April GIVEAWAY!

Happy Tuesday everyone! I am in the "springy" mood today and feel very giving :) I'm trying to build up my shop on Teachers Notebook, as well as my new Instagram account. Follow me on IG @theelementarylife to see how I run my classroom, new products, activities, and other exciting things going on in the life of this teacher + wife + mommy <3

Head on over to my Teacher's Notebook shop HERE and enter in my giveaway for a Sentences and Fragments Bundle! There will be FIVE winners so don't miss it! It will run from tomorrow until Sunday. Please follow my shop on Teachers Notebook and get more opportunities at sales and giveaways!

Teacher's Notebook Shop GIVEAWAY & Valentine's Day Ideas

Happy Friday! I'm not sure why I am JUST NOW discovering Teachers Notebook...I love the layout, the products, and the great features it includes. I have my own Teachers Pay Teachers store that you can check out HERE but I decided to create a shop on Teacher's Notebook to have another place to put all my products. I'm including paid digital products as well as freebies! :)

Teacher's Notebook GIVEAWAY for Black History: GIVEAWAY HERE!

Next subject...Valentine's Day! <3 I have a couple Valentine's Day products that you can find at my TPT store. If you're not into Valentine's Day literacy and math centers, I've included some great blogs that have craft ideas for your kids!

Fireflies & Mudpies

Rainbow Heart Suncatchers

This craft would be SUPER easy to do in a busy classroom. Click the link to find out how to make them :) I'm definitely going to try these with my third graders!

 

Crafts Unleashed

Pom Pom Monster

Um...how freakin' cute! These take a little more work but are so adorable for any kid!

Crafty Morning

Handprint Monkey Valentine Craft

This would be great for the younger kids. This blog has step by step directions with pictures to get the perfect product!

Comment below with a link to your Valentine's Day crafts! I'm going to do one with my kids next week and post it for you guys! Thanks for stopping by :)

Veteran's Day Freebie

Hi everyone! I'm back in the classroom with all its hectic glory! I was nervous about coming back after maternity leave, but I got into the swing of things quickly! Veteran's day is coming up this week and I wanted my students to have a few writing prompt choices. Have your students color the borders and clip art, too :)

 

Click here to head to my TpT store and grab this freebie!

Back to Work and TPT Sale

My maternity leave is coming to an end, which makes for an emotional week for me. I've been dreading this. I've been brainstorming how I can stay at home and quit my job. Downsize? Cut our cable and sell a car? After all of this contemplating I came to the conclusion that I need to go back to work. This isn't just for me, but for my daughter as well. I want her to look up to me and see the difference that I am making in children's lives everyday. As fellow educators, you know that this is one of the most special jobs one can have. We don't make a lot of money, so sure, I could probably survive after quitting. At  this point in time, I don't think it's the right decision for me or my family. I've spoken to many friends and family as well as cried to my husband how I can't leave my baby girl. It's a hard decision, but this teacher has got to get back to work :) Once we get into a routine again I'm sure I'll be okay! All mothers go through this, right? :)

I love my job and am excited to get the new school year started. I'm nervous about coming into my classroom after other rules and routines have been established. I will do another post a few weeks after I go back and give you all an update on how it went and tips for returning after maternity leave.

So because this is my last week on maternity leave, I'm throwing a sale for fun! My entire TPT store is 15% off. Click HERE to get there! I hope you find something that you like :) Check out the freebies, too!

*The sale will run from October 3rd through October 5th

 

Here is my daughter, Bailey Rae. She was born on July 26th, 2015.

 

Have a good weekend :)

Back to School Already???

Happy Summer Break!!! As I'm preparing for my maternity leave, I wanted to get something made up for my substitute to do with the kids for the first week. This packet can be given to almost any elementary grade level, although it might be a tad too easy for 4th and 5th grade.

Check the product out here at my TPT store!

Fact and Opinion Bundle!

Happy Wednesday! I just posted a new product on my Tpt Store that I LOVE! This fact and opinion bundle includes a poster, two worksheets, and a center! Head on over to my store to grab it! You can use it as a center or a mini-lesson. I have an assistant that works in my room during our literacy block so this will be super useful when teaching my students about fact and opinion. Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by!

                                                                               

Creative Writing Center

I have a few weeks of summer break left, so I'm cranking out some new TPT products! Be on the look out for some cool stuff! This week, I'm showing off my new creative writing center that you can also see here at my store. I really try to motivate my third graders to write. And they will, if it's what they want to write about. That is totally fine with me because that's step #1.

This center is super easy to set up and use in the classroom! Cut and laminate the cards. Place each set in a bag or an envelope. Have students pick one from each bag and begin writing! The crazier the combinations, the more their imagination needs to work :)

The center includes:

-a set of plot cards

-a set of setting cards

-a set of character cards

-a pre-writing sheet

Charlotte's Web Novel Study

I hope everyone is having a nice and relaxing summer! Since I've got a few minutes of extra time, I wanted to prepare some things for the study that my third graders do of Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. I've got two products on Teachers Pay Teachers so far!

My first product is a set of vocabulary words from Charlotte's Web. You can display these in your classroom or use them as a center! Click here to check it out!

 

My next product is a set of response questions by chapter. You can use these as a seatwork packet, quizzes, or homework as needed. Click here to check this awesome product out!

 

 

Tips to End the Year Off With!

We are nearing the end of the year! It's that time when we don't have new content to teach, but we need to keep the kids engaged. Otherwise, we would all go crazy! Here are a few math and reading ideas to end the school year off with: 

Reading: 

• Create a comic strip of your favorite story that we've read this year

• Write a poem about a character from one of the stories that we've read 

• Compare two stories that we've read this year using a Venn diagram and then illustrate

• Creative writing: use plot, character, and setting cards to create a crazy story! 

• Write a song or rap about your favorite story or make up your own story and create a song or rap

• Work in groups to create a story. Each student write a sentence and keep passing it along and adding until you have a finished product! 

• End of the year memory book: Create your own or grab mine HERE!

Math

• Roll the dice: roll the dice and create numbers to add or subtract-we have foam dice that the kids love

• Add it fast-take digit cards and have students each put down a card-whoever says the sum first keeps both cards. You can use this for multiplication too

• Math bingo-easy to create on your own with multiplication, addition, or subtraction!

• Have you students create their own word problems and post around the room for students to solve 

• Math olympics! 

There are so many more things that we are doing in our room, but this would be a very long post! I also do a lot of Smart Board activities that I find through Smart Exchange or TPT, but my students love playing games with each other! Any other cool ideas that you have are appreciated! 

End of the Year Memory Book

The school year is coming to an end. Although I will miss my lovely class, I can't say that I'm not itching to say goodbye for the summer! At the end of the school year I usually look online for some kind of "end of the year" worksheet. I wanted to incorporate all aspects of the school year; subjects, friends, teacher, summer plans, etc. I would love to laminate these for a keepsake for the kids. What sort of fun end of the year things do you do in your classroom?

Head on over to my TpT store right here and grab it! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Black History Bulletin Board

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. This month, as I've stated in previous posts, my class and I have been learning about many figures from Black History. I have three guided reading groups, so I used Reading A-Z to find books to use. I had my below grade level group read "Good for Thurgood," my on grade level group read "Martin Luther King, Jr." and my above grade level group read "Harriet Tubman." After reading about these figures, each group created a character trait poster using text evidence to support the character traits that they chose. I displayed this in the hallway so other classes could see who we were learning about and what kind of people they were. I love it! What are you doing in your classroom for Black History Month?

Sentences and Fragments

Happy Hump Day everyone! I hope you all are having a great week so far! I have a new product to share with you, which focuses on developing sentences. Many of my students have trouble developing sentences, as they are writing fragments. What a perfect way to get rid of this habit...a few printables and a center that focuses on sentences and fragments! These activities could be used from 1st  grade to 4th grade, depending on the needs of your students. I teach 3rd grade and I created this for my class, although it can be differentiated. This awesome bundle includes 3 printables and a center! Click here to grab this at my TpT store!

 

 

 

 

 

Black History Month Part II

Happy Hump Day everyone! I am so excited to share my new Black History center! After watching the movie, The Butler, I became even more intrigued about Black history. If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it (not with your kiddies of course). It gave me a new insight on history and what African-Americans went through. I was hooked the entire time. I thought having Oprah in it would throw me off, but she did an amazing job. I want my kids to learn about Black history and appreciate what they have now. Check out the trailer below, then go to Redbox and get it! :)

 

 

 

 

 

And now for my center, called "Who Am I?" Click the photo below to grab this awesome center!

 

 

 

 This easy to assemble center on requires laminating and cutting! Use this as a literacy or social studies center, whole class activity, or differentiate it and have students research the figures.

Includes:
-Cover page
-Directions
-Answer sheet
-Recording sheet
-9 character cards
-27 facts

 

What are you doing in your classroom for Black History month? If you'd like to see a similar center for President's Day, click here. Happy blogging, teacher friends!

 

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

I don't know about you all, but the east coast got a nice chunk of snow fall! It's been a FIVE day weekend! Super exciting! Only downfall is, is that we have a LOT of catching up to do in school. My reading data was due at the end of this week. Looks like it's not going to be finished in time! What did you do on your few days off if you had some?

 

On another note, I wanted to share a great activity that accompanies Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. This wonderful book is in our third grade curriculum, so it's most likely in many other third grade curriculums. Sadako and the Thousdand Paper Cranes is about a young girl struggling with Leukemia caused by an atom bomb that dropped in Hiroshima, Japan. Sadako attempts to fold 1,000 paper cranes, in hopes that she would get healthy again. After we read this book, I had each of my students write any wish that they had for themselves, the community, their family, etc. This activity got my students thinking about others and also how lucky they were. Some wished for a cleaner environment, world peace, less violence, and for family and friends to be healthy. I posted this bulletin word, titled "I wish..." outside of our classroom. I included the article on the Hiroshima Peace Park in the middle of the board so that students and teachers could read about Sadako and understand why our wishes were so sentimental. If you haven't read this book, you've got to! It's a great read for the intermediate grade levels. If you have read this in your class, are there any other activities that you recommend?

 

 

 

 

Some pictures from my snow day :)

 

Thanks for stopping by! Stay warm :)