Thursday, December 13, 2012

Reading Strategies Original Poem FREEBIE

Another FREEBIE everyone! I have made an original poem about reading strategies. Boy, did this one take me a long time! I never realized how hard rhyming can be! If you were here with me while I wrote this you would have gotten a kick out of the words I was trying to rhyme. I even tried to find a word that rhymed with opinion! So, yes, clearly my brain was going a bit nuts. Either way, I hope you enjoy this poem and find it useful!

Click HERE to grab your copy of the original poem "I Am A Good Reader"

Saturday, December 8, 2012

The TRUE Meaning of Christmas

I hope everyone is having a wonderful December! Teachers, your school vacations are almost here and you can finally catch your breath! Phew! I am just as spastic right now! I cannot even believe it is the 8th of December already. Where does the time go?! With all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I nearly forgot to stop and think about the true meaning of the holidays! It wasn’t until I was talking to a little boy the other day and he told me he didn’t understand why Santa doesn’t visit his house, even though he is good all the time. It broke my heart to hear those words! (Sorry, I forgot to mention to grab the tissue box!) I have luckily been blessed to never worry about having gifts under the tree, but this little boy proved that this is not the case for everyone! So, after I nearly cried in front of the boy, I decided that this year things are going to be different. I am going to pay it forward and help out families in situations like this little boy's. Apparently, someone had adopted his family this year so I found 3 other families in similar situations. I decided to go out and buy gifts for the children in these families. I put the word out to some people I knew and thankfully some were able to purchase a toy or book for the kids too! I am still collecting toys, but this is what I have already! I am amazed! I cannot wait to deliver the gifts to the mothers! It is a great feeling knowing I helped these families to be able to have a wonderful Christmas!

Kayla

Monday, December 3, 2012

Fa La La La La FREEBIE!

Yay! It is officially Christmas time! My favorite time of the year! Being that this is the season for giving, I decided to make a FREEBIE to give away for the holidays! In the “Addition & Subtraction at the North Pole” packet, your students will use addition and subtraction to solve word problems, figure out a secret message from Santa, help the gingerbread cookies find their way back home, color a reindeer by number, and finally, play The Great Candy Cane Race. I love this FREEBIE and I hope you do too! Also, please leave some feedback for me if you don’t mind. I appreciate you checking out my blog and please check back for more teaching resources! Happy teaching everyone!

Click HERE to get your copy of this FREEBIE!
Thank you for downloading!

Freebie Fridays

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Cookie Ten Frames - Making Sums of 10 COMMON CORE Aligned

Well, I hope everyone survived parent-teacher conferences! Being that I am just subbing, I don’t have to worry about those just yet (phew!). So, while I had some extra time this week, I made another resource! I think it’s fair to say I am addicted to making teaching resources! Here is my next one! It is called “Cookie Ten Frames – Making Sums of 10”. I love how this one came out! This packet starts off by introducing a girl named Emily who is baking cookies for the bake sale at her school. (Yea, I guess I didn’t have to throw the story aspect of it in there, but it makes it more fun!) Anyways, Emily needs help putting ten cookies on each of her cookie sheets. Your students help Emily by completing 3 different worksheets in which they work with ten frames and make sums of 10. At the end, I made cookie themed ten frames that can be used for the “Ten Frame Slapjack” game. This game was so much fun for my student teaching students! I even love it myself! If you are interested in learning more about this packet, check out my TpT store for more information.

Click HERE to grab your copy of Cookie Ten Frames!


Monday, November 26, 2012

Vroom Vroom Vowels!!!

Wow! I finished my 2nd resource and just in time to put it up for Cyber Monday! I have done A LOT of shopping! It is unbelievable how many amazing resources are available on TPT and for such great prices. As for my latest resource, I made a series of games called “VROOM VROOM Vowels!” It is aligned with the Common Core standards and targeted for 1st and 2nd graders. I used this game in my student teaching class and it was a huge hit with the students! They always asked me if they could play it! There are 5 games, one for each vowel! These games are available in a 42 slide packet at my Teachers Pay Teachersstore. I would love to hear your feedback and any suggestions you might have! Thanks!!!

Click HERE to grab your copy of Vroom Vroom Vowels!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

My First Award!

Yay! I got my first award! A huge thank you to Erica from Blooming In First for nominating me for the Liebster Award! A Liebster Award is given to bloggers that are just starting out and have less than 200 followers. It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated and helps spread the word about new blogs. The rules are simple. You must post 11 random things about yourself, answer the questions your nominator set for you, and create 11 questions for the people you nominate. The 11 blogs you nominate must have less than 200 followers. Be sure to link those blogs in your post, as well. No tag backs! (Nominees: Please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you!) I look forward to reading all the posts!

11 Things You Didn’t Know About Me!
  1. I have met celebrities including, Cuba Gooding Jr., Hilary Duff, Marian Ross, Didi Conn (Frenchy from Grease), Barry Williams (Greg Brady), Melissa Joan Hart, and a few others, too!
  2. The Great Gatsby, True Lies, Amistad, Me, Myself and Irene, 27 Dresses, and Moonrise Kingdom were all filmed in the area I am from, Newport, RI.
  3. I have 21 cousins just on my mom’s side of the family.
  4. I was nominated for the 2012 University of Rhode Island Student Teacher of the Year award.
  5. I have citizenship in both the United States and Canada.
  6. I am a New England Patriots fan. My dad has season tickets and I love going to the games!
  7. I have wanted to become a teacher since the 6th grade.
  8. I have an older brother and a younger sister.
  9. I LOVE chocolate!
  10. I have travelled to the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Canada, Bahamas, and other places within the US. I get to add Mexico to my list in April!
  11. I won a contest and got to NYC for a movie premiere!
Here Are the Questions Erica Asked Me!
  1. Why did you decide to start blogging? I decided to start blogging as a way to meet other teachers, learn new creative ideas and lessons, and lastly, to try something new and different.
  2. What is your favorite thing to do on a snow day? Well, being that I live in New England, we get snow pretty often. On a snow day, I mostly enjoy sitting in my house by the fire and watching the snow fall.
  3. What is the first thing on your Christmas list? The first thing on my Christmas list is actually children’s books. I am trying to start a library for when I eventually get my first teaching job.
  4. Do you have any children? (Pets count!) I do not have any children yet, but I do have two dogs. I have two shih-tzu males. Bam-Bam is four and Teddy is only six months old. I love them both so much!
  5. What is your favorite book? I am currently reading Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games series. I would have to say these books are definitely some of my favorites.
  6. What is your favorite activity to do with your students? My favorite activity that I did with my student teaching students was my unit on outer space (I posted about the day I dressed as an astronaut and we tasted freeze dried ice cream. Check it out!) The children loved this unit and so did I! We made the moon phases using Oreo’s, I brought in actual meteorites for the children to hold, we had a family space party, and much more! I would definitely love to teach that unit again someday.
  7. What is your favorite place to go on vacation? I really enjoy travelling to the Caribbean. I have taken a few cruises there and I love the islands. One of my favorite islands is St. Maarten.
  8. Is your Christmas tree real or fake? Do you use colored lights or white lights? As for my Christmas tree, it is real and we use colored lights. My house is actually known in town for the Xmas display my dad puts up every year. It is pretty incredible! My family loves this time of the year.
  9. Are you a morning person or a night owl? I am more of a morning person.
  10. What is your favorite food? I have a lot of favorite foods. I love to eat! I love pizza, chicken fingers, shrimp, pasta, steak, you name it! Yum!
  11. What TV show is your favorite? My favorite TV show would probably have to be any show on HGTV. I love those shows for some reason! Also, I love say yes to the dress and four weddings too! I have been more into movies than tv lately though!
I Nominated These Blogs for the Award! My Questions for You...
  1. When did you realize you wanted to become a teacher?
  2. What is your favorite movie?
  3. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?
  4. What do love most about your job?
  5. Describe your ideal vacation.
  6. What is the nastiest thing you ever ate?
  7. What is your biggest fear?
  8. What is your favorite holiday? Why?
  9. Tell me 3 things on your bucket list.
  10. Name something that makes your town interesting.
  11. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I look forward to hearing about my nominees!

Friday, November 23, 2012

PLURAL NOUNS with Pablo the Penguin FREEBIE!!!

WOOHOO! I finished my first teaching resource! I think I am finally starting to get the hang of things thanks to Amber at Sparkles, Smiles, and Successful Students. I could not have done it without you! I am so excited to start making and sharing my resources with other teachers! So, here it is! My first FREEBIE! A resource on plural nouns! With this winter themed printable, students will write the plural form of a given singular noun and identify the correct spelling of plural nouns within a sentence. Children will learn and practice the basic rules of plurals nouns, such as when to add "s" or "es", and when to drop the "y" and add "ies". Your students will join Pablo the penguin as they learn and practice plural nouns in a fun and engaging way! I would LOVE feedback and suggestions from you to help me with future items. Please bear with me as I am new to this. I appreciate you checking out my blog and please check back for more teaching resources! Happy teaching everyone!

Click HERE to get your copy of this FREEBIE!
Thank you for downloading!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

There’s A Pilgrim In Our Classroom!!!

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I figured what better way to teach about the holiday than to dress up as a pilgrim! So, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some solid white and black fabric, along with some Velcro strips and string (all only $9), and began assembling an outfit. The skirt was simple. All I had to do was wrap the black fabric around my waist, just enough to cover me entirely around. I cut about eight inches from the bottom of the white fabric and laid it over the black piece to act as an apron. I used Velcro strips to attach the fabrics together and to hold the entire piece together in the back. As for the bonnet, I cut a semi-circle out of the white fabric, hole-punched two holes and looped string through to be used to tie it under my neck. The shoulder piece was just as easy. I cut a thick “C” shape out of the fabric, leaving enough space for my head to fit through. Again, a couple hole-punches and string to tie it together. Lastly, all you need is black shoes (I wore Danskos) and a black long-sleeved shirt to complete your outfit!

As for the lesson, I tried talking like a pilgrim with a Dutch accent, but it ended up sounding more like a British/Australian accent. A Dutch accent is much harder to do than you think! Anyways, I told the children all about my life aboard the Mayflower and of all the hardships that occurred on our voyage. I taught the children all about where I slept aboard the ship, what I did for fun with the other children, things we had to eat, and of life after we found land. I told them about meeting the Native Americans and of the feast we had with them. The children learned that the feast was for the Pilgrims to show thanks for their new land, new freedom, and new friendships with the Native Americans.

Overall, the boys and girls LOVED everything about the skit I put together! When it came time for questions, every single hand was up! The children were so eager to learn more and more about my pilgrim life. It was so exciting to see how engaged the students were in the lesson. After the questions, we discussed the things that we are thankful for and shared the foods and drinks we usually have at our Thanksgiving feasts.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Bargain Shopper!

Today, when I was shopping around Wal-Mart, I spotted the dollar deal bins. Normally, they don’t have anything too special, but I still always take a look. To my surprise, there were write and wipe lap boards! The boards were lined and came with three double-sided boards in a package for $2. Yes, $2!!! I couldn’t pass up this deal. I ended up buying all seven packages. So, I got 21 write and wipe lap boards for $14.98 with tax (about .71 cents each). What a bargain!!! Everyone go check out your local Wal-Mart!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

It's Bowling Time!

In 1st grade math, my students were learning about fact families of 10. For the lesson, we used empty bottles and tennis balls to set up our own bowling alley in the middle of our room. Early in the week, I sent home a letter to the families asking for them to send in any empty plastic bottles. The families were more than helpful and we ended up with more bottles than you could imagine. (We recycled the extras!) Overall, the activity was very successful and the students had a blast!


Me: "How many pins did you knock down?"

Student: "I knocked down 5!"

Me: "How did you know so quickly?"

Student: "Because, there are 5 pins still up and I know 5 + 5 = 10!"


Woohoo! He got it! Number sense, number sense, number sense!!!



Monday, October 22, 2012

Miss Nelson Is Missing Draw Talk!

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During reading block, I told the story of “Miss Nelson Is Missing” by Harry Allard through a draw talk storytelling experience. Draw talk is a form of storytelling that involves drawing 5 or 6 major events on a large pad of paper beforehand, and then while telling the story you draw in smaller elements of the story to bring in details. I learned all about this method in an awesome college course I took my senior year.
The children were so engaged while they listened to me tell this story through draw talk. They loved seeing my illustrations and were eager to see what details I added to each picture. For a few weeks afterwards, they were asking me to tell all stories that way! I highly recommend this method of storytelling for your students.
Here is the picture I drew of the opening scene of the book. Boy, did this picture take FOREVER to draw! Thank goodness I only had to draw in spit balls and paper planes while I told the story!
Here are a few pictures of the illustrations that I drew based on the book. The pictures are now laminated so I apologize for the quality of these images.

Hitting the Books!

Even though college is finished, it doesn’t mean I am done with my homework. I have decided to buy some books to educate myself further. During my student teaching, I had the opportunity to start reading a few books by Lucy Calkins and Richard Allington. Unfortunately, I never got to finish those books because of the hustle and bustle of the semester. But, now that I have more time, I decided to use some of my hard earned waitressing money to buy a few titles online. I purchased Calkins’ Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement and The Art of Teaching Reading; also, I bought Allington’s Classrooms That Work: They Can All Read and Write. I am so excited for these books to come in so I can learn some new ideas and methods! If anyone has any other book suggestions, I would LOVE to hear about them! Thank you!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

3, 2, 1, BLASTOFF!!!

          Over the past few weeks, I have been teaching all about outer space. While the children have loved all the lessons in the unit, this astronaut lesson was definitely their favorite! Here is a picture of me in the astronaut suit that I made myself! I bought a paint suit from Home Depot and attached spray-painted shaving caps and NASA pictures. For the space pack, I rolled up an old roof rack luggage cover and used the attached straps to wear it. The helmet was an old motorcycle helmet that I simply spray-painted and added letter stickers.
         For the lesson, I introduced all the parts of the astronaut suit and taught the children all about the life of an astronaut in space. Of course, the burning question on all the students’ minds was about how astronauts go to the bathroom in space. Oh boy, did they think that was funny!
         Next, it was time to live like astronauts. Everyone got to taste a piece of freeze dried ice cream. (FYI: For a total of 41 students, 5 bags were plenty for each student to have a taste!) We used adjectives such as, hard, creamy, smooth, and chocolaty to describe the ice cream’s taste, texture, and smell. Then, as a class, we took a vote whether we liked freeze dried or regular ice cream better. We organized our information on a graph like the one pictured here. The winner was regular ice cream. It won by 2 votes!
 
 
 
 
         The following day, the students kept asking more about astronauts. I decided, being that the class just learned about how to write a letter, it would be appropriate and exciting for the children to write letters to an astronaut. So, we did! Here are a couple examples.


Monday, October 8, 2012

About Me

*IN THE WORKS! ;-)*
 
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