Happy Halloween and a Mega Giveaway

I hope you all have a wonderful, fun Halloween. 

If you were in Sandy's path I hope you are safe and you had minimal damage.

We ended up having a little rain and very little wind. Living on a hill, I thought we would get so much more. We were suppose to get 60-75 mph winds. We got about 25 mph winds. We were lucky.

Have a good day today.

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You have to check out this giveaway!

WOWZERS!!!

Sara, over at Mss V's Busy Bees is having an AMAZING giveaway! 

You have to go over and check it out!

FIVE giveaways!!!! The first four are products from some AMAZING bloggers and then the fifth is a 31 utility tote. I have two. LOVE them!

So, head on over and enter!

Good Luck!

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Good Thoughts and a SALE

I am sending good thoughts and prayers to all who are in the path of Sandy. 

I hope you stay safe.

We are suppose to get high winds beginning at 2pm and last until tomorrow evening. A lot of schools are closing for the half day today. Although this is scary enough as it is, I know a lot of others who are in for a lot more than that.

I hope Sandy is not as bad as they think she is. 

Good luck to all that are in her path.

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I am having a sale in my TpT store until Halloween.

Click the picture to go to my store. :)

If you still have power, maybe you can snag some of my products and prepare them for later.

Stay safe!!!

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Photo Freebies on Friday

The Common Core Standards say there has to be more non-fiction used in reading and writing.

I thought since I have been taking some photos that I would share some with you to get your kids writing and reading more non-fiction.

This applies to all grade levels. 

By fourth grade, students should be reading 50% non-fiction books. Now, from what I understand, it is not only in your ELA block that you have to have 50%. It is encompassed in all subject areas. 

Has anyone seen what the percentage is suppose to be in the lower grades?

I have not seen a concrete number for this.

I am assuming since it only grows to 55% by eighth grade and 70% by twelfth grade that it should be less for the younger grades. 

Although this is my thought...and I know we (our school) is shifting tremendously toward that 50% in all grade levels, I still feel students need to read for fun.

I will get off my high horse and give you some freebies from a photo walk.

You can grab them right off the page with a right click or if you are a Mac person (like moi) then click alt/option and click. Easy peasy!

I hope you enjoy them.

Let me know if you have any requests for specific photos. 

I LOVE to take pictures :)

Have a wonderful day!

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Fun Books from the Book Fair

Our school had a Book Fair this week.

Of course I could not resist going down and spending some lots of money

These are the books I got for my classroom.

Alien's in Underpants

Save the World

by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort

There is a meteor heading straight for Earth. What can we do? Something happens to save Earth and you won't believe what it is!

No Jumping on the Bed

by Tedd Arnold

In this 25th Anniversary Edition of the book, Mr. Arnold has re-illustrated each picture to make it even more appealing to kids and adult alike.

Walter is jumping on his bed at night after his parents say goodnight.

You will never believe what happens when Walter's bed goes through the floor.

"Down and down went Walter..."

This is one of my favorite authors ever! You will love reading this book aloud to your students.

Smelly Locker

silly dilly school songs

by Alan Katz

I love singing these songs to the kids they get such a kick out of them.

This book is comprised of silly songs about school written to familiar melodies.

Your students will LOVE them!

Homer

by Diane deGroat and Shelley Rotner

Homer loves baseball as much as his owner. One night all the dogs get together to watch the Doggers and the Hounds play each other. Who will win?

This book has photos of dogs with illustrated bodies. It is very cute.

I am going to use this to teach about other ways to illustrate and using language.

And...for my little cousins.

Let's Get Dressed!

by Caroline Jayne Church

This is such a cute little board book.

There are little tabs on the side with patterns to turn to specific pages.

Pete the Cat

by Eric Litwin

I think you know how I feel about this book.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

La Pinata the Piñata

by Rita Rosa Ruesga

This book has beautiful songs in Spanish and English.

Ten Little Puppies

by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy

This adorable book is a counting book in Spanish and English.

I hope they enjoy their books.

I know I already have!

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Halloween Ideas on Endless Pinitabilites

You should go check out the amazing Pins over at Endless Pinitabilities.

There are so many great ideas! There is no way I am going to be able to fit them all in!

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Blogging...warning...sappy!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone of you for making me a better teacher.

When it is hard to be a teacher sometimes, I get onto the internet and head over to my teacher blogs.

Everything is positive. Everything is for the advancement of our teaching and our students.

I am so grateful for all you have done.

When I began blogging I wasn't sure what to expect. 

Now that it has been over a year, I don't know what I did without you all!

You inspire me, help me, make me laugh, make me wonder, challenge me, etc..

I really wanted you to know how much you mean to me.

Have a wonderful day!

Sappiness over...Freebie and new Unit tomorrow.

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Something in the Air

We had two assemblies yesterday. I am so tired. I cannot imagine how my firsties feel!
They work so hard to sit and behave and then have to do the same in the classroom.
We had the story tellers Beauty and the Beast: Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss.

This picture is from their website. Click on it to go!

They were amazing!
They had the attention of more than 300 Kindergarteners, First Graders, and Second Graders!
They were so engaging.

I have pictures I will post when I get them off of my camera. Wait until you see how engaged the students were.
I highly recommend taking a look to see what they have to offer.
They will be coming back to help our fourth graders with story telling. They will culminate with a storytelling celebration with the fourth graders and their parents.

Have a wonderful day!

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Naming and Actions Game Freebie

Just a little freebie for you all today. :)

I have this up on my Google Drive but I can't seem to make it available for everyone to get to... so I decided to upload it to my TpT store.

Click on the picture above to download.

This is part of a center I put out quite frequently. The children get so excited when we make up our own “naming” and action parts. 

Cut out and laminate the cards. Have the students turn them over in two piles. They pick one from each pile and make a sentence with a naming and an action part. 

Have them choose their favorite sentence and illustrate it.

I hope you enjoy it! I know my firsties LOVE it!

Have a wonderful day!

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I've Been Boo-ed!!!

Barbara, over at Grade Onderful has Boo-ed me!

Maybe you've seen or heard of this fun "game" in neighborhoods or even at your school... but let's try a blog version!  Here is how it works:

If you've been booed, copy and paste the above pic and these "rules" into your post.

1.  Give a shout out to the blogger who booed you and link back to their site!

2. Share 3-5 October activities, books, products (yours or someone else),

or freebie(s) that you love!

3.  Share the Boo love with 5 bloggers- make sure you check this link to make sure you don't boo someone again:
I've Been Boo-ed

And don't forget to tell them that they have been BOOED!

4.  Link up {here} so that others can find you and read about your October ideas!  And while you are there... check out the other great blogs!

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Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

These have to be my all-time favorite cookies. I could eat them all!

How cute is this?

I can't wait to use these during Daily 5.

A couple of my Freebies for Fall.

My kiddos LOVE this!

They have been working with it since the beginning of October and it still smells awesome and is so soft!

I'm sharing the BOO with...

This was so much fun!!!

Have a wonderful day!

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Daily 5 is Implemented! Woo Hoo!!!

Doesn't it feel good?

Yes!

Yesterday was the first day of fully implementing Daily 5. 

We had students listening to stories on the computer, working with Wikki Sticks, Reading the Room, writing in their writing journals, making cards, working with magnets, making sight words with play dough, sorting upper-case and lower-case letters, working on the SmartBoard, and yes I can say it now...Reading to Self AND Reading to Someone.

Happy Dance...Happy Dance...

Somebody pinch me!

I had to stop and just watch them.

Then I had to get to work.

Guided Reading.

I LOVE Guided Reading. It works for me.

This year I have four reading groups. I am so lucky to have one of our Reading Specialist coming in everyday to work with one of my groups. 

The kiddos are so excited to have their little book bags and their own books to take home. 

In honor of my little firsties doing such a great job during Daily 5, I would like to offer another freebie and a sale at my TpT store. Just for today and tomorrow...Everything is 20% off.

Here is the freebie:

Click on any of the pictures to go to my TpT store and download! :)

Have a wonderful day!

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Photo Linky Party

I am linking up with Miss Nelson for a photo linky party!
Oh MY!!! How perfect!!!

I LOVE taking pictures and I LOVE Linky parties. What a great combination!
Now it gives me a reason to take MORE pictures!

September in my classroom!

We made pumpkin pie play dough.

We had LOTS of Morning Meetings and Reading Buddy time.

We did math.

They lowered my SmartBoard so my firsties can use it!

We did Daily 5.

We worked on Phonics.

We were named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence!

We had Character Education Assemblies.

We went to the zoo.

I wish you could have heard their laughter as the penguins were "following" them.

Head on over to see all the photos from September!

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