Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale!

Wow! I cannot believe it is finally here, but it is! The mantle is decorated, the tree is up (okay, sadly, it is not decorated yet due to lighting issues, haha!), but the holiday music has been on heavy rotation, and it is time for some Cyber Monday (and Tuesday) shopping!

(Thanks to Ashley for the adorable graphic!)

I have joined in on the HUGE Sale on Teachers Pay Teachers, so everything in my store will be 20% off! Plus, you can use the code CMT12 to receive an additional 10% discount! Gotta love those coupon codes!  Here are a few of my items on sale...I hope you'll check them out!

 
 

 
Happy Shopping! I know I've already got my cart filled!

Dice, Dominoes, and Cards Galore! Math Workstation Freebies

As promised on my previous post, I've got some math goodies to share with you! Yes, I know, I should be posting all of my cutesy fall crafts, but I honestly haven't gotten to do ANY yet! Unbelievable, I know! But, I have one fun week ahead of me--bats, pumpkins, spiders, candy corn, and leaves galore! Until we get to all that excitement, here are some math goodies.
 
For the last few years, I've really wanted to teach math small groups, but I just haven't been able to manage it--or maybe I might have been too afraid to try managing it! This year, I decided I just had to jump in, or at least dip in my pretty little toesies! After reading and loving Debbie Diller's Math Workstations book, I have found that I {sadly}cannot make that method work in my classroom--not sure exactly why! Instead, I'm formatting my math workstations and small groups much like my reading--a little mix of Daily 5 inspiration and Debbie Diller, too!  So far, I'm loving it!
 
Here are some of the activities I've added to my dice/dominoes station. They include Roll the Dice Addition and Subtraction, Domino Addition and Subtraction, and Addition Bump!
 


I've also attempted a playing cards station, which has been really successful. I've been teaching the kiddos a new game a week, and they've been doing really well! They also use the posters below to brush up on the game rules in case they aren't sure...Just click to grab yours as well! The games include I Spy Addition, Addition War, Quick Draw, Tens Go Fish, and Tens Memory Match.

 
 
Here is one last freebie--my version of a domino parking lot :) Hope these can make math centers a little more fun in your classroom!
 
 
Hope to be back soon with some Fall Fun! Thanks for stopping by!


Singing the Word Wall Freebie

Pocket Full of Kinders is having a great Linky Party on Sight Words, so I thought I might as well link up and share a Freebie I've had hanging around :).

This year, I feel like I've finally gotten into a great routine for introducing and practicing sight words, so here is a quick synopsis. First, I introduce each day's words (usually 2-3 per day) using our chant. Basically, I say the chant quickly (it is never the exactly the same, which is great because it keeps the kiddos guessing!) and the students listen and respond as necessary.



I always start by saying, "Look at the word...say the word...spell the word." I pause in between to allow the students to do all of those things. Then I'll move onto things like "tap the word, trace the word, sing the word, whisper the word, write the word (on the ceiling, floor, your knee, etc...)."

Then we practice using the word in a sentence...I'll say, "Think of a sentence" (the kids touch their head and think of a sentence), "whisper your sentence" (they cup their hands and whisper their sentence to themselves), then "share your sentence" (they raise their hands to share). After a child shares a sentence, I'll say, "punctuate the sentence" and the students use hand signals to show the punctuation for each sentence shared. The whole process is super-quick and takes only a minute or two per word.

After the week's words have been introduced, we use songs or chants to review/practice the words. These songs have been found from various sources (I think Dr. Jean even has some on her cd's), so I just typed them up to post on my teaching easel for reference. Click on either picture to download the songs and a sample of our chant for introducing new words. :)

 
Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check out the rest of the Sight Words Party!


http://www.inlinkz.com/

Math Anchor Posters (FREEBIE included...)

I cannot believe how long its been since I've blogged! I've been a very bad blogger, but definitely a very busy girl! I'm not sure how some of you super-bloggers do it--I'm barely keeping up with my duties as classroom teacher, team leader, mentor, practicum cooperating teacher, wife, and mommy. Any tips for keeping it all balanced would be greatly appreciated!! Anyways, even though I've been away from my blog, I've still been creating some things to share, so here is one quick one!

Drum roll, please...okay, they aren't that exciting, but hopefully useful for some of you!



These are my Addition and Subtraction Key Word Posters I'll be using over the next few weeks as we start mixing addition and subtraction story problems. We've already been using My Hands-on and Mental Math Strategy Posters for Addition, and my kiddos loved them so much that I just had to make Key Word Posters and some matching Subtraction Posters, too!  So, for those of you who requested them, the Subtraction Posters are now available in my TPT store! Just click the pics below to check them out!





Thanks so much for popping by my sometimes neglected blog! I promise to get a little better now that we're getting more settled into the school year.  Plus, I have more freebies to share for math workstations, so I'll be back soon! :)

Student Binder Freebies :)

Woah, long time, no blogging! I cannot believe how crazy these past few weeks have been! Thankfully, I had my surprise Observation this week, so now I can at least breathe a bit easier! And, hopefully have some more time for blogging! I keep thinking of all these things I'd love to share, but for some reason, the time just isn't happening! Here are some things for organizing your students during your first few weeks...Hopefully you can use some of them to make life in your own classroom a bit easier!

Here is my writer's notebook cover and the quickwrite prompts I'll be using this year. The first page is the binder cover, and the following pages are quickwrite idea-starters that I print on colored cardstock and put in the back of the binder (behind the students' writing).  We use these at the beginning of the year to spark good writing ideas, and the students love referring back to them all year long!

Next, is my song and poem notebook and complete with "Lucky Listener Log" (thanks to my lovely teaching friend, Diana!). This notebook goes home on Fridays only. After reading the poem in class all week and illustrating it during workstations time, the students will read the poem to one "lucky listener" over the weekend. This "lucky listener" will then fill out the log indicating that they heard the student read the poem.


Lastly, here are my take home binder covers and labels (for Avery 2 inch x 4 inch labels)...I just print the cover on colored cardstock and insert into clear-front binders. If you'd like to download the font for the labels, just do a quick search for CK Handprint :)

 

I hope to be back soon with photos of my classroom--that is, after we finish our SAT10 testing and I can uncover my walls! Right now they are covered in ugly brown paper! Have a great rest of the day!

Back to School Fun and a Freebie!

In the words of lovable Lilly, "Wow...that is just about all I can say...wow." These last few weeks have been insane! I have been so busy with my nineteen new firsties and my roles as team leader,  teacher mentor, and mommy that I feel like I've barely had time to breathe! Not to mention, I caught the dreaded stomach bug during our first week of school and actually had to leave my new friends in the middle of the school day--yikes! (I hope to never, ever have to do that again--it was awful!) 

Anyways, I'm finally back to normal (well, some might say that) and I've got first week fun to share! This year, I did my Kissing Hand Writing and activities as usual, but I spruced up our class book a little bit, and I think it turned out quite cute, if I do say so myself!  Here it is if you'd like to use it with your friends, too!

By the way, I also hit a new world record with our hand painting--19 kiddos in 15 minutes flat! I cannot tell you how proud I was of myself, haha!


In addition to the Kissing Hand, we had lots of fun with Abby's Jitter Juice, and we even made a snack of our own! We called it our "Friendship Mix," and it was a really nice team-building activity. I gave each child a baggie of one particular snack. We talked about making a snack mix and how we would need lots of different things for it to taste really good. So, each child added his or her items to the "Friendship Mix" and added his or her name to our class chart. We talked about how neat it was that the snack mix tasted best with lots of different items, and it was similar to how our class is much better with all of our different friends. We even came up with the saying, "It takes a bunch to make a tasty munch!" All in all, it was a really nice way to end our first day together!



Back to School Sale!

Phew! I've had one full day of school with my new firsties, and boy, am I exhausted! (Pictures and freebies coming soon, I promise!) My kiddos are too sweet, though! I have a feeling its going to be a great year! Even though I'm feeling a bit of the first week crazies, I'm not too busy to do some shopping-- In case you haven't heard, the amazing Back to School Sale on TPT is almost here! 

In honor of Back to School Season, everything in my store will be 20% off, plus you can use the code BTS12 for an additional 10% off!! Here's the scoop in a pretty picture, courtesy of the wonderful Amy Lemons (thanks)!


Here are some of my items for sale...


 




Happy Shopping! I know I'm excited to cross some goodies off my wishlist!

Monday Made It! My Last Monday Before School...

Sadly, this is my last official Monday before the real start of school...I'm feeling a little bit of those end of the summer blues. On the other hand, I'm excited to get started with my new firsties, so I guess I'm going to have to focus on that, haha!

Here are my latest crafties for Monday Made It! Up first, my tissue pom garland for my guided reading corner. I spend so much of my time at this table, I wanted it to be beautiful, and I think it finally is!


Next up is my etsy-inspired burlap door hanger! I was sooo amazed at how cheap (under $5.00) and easy this craft was! All I needed was a yard of burlap, some jewelry wire, and some paint and ribbon that I already had in my stash. I hung it on my freshly painted classroom door, and I think it looks adorable! I even have enough burlap and wire left to make one for my door at home...I'm thinking a Colts football one for my hubby to enjoy as well!


Have a great Monday, I'm off to get some work done...Tomorrow is my county's Differentiated Instruction Conference, so things are getting into full back to school mode! Thanks for stopping by!



Monday Made It and Some Freebies(Yay!)

Yikes! This summer is slipping away from me! I've been going to school two days a week for the last two weeks, and I definitely have the Back to School itch! Fortunately, many Pinterest-Inspired crafts have been keeping me busy! I'm so excited that some of the bigger DIYs are done so I can share them with you!


First, I finally got to make my very own crate seats!! I really wanted to make them last summer but couldn't find any fabric that I loved, and I finally found some! I've decided to do my classroom in blue, green, turquoise, and a teensy bit of yellow.  Here are my crate seats, which, by the way, were not cheap. I was a little disappointed that I had to pay $35 for my wood (when I didn't even need 1/3 of the sheet) and they could not give me a teacher discount! I did save a little money by using a foam mattress pad, though. They turned out so cute I'm going to try and forget my sticker shock. :) Oh, and the guided reading shape icons were a Pinterest idea, too. If you'd like to download mine, just click the image of them.




Next up, are my READ letters. I just bought some white letters at Joann's (yay for not having to paint them) and Mod-Podged (or as I like to say, Modge-Podged) my fabric onto them. I think they turned out pretty cute! And, I love how they look above my freshly painted shelf, Binder-ized Files, and new guided reading drawer labels!


Last, but not least, I am super-excited to share my biggest and most time-consuming project of the summer. While painting my rusty classroom bookshelf (shown freshly white, above), I found this little baby in what my favorite janitor likes to call the "furniture graveyard" (this is also known as a loading dock where all of the misfit classroom furniture pieces go).


It was a little dirty and banged up, but with a little sanding, paint, and a lot of patience (I didn't imagine taping chevrons would be so hard!!), here is my new "Celebration Seat!" I think it is beautiful, and I cannot wait to invite students to sit on it for their birthdays and when they share their published writing!



Besides crafting, I've been working on some other things for my classroom, and one is a freebie for you! Here are my new focus wall headers--I included 7 designs, so hopefully there is one that will work for you! Click the picture to download them for free!


Here are the other goodies I've been working on...click the picture to check them out at my TPT store! Have a great week!





 

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