Mrs KZ

If you do literature circles or book studies with your students, then you'll be interested in this lit guide I created for the book How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor! This is a fantastic book about a young girl who experiences hardships, moral dilemma and friendships. For each chapter of the book, I created critical thinking questions for your students to answer along with some vocabulary words to reflect on as you go. The book's levels are: 4.4 Grade level, 700 Lexile, and 40 DRA. Enjoy! T

This is a writing student self-scoring sheet that is used after an assignment has been given and is ready to be scored. After I've reviewed and graded (based on the 6 writing traits: ideas & concepts, organization, conventions, sentence fluency, voice, and word choice) a student's writing assignment, I fill out the boxes according to what scores were given. Then, I give back the slip to the student and they review their scores. Next, they fill out the last two categories (simple mistake or I don

If you do literature circles or book studies with your students, then you'll be interested in this lit guide I created for the book Yang the Third and Her Impossible Family by Lensey Namioka! This is a fantastic book: third daughter Mary Yang makes an unexpected new friend while trying to hide a kitten from her family. For each chapter of the book, I created critical thinking questions for your students to answer along. I've also included the answers to the questions. The book's levels are: 5.3

Do your students like games? Do you want to try something different for a math review? Well, I have created a fun and flexible Jeopardy math review game! This math review covers content that is relevant to the CCS for 5th grade. The other nice feature of this Jeopardy PowerPoint is that you can customize it for your class and what you are or have been studying. The answers are right in the PowerPoint so no having to look up the answers! I've had students do this game as a competition between i

Have you ever felt the need to add a little spice to your science routine? Students these days seem to learn better when the teacher adds some pizzazz to their lessons. I created some PowerPoint lessons to help with the boredom for students AND the teacher! This PowerPoint is focused on science and matter. A student understanding what matter is and how it can change is a basic science skill all students need to know. This particular PowerPoint I use with 5th graders. While I teacher this lesson,

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is a story that will make your students laugh and wonder about history and relationships. This product will allow your students to dive deeper into literature and explore a child’s point-of-view from the 1960’s. The discussion group packet includes: * discussion questions with answer key * extensions that can also be used for assessments * CCSS for 4th grade literacy and how they relate to this book * sayings and similes that are frequent and thought p

One very important part of our nation's history is the development of the 13 colonies. For this PowerPoint, I created an informative and visually interesting summary of what the 13 colonies were about. As you present this lesson, you'll notice that the text is highlighted in various colors. This is an ELL strategy so that a variety of students can take turns reading the text. This is an effective way of conducting student engagement. As with my other PowerPoint's, I have the students take notes

Learning about matter is a very important part of science that young students need to understand. For this PowerPoint, I created an informative and visually interesting summary of what matter is, the difference between mass, volume and weight, the three types of matter, and how something sinks or/and floats. What I do is have students take turns reading the text and take notes. This is an effective way of conducting student engagement. A nice addition to this presentation might be to do a scien

"Awe, homework?!" How many times have you heard this from your students? When it's time to assign homework to your students, they need an efficient and organized way of keeping track of their assignments. I've created a basic homework assignment tracker form that can be used on a daily basis. Students need only to fill in the date the assignment was given, what the assignment is, and when it's due. Make copies front to back to save paper and make the copies on colored paper so that it can be rec

Are you tired of telling your students over and over to edit their writing before they turn in their final copy? Here's a writing traits check off sheet that is in kid-friendly language and, when laminated, students can use again and again. When students are ready for the editing phase of their writing assignment, they can use their writing traits check off sheet to fix or enhance what they have written before they turn it into the teacher. To view other products of mine, follow me at: http://w

This is a handy handout to give to students for them to refer to when teaching about author's view point. I made a collection of various target skill handouts; unfortunately, I cannot retrieve them all. This hand out is written in kid-friendly language and can easily be 3-hole punched and put into student binders. To view other products of mine, follow me at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kathy-Zirbes

Ease the pain of trying to put together another energy/electricity science lesson together with this PowerPoint presentation! Your students will be in awe and amazement as you navigate through this visually exciting yet informative lesson. As teachers, it seems we have to come up with more and more visually stimulating and entertaining lessons to catch our student's attention. This particular PowerPoint I've used with my 5th grade students. As with my other PowerPoint lessons, I have my student

This is a fun activity that will help young students with graphing and sorting using the cereal Lucky Charms! All you need is a box of Lucky Charms cereal, a ½ cup measuring cup, and make enough copies of the graphing and sorting sheets for each of your students (or have them work in pairs). Then, when they are all done with activity, they can enjoy eating the cereal! To view other products of mine, follow me at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kathy-Zirbes

One of the main target skills students need to understand is drawing conclusions. This sheet is a basic, handout that I give my students when we first start the unit on drawing conclusions. We go over it as a whole class then they keep this handout in their binder to refer back to. To view other products of mine, follow me at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Kathy-Zirbes

Communication between the parent's/guardian's of our students and us as teachers is very important to a child's education. Adults appreciate knowing how their child is doing in school both academically and behaviorally. I wanted to create a form I could send home that reflected both of these areas. It is not time consuming for the teacher to fill out and it gives enough information to the parent/guardian. Send it out as often as you see fit. This form I created is in both English and Spanish. To

If you are in need of a quick check with how you and your students view their attendance, behavior, class work that is turned in, and participation, this is a great resource! I have given this to my students as an "exit" slip before they leave for the day. It's a good way to see how they view themselves in the categories and how you see things. There is also a section for comments if you are in need of adding a message. I have kept some of the completed slips to put in the students' files and sh

Nowadays, all ages of students need to not just say yes or no to a question, they also need to explain themselves. This deductive reasoning skill is essential to our students reaching their goal of graduating high school. One thing I've created to help in this area is short and sweet and gives the teacher a snap shot as to how their students are critically thinking. I found that for ESL students, it's especially important to go over this sheet with them first. Doing this as a small group activit

I have created a summary sheet for students to use after they've read a book. It is a book review activity sheet that allows the student to process their reading skills into writing skills. This is also a nice way for students to share their thoughts and feelings about a book they've read. As a teacher, I like to use this sheet to collect information on my students as to their likes and dislikes along with using it as an informal writing sample. One idea is to 3-hole punch the students reviews,

If you've had GLAD or SIOP training then you'll be familiar with a Big Book. Making your own Big Book is a wonderful reading and vocabulary strategy to use with your ELA students and, really, all students in general. I created this Big Book to go along with a life cycle unit for 5th graders but I believe it could be used for 3rd grade also. There is the repeated phrasing for consistency and I highlighted, in red, the important vocabulary words to go over with the students. Be sure to find realis

One of the best ways to have students learn a new concept or/and vocabulary is through songs and chants. The rhythmic beat and familiar tune are ways students memorize and understand new concepts. This is particularly useful when introducing and a new science unit. Along with my Life Cycle Big Book, these songs and chants are a great addition. There are three I've created and the parts that are highlighted are vocabulary to go over with your students. Make copies for your students to keep with t