Supporting Sandy Hook

Peace, Love and Learning has organized an amazing support system for Sandy Hook teachers.

If you'd like to participate in this effort click the picture.

Snow Globe Winter Activity for the Classroom

Snow Globes are MAGICAL! I love this video of a snow globe tree through the seasons.

So peaceful.

Click picture to view

And if you've not seen my Snowglobe Pack, it's one of my top hits for the holidays!

Click to view

Happy happy winter to YOU!

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!  (Freebie ideas and giveaways are sometimes shared there!)

Drawing Christmas

We drew holiday scenes today. The basic designs were from a directed step by step drawing book called Drawing Christmas, but I was surprised about the unique details students added on their own.

The tree in this picture was the only item that was copied from the book. The rest of the details was talent a la my student. I love her staircase and lamp.

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

"To the whole world you are someone, but to someone you are the whole world"

Take a Peek ....Holiday Tile Gifts

My students make these decorated tiles for their family holiday gift.

I bought the tiles at Home Depot for 16 cents each.  In all, it cost me less than $5.00 for a class set.

Then I cut squares of scrapbook paper.

Students picked the design they liked and modge podged it to the tile.

I chose more generic designed paper that could be displayed all year, but you can also use seasonal designs.

Then I sprayed them with a sealant.

This is one of the easiest gifts I've made over the years for both the students and ME!

The finished tile can be put on display or used as a coaster.

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Gift Writing

My students completed our Gifts of Giving Writing this week.

Their ideas were cute and thoughtful.

"First of all, without moms in my life it would be an awful time because they make your day bright."

This student thought that, "... fire is a good thing because we need it to light up a candle

so we can celebrate birthdays."

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I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

December Holiday Read Aloud

Holiday Freebie alert!

Go grab my Rudolph Writing freebie

I always read the story Rudolph's Second Christmas to my students and have them then write their own version afterwards.  The sequel to the original Rudolph has an endearing set of "misfit" characters who, like Rudolph, seem a little different. Santa and Rudolph come to the rescue to bring back Christmas spirit to two children who were "forgotten" the previous holiday season.

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!  (Freebie ideas and giveaways are sometimes shared there!)

Snapshots from the Past

I'm joining a fun When I Was In... Linky 

Oh the fun memories of school pictures!

Me at age 3, 5, and 7

And now a more recent teacher photo

How about them apples...go dig out your photos and do some sharing of your own.

 

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Thanksgiving Recap a la Harley

Even dogs celebrate Thanksgiving. My parents call Harley their granddog and they do spoil him like crazy. They even dogsit him most days at their house when I am at work and he has a habit of ALWAYS hitting his dog dish first thing when entering their house to look for treats. Well, fast forward to Thanksgiving Day. My dad played a trick on him, knowing he would hightail it to his dish.

See that wooden pig in the background by the dog dish? That's my dad's recent buy at an antique store.

The pig has a name...Oscar. Oscar happened to be guarding Harley's bowl upon our arrival on Turkey Day. Harley's reaction was classic. He came to a screeching halt, and growled, sniffed and skirted around his bowl trying to figure out the nerve of something else by his bowl. Luckily, he did warm up to Oscar by the end of the day and got some turkey and gravy of his own.

Oh, on a sidenote, I got relieved of jury duty yesterday. I had to call in midday for a possible appearance. But Yay for me, when I called my group did not need to report! So I went to Olive Garden with the whole family instead.

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Sight Word Swat It Games

A great way I've practiced sight words is with my team Swat It games.

Split your class into teams. Display one of my Swat It Sets word cards on your board or under your document camera and let the swatting begin. Call off a sight word and the first student to hit the right word gets a point for their team. What a great way to reinforce mastery of sight words and get some energy out to boot!

 

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Swap the Squiggle Writing

My class had the greatest time doing Swap the Squiggle writing.

 The idea is to take a random squiggle and create a picture to write a story about. But my twist on this popular idea is to "Swap the Squiggle" which involves a group/team effort in creating the final picture. I have found that this activity helps motivate reluctant writers. What fun! These 15 squiggle writing prompts will be sure to engage your students.

Grab it at my  TPT store

Here's one of the cutest prompts generated today. 5 people worked on this picture.

A story was written about a girl stepping in gum.


Find more great ideas on my TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Conference Time!

I'm heading into conference week come Monday.

Here's what I did Friday evening.

I collated and organized work samples, benchmark test results and report card data for each student.

I've found that it helps to organize the work by the way it is categorized on the report card. This makes presenting information to the parents easy.  I also have a Trimester Note with important  data to share with parents. It looks like this:

I also plan to share this Apple for the Teacher Poem with parents which is an important reminder of the home school connection to their child's learning.

Click picture to get your own copy:

Find more great ideas at my TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Teacher for President Writing

I learned a lot about myself today through the opinions of my students.

They shared why I would be a good president.

Love #1

She knows when to tell us to stop talking

Other words of wisdom for my qualifications to be president via my 3rd graders.

*My teacher makes good disigions (decisions).

*My teacher makes good speeches.

*She knows what she's doing.

*She likes the color burgundy.

*She would be a great president because she is very smart and reasonable.

*She would look cute.

*She would be calm.

*She has a great sense of humor.

*She handles things well.

*She is very confident.

*She would still teach while being president. (I think NOT)

*She likes to do fun PE.

*She loves children.

*She helps make students smart.

*Lastly, she can outsmart anyone!

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page 

V is for Veterans Day

It's time to honor our veterans.  Here's my Veterans Day unit that includes letter writing, a poster, acrostic poem, a holiday overview, and ABC order dog tag badges.

You can get it in my store

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Elections and Voting Activities

I just made an I Have Who Has Election theme set game.

It’s a fun Around the World looping type game. Each card states a question related to voting and elections. Students each hold one or more cards and need to listen and respond with their card if it is the correct answer. Play continues in sequence until all cards have been read.

Grab it at my store

And if you missed my last post there's this: Election TV Ad writing

 Aso, here's a 5 page election writing prompt pack!

Cute kid quote:

One of my students wrote in response to character traits of a president:

"Well I think the president would need a squeaky clean record."

 

You can also grab my Election Pack Bundle at a discount.

 

 

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Election Ads: Persuasive writing

Election time fun is here!

 My students created TV ads for a candidate of their choice and then wrote a persuasive speech to go with it. We talked about catchy slogan writing and selling your candidate. This was one project every student wanted to get right to work on. Some picked to write about an animal or cartoon character and others chose to write about themselves or a classmate as a candidate. So fun!

You can get this unit {HERE}

This is part of my Election Bundle you can grab at a discount too!

 

The lead in to this lesson was the wonderful book Vote by Eileen Christelow.

Her website has lots of election links too!

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Halloween Jokes and Themed Book Reports

Pick up some fun treats for your classroom for Halloween fun.

  Batty Book Reports pack

  Halloween Howl Joke pack.

Themed Book Report pack

Halloween class joke book.

These two items also come in a money saving bundle.

Leaf Writing

I think fall like weather has finally made it's appearance today.

I hope it sticks around. I'm sipping a pumpkin spice latte, as I share a fall lesson my

class did this week.

 First, I asked my students how many of them ever look at the clouds and imagine or "see" another item. We went outside and practiced just that. After the cloud observation,  I handed out fall colored die cut leaves, and had students make a leaf picture to create a story. What imaginations! Take a look.

 

You can get this activity in my TPT store.

A bird

An acorn on a tree

A campfire...this one impressed me!

An eagle

"Leaf" me a comment if you wish!

Find more great ideas at my  TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Patricia Polacco Magic

Patricia Polacco is one of my favorite authors to use in the classroom.

She is such an engaging storyteller.  My class was riveted to this author study video today.

I plan to now have my students practice sharing a family story of their own with this assignment:

Which Patricia Polacco story is your favorite?


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