Boo in the Zoo Halloween Unit and Habitat Posters

I have FINALLY finished my Halloween themed animal unit: Boo in the Zoo!! I can't wait to use some of this cuteness at school with my students! Yes, I just called my stuff cute...Don't hate!

You can get them at either of my shops by click the store buttons below!

And because I knew many people would want the habitat posters instead of the whole Halloween unit, I have separated the Habitat Posters and descriptions into another file. =) 

You can get those by click the store buttons below!

I wanted to share some funny writing that my students did while I was at the South Carolina Social Studies conference a while back! They had to write about what they think happened to their teacher! 

That just cracks me up!! HAHA It was kind of true...

I mean, REALLY!?? lol I hope he doesn't think that because I LOOK pregnant! HAHA

Man, I am exhausted after this week! We did our annual region cookies!

P.S. I Love that kid! He's so stinkin' cute!

We also did our first book buddies with a kindergarten class! It was sooooo cute seeing my kids read to those little ones!

How sweet are they!?

And finally, people were asking me about where I got my dice containers pictured below...

I found them at Publix oddly enough! 

Oh, and the first person to comment with my favorite COLLEGE football team will both of my new products. =) Annnnnd go!

Properties of Addition Foldable

I feel like a BAD blogger! I have just been so busy and then trying to work on my new unit on top of school and life! Here is a preview of my progress! I only have the animal research part complete so far, but I hope to more time tomorrow to work on it!

In other news, my friend Jeannie just started a new blog called The 2nd Grade Surprise and so she is having a giveaway to celebrate her newness! I'd love for you to go check her out and follow her! =) 

Click HERE to enter her giveaway!

And finally, we began our addition and subtraction unit this week so I made this foldable to help teach the properties of addition!  Just click the picture to download!

Just print the pages separately and place the first one on top and staple them together. Just cut along the lines where you see scissors! I always use this great flipchart from promethean planet to accompany the lesson! Click HERE to head over and download it free!

And as for a spur of the moment math game, I purchased some dice containers similar to this earlier this year (I keep forgetting to post them!) and just decided to make up a new game! 

(Note this picture is from Liz's Speech Therapy Ideas)

I called it Shake It Up to 20 Addition! Put students with a partner. Then, they shake twice and set it down on the table. The first student to call out the math fact gives theirself a point. The first to reach 20 wins! Nothing all that new. I just used the containers for fun and to cut down on flying dice! 

Tomorrow is HUMPDAY! Woo hoo!! It's gonna be a crazy day tomorrow! I can't share why yet. Check back later for news!!! 

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!