Saturday, March 9, 2013

Showing Evidence Freebie and New Spring Fling Clipart

If the titles of my blog posts are any indication of how well I can focus on one specific task- that doesn't look very good. I never can focus on one thing in these blog posts- hence the extremely long and random combinations in my titles :)

My kiddos were WIRED this week! They definitely have spring fever. My. goodness. It probably didn't help that it was Dr. Seuss day on Monday and we had a spirit week the rest of the days. Something about Wacky Wednesday doesn't exactly scream "concentration." :) Don't get me wrong- I love spirit week because I can wear jeans or comfy clothes. Plus the kiddos deserved some fun distractions. BUT. It was a complete battle between spirit/fun and testing/instruction all week. I finally had a "come to jesus" talk with the class on Friday. I actually think it helped. Last year, if I had a talk like that with my firsties, I wasn't always sure it got through, but with third graders this year, it was actually a mutual discussion. We'll see, that might just be my Saturday-induced optimism talking.... :)

Speaking of spring fever, I just finished my newest "Spring Fling" and "Happy Snails" clipart sets and posted them to my store! I have used a lot of pastel colors in my spring sets, but I made a new color scheme for these sets (and some other spring sets I plan on making) because I needed some extra energizing sets after this week! Check out these little splashes of spring color....

If you want to check out these sets in my store, you can click on the links below.


Onto the other part of my random blog title......If there was one word that would be tattooed across my forehead lately, it would be "EVIDENCE." If I had a dollar for every time I said that word ("Where's your evidence?" "Find evidence to support your claim" "Support your answers with evidence" "Find the evidence in the text" "Do you have evidence for that?" ETC), I could retire. Surprisingly, it doesn't bother my kiddos at all and they FEED off of showing evidence. For this reason, the most precious half piece of paper in my classroom is this little beauty:


I made up my own version of a "Showing Evidence" reference sheet because I needed it to include a few more evidence stems than the ones I was finding on TpT or pinterest. In our reading lessons, we are focusing on the kiddos using text AND visual cues, so I wanted some stems specific to each. Also, we have discussed how to talk about poetry, so I wanted one in there with "stanza." My students have been using these little reference strips in pretty much every subject! They even started pulling them out in math and changing some of the wording around to work with their conclusions based on graphs, charts and word problems. God bless them and their evidence-eager hearts! One of my kids suggested that I laminate them for each student so they can "take it to fourth grade with them." I told him that I would make a special "Showing Evidence in Fourth Grade" strip....printed in COLOR....and laminated for everyone in the class if they found evidence to answer every reading comp question on the DCAS (state test). I hope I will be needing to buy lots of color ink soon!

If you think your kiddos could use these same strips, you can snatch them up below from google docs. I just print them out and cut them down the middle. And, per my student's suggestion, you could laminate them so they last forever and ever :)


Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead before bed tonight. Nothing like LOSING and hour of sleep- but  at least it is more EVIDENCE that spring is on it's way......sorry I couldn't resist :)

25 comments:

  1. Thank you. I've struggled to show my 2nd graders how to answer with the power of the text embedded as evidence. This printable is going to become my new best friend!

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    1. Great! I think my kiddos just having somewhere to turn to. Give 'um a resource and they usually use it- thank goodness! :)

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    2. These are perfect to put in their Reader's Notebooks! Thank you!!

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  2. I love your reference strips! Thank you for sharing! :)
    Jivey
    ideas by jivey


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  3. Thanks for sharing. And I already put your new clip art into my cart on TPT! :)
    Tracey
    Third Grade All Stars

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    1. You're welcome! Thanks for checking out the clipart! I'd love to see what you make with it! You all are so creative with your products!

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  4. I love your "show the evidence" activity . Thanks for sharing .
    Alison

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    1. You're welcome! Hope it comes in handy for your kiddos too! I was thinking it might be helpful to have a simplified version with fewer basic stems for younger graders too. If I follow through on that thought I'll post it too :)

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  5. Thank you for doing this. This is a skill I am working on in class right now but my students don't seem to be referring to the posters I put up on my bulletin board, so I was thinking I needed a handout...and VOILA you created these! Great way to start my March Break! Thanks for sharing.
    Ms. M
    Teachingisagift

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  6. I'm loving the "show the evidence" thinking stems. What grade level do you use them with? I'm constantly asking my students why or how they know something when they write "I like the character because he is nice." OK, WHY?! I teach first grade, though, so I'm not sure these will work, but I love the idea!

    Erica
    Blooming In First

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  7. Krista, I LOVE your clip art and am happy to have now found your blog, too! I pinned your "evidence" bookmark (which I am printing out today...thank you so much) yesterday and it got repinned over 150 times! Thanks again for sharing all of your talent.

    Nicole

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  8. Thank you for the Show Me the Evidence stems! These will be perfect to use with my high school ELLs!

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  9. Thank you for the Show Me the Evidence stems! These will be perfect to use with my high school ELLs!

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  10. Thank you very much. I have show me he evidence poster but these bookmarks will be great reminders.

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  11. I love these! Thanks for sharing!

    thepinspiredteacher.blogspot.com

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  12. I love the "show the evidence" sheet. Thank you for sharing!

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  13. I am beginning a new reading curriculum this year - WONDERS! Citing evidence is a key reading strategy I will be teaching. I found your bookmark on Pinterest and it is a perfect fit for my new curriculum THANK you for sharing this freebie.

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  14. Thanks for the freebie...I like how it makes the student look for evidence from the story:)

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  15. Thank you for this and also to the person who pinned it on Pinterest! My students are struggling with this and the bookmark will be a GREAT help! Thanks.

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  16. This is perfect!! I have a huge question.. Would it be possible to make matching Math evidence reference sheet???

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