Halloween FREEBIE

I reviewed dictionary skills recently.  My third graders acted like they never used a dictionary before.  AHHHH.  So needles to say, I spent some time reviewing dictionary skills and guide words. 

That went better, but then I went into ABC order (which at third grade should be a review) and boy was it disappointing.  They don't seem to remember how to put words in ABC order.  To help review without taking any more time in whole class, I made this fun ABC Order game for my centers. 

I'm feeling kinda lonely lately because I'm not really getting any comments lately,  so until tomorrow, if you are interested in a free copy, please leave me a comment about what seems to be a tough topic for your students this year.  You will need to also leave me your email address and I will send it to you for FREE. 


Remember...tell me a tough topic for your students right now and leave your email.  Comment and leave me your email before 5:00 Monday evening.  After that it will be for sale in my TPT store.  Thanks and I hope to "hear" from you all soon!  :)

Great Bloggy Friend Giveaway

Dana from Fun in 1st Grade is having a FANTASTIC giveaway.  She has over 50 prizes and 170 chances to win.  You have to go and check it out (and you will see that I am one of the prizes - sooooooo excited!).  Click on the picture to go and check it out.

 

 

RtI / Intervention Centers

I'm so excited!  I finally figured out how I can do RtI/Interventions Time each day.  I spent too much time last year pulling out worksheets for my students to do during RtI time.  I never really liked doing it like that, but I couldn't find the time to figure out something else.

Well this summer I spent a lot of time organizing my Lakeshore activities, task cards, and centers.  All of that hard work paid off because it is working soooooo well!

Here is what I am doing.  We use NWEA testing to figure out our RtI/Intervention groups. Since we just finished testing, I was able to use that data to figure out my groups.   I then pulled my materials for the week and put them around my classroom. 

I bought these really cute signs from Learning Resources.  They hold my signs on one side and they are wipe on/off on the other side (I'm not really using the other side, but it will be great to write directions on when I need to).  I use my guided reading and math workshop center signs that I have on TPT to go into the sign holders.  I don't have time to really use either during reading or math, so using them during RtI time is working out great!

     

I then move my students to the center they need to work on for the day.  It is really working great!  Right now I have they following centers for reading:  read to self (silent reading in class library), read to someone (reader theaters with comprehension questions from Lakeshore), word work (phonics game from Lakeshore), writing (shared writing journals), and vocabulary (my vocabulary treasure activity).  I printed out smaller cards and wrote the student's names on a little card.  I put them in a pocket chart.  Each morning I move the center card up so that the next group is ready for that center.

Here is a picture of my reading centers.

The following centers are for math:  test prep (self check cards for state testing practice), math facts (flash card drill with a partner), problem solving (problem solving cards), task cards (great task cards from TPT), and math game (games from myself or Lakeshore).

Here is a picture of my math centers.

 

 

It is really working out well, and the students LOVE it.  I will keep you all updated later in the school year to see if it is still going smoothly.  The signs I use are in my TPT store if you are interested!

 

What is working well in your class???

200 Follower Giveaway WINNER

We have a winner....  Congratulations to Katie S for winner my giant 200 Follower Giveaway.  Thank you to all who entered and to all my bloggy friends who participated!



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Fall Linky TPT Sale

Happy Fall Everyone!  I have joined up with Casey with Second Grade Math Maniac and over 50 bloggy friends to offer you a wonderful sale at TPT.  You can get 20% these bloggers stores this weekend only.

Hop on over to take advantage of this awesome sale.  I know I'm hopping over!

 

 

Giveaway ends tonight!

My HUGE giveaway ends tonight.  I have 12 bloggy friends plus myself, so don't forget to enter!  Scroll down to enter rafflecopter.  Good Luck!!!!

Huge TPT Linky Sale

Casey at Second Grade Math Maniac is having a TPT Fall Sale linky starting on Friday.  I will be joining in on the fun with over 50 bloggers! 

 

 

So stop on over to my TPT store and start adding to your wish list!  Everything will be on SALE this weekend!!!  And check in on Friday to check the linky and see what other bloggy friends have on sale!

 

Apple-tastic Freebie

Here is the apple-tastic writing activity that I tried downloading the other day (sorry I was fighting with Google Docs and they won).  So I finally have it ready.  If you are interested in this fun apple writing project, just click on the picture. 

 

 

 

 

And don't forget to enter my 200 Follower Giveaway!  It ends in two days...

 

 

200 Follower Giveaway

Okay...here it is...my BIG 200 follower giveaway.  I know I'm not exactly at 200, but I'm so excited I had to start it early.  I had so many wonderful bloggy friends who volunteered to be a part of this wonderful event.  So THANK YOU to my bloggy friends.  Here is what you can get with this giveaway:

Megan from I Teach. What's Your Super Power? is giving away a blog template from her new blog:

 

Aimee is giving away Math Workstation Number Jar- Numbers 1-1,000

  

 

The wonderful Greg is giving away two products: I Love The 80s! Saint Bernards! Ten Frame Number Cards and Number Posters 1-10 With Fingers and Ten Frames! 

 

The fantastic Dana is giving away any one product you want from her TPT store!

 

Storie from is giving away Let's Take a Break: My Take on Brain Breaks (Swirls

 

 Meg is giving away three sets of task cards from TPT fractions, number sense, and area/perimeter.

 

 

 

Crystal is giving any item from her Teachers Notebook store.

 

Hope is giving away one item from her TPT store.

 

 

 

 

 

Patti is giving away an addition board game from Promethean that is aligned to the CCS. 

Tania is giving away her Multiplication Mega Pack.



 

Viki from Special Teacher from Special Kids giving away a bulletin board/door display kit using the Broadway Playbill theme (includes a large playbill display and smaller individual playbills for each students' head shots). This is NOT available in the TPT store yet...AND she is also giving a $10 gift card for TPT.



Cindi from Miss T's Diary of a Grateful Teacher is offering one item from her TPT store.


WOW!!!  I think that is everyone.  I can't believe how many wonderful bloggy friends offered to help me in this awesome giveaway.  THANK YOU!  Now stop reading and start entering!!!  Good Luck!



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Apple-tastic Writing

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately...I've been so busy with school this week.  I came down with ANOTHER sinus infection (second one in two months) and we have NWEA testing!  Anyone else have NWEA or MAP testing???  UGGGG!

Anyways...I had my class do a quick writing activity.  I wanted to see how they came in as writers and I wanted to do something fun involving apples.  I had them pick 4 of their favorite apple treats and put those on the graphic organizer.  Then I had them write why each one was their favorite. 

After that they had to pick only one treat to write about to try and persuade the reader that this treat was the most apple-tastic apple treat.  T

The kids had fun doing it and I got to see where they were with their writing abilities.  I'm having trouble with Google documents, so as soon as I get it working I will make it a freebie.  Sorry I can't get google docs to work tonight.  Uggg...what a week!

Have a great night.  I'm hoping to get a few more followers so I can put my 200 follower give-away on here this weekend!

Breaking News Comprehension

I like to use the 5+1 comprehension strategy in my classroom throughout the school year.  I have my students answer:  who, what, when, where, why, and how.  This is a bulletin board that I have that I use to review this strategy.  The idea came from Pinterest.  I do not know who's original idea it was...

I post it on newspaper so that it looks more like a breaking news story.  I don't laminate the newspaper because no matter what I do, it still turns yellow.  I just replace the newspaper each time I use it.

After I introduce this concept I use it for my guided reading groups.  The children love it because they feel like reporters!

Pumpkin Punctuation Game

I am just starting my first English chapter this week.  I start out with sentences or not a sentence.  Then I go into the 4 types of sentences.  I like to play games when I review the four types of sentences, it keeps the class engaged. 

One game I play is Pumpkin Punctuation Four Corners.  I print out these cute pumpkin cutouts (pumpkins because it's getting to be fall and then I can keep using them throughout fall to review).

I put one pumpkin in each of the corners in my classroom.  I then post a sentence on my Elmo and have the children go to the corner that matches that punctuation mark.  After reviewing sentences for a couple of weeks, I would then start saying sentences orally.  This way the children really have to listen to what I am saying.

I also put the little pumpkins on Popsicle sticks and have my students quiz each other for a center game.

We have a "FALL-tastic" time! 

My 200 Follower give-a-way is coming this weekend...only need 10 more followers!  It's going to be BIG!!!!!

Target Finds

I'm so excited.  I ran to Target for a couple things and I found that they put out a couple things already for Halloween.  I know it's early, but you know if it's in the bargain area it won't be there long. 

So anyways...aren't these so cute?  The big ones are $2.50 for one and the little ones are $2.50 for 2.  I bought these for home and I have a few to go to work. 

The cute little bags were $1.00 each.  I'm going to use them to put a pumpkin punctuation game I made for a center game.

Monday Made It

I'm linking up with Tara for her now monthly Monday Made It. 

I know you have all seen the cute Boggle/Scrabble boards and the neat Add It Up ideas out there on Pinterest and on so many blogs, right?  Well I wanted to make them different.  I used the Boggle idea last year and just copied the papers for my early finishers to work on.

But this year I wanted to do something different.  The problem I was having was how or where I was going to put them.  I ran out of wall room in my classroom, so I couldn't put them on a bulletin board or in a pocket chart.  I really wanted to do them both, especially since I've noticed that I have a few early finishers in my class this year.

I walked into the teacher's lounge the other day and what was sitting in the "FREE Take me Home Section" (or as we call it the stuff left over that we can't fit into our classrooms anymore section)...but two small cookie sheets.  I thought...hmmm...that could work.

I snatched them up and I finally worked on them this weekend.  I decided to start out by just putting the papers taped to the cookie sheets. I was going to put magnets with the items on them, but I thought my students would get a kick out of taking them to their seats when they were working on them.

     

I wanted to do a Scrabble theme instead of Boggle for a couple reasons:  1) I bought the cute graphics from Scrappindoodles so it will be easy for me to change the letter tiles each week, 2) I have a Scrabble game in my classroom so I thought it would tie together nicely, and 3) I like the idea of having the children add up the amounts for each letter used (so maybe they will make longer words).

I also wanted to do a Math It Up idea instead of Add it Up since I eventually will be changing it to subtraction and then multiplication since I teach third grade.

What do you think???

Upcoming Giveaway Help

Hiya!  Can I just say "Oh...My...Gosh....  I will not get all emotional here (okay maybe just a little).  I can't believe that my little blog is getting close to 200 followers.  I owe this to all my bloggy friends out there.  Without you I would just be talking to myself (again, as usual)!

So that gets me to this - would any of my bloggy friends like to join me for an amazing 200 followers giveaway????  If so, could you email me so we can set something up????  I want to get it up and going soon, please!

Thank you in advance and I will have more about my giveaway soon!  Have a great weekend and I hope you are all enjoying your three days off!  :)

I Won a New Blog

Hello everyone.  I am so happy I had to share....I won a giveaway from Megan at I Teach. What's Your Super Power?   I won a a blog design!  I am so excited.  I get to go on Megan's design page A Bird in Hand Blog Design  and pick my basic design. 

I was thinking of doing a classroom blog.  Do any of you have a classroom blog??  If so, would you be willing to share the blog title with me so I can get some ideas of what you share???  I want to make it easy for my parents and students to check, but I really have no idea how to put it together. 

Any ideas my bloggy friends????