It's All About That Space (not the Bass!) When Laminating

How do you laminate? Do you laminate at home or at school? 

It's all about that Space, bout that Space, no trouble!

I personally like to laminate at school. But I'm such a miser, I make sure that I waste very little laminating film. I have a tip that might help you save on laminating if you do it at school. 

I know that if you use the at home machines, you only laminate one page at a time, so this trick probably doesn't make that much difference. 

This first picture above shows how most people laminate. They lay two pieces of paper side by side and push it through the machine. This has to happen if you need both pages in full size. 

This picture above and below shows how you can have three pages side by side to push through the machine. 

First I trim off the edges of the pages that  have a lot of waste that is not needed for my use. That makes them smaller and more easier to lay side by side. It's amazing that even by trimming off a 1/4 of each side of a paper allows you to put three sheets in at one time. 

Now aren't you glad you saw this? AND, who's going to volunteer to cut all this out? 

Thanks for stopping by!

Because . . . . .

Do your kids have trouble spelling the word BECAUSE? If so here's a freebie poster that might help you.

http://bit.ly/1xdAbQH

There are actually 4 different colored posters here so you can put them around the room

Spring Text Passages by Miss De Carbo

This week I have been using Miss DeCarbo's 

Text Evidence  Reading Passages.

The students that I work with mainly need help with comprehension. That's why using things like Christina Bainbridge's Comprehension Snapshots and Miss De Carbo's Text Evidence are so important to me. 

I like that these are short assignments that we can finish or nearly finish in a half an hour's time. (Which is how long I have each student.) The information that they have to dig for is similar to what they have to do in many testing situations.  They aren't too long, boring, and drawn out so the child loses their focus. 

Our district takes a test called I Ready. I'm sure it's much like the NWEA assessments that we used to take and also similar to others that you may be taking. 

These pictures show my students using a passage from Miss De Carbo's set. 

The first time they read it, I ask them to read it aloud to me. I will use a highlighter marker to show the words they are unfamiliar with. That helps them when they go back to read it for the second time, they'll remember that this is a new word. 

 I like that they have to read it 3 times. So many kids feel like they need to rush through their work or test. These papers allow them to take their time and read it 3 times, (if they are honest!) Coloring in the raindrops at the bottom helps them to keep track of their honesty.

I have found these text passages to be very successful with my students. I know there are a lot of good things out there to choose from. But maybe after seeing how it's used, you might consider grabbing these for yourself.

Today one of my students was reading about Spring. The text in the passage said, "In the spring the weather gets warmer." But when we looked outside and found the snow falling, she said, "No it doesn't!"

This is what my car looked like when I walked out at noon. Since then we have even more snow!

In closing, I'll add a cute pic of my grandaughter just two days ago. I guess that's Michigan for you. Wonderful one day, crummy the next!

If you are interested in grabbing Miss De Carbo's Text Passages, just click here. You won't be disappointed!

Winners Announced

Thank you to everyone who entered my last two giveaways! I so appreciate your support. 

A big thank you to Christina Bainbridge for allowing me to giveaway a fantastic program to you two. 

Hurry and Enter! It's Almost Over!

You have less than 7 hours to enter this give away for Christina Bainbridge's Comprehension Snapshots! If you teach 2nd or 3rd grade or homeschool your kids, you will love this set of comprehension skills. 

Christina has graciously allowed me to give 2 sets away. . . BUT if I get 20 comments in the comment section, she'll give away a third set! Who doesn't love that news!!! 

I took some more pictures of the kids who are using it with me right now. I think when you see the variety of skills addressed you will really want it. Plus it is all aligned to the Common Core standards. (Whether you use them or not, it's still a great idea to practice these skills.)

This young lady is matching some causes and their effects by using the same color.

This young man is reading about Character Traits. He has a tough time writing small, so we turned his paper over to write three traits about each character on the back.

If you win it, I know you will love it. So please click here to go right to the link about the rafflecopter.  I'll be back tomorrow to let the winners know. 

Comprehension Snapshots Could Be YOURS!

Many of you know that I am fortunate to have Christina Bainbridge from Buntings, Books, and Bright Ideas as my good friend. She has mentored me through all of my blogging and selling adventures, not to mention having a few good meals together too! 

So today, I would like to show her some appreciation by highlighting a product of hers. I have been using it with some students for the last 3 weeks. I work with just a few students who are struggling with understanding HOW to dig in the story to find the facts, the connections, and the possible reasons for the answers. 

A while ago, I got her set of Comprehension Snapshots.

I was searching through my many things that I could use to help my students and remembered that I had this. (Don't you hate it when you can't remember what you have and where it's at? But I knew just where this one was!!!)

So I began using them with my students. They are perfect as they hit many different areas of comprehension that the kids need to know more about. Plus they are only a half sheet of paper. They do not take very long to do, which is a great thing to have around when you need it. (These might even work for you for morning work, or exit tickets!)

Since I'm working one to one with my students at this time, I use a highlighter pen to underline the words that they struggle with. Then we reread it again to be sure they understand the paragraphs. Plus it shows them that rereading is an ok thing and something they should do more of. 

 I ask them to go back into the text to find out how to spell the words they need (if they are listed there). Which is another great skill for kids to go back and dig deeper to find what they need.

Christina has this listed at $8.00 and there are 94 pages. That's 94 pages of the awesomest comprehension activities.

Here's a few of the skills that you'll find:

Story elements, ask and answer questions, theme, character traits, cause and effect, literal and figurative, point of view, compare and contrast, and more!

Christina has graciously said I could give away 2, two, TWO sets of these. Could you be the lucky winner. . . You have to enter. Just fill out the Rafflecopter below and wait until later this week to see if you're the winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter Before Sunday Night at Midnight

You have until midnight on Sunday to enter my giveaway for  a set of Super Heros Numeracy and Number Bonds! Go enter, quick! I want you to win!

Just click HERE and you'll be whisked away to the right spot!

Seeing is Believing! You can Win It!

 Math has changed over the years. Not so much the facts, but how you find the facts and how you find the answers and even how you show your work. If you have kinders, firsties, and maybe even some 2nd graders who aren't totally grasping these ideas, maybe this set is for you. It's easy to use and fun to do for the kids. 

 The child will start by putting the blocks in the ten frames to show what the number looks like. Then they will pull them down to the two squares (or circles on some of them). In these two shapes they will create the number bonds (or addition facts) that equal the number on the top of the page. On the worksheet they will write down all the facts (or number bonds) that they have made. 

 This is a good way to show the turn around facts too. 

 These pictures show the numbers that are smaller

 than 11 and they are the ones that use the 

circles to put the number bonds in.

One of the ways that I teach them to find all the right number bonds, is to start with zero on one side and the rest of the cubes on the other side. They write down 0+16. Then they slide one cube over to show 1+15. They continue to slide one cube at a time, 2+14, 3+13, 4+12, etc. Until they are back at 16+0. 

This little guy is catching on and is starting to do them in his head without even sliding the cubes over. (Believe me, this is something he COULD not do before. But seeing is believing and he is getting it!)

I'd love to give a set of these away to someone and just maybe you can win it! 

Use this Rafflecopter to do your duty and cross your fingers! I'll announce the winner next week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway