BIG Celebration...BIG Sale!!!

Teachers Pay Teachers is celebrating being 3,000,000 strong!  That's something to celebrate!!  So they are throwing a sale!!!

Adorable sale button by The Tattooed Teacher <3 it:)

I am joining in the celebration! 

 

On February 27 and 28 EVERYTHING in my shop will be 20% off AND if you use the promo code TPT3 you can get up to 28% off!!  Click HERE to check out my store:) 

 

 I can't wait!  My shopping cart is full and I am ready to do some shopping:) 

 

Congrats to TPT!!!  That's quite a milestone!!! 



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Writing - Getting Ready for the Big Test!!!

Yep!  It's right around the corner for my kiddos!!!  Like next Tuesday!!!!

 

We have been working so hard and if I am honest, I hate the fact that they have to be tested on their writing.  Not fair in my opinion....just too much stress!!!  But it is what it is and so we have been preparing for the "writing monster" for a while.

 

I was FREAKED last week when I fell and had to miss the rest of the week of school.  If you follow me on Instagram I'm sure you're sick of seeing pics of my messed up knee...lol!  Most recent pic.  It is much better!

 BUT I have an amazing team around me and our awesome lead teacher, who used to be my roomie, stepped in and taught writing to my kids for the days that I was out.  So grateful for her!

 

So I wanted to share some of the things we have done to prepare for the test.  Some of these I have blogged about before but wanted to try and put all the ideas in one place:)

 

One thing I have used is my Sharpen Your Writing interactive bulletin board.

It has been hard work to get my kiddos to amp up their writing with stronger and more descriptive words.  Takes practice so we started this a while ago.

 

We have practiced our creativity skills....using similes, metaphors, onomatopoeias, and on and on:)

We also practiced "Show don't Tell"

You can read more about those HERE.

 

One thing we started recently, and I TOTALLY love is using highlighters on our papers. 

 

This idea was from another fab lead teacher in our district.  I love this so much because it really gives the kids a visual.  It's kinda eye opening:)

 

This highlighting we used mostly for our expository papers.  The pink we used for transition phrases into each paragraph, pink links.  The blue was for main ideas/reasons for each paragraph because if they don't have strong main ideas, the judges will be "blue":/  The yellow is for everything that is "right and bright":) 

I have graded the kids papers after highlighting and it really is eye opening for them and me!

This paper has NO transitions and is weak with the "right and bright" skills.

 

Big difference between a stronger paper and weaker paper.

This has really been great for them because they THINK they are doing all the things they should be BUT then realize they aren't.

 

I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle the next few days since we only have a couple left:/  Lots of polishing!!!!

 

Also, because I don't want to tear down all my cute walls, I bought plastic table clothes to cover up the walls:)  Dollar Tree :)

I made these little notes to give to my team to put on the desks of all our 4th grade kiddos the morning of the test.  They are a freebie, just click on the pic if you would like to use them:)

Motivational Pencil Notes

 

I'm back to work tomorrow:)  Miss my kiddos like crazy!!!  Hope you all have a great rest of your week.  I'd love to hear how you get your kiddos ready for the test:)

 

 



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Five for Friday! Making Inferences and CRASH!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!
Hey gang!  Linking up with Doodle Bug's for my Friday Five!

It's been quite a week for me ya'll! 

I kicked off my second year of being a GOTR coach on Monday:)  One of my sweet girls made me this.  Just love it:)  We had a wonderful start to the season!  I have great group of girls this year and am really looking forward to some fun times:0)

My OBSERVATION was Tuesday!  I did a lesson on making inferences.  Thanks to some amazing teachers, my small group centers rocked!!!  These are QR task cards for making inferences.  My kids just LOVED them:)

These Making Inference task cards are from Fun in 5th Grade.  Click HERE to check them out in her shop.  I had my kids write their inferences down first and then self check with the QR codes:)  So fun!!

So LOVED this activity from Catherine Reed at The Brown Bag Teacher!

She has a working backwards activity that was great for differentiation.  It was awesome for my higher groups.....made them think!  They loved it and begged to do more!  You can check these out at her super cute shop HERE.

We will definitely be doing more of this soon:)

My whole group and small group lessons were all focused around these amazing cards from Teaching with A Mountain View.  So love that they were differentiated for all kinds of learners.  We started the lesson making inferences with the picture cards and then worked up to the text cards.  I also used them with my small groups:)  You can check out her amazing shop HERE.  She has TONS of wonderful task cards (I have lots of them).

Now......on to the CRASH part in my post title.  Meet my new best friend....Crutch.  Well, we aren't really best friends yet.....we have been spending some time together and will have to spend a lot more together so I'm hoping our relationship is a kind one!!!

Along with the making inferences theme......can you infer what the crutches mean?!?!?  Lol!

If you inferred from my post title and the pic that I injured a leg, you're right;)   Here's why I have a new best friend......

Tuesday night....the night of my observation....I was feeling so happy and energetic.  My daughter had written a workout for me with weights and running.  I finished my workout and decided to run up the street.  Well, got about a block and a half from the house and tripped over a bump of asphalt on the road.  Crashed really hard!

This is me at the ER.  The doctor actually told my husband and I that my kneecap was broken!  He sent me for x-rays and as we waited I prayed and I know I had quite a few others praying too because I put the ER visit on Instagram.  Well, the doc came back in and said it was NOT broken!  Praise God!!!!!  He is so good!!!!

So I have been on my butt since Tuesday....leg up....ice off and on.....my hands got banged up too.  The bottom left pic is the palm of my bruised hand....told ya I crashed!

 

Just sick that I have been out of school but so grateful for so much support from my teammate and friends:)  They have really rallied around me and taken care of things for me.  I am so blessed and grateful!!!

This is Thursday's pic.  Swelling is getting better every day:)  My sweet husband bought me some books and an orchid to pick me up:)  Praying for continued healing so I don't have to go to an orthopedic surgeon!!! 

 

In my complete boredom with having to sit all day every day I made a new story starter freebie for ya'll:)

Click the pic or HERE to get your freebie!! (if I did it right:/)

 

Have a great weekend everyone!  Thanks for popping by:)

 

 



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Monday Made It - February Edition

Where oh where does the time go?  It's that time again and I was barely ready....as usual:(

I did get a couple of things done though:)

One thing I did that I haven't done in a while is a home made it.  I planted some pots for my yard.  The weather here has been beautiful and has really put me in spring fever mode:)

There's just something rewarding about getting your hands dirty and filling up some pots.  I can't wait for these to fill in a little:)

My other made it is my Valentine's gift for my kiddos. 

Absolutely LOVE these chevron treat bags from Target dollar spot.

Cupcake and dinosaur erasers.

I made these tags.  They boys get the dinosaur ones, the girls the cupcake ones:)

That's all I've got for this month:)  I have my formal observation Tuesday!  Eek!  Can't wait until that is behind me!!!!  If ya have any fun made its to share, be sure and grab my button and link away:)

 



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Five for Friday (I have an excuse)

 

It's Five for Friday time again and I'm late AGAIN!!!!  I kinda have an excuse...I really do;)

So here's a peek at some randomness in my week:)

I have said it before and I'll say it again.....it is MAJOR crunch time for writing.....my time prepping these kiddos is running out.....too quickly:(  Kinda freaking me out a little!  So of course we are writing and writing and polishing and writing some more.  I think I shared before I found these cute puffy stickers at Target (or did I share that on Instagram?????  My blog world and Instagram world blur together...lol....anyone else have that problem?)

The kids got really excited over these.....it's the little things....right?

If they scored a 4 or higher, they got a puffy sticker:)

I started this last week and forgot to share here.  This was my teamies idea.  We are graphing every demand write we do.  4 or higher:)  (I still have some papers to grade to catch the graph up but you get the idea)   You can also see some of my kiddos have a ways to go:/  I think they know what to do, they are just not doing it.....hoping that will change very soon cuz we're out of time!!

We have played lots of Scramble and Counting Dude/Bragging Dude!

The kids love it when I shout out "SCRAMBLE"....these activities are really helping them grasp their vocab!  You can read more about how I use Word Nerds and our Counting Dude/Bragging Dude activity HERE.

One of my kiddos brought me this...

Isn't it gorgeous?!?!?!?!  Gotta love Florida!!

My observation is Tuesday!!!!!  YIKES and can't wait till that is over.  I am doing making inferences.  We did a fun activity that I got from the FAB Abby at The Inspired Apple.

The kids LOVED finding out what I carry in my purse and it was a great activity for my 4 ELL kiddos:)

Got this cuteness in the mail!!!  This is from the TPT shop Tea and Coffee!! (Love the name and and the gals who run it)  Can a teacher ever have enough magnets????  Um....NO!

Love my Melonheadz mini me as a magnet!

Go check out their fun shop!!!  Too fun!!!  Tea and Coffee:)

 

Now, here's my excuse for being late.....we had field days with our kids yesterday.  A day full of all kinds of outdoor fun!!! (sidebar.....am I the only one that thinks kids spend too much time in front of TVs and video games and not outside playing?!?!?!)  So this day was FAB!!!

Then, this happened......

Dummy me tried to do this jump, twist thing with a hula hoop around one ankle and well.....

the hula hoop won:(

Boo!!!!!  Just call me fatty ankle:/  AND, I start coaching Girls on the Run Monday!!!  Ugh....I'll be doing a lot of pointing and not so much running:((

Don't forget what's coming up Monday....

Hope to see ya back here for that:)  Have a blessed weekend everyone!!!



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