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Sunday, November 27, 2016

TPT Wishlisted Linky


It's that time of year again for the Cyber Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers. Everything in my store is marked down 20% and you get an additional 10% when you use the promo code Cyber2016 at checkout! It's always so hard to decide which items to buy so I have joined with some fellow teacherpayteachers to showcase our 3 most wishlisted items in each of our stores. These resources are the most sought after in each store. Have fun shopping and enjoy these amazing deals!

Click any of the images below to see them in my TPT Store!
  
My students love subtraction and this resource is why!!! They love taking some away (eating them) lol


Looking for a great resource to teach classification of animals to young children? This resource is all you need! 


Fun way to learn about plants! Lots of fun activities included such as a plant song, a booklet, sequencing activity, and so much more!!

Now that you have checked out my most sought after resources click on the picture below to check out Daisy Designs and all the other stores that are participating!




Saturday, October 29, 2016

Words, Words, Words!



I love words! I think one of my favorite parts of teaching is helping my kiddos learn words. Learning how to spell words, finding chunks in words, how many syllables in words, word meanings, and it goes on and on. I think we all agree that it is important to introduce our kiddos to lots of words, in lots of different ways. Today I thought I would share some of the fun ways I introduce words to my kiddos.
When I'm teaching a new phoneme I like to start with an anchor chart. I like my kiddos to build it with me and then they can use it and refer back to it over and over again. 

I often follow up an anchor chart with a booklet where they can sort words or see words in lots of different fonts. Sometimes my kiddos work in small groups and unscramble sentences that have the words we are working on. They love this! Sometimes the groups race to complete the sentences. When their group is done they get to ring my teacher bell. They love that!

When teaching a vowel team that makes several sounds, I try to make it a big deal so that my kiddos will remember all the sounds. We often sing a song, do a craft, put it on a headband to wear all week, put words on hands and post them on the door frame so they can high five the words and read them every time they go out of the room. Whatever it takes for them to learn the sound. 
One of my kiddos favorite ways to learn words was our fly swatter activity. We used fly swatters that I purchased at The Dollar Tree. Each student gets a set of word cards. If the cards all have the same vowel sound then I would say a word and they would find it and swat it. I might also say find a word that rhymes with...
If I had words with the same vowels that had different sounds such as ough I would say find a word that has the same sound as .... There are only two rules. They all had to start in the ready position (which was fly swatter against their chest) and once they swatted a word, the fly swatter stayed on the word until I said. This kept the fly swatters where they were supposed to be and not hitting each other. 
I hope this has helped you think of teaching words and sounds in more of a hands on way. If you are looking for word cards, fluency strips, word booklets, games and crafts, then check out my Word Detective Series in my TPT store BY CLICKING HERE.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Classroom Reveal

I am so excited that school has finally started, but boy am I tired! Every year I say I'm going to be more organized and get things done sooner. This year I worked on things during the Summer to make the transition back to school a little easier and it did, BUT I still found myself putting in a lot of hours right up to the last minute. There is always just one more thing to do! I shared a few pictures before school started, but I thought I would share what my room looked like once I tweaked and finished it up for Parent's Night last Thursday.
This is the front of my desk. I have these cute little guys from Melonheadz and then all the names of my students. I only have 11 students this year.
 This is my reading corner. They sit on the rug or beanbags to read books when their work is done. I also have this cute table on the rug so they can sit on the floor and read at the table if they want to. I also use this table as an extra spot when we need to spread out a little for a project or hands on activity.
 This is our theme verse for the school year. 
 On the other side of the board is our calendar. I also have our Superkids poster here which is part of our reading program.
 Here is a look at the whole wall from the other side of the room.
 This class loves learning about states so I have a map of the United States. I also have word cards from our reading program and vocabulary words. I put clothespins up with mounting tape so I just have to change the cards. The area that holds my vocabulary words is made with an oil pan from an auto store. If you are looking for a way to make a magnetic space this works great! All I did was cover it with a piece of black poster board. I would have spray painted it black, but it was already mounted from last year and I didn't want to take it off the wall. I added magnetic pockets so I just need to slip in the word cards that we need for that week. Super easy to change as we go.
 I put things that I need or would like in my classroom on these cute apples and added a magnet to the back for parents to see.
 We made these super cute apples for Parent's Night. They had to fill out what they were excited to do in 2nd grade and what they were NOT excited to do. They also shared something they had done in the summer, what their favorite subject was last year, and how many are in their family. A simple project that tells me a lot about each student.
 This is my door with all my cute stars for this year!
 I saw this Bible verse up at a friend's school and really liked it so I thought I would put it up too. Used my Cricut to cut out all the letters and put it on black posterboard.
My new magnetic easel that I LOVE! It's perfect for my rug area and for doing anchor charts. 

 This is my Listen Up board. We hang all of our headphones here that we use with our iPads. They are way more comfortable for my kiddos then ear buds. 
 This is from the other side of the room facing my Smartboard. I don't like that the cart is in the middle and usually in the way. It's a pain but I live with it because I am so thankful to have a Smartboard. My Smartboard is a huge motivator for learning. I LOVE that!
 I love my new little cart on wheels that I got for FREE!!!! I got it in June, from Scholastic, with my bonus points that I had been saving all year. Just needed to add my cute little labels and it was ready to go. Hoping it helps me to be more organized this year.
 This set of cubbies is to the side of my desk. I use the baskets for everything that always collects on my desk. Everything is labeled and has a spot.
 This is my classroom from standing in the doorway looking to the side. I have four tables with three seats at each table. Then I have a rectangle table where I can do small groups. This year I am trying something new. I have 2 stackable baskets under each table where they can keep their things. They were all different colors so I spray painted them black.  

Well, that's it! That's where I will be for the next 10 months with my kiddos. I'm excited to spend the school year with them!




Sunday, August 21, 2016

Back to School Gift Card Giveaway Blog Hop!!

I have joined up with several bloggers and we are all giving away $10 giftcards to spend at Teachers Pay Teachers! Just to make this giveaway a little more exciting I have decided to also giveaway my newest product, Place Value Cards!


I loved using place value cards this year because it really helped my kiddos understand place value to 100,000. I used the cards every day for 5-10 minutes. This gave me a chance to review place value and it was also a great way to access what they knew.



I usually started off by calling out a number. Once I called out a number it was up to them to make the number with their cards. Once everyone builds the number I would ask them what value a particular number has. For example, if the number was 34,560 I would ask them what value is the 4. If they understood they would respond 4,000.



I'm excited to give away a set of my place value cards!! Please fill out the rafflecopter below.



a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

A Birthday Celebration Blog Hop


We are looking forward to Summer! Summer vacation starts in 10 days and 4 hours, but who's counting???  I'm looking forward to a week away in June, trips to the beach, going to camp and time spent with friends. I've even caught myself thinking about next Fall and planning ahead! If you are looking ahead towards Summer you are in the right place. This blog hop is filled with fun ideas, freebies, giveaways and sale items!


One of my favorite Summer ideas is having an ice cream sundae buffet for dinner. It's perfect on one of those hot Summer nights that just thinking about cooking dinner makes you start melting. Do you know what I'm talking about??
What a great way to cool off in the Summer that kids and adults love!!!


One of my favorite recipes to make in the Summer is Strawberry Pie. It is so delicious with fresh strawberries and so easy to make!



A FREEBIE just for you!


These Butterfly Nametags are a great way to start the new school year. Click on the picture above to download from my TPT Store!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway








Monday, May 2, 2016

Math Fluency and More!

I'm super excited to share what I have been doing for the end of the year in Math! Did I just say end of the year???? I can't believe we are there already! 

I have a couple of fun announcements that you won't want to miss so stick around until the end of the post so you don't miss anything! 

First I would like to share some math ideas with you. One of my many goals for my second grade students is that when they leave me they will be fluent in their math facts. I know that they need to practice, practice, practice.....BUT how can I make that a little more fun for them so they are a little more motivated to learn. 

The first thing I came up with was GAMES! Do your students love games as much as mine do??? As soon as I say everything off your table they know a game is coming. The other day I heard one of my students whispering to another student, "this means were playing a game" I LOVE when they are excited and motivated!

The first game I made was a Scoot game. Now I certainly didn't invent Scoot. It's been around for a long time. However, I do make my own versions of it and my students LOVE to play it! I tend to use it a lot for Math. I also made Clip It cards which is great for centers or early finishers. Before laminating be sure to mark the correct answer on the back. Then students clip their answers with a clothespin and check the answer on the back when they are done. I like it when they can self check themselves.


I also made the game BAM! My kiddos LOVE this game and I have called it lots of different names. You laminate the cards then put them in a tall can. You can use a Pringle can or I use a Crystal Light container and just wrap paper around it so no one can see what they are picking. The can goes from student to student to pick out a card. If it has a math problem on it they solve it. If they get it right they keep it and if they get it wrong it goes back in the can. If they pick a BAM card they have to put all of their cards back in. Play continues until all the cards are gone.


All of these games are on sale starting tomorrow in my TPT Store. Just CLICK HERE to go to my store and check it out.

I also put together another fun center that my kiddos have loved doing. It involves ICE CREAM and anything that involves ice cream has to be good. Right?? In Maine, we have a lot of ice cream places that are closed all winter and we can't wait for them to open up in the late Spring. 




All they had to do was match the facts to the numbers on the cones. It took them a little longer than I expected. We will be using these for the next few weeks along with our other games until we get a little faster. You can pick up these cute ice cream cones by CLICKING HERE FOR NUMBERS 1-10
OR CLICK HERE for Numbers 11-20

SURPRISE 

#1

Now for your surprises! Well..... I said my store was on sale starting tomorrow but actually the whole site is on sale which means extra savings for YOU!!!! 
Don't forget to use the code CELEBRATE to get the 28% off.  

SURPRISE

#2

TeachersPayTeachers has given me a $10.00 gift card to raffle off!!! All you need to do is fill in the rafflecopter below and you could win yourself $10.00 to spend at TPT! 

Enter to WIN a copy of my Math Fluency 
Numbers 1-10
OR
Numbers 11-20



                                                              a Rafflecopter giveaway