Warm Up with a Sale {& a Freebie}

Tired of the snow? Warm up with a SALE! 

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a "Teachers Are Heroes" Sale! {Isn't it the truth?!}

It is time to stock up on the things that you have been "eye"-ing. (Is that really a word? My mother used to say that all of the time...so it must be a real word!)

Here are some things that I will be using in my classroom over the next couple of months. 

FREE!

FUN!

Super Fun!

More Fun Than You Would Think!

If you would like to check them out, then click HERE and HERE.

For the sale, everything in my store will be 20% off and you will be able to get an extra 10% off from TpT using the special code: HEROES. That will bring the total percentage off to 28%. What a deal!!

If you can't wait until Wednesday to shop, my store will be 20% off starting on Tuesday, February, 24th. 

I will be back tomorrow to update you on our very exciting Science observations. You will want to join in too!

Have a great day! 

Carrie

Back to School Bonanza!!, Blog Hop and Freebie

Today I am linking up with the Blog Hoppin bloggers for What I like to teach. Actually, it doesn't really matter which subject I am teaching as long as I have a song, rhyme and/or a craft.

Since I started out as a kindergarten teacher, I was introduced to Dr. Jean's songs and lots of her wonderful ideas. Because I changed schools at one point, I ended up in second grade and now I love that age! The ONLY thing that I was concerned about was that the kids wouldn't want to sing all of those songs with me. After all, I had invested in ALMOST every CD that Dr. Jean had put on the market. (Not to mention...that I cannot make it through the day without singing.) Newsflash...The students still love singing in second grade! 

So...I decided to add writing activities to respond to some of her songs. It worked like a charm! The kids love to have the "experience"of dancing and singing with the music and then completing the literacy activity. 

However, sometimes I need to make up my own songs and rhymes if I can't find one that fits my needs. My plan is to grab (and keep) the attention of my buddies. One of them is The Plural Noun Song, sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. Each year, my kids love to belt out that one!

Another thing that I like to do is connect my lessons to a craft. Here are my latest craftivities:

I FINALLY posted this bundle yesterday. Yay! 

The start of school is a smidgen hectic. Wouldn't you agree? Even though school started 3 weeks ago in my state, someone may be interested in these activities for friendship building or for Open House projects. However, there are some teachers who have not started school yet. Bless you all. 

Or...I can just be glad that it is ready to go for the "Back to School Season" next year! 

Or...I can just be glad that I have a creative outlet that also comes in handy in my classroom. 

Nevertheless, my students enjoyed all of these activities! They even have their name desk tents on their desks still! 

As a matter of fact, some of my students continue to add color to their desk tents here and there. They are actually looking better with time!  :-) 

More importantly, name tents have helped me learn the students' names more quickly, since I have put off the task of taping flat name plates to the students desks. 

Because... I INSIST on cutting clear contact paper so that there is one big strip holding down the name tags. Not that I am particular...

Here is the camera craftivity that we made. 

I love when the students gasp as I pull out an example of the next craft that we will complete as a class. It cheers me up! 

Then, lo and behold, the students don't seem to mind doing whatever writing activity goes with it. Win, win!!


One of my favs... Post a Selfie! 

Selfies are all the rage. My first clue, well not really my FIRST clue, was the Belk ad with a girl taking a selfie. I guess it IS a big thing! 

Maybe it is a new form of art as some suggest. All kinds of people take part including my daughter's band director. He took lots of selfies with the students when they went on a band trip to Washington, DC. His slide show as a result was quite entertaining!

Here are some examples of the Post a Selfie! craftivity as well as a preview of what is in the pack.

The fourth activity that is included in the bundle is  a"How To" writing activity about How to Make a Friend and How to Keep a Friend. The lesson includes singing and acting out the motions to "Hello Neighbor," a cute song by Dr. Jean. (Also....that song is a FREE download in Dr. Jean's store.) What could be better than that? Here is a link to that section in her store. She has some other awesome free things as well. 

And last, but not least, I have a FREEBIE for your new school year.

Desk Fairy Awards. My students are super motivated to earn those awards. Click HERE to download the awards. 

(Pretend like you can see a picture of that here.)

There you have it. "What" I like to teach boils down to anything that has a song connected with it or a craft. Of course, I love Scoot games for any subject, but I will save that for a different post. 

Hop over to the Blog Hoppin blog to see WHAT other teachers like to teach. 

I have already found out some neat things about bloggers and I can't wait to try some of their ideas in my own classroom! 

Have a great day!

Carrie

Two for Tuesday - Week 3 & FREEBIE

It's TWO for TUESDAY!

Hi!
I am linking up with The Teaching Tribune for their Two For Tuesday Linky - Week 3

That means that

  2 items 

from my store will be 50% off today!!!

Here are previews of the items I have on sale:

The Plural Noun Song Pack

Need a fun way to remind the students of certain rules that they must follow when making nouns plural? This may be the resource for you!


The Plan

I sing this original song with my students to the tune of "Jingle Bells." Who doesn't love Jingle Bells?

Later, when your students need to be reminded of a rule for making a word plural, you can just remind them of the corresponding line of the song.

Then the student will all of the sudden repeat the line in a sing-song voice which will in turn cue the rest of the class to join in as well. A spontaneous song session! What could be happier than that?

There is a preview below of all of the resources that are included. Here is the link if you would like to check it out in my store.

My other sale item:

{Even though it is summer here, it is winter elsewhere on the globe. So...for all of you bloggers who are in the midst of winter, you may like to check this out.}

Pile on the Winter Fun! Bundle

A snowman craft with activities for contractions, possessive nouns, and adjectives.
This set also includes a writing activity. What more could you want?

If you would like to check it out, today is the day! Click here to see it in my store.

Also, I have a freebie sample set from this pack so that you an get an idea of what is included.

If you would like to check out the freebie, then click here. The pictures below show what is included in the sample.

Hop on over to The Teaching Tribune for their Two For Tuesday Linky and see what kind of exciting deals you can find from other bloggers!

Have an awesome day!
Carrie

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

Hi everyone! We just enjoyed a nice, quiet Spring Break. It has been lovely!

When it is quiet, I have the time to think about the crafts and activities that I want to do with the kids during the next month or so. I am normally guilty of having an idea, getting it down on paper, and then stacking it or filing it without ever carrying it out with the students. So, my goal over the last few weeks has been to get past the 90% completion mark so that I can have some fun activities for my students. 

So...since Peter Cottontail is hopping down the bunny trail...I need to get my Easter-y projects done!

One of those projects is Easter: How to Be an Egg-spert at an Egg Hunt Craftivity. 

The students will have fun being the "Egg-sperts" about Easter Egg Hunts. The idea is to have the students write a "How To" piece to inform a younger sibling, cousin, or neighbor about how to be strategic at an egg hunt. The flap books will help them organize their thoughts about the best ways to find the eggs. There are scaffolded rough draft pages as well as themed paper for the students to publish their final pieces. There are two different designs of each type of resource in the pack - one is frilly and the other is not frilly. 

I have included a photo of the crafts.

Two crafts. One is a name badge that can be worn with pride. :-)
The second is a name tent for the students' desks. The students LOVE those!
Both of these will give the students confidence as they write their egg-spertise on paper.  

Below is a preview of all of the pages in the resource as well as some of the individual pages. If you would like to see the pack in my store, then please click here. 

A flap book for idea organization

Non-frilly design option

Anchor chart

Non-frilly anchor chart

Rough draft page with scaffolding. My kids do a great job with this!

Another scaffolded page with a different design. 

Another one of those projects is the craftivity with opinion writing that was in my previous post. Below is a photo of that craftivity.

Along with those two resources is a "Small Moment" narrative writing activity. I am not quite finished that yet, but I will try to get the last 10% finished tonight so that I can post it tomorrow. :-) By the way, I will also bundle the three writing activities for teachers who might want to do all three writing genres with a similar theme. 

I will plan to compare and contrast the different genres. Maybe that will help the different genres "stick" for the students. 

Have a great day!

~ Carrie

Spring and an Easter Craft

Spring has Sprung

It's nice to have warm weather again! Since Easter is right around the corner, it is fun to think of all of the fun egg and bunny activities that we can do with our students that keep their interest high.

Easter Bunny Inspiration

When my daughter was younger, I loved smocking dresses for her. I would usually have one planned for Easter Sunday, so I was super glad when Easter fell in mid-April. That meant I had more time to get it finished in time without too many late nights. 

She has since grown out of wearing those cute dresses, so I have focused my creativity on meaningful activities for my students. I must admit...the multitude of cute clip art that is available these days keeps me inspired year-round! So...here is my latest craft with writing resources. 

Easter Egg Craft with Opinion Writing Resources

Do your students love Easter Egg Hunts? What a great topic to write about! Here is an Easter Egg Craft that will lend itself well to a writing activity.

                                      Below is a preview of the printables that are included. 

Click here to view this item on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Have a great first day of April!

~ Carrie

Snow, Possessive Nouns, and a Freebie

About the craft project on the last post...

      ...I decided to do more contractions in the other pile next to the snowman, since the students needed more contraction practice. So, I will add the possessive snowballs and sign from “Pile on the Winter Fun! Set 2” to another craft of sorts. The original plan was to add the possessive snowballs on the right side of the snowmen because they show possession of each of the snowman’s accessories. It seems to be helpful when the students can repeatedly add “apostrophe s” to words so that they can remember where the apostrophe goes spatially. Sometimes that is a tough concept for our buddies. If you would like to check out the possessive noun activity and craft, then you can find it here.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of their finished products.

We also did the “How To Build a Snowman” writing activity from “Pile on the Winter Fun! Set 3.” This set has 2 versions of adjective snowballs and some writing resources. These resources include a “How To Build a Snowman” flapbook pre-writing organizer and 25 different writing papers, with and without scaffolding. My ESOL students really respond well to the scaffolding as they write. Also, the papers have various styles of writing lines to meet the different needs of different students. All of these can be found in Set 3.

If you are interested in all three sets, the bundled set can be purchased at a discounted price. You can check it out here.

Meanwhile if you would like some samples of these sets, you can get a flapbook, a couple of writing papers and other resources in a freebie that is available in my shop as well. You can get it here.

Have a fabulous day!

Carrie