Early Reader Freebie: What Lives in the Desert?

To celebrate uploading my 7th Early Reader using Fry's 1st 100 Word Books... I am giving  away Book #7:  What Lives in the Desert? for free just for the next 7 hours... click here.  

 The regular price is $1.25 per book or $4.50 for a 5 book bundle.
Books #8-#10 will be out by the end of the weekend. :)


Happy Friday!  Denise

Favorite ELA Websites: Part 1

I promised myself when I started blogging, each blog would be short and sweet.  I hate reading someone's life story to simply find the ingredients in salsa!  Just sayin'.  So, this topic may span over a few days to avoid breaking my #1 rule.

I am in a few Facebook groups and there's always a question about what 
online resources members would recommend for reading/ELA time.  
By far, I recommend the free website www.readworks.org and here's why.

1.  I link ReadWorks through Google Classroom (in the About section) so students can simply click on the link and log in with their Google account.  You can import your class list, too!

2.  There are a TON of engaging articles and stories at a variety of lexile levels.  You can add ELL and SPED supports, have articles read to the student(s), and other forms of differentiation that give every kid an access point.

3.   Using the Articles of the Day gives students 4-5 different nonfiction articles about a topic.  Kids have the choice of which articles they read.  It them prompts them to type up information that they learned in the Book of Knowledge.  *The ELL support features gives kids a sentence starter!

Finally, ReadWorks grades the multiple choice and you grade written responses and give feedback (optional).  Then you have the option to reassign part of or have the student redo the entire assignment from scratch.

So easy to use and a great resource to bookmark for the fall!  :) Denise

Stop the Summer Slide!

There's a lot of buzz around the term "summer slide"!  I can say that I have seen the effects of students losing academic ground from lack of reading during the summer.  I think one of our many jobs as teachers is to help parents realize that regardless of what language they speak at home, students can continue learning all summer long. It doesn't have to be fancy, complicated or expensive... and it can be in whatever language the parent knows best!  

 So, I created a one-page handout (freebie in my TpT store!) to send home at the end of the year.  I was also lucky enough to get a DonorsChoose.org project funded so that all my students can take home a Summer Bridges Activity Book whether they want it or not, ha!  If you are interested in getting started for the first time on DC, leave a comment below!