Get the Picture Card Winner

Get this! The winner of the Lonestar Learning cards is Valerie. She was commenter number 5.
I've sent you an email Valerie. Please email back with your mailing address. Thanks!

Lonestar Learning Freebie Giveaway

Hi guys. I wanted to share a neat site I ran across, Lonestar Learning. They have some great resources.

Click the picture to go to their website

I really love their Get the Picture vocabulary cards. They have them for math and language skills. The set for antonyms and synonyms looks great!

They have offered to give a Get the Picture Math Set 1 away to one of my lucky followers.

Thank you Lonestar Learning. Hop on over to their site to see all that they offer!

Here's your chance to get it:

1. Be or become a follower of my blog. Leave a comment

2. Blog about this giveaway (Leave 2 comments)

Must be 18 years old to enter and live in the U.S.

 Entries are accepted until Friday, August 26th.

Winner will be selected by random generator and will need to contact me within 48 hours to provide your name, email address, and mailing address so Lonestar can get the material to you.

A for Assessments

Okay everybody come share your bag of tricks for great assessment ideas. A Crucial Week in the Life of a NQT is hosting an Assessment Linky party.

Here are some of my favorites:

Carousel Writing

Create a set of questions related to a topic of study. Write them out on chart paper. These questions will be used as brainstorming sheets for a pre lesson assessment, and then again for a post lesson assessment.  Group students at one of the chart questions and have them discuss and record ideas. Upon a designated signal pass the charts to a new group and continue the same process. Each group will respond and add to all question charts.  The neat part of this is if you do the same questions as a post Carousel Writing you can see growth in ideas.  The samples below were for a science unit on Living Things. The pre lesson Carousel brainstorming was in red and the post lesson was in green.

Stoplight Vocabulary

This idea comes from the book Getting Into Words by Shira Lubliner.

Use this web link printable to color code vocabulary word familiarity in stoplight colors:

Red: If you don't know the word
Yellow: If you have heard the word, but not sure of its meaning
Green: If you know the word and can use it in a sentence

Study Jams

I use this interactive activity for study brainstorm sessions. Tape a Study Jam sheet to each student's back with a topic indicated. Let them form writing trains and review for a test. What a perfect way to engage their learning in a hands on way. A double plus is students then have a ready made study guide to take home.

Place Value Windows

My first unit in math is on place value and I made these place value windows that are just so handy.
I just hang them on my white board and during lessons can easily ask students to help write and represent numbers in the correct place value window.  What do you think about them?

It's All About The Gang

Have you heard about Me and My Gang?  It's the place to be to lounge with your fellow grade level bloggers!  I just joined as an author at Me and My Third Grade Gang.  Come follow this happening blog, or become an author for your specific grade level yourself! Don't miss out.

SLANT strategy

Do you need some Hocus, Pocus for some focus in your classroom?
I make use of this SLANT strategy cue card for some of my students that need help with redirection and on task behavior. I tape it to the corner of their desks. All I have to say is, "Show me SLANT" and they know they need to get back on track.  More information about SLANT and it's different variations can be found {at this link}.  Come share your wisdom by joining Fun in First Grade's Dealing with Difficult Behavior Linky party

Graphic Organizer Winner

Whose going to grab a copy of this book? Look no furthur than Mrs. D of The Third Wheel.

She is the lucky winner.  Mrs. D. please email me with your mailing address contact information so I can get your book in the mail!  Enjoy.

A Key Idea

As I was cleaning and reorganizing my room for the first day of school I ran across my key cup.
Here's a little background. A dear friend and previous classroom aide of mine witnessed on a regular basis my "loss of key moments".  I think she got tired of hearing me say to my kiddos, "Has anyone seen my keys? Help me find them." and made me this cute little ol' key cup.  I am not a lanyard wearing teacher, so this cup has come to my rescue ever since she gave it to me. Yippee, no more lost keys for me, only if I remember to put them in the cup!  Sidenote:  My worst "lost key" episode was when I laid my keys on the table in the staff room and a substitute teacher accidently picked them up and kept them in a pocket thinking they were his!  All day long I was searching everywhere for my keys and asking everyone if they spotted them. I even dug in the staff trash can.  I thank my lucky stars that  I asked the above mentioned sub on his way out for the day about my keys. He pulled them out of his pocket in surprise, and then proceeded to show me his own keys from his backpack that looked almost EXACTLY like mine.  So a word of caution to all of you this school year, watch out for key stealing subs. HA HA!

Graphic Organizer Giveaway

I'm giving away one copy of this terrific writing resource. It has 30 graphic organizer ideas with lessons and transparencies.  I particularly like their flip book idea that incorporates Bloom's Taxonomy.

Want to win this copy? Comment below for each entry you choose to do.

Ways to enter:

1. Be or become a follower of my blog (1 entry)

Extra entries:

2.  Blog about my giveaway and provide me a link (2 entries)

Rules for entering:

Must be 18 years or older and a U.S. resident with a mailing address.

Winner will be selected by random number generator on Saturday, August 6th 

Winner will provide mailing address to me within 48 hours.