Make It and Take It Linky Party with Second Grade Pad

I'm very excited to finally have a make it and take post to link  up with Second Grade Pad.  Every  Thursday, Cynthia hosts a linky party with really cute make and take crafts for classroom, home, and/or every day use.  Today, I am linking up my Story Cube post.

 Be sure to head over to Cynthia's blog and check out all the other great ideas!

Click here to visit Second Grade Pad Take It and Make It Linky party. If you've got a make and take, be sure to link yours up as well!

Tonight we are dying eggs at our house.  I love doing this every year.  It's one of the traditions that I look forward to.  This year, we will have a few extra people joining us. My son has a girlfriend this year, so I assume she'll be joining us.  And my nephew and his wife are expecting their first child!  Yes, I'm going to be a great aunt!  Can you believe it?  So my new niece or nephew will be joining us, in utero, of course!  We wind up dying about 4 dozen eggs!  Egg salad sandwiches for lunch for the next two weeks!

What are your Easter traditions?

Less than 24 Hours to Go!

Trust me, you do NOT want to miss this event.  You WILL get a whole lot of quality freebies you will want to use in the next few weeks  AND a chance for a really BIG prize - the TPT pot of gold, if you will.  At 7:00 AM tomorrow morning, the event will go LIVE on this blog.  Be sure to check back early tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, I've got a new freebie for you.  You may have already found it on my TPT page, but if not, here it is.  I've been sadly lacking in getting spelling practice in each day, and it shows in my kids' writing.  Words they should be spelling correctly, a  lot of them are not.  There is just not enough time in the day to squeeze in spelling lessons -- or so I thought.  Until I put my mind to the problem and the little light bulb went off in an ah-ha moment.  Morning work time.  Most of my kids are whipping through the proofreading practice and spiral review math sheet they already do before the bell to begin the day even rings.  So why not add a spelling component to their morning work.  There were some groans, until Friday morning, when I told them as  a reward for their hard work on the spelling sheets during the week, on Fridays they would play a spelling game!  Well, that changed everyone's attitude about morning spelling work.

Yesterday, they played the spelling games in groups of two or three.  They used their spelling notebooks to give each other words from their spelling list, and it was so cute to here them say I'm sorry that is not correct.  Could is spelled c-0-U-l-d (with extra emphasis on the missed U).  Or that is correct!  Good job!  And, something I never thought off, but THEY asked me,"If we finish all our words from this week, can we go back to the old lists?"  ABSOLUTELY!

So if you're struggling to get some spelling time in, you might want to try this packet of spelling activities as well.  Click on the picture to download it free from my TPT store.

Click the picture to visit my TPT store and download your free spelling activities. Four activities to use during morning work time or as homework to squeeze spelling practice into your day.

Have a happy Saturday!

So Many Things to Share with You!

Gosh, I have so much to share with you today that I feel like I should  pace myself a bit, but I'm too excited.  Just like a kid on Christmas morning, I want to share them all with you NOW!

So first up, if you  haven't heard, Teachers Pay Teachers is having a Super Sunday Sale, or is it a Sunday Super Sale?  Either way, you can get up to 28% off at my store ALL DAY on Super Bowl Sunday by using the code "SUPER" at check out.  Click on the picture below to load up your cart for tomorrow! If you just can't wait until tomorrow, I have everything 20 percent off in my store today as well!

Today is also day 2 of the "For the Love of Teaching"  freebie blog hop.  Head on over to Chalk One Up for the Teacher, where Cyndie has a fun and fabulous freebie for you.  I know I will be using this freebie on Valentine's Day!

The last thing I wanted to share with you is a literacy activity/craft that incorporates some really higher-level thinking skills such as analyzing two stories or a story to the movie to find similarities and differences, and comparing and contrasting two stories in a Venn diagram-ish craft.   I'll post a teaser photo now and explain in detail tomorrow since my computer has decided to be glitchy and I have to take my daughter to majorette practice soon.  Duty calls!

Frosty the Snowman (the book) VS Frosty the Snowman (the movie)

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the link to Day 3 of the For the Love of Teaching 14 Day Blog Hop and details on my above literacy activity!  Have a happy Saturday!

Day 1 of "For the Love of Teaching" Freebie Blog Hop

Today is day one of the 14-day "For the Love of Teaching" Blog hop.  We'll be hopping you to a different blog each day to get a fun and fabulous freebie!  I just tried mine out today with my kids and they LOVED it!  But  you'll have to wait for day 4 (Monday) to see what I'm offering!

In the meantime, click on the button below and  hurry over to Miss Smarty Pants to get your first freebie of the hop.  You will LOVE what she has created!  Make sure you check for the link to day two of the blog hop as well!

 

Happy Friday, everyone!

With the year flying by and the quickly approaching Valentine's Day, there never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done. To save you some time,  I have joined up with 13 teacher bloggers to bring you the 14 Days for the Love of Teaching FREEBIE blog hop.

We hope to make your planning a little easier, and bring some educational fun to the classroom. The blog hop will begin on February 1, at Ms. Smarty Pants.

Make you sure you stop back by to grab your freebies!

Getting Back into the Groove

Here it is, Saturday evening, and I survived my first two days back to school. I'm glad to have them behind me so that we can now settle into our routine again.

Thanks to TPT and the many fabulous activities posted there, we had a smooth transition back. I used my "Read and Write about My New Year's Resolution"  packet in language arts class.

I was amazed by some of the resolutions the kids made, like practice more to become a better swimmer and become a better dancer and get my yellow belt in karate.  They really understood the idea of making a resolution to change or improve something.  The resolution magnets are waiting to be laminated, and the the kids will take them home.

As with most of my projects, it took two days to get through the activities. I should know if I plan for one day, it will take my kids two. (Of course, we did have shortened periods on Friday because of mass in the morning.)

You can get the eSource (for free) by clicking on the picture below.  If you'd rather contribute to my family's finances,  you can buy the packet from my TPT store. (ha, ha)

In math, I'm using the fabulous freebie Cynthia Vautrot had in the newsletter last week, "Happy New Year Countdown." 

My kids have completed the ordering the numbers from greatest to least activity and the place value sort.  Since I teach first, I had to modify the approach a bit.  I couldn't use them as independent centers, but I did use them as guided learning lessons.  First I demonstrated on the SMARTBoard, then the kids partnered up to work on the worksheets.  They were so excited to be doing 2d grade work!  If you missed the freebie in the newsletter, click the picture above to visit Cynthia's store.

Yay! We did it!

540, 526, 581 -- that's not right!

I hope your first few days back go (or went) as smoothly as mine did!

I have a new mega -- and I mean MEGA -- giveaway for you to enter.  Renee over at Fantastic First Grade Froggies has five different prize packets to give away.  My offering is in packet #3, "The Long and Short of It, O Sound." Just click on the button below to head on over to her blog and take your chances in her giveaway.

Good luck to any who enter!

Welcome 2013!

I wanted to take a minute to wish you all a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!  We rang in the New Year last night with great friends and had a family dinner here today.  I have one more day off, then I go back to work on Thursday.  I'm ready to go back.  I have so many ideas swimming around in my head that sometimes I lose track of them.  One thing I did want to do is come up with a New Year teaching eSource.  I'm going to post this on TPT and TN tomorrow for sale, but I'm giving it to  you on my blog as a thank you for your support.  Click on the picture, and it will  open up the PDF.  Enjoy!