Blogs we Admire Clue #4 and a TPT gift certificate giveaway!!

 

Have you guessed who I admire yet? 

 

I am still giving away $10 Teacher Pay Teacher gift certificate for guesses!! 

 

Comment below with your guess!

 



Secret Admirer Clue #3

 

I am excited to reveal my secret crush!!  Any ideas who it could be??

 

 

Comment below and you could win a $10 TPT gift certificate!



Secret Admirer Clue #2

The person I admire has taught a variety of grade levels.  She has taught from Pre K to 4th grade.  I have also taught a variety of grade levels;

1st grade (4 years)

2nd grade (3 years)

5th grade (1 year)

and

6th grade (2 years)

 

I went through a phase where I thought I should be well-rounded, but I have learned that I don't need to be well-rounded.  I need to teach tiny people. 

I think it's beneficial that I have taught tested grade levels in order to better understand the pressure of high-stakes testing.  I also think it was helpful to have taught both first and second grades.  It makes me a better teacher when I know how the lesson will be expanded upon in second grade.  Conversely, I am far more understanding when I teach second and realize the concept I am teaching is not really a "review" since it was a one day lesson in first grade.

 

Here's a sneak peek at the activity my kiddos completed.  It's a real "butts in the air" activity!

I love it!

 

 

What grades have you taught?

What's your favorite?  Why?

 

 

Leave a comment and a guess of the person I admire. 

Remember, there's a TPT gift certificate for the winner!!

Secret Admirer and a FREEBIE!!

I've been blog stalking for a long time, much longer than I have been attempting to blog.  I have definite go - to blogs, you know the ones.  They manage to blog EVERY week and still make new materials, do they sleep??  They also do national presentations, and bloggy meet ups.  HOW do they do it?!  Seriously?  How is there enough time in the day to get all that done?  Maybe they don't have kids, or at least don't have kids at home.  I just don't know, but I am always striving to improve myself and they motivate me!

 

While blog stalking awhile ago, I came across a new blogger.  She participates in a few blogs and produces some awesome materials!  I am in awe of the amount of things she has time to create.  Another non-sleeper??   She doesn't currently have her own classroom -- she a specialist.  That means the girl is EVERYWHERE!!!  Pulling kids to work with from a wide range of classrooms.  Any ideas?  Who could it be?  List your guesses in the comments and ...

I will have a special prize for the winner!  (THINK --- TPT  gift card)

Tune in on the 12th to find out!

 

Here's a little thank you for stopping by.  I created this when I found a group of boys had taken some of my math center cards and turned them into WAR cards.  Brilliant!! Why didn't I think of that?

This is for the Blue table!!

Spring Cleaning Sale on TPT and Common Core Math Centers

 

 

I decided to join the Spring Cleaning Sale!  So if you want to check out some of my newest math centers, this would be a fabulous time to pick things up!  I know I have a bazillion things on my Wish List, so I'm headed over to TPT myself to load up!

 

 

 

I finished my Spring is Sprung Math Centers this week!  I have them listed together and separately.  I want to make it easy for people to try out my products without a huge commitment.  How many times I have bought something and then wished I hadn't?  So I listed things two ways!

 

Just Measuring with my Peeps!

 

 

Getting my Ducks in a Row!

 

 

 

Rain, Rain Go Away!

 

Turtle Time

 

What Does the Fox Say?  Oh My Gosh, my little firsties begged me to make this one!!  Too Cute!

 

Want all of these amazing math centers??? They are currently on sale for $4.00!!! That's right, $4.00!!  Take advantage of the Spring Cleaning going on!

 

 

 

I will give away one tomorrow!! Follow my blog and leave me a comment!

 

 

 

 



A Spring Break Miracle -- I finished one week of Journeys Lesson Plans! (29 to go!)

Can I get an AMEN?

I managed to finish O-N-E week of lesson Plans for the new Journeys series that we adopted for the Fall.  I thought I'd get a jump on planning and prepping materials.  Goodness knows that beginning of the year can be absolutely overwhelming.  I plan to make my days very structured and consistent.  My kiddos thrive on what they know is coming next.  So I planned this with them in mind.  Monday, word wall activities, Tuesday HFW tic- tac- toe, Wednesday HFW Roll-Say-Keep, Thursday Cheering HFW, Friday assessment.  I also have posters to support new terms.  I got the Anchor Charts ready to go --- ok I put the Title together and found the items needs to sort (animals/people).    I decided my kiddos need some serious following directions experiences so I plan to do a Friday writing (I have writer's workshop everyday.) and craft each week.  Trying to tie it all together.

 

 

It's on sale for half price, $2.50.  I'd love for someone using Journeys to give me their thoughts.  If you use Journeys, leave a comment and I will pick one person to preview it for FREE!!

 

 

What series do you use?  How do you fit it all in??

 

 

 

 



Trade and Grade Blog Hop

We are trading products and grading them hard!  Putting the product to the test in our own classroom.

I had the pleasure of trading with Dianna Radcliff of Sassy-Savvy-Simple Teaching.  She gave me the most AMAZING interactive notebook to try out!

 

 

 

I put the 1st grade E.L.A. Interactive notebook to the test!

 

I printed off the unit and took it to school.  My testers were anxious to get started!  Everything was super easy to use and all inclusive.  No need to run around and find other parts.  Everything is ready to go!

 

Writing the beginning sounds!

 

 

 Lifting the flaps to practice those letters!

 

 

This is fun!  And I have a quick check to see if my students can identify beginning sounds and form the letters correctly!  I love it when I can streamline assessing student learning.

 

 

On to identifying sentence types.

 



 Students took 3 different sentences and determined the ending punctuation. 

 It was a fabulous review of questions, exclamations, and periods.

 

Writing describing words.

 

Hmmmmm.....

 

How can we describe a birthday cake?

 

creamy

sweet

delicious

 

 

How can you describe flowers?

 

fresh

beautiful

smelly

 

 

How can you describe a frog?

 

green

jumpy

smooth

 

 

 

What a wonderful way to check to see if my ELL students are understanding what an adjective is.  A great way to activate prior knowledge. 

 

and.... the kiddos absolutely love the activities!

 

Every day they ask what they will be adding to their notebooks!



I know you are can't wait to try this out for yourself!!  Here is a FREEBIE for you!  Please go and see Dianna at her TPT store, the link is above.  She has all kinds of wonderful interactive notebooks, as well as many other can't live without activities!!



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