summer

Saturday, November 24, 2012

One More Newbie for my Store

I am so excited to be able to participate in my FIRST EVER Cyber Monday Sale online. My blog isn't a year old yet, and I've only been selling since August. Not doing too shabby if I say so myself. I'm not going to be able to buy too many pairs of shoes with my earnings, but I feel confident that someone likes my stuff enough to buy it!

I have several things in my wish list. . . Have you got yours started yet? You better get to looking. . . there's a lot of good stuff out there.

But then it hit me!

WHAM!

Right between the eyes. . .

BAM!

When am I going to SHOP?

I have to teach all day Monday.  . . .

And Tuesday. . . .

And I only have one break that is 25 minutes long (other than lunch)

But I can't shop during lunch, . . . Oh woe is me. . . I've scheduled a parent conference on both days at lunch time.

And I have parent conferences on both nights until about 7:00. . .

Oh NO!

What have I done?

Maybe I'll get up at 5:00 am just to get this done.

How long will it take me? Does anyone know?

I'll just have to cross my fingers, talk fast to the parents, eat fast during lunch and maybe I can get this all in.

Where there's a will, there's a way!

I have fallen in love with The 3AM Teacher's graphics. Have you seen them? She is so creative, and she is just as nice as she is talented. I'm a huge DJ Inker Fan, (They are having a 25% sale right now too!)
but I'm being easily swayed to other creative artists.

So I took some of her snowy back grounds and made some story problems for my students. They just don't get story problems. They can't remember the magic words that tell them whether to add of subtract. I do have all the wonderful posters all over my room that share those magic words.  But for some kids it just takes them much more practice.

So my newest activity is Snowy Story Problems. The student reads the story problem, then decides which letter matches the number model they will need to find the answer.  There is a recording sheet and an answer key if you want to put this into a center. It also would work well in a small group with an adult supervising it.

You'll find them in my TPT Store and if you grab them on Monday, you'll get them even cheaper. So add them to your wish list if you like them. And I hope you will.
Here are some more blogs to check out. 
Each of them are putting their things on sale!



Patty

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Cyber Monday $ale!


Cyber Monday

In Honor of Black Friday, Small Town Shopping on Saturday and Sit Back Sunday, I'm going to be a part of the Cyber Sale Monday! I have several things in my store that I'm sure you'd love to have 28% off. One of them is my Christmas Whisperings. It's an activity about Facts and Opinions. Perfect for any 2nd grader getting ready for their Opinion writing for the Common Core.
 Another activity you might want to take a peek at is my Here's the Cause, What's the Effect activity.
It's great for 1st graders, but I think 2nd and 3rd could benefit from it too.

Do your kids get confused with the OW and OU spellings? Mine do! This activity helps them visualize which words looks right.
You can find these and a whole lot more in my TPT Store. I hope you find something that you love.

One of the things that I'm going to be buying is made by Corinna Gandara from Surfin Through Second . It's her Christmas borders and I think you'll like them too.


Another thing I'm going to get is from Kristin at A Teeny Tiny Teacher. She has picture cards for
  Antonyms and Synonyms.  They are made with DJ Inkers clipart and are very good for my 2nd graders.


Don't forget to use the special code. . CMT12. . . It will make your wallet even better.

I sure hope that you find something to buy from my store or one of these other ladies. Blogging and TPT is a wonderful friend to have.
 I know that the way I teach has been re-energized since finding these blogs and all the friendships here. 
I'm joining Michelle at 3am Teacher. She is having a linky party so you can see who else is having a big sale!


Patty

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Christmas Whisperings Fact and Opinion

I know that many of you have this whole week off. . . I wonder . . . Are you the same people who had Veterans Day off too?
We did not have any days off for that. . . but we do have to teach only 2 days this week.

And thanks to all of you, I know exactly what I will be doing on those two days. Did I tell you that I have 2 college students from Trine University in Angola, Indiana? They have been with me for 6 weeks and have been learning more about how to become teachers. They are GREAT! Tuesday is their last day. So for the next two days, they have to pretend they are subs in my room and I get to do some DRA2 assessments while they follow my lesson plans. . . isn't that the bomb? I'm uber excited to be able to get some of these done while having someone else cover my room.

Some of the things they will be doing come from YOUR blogs. I have grabbed many things from you and will put them to use on these two days. That will be fun, informational and very helpful to my students and to these two college students. They will go back into their college classrooms until Christmas and then one of them will do her student teaching in January. The other one will student teach next fall. They are ready!

I am just like the major retailers and I'm going to show you a Christmas activity that I made even before Thanksgiving is done. . . I know. . .I know. . . I should be patient. .. but I just can't! And if I know you at all, I know that you too are looking for some Christmas things early so you can copy them, laminate them and cut them out so they are ready for your kids to use all during December.

I have made facts and opinion cards before. . . these are very similar . .  but they are all about the Christmas and winter activities. These are called Christmas Whisperings. Just click on the link and it will take you right to my store. 


I hope that you find this helpful and that your kids learn something from it. 

Have a good week, no matter how many days you have off. Watch what you eat. . . . drink. . . and shop! Oh yea! I'll be out there shopping but not at the crack of dawn! Look out Kalamazoo. . . Here we come!


Patty

Monday, November 12, 2012

Thanksgiving Freebies that YOU'LL Want to Have!

Today my kids played a game that Heather Price is giving away! You SHOULD go and get it. . . NOW . . . before Thanksgiving is a past holiday! It's simple and quick and these first graders loved it  and had to think to find the answers.  This group is my RTI group that we call Reading Shuffle. They come to me everyday for 25 minutes and I use only the center activities that I pick up on TPT or here on other people's blogs. Well, I do use the things that I make too. . I just wanted to highlight some OTHER fun people who make cool things.

You see, one of the things that I'm truly thankful for, is all the friends that I have made in this blogging community. So helpful, caring, giving, and receiving too!

So you'll need to go over to visit Heather Price at Heather's First Grade Heart and pick up her Thankful Turkeys. These picture cards have words with the missing digraphs of wh, th, sh, and ch. It's a great practice for those who love a good game.


These kids love to pose for a picture. . . what oh what have we done to children that they are so fascinated with getting their picture taken, and then saying, "Lemme see!" right away!






Then we got out this compound word activity from  Sliding into 1st. 
Cait made these cute little weiner dogs and cut them in half to show the two words of a compound. These would be good for first or second graders. 

I picked this up last year, but it's still a good one to use. 




Those are NOT my blue fingernails. . . I wouldn't ever wear blue!






If you haven't already ventured over to Let's Talk Turkey, you need to do that soon too! That's where you'll find some cool and fun Thanksgiving activities to use before the Holiday is over!


Patty

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Let's Talk Turkey Linky Party

Let's Talk Some Turkey!

I'm joining Gina at Beach Sandand Lesson Plans



When you're done reading my blog, hop on over to hers and link up! Don't be chicken. . . I mean Turkey! It's pretty easy and well, helps to share the love of the season too!

1. One of my favorite things to do is my Thanksgiving Pronouns Activity.
It's a skill needed by 2nd and 3rd graders and only costs $2.00. 
It's easy to copy, laminate, cut and let the kids try to connect the 
pronouns to the proper noun.

And the clipart is made using DJ Inkers clip art & fonts. © www.djinkers.com.


2. One of my favorite books to read is A Turkey For Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting. 

Who doesn't love anything that she writes!
A Turkey for Thanksgiving

It's so fun to see the surprise look on Turkey's face when he finds out that  he. . . oh wait, I'm not going to give away the punch line!

 You'll just have to read it. 

The pictures are by Diane De Groat. 

She writes the Gilbert Series of books. 
We Gather Together...Now Please Get Lost!
Which brings me to a second book that I love to read at this time of year. 
Gilbert always learns a big lesson in these books. 

The other reason that I love this series is that she has a character in the book named Patty! Isn't that great! Very few authors use that name any more. . . . 
and well, it's just such a lovely name!


Now while you're out blog hopping today, don't forget to stop in at Third Grade Tidbits You'll be able to see what Gina has to say about Talking Turkey!

And if you're still here, you have time to pick up my freebie for you! 

It's an adjective paper to celebrate the season. 



I am grateful for having over 300 followers and today I hit a milestone! I hit the $100.00 mark! That felt so good. Thanks to all of you who have purchased my things. 

You are truly a.maze.ing!




 Patty

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

AWWWHHHHH!!! I'm TELLING

Today I got real gutsy. . .

and my students thought we would be in trouble. .. .

And even I felt naughty!

I must admit that this totally went against every part of my being.

I was NOT raised this way. . .

But sometimes you have to just let go. . . and this is what we did.. . .. .


YUP! We WROTE right on the table!


With MARKERS!!!


And boy did we feel guilty!


We felt NAUGHTY!


But we LOVED it!


We wanted to do it again  and again!


And the other kids in the room couldn't wait till they got a turn!


We did set down rules. . . . 
1. You may not do this at home!
2. You may not do this on your desk UNLESS I tell them to.
3. You must only use dry erase markers!
4.You must erase it when you are done!

It was such a hit! My kids were eager to practice math strategies now!
And my table did clean up just fine at the end of the day.


I have a couple new things in my store if you'd like to take a peak at them! 


The 2nd thing that I have is a Thanksgiving Pronoun activity.

I think you might like both of these. They are easy to make, and real easy for your students to use. 

Now don't forget to stop by Miss V's Busy Bees She is having a 500 follower give away that is just way too huge! Everyone can enter and you have many different ways to enter. . . I hope you win.. . well . . . I hope I win too, but maybe you'll also win along with me!

Time to go vote! I hope you all voted too!




Patty