Whooooooo knew? Cool iPad Books

Need some new student books for your iPad? Add this little app and start downloading! It is easy peasy - Go to this link http://www.whocanread.com/ and click on it to take you to itunes. The books are leveled A - M - here is the chart for the leveled readers http://www.whocanread.com/about-our-leveling-system/.  The cool part is you can use this for differentiated instruction as there are options for the stories to be read to students, or they can read them independently.  The REALLY COOL PART? There are some F-R-E-E books!  Oh, one more coolio thing - there are both fiction and non-fiction books! The books for purchase are pretty affordable, most of the books are only 99 cents!  This can be a great way to motivate young readers by letting them read on the iPad. The stories can be used by students independently, whole group by showing it on the projector, at your teacher table, in centers, with a parent volunteer -- lots of possibilities!

Happy Reading!

I am back

Sorry to have been missing in action for so long. I am no longer teaching second grade, but instead I am a reading coach this year.  I am excited about my new position and will post more soon, but for now, I am asking you to head over to the Bubbly Blonde at http://thebubblyblondeteacher.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-mothers-cure-fundraisershow-some.html to help her friend Tiffany.  Tiffany was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  If you show some LOVE and donate $20 to help with her expenses, you will receive over $200 worth of units from Teachers Pay Teachers. Most importantly, you will be joining others to help this very special person.

Teachers Taking Care of Teachers

Crystal over at Kreative in Kinder is organizing assistance for the teachers in need due to the devastating tornadoes that caused widespread destruction across 5 different states.  Head on over to her site http://kreativeinkinder.blogspot.com/ to see how you can pitch in and help. I cannot even imagine what they are going through, but I know we all have treasures in our closets and other ways we can help our fellow teachers. Thanks, Crystal for organizing this.

Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade is having a Linky Party to celebrate over 1,000 followers. She is giving away not one, but two of the most amazing pencil sharpeners ever! The best part, this pencil sharpener is amazingly q-u-i-e-t! Head on over and link up!

Rock Star Writing....

While shopping for a few organizational items at Wal Mart today, I got sidetracked discovered these....

The picture quality takes away from these sparkly items! They are pencil pouches in the form of a guitar and a pink microphone with sequins galore! I am going to put special pens/pencils in them to help motivate my students during writer's workshop.  I will choose two students per day who did their personal best while writing in their journals. We will celebrate the two students by cheering for our Rock Star Writers and presenting them with the guitar and microphone pencil pouches. They will have the use of the pens/pencils and the pouches for the following day, and then we will celebrate two more writers rock stars.

Hopefully this will motivate them to do their best and to get back in the swing of things after the break.

Tomorrow is a planning day for us and the kiddies come back Thursday.

Table Talk

To encourage participation from all learners, I have instituted what I refer to as "Table Talk" in my classroom. I simply cover a rectangular table with bulletin board paper and let the graffiti begin! Topics for the week for math, science, phonics, etc., are labeled in sections and the students are free to show what they know on the paper. This really helps those reluctant students who may be shy, or lack self-confidence as they do not have to get up in front of the class.

Here are some pics of Table Talk in action:

This was for our Dr. Seuss theme before we went to see Seussical the Musical for our field trip:

This Table Talk was when we decided to compare and contrast various pumpkins:

I have also used it for phonics - example divide the paper into sections to go along with our Imagine It Unit for the week. One week we wrote long i words. The sections were i spelled i, i spelled i_e, and _igh words. One week it was science based and they had to write about what they learned when we were working on food chains and food webs.

The table is by the door so when we line up to go to lunch, special area, or home, we can take a moment and review what the students have written.

What are you waiting for? Grab some paper and throw some markers on the table and let the learning begin! Students feel like they are experts and who does not like a little graffiti?

Happy New Year everyone!

I am back!

Sorry I have been missing in action! I am back and will post more later on today.

Happy 2012!

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.

Sunny Days

Head on over to Sunny Days in Second Grade  at http://sunnydaysinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/
to check out a great blog and a fantabulous giveaway! To celebrate 200 followers she is giving away A $15 Amazon gift card AND 5 free items from her TpT store to one winner!

Online Book Study: The Book Whisperer - Chapter One

Beth at Thinking of Teaching is hosting chapter one of a book discussion of a fabulous read, The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. I am highlighting this book as I read through  DEVOUR it. I decided to use four colors to highlight with. Here is my color coding scheme – Yellow = quotes/profound thoughts/ideas; Blue = books to explore further; Orange = ideas to try in my class; Pink = things to add to my website (i.e. links, etc.).

Discussion Ideas:

How did you feel as you started reading?
--I felt as if I had gone back in time and that I was a child again. Like Donalyn, my Mom also worried because she thought I spent too much time indoors reading. I experienced flashbacks to when my children were younger and some of the great times we spent together during family readaloud time. Donalyn pens, “I am a reader, a flashlight-under-the-covers, carries-a-book-everywhere-I-go, don’t look – at-my-Amazon-bill reader.” Can I get a witness??????
What were your first thoughts, connections, insights?
--As teachers, we can get caught up in planning reading activities and how they will be perfectly implemented. The reality though is that my students need for me to introduce them to good books and then turn them loose to get lost between the pages.
Were you like me and finally felt as though you had found someone who was speaking your language?
--Yes, Yes, and Yes again!
Which part jumped out at you and made you say "aha!!, I knew it"?
--The part that discusses that as long as we have a passion for books and model for students what it means to “live as a reader” that is what teaching reading is all about.

I created a Wordle after reading the first chapter. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

Thanks, Beth for hosting this!

Happy Reading!

Sequel to Previous Post

I just got back from a trip to a different Target store and found some more items to go with my previous lemonade post. Here are pics of the latest finds:

lemonade tablecloth

lemonade banner

list size notepad, pencils, sticky notes

The tablecloth and banner will add a festive touch to the lemonade stand in the classroom. I am thinking about using the sticky notes for students to take notes on when readng some of the books listed above to help with comprehension skills.

Lemon - Aid

So, what is a girl to do when she goes to Target and finds these cute items in the dollar bin? Blog about them, of course!

If you click on the photos you will be able to get a better view of my lemony purchases. I am thinking about using them for a math center to set up a lemonade stand. Students can use the box as a cash box for practicing money skills and they could use the clipboards to take orders, etc. I would love to make some things to share that other teachers could print here to use in either a math and/or literacy setting. Being new to the blogging world, I am trying to discern what graphics can be used legally. I have purchased some in the past for personal use and am trying to research what I can and can not do with them as far as sharing materials goes. If you can offer any advice in this area, I would truly welcome it! 

Here are a few titles centered upon lemonade that can be used for literature and math activities. Unfortunately, the ones I have are in my classroom and we had to turn our keys in until later this summer.

 

You can watch a video clip of the author, Jacqueline Davies, sharing how the book The Lemonade War came about. She was not planning on writing a sequel until she talked to children about the book.  Click on The icon below for the cover to The Lemonade Crime to watch the short video for more details.

That's all for this blog post. Gotta go...a tall glass of lemonade is calling my name......

Back to School Bulletin Board

Kristen at
shared a cute project she did for Flag Day using Wordle. That inspired me to use Wordle to create my first bulletin board of the year. I am going to have my students create a self-portrait and then have the parents send me a list of 10 words to describe their child. I will take the lists and type them into Wordle and print them to put under their portraits. We will reveal the portraits to the parents at Open House. I have attached the parent letter I created in case anyone else wants to use it.

Summer Reading and Bookmarks

Bought some neat magnetic page holders at Wal-Mart for all of the books I am reading this summer.

They come six to a package.

Also purchased these uclips to hold key places when reading professional books.

There are 50 in the package.

Happy Reading!