What Pet Should I Get - Writing Activity

So, yesterday I got a new book in the mail...I know, SHOCKER!

But as soon as I saw Dr. Seuss' new book, {What Pet Should I Get?} I just had to have it. 


Don't mind her hair - beach hair, don't care mentality goin' on in our house - ha!

So first I read the book to her and she was saying that she wanted ALL the animals. I mean, of course she does, right? Even the Yents and all the fun ones!

But then I pulled out the Pet Folder, Sight Words Folder, and printed out a writing page from my {Fun Themes Writing with Rubrics and More pack}

She sat down and started drawing.... a turtle?  Um. Ok. I get it. I love turtles too, but I totally thought she was going to write about something else. Ok.

And of course my little ar-teest didn't fail to amaze me and her drawing skills.

she used the Sight Words folder to help her spell "I" and "a" haha...that always makes me laugh. And she sounded out "want" as "wt" - hey, she heard the initial and final sound - I'm good with that! That's a hard word. It's not even in the first 100 Fry Words.



And then she started adding some details to her picture.  I just love that she loves to draw and color!




 I just love this book! It will become a staple in my room every year, for sure!

And just look at that writing...and she's going into Kindergarten this year! I'm pretty impressed.


And she's pretty proud of herself too!  



This was included in my {Fun Theme}, but I also have a {Back to School} and {Fall Theme} so far - or yo can get the {Bundle} and save!

Here's everything that's included in my Writing with Rubrics Packs:












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Kagan Desk Labels {Freebies}

Do any of you use Kagan strategies in your room??  It's all about cooperative learning - team work and partners and building a classroom family, if you will. One of my favorite things that I took away from Kagan is the desk assignments... He makes a mat, but I found the mat to be just in the way and got beat up...so I made little labels that I tape to the desks.  





I used to have desk pockets taped to all the desks....

(The desk pockets are part of my classroom decor packs! This one is in the Blue & Green Chevron pack)

Inside their desk pocket is their behavior card (which is blank because school had not started yet. But you can read about how I do my behavior cards at THIS post. But WAIT until after you read the rest of this post before leaving...or make sure you come back! lol). 

I also put in their team job cards into the pocket. I copy off each team onto a different color. I have up to 5 jobs per team, but I try to only have 4 people to a group (it's a Kagan training reason), so I usually don't use the materials job and just have my team leaders do that one. Some of the ideas are from the Kagan strategies - what they say to use for jobs, but I changed a few to "match" my room better.

If you want them, click the pick below to snag them for free.



But now, at this school, we all have to use the clip chart dealy-bob...so I have the personal ones from Rachel...which you see sticking up behind my name tags.

By the way, I made those name tags and you can download them for FREE in {THIS} post!


So now I don't really need the pockets on my desk anymore, because I can just make all my 1s the Team Leader for the day/week and all my 2s for Material people for the day/week.  I have the labels taped to the desks, going around so that they go in a circle.... here's a better "bird's eye view" of what I mean.


Now, with Kagan, your supposed to have groups of 4. And in my perfect world, I would LOVE to have only 16 kids for the WHOLE. ENTIRE. YEAR.

4 groups of 4. 
An even number.
Be still my heart.

But, alas, that doesn't always happen...

So this is what we do when we have odd numbers...or can't make another group of 4.

The A and B on the labels is for partner working.... the shoulder partner and face partner will always be opposite, one will always be A and one will always be B. So when you are working together on something, you can say "Partner A will start and then partner B," or vice versa. I like to mix it up.

The C people!? Well, hopefully, you have 2 C people and they can then always partner up. If not, no worries! Because you KNOW you always have someone absent...so my 1 C person is my floater. They don't mind. They like it. They get to move around. And they love that!




The training that we had said that they would rather us have 2 groups of 3, than a group of 6, because a group of 6 is too many for small group cooperation. I get it. I like it.



So I decided instead of using the square mat, I made my own cute little labels to go on their desks. And I made them in group colors, so I can call the "red" group down to the floor, and then the "blue" group. I don't have remember who is in it. I don't need to remember who is team captain either because I can just say "1s, please come get the papers" or "3s, please go the get the offices." 

It's brilliant. I don't need to remember who is where, and I like it that way!






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Keeping Track of the Days with Ten Frames

I finally finished my How Many Days board! 



I started with just the White and Black version... but after I got it up, I decided I didn't really like that. I'm a colorful person. I need it show. haha!

I even asked on my IG  and it was a unanimous decision... add color! 


So I came home and started tinkering with my cameo.  And this is what I came up with! 


If you have a cameo, it was super simple!

I just typed in the words - I used KG Blank Space Solid, but do whatever works for you.


I clicked on the offset button...and it made the "shadow" for the words...


I saved them as separate projects so I can go back in when I need to and then cut them out!

Now, I didn't HAVE to use my cameo. If you notice on the first picture, I had them printed out in black and cut them out so they had a white border...I could have just printed them on color paper and it would have the same effect....affect?? I don't know. I hate that word.

In my How Many Days pack, there are 3 different title versions you can choose to print...

So I went back the next day and added a black background with some lime green border and my colored title! I like it MUCH better.





I added some magnet tape to the back of the ten frames because I like to take them off and talk about them from time to time.



And I like to use Sticky Tack to put the counters on.  You can see the different counters I've put on so far.  There are a few versions for each month, so you can change it up or keep it the same for the whole month, up to you!


I also chose to use the ten frames that DON'T have the numbers on the ends so that we can practice counting and adding the ten frames up as we go!







There are a few different options of titles to use - print them in color!! Add some color to your life! haha!

There are also "counters" for the whole year and 2 different size ten frames to use whatever fits your space. I don't have a lot of space, so I use the "3 on a page" version. haha!

There are also some ten frames to print up for a classroom resource.



Check it out {HERE}




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Get to Know Me!

I'm joining in on the fun linky that one of my favorite blogging friends (whose a real life friend now!) is having - called AssessME.

So here's a fun little questionaire about myself.


so....

talking to myself..I do it ALL.THE.TIME.  Maybe it's because I like to talk things out so the make sense... or maybe it's because I'm the only person that listens to what I say?! ha!

Let's talk about hungry. I am always  hungry. Thankfully, I have learned how to eat healthy, so I get to actually eat more and it's what I'm supposed to do - haha! #winwin

Ahh - the television. It's always on. It is more in the summer than during the school year. Only because I like to have my favorite shows on in the background.... Law & Order SVU, Blue Bloods, Beauty and the Beast (my new favorite!), but once school starts, I only really get to watch/listen to it after the kids go to bed and I've worked out.

Showering. This is bad... but I don't actually remember the last time I showered...it's been a few days. But I do remember thinking that day..  you know what!? I just showered and now i'm in the pool. What a WASTE of shampoo and conditioner! haaha! The products I use aren't cheapy brands you can get at the store, so I really don't like wasting them....knowing that the pool or beach is inevitably in my future for that day. lol The school year is a different story. A shower every day - sometimes twice! I know.. I'm weird like that.

ahh.. Disney. I SUPER love Disney!  We go at least once a month.

It's where I got to meet up with Rachel last month!



and every time we go, I have to have a Mickey bar.


And this might be my new favorite picture of us at Disney. Brooklynn's favorite is Tinker Bell. But she was so shy, she couldn't express her happiness. lol


yes - I love wearing my glasses!! I know, I'm weird. But I just started wearing them, like right after Caroline was born.  You can see her sleeping ...


annnnnnd.... NO! I do not live in the same state I was born in. I mean, c'mon. I was meant to live in Florida...I was born in West Virginia. And while WV is a beautiful state, it does not have any beaches. And that, my friends, I can not do. 

So, there's me ....

Go check out the others over at Rachel's blog




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Back 2 School Giveaways with my Owls!


You guys.

I go back to work in TWO weeks. Isn't that crazy?! This summer has just gone by so quickly!! We've been so busy! If you follow my person blog, {A Splash of Life}, you've seen that we've been having a lot of fun this summer! We are are trying to live it up the last few weeks, too!

Anyway, I've gotten together with my Owl-Girls to give you an AWESOME giveaway!



Seriously -  how awesome! You can use any of these cards to really help out your classroom!

PLUS you can enter EACH of our own giveaways!! Holla!!


Make sure you head over to the {Owl-Ways be Inspired blog} to enter to win!  BUT AFTER you enter here! You can win $50 to spend in {my store}!!




a Rafflecopter giveaway



134

Borrowing from My Classroom Library

If you've seen my classroom library, you know that I could start a public library up with the amount of books I have! haha.  

Here are a few of my books...


(check {THIS} post to see where the labels came from)

Seriously... some aren't even pictured.... AND I have some in storage from when I taught 3rd grade. Seriously. I think I have an addiction...what do you think??

Anyway, one question I get from followers is if I let students borrow books from me and how I let them do it. 

Let me tell you. I absolutely let kids borrow books from me! It stems from teaching in a Title I school for 11 years. They don't always have books at home and their parents can't/won't take them to the library and our school library has a limit of books.  PLUS, I might have a book that ins't in our library.  Anyway, here is my system of how I have kids borrow my books.

They use a stick.


Haha! So high-techy, right?

Some of you have an app that the students use, but do you SEE the amount of books I have?? I don't have time to log in all those books.. nope. This works pretty well for me - enough for me to not want to take the time to take the time to scan all these books into an app.

Is it full proof?? No... but what IS full proof when it comes to kids??  

I've used it for YEARS.   Like, I think maybe 10 years?   Here is one of my first pictures of the the sticks... and these sticks were a few years old...as you can tell by how dingy they are.  Ew.


Last year, I got a few new paint sticks. You can check your local home improvement store and ask if they will donate some to your classroom.


I painted them my favorite colors.


this year, for a fresh layer of paint, I got a can of spray paint, still in the same color palette.  Let me tell you... this way was much easier! 


And I just wrote some numbers, on both sides...and bam! Sticks to book mark the place where students borrow a book!



If you want to see other ways I use numbers you can check out {this} post.





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