Writing Details

I have been working on writing materials to help my students, especially as we transition to the Common Core Standards this year, and decided to share what I am developing as my next blog post.  In the meantime while I was procrastinating getting things done around the house blog hopping this morning I came across this on Teaching Blog Addict:
Awesome Writing Tips Workshop

What great timing! So even though I am not finished yet, I will add what I have as it continues to develop. I have some home projects I need to finish, so I cannot sit down and complete this all at one time. Here is a picture of the cover of the writing notebook that will be at the writing center in our classroom. I designed the notebook using graphic designs by Lettering Delights. Click on the picture below for a better view.

The inside of the notebook will contain tools and visual aids for students to help them along the writing continuum, more specifically, helping them with the who, what, where, why, and when details. I will post more later as I am having some washing machine breakdown issues right now that I need to deal with. Stay tuned..............

Classroom Set up and Dollar Tree Find

I took pictures of my classroom with all of the furniture in the middle and was going to post before and after pictures. Unfortunately, when I got home I realized the picture did not actually take. I do have one of the beginning stage of set up and am including that here. I did not get very far though as the air conditioning is not turned on yet (it will be Monday, YEAH!) and after an hour and a half working in the room, it was a little more than warm! I am thankful to have my key this early though. I will add more pictures as the room unfolds......

Sorry it is a little blurry as it was taken from my iphone. I am setting up the desks in clusters and am lowering the legs on a few desks to put one in the center of each cluster to contain the students' book boxes. I saw the idea on another blog and would love to give the person credit, only I have been blog hopping and cannot remember who it was. If this fabulous idea is yours, please let me know and many, many thanks for the brilliant idea. This will certainly help to give the students more desk working space and to keep the desks clutter free.

Now.................. on to the Dollar Tree find............................

I found some cute little containers at The Dollar Tree and am going to use them for my guided math work stations and at my writing station.

Again, sorry for the blurriness, but I am sure you will get the idea and that is what really counts. These are rubber insects from the party favor section at Dollar Tree. I am going to put the insects in the containers at the writing station. Students will have access to non-fiction books about insects and can write insect facts to combine science and writing. This will help to build their background knowledge and to make connections when reading. Also, they can take a "specimen" jar and write a creative story about the critter.

Some of the critters on the loose!

 These are great little containes to hold dice for math stations. Hopefully this will prevent them from ending up in the lost pieces basket!

Anybody else have any great ideas for these nifty little containers?

Ladybug Teacher Files

Kristin at Ladybug's Teacher Files is advertising a HUGE giveaway to celebrate her 1,000 followers!
 
 Here are the prizes:
1. First name drawn (Grand Prize): A Mix and Match Template from Ladybug Teaching Resources, INCLUDING any offered extras. What is a Mix and Match Template? It is a new type of template that offers a great deal of choice and customization. Read (actually, watch) all about it here: Mix and Match Templates

2. Next 3 names drawn: Your choice of a Premade Template, INCLUDING any offered extras. You can see all Premade Templates here (there are two new ones!): Premade Templates

That's 4 winners, 4 different prizes!

Click below to head over to her fabulous store and check out the cuteness!

  Ladybug Teaching Resources

Staples

I went to Staples today and purchased some fabulous deals. Thought I would take a moment to share in case anyone else is interested.

I paid $4.00 for these highlighters, but with an "Easy" Staples rebate, they will be free.

 This container of 50 retractable pens was 1/2 off with a coupon I printed at the Staples web site.

Who doesn't love Sharpies???? These were also 1/2 off with a coupon printed from the Staples site.

The young man that was ringing up my purchases informed me of a promotion that Staples is offering at the moment. If you purchase a "Back to School Savings Pass" you can get 15% off  school supplies between 7/3/11  and 9/17/11. There are some exclusions, but if you buy school supplies for your classroom and/or your own children, this card can easily not only pay for itself, but save you money as well.

I am sure there will be more deals soon as they are starting to set up their back to school displays.