Hey everyone! I'm getting used to the new header, not sure if it's going to stay or not. I do LOVE the graphics from Melonheadz, The 3AM Teacher, and Ms. Fultz, though! At least I was able to fix my mess up fairly quickly, whew! Anyway, we've had a busy week trying to stay cool in our latest heat wave. So, I'm linking up with Cara Carroll at
The First Grade Parade for Throwback Thursday. I'm going to repost my most viewed post about Houghton Mifflin Journeys. It seems like this is one of the most popular basal programs being adopted across the country and it took a lot of getting used to for this teacher/ reading specialist who didn't want to give up the Reading and Writing Workshop format. But two years later, here we are and I've found some ways to make it work.
********** Originally posted May 7, 2013 ***************
I've been asked a lot lately about the
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Journeys program. It seems to be one of the most popular basal reading programs on the market right now. I'm not going to go back into how I felt two years ago when we began to transition to it from Reading and Writing Workshop.
(click here to read my previous post) But after fumbling through it for a year, I discovered the wonderful work of Ms. Amy Schwab on Teachers Pay Teachers. Amy has taken each week's lesson and made a huge SmartBoard file of interactive activities, including videos, sorts, and other learning activities. If you teach in a district that uses Journeys or is going to, you need to check out her work. She has completed activities for grades K, 1, & 2.
Click here to download the Lesson 1 activities for FREE. You can also get the first lesson of grades K and 2 for FREE.
I hope this can help anyone else who is feeling like I was...overwhelmed and drowning in Journeys. I'm throwing you a life preserver!
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Another resource I LOVE and have purchased (They are worth every penny) are Dawn Hilburn's resource packets for each lesson in Journeys. Click here to visit
Dawn of First Grade Shenanigan's TPT store. Her materials are a great resource for centers, classwork, writing projects, and homework. My kids LOVE them!!
(Did you know that TPT now accepts purchase orders from your school? I convinced my principal to approve orders for Amy's Smart Board files. Using the purchase order was really quick and easy, too)
When we adopted the Journeys Program, I really wished I had cute word wall cards. So I finally made them myself. There are so many cute word wall sets out there using dolch lists, but Journeys has words that are specific to their program. So if you are going to be using Journeys, check out these packs. Just print and laminate and you are ready to go! Coordinating headers are also available as a separate purchase. Just click on the caption to check them out in my TPT store.
These word walls will be on sale through Sunday. Don't forget to provide feedback if you pick anything up from Teachers Pay Teachers. Not only does it help you to get credits toward future purchases, but sellers love to here what you think. Thanks for stopping by!
