that test your students after they have read the book.
The great thing about epic! is you can log in as an educator and see what your students have been reading. It shows you how many books your students have finished, how many hours read and videos watched. You are able to click on the book each student read and see how many pages they flipped through and how far they read! Great stats if you are wanting more information on their independent work. The limit is endless with the online library epic! has. So many books to choose from to link into your topic studies. Or just to choose from as free choice! Visit the website, get set up and use epic! in your classroom today!
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This sunday spotlight shares the link to these great QR stories with audio links for the ready to read books in New Zealand. A great resource to use in 'listen to reading' time if you are do daily 5 in the classroom. Or just a great independent activity to have going for students to listen to stories. Even better if they can read along with the text version handy. Exit slips and feedback are a great way for students to reflect on their learning and think about what they can do for their next steps. This can be done individually, with a buddy or with the teacher. I talk about using exit slips and feedback slips a lot on my website and within the classroom. This is something that I believe works and helps students gain student agency over their learning and next steps.
There are many different ways you can provide feedback or complete this in your classroom. But these feedback and exit slip make it easy for you to do. This bundle pack is currently on sale on my website so if you see a place for this in your classroom - grab it today! Easy to implement and this pack also has my other feedback prompts that I have talked about here in this website post too.
My most recent resource are these two great ebook packs! Both of these packs follow the colour wheel targeting key high frequency words for that colour of books. This resource has an ebook, word card task card and Seesaw activity links; all to help reinforce the learning of key high frequency words! The first one targets words from magenta and red; with the second targeting words from yellow.
This pack also comes with a task card for each word that students can use alongside the ebook. Students should listen to the word, say the word out loud, write the word in the air with their finger or trace around the word formation on their device screen; plus create the word at the end. There are some activity ideas for how to create the word like playdough, magnets, stamps, sand trays and links to Seesaw activities. These ebooks will available for download free on itunes apple books! Until then, you can access the ebook links free here. Or download the whole resource which includes the ebook, word task cards and Seesaw activity links!
This weeks Sunday Spotlight is sharing this great word of the week template that allows students to show their learning in different ways. This could be used for whole class activities, small groups or as individual work. It has spaces for the word in the yellow bubble; write it in a sentence, how many letters, what rhymes with it, write it as a rainbow word, vowels and consonants, and as a silly sentence.
You could do this for any type of publishing - it really gives the work a purpose. Students are able to read others writing, see how their peers completed their work and just read for enjoyment.
So easy to create, we used: -colour paper for our book covers -free template for book cover off sparklebox -narrative planning templates off teachers pay teachers -typed up publishing on google docs This weeks Sunday spotlight is my new word of the week/day templates. These can be used in whole class discussions, small group activities or to be completed individually. These templates provide different ways to unpack a word of the week/day that could be used in a word work or spelling programme.
I of course modelled the process after writing so students were able to see what was expected of them and work towards achieving all the aspects of our introduction success criteria. The symbols were also used so students (and myself) could easily see the evidence of what they were working on in their writing. We used a W for wow words, a butterfly for the name of the insect, and then simple numbers so they could see how many ideas they had.
Super simple, yet effective! The students even commented on how easy it was when using the success criteria slip to check they had achieved it all! Find the template here for you to make a copy and use it in your classroom!!
Download a copy of the parent handout below or check out the youtube video for some more ideas.
One of the key takeaways I took was a way to get students interested and engaged in writing. So I developed a superwriter incentive - where students that do super writing get to wear a superhero cape! We simply developed a writing criteria together for what the superwriter writer should have (things like capital letters, full stops, be interesting to read etc.), and then I choose which ones are picked! Simple!
Now I thought this year my Year 3s would find this babyish. So I didn't introduce it to them until this term. But as soon as I did, they have been lapping it up!! They love it! They have put so much effort into their writing this week, really make sure they are working on their goals, giving each other feedback and checking on their success criteria! So if you're looking for a fun and easy way to get students engaged in writing, simply introduce the superwriter programme and watch them lap it up! They will love it just as much as mine have!
Every year, I always begin teaching the Daily 5 activities slowly and in tumble form. This helps students to learn what is happening in each one and form routines/expectations within literacy time. From term 2 onwards I usually implement my Daily 5 task card in place of a tumble. How does it work? Students get to choose their own activities within reading time without teacher direction. Students receive their own Daily 5 checklist board (like pictured above) with a little picture of themselves on their one. This type of learning in reading time promotes student agency of their choices in learning, builds responsibility for their actions and is fun - no more teacher telling them what to do! As i teach Year 3 students I chose to implement a practice version of this in the last week of school. This has helped my students see and know what is coming next term but also have a practice with it. This helps form new routines but practicing the expectations of how it will change. It really has been a great way to move from the tumble based programme to their own choice and would recommend doing a practice before hand to help with those routines. My students are so excited to begin their real task cards next term after the holidays and I can't wait to see their ownership and responsibility of their learning shift from being teacher led to student led.
Check out this quick video below to see it in action on an ipad! This resource can be purchase off my website here on from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.
Use the discount code 'daily5' to receive 75% off all my Daily 5 resources. Only for a limited time!!!
Check out more information on this resource here on my website or on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
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