It's a Garden Full of Grammar

I've finally finished that little Grammar pack! I created the Contraction Action pages for my class and then kept adding pages. By the time I wrapped it up the pack was 50 pages! It's got some excellent grammar activities and printables. It's perfect for 1st and 2nd graders. My students LOVE those spinners. We have a ton of paper clips that I keep in a baggie in a spot where students can help themselves.

This week I'll add the Irregular Past Tense Verbs as a Literacy center. In order to hold my students accountable, they'll be expected to record their responses.

This pack is on sale for $1.00 until tonight at 9 P.M. (PST). Click {HERE} to see 

it on TpT.

Brainpop.com- Contractions video

Do you have a Brainpop account? If so, there is an excellent video on contractions. Click on the image to visit the site.

Now, on to that Instagram giveaway! I have drawn a winner and it is MRSELDER21! She’s won a $5 Starbucks card and 2 goodies from my TpT store!

Well, it’s sad to say today is the last day of my Spring Break. I enjoy teaching, but my goodness I am ready for a vacation. Let the count down begin!

Graphics from ZipADeeDooDah

1000 IG Followers Giveaway!

Ends 4/20/14 at 11:59 P.M.

I have over 1,000 IG followers! I think that's definitely something to celebrate, so I'm offering a $5 Starbucks gift card and ANY 2 items from my TpT store to one lucky friend. You can enter on IG and leave a comment here for an additional entry. :)

Find me on Instagram.

Good luck!

Wordless Wednesday- Workin' Away

I'm linking up with Sugar and Spice for another Wordless Wednesday! 

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Science Club: Reviewing some ROCKIN' resources

Well, I’m wrapping up Science Club (insert cry baby face) and wanted to share a few of the resources I found on TpT. My school offers teachers the opportunity to lead an Extended Learning group. The group consists of 10 students from our own classes. The purpose is to offer At or Above-grade level students more instruction in science or social-studies. I absolutely LOVE science, so of course I jumped at the chance to teach it. This is my third year doing this and it's always so much fun. We learned all about rocks and fossils. Our time together sure flew by! It was hard to pack in quality instruction into 45 minute sessions.

My Rockin Vocabulary cover was printed on construction paper to cut costs.

Here are some of the resources I used to guide and instruct my students:
Shakin Quakin Earth Rocks by Stephanie Stewart

It is nicely sequenced and is jam-packed with articles as well as interactive activities for students. It's been easy to implement the lessons in the order they were provided. My kiddos have really enjoyed reading and learning about rocks and minerals. I think their favorite so far has been learning about volcanoes. As we prepared our volcano for an eruption one of my kiddos exclaimed, "Volcano day is awesome!"

Click on the COVER to go to Stephanie Stewart's TpT store

"Classifying Rocks" from Shakin Quakin Earth Rocks

Building our Volcano!

We drew the outside, inside, and the eruption of a volcano.

Rocks and Minerals by Common Core and So Much More 

I used this pack last year and was pleasantly surprised when I found that it had been updated. It has fantastic vocabulary posters with photos and student-friendly definitions.

Click on the Cover to see this pack on TpT

Rocks and Minerals Science Unit by Full Court Learning

I had so many resources that I didn't quite get to reuse this pack this year, but it's also amazing. It has a printable booklet that's all in color. Last year, my students' eyes lit up when they found out they were getting their own color copy. It includes diagrams and plenty of vocabulary. It even has assessments in order to determine what students have learned.

Click on the Cover to see this pack on TpT

Although our after school sessions have ended, I plan to use lunch time to get in some more instruction. We barely made it to fossils! Our study trip will be to a Fossil Museum that’s not too far away, so I’d like to make sure they have a good understanding before we head there.

Now, I'm off to work on my Grammar Pack. It's Spring Break for me (Wooo!!) and I'm determined to wrap it up. 

Wordless Wedneday- Volcano Day!!

A wordless linky? Okay! Sugar and Spice has come up with the best idea for a mid-week linky party... Wordless Wednesday! This may be tricky, but I'm ready to try it. I'll post a photo and a question.

Science Club has been such a BLAST! Volcano Day was the best. 

What do you love most about teaching science?

Adding BIG numbers (FREEBIE included)

We've been working on 3-digit addition and subtraction the past weeks. My students really got the hang of addition by making models and using the algorithm as well. I love making my own work mats. I typically give them to students in a sheet protector and students take them out and use with an expo marker during lessons. I would love to share my 2 & 3-digit addition work mats with you for FREE! The 10 in the house represents the group of ten that are boxed up and moved to the next place value.

Click HERE to get the freebie.

When we reveal the sum we usually do a drum roll and shout "The sum is ___!" It helps students to remember the meaning of "sum." We make a trumpet sound for subtraction. "The difference is (trumpet sound) ___!" The subtraction mat can be found in my Subtract Like a Ninja pack.

Hope this helps your kiddos as they learn to work with "big" numbers. Enjoy your weekend!

Five for (cough) Sunday

This has been such a CUH-RAZY week. Then again, aren't they all? I’m linking with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Can we just go ahead and rename it Five for Sunday? 

Oh my goodness, so let me tell you about my crazy Friday. That's right not my week, but my Friday! It began with my flash drive going out. It  just stopped working. I tried to resuscitate it, but no luck. Can I get a moment of silence please?::tear:: So much of my professional life is contained within that little piece of plastic. I back it up occasionally, but seriously the last time was a month ago. Do you know how much work I’ve saved on it since then? Well, I took it to Best Buy and they couldn’t fix it, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my co-worker’s husband is able to fix it.

At lunch time I rushed home for a funeral. Nope, those are never fun. However, it was nice to be able to see and spend some time with relatives. This was my husband’s family and they are all so sweet and funny. Love them!

Well, the night was just about over. We dropped off my hubby’s grandma and thought it would be quick, so I left my purse in the car. BAD IDEA! When we returned 25 minutes later his rear window had been smashed and my purse was gone. Keys, wallet, phone…all of it was gone. We immediately blocked the cards and were freaking out when my husband remembered that we had the Find My iPhone app. He was able to lock the phone and began Pinging it to find its location. Of course, it was within a mile. We called the police and they were out there almost instantly. We were able to retrieve almost everything. I would highly recommend getting one of these apps on your phone. Most smartphones have something similar and it’s free.

Well, in other news… I was able to finally wrap up my newest math pack this week, An Array of Sweet Treats. WARNING: This pack may give you a toothache just by looking at it. It’s been so fun putting together these games. I’m excited to print and share these with my kiddos. You can check it out by clicking {HERE}. It’s on sale right now too (20% off)!

Did I mention that it's Common Core aligned?

Also, did you know that Anchored in Third is having a giveaway? She is celebrating her 1,000 IG followers. That’s a lot of teacher friends. There are Jamberry wraps, Twisted Owl bracelets, and many teacher creations up for grabs. Click {HERE} to check it out. 

Now, i'm off to bed. Car repairs and a DMV are on the agenda for tomorrow.