Scooted for the First Time

I had my observation last Thursday.  You know, the one where the principal comes in and watches you and evaluates your teaching (only this time it wasn't the principal, it was the sort of assistant principal.)

When I was very young, I would get so, so nervous about these observations.  I would plan and prep and prepare and VISUALIZE my observation from beginning to end.  I don't stress over them quite as much as I used to -- well, honestly, not even close to how I used to stress about observations.  Now, the day before (or two before if I'm feeling really productive) I sort of scratch my head and go what should I do for my observation?

So Tuesday during my lunch break that runs into my prep, so I get an 80! minute break on Tuesday, I was scrolling through TpT trying to decide what to do to go along with my vowel patterns "ee" and "ea" make the long E sound lesson.  I had my SMARTBoard review and intro planned using the Fridge Magnets.  I had my reference chart from my shop to use as a reference.  All I needed was an activity, something fun and engaging.  I stumbled upon Rachel Lynette's Long E task cards, and they looked like they would fit the bill perfectly.  Easy clues to read, check.  Words all use ee or ea, check.  Awesome.  These will be great!  But I don't want to use them as task cards.  Hmm, I can use them as a scoot-type game.  Perfect!

I set it up, explained the rules to the kids, and we practiced how to scoot from clue to clue and find the word on the SMARTBoard to match the clue.  During my observation, the kids did a beautiful job on this game, and the sort of assistant principal was very impressed with the whole lesson.  Had my post observation conference today and she couldn't say enough about how much she liked the lesson, the activity, the scoot game, all of it.  Only commendations, no recommendations.  Yay!

So my tip is not to stress out over observations and evaluations.  All you can do is what you do.  Trust me, it's better than good enough.  What you do everyday in the classroom is AMAZING, and anyone who thinks it is not should just try it.  When in doubt, check out TpT.  There's always something there that will take your teaching to the next level.

By the way, have you heard about the big sale?  As if you haven't.

You know the drill.  Just don't forget to enter the promo code when you check out.  Click the picture above to visit my store.

Of course, my items will all be marked 20% off, and I have some great new items in my store for spring.

For Lent and Easter I have two awesome resources.

Footsteps to Jesus is a wonderful resource to use at the beginning of Lent to prepare the children for Lent

My Easter chapter book with interactive components that can be used as an interactive notebook or to make an Easter story lapbook is finished and posted.

If you're planning on any doing any Dr. Seuss activities or Read Across America Day, I've got a fun packet of Whimsical Math Centers to complement the theme of the day.

Rhyming directions on each page tell the children what they need to do to complete the centers.

Numbers and Operations in Base 10 Springy Thingies is a great way to practice number order to 120 and 1 more, 1 less, 10 more, and 10 less.

 In case you didn't know, I am developing a series of supplemental resources to go along with my reading series.  So far I have four up, and I am currently working on the next one. 

 

I also have lots of fun {spring and end-of-school activities} for you to check out, so be sure to stop by my store during the sale and add to your cart!

If you've stayed with me this long, you surely deserve a little surprise.  Click the picture below to download the Luck O' the Irish multi-use game board.  I've used this simple game board in nearly every subject, including Spanish!  It's quick, it's fun, and it gets the kids excited about reviewing subject matter.  

Look below to see the other great sellers who have an end-of-the-year tip for you and some great resources for spring.  Enjoy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Super Bowl Non-sale Sale and For-Real Sale

How's that for a title that leaves you scratching your head?

Let's take care of the Non-sale Sale first.  As you know -- or maybe you don't know -- Teachers Pay Teacher is not having a Super Bowl sale this  year.

Don't worry.  Be happy!

But don't worry, be happy!  Some bloggy friends, including myself, have banded together to bring you that Super Bowl sale experience you crave.  Everything in my store will be 20% for tomorrow only (or maybe Monday, too, because I can never get the sale set right to last only one day).  I've got some great new resources in my store that I've really loved using with my kids in both science and language arts, such as: 

If you'd like a sneak peek at the products, you can download my free "Just a Taste" product sampler by clicking the picture below.  It gives a one-page sample of each resource listed.

Now, for the For-Real Sale!  Teacher's Notebook is running a For-Real Super Bowl Sale, where you can get my resources on sale for 25% off, plus Teacher's Notebook will take an additional 10% off applied at the checkout.  I have many, but not all, of the same resources in my Teacher's Notebook store that I have at Teachers Pay Teachers.  You can visit my TN shop by clicking on the picture below.

While you are on Teacher's Notebook, you can enter my giveaway.  I'm giving away two copies of my Valentine Math Resource, Love Me True.  Click the picture below to enter.

If you want to see who else is having a sale on TPT, you can visit Fifth in the Middle's blog and view her linky party.

So that's it for this week.  I hope you have a great weekend, and may the best team win.  I'm pulling for the Steelers to win -- oh, wait, my team isn't in (again) this year.  Sigh.  Well, there's always the commercials and the half-time show.  But since it's always more interesting when you're at least cheering for someone to win, I'm going with Denver.  Who do you want to win?

The Write Stuff

Hello Friends!  It's been awhile since I last blogged. I just don't know where the time goes!  But I'm here to talk to you about writing today.  Do you have trouble knowing how to teach your kiddos to write?  Is writing something you struggle with?  I know I'm always looking for the best way to take my children from scribbling a word or two to describe a picture to writing a complete paragraph with an introduction, supporting details, and a conclusion in first grade, plus emphasize that the sentence should have a capital at the beginning and an end mark at the end.  

If you really want good resources than you are going to love this amazing deal over at Educents!  I have teamed up with 17 other amazing sellers to load your classrooms with 27 outstanding resources for writing!  

My product included will surely be loved by your students!  

When you are immersed in the day-to-day instruction, it can really be hard to see the tree for the forest, so to speak.  Sometimes, you need to step back and take a look at the whole picture to actually see the progress each individual child has made.  That's why I created the monthly writing journal.  Once a month, my kiddos write on a topic I give them.  I collect and save the writing in a journal.  By the end of the year, I have 10 samples of their writing, and it is easy to see the progress they made throughout the year. 

You can see how the drawing space gets smaller and the writing space gets larger on each themed page,  putting less emphasis on drawing and more on writing as the year progresses.

I also use the writing samples for assessment.  In my packet, I have included the following assessments:

As an added bonus, I've also included my popular progressive writing rubrics in this packet.  It clearly states the growing expectations in writing for each quarter, and it is a great aide in communicating those expectations to parents.

For a limited time it is $29.99 from Educents which is over 71% off!  It also includes these other great products so there is sure to be things you love!  (They even have $10 off for first time customers… so it can be even cheaper if you have never bought anything from Educents!)

And did I mention about the 10% off deal this weekend?

 How do you set up the writing program in your classroom, especially if you have limited time and space?

Best. Year. Yet. Blog Hop

So here we are looking 2014 right in the eye. Have you decided on a New Year's Resolution yet? Is it to get in better shape? To de-stress your life? To amp up your teaching game? Well, whatever it is, we're here to help you...although we all think you're perfect just the way you are!
I have teamed up with several fabulous teacher bloggers to bring you The Best Year Yet Blog Hope and Giveaway.

From New Year's Eve until January 2, you can hop around our blogs and grab a FREEBIE from each of us. Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter at The Teaching Tribune for your chance to win one of these fabulous prizes.

Today I am offering the product below as my freebie. Simply click on the picture to take you to my store to download it.

Fun activities to complete in January - perfect for the first few days back.

                                        

While you're at my store you may also want to check out these products, just perfect for those first few weeks back at school.

Have a New Year's Party in your classroom!

Learning about the continents and oceans with a variety of activities.

Like Interactive Notebooks for Science?  Check out My Amazing Skeleton with 7 interactive activities to include in a notebook or do as stand alone actives

Highlight below these words for a super-secret message that you will only get if you read this far!

{Psst - a little bird told me the QR Geography and Amazing Skeleton will be on sale for 50% off today and tomorrow!

Be sure to continue the circle on the blog hop by clicking the button below.

We truly hope that 2014 is your best year yet and that it brings you good health, happiness and many other good things.  Happy New Year!

Days 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 -- Whew, Who Knew This Would Be So Hard?

Wow, who knew blogging every day for 12 days straight would be such a challenge?  I thought "Piece of cake.  I can do this.  Whip out a little post.  Add a picture or two.  Easy."  But after a while, all the posts started sounding the same, and I got bored with it myself, so I could only imagine what you all were thinking. Something along the lines of, "Yeah, not reading that post."

So, in the interest of my sanity (as I STILL have shopping and wrapping to do) and your interest level, I'm calling Uncle on my daily posts (as my blogging buddy, Chalk One Up for the Teacher did a few days ago) and posting my last five 50% off items now.  They will stay up until the sometime after Christmas.  I would love to say until X time on X date, but I just don't work that way.  When I get to it, sometime after Christmas, they will go back to full price.

My day 8 item, which I never blogged about, is my Spanish bundle.

Great deal @ 50% off = $3.25

Next up is my day 9 item is January Roll and Cover Games with Mike the Moose.  

50% = $1.50

Mike the Moose really has nothing to do with these games, other than being the clipart I used.  I just liked the way "Mike the Moose" sounded. What's the plus, you might be asking?  Well, these games are differentiated for addition and subtraction to 10 and to 18, and also for 10 more and 10 less.  But that's not the plus.  The plus is that after the items have been rolled and colored, the kids have to write a number sentence to match the number on the item!  Brilliant, right?  Click on the picture below and you can download a free sample of the game to see what I mean.

Look at that face.  I had to work Mike the Moose into the title.

Okay, day 10 item is next.

@50% off = $2.35

This resource includes a lesson plan for introducing transitional words and graphic organizers for pre-writing.  It also includes the personal word wall booklet "How Do I Spell?" for students to keep at their desk for easy reference.  After introducing and practicing using transitional words in whole group writing, there are paragraph puzzles for the children to unscramble and glue down in sequential order to create a paragraph.

Day 11!

I know we're not even done with Advent yet, but you know how quickly the next church season sneaks up on us!  Before you know it, Mardi Gras and then the beginning of Lent will be here.  

Use this to help your children understand that Lent is more than "giving up candy."  Why do we make sacrifices during Lent?  Is these anything else we can do during Lent to get closer to Jesus?  Use this resource to explore the answers to these questions.

And finally Day 12!

Free!  If you stuck with this post this long, you deserve a reward!

You can find any of these items by clicking on the cover of the item.

Wishing you and your families the love, joy, peace, and happiness of this holiday season.  Let go of the stress and focus on the miracles!

Day 7?

Tonight I am very, very tired.  This week has been the. longest. week. EVER!  But we made it through, and tomorrow is an 11:15 early dismissal day.  Two "work" periods, a Christmas party, a pat on the head, a Merry Christmas, a see you next year (amid giggles), and out the door they go.  Phew.

Today is day 7 of the 12 Days of Christmas for teachers.

Today, I am offering you this little gem

It includes a lesson plan for teaching how to write a paragraph, including graphic organizers and these mixed up paragraph puzzles.  

There's a bonus personal word wall component.

This resource normally sells for $3.75, but at 50% off, you can get it for $1.85.

I hope your last day is tomorrow, and that it goes fast and smoothly for you.

One Last Holiday Freebie

I know, I know, you've been holiday freebied (I invented a new word!) to death between frenzies and hops and giveaways.  If you're like me, you've got a folder full of more holiday freebies than you can use in the 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But you're really going to want this freebie.  Maybe.  Or not.  But I'll offer it anyway.  See, we had to do our 2nd writing assessment this month, the persuasive writing sample.  And I always do "Convince Santa You've been Good This Year and Deserve a Present Instead of Coal."

But as I scrolled through the dozens upon dozens of writing papers, I couldn't find one I really liked. I found pretty good, not quite, and close, but not just right.  I wanted a space at the top for drawing.  I wanted primary printing lines.  I wanted a cute border and graphic.  So I did what any TPT teacher would do and made my own.  And thanks to {Graphics from the Pond} and {Whimsy Workshop}, I think it came out really cute.  So cute that I wanted to share it with you.

Click here to download your freebie.

Enjoy!!!