Let Parents Know...

... Exactly How Their Child Is Doing:

With just one click, you can share a report that shows parents everything their child has learned and the specific skills they need to work on! You get it all with ESGI. And you get it all with a FREE 60-day (no credit card required) trial!

This is How:

 It's as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1.  Sign up for your FREE trial using this link:

 https://www.esgisoftware.com/sign-up?promo=PALMABEE 

2.  Enter your students' names & choose the tests you want to run.

3.  Test your students either in-person or via an online meeting, like Zoom, where you can share your screen. If you may not use Zoom, you can send students an access code and they can view their own test as you record their answers using ESGI's Student Screen. 

Then, all you have to do is click on each student's detailed report and you can print them or email them to their parents. 

It's just that easy!

And you can send home a Parent Letter & Flashcards so your parents can practice needed skills while having FUN with their child at home!

There is even a BINGO game customized to match the skills each child needs to work on!

Oh, and there is a bonus if you sign up by 9/30: You will automatically qualify for $50 off of your 1st year of ESGI and you will be entered to win one of ten Target gift cards ranging from $10-$100!

So, what are you waiting for? This is the BEST game changer ever!

And there's this too: A FREE 2-day virtual conference & discounts just for YOU:

Be an Angel... Help A Child

It's FREE, It's EASY & It's a Game Changer!

I'm so excited to announce that ESGI is supporting a very special organization during this holiday season. 

Click the image above.

All you have to do is give ESGI a try! 

It's FREE!

It's Amazing!

And it will Change Your Life!

(+ the FREE trial lasts until March 31!

That could be almost 5 months of freeness!

(Is that a word?)

And ESGI will make a $5.00 donation!

Just be sure to use their promo code:

ESGIHELPACHILD

between Nov. 5 and Dec. 31, 2018.

I made it easy for you.

All you have to do is 

click on the promo code above and

sign up for your FREE trial.

(Did I mention that 

NO CREDIT CARD is required?)

What you get:

An EXTENDED FREE TRIAL

(that lasts until March 31, 2019!!!)

A $40 discount off of your 1st year 

if you choose to purchase it.

A savings of nearly 400 hours 

of your precious time as 

ESGI organizes your data

and 

generates everything from graphs

to 

parent reporting letters 

(in English & Spanish), 

and 

flashcards customized for each child 

with the specific skills they need to practice. 

So, what are you waiting for? 

      Make a difference in the life of a child and...

            get amazing data to drive your instruction.

Generate your own tests to match your district's tests or use the built-in tests created by ESGI or any of the "Friends" (educational consultants) on their website.  

See for yourself how ESGI will change your life!

It's Easy, Breazy, Lemon-Squeezy!

You won't know how you survived without it!!!

Making Guided Reading Work: A Simple Plan

Here is my Simple Guide to Guided Reading:

First, you have to set up your Guided Reading Table:

Children love routines. It makes them feel safe and comfortable. But they also seek novelty and their motivation to learn is peeked when we present information in different ways. That said, I like to keep my Guided Reading routine the same each week, but each day I toss in some fun, new ideas.

Since Guided Reading is taught through small group instruction, and is designed to provide differentiated teaching that supports students in developing reading proficiency, I begin by assessing my students (see more on assessment below)and meeting with them in small, homogeneous groups. These groups are flexible and change as often as needed.

So what does a typical Guided Routine look like?

Basically, I like to plan my small group lessons around these concepts:

Monday: Alphabet Work: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and letter recognition.

Tuesday: Sight Word Work: Reading and spelling sight words (I limit my lessons to one or two sight words.)

Wednesday: Reading Strategy Work:  Discussing and practice reading strategies such as blending, segmenting, stretching out words, etc.

Thursday: Comprehension Work: Practicing comprehension strategies such as digging deeper, looking for evidence, and re-telling stories.

Friday: Writing Work: Practicing writing by completing the writing prompt that relates to the story or topic that week. 

How to bring novelty into your weekly Guided Reading routine?

Monday: Alphabet Work: (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and letter recognition)

We might focus on initial sounds by placing a cube on each image that begins with a particular letter. 

We might use clear and colored spoons to practice word families or onset rimes. This cute idea came from Heidi's blog:  http://blog.heidisongs.com

And we reinforce letter recognition by using alphabet pin cards, laminated letter tracing cards, and bingo markers that help us practice letter formation . 

Tuesday: Sight Word Work: (1 or 2 Sight Words) 

Click the image to grab the set of Pocket-Lockets. 

We create Sight Word charts where students use the sight word in a sentence, the teacher writes the sentence, and the student gets to sign their sentence.

We use my Pocket-Lockets set to create a pocket watch or a locket by spelling a particular sight word with letter squares. Students get to wear their pocket watch or locket home. 

And we use choral reading to read our Sight Word Mini Books together.

We use laminated Dragonflies in First's cute  iPhone templates to copy sight words or write a sentence using a sight word with dry-erase pens.

Wednesday: Reading Strategy Work: (Reading Strategies) 

Click the image to grab this cute, FREE set of posters. 

We use multiple copies of small trade books, phonetic books, or familiar literature books to practice reading decoding strategies together. We discuss the strategies found on these FREE posters from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten and share how we used them to read. 

Students also practice partner reading their book during this time. 

Thursday: Comprehension Work: (Comprehension Strategies)

Students use their trade books, phonetic books, or familiar literature books to discuss new vocabulary, look for evidence in the illustrations or text, and re-tell parts of the story. Concepts of print, such as identifying characters, the setting, the problem, the solution, or sequencing parts of the story are also addressed. 

Friday: Writing Work: (Writing Component)

Click the image to grab the American Symbol Flag Writing Template. 

Students respond to a writing prompt that relates to that week's story or a concept of print, such as the characters, the setting, etc. I use my Writing Prompts every Friday. We also used my Career Writing templates after reading about community helpers and my American Symbol Flag template after reading about our national symbols. 

A Word About Assessments:

I have used ESGI for the past 8 years and it has saved me hundreds of hours assessing my students and using the amazing data to drive my instruction and RTI. It's easy, provides you with so much useful information about your students, and you students will LOVE it so much they will actually beg you to test them! Really!

Click the image above to grab your FREE trial!
Remember to enter your code: KFUN.

You can learn more by grabbing your FREE 60 day trial (no credit card necessary) by CLICKING HERE. Add the promo code KFUN when you grab this FREE trial and you will automatically qualify for a $40 discount off of your 1st year! This is a GREAT company. They won't try to trick you into enrolling for a year. Use their built-in tests or create your own to meet your own school's assessments. After you try it, you will love it.

There you have it! I keep the routine the same, but I change out the way I teach each lesson or the materials I use. Sometimes I dress the part wearing a wig and windshield wiper sunglasses if we are discussing the letter W. And sometimes we will play an Onset Rime Hopscotch game. Keep it fresh and new!

Leave a comment and let us know about some great ideas YOU have for making Guided Reading fun!

How To Be A Superhero Teacher: Win this $2000 Prize for your Team!

Let's Face It...

... kids are stressed! They are expected to do so much more than ever before and they are tested beyond belief! That is why I have made it my mission, my goal, my life's quest (OK, Palma, calm down) to share tips and techniques that make learning FUN, meaningful, reduce classroom stress, and help teachers to provide the data necessary to drive instruction and make their administrators happy.

So, how do we achieve this?

If you have been following my blog, you have surely picked up a few tips and techniques along the way to make your lessons fun and meaningful without turning the teacher into a Pinterest groupie.  "But what about the testing?" you ask. Well, here is my secret weapon...

Making Testing FUN:

The best way I have found to make testing FUN, (yes, I said FUN), is to test on a computer, laptop, or tablet with ESGI. When I first saw ESGI years ago at a conference and I discovered that you can create your own custom tests, my eyes got as big as saucers!

Sure, you can use the wonderful built-in tests that ESGI and "Friends of ESGI" have made (I'm one of the friends and I created T.K. assessments). But getting to create my own tests allowed me to test the letter names and sounds in the order I taught them in and I was even able to create trimester tests! 

The Best Things About ESGI:

1. My kids beg to be tested ("Please, can you test me next?")

2. The data is so helpful for creating my RTI groups, driving instruction, and reporting to both parents and administrators. (We also use it for team planning as we look for student needs and trends while planning new lessons.)

3. The parent letters and flashcards save me oodles of hours each week. (Before, I would study the test results and handwrite individualized flashcards for EACH student. Now, I just click "print flashcards".)

AND... as an added bonus, you get a very useful parent conferencing tool that helps you to easily schedule parent conferences and helps keep you super organized.

Now, you can win a FREE year!

I'm giving away one FREE year of ESGI for up to TEN TEACHERS on your team! Yep, you heard that right! That's a $2000 value!  

An ENTIRE TEAM of teachers at your grade level

can win one FREE year by entering my Rafflecoptor.
Sign up for your 60-day FREE trial & enter the code B2174.
No credit card # required. 
Existing ESGI customers:
 just enter your user name for a chance to win 
an entire year, up to 10 licenses, for your grade level.

This give-away is over.
The winner is:
Ashley Sharp!

Fear not:

If you don't win, you still get to try out ESGI for FREE for 60 days, but wait, it gets better.

Click the icon to sign up for FREE.(No credit card required.)

If you remember to enter the code: B2174 when you sign up for your free trial, you will automatically get $40 off of your first year with ESGI!  You heard that right, $40 off!

So you can go ahead and enter through the Rafflecopter and sign up for your FREE trial now, enter the code, and give it whirl. Your administrators will love it, your fellow teachers will want to know how you are able to save yourself so much time each week (and just imagine how thrilled they will be if you win a 10-license package for your team!), and your students will be begging you to be tested. Trust me, I have used ESGI for years now and it was the BEST thing I ever did!

What Is Easy, Quick, And FREE for 60 Days?

Assessment FUN (It's not a paradox, really, it's not)

When my students actually BEG to be tested, I know it must be FUN for them.

I have been using ESGI for several years now and I have to say it makes assessments quick, easy, and enjoyable for my students and for me.  Students take the assessments online so you can use anything from a desktop computer to an iPhone.  I love testing on my iPad so I can just visit students at their seats and ask them a few questions, click "yes" or "no" and I'm done.

Sometimes I let the kids click "yes" or "no" while I watch.
They LoVe to take the tests.

Getting Started:

You can get going in no time with their quick instructional videos and their 60 day FREE trial.  

Just click on the orange tab where it says 60 day free trial.

Click the image above to see ESGI's homepage.

You can use their ready-to-go tests or create your own.  Many amazing teachers from throughout the USA have created tests aligned with their state or grade level.  You can learn more by clicking where it says "learn more" all the way to the left at the bottom of their home page under "Custom Assessments"

Do You Teach T.K.?

Well, here is a bonus for you.  I have taken the pre-school foundational standards and the Kindergarten CCSS and I have found a middle ground of T.K. standards that I wrote assessments for. 

You can find them by clicking HERE or by clicking <learn more> at the bottom left of ESGI's home page, then scroll down and click <Palma Lindsay's Transitional Kindergarten Tests> and you will see the names of all of my tests.  

Click the image to get started.

Click HERE to see how to add my tests to your list of assessments.  

It's Easy, it's quick, and it's FREE for 60 days.  Then use code B2174 for $40 off.

Oh, And The Data Is Amazing:

Bar graphs, pie graphs, and charts, oh my!!!  Your administrator will be delighted with all of the data you can provide for each child.  

~Click on the gray part of the bar graph and you can view your intervention group for any given skill.  

~Click on the pie graphs and you can see the percentage of students who have mastered each test.  

~Click on the Class Report Charts and you can even re-order them by 1st name, last name, skills mastered, etc.

Can you see why I LoVe, Love, Love ESGI?  

Have you also used it?  Let us know how you like it by leaving a comment.

Check out my:

FaceBook:

 Click Here to see my Facebook. 

(Tons of FREE ideas.)

PiNtErEsT:

 Click Here to see my Pinterest Boards. 

(Oh, the ideas on these boards!)

TeAcHeRs PaY TeAcHeRs:

Click Here to see my TPT Store

(Did you say, "15 freebies?!")

See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)