Ready, Freddy! Save the Earth! Novel Study

I created a quick-print/easy-copy booklet for students to complete as they read Ready, Freddy! Save the Earth! by Abby Klein during the week of Earth Day in 2015. The kids enjoyed it so much they begged for another Ready, Freddy! booklet the very next week. I liked the review it gave my kiddos before our big reading-review test and we also got to check another chapter book off of our list. I was lucky enough to snag 20 copies from Scholastic Book Clubs in 2014 for only a dollar each!


There are 9 activities for students to work through before, during, and after the book is ready. Each booklet is half-page so you'll actually be printing two books at once. So simple!

The booklet pages are in black-and-white and contain a title page for students to color. It can be found on my TpT store.

Trading Ones for Tens

I recently added a new unit to my TpT store for students to practice trading ones for tens when learning to regroup. It's a very simple procedure that encourages kids to use Base-10 block models until they actually "see" what they're doing.

The set comes with whole-group cards for students to practice making and adding numbers 5-9 (regroup to tens), then a transitional game where students try to make a pizza by being the fastest to correctly make Base-10 models of the sum of their addition problem. Different levels of play have different toppings on the pizza!

Odd/Even Math Workstations

I recently finished a couple of easy-to-set-up math workstations for odd/even practice. One uses bird nests- students will sort the birdie cards into the appropriately-labeled nest.

In the second game students will match the word "even" or "odd" to the correct number, thus adding an animal to the ocean scene.

Both are simple, early-finisher or extra-practice work. They are sold together on my TpT store for just a couple dollars.

Checking Out Books

I have a fairly obsessively large assortment of books in my classroom and my students enjoy "checking them out"  to read at home. A couple of years ago I had a volunteer put the old-school library pockets in my chapter books and I purchased a chart from Really Good Stuff (they seem to no longer have?!?) and my 1500+ chapter books suddenly had a system.

What to do about all of my trade books, though!? You know, the ones that I don't read aloud in class but still set out for the kiddos to browse on their own?! The ones that are used by early finishers!? The ones that I have so many of I can't possibly remember until I need them?! The ones kids read for AR!? The ones kids read day after day after day because they are just so flipping' funny!? Yeah, I had a problem. Kiddos wanted to take these home and I didn't have a way to keep track of them. I thought about labeling them, I thought about spending tons of money to create some sort of system, but then, I thought of something better. Something free.

Enter: the iPhone. When a child says "Mrs. Lynch, can I take Knuffle Bunny home to read to my little sister tonight?" instead of panicking about my $15 hardcover going home with a 7-year-old I simply pull out my phone and say, "Sure!" Then I take a quick picture and remind her to bring it back tomorrow.

The next morning she'll come in and let me know she's putting it back on the shelf and all my worries are gone. Or she'll forget and a couple days later when I happen to browse through my phone's photos I'll remember to ask her about it.

Since I've been using this system, every.single.book. has been returned. Every one of them. I don't have to keep a log on paper or a reminder in my head of who took what book- it's on film! And the best part might be the impromptu glamour shots my kids giggle their heads off about when I take a shot of them holding their book. "Can I see myself!?" Never gets old.