Moving to 3rd Grade!!!

I know most of you think that I fell of the face of the earth these last few weeks.  But it has been a whirl wind for me professionally!  I am so excited to be moving to 3rd grade starting Jan 2!!  I adore all the staff and students at this school and I can't wait to be there!  So I am taking a little break to get ready for Christmas and my new classroom! I will post pictures once I am all organized. 

Merry Christmas to all!!

Gingerbread Fun and a SALE!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We enjoyed our day with family and lots of food!!

I finally finished my Gingerbread Unit!  Every time I turned around, I wanted to add something to it!  This unit really came out of necessity as our distric implemented a new "no food" policy due to allergies. My kiddos always enjoyed creating their Gingerbreadhouses, so I had to think outside of the box.  There are several activites that go with this unit,

Glyph~ I asked basic questions and depending on their answer they used various pieces of the house to create their own "Gingerbread House". 

 I then have them write a persausive paragraph trying to "SELL THAT HOUSE!!" after they have brainstormed with their graphic organizer. 

My biggest challenge was how to add in the Math element.  I used to give my 5th graders a set budget and each piece of the Gingerbread house was worth a certain value. They "bought" the pieces of their house from the "store" (me!!) and then constructed the house. They kept track in a budget worksheet which had to be submitted with the house.  So how do I do that now that food can't be brought into school?  Well, I just used seperate pictures of the Gingerbread house and assigned a value to them.  They still had to "buy" them from the store and construct their house on construction paper instead.  I also gave them various math task cards to have them calculate the various costs of the pieces. 

 

 

 

If you are interested in checking out all the pieces included in this unit, head over to my TPT store by following this link.  



 

 

 

Teachers Pay Teacher is having a wonderful Cyber Monday and extra Tuesday sale!! Get up to 28% off my items these two days.  Just go to my store and then use the promo code below.

 

 



Hurricane Sandy and TPT Sale!!

Well everyone, looks like all of us on the East Coast are home from school for tomorrow and even Tuesday here in Pa.  So how about some shopping on TPT!! Iknow alot of other teachers are listing sales through 10/31!!!   

Praying that everyone is safe!!

Fall Fun!!

Boy did it get cold here fast in Pa!!!  We will be so glad when both of our kids sports are finished this week!! I am tempted to take a sleeping bag to their games!!

Things have been busy here with making a transition into teaching for our Gifted Program in our District.  So excited to be working with this group of kiddos!!  We actually have 2 days of Pull Out classes and then we do 2 days of Extented Learning Labs.  ELL is where we go into the top level Math/LA and teach an enrichment lab with hands on activities.  

I recently completed a quick fun and FREE math review game for rounding.  Make sure you grab it to use in your classroom!

Spider Round Up

How to do it all?

Where has this month gone???  I am currently teaching 1st grade for a teacher that has been out since the beginning of school.  I have really enjoyed these younger ones!  But to be honest, I am having a hard time trying to juggle everything with my kids schedules.  One is in Cross Country and the other is in Field Hockey. Both are amazing sports in our district, but BUSY!!!

I have finally finished a unit on Similes and Metaphors that has been in the works for awhile.  This is a unit that I used for my 5th graders a couple of years ago before clip art was so amazing!!  So thanks to several clipart masters!!  I have re-created this unit.  I placed it on my TPT store for those that are interested!  I have found that my 5th graders really needed to see concrete examples of various similes and metaphors.  One activity that seemed to help them make the connection is to take similes and metaphors and have them circle or highlight the items that are being compared.  They always enjoyed creating their own after this lesson.

Great Read Alouds!!

If you are like me and always looking for new read alouds for your kiddos, Rachel Lynette over at Minds in Bloom complied over 60 suggestions for Grade 3-5!!  I found some new ones on this list and I am looking forward to reading them myself!  I always read a book before I read it to the kids so I can think through some questions that may come from the kids while reading through the book. 
  Here is the Link to Minds In Bloom!! Follow her if you already aren't!! Rachel has some amazing suggestions!

Classroom Management-Best thing EVER

Classroom Management is one area that I have not been consistent in from year to year.  I am always on the look out for a new and great idea to make the students focus on the positive behavior.  I follow a wonderful blog by littlest learners and she always has amazing ideas!!  I recently read her post on Rick Morris Behavior Clip System and fell in love with it!!  Not only do you have the clip up and clip down, but she used the idea of students receiving stars each day/week for reaching the top and then they can advance to a colored clip and ultimately the coveted GLITTER clip!  Check out the link her if you want more information!!!      
Littlest Learners Blog

Spelling Around the World

I apologize for not touching base in so long!!  I have been teaching our Reading Readiness Kiddos for the summer and the last 4 weeks have been consummed with getting them reading for Kindergarten.  They are an amazing groups of kids that have been working soooo hard!! 

  I am currently working on two themes...one is a Monkey theme and the other is a Red/White and Blue theme!  They are both looking amazing!  I recently posted the new Spelling Unit...it is called "Spelling Around the World".  You can use this for any grade and any list!!!  Student navigate around a map each week and complete activities with their spelling words!  Check my TPT site for further information!

$100 GIVEAWAY!!

Lacy at Wild About Teaching is having a give away worth $100 from fab teachers on TPT!! She is celebrating hitting  500 followers on her blog!  If you haven't had to to check out her blog, she has some great ideas!!

Happy Summer!!

So excited to be starting with my Summer Kiddos tomorrow!!  These kiddos are those in our district that will start Kindergarten in the Fall.  I will have a total of 24 kids, split into two groups. I have been so busy trying to get ready for them, but I do have a few projects in the works.
   One is a Spelling Unit that will go with any Spelling list for any grade level.  The other unit is a new theme....I will give you a little sample of that one.  Hopefully, I will have it up on my TPT store by the end of this week!

Frog Theme

One of my dear friends who teaches 2nd grade, adores Frogs!!  So I made her this Frog Theme for her classroom next year!  If you have never checked out Teachers Pay Teachers, you should!!  Amazing group of teachers!!             Frog Theme

It's a BEAR!!

Well, we had a wonderful trip to the beautiful Smoky Mts!  We spent the week hiking, fishing, white water rafting and horseback riding.  We had a vistor everyday to our cabin!! We named him Billy Bob....he decided that he liked our car the most!!  Thankfully he didn't break the window as he tried to get out!

Summer is finally here!!  We are so excited to be going to the Smoky Mts this year for vacation!  The pile of hiking and fishing gear is bigger than the pile of clothes or food!! My son (who is 13) and my husband are fisherman to the heart!   My daughter (who is 12) and I are the shopping and sleeping in side of the family!  So as long as they don't wake us up when they leave for fishing at 4am, we are good!

I wanted to get the Jungle Theme complete before I left for vacation!  Well, I did finish it and I am so excited to present it to you!  There are so many exciting things that you can do with a Jungle Theme in your room!  Imagine the student faces when they walk in and see their "home" for the next 180 days!




Jungle Theme

Last full week of school!!  I will miss seeing the little kiddos in the hallways!!  BUT, I am soo excited to be teaching for my district this summer for their Reading Readiness Program! 

After many requests, I am designing a "Jungle Theme" for my next unit.  I am working as quickly as I can so that I can get it up on my store.   I will give you a seek peek!

Ramblings!!

I can hardly believe we are down to the single digits for the end of the school year!  My middle school son has finals for the first time in his life!  I am curious to see how that goes!  "I got it Mom!! Don't worry!"  Don't all moms worry??

I designed my latest classroom theme for a wonderful, dear, teacher friend.  She teaches 1st grade at my school and always goes above and beyond for her students.  I am always excited to pass her class to see the latest creations from her kiddos.  She has been a great encouragement to me this year!  Thank you!!

Hollywood Theme

Wow!!  This was a great week at school as we did our end of the year assessments.  I love seeing how far all of them have come since the begining of the year!  I will say that my eyes are a little buggy after trying to follow so many students with the 1 minute fluency reading and retell!

Now to finish my current theme!!  Hopefully to have it ready to post next week!!!  Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

The START!

Well!!  Starting into the wonderful world of blogging!  I have been a classroom teacher for 12 years.  I am currently a Learning Support Teacher at a wonderful district.  My passion is to make learning exciting for all types of learners. 

I love making my classroom a fun place!  It makes the students feel comfortable and excited about coming to school!  I have to laugh, because even my older kiddo (5th and 6th grade) loved coming into my room at the begining of the year to see what the new theme for the year.  I recently finished up this classroom theme kit for a dear friend of mine who loves Monsters!!  I can't wait to use it this summer as I teach Reading Readiness for our district.

        Monsters Themed Classroom Kit