Favorite Science Books! Science Week!

It is science week over at Teaching Blog Addict! Today, we are sharing our favorite science books! Head on over to link up!! Here is an overview of the week!

I love the Magic School Bus novels! They are easy and fun to read! They also go along great with our science curriculum. 

We learn all about Rocks and Minerals so Rocky Road Trip is one that the kids and I really love!

We also learn about food chains so we also do Food Chain Frenzy!

Here are some other fun read aloud books that I use in my class. They are sorted according to the unit!

I can't wait to share my new, FREE, science unit this week!! Check back on Wednesday especially!!

Western Themed Newsletter

I had a request from Brenda at Quilting Along Life's Way to make a Western themed newsletter template, so here it is! The graphics are from Scrappin' Doodles!

I really enjoy making these, so just let me know if you guys have any more suggestions!! 

On another note, I can't wait for Science Week!! I will finally be releasing my totally free, completely jam packed Rocks and Minerals Unit with printable resources and lesson plans!  Get excited! 

Vowel Bingo

I teach at a school with a very high Hispanic population and so naturally, they struggle in reading and writing. This really made me rethink how I wanted to teach spelling this year because whatever I was doing in years past wasn't working out for my students. 

I have always struggled with how to handle spelling and this year, I decided to go with a much more focused approach each week. I really wanted to devote the first 5 weeks to short and long vowels (CVe). 

For example, the first week, we did words with short a vowels and words with long a vowels that follow the CVe rule. The next week, we focused on short and long i. You get the idea.

As a culminating activity to review the short and long vowels, I created this BINGO game. I am including this here for all you teachers out there who might be able to use it! 

Click the pictures to download. 

Here is the call sheet. 

Pirate Newsletter Template

I posted a Back to School newsletter a few weeks back and I tweaked that one just a little bit to go along with my class theme. For all you pirate themed people out there, here is another freebie! And it's just in time for National Talk Like a Pirate Day tomorrow!

Graphics are from Scrappin' Doodles and Fonts from KevinandAmanda!

Let me know what you guys think!!

I will be happy to make another themed newsletter for you own classroom if you just leave me a comment with information on what you would like in it and your e-mail!

Place Value Review

Most districts begin every math unit with place value. I was visiting Pitner's Potpourri recently and came across this great idea for reviewing Place Value that she called a Place Value Marathon. See her post here. 

I took this idea and created one to meet my classroom needs. My marathon works on place value through the hundred thousands, so this is great for the upper elementary and can be adapted for lower elementary. 

Click on the file to download!