A Little Bit of Oceans...

Happy Sunday friends! Have you started counting down yet? We are at 33. 33 days until summer and to be honest, I'm kind of sad about it. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to spending the summer dedicated to the hubs and kiddos, but the group of kiddos I have this year are so special to me. They are amazing and I'm going to miss them when they leave. Nonetheless...summer-itis is upon us. We are starting to get antsy and need A LOT of reminders. We are THIS CLOSE to starting our oceans unit which takes us to the end of the year. We are only a couple weeks out and since it is my FAVORITE unit of the whole year I thought I would give the kiddos a little peek AND help myself out a little...

We have been working hard on main idea these past two weeks. So, using Epic! we did some main idea and supporting details work with shark research!

We read this text, Sharks: Ocean Alive, as a class and found the main idea. Then the kiddos worked in partners to find the supporting details. With 6 computers and 3 iPads we were able to all fit on a device. I will tell you the Epic! is SUPER slow on the computers. I'm not sure if it's our internet or the fact it's made for an app but it takes a lot of patience from the kiddos!

Now, moving on to guided reading, and to really help me...we will be starting our Ocean's passage series. Teacher truth: this time of year I am T.I.R.E.D and planning for groups gets rough. I love to use our guided reading units. They make groups A LOT easier. But, the kiddos LOVE ocean research and using these passages is a great way to mix things up and to start building some background knowledge before we start our actual unit.

This set has levels a-i and includes all the sight word, vocabulary and text-dependent questions you will need. There is also an additional vocabulary and sight word game included. What's so great about starting this now it that the kiddos start hearing that tricky vocabulary that is going to come up in our oceans unit. It also keeps them engaged! At this time of year when I'm straight teacher-tired, it's a big help and has very little prep! Click the picture or click HERE to check it out some more.

I hope that you are having a great last few weeks of the school year. Here's to time flying and a smooth ending to the year!