You Know That You Are a Teacher When.... The Inspired Apple Linky

    You Know You're a Teacher When...

You get excited to see freshly laminated materials for your class.

The last book you read (and enjoyed and thought of a million and one uses for) was a children's book.

You can find a use for most anything and the kids love it!

You can write lessons, grade papers, fill out forms and make copies all while eating your lunch.

You spend more money on school stuff than personal things (and don't regret it one bit!)

You make sure to add extra snacks to your grocery list.

You get excited to see sharpened pencils with earsers still on them!

You are a celebrity whenever you go shopping..."Hey mom! Look! It's (fill in your name here)!"

You find yourself saying, "The kids would love this" when on vacation, at the store, on the computer...

and last, but not least,

You know you are a teacher when everyday, whether it is good or bad, you are thankful to be so lucky as to touch the heart and mind of a child.

Teaching is an amazing profession and I am so proud to share that honor with so many wonderful people!

Thanks Abby for letting us share!



What do you think?

Hello! Hello!

This was another one of my little creation that was born out of necessityJ. One of my little angels was struggling while reading. I prompted her that it was a sight word that we have learned and that it was also a question word. She looked at me with that “deer in the headlights look” and at that moment I wished I had something like this. So as soon as I could, I jotted down my idea and ran to the computer! I used question words on this one as a start…..I plan to make many, many more!

How to use this: Copy the two pages and laminate them for durability. Cut the squares out to make cards. Punch a hole at the top of each card and place them on a ring.  Students can take the rings to their seats, open the ring and begin sorting the words as they read them. Quick, easy and effective!!

You may be wondering….”why so many different fonts?” Well, too many times my struggling readers become confused about words that they know when they are written in different fonts. I explained to the students that many times, authors use this to help them bring attention to those words when you are reading. This makes sense to them but it can still be difficult for the purpose of reading the text. The only thing that helps is practice, practice, practice and I hope with this card sort it they will get just that! J

I really hope that you enjoy this and that your students are able to use them.  Please leave me feedback and comments…or even other lists that you would like to see!

Question Word Card Ring

Ten Things I have Learned from Teaching Linky Party

I am so sorry for not posting sooner but this past week was C.R.A.Z.Y.

Grades were due and that is just stressful!

But....

all is well now as we start the fourth (and LAST) nine weeks!

Being a teacher has taught me many valuable lessons, so when I saw that Jennier at Rowdy in First Grade was having a linky party, I was excited to share my thoughts....

1. Good teachers are smart enough to learn from GREAT teachers.
2.The school day ends at 2:30 but a teachers day continues for many more hours.
3. Teaching is not a "leave it at the office" type of  job. You will find yourself at the store, on vacation, at the book store, thinking "The kids are going to love this!!"

4. Always buy as many extra school supplies as possible during the summer because there will always be children that depend on you for help and support.

5. Start planning for August in May.
6. Teachers do not have summers off. Considered it a really long planning period.

7. Beg, borrow....and create new ideas and activities for your students constantly.

8. You can never be overly prepared when working with kids.
9. Keep a postive attitude, even when it seems impossible.

10. Capture their hearts and you will capture their minds.

I truly believe that teaching is a calling and it is not for everyone. Even after the long hours, stacks of papers that need to be graded, parent conferences, lesson plans....I love what I do and am grateful to be able to spend my days educating young minds.



Pirate's Gold! Literacy and Math Stations

Happy Saturday!!

  I wanted to post this a few days ago but I kept thinking of things to add to it :). My little spring break project is finally ready and posted to TpT.

I had to make myself stop....but know that when I make a few more little things for this unit (and I will...ha!) I will post them here for you to use. Please take a look....I really hope that everyone likes it!!

Here are just few of the activities you will find:

(There are many sets of cards for the different skills such as sight words, contraction, compund words and abc order.)

Enjoy!!

Sneak Peek!!

Have you ever started on a project that takes on a life of its own? Well, this little project has done just that! Not to mention nearly took a few years off my life when I realized that there was a pirate ship that was stuck behind every single page of text....all 45 of them! But, after a few googles searches and some "I'm too tired to worry about what might happen" clicks of the mouse........TA DAH!!!! A finished product!! Here is a little sneak peek of what you will find:

Pirate Read the Room

It is two different activities....just copy and cut in half.

I promise to post the final little beauty on TpT tomorrow....

On another note, here is a fun activity for living/nonliving! I don't have animal pictures (I used some pics that I already had from one of my copy friendly books) but hopefully you will enjoy this as well! :)

Please, let me know what you think....your opinion means a lot to me.

Living and Nonliving

 

Off to bed....Chuck Cheese at 11:00am! Good thing there is a Starbucks right next door :)

Arrr!! Inspiration at last!!

First, thank you to all my sweet friends who commented on my blog button....you really made my day!! :)

I hope that everyone is having a FABULOUS week! I finally got some inspiration this morning and have been working super hard on some fun stations for my kiddos as we start a unit on maps next week. I started with one little idea and it has now turned into a 40+ page document with several games including sight word practice, contractions, compund words, abc order and even a read-the-room! I am still adding a few more little frillies but I am hoping to be done tomorrow. I am posting to TpT when its done but I most definitely have a pirate freebie (and a few other little things I have made) for my amazing and wonderful bloggy friends!! :)

WOW!!! Look what I did!!!

After many hours of trying and trying....I did it!!! I made my own blog button!! I am so excited!! Now, I am wondering if it actually works... anyone willing to try it out for me....pretty please with sugar on top ???

YAY!! My first blog award!!

 

I am so excited to be recieving my very first blog award!! It is soooooo exciting!! Thank you Mrs. Hicks from http://hicks-thealphabetgarden.blogspot.com/ for thinking of me!!

So....now it's time to share.....

1. I expreienced love at first sight when I saw my beautiful daughter for the first time.  My greatest reward in life is being her mother.

2. I have the most wonderful, supportive, amazing family ever!!

3. There are 5 puppies (well, they are all getting a little older but they are still our babies) in our family.  My puppy (he will be 10 in June), Harry, is the best dog ever....yes, ever! There are also 4 other loving and adoreable four legged babies that belong to my sisters and my parents- it is amazing how well they get along. Especially because they are all different breeds-Beagle, Yorkie, Pomerian, Brittany Spaniel and my little guy is a mini American Eskie.

4. I love my ipod, kindle, laptop....anything that has to do with technology. However, this is a new found love. I was lucky enough to be selected for a week long training 2 years ago given by our district. It was then that I discovered just how fun it could be (and not as intimidating as I once thought!)

5. I love, love, love anything and everything that has to do with BROADWAY! Yes, I am the person that has to literally remind herself not to sing when she goes to see a musical ;)....my secret dream job would definitely be on the broadway stage!

6. I am finally....and I mean finally.....going to New York City this summer!! It has been a life long dream (see number 5...)

7. I was a finalist for teacher of the year :)

Thank you again Mrs. Hicks! This was such a wonderful surprise!!

Hello again!!!!!

I am so happy to have a chance to post tonight! There have been so many wonderful ideas going on in blogland and I must say....I am grabbing the chance to add some of my own :)

First up.....I love all the wonderful ideas that I have seen on classroom management. Although the green-yellow-red system is one that works with most students, I couldn't help but try something new with my group of kiddos this year. As I looked for alternatives, I came across a chart that had five colors rather than three. This system has turned out to work really will with my class because it allows students to strive for a "sparkle" rather than just a  good day. My students are able to move fluidly through the day, allowing them to be able to make decisions that will benefit them, even when they have made choices that ....well, weren't the best. We agreed, as a class, that the only time that you could not change your color "up" is when someone changes their color to red. All in all, I have been really impressed with this chart and with the students response to it.

I loved that the person who created this chart gave their students gems to deorate their clips when they got a "sparkle" ...and the kiddos are still SOOO excited about getting a gem for their clip!

I made my own posters to use with this system.... I hope that you like them!!

Just click on the picture below to download.

 

I plan to post some great activities that I have done with my kiddos very soon so make sure to drop by and check it out!!

Have a happy Monday!!