Project 5 task 1

1. Blogging helps students develop their writing skills through consistent, real-world practice.

2. It encourages creativity and allows them to express their thoughts in a personal yet purposeful way.

3. Students learn digital literacy skills, including formatting, researching, and responsible online communication.

4. Blogging can boost confidence as students share their work with a wider audience and receive feedback.

5. It promotes reflection and critical thinking as they organize ideas and present their perspectives clearly.

Click on the link below toaccess PDC

Evernote in my classroom

How many of us scribble notes about students and then put them somewhere to never be found again??  I knew I need to change how I tracked items in my classroom!  I found an amazing app called EVERNOTE.  It has changes how I organize files, notes from kids, tracking reading skills and everything in between. 

 Think of "folders" that we all have in our classroom.  I created a Folder for the subjects that I wanted to add information.  For example...Daily 5/Cafe, Math, and checklists.  Within each one you can add your student's names.  Almost like a folder within a folder.  This is an amazing way to keep reading conference information. I have even recording my student's reading!

Probably the one feature that I love the most is to create checklists.  This is very easy to make and then display on the board.  The kids love to go up and check off their name on a given projects.  I use it to track which student brought back their dentist's forms and other important papers. 

I know that there is so much that I could do with Evernote and I am so excited to stretching myself with new technology!  I found an amazing blog that walks you through setting up Evernote.  Make sure to check it out!
                                           EVERNOTE TUTORIALS

Glitter does Matter!!!!

I want to introduce you to a brave young girl by the name of Ellie.  Ellie is an 11-year-old girl from Fairfax Station, Virginia whose diagnosis of a rare brain disease has left her sick, cognitively delayed, and with many unanswered questions. The inflamed white matter in her brain has been dubbed "Glitter Matter" by Ellie, whose positive & exuberant spirit has shone through despite all of her challenges. You can read more about Ellie here

How can we help??

 Prayer!  Please pray for strength for Ellie and her family. Pray for the doctors as they research how to treat this rare disorder.

Help us raise money!    

The only answer to her condition is extensive research, which the family cannot afford after experiencing financial hardship due to staggering medical bills over the past couple of years. Please help us raise money for her research through purchasing Glitter Matters Bundle: Everything for Ellie!

                                                   click the photo to take you right to TPT

 Included in the bundle, you will receive a bedazzling set of classroom management tools that will carry you through the year:
Positive Notes Home, Calendar cards, Punch Cards, Certificates, Birthday Kit, Glitter Science Labs, Sight Word Texting Codes, Silver Bling ABC's, Editable notebook & binder covers, editable hand signal posters, & digital papers.

Thank you to the following contributors!
Erin Waters
Christina Mauro
The Moffatt Girls
Cara Taylor
Dancing Crayon Designs
Tools for Teachers By Laurah J
Faith Siegrist
D P Sharpe
Smart Chick


Remember...GLITTER MATTERS! :)

Snow and Science!!!

What do they have in common??  Well if you are here on the East Coast you will see that we are having a lovely winter!! 2 days in a row of no school! At this rate, I will be looking for 4th of July lesson plan ideas!  YIKES

Anyway.....I have been struggling with my Science kiddos.  How much to they really retain and understand in class? How can I really know? I saw an idea of concept posters and thought, "Why can't I do that for Science?"  I could use them as individual summative/formative assessment, I could put them into small groups and give each group a different topic. So many options! With all of this snow, it was a perfect opportunity to create these to use in my classroom.We just finished up Echolocation and I am looking forward to having the students work on these.

I love the idea of having these printed and ready to go for a quick substitute lesson.  Easy prep!

Patricia Polacco Listening Centers

Many of you know that I just stumbled into the QR codes.  I thought that I must find a way to incorporate these into my LA block.  Well, I love Patricia Polacco!! So blend the two together....Listening Centers for my LA block!!  I am so excited to try them!!

So simple to use. I am so fortunate to have a set of IPADS for our school.  You must have a QR reader. I use INIGMA which is free.  Student scan the code under the book title and it takes them to a safe sight where the book is read to them!  I can have multiplies of these printed and place them around the room. It allows me to have several students on the same book at a time.

QR Code First

December has been a VERY busy month!! 2 formal observations! Foot in a cast! Christmas to prepare for!!  5 teacher Observations! 
I had a wonderful time going to see 5 other teachers in our district. VERY talented educators that make learning exciting!  This really pushed me to try and incorporate QR codes into my classroom. 

Step One:
  Figure out how to scan the QR code on the Ipads at school.  I downloaded an app called SCAN.  This is so easy to use.  The students just position the QR code in the middle of the box and it reads it automatically.  PERFECT!!

Step two:
  Figure out how to make the QR codes.  I knew that I wanted to do a Place Value test Prep.  So I used QRStuff.com. This was so easy to use!  I switch the Column on the left to Plan Text and then I was able to go to step 2 and type the answer.   Step 3 automatically defaults to black, however you can switch the color.  Step 4 allowed me to save the QR code to my folder and then I inserted it into my powerpoint. Easy Peasy!!

 So sitting  in a snowy Pa with my foot in a cast.....my first QR Code to use with my kiddos next week!  Can't wait to use it!

Facebook Frenzy~ Freebies Everywhere!

Hello Friends!


It's time for the December Facebook Frenzy- woo hoo!!

  The Facebook Frenzies were started by the amazing Heather over at Creation Castle.  She is truly amazing!  What a great way to find items for your classroom!

Anyway, all you do is hop through all the facebook pages and grab up the amazing freebies along the way!!!  (and maybe leave some love notes as you do, pretty please?)  It's a great way to get some new classroom resources and find some amazing teacher friends and bloggers as well!

Unfortunately, those pretty little links won't work because it's an image now and not a PDF, but never fear, I have the links right here!  Each loop has a different starting point, so go ahead and get started!!  :)  Can't wait to see all of the great freebies!  (The Frenzy officially starts on December 6 at 8:00 am EST and ends on December 9 at 8:00 pm EST)

You can download the PDF version HERE.

K Math/Science - https://www.facebook.com/mrspspecialties

K ELA/Social Studies - https://www.facebook.com/TheReadingBungalow

1st Math/Science - https://www.facebook.com/FriendlyFroggies

1st ELA/Social Studies - https://www.facebook.com/DynamicDualLanguage

2nd Math/Science - https://www.facebook.com/AllSmilesInSecondGrade

2nd ELA/Social Studies - https://www.facebook.com/StuckeyInSecondGrade

3rd Math/Science - https://www.facebook.com/EvilMathWizard

3rd ELA/Social Studies - https://www.facebook.com/comprehensionconnection

4th - https://www.facebook.com/4thGradeRacers

5th - https://www.facebook.com/theresourecefulroom

6th-12th - https://www.facebook.com/MathScienceSocialStudiesOhmy

Music - https://www.facebook.com/IamBullyproofMusic

Clipart - https://www.facebook.com/CarasClipstpt

Super Hero Writing!

Super Hero Writing at Educents!

 

Who doesn’t love a Super Hero!!  Show your students how they can become awesome Super Hero writers with this unit from Zanah.  What I loved about this unit is that I could use the strategies with any writing piece!

These lessons show the students different types of attention getting Beginnings, Middle and Endings to make their writing more exciting.

  I love the half sheet that my students could put right into their Writer’s Notebook.

After I gave examples of Beginnings, my students then worked in groups to come up with some of their own.  This allowed the students to understand the concepts further before I had them work on them independently. 

We used the graphic organizer to tie our beginning and ending together.

They LOVED this activity! If you want to check it out for your students, jump over to Educents where you can get this unit and 19 more for a real deal!  Only $30 for all 20 products.

Right now you can get 20% off and 10% back but don’t forget to use the code EDUCENTS20

Year Round Resources from Top Teachers Blog Hop

Looking for some great units for your classroom??  This is perfect! So many items for your classroom! 982 pages of resources for Grade 1 and 2 total price if bought separately $115 for ONLY $29.99!!  What a deal!!

Very excited to be a part of the bundle with Educents!  I know you will love my Character Study Unit!  Use the posters and the graphic organizers with any book! Watch the kids start making connections to their characters!

There are many other products in our bundle to get your kids learning!  

Centers, printables, vocabulary, book studies, interactive notebooking and so much more.

But that's not all!   Since you are on my blog I would like to give you a chance to win something extra for free!  Please follow me on FB and enter to win any item from my store   Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The deal won't last long so head over now!

Thanksgiving Craft

We had so much fun creating our Thanksgiving craft to hang from our ceiling!  Students were giggling while trying to trace their footprints for the body.    It only took them a minute to figure out to trace each others foot instead of their own!!

We also wrote on the feathers things that they are thankful for!  Loved this activity!!  Grab it for your classroom for free! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Facebook Frenzy FREEBIES

Who doesn't want spooky for their classroom!!  I am a participant in the Facebook Frenzy.  I have grabbed so many freebies!  All you do is start at my facebook page and go to the tab that is marked Facebook Frenzy and "like" pages.  Each time you "like" the pages, it will give you a wonderful freebie!

Facebook Frenzy

Place Value and Eggs!!

Okay, so they really don't go together!! But this is what my 3rd grade kiddos are working on right now!  We have been looking at Physical and Chemical changes in Science class.  We have just finished day 5 of our 7 day egg experiment.  This is the one where you put an egg in vinegar for 7 days. Students make a hypothesis the first day and then observations the rest of the days.  At the end you have a "rubber" egg. The shell has dissolved and the membrane and egg are still intact.  They really don't believe it, so I show them it is still the egg by popping it!  They all scream with delight and "gross" comments.

We then do a "sort" using our changes cards.  This is just a quick hands on visual for them.  Last years class I had task cards that I used, but this years class really needs the visual form so I quick whipped this up one night. I had to laugh, because as I used it in class, I made a typo and the kids all caught it!!  I don't have this one posted yet (maybe this weekend).  However, would be happy to give it to the first 4 people that comment below.

Okay...on to Place Value.  Background knowledge.  I teach 3rd grade and we level in our district, so I have the lower math group that need a lot of visuals and support.  I spent so much time on Place Value this week!!! But I really think they got it!!  I used Place Value to introduce the concept. But I need a fun activity for Friday. So I quickly made up a game of Scoot with Monsters. I actually used it by taping them up around the room. I placed them in partners for added support. 

They really enjoyed it and it was so good for them to be up and about. 

 First 4 comments below will get you the Physical and Chemical sort  before I post it on TPT!

Organize Mode!!

I was determined to go in over the summer and organize all of the closets and cabinets!  I was "blessed" with 25 years of "stuff" that the teacher before me left!  I really wished I had taken before pictures!!
Math Manipulative were all in baggies just shoved in a closet,  It took me a whole afternoon to sort and put in bins what I knew 3rd graders would use.  I actually have the top shelf empty for future purchases!! NICE!

Now onto the rest of the closets!! One of the biggest problems that I ran into last year was the clutter of papers that needed graded and filed. Have you heard of a wonderful site called Pinterest (LOL)?  I found this neat idea where you buy the 3 drawer plastic bins and then "pretty" them up.  All papers go into the drawers. Now to remind myself that the papers don't magically get graded and filed!!   So I made these labels to go with my classroom colors this year.  I put it up in my store as a FREEBIE for all to enjoy!!

Next job is to organize all classroom supplies.  Good thing we don't start till after Labor Day!

Owl Freebie

Birthday Glitter!!

I have an addiction!!  I LOVE Glitter!!!  No not the stuff that gets all over my classroom, but the DIGITAL kind!!  My new favorite artist is  Glitter Meets Glue!  So....hmmmm Glitter.....need birthday posters for my classroom.....YUP!!!  Got it!!  Stayed up late trying to finish this.  My family won't have any clothes packed for vacation, but this unit is done!!!

FREEBIE!!  I want to give this away to 3 of my followers!!  Comment below and  I will pick 3 lucky people when I get back!!  Get it before I upload it to TPT!!!

FREEBIE!! Monkey Name Plates~Editable

As you know I am working on my Monkey Theme.  Trying to get it finished before we leave on vacation on Sunday.  Can't wait to go on vacation!!!! Beach, Sun and Food!!  My 9th grade son and 8th grade daughter are even more excited then we are!!

Okay....so I decided to put just the name plates in a file so teachers can add the names directly into the computer and then print out.  So check the link and download!!

Monkey Theme Name Plates

Freebie to Celebrate New Blog Template!!

I have put off updating my blog template all summer!!  YIKES!!  Where does time go?? Thankfully the wonderful people over at Honey Bunch Blog Design were able to help me out.  They have premade templates as well as custom order templates.  They were awesome to work with.  Picked my design, added some extra buttons and BAM!!!  They uploaded it today!!!  All of this in less that 48 hrs!    They are great!!  If you are in need of a new design, head on over!!

To celebrate  my new blog design.  I am giving away my latest TPT  Back to School item....It is a getting to know your students fun project.   What do you think?? First 3 comments will receive this FREE!!!

Sneak Peek!!!

I have been busy working on my latest theme!!  I leave for our family vacation in a week (no camping this time!!! Daughter got poison ivy the last time!!), so I want to finish it before I go!  Many of you have been asking for a Monkey Theme... Here is a Sneak Peek!!

Looking forward to finishing this one and on to my next one before the school year starts!!!  I am thinking I see OWLS in the future!!