Five for Friday: Happy Spring!

Happy 1st day of Spring!!  I, for one, am thrilled to have winter over with, even if the forecast is calling for more snow tonight. {I am just going to pretend that's not true!}  I am linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching to share 5 random things from my week.

 I finally broke down and bought a new computer.  It arrived yesterday!  It's hard to keep up with blogging and TPT without a computer!

My 3rd grade Reading class finished up our nonfiction text structure unit.  We filled out graphic organizers in our reading notebooks.  Then we finished out the unit by reading Zoobooks articles and using sticky notes to put them in the right sections on our chart.  I was told that it was fun so I think it was a win!

We made frobscottle (from the BFG) this week.  We are reading through this book as a class read-aloud, and when I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew we had to make it.  It was delicious, and the kids loved it! 

I think one of the highlights of my week was when this sweetheart came up to me and asked if he could read his book to me during morning recess.  He struggled with reading last year, and it was so encouraging to hear him reading fluently through a whole chapter of a Magic Tree House book!

My 6th graders just finished up a grammar chapter on verb tenses.  I hung up the posters from my new regular verb tense product for my students to look at throughout the unit.  We also used the task cards from the unit to practice identifying verb tenses.  They have been doing great during the whole unit.  The test is today so hopefully they will do just as great for that!

As you can probably see, my week has been busy.  But it's definitely been productive too.  Make sure you stop by Doodlebugs Teaching to find out what everyone else has been up to this week!

Five for Friday: 2/20/2015

Woohoo!  Friday is finally here!  Why does it always seem like short school weeks feel longer than normal weeks?  Thankfully, Friday has arrived which means it is time for Five for Friday with Doodlebugs Teaching!

 We had a snowstorm on Sunday, more snow on Tuesday, another dusting late Wednesday night, and even more expected this Saturday.  I don't know about anyone else, but I am sick of snow!

We sent home our March calendars to our students today.  Thinking about March has me dreaming about springtime.  I can only hope that it is right around the corner!

I teach several different English classes, and our curriculum has us alternate between writing units and grammar units. {However, I try to add in lots of writing during the grammar units too.}  Anyway, my 6th grade English class is in the middle of writing research reports on historical places. 

We used library books to do research on note cards, wrote an outline, and are currently working on writing our rough drafts.  {This has to be my least favorite unit that I have to teach. Hopefully we will be done soon.}

On the other hand, my 3rd grade class just finished writing Compare/Contrast essays.  This is a unit that I always enjoy.  We have been reading Roald Dahl books recently so we wrote about characters from his stories.  Not only did they turn out great, but I feel like using information from books we have read made the writing process even easier.  {I am going to write more about our Compare and Contrast essays tomorrow so check back then to find out more!}

I don't know if all of you have heard, but Educents has decided to let teachers open storefronts similar to TeacherspayTeachers.  It is a completely new program they are rolling out soon. I have been busy setting up my store and uploading products for sale. If you haven't signed up for Educents yet, they are also offering a free $10 credit right now. {That's like $10 worth of free teaching products!!}  You can get your $10 coupon by clicking here: Educents coupon. 

Also feel free to stop by and check out my new storefront!

My friend Kristin over at My Carolina Classroom is having a huge giveaway for her blogiversary!!

 She is giving away over $180 worth of teaching products {including some TPT gift certificates}!  The giveaway is only open until Saturday, so don't forget to stop by and enter.  In fact, you may want to go there right now!

Five for Friday: Valentine's Party Edition

Well, it's Friday which means...{drumroll, please}...

another edition of Five for Friday with Doodlebugs Teaching!

And it's an exciting Five for Friday because tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  Which means we have been doing fun Valentine's related things all week long!

We have been talking about doing Random Acts of Kindness for others this week.  {I stole the idea from Aimee over at Primarily Speaking.} To practice this, we made several things for other classes and secretly put them on their desks or in their lockers.

 

 Wednesday, we colored kindness signs to hang in our lobby. I forgot to take a picture, but you can trust me when I say they look adorable! Yesterday, we colored bookmarks for other elementary students.  I wrote student names on the back, and then we laminated and cut them out.

Today, we colored valentine notes for our high school students and teachers.  Both of these products were freebies as well that you can grab for your class by clicking on the links above.

My students liked the idea of giving something in secret.  We also brainstormed ways that we could do kind things for others around our school and homes.  They came up with some great ideas that I hope they will actually do!

 

We used this fun writing poster this morning to start our Valentine's Party Day.  This product is free on TPT {clicking on the picture will take you to it}, and you really could use it anytime as a friendship writing exercise.

  

They came out great so we hung them in the hallway outside our room for everyone to see.

 

 

We also made some cute little tic tac toe boards for my students to take home.  This was actually a spur of the moment idea this morning when I remembered that I had little foam hearts and extra pieces of foam leftover from another project.  It was simple, but the kids had fun making them and then playing with them too!

 

The last thing we did today was our Valentine's Day party.  The kids passed out their valentines to each other.  Then we all sat down to have some delicious goodies.  Thankfully we had some healthy foods along with all our junk food!

And now we are preparing for a fun-filled weekend.  My niece and nephew are sleeping over tonight, and we are supposed to get another huge snowstorm on Saturday night. {I am only looking forward to one of those.  Can you guess which one?}  Plus, we have Monday and Tuesday off for a little winter break.  I'm not sure we need it after all of our recent snow days, but I am not going to complain, that's for sure!

I hope you enjoy your Valentine weekend as much as I plan to enjoy mine!!

Five for Friday - We Have a Winner!!

Another beautiful Friday is here, and I am once again linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for...

 My first and most important announcement is that my giveaway has officially ended!  So CONGRATULATIONS to Becky B. who was the winner of a $10 TeachersPayTeachers gift certificate!

Thanks to everyone that entered!  Make sure to keep following my blog to find out when the next giveaway is happening.

My 1st grade Phonics class has been learning all about cowboys for the past few weeks.  We have talked about what cowboys do, where they live, cattle, ranches, and rodeos.  We even watched some neat videos of rodeo events yesterday.  The students were amazed by the ability of the cowboys to stay on a bull for 8 seconds or rope a calf  in under 7 seconds.  So I whipped up some cowboy themed memory games to help my kids practice what we have been learning.  I let them play Cowboy Contractions today, and they had lots of fun.  I like the fact that they were reading a contraction on every turn.

 My 3rd grade reading class and I finished James and the Giant Peach this week.  One of my students said that out of 5 stars, he would give it "infinity." I guess they liked it!  Now we are working on finishing our mobiles and folder displays to go with it.  So far they are coming out great!

My 6th grade reading class is reading a favorite book of mine - A Father's Promise.  We studied four story devices before we started the novel, and now we are watching for those story devices while we read.  The story focuses on a Jewish boy in Poland during World War II.  It is definitely full of suspense, cliffhangers, and foreshadowing!

Even though we are supposed to get a big snowstorm here in New England tomorrow, today has been beautiful.  The temperature is 32 degrees which means we took the kids out for recess.  {If it's above freezing and dry, we go outside!}  The kids don't even seem to notice the cold though.  They are constantly asking to take their coats off despite the fact that it is barely above freezing!

Feel free to link up Doodlebugs Teaching and let us know how your week has been!