Five for Friday (and a Freebie!)

I am so glad it's Friday! This week has been brutal on my class. We had a lot of tests we had to take this week including a mock math SOL and my students were worn out by the end of this week. I tried to incorporate as much fun as possible into the little bit of learning we could fit in. This Friday I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for their Five for Friday weekly linky party! So here are five things from my week this week! Read to the end to find out about my new FREEBIE that can be found in my TPT store now!

These are my nails that I did this past Sunday for the next week or two! These are a set of Autism Awareness nail wraps from Jamberry! I am in love with Jamberry nail wraps and will be hosting a party in a few weeks. If you are interested in the nail wraps, send me an email and I can add you my party to find out more!

I have meant to post a picture of the word wall in my classroom for awhile, but I just kept forgetting to take a picture before I left my classroom. I finally remembered for today. Just looking at my word wall makes me happy. The colors match my classroom so well. The template for the letters and card templates were created by Erica Bohrer. The words I use for my word wall are the most commonly misspelled words listed in Jan Richardson's The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader (This book is a fantastic read at a fantastic price so you should check it out! I'll have a few future posts about what I have learned from this book!). 

This week my students and I finished up a unit on Adding/Subtracting 4-digit numbers and Multi Step Word Problems. I have been working on a new scoot to review this concept and used it in my classroom this week! My students loved it and it helped so much in reviewing for our test. This product will be posted later this weekend, along with post on how I teach math in my classroom!

We started studying European Explorers this week! When teaching Social Studies, I rely greatly on Interactive Notebook pages to keep my students engaged in the lessons. This is a peek into one of my students notebooks and I think it looks amazing. So many of my students put so much extra effort into making their notebooks look perfect and I love it. These notebook pieces were created by the amazing Glitter in Third and you can find the pack here. This pack features all of the interactive notebook pages along with worksheets to support it! I use so many of her interactive notebooks and am in love with them ( and so are my students!). 

This week I finally got around to making a homework template to pass out to my students each week. It features sections for homework, spelling words and reminders for parents! Every Monday I give these to my students so they what is coming every day! All of the students receive the same homework and reminders, but their spelling words differ based on what spelling group they are in. I've posted an editable version of this template in my store as a FREEBIE for everyone! You can find the template here!

I hope that everyone has an enjoyable and relaxing weekend!

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Five For Friday-March 25th

I am excited to be linking up this week with Doodle Bugs Teaching for a five for Friday post. This week has been a pretty slow week for me since it's spring break at my school, but I'll post what I've been up to at home the last couple days. 

The first thing I did this week was create an official banner for myself that I am using on my Facebook and Twitter pages. I am working on officially kicking off my social media presence to represent my store and thought making a few things like banners was needed to help with that! I am very happy with how it turned out and I think it showcases me pretty well. 

I had a couple hours of free time yesterday so I decided to update my terms of use page to make it look more professional and fit my personality better. I am in love with the end result and just like to sit here and look at it now. 

On Tuesday I spent my evening working on my entry for the Creative Clips coloring contest to celebrate having 50,000 followers on their TPT store. If you haven't entered already, I highly suggest entering. It is so much fun. You can find the information for this contest here. 

I don't have a picture to use for number 4 because it is my new blog layout! This week I took my time off to go out on the web and find a layout I like for a price I could afford and I am very happy with the results that I have found. My classroom theme is Owls and I absolutely adore them and am very excited that I found a layout that fitted what I was looking for. 

Number 5 is showing what I have been up to this week. I have been trying to enjoy my time off by relaxing but still getting some work in at the same time. I have gotten through about half of Nicholas Sparks newest book See Me already and I am absolutely in love with it. I feel like this book is one of his best yet and may beat out my current favorite The Lucky One. I have also started to really go through the Guided Math in Action book and am planning on doing a book study this summer on the blog with it. I am also hoping to do a book study on The Next Steps in Guided Reading, which is used by every teacher at my school, but I may wait till fall to start that study or very late summer at the earliest. 

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New Product and New Updates!

First off, I am so sorry for not keeping up with my blog the last two months! Starting in my first classroom has been a huge undertaking, but now I am finally feeling pretty settled and ready to return to my blogging and Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

I am loving my new job. My 3rd Graders are amazing and I love getting to know them more everyday. They are making great progress academically and I love seeing the little achievements in the classroom everyday. We are less then two months away from our SOL testing and there is still lots of work to do, but hopefully we can continue to make all the learning and reviewing fun, so they don't get frustrated or stressed about test prep.

I've also updated the blog's look! I went out and purchased a new template to give my blog a more "me" look. My theme in my classroom is owls and I just adore them in general, so hopefully you all like the theme that I chose! I have done this as part of my taking a step in the right direction for my online teacher business with my teachers pay teachers store as I start to bring my focus back to it with new products and ideas!

Finally, I have a new product for you all right now. My students just recently finished up a unit where we studied Data and Probability. As a fun test review, I created a scoot reviewing the skills and concepts that were included in our unit. This scoot is a mix of of creating graphs, reading graphs and determining probability based on information given. This was a big hit in my classroom and was extremely useful in determining if my students were truly prepared to take their unit test.

This product can be found in my store here. It is normally $5.00, but for the first 48 hours it will be $2.50, which is a great deal at 50% off. 

I am continuing to work on some new products and resources for my store, so stay tuned. I am also starting to plan a few book studies for later this spring or early this summer. I am really excited about the books I am choosing for professional development reading this summer and I hope you will read and study along with me!

Make sure to follow me on instagram, twitter and Facebook to keep up with the going on's in my classroom and store. 

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Huge Update

So....a lot has happened since the last time I posted. First off I graduate from Edinboro University with a dual degree in Early Childhood and Special Education in December. I had planned on subbing in PA until the next school, but sometimes plans change.

Four days after graduation, I was offered two positions in the Prince William County School District in VA. I accepted a position as a 3rd grade teacher and two weeks later was moved down to VA from PA. It was a whirlwind experience, but so far I am loving it.

I just completed my first week in my new classroom. It was an exhausting but exciting week! I have a great group of students in my classroom. The room its self is coming together slowly but nicely. The room came barely decorated so I have been working on giving it a revamp. I'm hoping to have the bulk of the decorating done next week and then I will have some pictures! I have gone with a owl theme for my room and it is looking beautiful so far.

I'll post more soon about what I am currently doing in the classroom. If you are a third grade teacher, I love hearing suggestions and things that work well for you! Feel free to leave me a message.

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All I Want......For Black Friday

So how is everyone's Thanksgiving breaks going? I don't start break till Wednesday at the school I am currently student teaching at, but in return we also get the Monday after off. I am looking forward to just having a few days to relax, work on products, my portfolio and read some of the instruction books I recently bought. I have almost finished reading The Daily 5 and I love it so far. I'll be writing a post about what I learned once I am finished with it.

Today I am linking up with The Primary Pack for an awesome Black Friday linky. I love Black Friday shopping and I go with my mom every year. This year I am really looking forward to starting to shop for classroom resources and materials for a classroom that I will hopefully have next year (fingers crossed as I start to put applications into different schools as I see jobs posted). The past few years one of my favorite parts of Black Friday has been working in retail at Bath and Body Works and I am kind of sad that I will not be working this year for it.

This is more of a Christmas Wishlist for me. I spend most of my Black Friday getting my Christmas shopping done for my family. I am kind of a nerd when it comes to reading education books, so I am mainly wishing for some more of those this year as well as Nicholas Sparks new book See Me. The big gift I'm asking for (and already know I am getting) is an iPhone 6. My current iPhone 5c is starting slow down and not hold a charge as long as it used to, so I am really looking forward to getting a new one.

These are some of the things that I have found over the last few months on TPT and am hoping to be able to purchase in the next few months. They all look like amazing resources and I would love to be able to use any of them in my future classroom. I'll provide the links below to them, so if they aren't already on your wishlist, you can add them on!

1. 2nd Grade Growing Math Bundle (45+ Centers) 

2. Daily Language Complete Set

3. Daily Math Complete Set

4. Rise and Shine Binder

5. The Big Phonics Bundle- A Year of Spelling and Phonics Interactive Activities

6. Math Journal Bundle First Semester
7. Math Journal Bundle Second Semester
8. Big Bundle of Math Centers
9. The Ultimate Writing Station

I chose 4 of my favorite items from my store for you to check out for your Black Friday Wishlist.

1. State Research Project

2. Cupcake Contractions Scoot

3. Urban, Rural and Suburban Communities Unit

4. 2nd Grade High Frequency Word Wall Card

The Primary Pack is also having a huge giveaway featuring tons of items that have been wish listed from their stores. Go check it out if you want to enter. You can also link up your Black Friday Wishlist over there!

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2nd Grade High Frequency Word Cards

This is just a short post to let you know that I have completed my second grade high frequency word wall cards and that they are now posted in both of my stores. I have posted the complete list of words here that are included in the pack.

This pack includes 135 word wall cards, a blank sheet of cards that you can use to add more words if needed and a complete list of all words. This set is $5.00 dollars and can be found in my Teachers Pay Teachers store and in my Teachers Notebook store. 

The 3rd and 4th Grade packs are currently in progress and a bundle of them all will be posted as well when they are all done. Keep an eye out for them. I am also starting to work on monthly word wall cards that would be great for any writing center or seasonal bulletin board. 

I am currently in the process of reading The Daily 5 book and will have a post with a review of it and what I learned once I finish it as well as the other books I bought. 

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New Purchases!

I have been working on getting my educational philosophy/teaching styles and a classroom management plan for my portfolio as I finish up student teaching. To support my thoughts and ways that I want to teach, I recently have purchased some books and resources that I wanted to share, that I will be referring to in my portfolio.

The Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser

I love to go through different teaching blogs and kept seeing The Daily 5 come up on different blogs, but especially on Mel-D's blog. After reading all of her posts about the Daily 5 I knew I had to get it and read what it was all about. Just from the blog posts, I can tell it is the style that I really want to for my literacy block. 

The Cafe Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser

As I was reading the reviews for The Daily 5 on Amazon, I kept seeing people mention that they wished they had talked more about CAFE in the Daily 5 book and that if you are buying the Daily 5, then you should buy this book too, so I decided to give it a chance. 

The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson

This book showed up as a suggested purchase with The Daily 5 on Amazon, so I looked at it and read some reviews and it sounded amazing, so I am giving it a chance. The price on this one was a steal! It was only 15 dollars on Amazon. 

Guided Math: A Framework for Mathematics Instruction by Laney Sammons

This book came up as suggested reading when I was looking into the book Guided Math in Action. It seems to have good reviews on Amazon so hopefully I will find some good information in it. 

Guided Math in Action by Dr. Nicki Newton

I read about this book in the Scoop on Primary's blog and it sounded fantastic. I am extremely excited to read this book and it sounds like just how I am thinking I will want to teach math in my future classroom. 

Launching the Writing Workshop by Denise Leograndis

This book showed up on my books you may like based on past purchases on Amazon and it looked like a good book and had great reviews, so I thought why not try it out for just 13 dollars.

I am starting to read these books this week and will be blogging about them all as I do so be on the watch for posts on the notes I have taken from them. I will be starting with The Daily 5, which I am starting to read today. 

The other purchase I made recently pertains to my future classroom management plans. I wanted to come up with a plan that could be adjusted to different primary grade levels k-4, and I also knew I wanted to have some kind of  economy plan since I loved the one I had in the classroom I was student teaching. One of my favorite blogs is Mel-D's blog and I fell in love with her classroom management plan involving the WARM FUZZIES! It is the cutest idea ever and I totally can't wait to use it. I knew I wanted to do some sort of more coupon based award system and her's is perfect. Last week I purchased one of her coupon sets, her classroom management ebook, and also her classroom jobs. They made me so excited to have my own classroom in the hopefully near future. Here is what I bought with links to them.

Reward Coupons

Classroom Jobs

Classroom Management Tips

Go check out these awesome products that she has. They are reasonably priced for all that you are getting!

Other than getting these books and resources, I have just been working on finishing up with student teaching and working on creating some new products for my stores which will be done soon. I graduate December 12th and I am so excited!

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A Sale and a Pinning Party!

I just wanted to post a quick update. First, congrats to the three winners of my teachers notebook store giveaway who won my first grade high frequency word wall cards. From now until Saturday, I will have them on sale at 50% off, which makes them just 250.

You can find them here. They are also on sale in my TPT store at 20% off, so they are $4.00 dollars there. They can be found here. 

The second thing I wanted to post about is that I am having a pinning party on teachers notebook. For those of you who don't know what a pinning party is, it is when you join a party and pin each others products for that party them on pinterest at least once a day to help everyone get more publicity and sales. The theme of my party is Social Studies and it is starting tomorrow and going until November 21st, which is next Saturday. There are still plenty of spots left to join. For more information or to join the party, you can find it here. 

That's all for now! I recently made a few purchases I am very excited about and can't wait to post about them soon. 

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Rural Urban and Suburban Communities Unit!

Recently, I completed a unit on Rural, Urban and Suburban Communities with my 3rd grade students that went amazing and I wanted to share it with you all. The third grade social studies curriculum that the school uses in 3rd where I was student teaching focuses on all different kinds of communities. We had previously just finished a unit on different communities based on their geographical region. Now I am very passionate about Social Studies, so I always love to focus in on it and put a lot of time into developing great Social Studies Units!

I started the unit off with a pre-assessment using a community sort with a list of words to describe the 3 types of communities and the students had to sort them into where they thought they would belong. I had them turn the sorts in so I could look over them and then as a class, we completed a sort on a giant piece of paper together to figure out what went in each.

We spent two days learning about each community. For all of the lessons, I would teach with a power point presentation of pictures describing what I was talking about and a few key points. For each lesson, we would spend the first day learning about the general facts of each community and then the second day we would look farther into either the history or the life of that particular community. For Rural we looked at the different kinds of farming, for Urban we explored the history and growth of a city and for Suburban we looked at how one of the first suburbs was created. On day 1 for each community we would fill out the corresponding pages in the workbook that I created. They would draw a picture to represent the community and then write what the community looks like and interesting facts that they learned about the community. 

On the second day for each community, they would work on adding to their Rural, Suburban and Urban mobiles that we hung in the hallway once they were completed, showing how communities can be centered around a city and then grow out to the suburban area and then the rural area. My students were so creative with this project and they came out great. 

The final part of this unit was making a triarama. My students thought this was the coolest idea ever and were so excited about making them. I got this idea from Buzzing About Second Grade. This project took two days for my students to complete. For the directions on how to make them check out the above link. I allowed my students to use any craft supply we had for this as well as having things like paint chips and cotton balls. I created an example of one to set the expectations for my students that looked like this:

The students did such awesome work with this project and really put a lot of time and detail into it. 

This unit is for sale in both my Teachers Pay Teachers store and my Teachers Notebook store. This product costs 10.00 dollars.

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