Anchor Chart Ideas

I have some anchor charts and things that I have been meaning to share, along with about a million other things, but I finally have some time to breath and blog today. =)

I actually took this picture in my teammie's classroom because her idea was so cute and told her I was going to share it on my blog! She had the students write one word that describes something they learned about each SC region on a sticky note and then she used all of the words to make a wordle! Then, she attached it to the SC region map. GENIUS! And it looks so cute! I decided I am totally doing this as an end of unit activity!

Obviously, we haven't gotten to the last two regions yet!

And here are a few math anchor charts I've made since we have been learning about place value. I think I saw one of the ideas on Pinterest.

My kids just love the Rounding Rap! You can view and listen to it HERE! It's so funny and very catchy! I've caught myself singing it WAY too many times in the last two weeks! I posted about the Rounding Mountain and CUBA method last year and you can view that post HERE for more info! I think the number line is self explanatory, though I have found this way is very confusing for some kids. We (my inclusion teacher and I) taped a number line to the floor and practiced hopping to the the rounded number when we introduced rounding.

I am leaving that last bubble blank for when we begin our addition and subtraction unit next week. I will add an equation in there to represent another way to write a number.

And I saw this fabulous idea on Hope's blog post about real readers! I did the Real vs. Fake reading last year, but I think this way is a much more exciting way to introduce it! You can read all about her fabulous lesson idea HERE! 

I have a sub for the first time this year tomorrow because I am attending the South Carolina Council for Social Studies conference tomorrow and I am pretty excited to learn some new stuff!

In other news, I finally began working on my "Boo in the Zoo: Animal Themed Halloween Unit." 

Here were some of the things I want to include:

* Animal Research (Bats, Owls, Cats, Spiders, and other creepies)

* Spooky and Weird Animal Adaptations

* Habitats Trick or Treat (Students would pretend they were going Trick or Treating in each habitat and draw or write things they would find there to add to their Trick or Treat bag) I know it sounds crazy, but I'm still in the thinking phase! =)

* Bewitching Words (Students would pick and animal and write describing words)

* Monstrous Metaphors & Spooktacular Similes (Animal related of course!)

I would love more suggestions for activities to include!

Fall Sale and some flipcharts!

I'm a little late to the party, but I thought I would throw a little 20% off sale to celebrate the beginning of FALL!!

(Thank You to Traci from Dragonflies in First, for the cute graphic)

It will run in both shops until Tuesday night! 

Also, I uploaded all of my SC Explorers and Native Americans flipcharts to my dropbox for those of you SC teachers out there! Just click the picture to head over and download them all!

I will be back later, HOPEFULLY, with more. I still haven't had time to work on my new unit. =( Bare with me!!

Landform Flipbook

So, I have to vent for a second. I don't EVER post about my personal life, but I am feeling the need for some bloggy friend support. I have been staying at work SUPER late since school has started this year. I didn't leave the building until 6:30 today and 6:45 yesterday and then I come home and I STILL have stuff to do! 

My significant other normally travels every week and is home on the weekends. He just recently stopped traveling a few weeks ago and his next work project is located in our own town so he's been home. It is always kind of an adjustment when he is home all the time because he is a VERY active person and enjoys going out and doing things on a regular basis during the week and I just can't keep up sometimes. I, on the other hand, have been swamped with things for school and so I am often doing work on my computer when he gets home. 

He essentially told me last week that he wasn't happy. It think it mainly comes down to how much time I have been spending doing my work. There are some other things, but this is the major problem. I have been trying REALLY hard to get everything done at school so I don't have to bring anything home, but I just can't seem to get it all done. And to top it all off, I am flippin' exhausted after my BUSY 12 hour day. I have vowed to try harder to do more things with him and around the house instead of coming home and working every day, but I still don't know that I will be able to do this all the time because of everything I need to do and how tired I am from my day. So, I guess I just need your advice...How do you balance it all and have a life?? Seriously...what's your secret?!

Anyway, on to the goods! I posted yesterday about my landforms flipbook we made in class this week! 

Remember, these cute things!? The students finished making theirs today and I totally forgot to take pictures of them!

Click HERE to download your free file! 

Also, I am in the brainstorming phase of my new Halloween unit and Lord knows when I'll be able to sit down and ACTUALLY work on that with everything else going on in my life right now, but just know, IT will happen sometime before mid October! =)  

My idea is "Boo in the Zoo: An Animal Themed Halloween Unit." I want to incorporate ELA, Math, and Science all in one. 

Here are some things I'm thinking:

* Animal Research (Bats, Owls, Cats, Spiders, and other creepies)

* Spooky and Weird Animal Adaptations

* Habitats Trick or Treat (Students would pretend they were going Trick or Treating in each habitat and draw or write things they would find there to add to their Trick or Treat bag) I know it sounds crazy, but I'm still in the thinking phase! =)

* Bewitching Words (Students would pick and animal and write describing words)

* Monstrous Metaphors & Spooktacular Similes (Animal related of course!)

That's all I've got so far! What do you guys think?

Any requests or suggestions of things you would like to see included? I'd love your ideas! 

Landforms Flipbook Activity

This week in Science we have been learning about Earth's Land Features. All week we took notes, learned hand gestures, and watched a video, and then we made a landform flipbook. I have to say, it came out SOOOO cute!! I got the idea from an AIMS lesson and adapted it for the SC landforms. Here is what it looks like completed!

And here it is in action!

You can download it HERE!

Carolina Blogger Meet Up

We had the BEST time Saturday at the Carolina Blogger meet up in Columbia! We met up at California Dreaming and chatted it up for a few hours! It was so great to finally put blog names with faces! HAHA I was like, "Oh, that's Elizabeth from Fun in Room 4B!" These girls were so awesome! I am sad we couldn't spend more time together, but I did stay the night with a few of the girls and it was well worth the trip!

Prepare for blogger meet up picture OVERLOAD!

It was so much fun ya'll!!

Please go check out all of these awesome ladies and their blogs!
 Autumn, Ashley, and Tammy from Fanatical in First Grade
Kim will have a blog coming soon!
Elizabeth from Fun in 4B
Gretchen from Always a Lesson
Hope from 2nd Grade Shenanigans
Dana from 3rd Grade Gridiron
Shasta from The Loop
Heather and Juli from Simple In Second
Amanda from Teaching Maddeness
Amber from Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher
Rachel from The Tattooed Teacher
Elisabeth from Twins, Teaching and Tacos
Rebecca from Landing in K
Natalie from Teachery Tidbits
Lacie from Polka Dots & Pencils

Anyway, I have had kind of rough week in my personal life, so I haven't had the time to devote to my post blog this week, but I am so excited to share my new landform flipbook tomorrow! I forgot to take a picture of it before I left school since I was there until 6:45!!! WHAT!? I know...

Substitute Writing Idea and a Math Game

So, we have to turn in three days of sub plans each year and I have been working on gathering my lessons for my this because it's due Friday! I recalled a blog post I saw earlier this year about where your missing teacher has gone and I was inspired to make my own to cater to upper grades too!

I snagged the idea from Cara Carroll at "First Grade Parade." Click HERE to see her adorable post about her writing activity! I asked if she would mind if I did my own little spin on it and of course she said, yes! But,  she said she saw the idea somewhere on Pinterest! If this was your original idea, please let me know and I will add you to this post!

Anyway, here is my version with both primary and upper grades writing pages! In the first one, students write a few sentences about why they think their teacher is out and draw a picture to go with it!

 Then, I came up with this one all on my own! I was creating the first one and I was inspired to turn it into a newspaper article! Anytime the students can pretend to be someone else, I think it really gets them thinking and their ideas flowing!

Click HERE to download your free copy!

Here are some other great substitute resources!

Rachelle, from What the Teacher Wants has a great download called the Substitute Teacher Survival Kit, which I proudly own! Just click the picture below to go grab yourself a copy!

And I also have this awesome collection of printables from Clutter-Free Classroom! You can get it by clicking on the picture!

Oh, and here is a fun video from class today! We were playing Place Value War! I just love the excitement in the room! Be warned...It's loud!

I hope to post the games from this new unit soon! When I have time to finish them...HAHA!

Classroom Helpers and More Classroom Happenings

It has finally happened. I have caught  the dreaded cold and it only took two weeks of school! I had to miss our tubing trip with friends today because I felt like walking death. The only good thing to come of this is that I was restricted to my couch and computer and forced to do "schoolish" things. 

I finished my classroom ihelpers project that I have been working on for about a month, even though it's only like four pages long! HAHA I made it editable so you all could take it an use it in your classrooms. 

Just visit my either of my shops below to download.

Here is what else has been going on around my room this week!

Download the Boat Afloat and River Map printables by clicking each picture below!

And, I have a few new fonts in my side bar for you to download!

Gingersnap Thick Hand and Gingersnap Print. I also fixed the Gingersnap Handwriting font to make the punctuation flow better with the text. =)

Happy weekend!! I'll just be nursing my cold and willing it to go away by Monday! Ya right...lol

Free Fonts, Egg-speriments, and Shake Breaks!

This chick has been a BUSY BUSY bee!! I have been trying to post for like a week, but just can't seem to find the time!! I have been up to a lot and want to share a few things!

First up, OUR WHOLE SCHOOL (teachers that is) GOT iPADS!! How cool is that!??!! I have been dying to get one and now I don't have to! Each teacher only got one, so I have to get creative with how to use it in the classroom. =) 

I have also been waiting to get one so that I could download the app, iFontmaker, and create my own fonts! Sooo, that's pretty much the first thing I did when I got it...I might have been doing that during one of my planning period at school! SHHHH! Don't tell!!

Anyway, they are all free and can be downloaded right from my sidebar underneath where it says fonts. Here is what they look like!

I have actually added two more since creating the picture above and they are also in my side bar for your downloading pleasure! =)

Click the button below to view my terms of use!

I also used my iPad this week to video our Egg Float Egg-speriment! The kids absolutely loved it! I could only upload 15 minutes of the video so you won't get to see the very end -- it's only 16 minutes so you don't miss much, but this lesson is a great way to introduce the Scientific Method! Check it out below! I know it's kind of long, but it's so neat to see the progression of the lesson from the outside! I might also develop a slight stutter during one part, so please forgive me!! HAHA

UGH!! My arms look so fat in that video! Eek!! lol

And finally, I finished my SHAKE Break file! Remember I told you about this guy??

Well, instead of having a regular ole dance party shake break, I thought it would be TOTALLY awesome to have a Disco Party and turn on the colored disco ball for two minutes while they break it down!! Hopefully, I don't get in trouble for this one...lol

Anyway, here is the complete file! There are 42 Shake Breaks included with directions for each one! P.S. Shake Breaks are just my version of Brain Breaks. 

 I cannot wait to print these bad boys off tomorrow and start using them! I plan on incorporating them with my WBT scoreboard! I will still use the brain breaks as necessary in class, but I have a feeling the students will be begging for more so I think if I link it to the scoreboard, they will totally work their little butts off to earn one! They will try to earn a Shake Break instead of 1 minute of extra recess for the scoreboard game.

You can get this file for $3.50 at either one of shops by clicking below!

And don't forget about the Carolina Blogger Meet Up! Please go visit Hope's FB event to RSVP so we can get an accurate head count! Just click the picture below to head over.