Oriental Trading... All TREATS and NO Tricks!

I am so excited to share some goodies I recently got from Oriental Trading!  I was thrilled when they offered me a mini-shopping spree to get some fall goodies for school.

As a building principal, I didn't need to get any stuff for a classroom this year... which was kind of a weird feeling!  BUT... I was able to get some amazing goodies to benefit the students in my building.  (And... shhhh... some treats for my staff too!)

Check out my amazing haul!

Did you know Oriental Trading has Halloween costumes?  There are SOOOOOO many and they are super affordable.  I got several costumes to share with kiddos who may not be able to afford a costume of their own.  I know they will be thrilled to have these cute costumes!

I love these simple vests... what a great way to turn an ordinary outfit into a Halloween costume!  We have an indoor recess play room and I plan to make these part of our play room when the holiday is over.  These are perfect for a dramatic play area!

Shhh!  These cute little boxes are treats for my teachers!  I'll fill them with goodies and place in their mailboxes for a Halloween and Thanksgiving surprise!

Last... I got these absolutely ADORBS pumpkin stickers!  I am going to give one to each student in the building for Halloween.  I love the variety and I know the kiddos will get a good chuckle!

Go forth and shop!  Don't miss out on these amazing TREATS (and no tricks!) from Oriental Trading!

Sheet Protectors are a Teacher's Best Friend! {And Other 3rd Grade ELA Stuff!}

What have we been doing in 3rd grade...

We've been working on determining the lesson in a story.  I LOVE putting pages in sheet protectors and having kids use dry erase markers on them.  We read "Little Red Riding Hood" and students filled out a chart with character actions to help them determine the lesson in the story.  We did this in small groups this week and it gave me a good idea on how my kiddos were understanding this skill!

The graphic organizer comes from my leveled RL pack for 3rd grade.  We're also doing this page in our RRJs too!  Want to spice up your reading responses with rigorous CCSS tasks?  Click the pic to check them out for grades 2, 3, 4, and 5!

We also played "Carving Up Nouns" to practice common and proper nouns.  We had SO much fun!  I played with this little friend who could NOT say "common" and "proper"... he kept saying "prommon and cropper".  We chuckled so much!  Did you know this is a FREEBIE in my TpT store???  Click the pic to check it out!

We played my FAVORITE game "Back-to-Back" to practice lesson/moral using this pack from TpT.

This coming week, we'll be starting a unit on character traits.  We'll use this pack... new to TpT today!

Last thing...

Check out this fun new inference activity I have just posted on TpT!  Perfect for a Halloween week lesson!

Also... have you seen my cat?  Here she is... sitting on top of my computer desk and staring at me!  This girl cracks me up!

Common and Proper Noun Freebie!

Just added a new goodie to TpT!

I promise it's a treat and not a trick!

And while you're at it, check out this newly listed product to help your little friends determine the lesson in a text!  It's only $2!

Something New with a Sneak Peek for You!

I've just wrapped up a set of holiday themed homework passes!  Homework passes are a huge motivator and reward for my 3rd graders and I know they will L-O-V-E getting them as surprises with their holiday goodies from me!

The pack is on sale at TpT... click the pic to check it out!

There are 81 different passes for...
*birthdays
*Halloween
*Thanksgiving
*Christmas
*winter
*Valentine's Day
*St. Patrick's Day
*Easter
*and a page of random passes too... just for fun!

...with cute sayings and KPM Doodles' AH-MAZING clipart on every page.  Each page comes in color and black and white to save on the ink!

And... just because I love you... you can click the pic below to get the Halloween passes for free!  Please please drop me a line if you download them... I'll give away a set to one lucky commenter later this weekend!  My blog's been lonely for a few weeks so I'd love to know you're still here!

Singular and Plural Nouns... something free and something new!

Can you tell what my current grammar unit is?

Between today's title and the new fairy tale nouns game I posted about earlier this week, you've probably guessed it... we're learning about NOUNS!

Next week is singular and plural nouns so we'll be going trick-or-treating through the halls, looking for singular and plural nouns!  I'll be putting up 20 noun cards and 4 "TRICK" cards.  Students will roam the halls searching for the nouns.  On their recording sheet, they'll mark an S for the singular noun cards and a P for plural nouns... I'm hoping the "TRICKS" will make them think they've found a word... but as they approach it, they'll see the card says "TRICK" instead of giving a word they need!  Bwa ha ha ha!

I've just added that new activity to TpT!  Just click the pic below for more info!

 Find it on TpT!

We'll also be doing a singular and plural page puzzle.  I *heart* page puzzles.

Here's how they work- I'll be copying the page on colored paper, cutting out the pieces, and putting them in a baggie.  Each group will get one baggie.  On my signal, they'll take out the pieces and try to put them back together by matching up each singular noun with its correct plural version.

Here's the kicker... I have distractors in there to try and trick them.  So, they really have to know how to go between plural and singular versions to get it done correctly.  The first group with the correct completed page puzzle will get something like a Nerd.  Will yours kids do anything for one Nerd or is it just me?

Just click the pic below for the page puzzle... it's an activity best tried rather than explained.  I hope it makes sense!

Spider Poetry Craftivity Freebie!!!!

Happy Tuesday!

We finished the MEAP today and then had a fun afternoon!

We made GACK which was I am thrilled that I lived through!  ;)  And we also learned about spiders and write spider cinquain poems.  Then we made a little spider web... complete with a spider... to display along with our poetry!

Check out what this sweetie did...

And here are some of them hanging across my room...

Enjoy the week!

Wait... I mentioned FREEBIE...

Well, if you click the picture below you can go to Teachers pay Teachers to download a free craftivity packet with the poetry pages and directions for this project!  I think this is a great freebie... enjoy!  I'd love some comment lovin' if you think you'll use it.

Happy Halloween... Quick Project!

**Ok- it's been a busy week.  I scheduled this for Wednesday (or so I thought!) but it never actually published... so keep in mind I wrote it on Wednesday!**

It's conference week, ya'll!  I'm at a lull between conferences and thought I should do a quick post since I won't be back tomorrow or Friday on the ol'blog!

Anywho... we've been taking the MEAP test this week and it's going well.  Yesterday the kiddos needed something fun after the test so we did my favorite favorite fall project.  I don't know why I love this so much, I just *really* do.  It's quick and fun and the kids love it!  And it looks super cool!

Each kid needs a piece of orange and a piece of black paper.  And a bit of yellow if you so desire.

On the orange, they should draw a pumpkin.

Then, cut it out and cut it into strips.  Remind them not to cut a billion strips... as they cut each strip, they glue the strips IN ORDER on the black piece of paper and leave just a *teeny* space between each strip so the black shows through.

Too many strips = too much work!

After the pumpkin is (sort of) re-assembled, they cut around it and leave a teeny bit of black around that too.

You can have them use yellow paper to add jack-o-lantern features and... there you have it!

I have no bulletin board outside of my room so these are taped up oustide of my door.  I LOVE IT!

Tricks and Treats- a Halloween party game!

Hold on to your hats, teacher friends... I'm super psyched about this party game! A parent in my class actually described this game to me... I'm not sure if she dreamed it up or what... but now it is a reality!

I can't WAIT to have my kiddos play this at our Halloween party! I think it would be great for a math workstation too!

Enjoy! I'd love you to leave me a "treat" in my comments if you think you'll be able to use this game!

Next Week's "TRICK OR TREAT"!

I just wanted to give you a sneak peek of my "Trick or Treat" freebie I'll be sharing as an author of "Me and My Gang" starting next Monday...

It's a 6 page booklet for your kiddos to use to make observations about a pumpkin!

Keep posted for next Monday... if you use the link above, you will be directed to TONS of great freebies!