March Song

So the HUGE blizzard that was supposed to hit – yeah, never did.  Nothing. Not even one snowflake.  So off to school I went for Wacky Wednesday.  We had a super fun day though! Tomorrow is Wacky Hat day!

Here is the March song for you!

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I would love a little note if you snag it :)  Let me know if your kids like it too!

I forgot What I was Going to Say…

Literally. I forgot.  I can’t remember what I was going to post about! Shoot.  Maybe my brain is focusing on the fact that there might be a slight possibility of a _ _ _ _ day tomorrow.  Can’t say the word though because that would jinx it. They’re forecasting up to a foot of that white stuff, people.  ugh.

But, anyways – have you loaded up your shopping cart at TpT yet?  What ‘cha got in it?  There’s a big sale tomorrow – it only comes once every 4 years! *wink*

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I’ll have everything in my store 20% off too. Just click on the picture above to take you there.

(Make sure you add that Promo code in – for a 28% total discount!)

Leave a comment below and let me know what’s on your wish list!

PS.  I’m ALMOST finished with the March song. I just need to sing it a couple hundred more times to make sure it sounds right!

Seuss Week!

Here’s what is in my math and literacy center drawers for Seuss week!

Math Centers:

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We’re still practicing with combining two numbers to find the sum.

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Here the children will spin the spinner and fill in the missing number.

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Here the children will practice subtraction.IMG_2888

The children will practice counting coins by 1s, 5s, and 10s.

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And counting teen numbers, filling in 10 frames, and tallying! Phew! big job at this center!

Literacy Centers:

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I decided to use my Lakeshore blend manipulatives with this center instead of rolling the dice.

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Here the children will pull a picture out of a pocket and write the word and a word that rhymes with it.  I hadn’t finished the pockets while I was at school, but here’s a picture of them!IMG_2896

When you make them, it really isn’t necessary to glue them, but it helps.  Just make sure when you cut them out of the lamination you leave a bit of plastic around the edges.  I actually laminated mine twice for “safety.”  I’m sure I’ll still end up taping the ends because we all know some little ones are not gentle with our supplies Smile

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At this center, the kids will roll an onset dice and a rhyme dice to make a real or nonsense word.

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Here the children are sorting short e word family words.IMG_2895

And last, but not least, an old favorite! Reading, stamping and writing sight words.

Here’s our plan for this week:

Tuesday – Silly Socks Day

Wednesday – Wacky Wednesday

Thursday – Crazy hat day

Friday – RED Day* and Green Eggs and Ham!

*This is a special even that we hold every month or so at our school, this time it falls on Dr. Seuss’s birthday! We are having a storyteller come into to “storytell” to all the students and then parents are invited back to the classroom to read with their kiddos! The children LOVE it, and it’s a great way to promote reading.  We give away lots of prizes too!  Everyone wears red that day, so I figured it would be a great day to make some “thing 1 and thing 2” hats as well. 

Our reading specialists have also made a very special reading room that we can take our kiddos to throughout the week and there are stop, flop and read stations throughout the hallways.  I’ll snap some pics this week and show them to you!

We’re still finishing up our American symbols studies – I’ll try to be back later in the week with some more pictures.

Happy Seuss week!

Do you have anything special planned?

American Symbols

My first day back was a great success! The kids were so excited to have me back – I was feeling pretty special :) 

We started our unit on American Symbols unit this week.  I made this little freebie game for you all {and me!} to review/introduce American Symbols.  I have a map of snowy (yes, it snowed today) ND, but left a blank page so you could add your own map if you would like! Click on the picture to download!

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Don’t forget to stop over to What The Teacher Wants and get entered for a Seusstastic giveaway! Click below!

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I’m back and President’s

Thursday was my first day back at school, although I wasn’t back “officially.”  We had our spring goal setting conferences, and I wanted to be there for those – no fun having to make up so many conferences.  It was super fun seeing my kiddos on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon, although, I will admit, I am EXHAUSTED! 

My sweet sub and my kiddos made this for me:

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That totally made me smile when I came down the hallway.  I am very excited to be back with them on Monday, I just hope I can remember how to do it all! It feels like I have first day of school jitters!  I’ve never been gone from school for so long – my babies were either born when I was not teaching or on summer break (LUCKY!). 

Coming back from being gone so long, I have to admit, is just as much work as planning to be gone!  I spent a couple of hours after our conferences on Friday afternoon trying to put away center activities, file papers, and just clean up.  I’m still not done.  Sadly, I’m going to have to go back to school tomorrow to clean up the bigger mess that I made!!

But, I did get my centers in the drawers for next week.  Here’s what is on the agenda for President’s Week:

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Alphabet sequencing

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More blends practice

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CVC Words

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Sight Words – oops wrong cards in there!  This is a write the room activity, and I must have prepped an extra center that I don’t need!

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Addition

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Counting and ten frames

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Subtraction

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Sequencing and counting by 10s

It’s a short week for us this week, we do have school on President’s Day, but we have half a day on Thursday and no school on Friday for staff PD, so I only have 4 of each center planned. If you’re interested in this unit, you can find it {here}.  I also have some items that I posted last year for President’s day – you can find those {here}. I’ll be back later in the week with the other activities I am planning on. (PS – when you go to last year’s post, just click on the picture, there is no preview within google docs, so just click on the “download” button.)

Asher’s Basket

Last October, I posted about a very special little boy named Asher.  He is a four year old who is living with Cystic Fibrosis.  I went to high school with his parents, and although I have never been able to meet him and give him a great big hug, he has certainly made an impact on my life.  You can read that post {here}.

I put a call out to fellow teachers and bloggers for donations for their upcoming auction to raise money for cystic fibrosis in Arizona.  Here is the result:

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This AMAZING gift basket is full of resources any teacher would love!  In total, there are close to 300 (yes, 300!) units on the CD’s, a totally cool phonics flip chart, notepads, post-it notes, flair pens, welcome cards, and handmade beaded lanyards for your ID!

I want to send a special shout-out to the generous people that donated items for this basket:

Steven and Katie @

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Cara Carroll @

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Abby Mullins @

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Rachelle Smith @

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Kim Adsit @

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Katie Mense @

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Deedee Wills @

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Traci Plante 

Amy Patte 

and me :)

I know this wonderful basket will bring a huge donation for Cystic Fibrosis research.  If you have an extra minute too, stop by Team Asher’s Facebook page and click that “like” button.  Take a second and look through the adorable pictures of Asher!

Here’s the info about the auction. (If you’re in the area, I know Rachel and Jeremy would love to have you stop by!)

teamASHER Silent Auction

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH, 2012 4:00PM-6:00PM
CONFERENCE CENTER @ REDEMPTION CHURCH - GILBERT
1820 W ELLIOT RD GILBERT AZ 85233

CHECK OUT THE AWESOME LIST OF DONATIONS WE’VE RECEIVED SO FAR (this list is continually being updated, be sure to check back!)

2012 teamASHER Auction Master List

DETAILS…

  • OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - FAMILY FRIENDLY EVENT (we’ll have bounce houses!)
  • BRIO TUSCAN GRILLE IS PROVIDING FOOD FOR ALL ATTENDEES
  • WE’RE STILL COLLECTING DONATIONS!  PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU’D LIKE TO DONATE, AND WE’LL SEND YOU A FORM YOU CAN COMPLETE TO RECEIVE A TAX CREDIT (rachelolimb@gmail.com)

EVENT TIMELINE: 

  • DOORS OPEN AND BIDDING BEGINS (4:00)
  • SIGN-IN AS YOU ENTER THE CONFERENCE CENTER DOORS
  • HEAR FROM JEREMY OLIMB (Asher’s Daddy) ABOUT CYSTIC FIBROSIS AND WATCH A VIDEO ABOUT WHY WE WON’T STOP FIGHTING FOR A CURE (5:00)
  • RAFFLE PRIZES AND 50/50 WINNER ANNOUNCED (5:15)
  • BIDDING CLOSES (5:45)
  • CHECK OUT

teamASHER on Facebook / Twitter

Find your Partner

Did you watch Fran Kramer’s presentation at the Virtual Teaching Expo?  She had a fantastic idea called “Find Your Partner” – it’s so simple, but so fun for the kiddos.  I can not wait to get back to school to try it out!  You can do it with all sorts of skills.

All that you need to do is print out these cards and add a little popsicle stick for a handle.  You don’t have to do that part, but I think it makes it SO much more fun!  Pass out the cards to your kiddos and direct them to “find their partner!”

I made a little community helper set for you to use with teen numbers and 10 frames (plus 9 and 10 to round it out!)  Let me know how it goes with your kiddos.

Thanks Fran, for the great idea!

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Love the comments, keep ‘em coming!

Community Helpers Bubble Maps

Here are some bubble maps to use when you are learning about community helpers with your kiddos.  You can make them into a book or just them individually.  After you have brainstormed what a community helper does, the children can write a sentence about one thing that helper does.

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Happy Monday!

Valentine Complete Set Update

I have just added my newest Valentine pack to my Valentine Complete Set pack. If you have already purchased that pack, PLEASE go and re-download!

Who Are the People in your Neighborhood?

I am going to admit that when this song came on, I could sing it word.for.word.  I love Sesame Street.

For those of you that do community helpers as a theme, here are some math and literacy centers for you!  I’ll TRY to post more throughout the week as I finish them!

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You know I would love a little note if you download these Smile I love reading all of your comments!!  Tell me what you do to teach kids about the people in our community!

Lovin’ to Learn!

Valentine’s day is right around the corner! I’m so sad that I don’t get to be at school for VDay – it’s one of my favorite times of year! I do a lot with friendship and how to be a good friend – about this time of the year, we NEED it! We’ve been lucky with the winter this year, but often, we have spent the whole month of January inside and the kiddles start to really get on each others nerves!  I’ll post more freebies soon, because I love you all so much, and you make me so happy with your kind comments – they really do make my day!  Here are a couple to start off with:

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I uploaded my new Valentine pack last night if you are interested.  It’s FULL of fun lovey dovey activities.  22 in all! Wowza!

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Have a great weekend!!