New Vocabulary & Big News, Finally

I have created two new vocabulary activity packs for my classroom and TPT.

If you haven't seen them before, check them out.

Here is what a few of my customers have said about previous vocabulary activities:

Now for the exciting news!  I have been waiting for almost 4 months to become an Independent Designer for Origami Owl.  And last night was the night!  I am so excited to start on this new journey with a company that is growing with leaps and bounds.  They are amazing.

Today in the mail, I received a gift just for being on the wait list for so long.

What other company would do that?

If you haven't heard about Origami Owl, just look at the photos below.  They are beautiful and uniquely you!

If you would like to place an order or hold your own Jewelry Bar, let me know.  I would love to help you design your own necklace or earn one for free.

[email protected]

The Wild Christmas Reindeer Vocabulary - FREE!

     I just finished a new vocabulary unit for The Wild Christmas Reindeer.  Vocabulary is one of the many activities I do during my "Interactive Read Aloud" block.
     This packet will take a total of about 60 minutes to complete.  I generally spend 20 minutes in 3 different sessions to complete the activities.  My students love participating in them because they are fun, fast paced and active.
     This packet is free in my TPT store a week.  Please stop by and pick it up.  If you do, please leave feedback.  I would love to know how your kiddos like it.  Just click on the pic below.

Common Core Math Workstation & Must Have Picture Books Linky

I am breaking an unwritten blogger rule about posting twice in one day, BUT I feel soooo far behind from being on vacation & feel like I missed out on a ton!  

I went in to work for a little bit before vacation to start organizing my math workstations.  I decided to store them in tubs ice cube buckets like my kiddos store their reading books in (see here).

Before, I was storing them in baggies in my filing cabinet behind each Common Core Standard File Folder.  It just wasn't working!

Once I organized them, I realized I was short a variety of activities for certain standards and had lots for others, like place value.  So, either I could start searching TPT or create some of my own.

Here is a game I created for practice with adding 3 numbers.

Just click on the picture above to get it.

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Lindsey @ The Teacher's Wife is having a wonderful linky about your Must Have Picture Books.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this linky.  My LOVE for Children's Literature began as a child.  I was an avid reader!

My OBSESSION with collecting children's books began during my Children's Literature Class in college - Thank you Dr. Cates!  I remember crying in class when she read, I'll Love You Forever.

Later, I purchased that book for my mom for Mother's Day & years later sang the song to my beautiful children.  The power of books is amazing!  The amount of money I have in books is STAGGERING. I could possibly retire if I sold them all for full price.  With so many books and so many memories, how could I just pick a few?  I decided I would pick a one book for several different categories.

• Math book - Time

• Science

Gail Gibbons books are amazing & I use them not 
only in science, but also in teaching 
non fiction text features.

• Beginning of School

Chrysanthemum is one of my beginning of the year books 
used to teach about our classroom community.  We talk
 about how not to hurt each other's feelings and how 
to get along.  I have a few super cute activities I use 
with this book which  I will share @ the beginning of 
school.  
I also use this at that time during math, where we look 
at the length of each other's names and do graphing & 
counting activities.

• Writing Features

One of my favorite Writer's Workshop Units is teaching 

Writer's Craft.  I begin this unit with Lester 

Laminack's, Saturdays and Teacakes, 

but follow it up with lots of other books.  

The Recess Queen provides many examples like:

stacked words

bold words

sound words

ellipses

repeated phrases

Not to mention, this is a great book to talk about being 

the new kid in class or bullying!

• Just to Read Aloud

The message in this book is heart warming.  

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge likes to spend 
time at the nursing home next door.  He likes all 
the older people, but he especially likes 
Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper because 
she also has 4 names.  When he finds out she is losing 
her memory, he does his best to help her get her 
memory back.

• Word Work

Twenty-six Princesses is a great book to use for 

Rounding Up the Rhymes 

where you look at, study, and use rhyming pairs 

to help you read & write other rhyming pairs.  

Check out my lesson here.

Also, a great book to use when teaching how to write ABC books.

• Fairytales

One of my favorite times of the year is when we learn ...

 "What are Fairytales."

I love to compare and contrast different versions of favorite fairytale. Petite Rouge is a spin off of Little Red Riding Hood
 and is a MUST HAVE! 

It is creative and funny, 
especially if you hear me trying to read this

 with a Cajun accent!

• Vocabulary

Fancy Nancy always uses Fancy words which are often perfect for 

stretching the vocabulary of our young readers and writers.

Check out a free lesson here.

I could go on & on & on!

Helping out fellow teachers in Joplin.

Dee Dee over at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten received the following email from a teacher in Joplin.

I teach in Joplin, which made worldwide news last May when our town was cut in half by an F5 tornado. Many of our elementary schools were destroyed or damaged, and as teachers, we have had a roller coaster year. I came from a meeting yesterday where many are struggling with the weight of all we are dealing with. My request is this: would you be willing to donate a created pack of your choosing to give away at a drawing at our upcoming district Kindergarten grade level meeting? The meeting is Monday and I am sorry for the short notice but I did not realize until the meeting how down everyone is feeling.

I gave away a Vocabulary Lesson using the book Julius, the Baby of the World, by Kevin Henkes. This is a lesson I created after reading the book, Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction. My kids love the fast paced and engaging activities and really begin to use the words in their speaking and writing. One of my observations this year happened during one of these vocabulary lessons. My principal liked it sooo much she shared it with a team of principals from our county who were impressed by the use of the words from first graders!