ReadyGen Literacy Program

ReadyGEN might not have been ready this year...but I sure was!!

ReadyGEN™ is a comprehensive ELA curriculum that is supposed to help teachers and their students meet the expectations set by the Common Core State Standards. 

Personally, I found it difficult to navigate the program (especially since I didn't have any training). However, as the school year progressed, I began to create lesson plans, powerpoints, and graphic organizers that would help me to implement the program with ease.

What I discovered...

I discovered that the ReadyGEN program could be very easy to navigate if you understand the layout of the program and find ways to manage the time. Obviously, lesson plans are a must! so I started there. Next, I found that the powerpoints kept me focused and on track! It worked so well, that when I was absent, the substitute teacher was able to complete my lessons exactly the way I would have...even the students became very familiar with the routine and knew what came next. From there, I created graphic organizers for the guided and independent work. This was a TIME SAVER!! Gone are the days of trying to get kids to write the correct information in the correct box on the organizers provided by ReadyGEN. It was a lot less confusing for students, and literally gave me back about 15-20 minutes worth of time. 

Here is a sample of student work for my 4th grade ReadyGEN graphic organizers:

You can check out all of my ReadyGEN products by visiting my TpT store or clicking below:

Click the links below to see ALL of my 2nd Grade ReadyGEN Products.

LESSON PLANS/ WORD WALL CARDS/TRACKING SHEETS
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module A
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module B
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module A
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module B
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module A
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module B
Lesson Plans: Unit 4 Module A
Lesson Plans: Unit 4 Module B
Lesson Plans: Unit 5 Module A

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module A
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module B
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module A
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module B

Click the links below to see ALL of my 3rd Grade ReadyGEN Products.

POWERPOINTS
Powerpoint: Unit 2 Module A
Powerpoint: Unit 2 Module B
Powerpoint: Unit 3 Module A
Powerpoint: Unit 3 Module B

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module A
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module B
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module A
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module B

LESSON PLANS
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module A
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module B
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module A
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module B
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module A
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module B
Lesson Plans: Unit 4 Module A

Click the links below to see ALL of my 4th Grade ReadyGEN Products.

POWERPOINTS
Powerpoint: Unit 1 Module A
Powerpoint: Unit 1 Module B 
Powerpoint: Unit 2 Module A
Powerpoint: Unit 2 Module B 
Powerpoint: Unit 3 Module A 
Powerpoint: Unit 3 Module B 
Powerpoint: Unit 4 Module A

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Graphic Organizers: Unit 1 Module B
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module A 
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module B 
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module A 
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module B 

LESSON PLANS AND WORD WALL CARDS
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module A 
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module B 
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module A 
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module B 
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module A 
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module B 
Lesson Plans: Unit 4 Module A

Click the links below to see ALL of my 5th Grade ReadyGEN Products.

POWERPOINTS
Powerpoint: Unit 2 Module A
Powerpoint: Unit 2 Module B 
Powerpoint: Unit 3 Module A 

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module A
Graphic Organizers: Unit 2 Module B 
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module A 
Graphic Organizers: Unit 3 Module B 

LESSON PLANS AND WORD WALL CARDS
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module A 
Lesson Plans: Unit 1 Module B 
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module A 
Lesson Plans: Unit 2 Module B 
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module A 
Lesson Plans: Unit 3 Module B 
Lesson Plans: Unit 4 Module A 

Teaching Nonfiction Text Structures

With the new Common Core ELA Standards, non-fiction is becoming the primary focus, as students are expected to be proficient in reading complex informational texts. State assessments are also becoming more non-fiction focused, to evaluate student abilities in navigating these complex texts.

So what can we do to prepare our children?

Have them read more nonfictional texts!
In my Nonfiction Text Structure Bundle I used excerpts from larger texts in order to keep students motivated, interested, and allow for "close reading" of shorter passages. Well, enough of my rambling, take a look see for yourself...



Each nonfiction passage contains a definition of the structure and a 

graphic organizer for students to complete.

I didn't just stop at worksheets! 

In addition to the 10 passages and organizers, I also included a powerpoint mini-lesson presentation. 

You can model for your students as they follow along with their own copy (as an independent assignment) OR you might choose to do the activities as a "whole class" and have students come up to the board to locate information from the passages!

Download a FREE preview here: Nonfiction Text Structures Reading Bundle

Literature Board Game

My daughter had to create a board game based off of the book Among the Hidden.

She made "Hidden Pursuit." The story takes place in the house, garden, and attic, so she created 'Question Cards' for those 3 settings. She colored the spaces the colors of the question cards, so whatever color you land on - that's the card you read. She used colored index cards to write her questions on and placed them on the coordinating spot. For the game pieces, she printed out clipart that matched scenes from the story and used pieces from an old board game to hold up the clipart. 

She used two pieces of wood for the board itself and painted it white. Then, taped the two pieces together on the back with contact paper. This made it easier for her to fold the board in half when storing it away (and putting it in her school bag to carry to school.)

Door Decorations

I'm always looking for new ideas on how to decorate my classroom door in September. The kiddos love to see what their new classroom is going to look like and the door is obviously their "first impression" of the class. I find some great pics on Pinterest, but where do those pics come from? Blogs! So I figured I'd share some pics of the doors that I've seen in my building and when visiting other schools =)

Question Mats

How do you make sure your students are asking and answering questions during your literacy lessons (as outlined in the Danielson Rubric for Teaching)? This is not an easy task. Of course I could get students to ask questions, but how to get them to ask GOOD questions is the hard part. Well, in order to do this - you have to start somewhere. So, my somewhere was with a question mat.

This worked great with the ReadyGEN program because after the first read of the lesson it asks students to answer "What Questions Do You Have?" I had students write their questions on a post-it note. When they came to the meeting area to have their Team Talk and Group Discussions they placed their post-its on the question mat. They discussed these questions after discussing the questions I had set forth for them. Next, I wrote out a "question stems" chart. This helped them to create their own questions. We also shared out some of our questions and discussed which questions were strong, and which ones needed further development. Next year I will embed this into our routines beginning in September.

Grab a FREE question mat HERE.

Having the question mats for each group made students feel accountable for participating in the discussions (because they came up with the question), it also made it evident to someone coming into the room - that all students were actively engaged and participating. My administrators were very impressed with the level of involvement and the types of questions students were asking.

Tear Art

A cute, easy project I did with my kiddies was a "Tear Art" project for Earth Day. We discussed Recycling and how we could reuse material. First I had students draw or trace a picture (I had to be specific in stating that the picture should be large...smaller images are harder to work with). Next, they tore scraps of paper to "fill-in" their drawings. Depending on the drawing, some students added buttons, bottle caps, and newspaper, to their artwork.

Here are just a few...

Random Displays

I've been reminiscing through some old pictures to get ideas for my classroom. I came across some pics that I just had to share! I love looking back at old pics to get ideas of how I can improve what I did in the past, as well as to remind me of what I did (I can be very forgetful!)

This one was a GRADE project. The entire 4th grade made buildings (NY Skyline) out of cardstock that we eventually pieced together and displayed in the main lobby.

One of my students loved the display so much that she created this out of clay on her own and brought it in to share with the class...

These next few were from a performance that we put on for the parents. We made these to decorate the auditorium...

Spinning Over "Wheel-y" Good Work!

I love seeing these pinwheels blowing on lawns...it even looks great blowing on my classroom windows! This year I used my pinwheel craftivty to display math work. However, there are so many ways you can use them...

Reading:
Character, Setting, Problem, Solution
Main Idea/Supporting Details
First, Then, Next, Finally

Click here for more ways to use pinwheels in your classroom: Pinwheel Reading and Math Fun

Pinwheel Reading and Math Fun - Center Activity - Bulletin Board Display

Sound Waves

My co-worker did a great unit on sound waves and I snapped up pictures to share =)

This makes a great visual display and her kiddos had so much fun creating their waves...