Presidents Day Sale!

I have decided to throw a two day Presidents Day sale on EVERYTHING in my TpT store!  Go check it out!  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/In-That-Room

 

 

Jolly Postman and Rapunzel

I would like to start an official movement to change Valentines Day to a Friday - like move the date like Thanksgiving or Easter.  The 2nd Friday of the month would be fine.   Valentines Day on Thursday was killer.   OMGoodness.   There were a lot of subs in the building on Friday....

I am not a fan of all the Valentine plastic junk that seems to have become mandatory to pass out with your little cards.   It breaks,  kids have fits,  it shows up in desks for weeks.   I hate it.   I have decided next year we are going full on OLD SCHOOL.   I am going to proclaim it as a handmade holiday celebration.   I am going to have the kids make their cards and try my best to discourage all the little stuff that comes in.   We shall see how that goes.

We did do one thing that I LOVED.   We are starting our Fairy Tales unit - so I read The Jolly Postman.   I used a template from my Letter Writing Unit..  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Letter-Writing-Friendly-Persuasive-and-Business-Letter-Writing-Unit  and we made our own Jolly Postman Valentine Book.    I assigned each child a friend to write to (so everyone wrote and received one note) and they made these little envelopes.   I attached them altogether to make a book.   There notes were so sweet.   They had to write something about the other person's heart - not their clothes, shoes, or looks.   They melted my heart.   At the end of the year, I will just pull out the binding and give them back to the recipient.  Here are so pictures of the finished product.

 

The kids love their book so much - we will definitely be making more of them.  If fact,  I have decided that I am going to use this format for our next Donors Choose thank you package as well!

 

I am excited that the kids do not have school on Monday.   Well, sort of.   We have an all day meeting about everyone's favorite topic.... testing.   The season is upon us.   I swear,  I don't get it.   It seems that EVERYONE knows that all this testing is wrong, except for the government.   But I am not even going to get started.

 

On Tuesday,  we are going to see a live performance of Rapunzel!   We received a Target field trip grant to cover the cost.   I am really excited about it.    We are using it as the big kick off to our Fairy Tales unit.   Friday we read several versions of Rapunzel and talked about how fairy tales are folktales,  and they change to make sense with different cultures and groups.   I am excited to see how the story is portrayed live.

 

One of my pet peeves about field trips is that the kids always bring their lunch boxes even though we beg them to bring paper sacks.  I understand why,  most people don't even have paper lunch sacks anymore but that means we end up carrying a big old box around all day or we are constantly going back to look for lost lunchboxes.  So this year,  along with their reminder notes,  I sent home bags that the kids decorated,  so they could just pack their lunches in those!   I felt mighty proud of how clever I was with this!  LOL!

 

 

 

Happy long weekend to those of you who have one! 

 



 

Are you a sap?

I so am!   I love mushy, gushy, feel-good- about -life books,  especially for kids.   And I found one that absolutely MELTS my heart - Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts.   Do you know this book?   OMStars!  If you don't - please go and check it out.   It is the sweetest story about this little guy Jeremy who lives with Grandma on a very tight budget.  He, like all kids, wants what all the other kids have - and in his world - that is black athletic  shoes with white stripes.  All the kids have them.   It makes poor Jeremy crazy with envy.   He asks his grandmother for them - but she tells them that they have no room for WANT in their budget.  But poor Jeremy feels like he NEEDS them.    When his shoe breaks,  his guidance counselor gives him a new pair with cartoon characters and VELCRO.   He is crushed,  and then devastated when the other kids laugh at his babyish shoes.   His grandmother takes him shopping for new shoes,  but when she sees the price of the shoes he wants she just can't do it.   He doesn't want to look for other shoes,   he just wants THOSE SHOES,  so his grandmother takes him thrift shopping.   He finally finds a pair that are too small,  but stubbornly rejects his grandma's advice and uses his own money to buy them.   What happens next is so sweet,  I don't even want to give it away.   But please,  go read it.   Maribeth Boelts REALLY gets kids,  she portrays all of Jeremy's emotions so well,  you just go right along with him on the ride.  Totally reminds me of all those times I begged for designer jeans or sweaters and my parents just laughed because they were so outrageously priced,  but the other kids ALL seemed to have them.  I also see this struggle in my own tween and teen sons right now.   They WANT everything that the other kids have,  but we can't and won't get them EVERYTHING.  I know it won't hurt them in the long run,  but it is so hard to watch their disappointment sometimes.

I loved this book so much,   I made a book study to go with it,  to use along with our study of wants and needs.   I love it because it so clearly shows how wants and needs can get confused in our mind - because we can want something so bad it can feel as if we NEED it.  I have included activities that deal with the literary elements of the book,  author's purpose, and comprehension skills and activities that are more geared toward social studies lessons. I have included printables that can be graded for social studies and for reading.   I love it, and I hope you will too! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Those-Shoes-A-Literature-Study-based-on-Wants-and-Needs

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Those-Shoes-A-Literature-Study-based-on-Wants-and-Needs

 

 

Smelling and Spelling!

All of a sudden my kids have started tanking on their spelling tests.   I don't know if the lists are really getting that much harder or we are getting early spring fever and not studying at home - but I decided I needed to step up practice in the classroom.   Luckily, I stopped in on this adorable blog
http://goingnuttyinmisssquirrelsfirstgrade.blogspot.com/2013/02/smelly-markers-and-super-sales.html and found this super fun activity. This is totally Miss Squirrel's idea - just how it looked in my classroom!  So thank you so much Miss Squirrel!

My class seriously has begged me to do this over and over again since we first tried it last Thursday.   I bought this super fun box of smelly markers...  I love smelly markers.   I had lots of smellies but I loved this box because it had 18 - so colors like peach and other pastel colors!   I only had to add 3 get one to everyone.

I wrote a spelling word on the top of 21 sheets of paper (doubling each one and tripling the one I thought they would struggle with).  I had each kiddo clip one on to their clipboard,  set a marker on it and place it on the floor in a big circle on the outside of our mess of desks.   I played some super fun music (Say Hey - I Love You).   As the music was playing they danced in a circle around the boards.   When the music stopped,  they stepped to the closest board,  SMELLED THE MARKER (this is VERY IMPORTANT - so do not skip this step),  wrote the spelling word on the board and jumped back up to go to the next board.   Hilarious.  I seriously just stood and giggled.  BUT,  good practice and fun.  And their little rainbow dotted noses made me smile all day.   And they didn't stink it up so bad on their test on Friday... so there you go!

Happy Spelling!

Head Exploding LOVE! - Tee Hee Tuesday Linky!

Oh.my.word!  My kids crack me up.   They have been so hyped up and making me a little crazy.   We have been working on my Owl Moon Unit http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Owl-Moon-A-Book-Study.  ( I LOVE this book.   If you have never read it,  please try it out. )  We were working on our text to self papers and these are some of their very HONEST and hilarious answers.

 

(Translation) The hardest thing about owling for me would have been being patient, because I'm not that patient.  I want it to be done in the blink of an eye.

 seeing an owl because owls are kind of freaky.

 being quiet because I can't stop talking.

being quiet because I'm hyper.

They may not always tell the truth about who put the erasers in the toilet,  but they seem to know themselves pretty well when it comes to connecting to text! 

I received an early Valentine from one of my students.

While the language, lack of punctuation and capital letters made me want to send him back to correct it... I held back. Because that is love, not some wimpy love y'all, but serious head exploding love!

Hope your day was full of laughs!  Share them on this linky - Tee Hee Tuesday!

Sweet Deals on Amazing Products!

I was just thinking today I have not bought one SINGLE teacher store teaching book in the last two years. I can find EVERYTHING I need at TpT and it is so much better than some homogenized teacher book.   I have bought some theory books - the latest being PBL Toolbox (love it)- but nothing dealing with content.   That makes me happy!  I love that my money is going to other teachers and love the idea of my products being used across the nation in other classrooms!

So my big finds during yesterday's big sale were
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Sun-The-Moon-The-Earth-and-The-Stars-Science-Resource-Unit by Yvonne Dixon.

 

I love how organized this unit is,   the great table of contents and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the essential question cards.   I will use these not only to do the activities in the packet,  but to give students some pre-assignments to answer these using their netbooks.   LOVE!   So fabulous!

 



 



I also love this awesome resource from Lisa Mattes - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Crunch-February-ELA-CCSS-Printables .

 

We don't even do Common Core in Texas (CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?)  but my friend Cathy and I have decided we think we should,  so we try to follow both Texas TEKS (c-scope) and common core.   This packet is FULL of awesome activities to go with every February event!  I LOVE it.   Can't wait to see what she comes up with for March!

 

 

What did you get???  Link up here to share!

 

 

 

And in case you didn't get to shopping - my entire store is still on sale through tomorrow night! 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/In-That-Room

 

 



And an even bigger sale on Teachers Notebook!

Super BAWL Sunday and TPT Sale!

OMGoodness!  Have you seen this video!  So beautiful.   I am completely doing the ugly cry!   Have some tissues ready!  Such an amazing family.

http://www.95ksj.com/pages/PaulStone.html?article=10753940


After you wipe away the tears - head over to TPT and do some shopping!   HUGE SALE!  Everything in my store is on sale for 28% off - just remember to type in the code SUPER!  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/In-That-Room

 

 

Currently and A SALE!

Love the beginning of each month - because I love to hop around and learn new things from everyone's currently!  Farley is BRILLIANT! http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/ . I PUFFY HEART love her blog !   Go check it out if you haven't before!

I think my Currently is pretty simple.   I had a great day shopping, Starbucking and getting pedicures with my friend Jen!  We laughed a lot and I needed it after this week.   I have been a GROUCH.   I was so grumpy on Thursday I had to bring donuts to my class on Friday to apologize.   I am blaming it on the lice.   It is the season and I am not handling it well.   If I ever leave teaching it will probably be the reason.   I don't even really want to go to the movies or public places because I am pretty convinced they are everywhere right now.   I probably would benefit from some counseling but ain't nobody got time fo that - and really.... how do you find a counselor who specializes in lice phobias?  

I am joining the Teachers Pay Teachers Super Sunday sale and I went in all the way - 20% off of EVERTHING - plus the 8% they throw in and all of my stuff is practically free - so please give it a try!   http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/In-That-Room

 



 

We just finished using my Snow unit!   I think you will love it as much as my team did! 

 

Have a fantastic day!