How was your weekend? Mine has been great . . . especially because it has been gorgeous out & it's a long weekend! No better weekend than a long one!
I'm popping in quick tonight to share an updated freebie for Manic Monday. I know I've already blogged about it, but who doesn't love a freebie, especially a newly updated one!
I always find that the end of the year can be rather crazy (I don't need to tell you that!) and there always seems to be downtime in between assemblies, field trips and activities. I created this printable pack to help fill that downtime. With a few writing prompts and a couple fun things thrown in, this pack should help keep your students busy when you've got 5 minutes to fill. Click the picture or {HERE} if you'd like to download. Hope you enjoy!
Head on over to Classroom Freebies to check out the other freebies this week.
We made these Kandinsky inspired trees this week. Although the instructions say they are "fall" trees, I thought they were so bright and cute they would be perfect for this spring/summer weather we have been having. Plus they brighten up a bulletin board amazingly! The instructions can be found over at Art Projects for Kids, if you haven't visited that website, you must. There are a million art ideas with full instructions for various grade levels.
Are your students jumping off the wall as the end of the year approaches? I don't know what it is, but the students just can't seem to sit still lately. Because of this, engaging brain breaks are a must to keep on hand, so today I'm going to share another of my favourites, Five Little Monkeys!
The kiddos will love it!
I have been working hard to update some of my older products and this week I finished up with my Oliver Jeffers Author Study:
I won't bother showing what it looked like before, because that might be painful!
If you've read this far, you definitely deserve a freebie. Last night, I updated my Summer Vacation Mini Pack freebie. This freebie pack contains a few fun printables to keep students busy during these last few weeks (or days for some of us!).
Click the picture to check it out!
What did you do this week? Head on over to Doodle Bugs to link up!
Who loves shopping? Who loves online shopping? I know I sure do. If you're also anything like me, you cannot resist adorable fonts, graphics & teacher products. Well, lucky for you, the Teachers Pay Teachers Teacher Appreciation Sale is right around the corner.
My store will be on sale for 20% for the duration of the sale, May 6-7th, and if you use the code TPTXO, you'll get an additional 10% off!
I've decided to join up with linky going on over at Flying into First Grade and First Grade Nest, so make sure to check that out if you're interested in some of the amazing stores that will be on sale.
Here are some of my products that will be on sale:
Click on the pictures or {HERE} to check out my store!
It's also time for Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies and since it's almost Mother's Day, I've got an (old) Mother's Day freebie for you:
Click the picture or {HERE} to check out this free Sunflower Card Craft and be sure to head over to Classroom Freebies for more awesome freebies!
I recently pinned a bunch of smoothie recipes and it inspired me. I love smoothies and wanted a way to get more fruits and vegetables (because I'm sure I'm not getting enough). I haven't tried any of the fancy ones, I've stuck to the (almost) same recipe all week and I still LOVE it. The best part is that I tried to make it more green than the regular fruit smoothie I'm used to, by throwing in a bunch of spinach. The great thing about spinach in a smoothie is that you (or at least I) can't taste it.
I love using Youtube for a quick brain break in the classroom and I just discovered Koo Koo Kanga Roo (I told you, I'm late to the game for everything). I'm sure I read a blogpost about these brain breaks months ago, but just started using them in the classroom. My favourite is Dinosaur Stomp! Let me know about some others I should check out.
Have you read this book? No, me neither - but I bought it. When I first saw it at a Scholastic book fair (probably at the beginning of the school year) I knew I had to get it. So of course, rather than buy it then and there, I went home, added it to my Amazon cart, waited a few months, then finally purchased it. I haven't started it yet, but I've added it to my ever-growing reading list.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I changed around my blog design. For now, I love it, but I'm sure I'll have to tweak it a bit. Oh well, the life of a picky person.
I was slightly productive this week, probably because I was dreaming of summer! I finished up my Daily Language Summer Take-Home Booklet for First Grade.
I've also got some Daily Math Summer Take-Home Booklets, which can be found {HERE}.
Each booklet contains 40 days of summer-themed questions that review the common core and keep students thinking over the summer.
Alright, this week down, only 8 more to go until summer (that sure seems like a lot)!
I cannot believe it is almost Friday . . . and the weather hit the mid-20's today (~80 degrees F for any interested Americans)! It was so gorgeous, until the kids all came in sweating and complaining after recess. Oh well, I enjoyed the weather!
Anyway, I'm just stopping in today to talk about a few videos I found recently. The first is for the kindies (or anyone studying community). Another teacher mentioned that Youtube has quite a few episodes of Richard Scarry's Busytown, including some about firefighters. If you are studying community and have a few minutes to spare, you might want to show your kiddos The Busiest Firefighters Ever. I liked it, because it shows that firefighters help in other ways in addition to putting out fires.
This next video is kind of late (it would have been perfect for Earth Day), but I love reading this book year round, so the video could work at any time too. This original version of The Lorax is about 25 minutes long and has a look that is similar to the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
I found this was the perfect length to show the kids one day while they ate recess and lunch, so as not to use up class time.
Now I think I better go soak up some sun, before the weather turns back into the rainy drizzle I'm accustomed to!
Summer, ahhh that glorious word that is finally starting to be spoken around the school! Although I've still got 9 weeks (!) to go, I know some school districts are a little bit closer to that wonderful break, so I've started thinking about the end of the year already.
In addition to thinking about all the regular end of year things, my mind is also stuck on the job action taking place throughout my the province. We will see if that might mean a full-blown walkout.
But, let's forget about a little old thing like end of the year striking and focus on some more positive things, like prepping the students for next year!
That two month break can be looong for some students, especially struggling ones, so I've created some take-home booklets to send home with students over the break.
I have Daily Math versions for 1st-4th and they each have 40 days of math practice:
Each packet comes with instructions to create the mini-booklet:
I also have Word Problem a Day Booklets for 3rd & 4th. They also contain 40 days of word problems:
And finally, I've got a Daily Language Booklet for 1st grade:
What are you doing to prep for the end of the year? More importantly, how much longer do you have left?
My favourite printable from this pack is the double-entry journal page, which comes in two formats. The first comes with two long columns - one column for students to record events & details from the text, and the second column for students to record their thinking voice (thoughts, opinions and questions):
The second version splits the long columns into three distinct sections:
I did this because I found that for some readers, when they worked with the one long column format, their recording of the text details ran on and when they went to record their thinking voice, they couldn't quite match it up. By having three distinct parts, rather than one long column, students can record one event or detail from the text and their thinking voice directly across from it, therefore cementing that correlation in their minds. I think it helps visual learners make that one to one connection between a detail from the text, and a detail from their thinking voice.
What are your thoughts on double-entry journals? I'd love to hear them!
Have a great rest of the week, it's almost Friday!
