Why Didn't I Think of This Before?!

Do you ever get an idea and then feel so silly that you hadn't thought of it before that moment?! Well, that's me today!

A few days ago I wrote a post about how much I love task cards. They have my heart right now because they are so versatile! The only problem is they can be pesky to store. I have several sets of Edupress Practice Cards that I love to use  as well as Rachel Lynette's  task cards and now I have the perfect way to store them!

Enter- the photo storage container!

I have had this thing sitting around my house for MONTHS- empty- patiently waiting to be filled with pictures before my next scrapbooking retreat- which is many months away! Then it hit me- I could store my task cards in it- it was a true slap on the forehead moment! The container is made up of individual boxes and it all closes up and has a nifty handle, so it's portable! I. AM. IN. LOVE.

Today, for time's sake, I just labeled the boxes with permanant marker, but you can bet I will be prettying them up in the near future. :) The only problem is figuring out how to do that with such a narrow space... ideas?!

The possibilities are endless with this type of storage container- math flash cards, high frequency words, any type of game cards- you name it. I'm thinking about getting a few more of them for other various things like reader response topics, writing topics, etc. It bugs me that it's not full, so you can bet I will be on a mission to fill 'er up!

You can get this box at any craft supply store- I got mine from Hobby Lobby. I can't remember exactly how much it was- it may have been around $30, but with a 40% off coupon, that's not much! And it's worth it!

Got any fabulous ideas on how else to use this baby??! Feel free to share or leave me a comment!

Happy Wednesday!

Task Card Love!

I wanted to quickly share how much I LOVE task cards!!!

Some of the skills my kids need constant practice with are using context clues and drawing conclusions. These skills are closely related and I find that the easiest way to practice these is by using lots of short texts to practice with. Enter- task cards!

For years I have bought practice cards from the teacher supply store. I love them because they have many different uses, but they can be pricey. I recently downloaded a few sets of Rachel Lynette's task cards for only $2.75 each (I know! Great price!) and they are working beautifully! By the way, Rachel Lynette has no idea who I am, I am just all about sharing great products when I find them!!

Drawing Conclusions Task Cards

Context Clue Task Cards

I like to use these cards as a partner activity. I am all about changing up the room arrangement often to make things interesting, and right now I am loving this layout.

The desks are facing different directions and two central meeting areas are created in the middle of the desks. These central areas are where we meet as a whole group and then the students disperse to their desks to work. Its fabulous because they are less distracted by each other, have more space to work, and I can easily access each student. I feel like I am able to get so much more face time with each student with the desks like this. This will be my go-to layout for partner work!

I placed a card on each pair of desks and the students traveled around the room reading each card and recording their thinking. The cards are at just the right difficulty level to present a nice challenge to even my little brainiacs!

Each set comes with 32 multiple choice cards and a recording sheet.  I wanted my kids to record more of their thinking than just the answer, so I created my own recording sheets to go with each set. For the drawing conclusions cards,  the sheet has columns for the card number, the answer, and clues from the text. For the context clue cards,  spaces are included for the card number, unknown word,  definition, and clues from the text. Click on the links below the pictures if you would like your own copy of the recording sheets.

If you have ideas on how to use Rachel's task cards, link up using the link HERE!

Context Clues Recording Sheet

Drawing Conclusions Recording Sheet

It's amazing how tired I am tonight after a three day weekend! Time to get lazy and watch some trashy TV! Good luck to our fourth and fifth graders who are STAAR testing tomorrow!