Looking for a Bargain?

Hey friends. I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged -- so sorry. This school year has kicked my butt. We have new administration at our school (they're FABULOUS -- we hit the jackpot) and they've implemented lots of new things (which are also fabulous, but it's soo time consuming implementing so many new things).  So I've been super busy with school and then I come home and play mommy until it's time to go to bed. I'm sure some of you can relate. 

Anyways, I just found out about a really cool linky from The Learning Highway.  It's called Super Saturday Sale and once a month different TpT sellers mark all 4 of their featured products HALF OFF.  How cool is that? 

Here's a rundown of my featured products that are HALF OFF for today (and tomorrow) ONLY. I'm having a sale on the rest of my products too. So make sure to stop by my store to pick up some awesome goodies at a great price. 

If you want to teach your students all about Fall (the weather, holidays, animals and nature) while creating a non-fiction text about the season,this product is for you.  Only $1.50 this weekend.  

Monday, October 13 is Columbus Day. After you teach your students about Columbus, you can use this product to have your kiddos create a question and answer book about the facts they learned.  I've also included an activity on character traits and an imaginative writing assignment if your students became explorers. Just $1.50 right now. 

If you teach narrative writing, check out this product. It includes everything you need to teach narratives -- daily lesson plans, lists of mentor texts, planning sheets, rubrics, checklists, and more! Only $3 this weekend. 

My last featured product, but probably my favorite, is a year's worth of math homework.  Each night students use a calendar and complete the listed activity. Each activity is simple but reinforces an important math concept they must know by the end of second grade. This has been a HIT with parents too.  Just $4 this weekend.

When you're done shopping with me, check out all the other stores that are having sales too. Click on the image below to be taken to the linkup.

Connect the Dots to Compare Numbers

I've always been confused with using the alligator or crocodile to compare numbers. I know he wants to eat the larger number, so does that mean he's already eaten the larger number and it's in his stomach or is he about to eat it and it's in front of his mouth? Do you know what I'm saying, or am I the only one with this problem?

Thankfully, I had an amazing colleague a few years back who taught me this amazing trick:

CLICK HERE to download it for FREE.

Of course I still require my students to say the equation out loud using 'greater than' or 'less than' so I know if they truly understand the mathematical skill of comparing.

Also, I've had some colleagues who have had difficulty with their students connecting their dots the correct way.  If that's the case, you might want to download these as reference sheets.

CLICK HERE to download them for FREE.

Open House Forms - Freebie

This week Amna, from Teach Two Reach, is sharing an awesome Open House freebie for the Primary Peeps Blog Hop. 

Amna has included so many purposeful forms for Open House.   If you use these forms for your Open House, getting prepared for the event will only take a few  minutes (rather than a few hours or your entire day).  

    

THIS ENTIRE PRODUCT IS FREE . . . CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

     

If you want to snag this amazing freebie, CLICK HERE to be taken to Amna's blog post where she explains more about each form included.  

And don't forget the Primary Peeps are having another giveaway.  Enter for your chance to win 1 of 6 $20 TpT gift cards.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meet the Teacher

I've really enjoyed getting to know so many different teacher bloggers from Stephanie's Meet the Teacher Linky.  I decided it's about time for me to link up and let y'all learn a little bit more about me.  So here it goes...

Here's a pic of the people I love most.  My husband and I have been married for 6 years and as you can see, we have two kiddos. Wes thinks our kids look like him, but everyone says they look like me. What do you think?

(We haven't mastered the "perfect" family photo yet -- someone's hair or clothes are always messed up)

This will be my ninth year teaching 2nd grade and I love every minute of it.  Now don't get me wrong, I totally love being a wife and mommy, but being a teacher is definitely my calling in life. Teaching comes naturally and is very easy for me -- being a mommy, NOT AS EASY.  It's hard work but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I love this quote: being a mother is the highest calling but the most challenging blessing. Do you moms agree? 

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

God. The Sun. The beach. The pool. Summer.  Fall. Coupons. Clothes. Exercising. French Fries. Bomb Pop Popsicles. Nicholas Sparks books and movies. Laughing.

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

I would love to be a house flipper. 

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Hard Working. Independent. Helpful.

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

"I just finished EVERYTHING on my to-do list"
 

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

My grandparents who passed away when I was just a toddler.

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

 She Knows What She Wants

 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT? 

 Ummm..... the ability to not need 8 hours (or more) of sleep every night? For me, that would be a super power! 

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

 

Proverbs 3: 5-6

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

It wouldn't happen! This is something I would NEVER do -- I seriously have the WORST singing voice. 

 

 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

Always have been and always will be a morning person. I'm ready to get the day started shortly after the sun rises and ready to go to bed almost immediately as the sun sets.  Which is great in the summer, but not helpful in the winter -- I get nothing accomplished. 

 

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

 I absolutely LOVE my Math Activities for an Entire Year.  It's my newest product but I love it because it makes math homework meaningful each and every  night of the school year!   Plus, it's super simple and quick to implement.  The activities focus on a variety of skills and build on each other. 

   

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU.

We're expecting baby number 3.  I couldn't be more excited and can't wait until March 9 when our family will become complete. 

Thanks for taking the time to get to know me.  CLICK HERE to be taken to the linky to meet more than 200 other teacher bloggers. 

Take Two Giveaway

Anyone interested in winning some TpT moola??? The Primary Peeps are having another giveaway -- and this time there are 5 WINNERS!  If you missed out on the giveaway that we had a few weeks ago, we're giving you another opportunity to win some TpT spending money.  

Enter below -- good luck. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Desk Buddies

This week Heather from The Busy Bee Hive is sharing a great tool to get your year started right.  Heather teaches first grade and many of her students want to bring in items from home and set them on their desk to make themselves more comfortable at school.  Well, Heather has solved this problem AND turned it into a writing assignment -- love it.

Heather's idea is desk buddies...

CLICK HERE to be taken to her post and grab this unique product for FREE.  

Remember, come back next week for more Tips and Tools for Back to School from a Primary Peep!

Use Chirbit to Practice Reading Skills in a FUN Way

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching's Five for Friday Linky.  This past week I had the opportunity to present at a technology conference.  To be honest, using technology intimidates me.  There are sooooo many things that can go wrong and  I feel that my kiddos ALL need my help at the EXACT.SAME.TIME -- which causes me to lose my cool.  So with that being said, I was impressed with myself for actually having something to share at a technology conference.  

Last year I realized my kiddos were not making as much progress as I wanted with their reading fluency and summarizing skills. We talked about it, I modeled it, they practiced it, but for some reason, it just wasn't sticking.  

Luckily for me, my problem was solved when I was introduced to Chirbit. A FREE and SUPER EASY website that allows you to record and save audio files.  You can have your kiddos record a cold reading of a passage and save it. Then they can listen to their recording and use a rubric to evaluate themselves. Give them a few days to practice the passage, and then head back to Chirbit and have them rerecord themselves reading the same passage. Now they can reflect on their improvements as a reader. 

So the fist step would be to go to Chirbit (CLICK HERE) and sign up for an account. Your students will share your account, so make sure the user name and password you select are easy for your kiddos to remember. I just used the log-in name and password (they all have the same log-in and password) my kiddos use in the computer lab for this website.

Once you have your account set up, decide what reading skill you would like your students to practice.  Chirbit allows your students to record themselves and then save their recording. So when we used Chirbit for the first time, I wanted my students to practice their fluency skills.  I gave each student a reading passage and had them record themselves reading it (you can use any passages you have, or copy a page out of a book and have your kiddos use that). This was a cold reading since they didn't have previous exposure to the text. After it was recorded and saved (we saved the passages like this: Leah 1 My Dog -- which is name; 1 for cold reading and 2 for warm reading; title of text) they listened to themselves reading the passage.

I passed out these worksheets to help with the process, and let me tell you I WAS BLOWN AWAY with their responses. They totally exceeded my expectations and really picked up on their strengths and areas for improvement.

There's one worksheet for each area of fluency (expression, pace, and accuracy) and the last one combines the three aspects into one sheet.

CLICK HERE to download these sheets for FREE!

Once your students have completed their cold reading and reflected on it, have a class discussion or speak with them individually. Have them tell you what they did really well, what surprised them, what they need to work on.  My kiddos provided some awesome ideas and I bet yours will too.

You will also need to tell your students that they will record themselves reading this same passage again.  I typically give my students 4 - 7 days to practice the passage (the number of days just depends on our schedule) and then we head back to the computer lab to rerecord (there's also a Chirbit App available for only 99¢).



After we practiced our fluency with Chirbit, we practiced retelling different texts. Here's the sheet I created for that.

CLICK HERE to download the retelling sheet (it's actually in the same document as the fluency sheets from above).



Another aspect of Chirbit that I love is that you can get a QR code for each recording.  For each of my students I copied the QR code from both of their recordings into a table, then I printed it off and sent them home. My kiddos were super excited to share their readings with their families.

Here's one of my student's Chirbits.




My girls from Primary Peeps are having an absolutely amazing giveaway that you NEED TO ENTER.  You could win a $100 Amazon Gift Card.  CLICK HERE to be taken to it (scroll to the bottom of Laura's post). It ends TOMORROW.