Summer Stock Up

If you are like me then your brain never turns school off. I don't care if it is summer break and I have two months off, I can guarantee you I will think of something school related at least once a day {ok, ok.....once an hour}.  I am so happy to be part of the Summer Stock Up hop this summer. Make sure you read all the way to the end to find out how to get two free samples to get your new school year started off right!

Again, if you are like me than you are thinking and searching for what you need to start back to school with. I'm here to help you with that. Check out my Back to School Packet. This bundle is jam packed with crafts and activities to help you get back into to that first week. Here is a sneak at what all you will get.

There are also some fun get to know you and break the ice activities also

. I also included a bonus first day of ____ grade signs to take pictures of your little sweeties on their first day. Here is what it looks like but it comes for kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Click {HERE} to purchase this packet.

The next product you might want to pick up for this coming year is my writing packet. For me writing is one of those hard subjects to teach, especially to little ones. They don't understand why a sentence just doesn't make sense or why a certain word needs to be changed because they have already used it a million times. I don't have the magic answer to solve this but I'll tell you they way we do writing in my room and the product I use to help teach it.

At one point, I was one of those teachers that said "today we are working on our rough draft and tomorrow we will work on revising and then editing." That's, in my opinion, not the best way to go about writing. Kids are going to be at different points throughout the writing process and will not all be ready to move on when you are.

I use a writing clip chart in my class so when a student is ready to move on to editing they simply clip their pin to the editing part of the chart and get started. This not only helps me to see where everyone is but it also helps those that are still on rough draft at the end of the week see that everyone else is working on their final copy. Kind of a nice way to get in their heads that they need to speed it up a little.

Now even though I don't make everyone stay on the same step of the writing process I do try to get through one story a week. So if I see at the end of the week someone is really far behind I might let them work on their story during Daily Five or recess.

This is what I use in my room to help guide me. It's aligned to common core and focuses on persuasive, narrative, and informative.

This is three separate units in one bundle and each includes several writing options with various graphic organizers to help in the pre-writing stages. 

We all start out using one of these organizers to get our ideas down. We will refer back to our organizer all week long as we begin writing our actual stories (paper included).

In the packet there are also mini posters that I will use when introducing a certain type of writing and I leave these up throughout our unit for students to refer back to.

When students are finished with their final copy I always make sure to give them a rubric so that they take responsibility for their own work. They must make sure they have followed each item on the rubric before they can submit their story to me. They also have to find a buddy to help check as well.

I hope this gives you a glimpse into how writing instruction flows in my classroom. If you want to check out the product I mentioned above click {HERE} 

Both of these products and the rest of my TPT shop will be 20% off through June 29th!

As I mentioned at the beginning you can get two free samples from these products by checking out my facebook page. From the Back to School Packet, you will be able to download the Guess Who Owl craft and from the Writing packet you can download a portion of the persuasive section which includes a rubric, students checklist, writing topic pages and organizer. Click {HERE} to visit my facebook page and get your freebies!

TPT Seller Challenge: Dare To Dream

For this week's TPT seller challenge we were asked to write about our dreams. I really like this because nobody is pushing products this week. We are getting to know each other. What it really should be all about. I have loved reading about everyone's dreams and now here are mine.

My #1 dream is to be a stay at home mommy. I have an almost 4 year old (No I can't just say she is 4. They grow up too fast as it is) and a 6 month old that my world revolves around. When I had my first baby girl I had such a hard time going back after my 3 month maternity leave. Being a teacher, I am blessed to have so many breaks to spend with them but with those breaks come tears when it's time to go back.  After having my second baby girl it just made it even harder. Even though my "almost 4 year old" has the attitude of all attitudes I would give anything to be home with them every single day. My husband is in law school right now so there is no chance of me quitting my job. At the same time I LOVE, LOVE teaching so it would be really hard to give that up.

My next dream is to open a teacher consignment store. I see all of the clothing consignment stores in my town and think how many times I have bought something for my classroom that didn't end up working for me or I just wanted something new the next year (pretty sure I have changed calendar sets the last 3 years and have them all stored in the attic). It would be awesome to have a store close by where teachers could consign their teaching things they no longer need and be able to buy gently used stuff at a discounted price. The only problem with a store of this nature is it would have to be open when teachers are off (weekends, nights, summer) and those are not times of the day I want to work.

My last dream is to spend more time with God. I am such an on the go person who does not like to sit still for a minute so sitting and reading my Bible is hard. I do go to church every weekend and lead a small group during the week but I find myself drifting into other thoughts. Usually what all I need to be doing for my classroom. I want to learn to relax and have meaningful quiet time with God.

So there you have it, my top three dreams. Make sure you stop by Peppy Zesty Teacherista to read some other fabulous bloggers dreams.

Makeover Madness Week 1

I am taking part in a TPT seller challenge and this is week one. For week one we were all challenged to choose a product from our store to update. One of my favorite products is my Daily Calendar Routine. It is something I have used for the last 3 years in my classroom and it's one of those products that I can really see making a difference in my students' learning.

The product requires you to set up a daily calendar bulletin board and the posters you need are provided in the packet. I decided to update the posters used to create your board.

In the packet you will find posters for greater than less than, parts of speech, addition and subtraction key words, etc. These have all been updated with brighter backgrounds and better clipart.

AND lots more!

If you would like to read more about how this routine flows in my classroom on a daily basis read this blog post {HERE} Now just keep in mind this blog post does not have the new and improved posters so you'll have to visualize.

If you already own this product make sure you download the new version today. If you don't own this product this is the time to get it. It will be on sale today through the 20th. Click {HERE} to purchase.

Stay tuned for the next challenge coming up next week!

Author's Purpose and April Deal

We reviewed author's purpose last week and I am almost 110% positive that you have seen these FREE activities floating around Pinterest but just in case I wanted to share them with you. We do these every year and my students just love them. I hate spending the whole week only reading stories from our reading series. It always makes me stop and think when I hear my students get so excited when I say we are going to read (fill in the blank) because it is not from their reading book. I need to have them sitting on the carpet while I read great literature to them more often.

First we made these author's purpose pencils to review what each purpose meant. You can get the pencil template {HERE} for free and the pieces to glue in {HERE}. You can buy the flaps in this shop to glue to the front but I just made mine.

The next day, we read Where The Wild Things Are. They had to decide if the author was trying to persuade, inform, or entertain us and then complete this cute craft and write about why they picked what they did. Get the templates free {HERE}

The following day we read I Wanna Iguana and again decided what the author was trying to do. Then they got to pick an animal they want for a pet and write to persuade their mom and dad why they should get that pet. You can also get that free {HERE}

In math we finished up multiplication and completed the whale word problems from {HERE}.

If you stop by Educents you can pick up the deal I have going on right now. It is a packet of April themed ready to print practice pages. I use these during my small groups. I put them in Smart Pal sleeves and let them use dry erase markers (less copies). It's just a quick and easy way at the end of small group for them to show me if they remember a particular skill that I previously taught. Click {HERE} to see a preview and complete list of the skills included.

Fraction Fun and Adjectives

This past week we have been working on fractions which my kiddos always seem to do really well with. We made these fraction kites. You can get it free {HERE}

We also made these cute fraction pizzas. I kept seeing them all over Pinterest for sale but why buy and make copies of what your kids can make? I gave them something to trace the circles with and then let them pick how many pieces to divide their pizza into. Next they cut out their toppings and decided which pieces to put which toppings on. 

They had to write the fraction for each topping they chose to use on an index card and glue inside.

We made these tab it books in small group. They came from Simply Skilled in Second.

In ELA we covered adjectives. My favorite thing we do each year with this topic is popcorn adjectives. This was something I bought (I think). I only found the copies in my files but more than likely it came from TPT. You can always do this without templates though and just have the kids draw popcorn pieces and boxes.

First, we brainstormed adjectives for our big popcorn pieces.

Next, they got to eat popcorn while writing their own adjectives using their senses,

Have a great night!

Daily 5 Spring Cleaning

I am a HUGE fan of Daily 5. Not only does it save me hours of preparing centers but the kids love it and they get so much time to just read. Towards the end of the year though I start feeling like there needs to be some changes to bring back that first of the year excitement that is slowly dwindling away.

I am linking up with Deirdre from A Burst of First for a Daily Five linky. Each week you will be able to find great tips on how to spruce up your Daily Five routine. This week we'll be focusing on Word Word. 

Since this is the first week I want to show you how my kids Daily 5 items are organized. 

These are our Daily 5 bookmarks. I used the colors of my groups and they each have one in their book box. If I say go to the 2nd square on your bookmark they know right where to go. I just go in order (1st square, 2nd square, etc.) throughout the week and start back with the 1st. 

I found the idea of how to print them on another blog but this is what I did:
1-Find a set of daily 5 posters on TPT {there are tons of free ones}The ones I used came from {HERE}. 
2. Click print and change pages per sheet to custom 1 by 5.
3. Check the bubble that lets you select the page numbers to print. Enter the page numbers in the order you want your bookmark separated by commas. For example your first bookmark might be 1,2,3,4,5. If you slide the bar under the preview picture it will show you what your bookmark will look like. 
4. Now just print however many you want with that choice on top. 
5. Change the order of the pages printed so a new choice will rotate to the top. For example, now you might put 2,3,4,5,1. 
6. Slide the bar and preview then print again. 
7. Continue doing this until you have all the bookmarks you need. 

Super simple. Attach to construction paper and laminate!

Here are our book boxes. Each one has the student's number and on the wall behind is a piece of masking tape with their number so they will know where to put their box when we clean up.

So on to word work. I put over the word work table each week a copy of the vocabulary words with definitions and our spelling words. I get copies of these {HERE}. If you use the Wonders reading series this site is AWESOME! They have other spelling and word work pages for each week of the Wonders series that I will sometimes include at the word work table. The students have to always make flash cards with their vocabulary words first then they can move on to working with spelling words. I rotate my word work choices about every 2 weeks. I just have a big box under the table with all of my word work items. Some things you would find in this box are stamps, play dough, toothpicks, beans, craft poms, stencils, magnetic boards and letters, letters they can string on a necklace, and different spelling word choice cards. When it gets warm I'll prop the door open and let them write them with sidewalk chalk outside. 

Make sure you read my previous post {HERE} to find out how to get an item of your choice from my shop for free plus enter to win $50 in Educents credit.

Now go stop by A Burst of First for more Word Word ideas! 

Educents Store Launch Plus a HUGE April Freebie

Have you ever visited Educents and seen some of the amazing deals they have going on daily? Well now you not only can browse these deals but seller's have started opening shops on Educents as well. Over 500 sellers have already opened stores and there are more to come.

Right now you can enter to win a $50 credit with Educents now through April 12 by entering the giveaway at the bottom of this post.

Each seller is offering a freebie in our shop to give you a preview of the quality of our work. My freebie is going to be HUGE so make sure you stop by and pick it up. I love having themed centers in my classroom so with this being April I am offering my "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" math centers for FREE. Now this is not just some little few page freebie. This sucker is 152 pages and is loaded with adorable spring clipart. 

It contains 12 centers (3 for each of the math CCSS subtopics including geometry, measurement and data, numbers and operations in base ten, and algebraic thinking). Some of the centers even come with an easier and harder version. Each center will contain a task card, the center activity, an assignment page, and a fabulous math facts game for students to practice addition and subtraction. These centers are based on 2nd grade CCSS but could easily be adapted to fit 1st or 3rd grade standards as well. 

Click {HERE} or on any of the pictures above to grab this freebie.

There is one more fabulous thing I want to share with you. Educents is having a contest to see who can get the most followers. If you will click {HERE} to go to my shop and click on the heart at the top to follow me I will give you a product of your choice up to $5.00 for free. Just email me with the product you want along with your Educents username as well as the number follower you are when you click the heart.  secondgradeperks@gmail.com 

Now don't forget to enter the giveaway below for your $50 Educents credit!

Educents Marketplace $50 in Edubucks Giveaway #3 - Second Grade Stores