Let's Get Aqquainted ~ Monday

I've been meaning to join up with the always fabulous, Latoya, over at Flying Into First Grade. In honor of the beautiful Spring weather, although today is only 50*, I brightened up the linky! :)

Oh yes, and please don't forget to join in on our linky party below! We'd love to keep this School Supplies Linky up on the blog as a great resource for ideas in the classroom. I know it will help me get organized and hopefully it will give you some inspiration to try something new.

I hope this counts, but I am linking  up to "Monday Made It" with 4th Grade Frolics AND Tried it Tuesday with Fourth Grade Flipper!

If you aren't following their blogs yet, hop on over and check them out. They are fun, inspirational, and informative...not to mention beautiful. I also love both buttons for these linkys!

So anyways...for my "made it" & "tried it" -  I made my first ever linky party and created the button too. I love how it came out. For someone who had no idea how to do anything like this last year, I feel like I have sure come a long way! :)

I used Power Point to make the button and actually was going to post the directions, but they are basically the same directions that were posted here, except she made them look awesome with easy to follow screen shots!! :)

What do you think? Not to bad for a first timer, huh?? Now make me happy and link up...pretty please?? :)

Have a wonderful week everyone, especially for my blog friends getting out of school this week!!!

New Year, New Gear: LINKY PARTY! :)

Wohooo! We are super excited to host our first ever linky party and we hope you will be excited to join in on the fun too. We wanted to create a meaningful post and get input from our fellow bloggers, but the end of the school year is coming and we are running out of time. It is the PERFECT time to talk about...

School Supply Lists!

I don't know what it is about school supplies, but the isle in Walmart gives me happy butterflies. For Valentine's Day I'd rather get a bouquet of pretty colored pens than roses, and I definitely still have my pencil/pen collection that I started way back in grammar school. In fact, on my desk there are about five different containers holding tons of pens and pencils. I have pretty ones that I use and pretty ones that are just for looking at. I even have a container of loner pencils that I let kids borrow (they are the plain yellow ones). There is nothing better than the feel of writing in a new notebook, erasing with a fresh eraser, or even sharpening a new pencil. Call me a geek, but I think I was destined to be a teacher.

Anyways, if your school is anything like ours, we cannot leave for the summer until we cross off a huge check list. One of the items on the list is to create a list of items for our future students to purchase before coming into school next year. I usually send the same boring list home, but while I was looking through blog posts this week, I started thinking about making some changes. So if you inspired me, I am linking to your posts in my linky party! Thank you for your inspiration!

So check out our MUST haves for next year...

1. Composition Notebooks:

These are a MUST in our classroom. We use these notebooks for both reading and writing. It’s where we reflect, take risks, explore ideas, demonstrate understanding, and show what we know! We are also excited to start using the mentor sentence idea explained in detail by Ideas by Jivey & The Collaborative Cuties. Check it out!

2. Yellow Paper Pad:

We JUST stated using this to draft our stories! My students enjoy editing and revising on this pad. They can cross out, add carrots, and change their ideas around on this pad. There is plenty of room if the students want to skip lines on their first draft, it lets me keep track of their writing and how it has improved throughout the year, and it is hard to lose because it's so big. We also love that the students can simply slip it into their reading folder. Once again...thanks Jessica, for the idea! :)

3. Sharpie Chart Markers: We are OBSESSED with these markers!

 
They come in fun colors and don’t bleed through the chart paper! I will say that I go through two or three sets per year because they tend to dry out faster than normal markers...maybe I just use my chart too much?

4. Mechanical pencils:

We both equally HATE the sound of a pencil sharpener and it often becomes a spot where socializing and avoidance take place. Request for your students to only use mechanical pencils and that problem is solved!

5. Zipper pencil pouch:

 
This is crucial in my classroom. I only teach language arts, so my students switch from my classroom to my partner teacher’s classroom. Enforcing the “Zipper Pencil Pouch” rule helps to elevate plastic pencil box smashing incidents in the hallway. There is nothing more distracting than a million pencils and pens rolling across the floor!


6. Fun Colored Pens:


My students LOVE using colored pens. Students use it to edit and revise their work and I also use it to reward behavior. If students are working hard, being kind to others, and following the rules they get to use one of the pens when writing their quick write for the day. My students LOVE to earn the reward of writing in pen. I also have this as a reward coupon. If kids earn the "Write in a fun pen for the day" coupon, they freak out. I would too, if I was in 4th grade!

So what's on your list for next year? Grab the button, link up, and tell us a few of your MUST HAVES!

More on Teacher Appreciation Week!

Honestly, the goodies I've received this week have topped my past prizes! It's really nice to know I am appreciated! Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! May your day be full of smiles!

One of my students was super excited to give me a homemade cookie! :)

Workshop Wednesday: Motivating Writers!

Good morning! We are linking up with our amazing teacher friend, Jivey, over at Ideas By Jivey for Workshop Wednesday. Today's topic was motivating writers and since writing is my most favorite thing to teach,  I had to jump on it. 

I tend to get uninspired/unmotivated writers at the beginning of the year and turn them into fourth grade authors by the end of the year. I don't know how I actually do this, but somehow when kids leave my classroom they end up love writing. I do have a few tips up my sleeves to get them there. 

Unfortunately, I had my ideas incorporated into my units perfectly, but with the CCSS starting this year, we rewrote our curriculum completely and I was unable to do some of my favorite projects.  It's okay though because I still had a successful year turning the most redundant writers into amazing authors.

I find my best plan to get the students motivated is to allow them to write wherever they are comfortable. Jivey took my answer by talking about how she allows them to write on clipboards. We do this in my classroom too. So now I am going to "one up her" (haha) and say that i-Pads are also an amazing motivator in the classroom. They have made my struggling students confident and enthusiastic writers. The students love typing in the Notes App, looking up words in the Thesaurus App, and even emailing their writing to their parents, me, or past teachers for feedback. This doesn't seem like a huge deal, but seriously it has helped dramatically! I don't know if lack of confidence in spelling was a handicap for some of my friends, but whatever it was, I am happy they are getting some typing time as well. 

Besides adding technology, here are some of my secret weapon teacher books. I love each one, but the last one is my favorite! 

I love using Word Ladders for morning work. The students love working against each other to see who can get the most correct answers the fastest. The vocabulary used is not only excellent reinforcement to the students, but also amazing enrichment for my motivated students. I absolutely love when I see the students use new words in their writing. Whether they use their new found vocabulary in quick journal writing, writing prompt writing, or whatever type of writing we are currently working on in class. When my students use new words that they have learned, I have them underline the words and then they get extra points on their spelling tests for so many correct vocabulary words used in assignments. It is a great motivator to get the students to extend their writing and vocabulary. 

We use the vocabulary cartoon of the day for once a week homework. The work is fun and once again it is a great extension activity and enrichment for my students.  

The last book, "Easy Art Activities That Spark Super Writing" is by far my favorite purchase. We used to use Empowering Writers as a writing program, but have since rewrote our own curriculum and do not use a program. We now teach Narrative, Persuasive, Expository, and Opinion writing all in 4th grade. A few years ago,  I purchased this book at a conference and have used a TON of ideas from it. Some of my favorites were the Magic Carpet Ride, Ouch, The Leprechaun Trap, and the Dream Room. The writer's techniques covered in this book are Summaries, Elaborative Detail, Suspense, and Main Event Writing. The fun part is that each technique has multiple activities and involve a writing piece and a corresponding piece of artwork. The students have so much fun working on their projects, they don't even consider it learning, but they sure are. In fact, later on when we put all the techniques together in a complete narrative, they remember the small projects and the different techniques that were taught and mastered at the time. 

Thanks for checking in and reading what I had to say today! :) 

I will leave you with a few pictures of my teacher appreciation flowers to brighten your day! :)

Game Freebie, May Currently, & Teacher Appreciation!

We are very excited to have flipped our calendars this week to May. Not only is school one month closer to being over, but the weather is FINALLY warming up! I'm a little late, but wanted to get jump in on the fun for CURRENTLY. 

It is pretty self explanatory, but here is mine. 

Here is Robyn's currently.

How are you celebrating "Teacher Appreciation Week?" Normally we don't get anything, but this year the PTO has made something special everyday. Today, Monday was "Bring a Flower for Your Teacher Day!" I got quite a few, and now everyone is sneezing while taking the Spring District Writing Prompt! Oops! They sure are beautiful though! :) I am looking forward to see what surprises we are receiving for the rest of the week!

Are you guys SO excited for Tuesday and Wednesday? I know I am because it's TpT's Teacher Appreciation Sale! TpT is taking an additional 10% off any stores' sale price WITH THE COUPON CODE TAD13.  My store will be 20% off. So if you have anything in the cart...now is the time to get it! :) Click here to check out my store! I'm linking up with *Bunting, Books, & Brainbridge* for the Fabulous Feedback Linky Party! We love to receive meaningful feedback from our TPT friends. It helps us improve as teachers, creators, and sellers! Thank you! :) 

One of my fellow blogger friends had an awesome post here about her "plan of attack" on the sale. She is super funny and it makes total sense! Check her out for some laughs and tips!


If you are unsure about what to get with this awesome sale check out one of my favs. This text structure packet was one of my most valuable packets used in my classroom. The kids "got it" and excelled at the skill. It is a very popular item in our TPT store, check it out by clicking on the image below!

How could I forget, even though it is Monday and I am exhausted, I can't forget about one of my favorite linky parties! I am also linking up with our friends for the Manic Monday Linky! Have you ever played the Category Game? It is simple, fun, and educational! We use it as a reward if students get their work done and work hard throughout the day. Students love it and become so competitive! It is our new freebie for the week! Check it out! 

Here is an example of what the chart looks like:

You can download it here for free! :) Please leave us some feedback, we'd love to hear what you think! 

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! :) 

 

We are back in action!

Sorry about our absence lately, but we've been SUPER busy at school. Although our state tests were completed in March, April is one of our busiest months. We do not get out of school until June 20th this year, but it's okay because we have SO much still to do.

In April we complete our whole Unit 5 in Language Arts "How are the Earth & Sky portrayed in fiction and nonfiction?", take three MAP tests on computers (Reading, Language, and Math), a Spring Writing Prompt, DRP, DRA to the student's independent reading level, fluency with a Spring goal, DSA spelling tests (which could possibly lead to taking three tests depending on the student), have a week off for Spring Break, attend a school day chorus, band, and orchestra concert, AND hold parents/teacher conferences. WHEW! That was exhausting just typing!!!

Anyways, in linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching...here are five RANDOM parts of our week!

5) We finished our legend chart in class and the students created their own legends. We are so impressed with how they came out! We made up an awesome packet for our unit and added it to our TPT store. The legend plan we created was key to the student's success!

4) We started our bulletin board to introduce our next unit. "How is heroism portrayed in fiction and nonfiction?" I'm in love with the comic superhero I drew and the student's are having a blast cutting their heads out of their pictures!

3) I stayed up really late Thursday night making cake pops for Robyn's daughter's second birthday this weekend. I love making them and think they came out awesome! :) 

2) I made an DELICIOUS dinner this week in my Deep Covered Baker from Pampered Chef that I am obsessed with. Not only can I make an amazing lava cake in twelve minutes, but I can also cook ANYTHING in it in the MICROWAVE!!! From whole chickens to dips...everything I've made was awesome. Really this is something you have to see to believe. I didn't believe microwaved chicken would be edible until I tried it. It makes quick dinners more healthy and less stressful. 

This dish was called Summer Spaghetti. I can't wait for the summer when my garden is thriving so I can add fresh zucchini and squash! 

1) I was diagnosed with a form of Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis! :( It is an infectious disease transmitted by the bite of a tick. I have no idea when I got bit by a tick, but I did, and now I have full blown symptoms. My neck, back, and shoulders feel like they are broken and the migraines I get are the worst I've ever had. NOT fun... I have 0 energy and the super strong medicine I am on makes me sick! Below is a picture of what the tick supposedly looks like. EWWWW! With my husband being a hunter and us always being outside hiking in the woods, I guess it makes sense that it had to happen sometime!

 If you made it this far....THANK YOU! :) I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

CONGRATS TO OUR BIG WINNER!!

Drum rolllllllll please! And the winnnnnnnner is.....

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Tara Witte! From Teaching with Twitte! I will be emailing our sponsors your email address and then you get to go on a TPT shopping spree!

Thank you everyone for participating and a SPECIAL thank you to our blog giveaway sponsors!