It's May and a Fundraiser

I'm joining up with Farley for her monthly currently! 

Listening: 

My children are scheming ways to get the iPads this morning to play more minecraft... I don't get it...

Loving: 

15 days of school.... YOU HEAR ME??? 15 days! 

Thinking: 

Bubs ran a super high fever last night {which always freaks me out}. It finally broke at around 2 a.m. and it hasn't returned. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't reappear. 

Wanting: 

Happy National Scrapbook Day! In case you weren't aware - I have a little scrapbook/crafty problem... Here is a picture of my {newly organized} scrapbook/craft room :) 

Needing: 

A big huge dumpster to park itself outside... or the AmVets trailer... or the Goodwill trailer... and just let me load it up. It is past the point of overwhelming and it's not going anywhere! 

Surprise: 

I wanted to give Mr. Elementary Math a shout-out - 

I've met him IRL and he is wonderful and funny - my kind of person... :) 

Go over and visit his blog

He has some super helpful resources for teaching subtraction {click here for a blog post}

 and a tpt store FULL of math activities and games! 

Before I go - I wanted to let you all know about a pack that has been put together in memory of Teresa Williams from 2nd Grade Pig Pen - she passed away last month and we are trying help her family with the medical costs by putting together a few bundles.  There are 5 bundles in all - please go visit her tpt store to see which one is best for you!

My Pack Up Your Place Value activity is in bundle #1. I feel very fortunate to be bundled with some other amazing bloggers and tpt'ers - all proceeds will go to her family. 

Georgia Blogger Meet Up

This weekend was just 'peachy' ;)  I was super lucky to meet up with 18 Georgia bloggers/tpt'ers across the state on Saturday in Macon, Georgia. Mrs. Jayne from Smart Kids set up the whole thing and it was well worth the trip!  I traveled with Stacy from Funky Fresh Firsties and Angie from Monahan's Monkey Madness about two hours to the Georgia School Supply store. It has been almost two years since I've set foot in a REAL teacher supply store... I did major damage  bought some super fun stuff.... Mr. Elementary Math set up a fun auction for us to participate in. Ms. Valerie found some hot sellers... {she's a pretty hot seller herself...;)} Mrs. Cobb is showing off her flower - Thanks Mrs. Cobb! :)  Stacy was the big winner for the day...  {who forgot to take her name outta that hat?}  YOU HAD ONE JOB....  And - Please excuse the scrap-ish look to my pictures... I purchased some digital scrapbooking kits and I have been playing... ;)  Two of the bloggers that attended our meet up had been emailing and messaging back and forth for over and year and had never met in person!  {Yes, they still liked each other once they met too...} hahah! :) 

I took home some scratch and sniff stickers for when we read How Are You Peeling? at the beginning of the year. [The stickers look like they came off the pages of that book.. and I can't get enough of that book... so I had to have all of them] I also grabbed the new Hot Dots Jr. cards and pens. How did I not know they had animal friends now? OMG! I found a game that I think my kiddos are going to LoVe called Kloo Zoo - which is a making sentences game... each time you can make a sentence and read it you get an animal... first to get 10 animals wins. {who doesn't want to build a zoo??? I mean.. I live in one every day... but ya' know - I wouldn't want others to be jealous!} 

Mr. Ed and Mrs. Diane were so sweet and helpful. I enjoyed hearing Mrs. Diane talk about meeting with different vendors and how carefully she looks over the products before purchasing for her store. One {I} would assume that before a company launched a product they would update it AND spell-check it.... but she has found both issues during her last round of shopping! {I know... we are all human.... but really?} SMH. It is inspiring to see a business run with such integrity and high-standards.  I was overjoyed to meet everyone, put faces with names, and names to blogs, network, create, and converse with others in this crazy boat. Here is our 'group shot' and all of the bloggers that attended have buttons below the picture. Please visit and say "hi!" 

 

 





 

Remembering Sandy Hook

"As educators, we remember and honor our fallen colleagues and their students from Sandy Hook School.  We honor them each day in our classrooms in which we continue their dream of teaching our children.  We honor their memory with our service.  Join with teachers everywhere in committing random acts of kindness to show our love for Sandy Hook."

Thank you Greg {Kindergarten Smorgasboard}

for organizing this. {You can read his blog post about it here.}

Thanks to Krista Lyn for the graphic. 

My bloggy friend Lisa at Growing Firsties made these adorable RAK cards….You can download them from her blog or click HERE. 

#love4sh

More Gingerbread Fun

While I was reading through some of the product swap links….
Nicole's Gingerbread Hunt caught my eye….


Here is a link to her original blog post about how she used the product in her classroom.
As I was reading the swap and the original post - I couldn't stop thinking of March - when the leprechaun comes… and how much fun this would be to do in December - with Gingers!

<<<<<<< That is her bloggy button if you'd like to hop directly over there now….

Here are some screen grabs of her product - if you click on any of them - it will bring you to tpt where  you can purchase her unit! :)
The clue cards are already set up for you! There are 8 cards in all, but you can pick the ones that fit best for you!

She included a writing activity that focuses on descriptive writing {always like pulling teeth for my kids…}
They have to create a missing poster describing their gingerbread person. A blank gingerbread man is included for your students to decorate based on the details they provided in their writing.
The missing gingerbread papers would make for an ADORABLE bulletin board…. They can make reward signs….
This would be great paired with a gingerbread glyph…. and a gingerbread graph to fill up your week!

What are some of your favorite gingerbread activities? Leave me a link in a comment below! 

Gingerbread, Gingerbread…..and a Product Swap!

A few of us are getting together to swap some of our favorite products... and we wanted to share them with you! Our swaps are going live!
Check out the links at the bottom of my post to see the other fabulous bloggers who paired up! :)

I am reviewing  Can't Catch Me - A Gingerbread Thematic Unit from the Applicious Teacher. If you check out the teaser post (last Saturday) you can see the preview pages from tpt (also on her blog)

There are 12 center activities in all in this unit. I was really impressed with her resource page which had links to all of her favorite gingerbread books, videos, and music that can be used with this unit! There were a few gingerbread books that I've never read before - so those were ordered! :) {Like I need an excuse to order more books….. pssssshhhhh…..}

So - here are a few of the activities that we worked on …. in my classroom and at my house with my own child….

First - The uber cute cookie math hunt - for my ell's I circled the number words and the addition or subtraction words to help them locate the important information within the word problem {This can also help your lower readers when it comes to math word problems - so they focus on the mathematical components and not get stuck on the reading.}

Next up - Sweet Treats!

I did this with my younger kids so we did the primary version 

{Ms. Leigh included two versions for instant differentiation….}

In this version they picked a few pieces of candy and added them up… I had them count out the change and 'pay' for their candy. In the more advanced version - they {my addition...can roll dice} to decide how many pieces or scoops they will get… then add it….AND figure out the change due! 

WOW! That component blew my mind - my kids SO need practice with counting back change and this will be a fun way for my older ones to practice that skill. 

{I can't tell you how bothered I get when a cashier won't count back my change….pet-peeve}

 Here are pictures of the synonym center. 

'Synonym Cookies'

You will notice in many of my posts - My kids will practice with these a lot before I give them the recording sheets. I do this for a few reasons…. 

1. Practice, Practice, Practice….especially with ell students

2. I want this to be a 'risk-free' activity for them and not worry about right or wrong. 

{I am in a situation where I don't assign grades…so this is different then many of you in regular classrooms….}

3. I have [MAX] 8 kids in a 45 minute segment - so my kids get a lot of small group and one - on - one time. It is easy for me to see very quickly who 'gets it' and who doesn't. 

 Here is the 'Gingerbread Words' ELA activity.

This was a great review for my 3rd and 5th grade ell's. My 2nd graders LOVED the graphics and backgrounds. 

[Heck - so did I!]

I was pretty blown away by the amount of material you receive for the minimal price… 50 cents a center? DEAL!

I will be using this for the next two weeks of school - The CCSS are already linked to the activities for me - my planning is easy!

Now… I just have to worry about Christmas shopping…. THE HORROR!

One of my favorites - that I didn't' get to showcase here …

Gingerbread Man Sweat Treats printables - they can be used with SO MANY gingerbread stories! 

Check out her homophone freebie…

Follow her store…

and her blog...