Monday, October 22, 2012

Boo Who?



I want to thank Brie for Booing me!  She has just started a special ed blog, so hop over and show her some love by following her very new blog.
Breezy Special Ed



Here are the rules for this linky:
1. Choose a fellow blogger that has MORE followers.
2. A blogger that has about the SAME number of followers .
3. Someone that has LESS followers.
4. Highlight their blogs with links to encourage others to check them out.
5. Don't forget to let your fellow bloggers know that you shared about them.
6. Lastly, leave them some love by offering them a goody from your store as their "treat."

Link up:

More followers:
Have you heard of Shuna at Pocket Full of Kinders?  If not, you need to head over to her blog asap.  Her blog is so entertaining and full of amazing freebies and wonderful ideas.  I love to read all of her posts.


Less followers:
I love Scips's blog.  Her blog is dedicated to teaching others to love math as much as she does.  She is also one of the most helpful teachers on the forum at TpT.  If you need math help, visit Scipi.

Go Figure
About the same followers: 
I recently found out that the kinder blog I've been following for months is actually written by a fellow Tennessean.  She works in the school where my husband teaches and where our daughters attend. Kerri's blog is full of freebies.  She always has wonderful ideas and teaching materials ready to share.
  


I want to thank 2nd Grade Pad for starting this fun linky!  Head over to 2nd Grade Pad to link up and see all of the other amazing blogs!

Welcome to 2nd Grade Pad



Trick or Treat?  Treat of course!  Who doesn't like a freebie?  I've created several free banners.  Head down one post and pick up all three freebies!  Happy Halloween!


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Friday, October 19, 2012

Freebie Friday

I love to decorate my classroom, but I never have the time, money or room to decorate.  I created a few banners to give my room a little cuteness, (not sure if that's a real word, but teachers are always creating their own words!) It doesn't take up any room and I can print it for basically free. I'm linking up with TBA to share a Friday Freebie with you (actually, it's 3 freebies!)  All you have to do is hop over to my TpT store and download it.  No strings attached.  Happy decorating!












 If you want to create your own banners.  I have these two styles available for only $5 each.  It includes the alphabet in both capital and lower case letters, non-letter pieces to use as dividers/spaces, and a cute flower piece in the zebra print.







Freebie Fridays

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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Ocean Collages

I love teaching in an arts integrated school.  This year, I haven't been able to put as much into my AI lessons as I would like.  I'm trying to do better.  Last  week we studied the ocean and animals that live in the ocean.  We ended the week creating an amazing ripped paper collage.  It turned out so much better than I imagined!  The kids loved the lesson and it was a great way to wrap up our mini-unit.  (And it was a great fine motor activity!)

We started off by selecting an ocean animal and 2 different colors of paper.  Students ripped the colored paper into small pieces.  They had to glue the small pieces onto their animal shape.  Students were given the option to use the template or to create their own shape using the ripped paper.  The students really liked the option of using the template.  It made laying out their design much easier.  Here's a few pictures of students glueing their paper pieces onto their template.






After all of the pieces were glued down, they cut out the animal shapes.



After everyone finished their individual collages, they added their pieces together to create a class collage.  After the student pieces were added, a few students added some seaweed to make the habitat more complete.




This is my favorite part of the collage.  The student who made the seahorse knew it liked to hide in the seaweed, so she placed the seaweed around it.  Then she curled the strips to make it 3 dimensional.




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Monday, October 15, 2012

Sight Words....

Hi y'all!  I'm linking up with Shuna over at Pocket Full of Kinders.  She wants to know how you teach sight words to your kiddos.  As a special ed teacher, teaching sight words is very difficult.  My kids want to learn them, but it is so difficult for them.  I've searched high and low for materials that would help my kiddos.  I was unable to find anything that really offered them the practice that they need, so I created my own materials Sight Word Mini Books.
The kids love them and they are finally learning sight words.  They love getting their mini book, because they are able to read it easily.  I have several activities that practice each word.  The activities are the same for each word, so the kids are able to complete them independently. So, if you need some new ideas, head over to Shuna's blog and check out all of the great ideas to teach sight words.



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Saturday, October 6, 2012

Magical Product Swap

MrsStanfordsClass
I am one lucky lady!  I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to review an AMAZING product from Conversations in Literacy.  I teach a K-5 special ed class and it isn't often that I can find one product that meets the needs of 16 of my 19 students.  I know you are dying to know what it is.


 Word Sorts Short and Long Vowels is absolutely fabulous!  There are 24 word sorts that grow in difficulty.  The first sorts are CVC words and the last sort uses the words trunk, refuse, and quest.  I was able to pull out sorts from the beginning of the file for my graders, sorts from the middle for my middle readers, and sorts from the end of the file for my highest readers.

I honestly can't give this product enough compliments.  I love it!  It is black and white so it costs next to nothing to print.  The words are clear and easy to read.  The spaces are large enough that all of my students were able to cut out the words independently.  Here's a few pics of the sorts.  (I'm so sorry but I forgot to snap a few pics of actual student work.  It has been a crazy, busy week.)
There are 8 different sorting mats.  This keeps the students' interest and  keeps your assignments fresh and exciting!


All of these words are short a words.

These words are all short u, but are a little more complicated than the short a words.

This sort was more challenging and perfect for my more advanced readers.

Word Sorts Short and Long Vowels is on sale for 20% off.  Go grab it now while it's on sale!  You will love it!


*Giveaway Alert!*
I hope you will head over and check out Lori's wonderful blog.  She is reviewing one of my products.  Head over check it out, come back here and leave me a comment about how you would use my product in your classroom.  I will choose a lucky person to send a free copy of my product to on Friday.

Conversations in Literacy

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Friday, October 5, 2012

5 Fab Friday Freebies

I'm linking up with Betsy at Notebooking Nook.  She is compiling a huge list of FREEBIES.  We all love freebies!  I am sharing 5 of my freebies.  I hope you will head over and check out the entire list.  I'm sure you will find a ton of good freebies.

My favorite freebies this week are mostly fall related.  I hope you find something you can use in your classroom!

1.  Halloween Banner:  Simply print, cut, and laminate.  Add in a cute ribbon and you have a wonderful decoration for your classroom or your house.


2.  Halloween Snatch Game: A quick and easy game for students to practice their addition or multiplication skills.  It's a perfect workstation activity.

3.  Monster Reading Pointers:  I love using these because my students always lose their place while we are reading. These pointers are super easy to make and the kids love to use them.  No more losing their place while reading.

4.  I'm Thankful:  This is an activity to get kids to look at what they have instead of their growing wish list.  I like to challenge my students to think of as many blessings as they can.  After a few groans, the students start writing. After a few minutes, it becomes a silent challenge to see who can think of the most blessings.  It's nice to see what children are thankful for.



5.  Electronic Pocket Chart:  This is a smartboard file.  It's simply an electronic version of your pocket chart. It's a great way to have kids to make words.  This can be used as a whole class lesson or used as a workstation.


After you download these freebies, head over to the main list and download those as well.  Happy Friday!


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