Sticky Note Jot Spots: Comprehension for the Common Core!

I love Sticky Notes.  More specifically, I LOVE Post-Its, because let's face it, the adhesive is worth the extra money.  :)  I love how versatile they are.  I love that you can attach them to books to organize mini-lessons.  I love that my kiddos can attach them to books as they read to make their thinking visible and permanent.  I love that they can help create wonderful testaments to our learning in the form of anchor charts.  I honestly don't know how I ever taught without them.  :)

Seriously though, there have been times when I have thought, "Now what do I do with them?" after clearing off an anchor chart or having my kiddos remove them from their texts.  I always want to send them home with the kids, but I worried that parents would look at a stack of Post-Its and say, "What is THAT?"  :)  So, I've been brainstorming.  I've been trying to find ways to make this process work better for me.  Enter... sticky note jot spots!

I just created documents to help organize our Post-It collections.  I don't plan on using them all of the time, but I do plan on utilizing them pretty often.  :)  They will give sticky notes a home once they are removed from books and other surfaces.  They will help the kiddos understand what I want them to do, and they will help parents understand the significance of the Post-Its that find their way home.  I am SO excited to share this with you.  Hopefully it can help you too!  :)   If you are interested, you can check out the Sticky Note Jot Spots HERE!  

I took a few "action shots" to try this out, because I wanted to make sure that the squares were big enough to use with different Post-It varieties!  As you can see below, this works well with different sizes and shapes.  I plan on printing the black and white copies for whole group instruction, and I plan on printing the colored copies on cardstock and laminating them to use with small groups.  I will be starting this on MONDAY!!!!  Yay!!!!! :)

In other news, I wanted to share a few quick activities for my Reading Street friends.  We finished up "Wings" last week.  Since we were focusing on vivid words during writing, I read "The Boy Who Loved Words" and sent the kiddos on a word hunt.  I had them look in books, read the room, and look in dictionaries for words that spoke to them.  They recorded their words on hearts that also reinforced symmetry (since I know my teacher partner has been working on geometry).  Then we created a big anchor chart together, and the kiddos created rainbow clouds with seven of their favorite vivid words on the strips!  (I was inspired by Reagan Tunstall's Rainbow Name-bow craftivity.) 

 Have a great weekend, friends!  Enjoy some YOU TIME!!!!