Funny Face Pumpkins

Is it only Monday, wow I am already exhausted! Tonight was a fun day filled with pumpkins!

After I saw this pin on Pinterest, I knew I had to make these pumpkins, they are just too adorable!

via Art Projects for Kids

I also found a great bulletin board image with these pumpkins that can be found at flickr {HERE}.
**Sidenote** If you are in need of art projects you must check out Art Projects for Kids. It is an amazing resource and a quick browse showed me a ton of fun Halloween projects that I already want to plan!

Frames via Graphics From the Pond

Rather than do a marble paint, I had the kids use orange, green and yellow watercolors and they turned out so adorable. Since we did only a thin layer of paint, they dried fast and we were able to use construction paper to add our eyes, mouths, teeth, stem and grass.

I love projects like this where you give all the kids the same materials and the originality that they come up with is amazing!

By the way, I always see people apologizing for the quality of the iPhone pictures . . . um, I apologize for my camera pictures. I would say that apparently I need to invest in a good quality camera but I am the worst photographer, so give me any camera and the picture will always turn out blurry, grainy and probably crooked!

Manic Monday with The Little Old Lady

Is it Sunday night already? That weekend sure flew past.

How was that for an intro sentence? I must be exhausted! I'm back to link up with Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies. I have a simple Halloween freebie to share. I used it last year and I might have to pull it out again this year.

Click {HERE} or the picture to check it out (I'm not sure why the picture looks gray, the freebie isn't though!). I used this with the story The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. I read the story and had the kids retell by writing/drawing the order that the objects followed the lady.

If you don't have the book, there are various read alouds available on Youtube, including a song version.

In completely unrelated news, I'm still trucking along with my new Word Problem a Day series. I'm slightly ahead of the game as I just finished the Thanksgiving packet for 3rd grade. Click {HERE} or the picture to check it out.

Head on over to Classroom Freebies to see what other goodies are available and have a wonderful week!

**Graphic from KPM Doodles and Melonheadz**
**Fonts from KG Fonts and Rowdy in Room 300**

Happy Fish & Crayons That Quit

Can you believe that it is almost Friday? This week sure went by fast. The weather has been great here, in that nice autumn spot between the hot sun of summer and super rainy fall, but we'll see how long this lasts.

I wanted to stop by and talk about two new books I've found recently. I can never resist talking about books and I love finding new ones.

First up, Happy by Mies Van Hout. I am a sucker for amazing illustrations and this book fits that. The illustrations show different fish portraying various emotions.

Happy is perfect for teaching kids about emotions and would make for a fantastic art lesson (bright pastels on black paper would be so striking).

Next up, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. When I first saw this book I thought it looked familiar and I quickly realized that Oliver Jeffers illustrated it.

This books consists of letters from the various crayons explaining why they quit. There are so many options for this book. It would be fantastic for a colour unit, to introduce letter writing or to start a discussion about using out of the box colours in artwork.This book is just plain cute!

Manic Monday - Halloween Style

Can I just start this by saying, how nice are Sundays when it's a long weekend? Much nicer than your average Sunday, that's for sure. Now that that is out of the way, onto business.

I think I have been talking about Halloween since September and I *may* have bought Halloween candy a few weeks ago, so it's no surprise that I'm back to join up the fantastic weekly link-up, Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies, with a newish Halloween freebie.

I blogged about my new freebie earlier this week, but I didn't have it finished in time to link-up last Monday, so here I am, a little bit closer to Halloween, so perfect time for a Halloween freebie.

My Spooktacular Solve It freebie contains 24 task cards, a student recording sheet and, of course, an answer key. For each task card, students must use their math skills to find the spooky number. Skills covered include: place value, ordering numbers, addition & subtraction of multi-digit numbers, and even & odd numbers. Click the picture or {HERE} to check it out and make sure to leave me a comment letting me know if your students enjoyed the activity!

Storybook Saturday Link-Up & A Flash Sale

I decided to link-up with the Storybook Saturday Link-Up over at Paula's Place because I can never resist talking about books.

So I was thinking back on the books I read this week, and I started to wonder, was it too soon to read a Halloween book? Because I did. I read it to go with some Halloween writing so hopefully that makes it OK!

I read a new book for me, The 13 Nights of Halloween by Guy Vasilovich:

:

This is a cute, spooky Halloween spin on the 12 days of Christmas. I read it for some Halloween writing that was unrelated to the actual story, but it great for retelling, sequencing, alliteration or comporting/contrasting with the 12 days of Christmas. I would love to see the kids come up with their own ideas for the 13 nights of Halloween - is it just me or do the kids get extra creative around this time of year?

Now onto the second reason for this blogpost. I am apparently very late to the game, but I'm here anyways to say I'm joining with lots of fantastic TpT sellers for a FLASH SALE! TpT reached a huge milestone of 100, 000 likes on their Facebook page!

Click on the picture or {HERE} to check out my TpT store. My store will be 20% off and if you use the promo code FB100K, you'll get an extra 10% off! A long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) and a sale - I'll take it!

Click on the banner above to check out my Halloween products (some old and some new) including my new freebie:

Happy weekend and happy shopping!

Pinterest Pinning Party

Want to join a fun linky party? Try linking up with Tammy at 1..2..3.. Teach With Me. She's hosting a link-up that joins two teacher favourites - Pinterest and TpT! Go link up with 3-5 of your favourite TpT products (organized by grade level for efficiency) then pin 5-10 of the other products. What a great way to spread the love!

Spooktacular Solve It Freebie!

Well I was hoping to finish my new Halloween freebie today and I actually did - I kind of surprised myself. I must have been inspired as I was watching Dance Moms today. Seriously I cannot get enough of that show. Between that and Princesses Long Island, it was a great day for reality TV!

But onto the freebie. I love the fun that holidays bring into the classroom and wherever possible I like to make the curriculum fun by incorporating holiday themes.

My new freebie, Spooktacular Solve It contains 24 Spooky Number Task Cards. Each task card contains different instructions to find the spooky number. The task cards review place value, even & odd numbers, ordering numbers, least & greatest and has a little addition and subtraction thrown in.

Click {HERE} or the pictures to check it out - let me know if you enjoy!

Word Problems and (Almost) a Freebie

How do you feel about word problems? Do you ever find that your students stare at the words and have no idea what to do? I seem to find this way too much with some math skills. I remember doing my practicum at the beginning of the year, in a fifth grade class, and asking doing a quick assessment on written form and place value. I was **shocked**. Some of the answers I got were completely unexpected. After that I remind myself to not assume that the students know the skills. Always do a quick formative assessment.

With some of these skills, I think the best thing to do is complete a basic skills review. That's where my Daily Math comes in and I've tried to do it again with my new math series:

These units include teacher task cards (in color and black & white), student versions (for use in interactive math journals), a student recording sheet and of course, the all important answer key. The task cards and student versions include the Common Core State Standard covered and are a quick (daily) way to review basic skills.

I've offered a few ways to use these in the class.

1) Assess oral listening skills by reading the cards to the students, and having them answer in math journals or on recording sheet.

2) Use the PDF version to project onto an interactive white board for students to read and complete.

3) Provide students with the student prompt version and have them glue into and complete in their interactive math journal.

Click on the pictures to check the units out. So far I've completed the Back to School and Fall packets for third grade.

Now onto the (almost) freebie:

I'm working on a new Halloween-themed math freebie, so check back soon for that!

Fall & October Currently

Well it's getting rainy and cold, the leaves are changing, Starbucks is serving Pumpkin Spice Lattes and my Scholastic order included a few Halloween books - it must be Fall! Here are a few of my fun Scholastic finds:

Substitute Creacher by Chris Gall. Perfect monster book to scare students into behaving.

The 13 Nights of Halloween by Guy Vasilovich. Fun, creepier version of The 12 Days of Christmas.

Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex. Fun follow-up to Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich.

In a short follow-up to the Pete the Cat Saga of 2013 talked about {HERE} and {HERE}, we are still completely Pete obsessed. One student even showed me the handwritten note that "Pete" left for her at home. I must apologize to her poor parents. I have to say, listening to 20 five-year olds sing and read all the words to all of Pete's books makes it so worth it!

Finally, I guess I should get to October's Currently. I kind of dropped the ball on linking up for the past few months and I'm not sure why. Oh yeah, it's because I complete fell of the blogging train. I don't know if I was ever actually on the train since I write pretty sporadic posts, but anyway, I'm back to link-up.

I think mine all speak for themselves, no explanations needed. 

As for the treat, seriously if you have a SMART Board in your class (and access to Youtube) Just Dance Kids videos are perfect for movement breaks. Short, fun and work in any weather. We have had too many indoor recesses already.

Go link up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade to share your Currently thoughts.