200 Followers=Giveaway Time!

I offically have over 200 followers so it's now time for my first giveaway. I have chosen to give away a set of 8 Sight Word Tales Books. The set includes the following titles:

• Does Polly Want A Cracker?
• Don't Be Afraid, Monster
• Have You Seen Jellybean?
• How Do You Make a Giraffe Laugh?
• One by One
• The Penguins Are Going on Vacation
• Some Dogs Are Very Good
• What Shall I Bring The King?

I *love* these books and they are often requested at my comprehension center. I put out four different books at the center, along with a sheet that has short answer questions. I use the same sheet that I have had all year, which just asks them to identify the characters, the setting, and to draw their favorite part. Before we rotate centers, the kids in that group bring me their sheet and we go over their answers. They love this activity! I would like to start using something different with them, but I haven't come up with anything yet...this works very well though. Just ready for a little more of a challenge!
Back to the giveaway. Ways to enter:

1 entry: Become a follower and let me know by commenting below. If you are already a follower, comment below and let me know!

2 entries: Become/already are a follower and tell a way to use these books in a center

***Bonus entry if you blog about this giveaway! You must let me know if you do this! :)

This giveaway will end Tuesday Night (3/29) at Midnight. I will announce the winner on Wednesday! Good Luck! :)



Giveaway!...My first! :)

So right now, I have 197 followers. Wow! Never thought I would have that many. When I get to 200 I have decided to have my very first giveaway. The prize? A set of 8 Sight Word Tales Books. Love, love, love these books! I use them in my centers every week. I'll talk more about how wonderful they are when I post the giveaway rules after my 200th follower. Thanks so much to everyone who follows! :) :)

Math Message and Peter's Suitcase

Thank you to those of you who shared their morning message ideas. My kids are becoming familiar with our new routine in the mornings and it's going great. I had mentioned before that I wanted to start doing something similar for math. I was a copycat again and used Deanna Jump's title "Think Math". Love that title! We did a money story problem today and I have this one ready for tomorrow. We've been doing problems like this for awhile now, so I don't think my kids will have a problem coming up with the correct answer. I hope not anyways!

We also made suitcases to go along with our reading story this week, which was Peter's Chair. In the story, Peter decides to run away from home because of his new baby sister. He takes with him his toy alligator, a baby picture of himself, and his chair. We did a writing activity that named the things we would have taken if we were Peter. Afterwards, we decided if our choices were smart ones. We learned that taking a playstation, DS, and Wii wasn't all that wise! :) Some of my sweet kids wrote that they would have taken a book....I love that they are developing a love of reading! :) :) 

Morning Chatter

Wow! It's been over a week since my last post! I'm trying to get back in the swing of things as far as school stuff goes since we had Spring Break last week. I didn't go out to my classroom once during the week...can you believe it?? I used Spring Break to clear my head and gear up for this last 9 weeks of school. Sunday night (of course the best ideas come at the last possible minute, right?) I stumbled upon the idea of a morning message on Deanna Jump's blog. I had always hear teachers talking about morning messages, but never really paid that much attention to it. But for some reason, I started reading about Mrs. Jump's and saw that she had posted an adorable pic of the message. She calls her's "Chit Chat". This seemed like a good idea to me, so I decided to use it as a jumpstart for the question of the day that always starts reading. We call ours "Morning Chatter" I have had my kids do this all week. They get their journals out as soon as they unpack and begin writing the answer to the daily question. At the beginning of reading, we take turns sharing our answers. I love this since it combines the oral language/ question of the day part of the reading lesson with writing skills. The kids are lovin' it too! Here's what mine looks like: (sorry for the blurry pic...forgot my camera, so I used my iphone:) )

Do any of you do a morning message?  I'm thinking about starting one for only math to do at the beginning of our math lessons. I'd love to have your ideas!

Alice in Wonderland Literacy Packet TPT

Our comprehension skill this week has been realism and fantasy. In our reading series, Reading Street, this skill is taught along with a story called The Lady in the Moon. Not my favorite story in this series. I have been doing activities with my kids in the afternoon that involve Alice in Wonderland. Some of my kids seem to think that fantasy MUST involve an animal talking or wearing clothes. I thought using Alice in Wonderland would show that there are some elements that can be made up that have nothing to do with animals, like Alice drinking the potion that made her shrink. This has really helped reinforce the skill for this week.

I have uploaded the literacy packet onto teachers pay teachers. It has the pattern for this craft that my kids worked on this week. Here's the link

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Alice-in-Wonderland-Literacy-Packet

Crazy for Junie B!

My kids absolutely LOVE Junie B. We try and read from a book everyday and we've finished quite a few this year. Today was a make up weather day from when we were out a week for snow. What better way to spend a Saturday than to make some cute Junie B's! I gave each child (I had several out because, after all, it was a Saturday!) a Junie B. Jones book that we had read and told them to create the Junie B. from the cover of their book. They had the BEST time with this and I just loved the way they turned out. Take a look at my creative kids :)

"There's No One Alive That's You-er than You!"

I love that quote from Dr. Seuss. And I've also been lovin' this week! Dr. Seuss is my favorite part of the year and it's been a good week so far. Tomorrow is Diffendoofer Day, so in honor of that we are having "Doughnuts with Dad on Diffendoofer Day" where our class dads (or granddads and uncles) come and have doughnuts with us in the morning.
Back to my favorite quote. After I introduced the quote, we talked about what it meant and the importance of its message. Then we did self-portraits to show individuality. I was so happy with the way they turned out! Here are just a few.