Five for Friday (5/31)

I'm linking again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday! 

1. After today, we are now in double digits for days left of school.  The count down is so real now...9 days with kids (only 7 full days and 2 early release days) and 1 work day.  Since my husband is a teacher too, we leave the day after school is done (usually a Saturday) and go to Nags Head for 2 weeks.  I cannot wait to have my feet in the sand!!

2.  We bought my daughter a sandbox on Monday!  She loves it so much, we spend about 2 hours each afternoon in it before the nightly preparations for the next day.   Here is the sandbox she got:

3.  My kids will be making these for their Father's Day gifts next week.  I had some extra foam stars that I found several years ago at Target along with some foam that I cut into 3x3 squares and cut out the middle.  They will glue their picture to the star and the frame over top and decorate around it.  I think they will turn out nicely.

4.  I posted about the Writing Through the Year Units here that I bought from Deanna Jump and DeeDee Wills.  I LOVE them already!!!!!  I cannot wait to start using them!!

5.  SOL testing is finished for this school year!!!!!!!!!  Next week, we will go back to our nomal schedules!!!

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post.  Our wifi at school has been turned off due to the online testing so I haven't been able to use my iPad to take pictures and upload to the computer.  I will have more pictures for you next week. 

Happy Friday!

 

Writing Through the Year Units by D. Jump and D. Wills

Last week I won a giveaway of $20 to TpT.  I have looked and looked to find something that I just knew I couldn't teach without.  This year my writing instruction was not my favorite.

Well...I'm here to tell you about these AMAZING units from Deanna Jump and DeeDee Wills.  They are avilable on Deanna's TpT store. 

Click either unit above to see more details about them.  I am already loving them and can't wait to get the other units.  These units are brief but detailed and because they are made by teachers, they get it.  These ladies know what writing workshop is like in the regular classroom and can speak to it in their descriptions.  My favorite part so far is that they have already MADE the anchor charts that they reference.  And they are in color to print from the computer.  No more of reading about writer's workshop and then having to create your own anchor charts.  These ladies have done it for you!!

They do have Units 1-4 bundled for $32.  You can find them here. 

Here is the list of titles for each unit.  You can click the name to find it on TpT:

1 - My Pictures Tell a Story

2 - It's All About Me!  Writing Personal Narratives

3 - "How to" Writing

4 - Writing for Reason

5 - Informational Text

6 - Writing Small Moment Personal Narratives

7 - Fiction Writing

I did see in a few questions on Deanna's TpT store that there should be a Unit 8.  She does not answer the questions of what the title will be.  However, she did say that once it is finished, she will bundle units 5-8 as well. 

Happy Friday!!!

HORRAY! I have 10 Followers!!!!!!!



 

Thanks to Sonya Dehart Design for the digital paper and to The 3AM Teacher for the fun boarder.

 Ok, ok, ok...for you advanced bloggers this is no big deal.  However, my first post was on April 16, 2013.  So I have only blogged for 1.5 months.  I am so thankful to those teacher friends who have chosen to follow me.  If you haven't checked out my TpT store, do so now and pick a product that you would like.  (click my button below to get to my store) I'll email it to you.  Please leave a comment with your product request and your email address so I can send you the file. 

For those of you who are not following me, my store is on sale for 20% off in celebration of 10 followers.  Consider following my blog and I'll have another celebration at 20 followers!!



Question....I need your help!!!

Since I'm new to this whole blogging thing, I have tried to figure out all the cool things I have seen on my favorite blogger's pages.  One of the biggest things I've enjoyed most about blogging is commenting on other people's posts.  I usually just leave my blog sight address but would love to know how to hyperlink it in my comment. 

Do you know how to do this?  Please help!!!!!!!

Next Year Linky...

I am linking up with Finding JOY in 6th Grade!  Click the picture below to see her linky post and all the others who have linked up.

Here are a few things I'm going to do next year....

This year I begun to create or alter products that I have found based on my students needs and abilities.  It has been the most eye openning experience for me to see such a value in my student's ability to practice more challenging skills.  (Click the image to see my TpT store)

I have re-created my classroom with such a wonderful resource of teacher bloggers!  The past 2 years, I have spent time reading and following my favorite bloggers.  Now, I'm trying to encourage my teacher friends to follow me in this journey.  Just in a few months of blogging, I have earned 5-10 free products through posting comments and  free giveaways.

When I decided last Fall to begin selling my creations on TpT, my goal was to eventually blog about them.  My experience with blogging has helped me to reflect on my teaching as well as share ideas with other teacher bloggers out there! If you like what you're reading....follow me!!

What do you like most about blogging? Do you have any other suggestions for me in my new adventure?  Do you like buying products from others or creating your own geared toward your students' needs?

I won! I won!

What an awesome way to start a Monday!  I woke up this morning and had an email from  Julie at The Techie Teacher  because I was the winner of her 100 Follower Giveaway!

 

I won a $15 gift certificate to TpT!!!!!  And I got to pick 2 items from her store.  Check it out here.  She has some great resources. 

Thanks Julie for offering this giveaway!!
 

Five for Friday Linky

I'm linking for the first time with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday! 


Well, our school has been testing all week so our students have to stay in the classroom ( no resource classes) until lunch at 11:05.  We start our day at 8:00. I have loved spending this time with my kids and experimenting with different things.

1. We made these cute paintings by putting tape strips on white construction paper and then painting over it. Once it dried, I pulled the tape off and they looked like this!  I'm so pleased with how they turned out!!

2. I had a parent volunteer to come in and do a craft with the kids. She read them a few fish stories and then using baby oil, made these:

They turned out awesome too!!

3. I finished giving my students the PALS assessment (only in VA) and have recorded all of their scores in the cummulative folders.  I can check that off of my end of year to do list!

4. I have been assessing my students this week on their math skills.  They have practiced all of the first grade SOLs the whole year in math work stations, so I thought I would create a few assessments that would tell me what they learned. Click the picture below for a freebie from my TpT store. Please share your thoughts by commenting here or at TpT.

5.  And today we used the clickers to review some math concepts we have practiced this year.  Do you have clickers? Or have you ever used them?  My kids LOVE them and they are VERY easy to use!!  



Budding Blog Linky - I'm a new blogger!!!

Today I'm linking up with I Heart Recess for her Budding Blog linky.  I'm a new blogger so please check out my blog and consider following me!

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging because I was inspired by a lot of teacher-bloggers 2 summers ago when I was beginning to use Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations.  Deedee Wills at Miss Kindergarten was my biggest inspiration since she hosted this Blog Party all about Ms. Diller's book.  If you haven't seen it, you must check it out!

2. What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

I LOVE teaching Math!  It is a huge passion of mine.  This summer I am going to spend some time at professional development to revise/create some math assessments geared toward the VA SOLs.

3. Describe your teaching style.

technology driven

passionate about my students

hands on learning

student lead classroom

4. Give three interesting facts about you.

- I was born in Heidleburg, Germany.

- I want to live at the beach some day.

- I could eat mexican food for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  I LOVE it!!!!

5. Do you have a TpT store? If yes, post the link :)

I have a TpT store!  Click my button to visit and consider folllowing me!  I have a lot of Math Work Station Games and just posted a free money assessment.  Go check it out.

Tried-It Tuesday Linky

I am linking up today with Fourth Grade Flipper for her Tried-It Tuesday Linky. 

  Today, I would like to just share the fact that I am a new blogger!!  I have been selling some products I made on TpT since October after following the many teacher-bloggers out there.  I got my main inspiration from Deedee Wills.  I have loved the idea of blogging and am just trying to find the time to be able to fit it into my schedule.  Please consider following my blog (to the right on my blog) and my TpT store (click the button below).     

I'd love to hear from you in my comments about your journey to becoming a teacher-blogger.    Where and when do you do your blogging?  Do you have to give up time with your family/friends?  Do you blog at school at home?

Money Assessment Freebie

With only 4.5 weeks left of school, I am making sure that all of my kids have mastered their math SOLs (VA state standards). We have had a money math work station all year so I feel very confident about their knowledge of coin names, values, and ability to add and make different coin combinations. I made this quick assessment to be sure.  It assesses all of the essential knowledge for VA SOL 1.7.   Click either picture below to download this product from my TpT store. If you do download, please leave a comment (either here or in my store) and let me know what you think.

Mother's Day or Father's Day gift idea

This is my favorite thing to make for either moms or dads on their special day.  Usually for moms, I will buy the large white tiles (bigger than what is in the pictures) to make trivets.  But this year, I already had these and decided to just use the smaller ones.  The smaller ones make great coasters for mom or dad. You could save this craft for Father's Day in June. 

Here you can see the kids use sharpies to decorate a picture. 

Tip: use a baby wipe to erase if they make a mistake, but be sure to dry it completely before they write again. 

Here is a final product!  They always turn out GREAT!

On the back, I write their name, grade level and date (May 2013). 

On the back again, I then add these felt stickers to keep the coaster/trivet elevated slightly from the surface so not to scratch. 

When all my students are finished, I lay them out on bulletin board paper and spray a clear glossy spray paint  for the final coat. This helps the marker not to smear. I didn't get a picture of the spray paint bottle but will do that and update this post on Monday. 

Testing Bulletin Board and Addition Pack on TpT

Hi!  I wanted to show you guys my bulletin board that had to be done this month.  The teachers take turns hanging bulletin boards in the hallways of our school.  During the month of May/June is our state-wide testing so our administration encourages us to make a test friendly board that encourages good test taking skills.  Here is our board:

I also wanted to share my newest product with you.  Many people have gotten my gingerbread 3 addend math station so I decided to make a Adding Pack that would give you options for any month of the year.  Here is a look:

Click the picture to find this Math Work Station Pack in my TpT Store. IT'S ON SALE TOO!!!

I am also leaving my products on sale through Thursday in case you forgot about the sale! :)

Happy sale shopping!!!