Common Core Standards Posters - Roundup

Back in October, I started making Common Core Standards posters at the request of colleague of mine. Since then, I've made posters for grades K - 8. Since fifth was the grade I started on, the posters went through a lot of "prototyping" at that stage. So I have a total of four different options for that grade. I have two different options for fourth. But the time I started working on third grade posters, I had the format nailed down.

All the different choices get a little confusing sometimes, even to me. So I've organized them all here into one list.

Fifth Grade Posters - Five different backgrounds
Fifth Grade Posters - Illustrated - English Language Arts
Fifth Grade Posters - Illustrated - Math
Fifth Grade Posters - Illustrated - Math and English Language Arts Combined
Fourth Grade Posters - (not illustrated)
Fourth Grade Posters - Illustrated
Third Grade Posters - Illustrated

In summer 2012, I finished these grades! Yipee!

Second Grade Posters - Illustrated
First Grade Posters - Illustrated 
Kindergarten Posters - Illustrated

And not to forget the big kids!
Sixth Grade Posters - Illustrated 
Seventh Grade Posters - Illustrated  
Eighth Grade Posters - Illustrated

The difference between "illustrated" and everything else is: in the illustrated posters, the concept or learning goal of each standard is "visualized" with a graphic, like in the examples below.

Word Origins 101 - Serendipity

I was walking along the sidewalk with my three year old daughter this afternoon, coming back from kite-flying and monkey-bar romping at the playground. She stopped suddenly and exclaimed, "Look!" There on the ground was a little yellow happy face magnet, smiling back up at us. We took it home and it now has a happy new home on the fridge, next to the Jelly Belly magnet.

The little magnet she found is remarkably like the one that dots the "i" on my web-site header at the top of this page. This got me thinking about the word "serendipity." I've used it a lot but never much thought about where it comes from. I thought it might be somehow related to "serene," but it turns out the story behind serendipity is a lot more interesting than I could have imagined.

It was coined in 1754 by a British chap the name of Horace Walpole (1717-92) who was the 4th Earl of Orford. He used it in a letter to the Isle of Mann; he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip," whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of." The name is from Serendip, an old name for Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), from Arabic Sarandib, from Sanskrit. Simhaladvipa, which means "Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island." Source

So the short of it is, the word serendipity comes from a word that means "an island where lions live." A totally unexpected and weird little fact. That's cool.

And, even more interestingly, we learn from all that that Sri Lanka was originally named "the island where lions live."

On another note, the photo of the magnet was taken by my daughter with her Vtech Kidizoom camera. It's a great little camera that is super easy to use. At $40 there are cheaper digital cameras out there, but they aren't nearly as durable and kid-friendly. My daughter's preschool teacher even uses a couple of them in her classroom for projects that involve photography. They come in orange and pink.

Roots of Numbers Word Wall Freebie

Here's a new freebie for teaching numeric roots. I like to use these for pre-reading. I use them to introduce students to the numeric roots they will be encountering in the upcoming reading. Another way to do it is to assign a student to be a "counter." Whenever one of these roots is found in the reding, they take out the card and put it in the pocket chart so we can talk about it afterward. Great for English learners and struggling readers. Each card has the root, the English meaning, a picture to represent the meaning of the root, and the origin (Greek or Latin)

The Best of Teachers Pay Teachers: FREE MATH LESSON - “A Bit o’ Math Blarney: True/False Equation Sorting FREEBIE”

I found this on Victoria De Leon's wonderful web site " The Best of Teachers Pay Teachers.

FREE MATH LESSON - “A Bit o’ Math Blarney: True/False Equation Sorting FREEBIE”

Greek Roots Visual Flash Cards - Print Version

These flash cards are unique and fun because they are full of  high-quality images and to help your students build meaningful and lasting mental connections. Instead of showing a root and asking students for the meaning, you show an image or animation, and students associate that image or animation with a Greek stem.

For example, you show a card with an image of a rainbow. Students look at the rainbow and think, "Rainbow, colors...chrom!" They associate the rainbow with the Greek root chrom. A lasting mental connection is made.

The flash cards can be used as word walls or for a variety of matching activities. You can keep the answer and the image on separate pieces of card stock, and have students match a root to the image.

Another alternative is to pass out images to half the class, and roots to the other half. Then tell students to get go around the room and find the person who has the image that matches their root. Or hang them on the walls as a colorful display to inspire and educate.

Part one is free. Download it and give it a try.

This is a two part series. 

Greek Roots Visual Flash Cards - Part 1 - ANTI-COSM-FREE 

Greek Roots Visual Flash Cards - Part 2 - CRACY-ZOO

The two parts cover these Greek stems.

1. anti-against, opposite
2. aristo-best
3. astro-star
4. auto-self
5. bi-two
6. bio-life
7. chrom-color
8. chron-time
9. cine/kine-motion
10. cosm-universe, world, order
11. cracy-type of government
12. crat-member of a type of government
13. cycl-circle, wheel
14. dem-people
15. derm/derma-skin
16. inside-power
17. endo-inside
18. epi-on top of, over
19. ethno-race, nationality
20. exo-outside
21. gen/geno-birth, race, produce
22. geo-earth
23. gon-angle
24. graph/gram-picture
25. gyn-woman
26. hemi/semi-half
27. hydro-water
28. hyper-over, too much, a lot
29. hypo-under, not enough
30. legis-law, legal
31. litho-stone
32. mania-madness
33. mech-machine
34. mega-big
35. met/meta-above, over, higher, beyond
36. meter-measure of
37. micro-small
38. mon/mono-one
39. morph-shape, form
40. necro-dead, death, corpse
41. neo-new, young
42. octo-eight
43. ologist/ology-one who studies/the study of
44. pan-all, every
45. path-suffering, disease
46. penta-five
47. phil-love
48. phobia-fear
49. phon/phono-sound
50. photo-light
51. phyll-green, leaf
52. phys-body/nature
53. pod/ped-foot
54. polis-city/civilization
55. poly-many
56. proto-first
57. pseudo-fake
58. psych-mind
59. pyro-fire
60. scope-watch, see
61. soph-wisdom
62. spher/sphero-sphere, ball, layer of gas
63. tech/techni-skill, craft
64. tele-distance
65. tetra-four
66. theo-god, religion
67. therm-heat
68. thesis-position
69. tri-three
70. zo/zoo-animal

In these sets of flash cards, you will find three or more images provided for every root, which allows you to use the cards again and again, practicing the same roots over and over, without boring the kids with the same images they have already seen before. There are enough choices that you will never show the exact same combination of images twice unless you want to. Another reason I provide more than one image per root is that some roots, like cosm or phys, have more than one meaning, so it is important to reinforce all the meanings. Also, having three or more images allows you to tailor the PowerPoint to your students' maturity and schema.

Common Core Standards Posters - Planet Theme

Themes, themes, themes, a GALAXY of themes. As mentioned in the post below, I got a little carried away recently and created five new themes for my Common Core Standards Posters for third, fourth, and fifth grades (sixth grade is in the works). Then, a day after I finished that, a colleague of mine asked for a poster kit in a "planetary" theme. How cool is that?! I whipped it up and I'm giving it away free here on my blog. You can download it for free. If you like it, please consider leaving a comment below.

CCS Posters - Ten New Themes!

I added five new themes to my Common Core Posters kits for third, fourth, and fifth grades. I also gave face-lifts to the original five. So now the kits have a total of ten themes. My favorite is the "woodland trees and creatures" theme you see below. For a closer look at all ten themes, download a free preview of them at TPT.