Teacher from the Black Lagoon - Mike Thaler

Do you have a favorite author or series?  I have quite a few series and authors that I love to share with students.  The Black Lagoon series by Mike Thaler is a wonderful series because the books can be easily incorporated throughout the year.

• Back to School:  Share the books and introduce the members of your school community.
• Appreciation Week:  Read the Principal, School Nurse, Cafeteria Worker, etc. when it is the week to show appreciation for that person or group.
• Community Helpers:  Add these books to your community helper lessons.
• Sub Plans:  Perfect for sub plans because they aren't seasonal.

There are many different activities in my Lagoon Sub Plan file.  Choose the ones you want for your emergency plans. Then use the extras for your Back to School and Appreciation Week plans.  

The making words assignment in the picture above can also be used as a center or small group activity like the picture below.

There is a making word assignments for: teacher, principal, and cafeteria worker.

Read The Cafeteria Worker from the Black Lagoon before your nutrition lesson.  This can either be used as your science lesson with your emergency sub plans, during cafeteria appreciation week, or with a nutrition unit.

Below is a list of what is included with this file. Some of the pages are EDITABLE in Powerpoint.

The activities included in this file include:

Pg. 2-4 Teacher tips

Pg. 5 Inside recess
Pg. 6-8 Class procedures
Pg. 9-10 How we go home
Pg. 11-12 Class schedule
Pg. 13-14 Class chart
Pg. 15-16 Morning Message and answer key
Pg. 17-20 Word of the Day: worksheet and 3 slides
Pg. 21-22 Reading passages and answer key
Pg. 23-25 Word Work: Making Words
Pg. 26-27 Syllable count and answer key
Pg. 28-29 Writing: Word bank, writing page
Pg. 30-32 Fruit cards and ABC order wksh.
Pg. 33 Writing: Sentence - Draw and Illustrate Foldable
Pg. 34-35 List maker
Pg. 36 Letter writing template
Pg. 37 Key events: where, when, why, how
Pg. 38 Beginning, Middle, and End
Pg. 39 Compare stories: The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and The Principal from the Black Lagoon
Pg. 40 Compare stories: The Cafeteria Lady from the Black Lagoon and The School Bus Driver from the Black Lagoon
Pg. 41 Compare stories: The Teacher from the Black Lagoon and __________.
Pg. 42-49 Small Group Lesson: Phonemic Awareness
Pg. 50-51 Let’s Write: rhyme
Pg. 52-53 Let’s Write: onset
Pg. 54-55 Place Value and answer key
Pg. 56-57 Addition: Two Digits and answer key
Pg. 58-59 Addition: Three Digits and answer key
Pg. 60-61 Telling Time: Quarter Hour and answer key
Pg. 62-63: Compare Numbers: Sums of Addition Single Digit Problems and answer key
Pg. 64-65: Compare Numbers: Sums of Addition Double Digit Problems and answer key
Pg. 66-67: Science: Nutrition – Group Healthy and Non-healthy foods and answer key
Pg. 68: Draw and Write: Favorite lunch
Pg. 69-70: Thank you note – color and blackline
Pg. 71: Sub Report: How was your day?
Pg. 72-73 Lesson Plans template
Pg. 74-76 Assignment cards

The following are EDITABLE in POWERPOINT:

--Helpful information form – same as PDF

--Helpful information form: The graphic boxes are blank so you can personalize it.
--Class procedures: same as PDF
--Class procedures: The graphic boxes are blank so you can personalize it.
--How we go home: color and blackline
--Our schedule: color and blackline – same as PDF
--Our schedule: color and blackline – no table so you can personalize it to fit your needs
--Class chart – color and blackline – same as PDF
--Class chart – color and blackline – no table so you can personalize it to fit your needs
--Lesson Plans template
--Assignment cards

Looking for more sub plans?  Check them out HERE.

Do you follow my Facebook page?  I have been choosing teachers to send boxes of books that are already taped and leveled.

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. 
Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Reading Motivation: FREEBIE, Graphic Novels, Magazines

Have you ever had a student (or two or three) that was a perfectly capable reader, yet was not a highly motivated reader? Reluctant readers may be competent readers because of their lessons at school. But, there is only so much guided practice that a teacher can provide for fluency because of lack of time. Eventually, the reluctant reader's lack of practice (reading for pleasure at home) will impact their fluency skills. When these students enter older grades, with more reading material to cover in a shorter period of time, their limited fluency skills will be a source of frustration.

There are a few things I have found that motivate this type of student.

Does your reluctant reader have a limited attention span? If so, he or she may be overwhelmed if there are too many words on a page. Try books like graphic novels or non-fiction books. These books have small reading areas with clear start-stop places. This makes these types of books more motivating to read. Eventually the reluctant reader reads so many of these that his or her fluency skills improves, builds stamina, and graduates to chapter books

Magazines are another good strategy to use with reluctant readers. Magazines work the same way as graphic novels and non-fiction books. Magazines do not overwhelm students with short attention spans. Magazines are also an easy literacy center to set up. Plus, I have a free sample for you.

Click HERE for FREE Reading Response printables.

Do you follow my Facebook page? I have been choosing teachers to send boxes of books that are already taped and leveled.

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.

Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Reluctant Reader Tips: Shark Week

Are you looking for reading ideas to use with your reluctant readers? I've had some students through the years that I felt like I could stand on my head, do a juggling act, and they were still less-than-enthusiastic about reading.

How are your books organized? Some teachers are required to organize their books by levels. Other teachers are given more flexibility.

I found many reluctant readers were not motivated when books are organized by reading levels. These are usually the students who are not motivated by moving their star on the A.R. chart or any other reading incentive program. These systems was full of arbitrary numbers to them.

Books about topics that they were interested in seemed to be the key to motivating this type of student. I had more success when I organize by books by a wide range of topics. I used topics like castles, space, desert, time periods, Superheroes, animals - specific types.

If you are required to organize books by level, you can set up a few "featured book areas" like the one in the picture below.

Do you have trouble engaging your reluctant reader when you meet with your small group? Use their interest to motivate them. Sharks and other ocean creatures are motivating themes with students.

I found these manipulatives at a party supply store. Sound boxes are a quick and easy warm up. Great for your phoneme segmentation intervention group, too. Get a free copy of it.

These gummy candies are fun to use, if your district allows you to use food with your lesson. I found these at Walgreens.

Want to get your students excited about their reading assignments? Use fun school supplies like smelly markers. Suddenly, the assignment isn't work anymore!

You can find a variety of smelly markers. Some can even be purchased individually. I found the skinny marker on a clearance section of Staples for 25 cents.

You can download the Shark Reading passage plus other free activities on the link below:
Ocean: Shark themed freebie

I am joining some of my friends for Shark Week Blog Hop. Be sure to visit each blog for tips and a freebie. Hop over to Andrea @This Literacy Life for some fun ideas.
An InLinkz Link-up

Do you follow my Facebook page? I have been choosing teachers to send boxes of books that are already taped and leveled.

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.
Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Add Movement to Lessons

Looking for new ways to add movement to your lessons? Relay races is an easy way to add movement and review skills. You can use this activity for phonics or adapt it for math or other subjects.

To play:

1. Divide your students into groups. If they are particular wiggly the day you decide to do this, you need to have more groups so they will run more often.

2. Students line up in straight lines behind a line. Beside each team is a different colored bucket. Each team is assigned a bucket.



Dollar Tree has these buckets for $1.

3. The race part of this activity involves students running to a hula hoop that is at a designated place, finding letters that are lying inside the hula loop, bringing the correct letters back to their team and putting the letters in their team's bucket. Each team has their own hula hoop. P.E. teachers usually have hula hoops that they will loan you. You can use letters used for bulletin boards or foam letters like these:

4. The teacher will give clues for what letters the people at the beginning of the line needs to find in the hula hoop. After giving the clue, the teacher will say "go", the student will run to the hula hoop, find the correct letter, and put it in their bucket.

5. The winner is decided at the end. The team or teams that have all the correct letters in their bucket is/are the winners.

Use a variety of letters like the ones in the picture above, so your students will practice identifying letters with different fonts.

The great thing about this game is it can be adapted to any grade level. Examples of clues:

Clue #1: This letter is the sound you hear at the end of the word "globe".
Clue #2: These are the letters you hear at the beginning of the word "chain".
Clue #3: These are the 3 letters you hear at the end of the word "coming".
Clue #4: This is the sound you hear in the middle of the word "zap".

You can also use shapes like the ones in the picture above. I found these at Hobby Lobby. Give clues like:

• Find a shape that is a compound word. 
• Find a shape that has a digraph at the end of the word. 
• Find a shape that rhymes with dish. 

You can also make this game into a Math Relay Race game. It can be adapted to any grade level.

• Clue #1: What is the answer: 12 + 3 = ___
• Clue #2: What is the answer: How many sides does an octagon have?
• Clue #3: What is the answer: 4 X 8 = ___
• Clue #4: What is the answer: How many minutes are in a quarter hour?

This game burns off excess energy while reviewing skills your students have studied. It's a WIN-WIN!







Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.
Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Listen & Learn: Listening Skills

• Do you find yourself answering questions about the directions that you just gave your class? 
• Does your voice get hoarse from repeating yourself? 
• Do you feel like you have tried everything but still your students aren't listening? 

Observe your class during their lesson with the librarian or school counselor. Look for signs of active listening. Sometimes we assume that our students are actively listening when they are quiet. This isn't always true. Listening is a skill like reading or playing soccer that you need to practice in order to improve.

You can promote and practice active listening when giving directions for an assignment:

Engage your students when giving important directions. Example: "Boys and girls hold up one first and repeat after me, the first step of this assignment is ____", (class repeats while holding up one finger), "Now class hold up 2 fingers and repeat, the second step of what I will do is _____", (class repeats while holding up two fingers), continue until all of the directions are given.
If your class is sitting at their table or desk, you can ask them to stand up when they repeat what you say, and sit down when they listen to you. Movement helps engage them and with the wiggles.

Sponge activities that improve listening skills:

Teacher or student leader says:

• If you can hear me tap your chin. 
• If you can hear me jump 2 times. 
• If you can hear me flap your arms like a chicken. 
• If you can hear me touch your left elbow. 
• Mental math: teacher or student leader gives math problems to the class. Great activity to use when class is waiting in line. 

4 + 2 + 6 + 1 = __ 

7 + 5 + 5 + 8 + 2 = __ 

In order to actively listen, students need to concentrate on what the speaker is saying. This skill requires stamina. Practice! Practice! Practice!

Assessing listening skills can be done formally and informally. You will notice that you have to repeat directions less often as your students' listening skills improve (informal assessment). It is helpful if you have a baseline of where your students begin to see how they improve during the school year. Listening skills can cause academic and behavior problems for students. This is one more tool to add to your teacher toolbox.

Listen and Draw is an activity that is a non-threatening way to assess your students' listening skills. I recommend doing activities like these at the beginning of the year and at least once a month throughout the year. It is helpful documentation for parent-teacher conference, R.T.I., and other times when you are looking at behavior or academic issues. Listening skills impact many areas in the classroom. I have a FREE sample that you can use with your class.

Click HERE for a FREE sample.

Listen & Draw - PLUS:  includes additional materials that the other files do not include.  These materials include: QR Codes, MP3 files, assessment tools, brag tags, and happy notes.

Listen & Draw - Inferences & Superhero lessons are a big hit with students!

Listen & Draw - Fall / Autumn
Listen & Draw - Winter
Listen & Draw - Spring
Listen & Draw - Summer
Listen & Draw - BUNDLE (includes the files above)

Listen & Draw - Christmas
Listen & Draw - Ocean
Listen & Draw - CVC Words
Listen & Draw - R Controlled Words

Listen & Draw - Poetry - FREE
Listen & Draw - CVC Words - FREE
Listen & Draw - R-Controlled Words - FREE

How do you promote active listening?

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Morning Messages - Best Way to Start your Day!

Ready to change how you do morning work? Looking for some new ideas? I have written several posts about my morning message system that is a spiral review of important reading skills. It is also differentiated which helps when your class includes a range of ability levels.  (Morning messages from my April file are shown above.)

Post #1: My morning routine which includes management tips.

Post #2: Hectic schedule this year? Set up morning messages as a writing center. This post includes tips.

Post #3: Improve your students' handwriting with morning messages.


Each of the thematic packets include ten morning messages.

Phonics / Early Readers:

Early Readers #1 (20 messages)

Digraph - CH (10 messages)

Digraph - SH (10 messages)

Digraph Bundle - CH, SH (20 messages)

Diphthong - OY - FREE

Themed packets:

Back to School - K/1 (10 messages)
Back to School - 2/3 (10 messages)
Fall Fun - K (can be used in September, October, and November) (10 messages)
Fall Fun - K/1 (can be used in September, October, and November) (10 messages)
Fall Fun - 1st (can be used in September, October, and November) (10 messages)
Martin Luther King Jr.
Winter Olympics - FREE
Black History Month (10 messages)
Chinese New Year - FREE
Father's Day FREE
Cinco de Mayo - FREE
Memorial Day - FREE
Summer
Time (Combo with task cards)
Time
Money (plus game, passages)
Spiders (plus QR Code, Reading Response) - FREE
Sharks (plus Reading Passage, Digraph Activity) - FREE
February (plus Leap Day, Time, Skip Counting) - FREE 
Henry & Mudge - FREE

Each of the grade level packets include ten morning messages.
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade

By request, I bundled my September - May grade level packets (links above) into bundles with 90 messages.
Kindergarten
1st Grade
2nd Grade
3rd Grade

By request, I bundled two grade levels together. There are 10 messages of each grade level in these packets (20 messages per packet).

Kindergarten - 1st grade
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May

1st and 2nd grade
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May

2nd and 3rd grade
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
April
May


By request, I am adding more grade level packets for teachers who do morning message daily. You can follow my store or Facebook page if you want to be notified when I add more of these packets. I am selling Volume 2 (10 messages) separately and as a combo with Volume 1 (10 messages) so teachers have the option of having 20 messages. Below are the ones I've finished so far.

Kindergarten
April - Volume 2 (10 messages)
April - Combo (20 messages)

1st Grade
April - Volume 2 (10 messages)
April - Combo (20 messages)

2nd Grade
April - Volume 2 (10 messages)
April - Combo (20 messages)

Morning Messages are also included with my Sub Plans:

Sub Resource Binder

Ocean

Teacher from the Black Lagoon

Early Reader - K/1

March - K/1 - this file includes more than just sub plans.

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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