Great Than, Less Than, or Equal to Gators!

 Teaching the greater than, less than, and equal to symbols can seem a bit confusing for some learners at first! In this unit, students get introduced to the symbols with fun gators, then progress to using correct symbols and language.

Take a look inside this unit and find out how to grab your own copy below!

Teaching Through Hands-On Activities

If there is one thing we all know as educators, it's that hands-on playtime fun is important for little ones! Being able to interact with and manipulate things while learning is an important part of development for kids of any age.

Inside this unit, you'll find some very cute hungry gators and some tasty fish to feed them with. Your learners will take two fish discs (that come either numbered or not) and decide which gator should go between them - the greater gator, less gator, or equal to gator disc.

Playdough Mat Fun!

Playdough is another great manipulative that I know many of us love to use during math class. What better way to get kids using that hand-to-mind connection (with some bonus fine motor work!) while doing their math. 

This set comes with 3 playdough mats featuring different gators. Kids can build playdough fish to show an equal/not equal example.

Worksheets for Desk Time

This set comes with 7 different worksheets featuring different levels of skill for differentiation and progression. They include:

• A cut & paste worksheet (paste the correct gators between the fish)
• A dot or color worksheet to color the number the gator should eat (or not eat)
• A tracing worksheet to practice tracing the symbols
• 2 Different worksheets where students must draw the symbols (one with numbers to ten, one with numbers to 20)
• Build a snack worksheet (students draw fish on either side of the gators - this goes great with the playdough mats!)

Posters

This unit also features 9 different posters that can be used at different times or together. They feature either the gators or the traditional symbols. This is a great way to show students the similarities between the symbols and the gators mouths. 

Grab this Unit!

You can find this unit in my teacher shops below! 

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Learning Division Facts: A Free Workbook (Skip Counting Method)

 Learning Division Facts

 A Free Workbook (Skip Counting Method)

This free workbook will help your learners go from basic visual division using manipulatives to learning how to divide through skip counting. With fun illustrations, colorful pages, and loads of examples and practice!

Teaching kids to divide seems simple at first. If we have four things and want to share them equally, how do we share them? But when the numbers start getting bigger (144 divided by 12?) things get a little more complicated and using manipulatives just isn't as efficient.

In this workbook, kids will learn the basics of division using manipulatives, then progress to using skip counting as a means of dividing. 

Skip counting is just one of the methods that people use to divide. When you're trying to figure out how to divide your 100 garden seeds amongst 5 plots of land you might think "how many times does 5 go into 100?". This method of dividing is perfect for kids who are already familiar with skip counting or who have learned their skip counting from multiplication.

Using this workbook, students won't need to know all of their skip counting tables by heart either, just understand the concept of skip counting. Charts and help are provided inside the workbook to help them skip count.

As you can see in the image above, the workbook starts out simple with division using manipulatives. Kids cut out and divide cupcakes, dog bones, and pepperoni slices onto different things, learning through real-life examples. If your learner isn't familiar with division, you may want to spend a while on this concept first.

After learners know the basics of division, they move onto the skip counting method. Once again, real-life examples are used that kids can relate to, like baking an apple pie or sharing snacks with a soccer team.

Plenty of examples are given before students are expected to work on their own. Once they are ready to solve problems on their own, they can use the included skip counting chart or number lines to help them along. They'll be given an equation to solve and the option of writing their own problem to solve the equation.

Finally, plenty of practice worksheets are included that have handy skip-counting number lines at the top. Ordered facts as well as mixed facts sheets are included so that your learners can work with what works best for them. 

Each sheet also comes with two options - either writing a problem to go with an equation or modelling the equation. I recommend a mix of the two, or if you have students who do not like writing, you could always have them make up a problem out loud or in pairs.

Download the free workbook below

I hope that you and your learners enjoy this freebie! It helped my own kiddo learn division, so it's one that I really believe in.

You can download the workbook by clicking on the link below. All that I ask is that when sharing this workbook through print you keep my website name on the page and refer people to this blog post if they'd like to download it themselves. Schools are free to store it in a shared drive so long as my website name remains on the pages it is printed on.

Download Division By Skip Counting Workbook here

Writing a Reading Response Essay: A Free Workbook for 6th Graders

Writing a Reading Response Essay:

 A Free Workbook for 6th Graders

 Writing a reading response essay can be a really daunting task for middle schoolers. At this age, most kids are just beginning to grasp the hidden meanings behind stories and books, the implied things in a story that are so much more obvious to us as adults who have experienced so much more.

So when I discovered that my daughter would need to write a reading response essay in an exam this year, I got to work doing my best research on how best to approach such a big topic with such young students. 

And what did the research point to?

Be short and to the point!

I came up with the idea of making a workbook of sorts for kids - but there are no busywork pages in here - the only thing they'll be writing are notes and their essays. They can just go at their own pace.

This could also be done as a class, a homework assignment over a few days, or a homeschool resource (as we will use it!)

The language in here is simple and easy for kids to follow - it encourages them to look at the themes, tone and mood of a story plus make connections and give their opinions on that story. If your learners don't know what any of this means - don't worry!

Every page and topic is filled with explanations and even sentence stems to use in their essays!

The workbook first uses the classic short story by Hans Christian Andersen called 'The Fir Tree'. It's a story that I find perfect for this unit as it's quite short - students can even have the webpage provided read it for them - and it has great theme, literary devices, and a definite tone to it.

Students will begin by reading a short page about what a reading response essay is and what will be expected of them in the essay. In this particular unit, I've included these topics:

• Thesis statement / topic sentence
• Theme
• Connections
• Mood, Tone, literary Devices
• Opinions and Conclusion

Next, they'll listen to or read the story while taking notes about each topic (on a special notetaking page in the workbook)

Finally, they'll get to work writing their essays and putting everything they learn on each new page together. 

Although this unit starts with the included short story, it can be used with any story. I've even included links to other great free short story websites. It could, however, be used with a longer novel as well.

I also made a handy checklist that kids can use as a reference while writing future reading response essays.

You can download this free unit by clicking on the link below.

All I ask is that when sharing this unit you leave my website name on each page, and if you're showing it to someone online, to refer them to this blog (MessyBeautifulFun.com)

Thank you! Enjoy Learning!

Download Free Reading Response Workbook Here

 Mood and Tone
A Free Unit For Grades 5-6

Need more free ELA resources? Check out my ELA Freebies Page!

Mood and tone can be really tough concepts to teach. As adults, we might understand the concept of the mood of a story vs the author's tone, but for kids, it's a big concept to master. In this unit, your students will walk step-by-step through descriptions, exercises, and activities to help them discover what these two big concepts mean, and how they're different.

First, you'll use the posters/slides to teach your learners what mood and tone are. You'll discuss words that can be used to describe them, how authors use them, and how to describe the difference between them. The slides can basically be used as a teaching script and include discussion prompts to help you along.

After reading about what mood and tone are, you'll either choose an excerpt for students to use in class, or let your students choose one themselves. I have included 5 really fantastic excerpts from great books that will give quite a lot to work with. Some are shorter and some are longer, but all show the mood and tone of those books quite well.

Students will use these excerpts to write a paragraph about the mood and tone given in that excerpt using a guided writing exercise.

These tough concepts are broken down step-by-step here for your kids to write a full paragraph about the mood and tone of their chosen excerpt. If you're reading a novel in class, you may wish to discuss that novel first and the mood and tone they see there.

Students will choose an adjective to describe the mood and tone of the excerpt (examples are given to inspire them - I highly recommend letting them use a thesaurus too!). They'll then need to find 3 examples from the excerpt that prove this adjective describes the mood or tone of the text.

Finally, they'll put everything together into a final paragraph. This is a great way to prepare for writing a literary essay, and the posters and worksheets can be used throughout the year to practice the concept.

Download the Free Unit Below 

You can download this free unit by clicking on the link below. **You may use and distribute this product for FREE in your homeschool, classroom, or school, but you MUST leave my website name as it is on each page (MessyBeautifulFun.com). If you'd like to share the digital file directly, please direct people to this blog page and not the Google Drive link. You may NOT sell this unit or redistribute it for a profit. Thanks!**

Download Free Mood & Tone Unit Here

Summary and Theme A Free Unit for Grades 5-6

Summary and Theme A Free Unit for Grades 5-6

 Want more free ELA resources for this grade? Check out my ELA page here!

Writing about a book's theme can seem like a daunting task for most kids in this age group. Breaking down how an author is writing to their audience and what theme or lesson they want to get across is a big concept. The key to teaching it to fifth and sixth graders? Breaking it down step-by-step.

In this free printable unit, your learners will write a short summary and summarize the theme of a story using text evidence and their own thoughts.

The unit follows the story 'After the Fall' by Dan Santat, a story about Humpty Dumpty and how he braves climbing the wall once again after his fall. You can use the book itself, or listen to the story read aloud on Youtube. Either way it's a great book to start with that could give your students  few different themes to work with. 

They will start by writing a quick summary using SWBST method (Somebody Wanted But So Then). They'll then flesh out their summaries a bit into a small paragraph. 

Next, students will learn what the theme of a story IS. They'll listen to some common story themes, think up some themes from books or movies, and finally work as a group to come up with quick story ideas for different themes.

You'll then have them write a short paragraph using sentence stems provided on posters to write about the theme of the mentor text, After the Fall.

Finally, they will put it all together into a short essay that includes a quick summary of the story and a paragraph about the theme. I've included excerpts from the story that can be used as text evidence, as well as checklists students can use to be sure they've included everything in their papers.

The 5 lesson plans in the unit guide you through teaching all of this, and make planning a breeze too!

Download The Free Unit Below

You can download this unit by clicking on the link below. 

**You may use and distribute this product for FREE in your homeschool, classroom, or school, but you MUST leave my website name as it is on each page (MessyBeautifulFun.com). If you'd like to share the digital file directly, please direct people to this blog page and not the Google Drive link. You may NOT sell this unit or redistribute it for a profit. Thanks!**

Download Summary & Theme Here

 Free Phonics Program Unit 2 
CVC AN Words and Sight Words

Want more free phonics resources? Check out my phonics page here!

Unit 2 is here!

I hope my Let's Get Reading! Phonics Unit 1 has been helpful for you and your readers! Reading is such an important skill that everyone should have the ability to learn. I'm looking forward to releasing more units in the coming weeks too!

In this unit, the focus will be on CVC (-an) words, like man, can, and van. Your readers will also learn some new sight or heart words to help them read sentences quicker (if you're following a SOR-style or heart words approach to sight words, kids will learn the phonics rules for these later on)

These units follow the same pattern with each new one so that your learners will not have to deal with learning new activities each week. Posters can be displayed or projected for practice every morning, while cards can be used as practice at home or with partners.

Of course, we want our kids to actually use the reading skills we teach them, so they'll get plenty of reading practice in these units too! There are shorter and longer options for readers at different levels, and I've included both with and without illustrations.

The sentence strips have great cues for readers on them too! These use words from previous weeks as well so that students are always practicing learned skills.

Centers are included for practice and fun too! There is a flip and cover center in which students choose a word card and find that picture on the page. There is also a sight word BINGO game and a build-a-word center for extra practice.

I have also included worksheets for extra practice in reading and spelling too! There are missing letter worksheets, sight word writing, drawing a sentence, writing and drawing a sentence, and a dictation page that you can use if you'd like to dictate words or a sentence.

Download the free Phonics Unit below!

You can download this free phonics unit by clicking on the link below - it will take you directly to a Google Drive file. From there, you can download or print the file. 

**You may use and distribute this product for FREE in your homeschool, classroom, or school, but you MUST leave my website name as it is on each page (MessyBeautifulFun.com). If you'd like to share the digital file directly, please direct people to this blog page and not the Google Drive link. Thanks!**

Download Let's Get Reading Unit 2 Here

Free Repeated Addition to Multiplication Lesson and Worksheets

Free Repeated Addition to Multiplication 

Lesson and Worksheets

 Want more math freebies? Check out my math page full of them!

Kids following most math curriculums will typically spend the first 3 years learning about addition and subtraction. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that when we throw in a completely new symbol, many kids get stuck. Teaching multiplication doesn't have to be scary though, or even take up a lot of time. As soon as kids realize exactly what multiplication is, it becomes a whole lot easier for them to get to know their facts and tables.

In this open-and-go lesson, you'll take your learners step-by-step from addition to repeated addition, to multiplication! The lesson slides or pages keep it super simple with easy explanations and real-life situations. It will go over what multiplication is, what the symbol for multiplication is, the commutative property of multiplication, and how to use skip counting and/or strategies to multiply.

Your learners will get plenty of practice too! Not only is practice built into the lesson, but I have included an easy-to-use center and worksheets for you as well. These can be used with markers or manipulatives when placed inside a plastic page protector or laminated. We also love to use them with dice or a spinner. Just have kids spin for the numbers and fill them in.

Download for free below!

You can download this lesson and practice unit by clicking on the link below. All I ask is that when sharing this resource with others, please share the link to this blog post, not the Google Drive! You may distribute paper copies of this resource for FREE or store it for use in your school's resources so long as my website name remains on each page. You may NOT distribute this resource for any profit in any way. Thank you!

Download Repeated Addition to Multiplication Lesson Here!