December Currently

Happy December!

Wait... what??

I.Can't.Believe. It. But it sure is exciting!

I hope the rest of you are ready for one of the busiest months of the year. I also hope you are almost done with your Christmas shopping! (I am!)

I am linking up today with Farley for her famous currently link-ups! This is one of my favorites! 

Listening: Once Upon a Time... my new favorite show. This week's episode was AMAZING. I am currently re-watching it with my sisters. 

Loving: I got a lot of wonderful Black Friday deals for my family for Christmas gifts! I can't wait to give them! Did I mention that I did all of my shopping online and did not have to go shopping in all the madness? It was wonderful.

Thinking: No school tomorrow! I have a to-do list! Including getting my last few gifts to complete my Christmas shopping list. Fingers crossed I get it all done! 

Wanting: I mentioned in my last post that I had one assignment to do before the end of the semester. ONE! And it should be done tomorrow. Best. Feeling. Ever.

Needing: I have to make my December Calendars and flash card log. Totally slipped my mind. Oops!!

Giving: This week my store is an additional 20% off. Don't forget to put in the code TPTCYBER at the checkout for additional savings. I have a couple of freebies in my store as well, including my new favorite: What Did the Fox Say? You can check out my store here! 

I have a few goodies in my cart already too!

Don't forget to link up with the other lovely teachers and see what they are up to! 

Have a fantastic week!

Sarah :)

Five for Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am taking full advantage of my break from school to write a post, and of course I am linking up with Doodle Bugs. It has been a busy two weeks! ( I feel like I say this every time I post, BUT it is true every time...I swear!)

Some big things have happened since my last Five for Friday and I am SO excited to share them! 

I am going to start out with the fact that I have only one (that's right you heard me!) assignment left between me and my first semester of Grad school. One. one. One!!!

I can not wait for the break. Hopefully while I am on break I will have more time to blog because lets be honest that is what is slowing me down. Ok, but for real I am so excited. 

My favorite Thanksgiving related craft we did this year was our Teepees! The kids loved these and totally got into it. A couple of the kiddos even wrote stories on their bags using just the picture symbols.  After we finished our craft we watched the movie Spirit. Always a kid favorite.  We also did super cute turkey handprints to give to our families, but I forgot to get a picture of those. They turned out super cute too.  Did I mention that these teepees were super easy also? Just a brown paper bag with a triangle cut out and some twine to tie it together at the top. I will definitely do them again!

I'm gonna take you back in time here, y'all. This is going to happen for two reasons. One, this event happened about two weeks ago and I didn't get to blog about it, and also because well for one whole week we channeled the 1950s. 

The event, you ask? The 50th day of school! Let me tell you, it was the best day of the year so far. 

Here is a picture of me and the three lovely pink ladies that I teach with. They are so much fun!

We started out the day with a sock hop. I made a youtube playlist of songs from Grease, The Beach Boys, and other classic hits. As soon as the announcements were over we were dancin'. We danced so hard my ribs hurt from doing the twist! 

The kids had so much fun and I think they were totally worn out!

In the afternoon, we had Rootbeer floats and Tootsie Rolls and did the limbo. It was a great time!

One of my team members and I purchased Renee Dooly's Nifty Fifties Unit and used that for activities throughout the week. It was such a great find. You can find it here in her store!

I found these huge glasses at Dollar Tree and couple of months ago and finally found something to use them for! ---That sentence would only come out of the mouth of a teacher, am I right? :) I had been doing my sight words a little differently, but I made a change and I think I am totally loving it. I know the kids are. I choose one person every day to first read all the sight words to the class and then lead the class in reading them as well. Of course the whole time they have to be wearing the glasses to improve their eye sight! I am sure that this has been done before and it isn't some huge shocker of an idea, but it is just so fun and we are guaranteed to get at least one big laugh in. Plus, you should see the hands shoot up in the air when I ask for someone to read the sight words now! 

Going to end it today with a reminder of the Cyber Monday Sale on TPT! My store will be on sale and you can shop here! Enjoy the rest of your holiday break!!

Monday Made It: Freebie Edition

Hi all!

It is time for my favorite link up: Monday Made it! 

This post will be kinda short because I'll be honest between conferences, report cards,  Fall party, and Grad school I didn't have to much time to get creative! (Wahhhh.) 

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics anyways, and so here it goes!

Ok, so I had to start with the one I was most excited about! I was inspired by Teaching in the Tongass' new fox clip art last night and just had to make a writing freebie for y'all! My kids still LOVE to dance to "What Does the Fox Say?", so I figured I would let them write and tell me what the fox really does say! I included two writing prompts, one with a speech bubble for more advanced or older kids to write in as well as the lines, and one with just the lines below. But really, how cute is that fox??? 

You can pick up this freebie here in my TpT store. I would love some feedback! :)

Ok, so I might have shared this on the last Monday Made It... I can't remember? It is pretty new as well and a freebie! I use this in my small groups during Daily 5 to help get the kids excited about sounding out words! I either let the kids use counters to put in each circle as they sound out the word, or play-dough to make it a little more fun. I also made one for four letter words! 

You can find that here as well. Enjoy! :)

Ok, so this one does not include a freebie and I am posting it because well, it has taken me a while to get these done and I am just so excited to be moving on to the next part of Daily 5. You might be shocked to read that... as you have probably already introduced all the parts. But, I am a first year Daily 5er and have really taken my time introducing the new parts. I also kind of did my own order for introducing. So far, all is well and I LOVE IT. Let me say that one more time: I LOVE DAILY 5!!!!

It's true. I do. I think it has helped my kids tremendously and the kids LOVE it just as much. Seriously, I get asked all day to do more rounds of Daily 5! I wish I could tell them yes, but I guess we have to do math too! ;)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you picked up the freebies! Have a super week!

Stop by and see me on Instagram! 

Sarah :)

Five for Friday (ok, Saturday!)

Hey everyone!

It has been a while since I have had a chance to blog! October was such a busy month... I am sure you agree.  I feel like I have so many things to share, but once again it is a busy weekend so I just don't have the time to share them all :( 

So I picked my favorites!!! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday! 

This past Monday I got to participate in my first ever Trunk or Treat. I did not have much time to prepare my trunk because of Grad School work (yuck!!), but I think it turned out pretty cute. I also enjoyed my costume! It only cost me 7$ to make and the kids loved it. P.S. how cute are the googly eyes??? 

Since I last blogged we also had our spirit week/Right to Read Week. My co worker and I both dressed up as Super Teacher for Superhero day. But let's be honest...all teachers are super teachers! Spirit week was a blast. I was so busy I did not get to snag many pictures, but we also had an awesome Mustache Mustang day. It was a blast!

My halloween craft! Loved making these with the kids. They did really well with them! As for real spiders, well I hate those!

Friday was my birthday, and I got this sweet little blanket from one of my students! How cute is that?? I was totally spoiled by my class this year. What a great group I have!!

Linking up with Farley for her November Currently! Stop by and check out the other totally awesome blogs!

I have heard a lot about Wonder. Have you read it? I just picked it up last night and am going to try and read it and my new book club book! Picture of my costume is up on my Instagram page. Check us out here!

Monday Made it!

Hey all! 

Linking up here for my favorite linky, Monday Made it! I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics! :)

Here are a few things I have made in the last month that I have wanted to share with you! 

My itty bitty ghost unit! I blogged about this last week, but I am really excited about it! It is a small unit, perfect for squeezing into your busy week. Who doesn't love ghosts?? It has a graphing activity, a writing activity, and a literacy and math center. You can find it here in my TpT store!

I made these new name tags for my kids. They may look simple, but I LOVE them. I am obsessed with the labels I put on them that reminds the kids of their mailbox number and there small group animal.  I also put the name tags  on the tables with packing tape and so far they are sticking so well! I hate, hate, HATE, when my name tags get crinkled and come undone from the table. 

This is my chicken coop! I use this starting the first week of school and introduce it after reading Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein. After we read the book, we talk about raising a quiet hand and listening when other people are sharing a story or talking to us. Anytime talking without raising a hand gets out of control, I take a chicken out of the coop. If they lose more than 3 in one day, they owe me 5 minutes with their heads down at the end of the day. So far this year ( knock on wood), we haven't lost more than 2. 

Have a fantastic week! 

Sarah :)

Five for Friday!

Hey all! 

Once again, I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday! This week I have a couple things to share from my TpT store. I am excited to share them with you, and I have a freebie!!! Who doesn't love those, right?

Fall is so fun and so is my new unit! I named it the Itty Bitty Unit, because if you are like me, there is so much to fit in each week and so little time. This mini unit is perfect for fitting in a theme in a quick and easy way! I included a graphing idea, a writing prompt, and one literacy and math center! You can find it here!

This unit is near and dear to my heart y'all! I am a Halloween baby afterall! 

Ok, so here it is!! The freebie! I use this in small group to practice sounding out CVC words with the kiddos. For each sound, they put on play dough ball in the circle. I have included a mat for CVCe words as well.  If you download and have the time, please leave me some feedback! It would be much appreciated! :)

Alright, so one more thing I have to share with you from my store and I am sharing it because I AM IN LOVE. My kids are doing so awesome with these sheets! I just couldn't believe it. It has only been a week and they have got it down! These pictures are from my Listening Center Comprehension Response Sheets. This week we worked on identify the character in the story. Here are some pictures of the kids work. I love the shark on on the right. What a little artist! 

Ignore the yucky filter from my phone. I forgot to take it off! 

Next week is spirit/Right to Read week. We have a carnival theme for Right to Read week. I am working with one of the teachers on my team to create a totally awesome outfit for SuperHero Day. So excited to share it with you! Stay tuned!

Last but not least, I have hit a pretty big milestone with my blog and I am slowly picking up followers. Thanks so much for reading, sharing your ideas and thoughts, and following along on my adventure. Teaching is not only my job, but my passion! I am so glad that so many others share it too. I have learned of SO many great ideas from other teachers through blogging. 

Thank goodness for technology right?

Stop by the link up and see what the other teachers were up to this week!

Happy Friday! Have a super weekend!

Sarah :)