I'll Meet You at The Cornerstone!

Hi everyone!
What can I say about Angela Watson? Well, a lot! My "click count" on Angela's outstanding website, The Cornerstone, could very well have reached into the millions at this point!

Let's examine a few of her credits: Author, Educational Consultant, Professional Developer, Instructional Technology Coach and -my favorite...Educational Content Creator for Brain POP! Need an idea? A freebie? An article to reflect on? Want behavior management systems? Printables? Webinars? You'll find all of that and more at The Cornerstone.  Go ahead, click below.  I may lose you for a while as you blog-stalk, but no worries...I'll be here for you when you get back!


I am very, very excited to have had the opportunity to guest blog for Angela. She is super sweet and very encouraging to work with.  I blogged about an awesome web-based program called edcanvas.  You'll love using this tool in your classroom- the possibilities are endless for both teachers and students. Click on the edcanvas logo below and you'll head back to Angela's blog, but this time you'll see me there, too!

Enter to Win $100 Worth of FREE Teacher Resources!

Hi everyone!
I am so excited that Teachers Notebook's "May Teaching Tips Event" is finally here!  If you haven't heard about this event, let me tell you how it works.

With your ticket to the event, you will get $100 dollars worth of goodies that you can use in your classroom! The topics include Mother's Day, Cinco de Mayo and Memorial Day- all holidays that are all right around the corner!

8 teachers are presenting these products through video presentations as well. So you can get a good peek at just how these resources are used.  Here's the line-up!

I will be giving away my Mother's Day Luau Packet.  This packet is jam-packed with lessons designed to help your students create beautiful writing pieces about their mothers.  They'll learn how to use descriptive adjectives, similes and metaphors to make their writing really shine!  They'll examine the craft of several authors as models for their own writing and they will create decorations that will get your classroom luau-ready!

You can click the link below to go to the site right now:

OR... you can enter to win a FREE pass! The generous people at Teachers Notebook have given each presenter 5 tickets to give away, so enter the Rafflecopter Below!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, everyone!  Looking forward to seeing you at the event!

Holla for a Dolla!

Busy, busy day today! My friend Kaylynn over at A Teacher Without a Class is holding a linky and I am glad to be in! What can you get for $1.00?  For that, you'll have to stop by her blog to see.  There, you will find teachers linked up sharing products and other goodies that they have found that only cost them $1.00. To participate this month, I put one of my items on sale.  Here it is....

I blogged about using this activity with my kids a while back...check it out!

You will find this on sale in both my TPT and Teachers Notebook stores.  Click your choice below :)

Mother's Day English Jubilee Style - The Magical Product Swap!

Hello everyone!

A few months ago, I was blog hopping around and found the lovely Jessica Stanford over at Mrs. Standford's Class Blog.  I had gotten lost in a web of creativity and ideas that all seemed to have something in common: they were all linked back to Jessica's blog! You see, Jessica holds something call The Magical Product Swap, and I knew right away that I wanted to get involved.  This event brings bloggers together to try out each other's products.  What a great way to make some new bloggin' friends, too! Click above to find out more... 

I signed up immediately and looked forward to the day when I would meet my partner :)

When the day finally came, I was super excited!  Not only was I paired up with a spectacular teacher blogger, she happens to be from England!  How cool is that? The thought of us sharing ideas from either side of the pond kinda blew me away! 

So here she is, my new friend...Susanne Powell from SOS Supply!

From the minute I clicked over to her blog, I was already so thankful to be part of the swap.  It's amazing to me that you can spend hours online and never find all of the fantastic teacher-bloggers out there.  I was instantly taken by the amount of resources that Susanne has available!  I knew it would be tricky to narrow down my choice of resource.  However...I soon found myself intent on this very adorable product from Susanne's extensive TPT Store (she has 138 great products in there!)

With Mother's Day a few weeks off, I am just beginning to write my lesson plans for incorporating Susanne's packet into our school day.  I am truly so excited!!

Usually, when I prepare my students for our Mother's Day celebration, I like to cover a wide variety of Literacy Skills.  I was very happy to see that Susanne's packet did that too!  She based her activities around the book, My Mum, by Anthony Brown.  In doing a little bit of research on this book, I found it on Amazon-UK and Amazon-US...Love it! 

My first step will be to have my kids compare and contrast the two covers.  A perfect lead-in to a little geography lesson about England.  Yippeeeeee! Susanne...look at the way you inspired me before even opening up your packet!

Planning for this unit is going to be a snap! This product has everything I need for my ELA Block- who could ask for more than this...

• Word wall words
• My Mum Character Description
• My Mum Fact or Opinion
• My Mum Same and Different
• What Mums and Kids Should Do
• Similes
• Classification
• Acrostics
• Writing Ideas - Letters, Creative Writing, Instructions
• Writing Paper
• Card Craftivity 

...and look at the adorable presentation I have to work with too- I cannot wait to get started! 

  

Often, in my classroom, we have a Luau to celebrate Mother's Day.  I am delighted to have the opportunity to change it up a bit this year! The minute I looked through Susanne's "My Mum" packet, I was grabbed by the thought: "English Tea Party!"  It occurred to me that a tea party for Mother's Day would be a fantastic way to tie all of the activities in her packet together!

When I shared this thought with Susanne, she very generously sent me another product of hers that she thought could help us out in this department.  Here it is...

She thought that the ideas in this packet would inspire us to turn our tea into a Jubilee (and she was right!) What fun we will have celebrating with English Flair!  Just look at what we will be doing!

Susanne provides lots of great background information about what a Jubilee is, so that is of tremendous value to me.  She also provides colorful templates for the menus, bunting and paper chains that will really jazz up our celebration!

Susanne, how fortunate I am to have met you through this swap and how I dream of visiting England some day!  But for now, I thank you for helping me to bring a little taste of England into my classroom- I know my students (and their Mums!) will be absolutely delighted!

 For more information about the lovely Susanne and her fantastic products, be sure to stop by her blog.

SOS Supply.

Clicking one of her cute fairies above will bring you to the page where she blog about my products.

It looks like she brought a little bit of the USA to England, just like I brought England to the USA.

She chose some of  my Thanksgiving products and I am just thrilled to see how she used them with her kids!

Thank you so much Susanne! This was so much fun...all the best to you!

Thank you Jessica, for making this all possible!

Have fun blog hopping through the Magical Product Swap, everyone!

xo,

Teachers Notebook's May Teaching Tips Event

What can I say??

I am super excited and incredibly honored to be part of Teachers Notebook's May Teaching Tips Event! Ryan, Debbie and Steve COULD NOT HAVE BEEN NICER or more supportive during this experience.  I am so happy that I had the opportunity to work with this fantastic team!

Check out all you can get with an $8.00 Early Bird Pass! $100 worth of Free Teacher Resources and video presentations all for you :)

I've just begun my venture into video screen-casting, so this was a great learning experience for me.  At this point, my kids are watching the out-takes (and, oh-there are PLENTY of them) for their own giggles.  In my videos, I will be taking you through my Mother's Day Celebration project!

Mothers and special ladies will feel like they are in paradise after they are honored at your Mother's Day Luau Celebration! 

Before the celebration, use interview sheets and graphic organizers to help your students gather information about their mom/special lady. Help your students to incorporate author's craft such as similes and strong descriptive adjectives to make their writing sparkle! 

Teach them how to use comparisons ("I love you more than peanut butter loves jelly") to really pull on mom's heart strings! 

Guide your students through the writing process as you help them to write a memorable keepsake essay for and about their mother/special lady. 

Tie it all together with fun craftivities including flip-flop invitations, flower leis and totem poles to get your room ready for the Luau!  (Fancy coconut drinks unfortunately not included)

Are you ready for your free copy?  Usually priced at $12.00, it's part of the $100 bundle you'll get for FREE! 

GET YOUR PASS TODAY....Mahalo!   :)

xo

We're Measuring Cats and Dogs!

Me: "We are going to have some fun today in math!"

Highly adorable student: "We always have fun in math!"

Who could NOT love a job that begins like that?

Needless to say, we did have fun!  I love when the "measuring length" unit rolls around in my classroom.  It's always a great opportunity for cooperative learning.  In this day and age of individualized tests, independent work and video games, sometimes I feel that kids need more opportunities to work and collaborate together to problem solve.

They had the opportunity to do just that.  With a little clipart help from the AMAZING Ashley Hughes AKA the SCHOOL SUPPLY ADDICT. Caution...clicking below will get you caught in a web of great ideas and unbelievable cuteness!

        

If you haven't seen her work, it looks a little like this:

      and this...

without those red measuring lines, of course!  I added those.  I was looking for some cuteness that my kids would love to measure, and these dogs and cats were it!  With the clip art, I was able to create this:

...and the kids found themselves in a cooperative measuring frenzy! I'd like to tell you a little about the procedure. You should know that this activity was done after the children had been practicing measuring in inches and centimeters.

1.  I gathered my mathematicians on the carpet into what we call our "sharing square" (around the perimeter).

2. The kids were placed into groups of 3 or 4.  

3.  Laminated clip art and rulers were handed out to each group.

4.  Measuring tasks sheets were reviewed.  WE DID NOT DO THE PROBLEM SOLVING AT THIS POINT- I CHOSE TO SAVE THAT UNTIL THE END OF THE COOPERATIVE MEASURING TASKS.  Take a peek at the sheets below:

5.  The small groups worked together to measure Ashley's clipart in inches and in centimeters.  They recorded their answers in the packet.

6.  After time was up, each group passed their clipart to the group next to them so that every group had new clipart to measure.  The procedure was repeated.

7.  After all of the measurements were recorded, we compared answers. (They did a great job!!)

8. If there were any discrepancies in the measurements among the groups, I modeled the measuring for them as a way of re-measuring the clipart.

9.  The next day, we reviewed problem solving language (key words) before solving the problems at the bottom of the problem solving sheets. 

10.  We began whole group, so I could model and review bar models and addition/subtraction strategies.  Then I gave the kids time to work with their group to solve some problems.  Finally, I set aside some of the problems for them to solve independently.

It was an engaging activity that covered a variety of measurement standards! You can have a little fun with this, too! Grab yours at a store below!

Unthinkable

Everyone says, "Unthinkable."
What scares me is that the unthinkable is becoming what we sadly think about now:
At public events,
during marathons,
in malls,
in movie theaters,
in schools...

I pray for peace and healing.
I pray for a safe world
for your children
and mine
for me
and for you
I pray.

Pages for Mac Video 1

Video 1 is up and ready to view! Click the first image below to bring you to my YouTube Channel:

Creative Publications with Pages for Mac Video Tutorial Series

Hi everyone!
I am about to start up a video tutorial series on how to use Pages (part of iWorks) to make creative publications.  I have ideas to get started, but would love to tailor some videos to suit your needs.  If you are a Pages user (or would like to be), leave me a comment and I will add it to the list!

I've been a Mac instead of a PC for quite a while now.  For the longest time, I had both Pages and Word on my Mac.  With time, I began to see how much more creative my documents were getting as my knowledge of Pages grew.  Eventually, my Word got dated and I just never replaced it.  I use pages as my sole word processing/document creating product.  It's fun and easy to use.

When more than a few friends began asking me how to do particular things with Pages, I thought it might be helpful to create a video tutorial series.  I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Despereaux Chapters 1-19 Freebie Now Available for Facebook Fans!

Good morning! I have decided to give away my Tale of Despereaux reading responses in groups of 5 so that you can have a whole set for the week.  Now, through Facebook, you will be able to access two weeks worth of Despereaux responses.  Here's a peek at what the new responses look like...Enjoy!