Look What Came Today and a Fun Linky!

A few months ago I had four tables funded on Donor's Choose and they finally arrived!!!

So, here what it looks like from behind my table now... (don't mind the cans!  We're having a food drive!)

And here's the view from the door.

I love them!  My kiddos were so excited too!  Now what are my little hoarders going to do without a desk to shove things in?  You would not believe the things I found in some desks today... or maybe you would.

Which leads me to my linky party...

 
When I was a 1st year teacher, I had a little friend who had a passion.  And this friend found a way to turn every assignment into something about his passion.  Poems about it.  Math story problems, research projects, every drawing and painting... EVERYTHING.  Which is good, right?  Unless the passion is a squid.

And now you can see where I'm going with this story.

Yes, friends, in the spring of 2007, we finally, after months of putting it off because this gal hates doing it, finally my first little crew of 2nd grade friends got to clean out their desks.

So, I guess I was asking for it by making a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds go for months on end without cleaning out their desks.

We began the horrible task when, suddenly, said friend pulled a styrofoam meat tray wrapped in cellophane from his desk.  Oh the excitement!  The dead squid he had gotten from the store and showed for show-and-tell several months before... finally found and recovered from the depths of that desk.

Of course, he had to pull back the cellophane to see his beloved friend and... well, yeah.  Gross!

You would think I would have learned a lesson.  But I hate cleaning out desks!  The year after that- a starfish stunk up a desk for a few weeks before it was recovered and taken home and today... ugh.

Glad I have tables now!

So, please share!  What's the craziest thing you've found in a student's desk?  Can you top a squid?  Grab the button, link up and tell me!  :)

Wednesday in Pictures... Come and See! And a Big Ol' Have You Seen THIS?

That is what we did today... used the thesauruses we got from Donor's Choose to do a synonym search!  It was so much fun... and I loved listening to the conversations as students looked up words and used their new reference tools!

And on to CHRISTMAS!

The stockings are hung on the closet door with care...

I've been doing these "stockings" for several years now.  Students decorate a stocking with their name on it and glue it to a paper bag.  I ask families to donate enough small items for each kid to get one and then we open these at our Christmas party!  It's always a hit!  Click HERE to download the note I send home.  You'll have to download it and open it in WORD to make changes... and if you don't have my fonts, it might not look as pretty... but there it is!

And... here's my room!

I had to leave the lights on... it was too dark with them off.  But... can you see my white lights strung across the room?

My mom made me this tree when I was still an undergrad.  It used to live in my bedroom... but it's decorated my classroom at Christmas for the last 7 years!

And here's my classroom tree full of ornaments I've gotten over the years and the ornaments I have for my kiddos!  I give my kiddos personalized ornaments every year.

This year, I found these cute clay creations at Big Lots!  I added the names and... ta-da!

And now for the big ol' have you seen THIS?!

Last year, I put together a collaborative book about classroom Christmas parties!  It's full of ideas for snacks, games, and fun.  I'd love for you to download it and check it out.  The cover looks horrible when you open it in Google Docs... but if you download it, it looks great!

Do you have something you'd like to contribute?  I'll add any new comments to the book at the end of the weekend!

That's all for today friends!

Author's Purpose- a Not Mine Freebie and Musings from a Clever Kiddo!

Last week we learned about Author's Purpose, which is one of my favorite strategies to teach about... besides inference, which is this week!

I found these awesome free Author's Purpose task cards and we played lots of "Back to Back"... my favorite way to teach and have fun at the same time!  I didn't make the Author's Purpose cards- Cathy Evans did... click the picture below to find them!

Then my students paired up and were assigned one of the Author's Purpose cards.  They had to read the card and complete this graphic organizer that is part of my "Common Core Graphic Organizers for Big Kids" pack.

I was so impressed with how well they did citing examples from the cards!

Check them out!

This one just cracked me up...

Can you read that?  You're right, little friend.  It probably IS just a rip off!  :)

So, that's it!  We had a ton of fun and understand Author's Purpose so much better!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to post some pics of my classroom... all decked out for Christmas!!!!!

I've Got the Football Blues... Flash Sale!

After a well fought game today my team lost!  I'm a big ol' Lions fan and I love them so much... but sometimes I want to go back to that time in my life where I didn't give a hoot about football... I hate when they lose!!!!!

So, I'm going to have some online retail therapy and thought I'd offer you some too!

My Teacher's Notebook shop is on sale for 30% off until midnight!  If you're looking for some fun Christmas activities, this is a good time to get them... so sad for the Lions, but happy if you can take advantage of the sale!  You can click the pic to head over and see if there's anything you'd like!

I wish my little #9 Matt Stafford didn't look so happy in this graphic!

Hoping to be back Tuesday with some Author's Purpose pics!

To Make a Long Story Short...

To make a long story short, if you bought my Christmas Around the World Powerpoints within the last 24 hours and had "SAMPLE" on your Mexico ones... I'M SO SORRY!

Yesterday someone asked for a sample of the Mexico Powerpoints and so I sent it to her with the word "SAMPLE" on each slide.  Then I made some updates to the Brazil and the Japan Powerpoints and re-uploaded the pack to Teachers pay Teachers.

I didn't realize that I saved the Mexico file with the word SAMPLE on it and it was re-uploaded with the rest.  So... you should re-download the pack.

Please know that I was not trying to scam anyone or anything like that... I got a few heated e-mails about it and I was not trying to take advantage of anyone... it was an honest mistake!

I was out of town with my girlfriends all day and thank goodness for my best blog friend forever, Patty, over at 2nd in Line!  I called her in a panic and she deactivated the products for me for today so no one else would download them and think bad things about me!  You're the best Patty!

So, sorry friends!  I hope you'll forgive me!

Party Time... Christmas Game FREEBIE!

First- I have to thank you all for your awesome support during the big Teachers pay Teachers sale these past two days.  Even if you didn't buy a thing from me (shame on you!... just kidding!), thanks for spreading the word, blogging about the sale yourself, and reading my blog posts about it.

My best sellers were Christmas Around the World Powerpoints and the PPT/Flippy Book bundle, my Partner Reading Party, Graphic Organizers for Big Kids, and Comprehension Flippy Books!  All that stuff is still on sale for 20% off until the end of the night.

TpT has been a huge blessing in my life this year as hubby and I are working to eliminate debt so we can start the process of our goal to adopt a baby next year (hopefully next year)!

Anywho, I just wanted to thank you for your support by sharing with you a free Christmas party game.  You can download it for free at my TpT store by clicking the picture below.  Enjoy and thanks for all you do to make this little blog special!  If you like it, I'd love to know about it!  Spread some love through comments, pins, and feedback!

Head to TBA to see more FREEBIES!

 

 

Naked Santa Winner and MORE Naked Santa!

I just did the super-official-ask-the-hubby-to-choose-a-number-thing and he chose 45... so the winner of my "Suit up, Santa" contractions pack is Ms. La Croix!

I'm having WAY too much fun with this graphics set and have made two more packs- one for possessive nouns:

Find it on TpT (where you can still get it for 30% off until midnight tonight!!!)

The possessive noun pack connects with 3rd grade Common Core ELA Standard L.3.2- form and use possessive nouns. 

Today I made one for arrays after I heard my kiddos will be starting multiplication soon I thought this would be a good review for us to do the week before Christmas.  This one connects with 2nd grade Common Core Math Standard 2.OA.4 and 3rd grade 3.OA.3.

So, here it is!

TpT- 30% off until midnight!

I know I should move on and do something else, but I'm feeling very 2nd grade about *almost* naked Santa!  I know my students are going to die laughing... and bet my 2nds would have loved it even more!

In case you didn't hear... because you don't live on your computer like I do... the TpT sale ends TONIGHT at midnight!  Most sellers have 20% off their shops and TpT is giving another 10% if you use the code CMT12 at checkout... and, if you leave your feedback and gain credits, you can get even MORE money off your purchase!  I got $10 off yesterday just in my credits!

My shop will remain at 20% off tomorrow yet for any last minute shoppers... but the extra 10% code ends tonight at midnight!

Naked Santa?! The Dreaded ERROR... and a MATH freebie!

That's right.  Naked.

As a former 2nd grade teacher, I know that is SURE to get your kids' attention!

I just added "Suit up, Santa" to my shops last night and will be using it as a review for my 3rd graders in December but it is specifically designed for 2nd grade language standard L.2.2c Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.

You can win a copy!  All you have to do is leave your e-mail if you'd like one!  I'll choose a random winner tomorrow with my super official and technical system which I like to call "Hey Hubby!  Choose a number!".

If you just can't wait, it's on sale at TpT and TN.

The DREADED ERROR...

If you downloaded my Christmas Around the World flippy books, please log back in to your dashboard at TpT or TN and redownload it.  The BRAZIL flippy book had an error.  It is fixed now, thanks to the world's greatest husband... sorry!!!!!

Now for a super cool math freebie!

On Thanksgiving, my mom brought over holiday crackers.

You know- this kind of a thing...

Pull it and *pop* out flies goodies!

We got the typical jokes and paper headbands... my dad got an "awesome" ring toss game... but my hubby truly hit the jackpot... at least in the eyes of this gal who is always finding ways to "do school".

He got some cards that, with a little bit of mental math, can help you "read someone's mind".

And I KNEW my 3rd graders would go NUTS for this!

So... here they are.  And here's how it works...

Pick any number.

Go ahead.

Write it down.

Now, find all of the cards that have your number on them (including the card you picked the number from) and add up the first number on the cards that DO have your number.

Was the answer you got from the addition your mystery number?

AWESOME!

Love that mental math!

Click the picture to download the file!

I think this is great mental math that kids will want to do over and over because it's just too dang cool!

I'm off to splurge at TpT!  Happy shopping (and SAVINGS) to you too!

Check out last week's post to see my favorite items and a linky you can get shopping ideas at too!

Concrete and Abstract Nouns and a LINKY Party!

Shhh... don't tell anyone!  This is my 2nd post today... but I wanted to jump on this linky party... Yikes!

What a HARD concept!  I've been slowly slipping this into general conversation about nouns in my classroom and am finally ready to teach about it... I just made a new product to help my students practice this hard skill.

The new pack has over 30 pages with three different activities- an individual sorting activity, a SCOOT or read the room or hallway scavenger hunt activity, and a small group game- all designed to help students become familiar with concrete and abstract nouns!

You can check it out here... where you can get it for less than $3.00 after the sale at my shop and TpT's extra % off.  The TpT sale isn't until tomorrow, but I have started mine a day early!!!

Find it on TpT or Teacher's Notebook

Last today... who doesn't love a good linky party?!  And with all the GREAT sales going on at TpT today, I'm linking up with Shuna at Pocket Full of Kinders to show you some of the items on my TpT wishlist!

GRAPHICS is the name of the game with my right now and I've just discovered Pink Cat Studio and am in LOVE!

I've got several of her items on my wishlist and, soon, in my possession!

Christmas and Winter Quilt Squares

 

and

Phonics Graphics

I also can't wait to buy this...

Zombie Pet persuasive writing pack!  I know my kiddos will love it!

What are you buying?  You should link up and share what's in your cart!  Also, don't forget to leave feedback on items to earn credits towards FREE items!!!!

PS- Happy 35th Anniversary tomorrow to my parents!  I love you both!

Blank Comic Freebie & Sales Everywhere!

Earlier this week I made and posted a new product and I want to share four pages of it with you!

I made a huge pack of blank comics that you can use to assess and assign on whatever you want... students just have to figure out a way to cater the dialog to meet your expectations!

We did one last week with a turkey and students had to include 1 possessive noun.  They got to add their own other character (which they loved) and then design the backgrounds and add their own dialog... which could be anything as long as it had a possessive noun!

I got some super thoughtful and clever things... and I got to see who understood possessive nouns and who didn't!

So, just click the picture below to head over and get your "Winter Sports" blank comics!  I'd love to hear your ideas on how you could use them... the possibilities are really endless!

Grab it on TpT

or on Teacher's Notebook

The whole pack is on sale for $1 off at my TpT store and will them be 20% off PLUS an additional 10% off during the TpT Cyber Monday plus Tuesday sale starting tomorrow!!!!!

There are tons of sales in the works for this weekend (what's left of it anyway!) and then tomorrow & Tuesday.  Right now, everything in my TN shop is 20% off plus 10% more that TN is offering... then TpT tomorrow and Tuesday!  I'm off to browse right now and start adding stuff to my cart!

Check back tomorrow or Tuesday... we did those "crackers" at my house on Thanksgiving- you know the toilet paper roll looking things with stuff inside... and my husband's had this really neat math thing inside that I'm going to make bigger and share.  It's super cool!