Chinese New Year Unit...TPT!

I'm so excited about teaching the Chinese New Year this year. This is something I've always wanted to teach but never seem to find the time to do so. I've created a unit to help me get organized for this holiday and I've just uploaded it to TPT. Click here to get it on SALE!!! 

And while I'm excited about teaching this holiday, it certainly isn't my favorite holiday. I'm giving away this unit to the first two people who can name my favorite holiday/celebration! Comment below....

 Good Luck! 

UPDATE: Y'all know me...I love Halloween!

Freebies go to Jennifer @First Grade Blue Skies and Mrs. Johnson

But....since it is Karyn's birthday and she did know how much I love pink, she gets a freebie too! Happy Birthday Karyn!

Fun Spelling Strategies...TPT!

I've just uploaded Fun Spelling Strategies onto my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I use these in my word work center and my kids love them! This unit includes 10 different task cards(strategies) and the recording sheets. I put all the task cards in a box and the kids pick one to do at that center. It's a favorite in my classroom and really helps with spelling and decoding words. 

Click here to get it on SALE!

I'm having a sale! And Eskimo Patterns Freebie

In honor of the new year, I'm having a sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store! Everything is 15% off! Click the link below to visit my store.

Ms. Leslie Ann's Store

Hurry! Sale ends January 1st!

I've also just added the patterns for the Eskimos as a freebie! Click the pic below to get them. Thanks again to everyone who has purchased units from me or follows my blog. Y'all have helped make 2011 a truly FABULOUS year! :) :) :)

Giveaway Winners and Fairy Tales Nonsense Words

First off, I want to thank everyone for their kind words in the entry comments. Y'all are too sweet! :)

Giveaway Winners are............

Becky and Jessica! Jessica, send me your email address and I'll email you my Fairy Tales Unit.

I've also just posted fairy tale themed nonsense words.

Click here to get them!

I'm almost finished with a new spelling strategies packet that I'm super excited about! I'll be back tomorrow with it and maybe a giveaway???

Hope everyone's having a wonderful winter break!

Fairy Tales Unit Posted-Let's do a GIVEAWAY!!

I finally finished and uploaded my new fairy tales unit. :) :) :) I don't know about y'all, but I love fairy tales so I had so much fun creating this unit and cannot wait to use it! This 81 page unit includes 5 math centers, 3 literacy centers, and 5 fairy tale themed writing prompts. Click here to get it!

I'm also loving hosting giveaways so let's do another one, shall we? :) 

I'm giving away 2 of my newest units. 

How to enter:

Simply comment below. I'll randomly pick the winners tomorrow night. Good Luck!!

Giveaway Winner!

Melissa, send me your email address and I'll send the compound words packet to you! :) :)

If you want to check out my newest unit on TPT, click here :)

Giveaway Time!

I'm in the mood for a giveaway, aren't you?? I just posted my new winter themed unit on compound words so I figured that would be perfect to giveaway. Here's a preview of what's included:

How to enter:

Super Simple! Just comment under this post. In the words of my favorite food network chef from Barefoot Contessa, "How easy is that?" :) 

Bonus entry if you blog about it (be sure you leave me the url of the post in the comment)

Giveaway ends tomorrow (Friday) night.

 

Fairy Tale Fry Phrases...TPT!

To kick off my fairy tales unit, I've created fairy tale themed fry phrase flash cards. Click the pic to get them :)

Poetry Help Needed!

I really want to start incorporating more poetry into my reading centers, but am kinda clueless as to where to begin... I found a great book a few weeks ago and copied some of the poems out of it and put them in my reading center for the kids to read and I was amazed at how well even my strugglers did with them. I really think they would help with fluency but I don't really know what kinds of activities I should have for my kids to do with these great poems. I need help! Please email or comment below with any suggestions or send me the link to a post about your poetry center. :) :) I know I'll find some fantastic ideas from y'all!! :)

Unit 3 Reading Street Questions-Freebie!

Just uploaded the questions of the day for Unit 3 of the Scott Foresman Reading Street series. They're on my Teachers Pay Teachers store, but they are free! I'd love to hear from you if you use them! :) Click the pic to get them.

Wow! Tired doesn't even begin to describe it....

Goodness gracious! I don't know about y'all, but I'm one tired teacher right about now. This past week has been a blur. We've had a Christmas breakfast with our wonderful parents, a field trip to the movies, and to top it all off- Polar Express Day today. The month of December has gone by so quickly that I haven't had much time for blogging as you've probably noticed by my lack of posting. I'm so looking forward to a fresh new start in our classroom in January. In a way, this is my favorite time to teach because we don't have any major holidays to distract us. I'm planning on doing a fairy tale unit in my classroom during January and using these fairy tales to enhance some of our reading skills so look for ideas and a unit soon! :) I did fairy tales last year around March and it has been my favorite thing to teach so far. My kids loved it so I think my sweeties this year will too. :)

We made eskimos and graphed how we liked our hot chocolate this past week and I forgot to share pictures of how well they turned out. This could go into January so if you want the pattern, let me know!

**Update: I've posted these as a freebie onto my TPT store. Click here to get them

Elf Patterns!

I just posted the patterns for the elves on Teachers Pay Teachers....it's a freebie! Merry Christmas!! I'd love to hear from you if you are able to use them in your classroom :) Click here to get them.

Cute Little Elves

Here's a look at our Christmas door. Aren't those elves cute? If you'd like the pattern, let me know and I'll post it! :)

Update: I've uploaded these as a freebie onto Teachers Pay Teachers. Click here to get them. 

Long e Honey Bee Word Sort...TPT

Click here to get my long 'e' honey bee word sort.

Honey Bees

We just finished up the story Honey Bees in our reading story, so we made these cute little bees to go along with a chart we made. Aren't they cute?

'

We drew names to see who got to be the queen bee and they got to make their bee out of scrapbook paper. 

I also made this helper chart for one of our phonics skill this week. Making this helped so much! I felt like my kids understood this skill so much better than the way I taught it last year. 

*****Be sure to head over to Amy's blog The Land of 2nd Grade. She was kind enough to send me some of her centers and she's having a giveaway for a chance to win them! Go enter now!!!

Christmas Math and Literacy Centers...TPT!

I just uploaded my Christmas Math and Literacy Centers on Teachers Pay Teachers. Click here to check it out!

EduBlog Awards 2011...Go Vote!

The 2011 EduBlog Awards are happening now. Nominations are open from now until this Friday (December 2). There are lots of categories to nominate people for, but I'm just voting for Best Teacher Blog. 

I follow TONS of blogs, but I have 3 or 4 that are my absolute favs, so it's hard to narrow it down to just one. But.....my nomination goes to the ever fabulous Cara at The First Grade Parade. Her ideas are *amazing* and beyond creative. If I'm ever in a teaching slump, I always visit her blog to become inspired and she never lets me down. And I'm not joking when I say that her calendar companion completely changed the way I teach my math and I can tell such a difference in my kids because of it. She's beyond brilliant and that's why I'm nominating her. :)

Okay, so how do you nominate your favorite blog?? Just click the link below and follow the simple directions! :) :) 

http://edublogawards.com/nominations/

Sheep in a Jeep- Teaching Long 'e'

Aren't these cute?? Our phonics skill this week is long e so along with our reading series story (Honey Bees), we read Sheep in a Jeep and found all the long e words- all 32 of them! This is a wonderful story to help teach long e and my kids loved it!

***I've gotten a lot of emails and comments asking how we have time to do all this. I precut everything in order to fit it all in. There's no way we could do it if the kids had to cut all the parts out. It is very time consuming, but the kids love it and I think it brings so much more to the learning process and allows the kids to better understand concepts and skills since they feel more involved in the process. :)

***patterns coming soon!

Some new anchor charts and a CHEAP center idea!

After being sick the week before Thanksgiving week and then being out all last week for Thanksgiving, I'm missing my kids and classroom very much! And to matters worse, I haven't been in a creative mood at all these past two weeks, which would have been the perfect time to make some great centers. But no ideas would come to me....until today. Wouldn't you know? The very last day and I'm finally in the mood to create! haha :) I've made a couple of anchor charts to introduce this week's skills. I also make charts with my kids so they understand them more, but these are just reference charts that I thought I'd share.

This idea is not mine! But isn't it great?? I had this saved on my old computer, so I don't know where the original idea came from. If you know, let me know and I'll credit them :) 

Is she scary?? My mom cannot look at this one without laughing. She says she looks scary. Maybe the hair is a bit much? I tend to go overboard on drawing hair HAHA :)

I'm determined to start poetry! I've been wanting to for the longest, so I'm hoping it goes well.

And now for the cheap center idea. I found these Christmas trays at the Dollar Tree for (of course) $1. I created a label and word cards and made this cute, inexpensive sound sorting center. There's a recording sheet to go along with this activity after they sort the sound. The labels and cards are included in my Christmas center packet, which hopefully will be on TPT later this week.

Close up of the tray with labels

Roll Tide TPT Sale!

In honor of Bama's huge win over Auburn(42-14), I'm throwing a Teachers Pay Teachers Sale. Everything in my store is 20% off. Click here to visit it :)

**Hurry! Sale ends Tuesday!

Roll Tide!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giveaway Winners!

Aren't giveaways fun?? So much fun that I decided to have three winners instead of just one. Here they are!

Melissa and Delighted, I have your emails and I'll send the packets tonight. Ohteach- leave me your email and I'll email you! :)

 I'm working on Christmas Math and Literacy Centers so we'll do another giveaway when I post them! :)

Dinosaur Patterns Freebie, Counting Turkeys, and Ed and Edie!

I have finally uploaded the dinosaurs patterns! Sorry it took a little while! Click the pic to get them. I've uploaded them onto my teachers pay teachers store, but they're free. I've found it's easier to download from TPT instead of Scribd. 

I found this gem of a book today in our classroom library. So wish I would have discovered it last week. It would have been oh so helpful!

If you haven't yet gotten to the Big Circle in Reading Street, be sure and pick this book up! My kids loved it and it would have been wonderful to use at a poetry center during this story. I may even extend our dino study into this week so we can use it :)

Need a quick activity? A handprint turkey is always a hit! We made these while we counted by 5's and 10's.

And lastly, one of our phonics skills this week is ending -ed, so I created Ed and Edie. I made the married couple "ai" and "ay" via the fabulous Abby's blog last year and it helped my kids understand that sound so much better! 

********Don't forget to enter my 1000 followers giveaway! I'll pick the winner tonight, so there's still time to enter!

1000 Followers Giveaway!

Giveaway time! In honor of hitting 1000 followers, I'm giving away the following:

My Thanksgiving Math and Literacy Centers

Christmas Fry Phrases

Christmas Nonsense Words

Here's how to enter:

1 entry: Follow me and leave a comment under this post telling me

1 entry: Follow my Teachers Pay Teachers Store (Click here to follow!) and leave a comment telling me.

1 entry: Blog about this giveaway and of course, leave a comment directing me to the post.

I'll pick the winner tomorrow (Monday) night! :) :)