READ in the Hall

On Monday, I finally started on my classroom.  It's been a project because 80% of everything I have was in a box.  This year, I am only going to be teaching literacy.  That means two things:

1. You won't be seeing a lot of math posts this year! 
2. My entire classroom from decoration, instruction, to function is focused on reading. 

 Every corner of my room relates to reading in some manner.  This includes the area outside my door.  Every year, I like to put something out there that can stay up all year.  I found these "Good Readers" posters and loved the content and color theme.  My room is all bright colors (a little too bright maybe, but I will explain that in a post to come) and these posters fit right in with what I'm teaching, my room colors, and have content all kids need to be reminded of.

 These reading strategies subway art posters are by Hope King.  They were exactly what I was looking for!  If you get them, I would suggest taking them to Staples or Office Max to print.  All that black ink would wreck havoc with your home printer.  I also find that anything I have printed at Staples is much more vibrant than anything my dinky little printer can produce.  After printing, I just laminated them.  Easy peasy!

Once I had the posters, I needed something to pull it together.  I made these READ letters to match the posters.  I think it goes together really well.  The lined letters match the "Good Readers" letters on the posters. I was going to put them up as a download for you, but I realized I used a font that was for personal use only.  If I get a chance, I will try to redo them with a font I can publish for you.

In the past, I have decorated the outside of my room several different ways.  I was able to find the past two years buried in my blog.  That's one of the things I like about blogging. It keeps a great record of things I've done in the past, for better or worse!

In 2011, I had a simple sign that actually fits in with this year's color scheme.

In 2012, I went with some motivational signs.

And for 2013, we READ!

If you look closely in the picture above, you can see just a couple of the many, many boxes I have been unpacking the past two days.  I don't dare show you the inside of my room just yet!  However, in my next post I am going to share a project I found via an Instagram picture that I knew I just had to do for my room.  

Stay tuned!

School Prep? Nope!

Getting ready for the new school year?

Uh, nope.  Not yet.

This is how I spent my day!

 

 

And, I'm planning to do it all over again tomorrow!

Thursday it's into the city (NY) for a taping of

the new Bethenny Frankel show.

Squeezing all the juice I can out of this summer

because. . .

room prep begins on Monday.



Author's Chair ~ Share Chair

Many years ago, I spent a lot of time making an author's chair.  If you aren't sure what an author's chair is, it is "just" (Not really "just," but there's more on that at the end of the post) a fancy chair your author-students sit in when reading their work to the class.  Somehow, one year, my chair disappeared from my room.  I'm pretty sure it was probably broken misplaced one summer during the room cleanings.  Lately, I've been toying with the idea of creating a new author's chair.  While the summer has flown by, I've not abandoned the idea.

I have an old, wooden chair like the one above that would be perfect for the project.  In fact, I turned to Pinterest for some inspiration and was so amazed at how creative my fellow teachers are that I decided to share some of it here.  The pictures are from the teachers' blogs or their Pinterest boards, and I have tried to link directly to each.  However, some of the pictures had no blog or site linked to them. The just linked back to the image.  If you know who a chair belongs to, please leave a comment and I will happily add the link to the teacher's blog, Pinterest board, or web page.

Let's begin with some . . .

Author's Chairs!

Lauren is not a blogger, but a pinner!  She pinned her author's chair on her Pinterest board: My Creations. Instead of a standard chair, she used a director's chair.

Angie Austin is an artist that paints author's chairs for teachers.  Below is one featured on her blog.  If you visit her blog, you can see some others she has designed.

Stephanie Mellon painted this chair for her classroom.  She doesn't seem to have a blog, but posted her picture on her Pinterest board. Her chair is amazing!  Her picture collage below shows you the many steps involved in this project.

Here's  another great chair from Pinterest that only links back to the image.  I love the pencils painted across the back.

Here's another amazing chair that links back to an image.  This chair looks like it took a lot of time, effort, and love of teaching!

The chair below is painted by Priscilla Zachary for her school teacher daughter.  As far as I can tell, Priscilla also doesn't have a blog, but posted her picture on her Pinterest board that you can see here. Priscilla is very talented as evidenced by this amazing paint job!

This picture also links to the image on Pinterest, but I had to include it for its simplicity.  If you don't have time to paint a chair, simply grab some ribbons, a chair cushion, and some Sharpies.  No painting needed.  Also, this chair could fold up for easy storage when not in use.

Share Chairs!

Share chairs are nice because they aren't limited to author's use only.  

You can use a share chair for any kind of presentation.

Heather, from Fifth Grade Frenzy has created a super snazzy share chair. I like this chair because it fits in with my room's color theme this year.

Ms. K at Teacher Blog Spot shares a genius idea for a quick, cheap, and easy share chair a teacher in her building came up with.  All you need is a plastic lawn chair and some stickers.  Imagine how cute this would be with a lawn chair in a cute color and some themed stickers.

Stools!

Who needs an actual chair? Stools takes up less space and need less paint!

Amanda at First Time for Everything has added some fun pom-pom trim to her stool.

Beth, the Inspired Writing Teacher, has this very colorful stool as an author's chair. If you follow the link to her blog, you will see that she also has an actual author's chair, too.

Here's another colorful stool posted by Kelly on her Pinterest board that is used as an author's chair.

All Purpose Celebration Chairs!

An all purpose celebration chair is more of what I had in mind for my classroom.  I like a chair that you can do an author's celebration in as well as be a reward chair to sit in for good behavior or birthdays.  

Hope at 2nd Grade Shenanigans made a most amazing chair.  Love the feathers!  You can hardly tell, but the chair is a basic wooden school chair.  Hope shows you the before and after in her blog post. I love her blog! 

Debbie Clement is an author/illustrator who visits schools.  She took the picture of the chair below on one of her visits and posted it on her blog, Rainbows Within Reach. Imagine the possibilities with a chair labeled Imagine!

Here's a really fun chair for those not into painting. Mel D. at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations made this awesome celebration chair using tissue paper, old Dr. Seuss books, and Mod Podge. Love it!

And, Finally. . . 

How about a reading BENCH?

I love how so many favorite books have been incorporated in the paining.  I also love all the books laying on the seat.  I'm not sure I'm talented enough to pull off something like this!  Again, this is a picture that only links back to an image, but I would love to know who created this gem.

Here's an amazing idea!  The Ethelbert B. Crawford Library in Monticello, New York had children paint reading chairs and auctioned them off.  If you follow THIS LINK, you can see several of the chairs the kids created.  The library was able to raise $1300!  If your school has some older chairs, wouldn't that be a great art/literacy project?  Instead of auctioning them off, they could be great additions to the school's media center or front office.

There's more to the author's chair than "just" a presentation seat.  When an author is in the chair, it is a time for the reader author to practice public speaking, fluency, and prosody. There is also the joy they get from seeing the power of their words.  I will always remember a time a friend was reading a story to the rest of our class that had a very funny moment in it.  When he read that part, the entire class laughed so much that he had to pause in his reading.  When he was done, I pointed out to him (and the class) that his written words had the power to make an entire group of children laugh for quite a while.  His words made people experience joy.  I told him, and the class, that THAT IS THE POWER OF AN AUTHOR!  The look on his face was priceless.  He really hadn't understood until that moment that words have power and as the author, he wields that power.

For listeners, it is a time to practice active listening skills and social skills for audience behavior.  Often, during author's celebrations, the class is asked to respond to the author with one specific compliment and a question.  You can't do that if you aren't actively listening!

If you are new to using an author's chair or just want some ideas on how to make it more meaningful,
here are a couple of resources that might help:

• Click here to see how Teacher Vision has outlined exactly what an author's chair is and how to use one.
• The Oakland Unified School District,  via their Writing Proficiency Project, has a nice printable of tips for making your authors' chair a successful experience for all.  Click here for the pdf.

   In addition to showing some great chairs, the links will take you to some great blogs to explore.

Hopefully, you have found some chair inspiration! 

Name It! A Game FREEBIE

Many years ago when getting my master's degree, I had to take a theater course.  Don't ask me why!  To this day I still don't get it.  It was a theater class focused on using theater and games in the classroom.  One of the games the professor showed us was Name It!  I have actually played this game for many years with my friends.  It is a fun favorite.

Let me tell you how it is played.  It begins with a set of cards that have various topics written on them.  Have all your friends stand in a circle.  Place one friend and the stack of cards face down (the cards, not your friend!) in the circle.  The friend in the middle picks one card and must name a certain number of whatever the topic is.  For example, they would read aloud, "Name four. . . colors of the rainbow."  Then, the class will pass around a ball.  The friend in the middle has to name the correct amount by the time the ball makes it completely around the circle.  Once the ball gets back to the person who started it, your friend is out of time.  At that point, allow the class to share answers they thought of.  And, that's part of the fun.  Everyone is thinking of possible answers whether they are in the middle or not.  To justify the game, you could always explain that you are busy building schema!

The number of items you want your friends to name can vary.  If you have younger kids or a smaller group of children, you would want to keep the number small.  Larger class and older children can usually name more.  I would keep it between 3 and 5, but try it out and see what works for you.

I rarely play the game for points or winners.  Usually, I just try to get everyone a turn in the middle. You can play for points by breaking the class up into two teams (boys vs. girls, right side of circle vs. left side of circle, etc.) and if they are able to name it all, that person gets a point for their team.

As I mentioned, I've been playing this game for years.  It was hard to come up with categories, so over the years I've allowed my friends to write some they thought of on index cards.  I ended up with a pile of messy index cards that looked like this.

The cards were getting bent and wrinkled, so I thought it was time to clean this up and create a more aesthetically pleasing and durable version.  I took most of the topics my friends thought of and typed them up in a name tag template with a fancy border.  Now, I have this!

I printed the cards on card stock and laminated the pages.  Then, I cut them out and put them all in a file card holder I got at the dollar store.  Below, you can see how it stores nicely and the mini-basketball we use in my class for passing around the circle.

Since I have it all saved, I decided to share it with you.  If you CLICK HERE! you can download the game for yourself.  All together, there are 80 different cards with some blanks for categories you might want to add.  With 80 cards, you can pick and choose the ones you would want to use with your friends depending on age level and number of children playing. I also included a direction sheet with the printable, and I just hope it makes sense when you read it! :-)

One thing you should know.  The cards aren't exactly the same size.  Two of the cards on each page are a little bit bigger than others.  I'm not sure why that is because I used a standard label template, so they should have all been the same size.   It looks huge in the picture at right because it's an extreme close-up, but it's really just a smidgen bigger than the others. The good news is that it is really just aesthetic annoyance and doesn't effect the game.  And, hey! It's FREE!

If you are looking for a more academic related game, I posted another one a while ago called Heart Breakers.  It is a fun review game for any academic subject.  I don't have a printable available for it, but if you read the post you will see it takes minimal time and effort to make the cards you would need.  Heart Breakers is always a popular way to review before a test.    If you decide to play Name It! or Heart Breakers with you friends, stop back and let me know how it goes!

~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~ : ~: ~ : ~

Well, school starts in September for my friends and yesterday I finally found out what I will be doing next year.  It is going to be challenging and I anticipate a busy year. I'm not allowed to talk about it yet, but I will soon!  The best news I received was that I don't have to share my classroom with anyone this year.  This allows me to set it up exactly how I want.  Last year, I had to take into account the three other teachers I shared the room with, so it was never really what I wanted it to be.  This year, I have free reign once again! I took some before pictures yesterday so that I can share a before and after of my room with you once I finish. Excited to know my room is going to really be "my" room this year.  Not so excited to have to do all the work involved in making that happen!  I know many of you have started back to school, but I'm still in summer mode!  And on that note, I'm off to go play outside! Have a good day! 

And, yes!  I did notice the excessive use of the exclamation point!  What can I say?  It's my favorite punctuation mark!

Bookmark Freebie and Picture Books

Yesterday was the last day of summer school, and I could not be happier!  I love teaching, but I am ready for some time off!  Today, I have a bookmark to share with you. It was one of the projects my summer school friends completed.

Let me explain two things that prompted me to create the bookmark.

1. I may have mentioned that the summer school program in my district is focused on literacy.  Students who would benefit from extra literacy instruction over the summer are invited to attend.  This year, I had friends who are entering fourth grade but reading anywhere from 1.5-2.5 years below grade level.  
2. One of the things all students in our district are required to do is keep a reading log over the summer and turn in the log and a reading project to their new teacher in September.  The projects are quite varied in both type and level, so there is something on that list that every child would be able to complete.  

Now, here's how they come together.  My summer school friends, for the most part, are not independent readers.  They are not picking up a lot of books over the summer.  Many are struggling writers, as well.  So, the tasks of keeping a reading log and completing a reading project without any teacher guidance is a daunting one.

To ease the pain, we read A LOT of fun picture books this summer, both together and independently.  We even did a mini author study of Margie Palatini's books.  Three favorites were Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes, Bedhead, and Piggie Pie!  All were major crowd pleasers!  

Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes is a fun twist on the Aesop fable The Fox and the Grapes.  Great problem/solution story.  Reading all these picture books gave my friends a nice start on their summer reading logs. I know they now have something to turn in when they go back in September even if they don't read another book all August.   Fingers crossed they will!

                                            

Then, there was the issue of the required project.   I wanted them to independently reflect on a book of their choosing and have a simple, completed project to take home and turn in with their reading log.  My goal was to keep it simple considering the range of reading and writing abilities.  To accommodate all, I created a very basic bookmark.  The front has room for title, author, and an original illustration.  On the back, there was space to tell their favorite part (and why!) as well as their favorite character and why.  Finally, at the bottom is a little space to tell what their illustration on front shows. I made a model bookmark using the book A Bad Case of Stripes so they could see just what to do.  Here's some of what my friends came up with:

They aren't perfect, but I can tell you a lot of little kid heart and soul went in to getting them done. Below is a picture of the form I made. Remember, I wanted to keep this simple and easy.  The picture is crooked, but I promise the printable is not. 

Each friend was given a copy of the form to draft.  After revisions, mostly trying to get them to add more information and proofreading, they were given a copy I had printed on card stock to do a final copy. When they finished, we folded the paper in half and glued it together.  To finish it all, we hole-punched the top and added some ribbons.

You can print out your own copy of this bookmark by clicking HERE. I have added this bookmark as my first item on Teachers Pay Teachers.  You can still download it for free by clicking HERE! I think this would also make a great center activity.  Just print it out on plain paper and once your friends finish it, they can just fold and glue. You don't have to put the ribbons on top. It would also be a good back-to-school activity where they could create a bookmark to share with the class telling about their all-time favorite book.

That is all! :-)

An Affordable Ikea Classroom

 So, let's start with some blog business.  

• My apologies for the lack of posts.  Teaching summer school and a serious family illness has essentially eaten up all of my time.  August promises to be just as hectic on the family front, but summer school will be over after the 8th so I'm hoping to be a more productive blogger soon!
• Yes, I am still looking to redesign my blog.  I know that header has been up there for ages, but it will happen people!  

I know many of you are getting ready to head back to school in August.  I've seen lots of blogs with teachers already crafting, creating, laminating, and decorating.   Honestly, I can't even think about it yet!  We don't head back to school until September 3rd, and students don't start until September 9th.  My head is not yet in back to school mode. Having said that, no serious academic post here today!  :-) 

But, here's one on classroom decorating.

I was in Ikea the other day and found a lot of items that would be great for the classroom.  Thought I would share a few and some ideas for using them.  I'm limiting this post to things that are on the smaller side and affordable. Yeah, I would love to buy all new Billy bookcases for my classroom, but that's so not in the budget! Mine or my school districts!  So, here are some smaller items that can add a little color, fun, and function to your classroom without busting the budget.  See if you can guess which is my favorite item that I may have just purchased more of than I will probably ever need!  By the way, all images are from Ikea and this is not a sponsored post.  Just some things I like and think you will, too!  But, Ikea if you are out there and want to throw some Billy bookcases my way. . .Just kidding!!! 

Okay, here we go. . . 

This is the Hopplek rug.  It's 2' 7" x 5' 11" and only $12.99.  I think this adorable for the younger grades, but the measurements on the side make it great for upper grades, too.  This would be great in front of a math center area.   Kids could toss one or more bean bags and then create a math story using the numbers or measurements they land on.  I also think it would be a good game rug. I'm sure you can think of even more to do with it!

This is the Hampen rug.  It measures 2' 7" x 2' 7" and is $9.99.  These rugs would be great partner rugs for smaller friends.  You could have them rolled up in a basket, and when it it time for partner reading they can just grab a rug and find a spot.  For your older friends, it might fit only one.  It also comes in a couple of other colors.

This is the Fargglad chair.  It's a child's chair, so it is a bit on the smaller side.  It's $14.99.  The chair back and seat are woven plastic, so easy to wipe down if needed.  It is also stackable, so if you get some for a guided reading table you can easily stack them and move them aside when not in use.  But, in keeping the affordable in mind, I was thinking of what could you do with just one chair. It would be a great author's chair, special seat for the student of the day, a birthday seat, etc.  You could even doctor it up a bit with some ribbons to make it extra special.

This is the Tolsby frame.  It holds a 4" x 6" picture, and they are only $0.99 each!  There is no back, so you can put two pictures in each frame.  They are made of plastic, so perfect for the classroom and clumsy people like me!  These would be great for classroom signs, activity directions, library labels, and a ton of other things.

The Rigga clothes rack is $12.99.  When I saw this, I thought it was an inexpensive answer for anyone in need of a chart stand.  All you would need are the rings or some clips to hold your charts on the top bar.  I even like the rack on the bottom because you could put a few baskets on it to store materials for your charts. That would probably also help make it a bit more sturdy.  And, it's on wheels!

Here is the Dokument wastepaper basket in pink.  It is $3.99 and also comes in silver.  I actually bought this last year for my desk.  Our school does a great job of giving us those big, round, gray, plastic trash cans and recycling trash cans, but I wanted something smaller by my desk that wouldn't be filled with students' tissues and other icky stuff!  It is made of steel and fairly indestructible.  Ikea doesn't give its measurements, but it is on the larger side as far as wastebaskets go. For $3.99, you could also use it for holding project materials, books, or a few of those Hampen rugs. :-)

These are the Kvissle clip-on bookends.  You get a set of two for $4.99.  I love these because they clip on to the shelf.  No more falling over books and bookends when someone takes a book and the bookend moves.  What I love even more is the wide bar that faces you once you clip it on.  It's just made for a label. You could print out genre, alphabetical, or leveled labels to put on the bookend.  It would not only separate the books, but it would help in organizing your library while giving your friends a clear visual.

These are the Kusiner storage baskets, and you get all three for $4.99.  I have a similar set of baskets, but they aren't as nice as these.  These baskets have a soft coil in between the fabric, so they collapse for easy storage.  When you need to use them, just unhook the loop and they will spring right back into shape.  They are about 7" high and are great for handing out small materials to groups.  Unlike mine, these have numbers on the front that helps with identifying the groups just by having the basket on the table.  If you needed more than three baskets, you could always get two sets and put an A and B on the numbers with a Sharpie.  They are also great scrap baskets for the table when everyone is cutting and you don't want a constant parade to the trash can.

The Riso chair pads come in assorted colors for $3.99 each.  These would also make great floor seats for your friends if you don't have a carpet.  They are non-slip as the underside has anti-slip dots.  These remind me of the sit-upons I made when I was a Brownie back in the day.  In fact, the Crafty Texas Girls blog has a tutorial on how to make a sit-upon using newspapers and a vinyl tablecloth.  That's how I remember doing it!

Tins!  These are the Nidelva storage tins, which come as a pair for $3.99.  No grand plans for these, but they are cute.  And, who couldn't use a cute storage tin for erasers, paper clips, or anything else you can think of?

And finally, it wouldn't feel right if I didn't mention the Flyt magazine files!  You can't beat 5 for $1.99.  I use these as book baskets for my friends' independent reading books.  I actually picked up striped ones from Ikea a couple of years ago, but I like the plain white.  As a back to school activity, you could have your friends decorate and personalize the box to tell about them as a reader.  They could draw pictures of their favorite book characters and book covers or pictures of things they like to read about.  It just might be a fun way to get them excited about filling their book box.  I have reused my striped files/boxes for a couple of years, but for the price I wouldn't having a problem letting my friends personalize one for their own.  I did find putting a strip of book tape on the bottom of each to be a good idea.  Sometimes they can get a bit heavy once all the books are in, and the tape helped them hold up very well.

If you look closely in the picture below, you can see my boxes lined up by the windows. This picture is from a post I did back in 2011 on how I set up my classroom that year.

In looking at that picture, I think maybe one of the reasons I liked all those Ikea items above so much is that they are (almost) all very colorful.  My classroom is usually a colorful place!

After all that I can only hope you have an Ikea near you. :-)  If not, I would bet you could find similar items in craft stores or home goods stores. By the way, my favorite item?  Those Tolsby frames! Love em'!

What has been your favorite back to school purchase so far?

All Star Summer (School) Centers

This week was the beginning of summer school.  It runs Monday-Thursday for twenty days.  I have twenty days to work some magic with my reluctant friends.  It would be nice if I could teach in my own classroom, but they put us all in a school that has air conditioned classrooms.  This means decorating a room that has already been completely packed up with all bulletin boards covered by the homeroom teacher. It makes setting up a bit difficult, but when the trade-off is air conditioning you won't find any complaints here!

Below are a few pics of the star-theme I went with. Overall, I kept things fairly simple on the decorating front. In the pictures you can see through the covered bulletin boards much more than you can standing in the room.

Our summer school program focuses on just literacy, so our day is a blend of guided reading, shared reading, word study, read aloud, independent reading, writing, and centers.  I have eleven friends with me whose reading levels break down into three separate groups.  It actually worked out pretty evenly.  We spend about 30-40 minutes on guided reading, allowing me to see two groups a day.  

The picture below explains how it works.  I will meet with one groups first.  Then, the group I will be meeting with next works on a center activity.  The group I will not be meeting with that day works on centers for the entire time.  Now, they don't really have the stamina to work on a writing center or any other center for that length of time so the rule is they must complete at least one center activity each day.  Then, they have the choice of doing another center activity or finding a spot for independent reading.  Each day, I rotate the group names (the center picture) so that the friends I see and the assigned center activity changes each day.

I thought I would write about the centers I decided to use this year.  My friends are promoted third graders that will be going into fourth grade in September.  Unfortunately, they are all working around a low second grade level.  This means we need a lot of work with the basics, and that is what I had in mind when choosing my centers.  I kept it simple with just three; one for writing, one for word study, and one for reading fluency.  I would love to tell you I sat and made tons of center activites, but I just didn't have time for that!  Instead, I went to Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) and found three that would meet the needs of my summer school friends while also work for my basic skills friends in September.

Before I go on, let me preface by saying that this is not meant to be an endorsement of TpT, although I do love the site.  Also, the authors of the items below have no idea I'm writing about their products.  As a busy teacher and one who would like to be able to spend at least a little of her summer at the beach, I wasn't looking to reinvent the wheel with original center activities.  And since my materials are all packed away at school,  I was perfectly delighted to go on TpT and be able to find exactly what I was looking for.  I like them so much, I thought I would share them with you today.  So, below are the three items I found that are working well as center activities.  

• Writing Center

Summer Writing Journal by Irene Hines

I wanted my friends to just do some basic writing.  They are not yet proficient writers.  I find I'm getting a lot of random sentences on a topic with no coherence.  I'm also finding a lot of need in basic sentence structure.  Having them work on writing topics that are interesting and relevant gives them a place to practice and a place for me to find great teaching points for our conferencing.   

Irene Hines has created a Summer Writing Journal that has twenty days of topics, a word bank of summer words, a variety of summer themed writing paper, and is common core aligned.  What more could I ask for?The clip art used is really cute and summery, too!  I made each friend a booklet, and it became our writing center.  Of course, they always have the choice of free writing in this journal as well. 

• Word Works Center

Word Works Literacy Center by SunnyDays

This center covers a wide variety of basic skills.  It gives you forty activity cards that ask the students to use their independent reading book to locate ten words (I did modify this to a few less words for some of the cards) that address the particular skill named on the card.  Some of the skills include:  phonics and phonemic awareness, compounds, contractions, syllables, prefixes, suffixes, verb tenses, part of speech, acronyms, abbreviations, antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, and possessives.  With forty cards, you certainly don't have to use them all.  There were a few that I left out as they didn't target the skills I needed to address for this group of friends, but there were still plenty of cards left.

• Poetry Center

Poetry Center Task Cards by SunnyDays

It wasn't until I just wrote this that I realized the word works center and this poetry center are both created by SunnyDays.  I must really like her stuff!  While this is a  poetry center, I see it as more of a fluency center.  This pack comes with fifteen cards that ask the reader to read a poem to themselves, then whisper read it with fluency and expression, and finally complete a skills task.  The tasks focus them on practice with nouns, verbs, adjectives, suffixes, prefixes, compounds, L blends, R blends, digraphs, rhymes, contractions, past tense verbs, handwriting, response to poetry, and imagery. 

My focus with these cards is less on the skills and more on the "with fluency and expression" part.  I wanted my summer school friends to practice fluency.  To do this, I found a bunch of poems that contained a lot of sight words they should know and were not difficult to read.  I copied about 15 different poems and put a few copies of each in a folder.  To work on this center, all a friend needs is a copy of the poem and a task card.  

The only other thing I felt it necessary to do was some explicit instruction on fluency.  The blog Sandra's Savvy Teaching Tips has four fluency posters that were perfect for a mini-lesson on what it means to "read with fluency and expression."  I used her posters and a picture book to do a mini-lesson on our first day before I explained the centers.  The posters were perfect because they were very simple and understandable to my friends.  The best part is that you can DOWNLOAD THEM FOR FREE on Sandra's blog.

In all, I think it cost me about $11 for all three centers.  While it has only been three days, I can say the centers have all been working well so far.  This is good to see as I am planning to use these same centers with my students this coming school year.  Win! Win!