Five for Friday

It's Friday again! Time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

Edit: I really did start this post on Friday this time. But then due to some technical difficulties including my phone sending gray images instead of the pictures I took and my computer driving me nutso, I had to take a break from it all. :)

1. I introduced Christina Bainbridge's Partner Reading Party activities. This is just what my kiddos needed to amp up Read to Someone. I will admit that Read to Someone has never been my favorite part of Daily 5 because it's so easy for them to get off task and not actually be reading. With these materials I have seen a huge increase in on task reading behaviors and I love hearing their conversations! I have all the materials each partner pair needs in a cute little basket.

 2. I posted before about how we started letter writing - here's my cute little mailbox that the kiddos put their letters in. I got it years ago as part of an art set. They love to put their letters inside and then put the flag up.

3. As we move on in our Economy unit we started making the lovely Amber Polk's Economy Lapbook. I have to admit this is my first lapbook experience and I love it! I can't wait to use more! 

4. This week we finished our shape unit. I love teaching about shapes - so much fun and so much deep thinking! Here are our shape creation pictures - I think they are so stinking cute! The shape posters are FREE from 2nd Grade Math Maniac.

5. Yesterday was an Early Release day and we had staff development in the afternoon. We spent our time studying Disciplinary Literacy. After reading articles and watching videos each team had to post/share their findings using linoit.com - an online corkboard/sticky note program. I fell in love with the website and all that you can do with it. My brain is buzzing thinking of ways to use it in my classroom. Here is my next story of the week with a few things that I will have my kiddos help me fill in.

That's it for now! Hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

Game Day Fun

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I hope everyone is enjoying the big TPT sale and snagging some goodies. Don't forget my Math Story Problem Book is super cheap-o right now. Enter SUPER at checkout for your additional 8% off!

I'm about to head out to watch the big game, though I must say I could care less about the game. I'm cheering for the Ravens just because I had a sweet student last year who loved them. Oh and I'm cheering for the commercials!

My students (especially the boys) were so excited about the Super Bowl so I made a little writing activity/review packet that I will use tomorrow morning. I have put it up for free in my TPT store. Head on over and get yours!

Five for Friday....And A February Freebie!

I'm linking up with Five For Friday.

Well, I guess technically this is my Five for Saturday. I had every intention of posting last night but I was working hard on a fun freebie...more on that later.

1. This week we continued our study of prefixes. I used this Prefix Unit from Mercedes Hutchens. It was fabulous!

2. I'm happy to admit I'm a bit ahead of the game - I have already made my valentines! I of course found the idea on pinterest.  I still need to attach the label to some of them but I think they are super cute! I have a thing for mustaches and the lips are fun too! 

3. Last night after dinner with one of my dear friends and her boys we did a little shopping. We went to Five Below, a store where everything is $5 and below. I should have NEVER stepped inside. Too many neat things! Here's my loot:

Stretchy Bands - I have been wanting to try the idea from this pin, putting a theraband around a chair for students to push against with their feet, supposedly good for kids with ADHD. Therabands are not cheap so I was excited when I found them at Five Below. Below is my blurry picture of testing it out with one of my dining room chairs. I'm going to take them to school Monday and try them out with a few kiddos, I'll let you know how it goes.

Mad Libs Junior - My kiddos LOVE Mad Libs. We do them for special occasions, like birthdays or "celebrations". 

USB Wall Chargers - Since I have 2 ipod touches and an ipad that I use at school I always feel like I need to charge something. I have PLENTY of the white USB cords but I was transporting the wall plug-ins back and forth from home, these are a great solution to be able to leave chargers both places.

4. FREEBIE - I made some February Task Cards to use at Morning Meeting. The leader will pull the card from behind the calendar number and then answer the question, lead the activity, etc. I did questions that are a review of prefixes, synonyms, geometry, place value, and friendship skills. Go grab yours now!

5. Who's ready for A SALE? Forget the Super Bowl, I'm ready to get some goodies! 

Button by the fabulous Ashley Hughes

I know I only have one paid product in my store but I would be honored if you checked it out - Math Story Problem Book.  It will be 20% off in my store, plus the extra 8% off when you check out, so go grab it!

Here are a few things in my cart:

Leanne Prince's Teacher Planner

Liz Olrich's Group Expectations Pack

Rachelle Smith's Why Do We Celebrate Valentine's Day Mini Unit

Don't forget to enter the code SUPER at checkout! Happy shopping!

Five For Friday

Happy Friday Everyone!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.

1. I love getting to teach a little about Martin Luther King Jr this time of year. This week our schedule was jam-packed but I was able to get some read alouds in. My absolute favorite is Martin's Big Words, so powerful and they GET IT.

This year I have a second favorite, My Uncle Martin's Big Heart. So sweet and again my kids loved it.

2. This week I introduced two new "Work on Writing" choices for Daily 5. 

Roll A Story from Susan Moran's Writing Through The Seasons: Winter pack. This really gets their creative brains thinking and no two stories are alike!

Letter Writing using Reagan Tunstall's Mailbox Station pack. I usually teach this earlier in the year but with all of our content writing just didn't have the time. The variety of the stationery in Reagan's pack is awesome!  I even have a little mailbox where my kids put their letters for the mail person (yours truly) to pick up and deliver after school. 

3. App that I'm loving lately: 

Martha Speaks Word Spinner - Martha is my absolute favorite kids show. It used to come on during our arrival time and I would let my kids watch it on Fridays. Martha really teaches them new vocabulary words! Word Spinner is a multi player game (up to 4) where the kiddos play a variety of vocabulary building games. My kiddos LOVE it! They beg me to play during dismissal! Sometimes I even play it with them. 

4. We had a snow/ice/freezing rain early dismissal today. It was crazy because we were supposed to be making homemade ice cream in a bag as a fun end to our solids and liquids unit. I decided yesterday to switch the experiment to the morning and right as we got started this morning the office told us that we would be dismissing in an hour! The parent volunteers and I went into MEGA MODE and got those bags ready and handed them off to the kids to shake. I was seriously thinking it was going to be a failure. Thank goodness it all froze and tasted very yummy!

5. In honor of leaving school early today and some hopeful sledding tomorrow I'm having my first ever sale. Today and tomorrow only the Math Story Problem Book is 20% for only $2.40. Go get yours now!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Currently: January

I'm so late in the game with this but here's my currently for January. I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade.

I'm back from traveling for the funeral and trying to get back into the rhythm of things. Hoping to get some good posts up later this week. 

Until then, a little quote love:

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Giveaway Winner

Hey Friends! Sorry this is so late in coming. Sadly my Grandpa passed away on Saturday. My family has been busy making arrangements as we mourn his passing but celebrate his life.

And the winner is.......

Congratulations Ashley! I'll be sending you the Math Story Problem Book! If you didn't win you can still go get yourself a copy for only $3.00.

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week. Hopefully next week after I return from the funeral I can get back to sharing some things that are going on in my classroom now!

Math Story Problem Book and a GIVEAWAY!

Hey friends! I hope everyone has had a wonderful and super relaxing break. I've been out since the beginning of December (I LOVE teaching year round!) so I'm the epitomy of relaxed right now. :)

When I first started my blog I posted about my math games, one of my favorite things! Many people asked for a copy of my story problem book. I have actually revised it and made it so much better into a complete pack that will really get your kids writing and solving story problems.

So here it is, my very first product on Teachers Pay Teachers - Math Story Problem Book

I would be so honored if it you would check it out! It's been a long, arduous process but I'm so happy with how it turned out! 

If you had told me a few years ago that I would start a teaching blog and then make products to sell I would NOT have believed you. These past couple years have been such a learning process for me! I am always so pleasantly surprised at how kind and wonderful everyone in the teacher bloggy community is. You guys truly do rock!

Because you rock so much I am going to do a giveaway of the Math Story Problem book. All you have to do is use the Rafflecopter widget below. You can get up to 5 entries. Enter by Friday the 4th at midnight. I'll announce the winner on Saturday. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One of the entries is to tell me what your favorite Christmas present was. I would love for you to leave it in a comment as well. Mine was my Kindle Paperwhite. I've been a reading machine ever since I got it!