Class Party Time and a FREEBIE!

We have 3 days of school left and our class party is on Monday! The kids are so excited and I am too! I have done so many themes each year and my favorite is always the ice cream parties. The kids love it and it is not a huge hassle. I don't have a room mom this year so the ice cream party theme was easy and perfect! I buy a gallon of vanilla and chocolate ice cream and the kids buy all of the toppings. I assign them 1 topping each so we always have more than enough.

 I found these cute ice cream cone bubbles that went perfect with my theme at Dollar Tree. They also had bubbles 3 in a pack. I made these cute tags that you can download here. 

I also bought these cute favor boxes at party city and I am going to fill them with candy and favors. I have tried every year to get away from the goodie bags but the kids love them, so I always give in! I have banners , flags, tablecloths, and more! Boy don't you love Dollar Tree? 

 

We're also decorating these cute wooden picture frames that we will put a class picture in! More pics to come after the party! Don't forget to get your freebie! What is the theme for your party? Please share!

Magnet Manipulatives Giveaway!

Do you want to know what product I can't live without? You would think it would be something a bit more complex, but it is not. It is LARGE and in charge! LOL

Magnet Manipulatives

 

I have been using these for about 3 years now. I first introduced them in my calendar pack and I got so many requests for them to be separated in a separate pack and 3 years later I am just getting around to it! Better late than never right! 

I use these EVERY SINGLE DAY in my classroom. They stay in my board area in these cute little envelopes. I added those recently. I used to just add magnets to manipulatives but they just are not big enough. These templates are LARGE and the whole class can see them from their desks!

Here is what is included:

2D shapes- circle, square, rhombus, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, octagon, and pentagon

3D shapes- sphere, cone, cylinder, cube, trianglular prism, and rectangular prism

The place valuepack includes:

ones

tens

hundreds

thousands

The money pack includes

penny

nickel

dime

quarter

half dollar

one dollar bill

five dollar bill

ten dollar bill

twenty dollar bill

hundred dollar bill

The great thing about these is they can be easily adapted to any grade level.  All you do is laminate and add these cute litlte magnets to the back. My kids LOVE to write on my whiteboard and move these manipulatives around. It keeps them engaged and on task while learning! I can give them any type of problem and they are eager to use my magnet manipulatives that are always on my board.

  

I will use these to introduce a mini-lesson, go over a concept in an activity, use this in centers, workstations, or fast finsher work. I even use them for morning work in the morning. 

You can have the kids sort, match, label, count, problem solve- you can do whatever it is your heart desires! I had to print a second set because my first set is worn out from using them for the past 3 years!

I really hope you enjoy these as much as I do. 

I am giving away 5 packs! Enter to win below or catch them on sale now here! Pin it on pinterest or share on Facebook to enter! Enjoy!

And don't forget about the HUGE sale going until tomorrow! Check it our here!

                                                 

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Teacher Appreciation Sale!

The biggest sale of the year is here! 

Be sure to stop by and check out my store!

Be sure to pick up this awesome pack to help wrap up the year! I use this at the end of the year and my kids love it!

Blooming into Spring- Contractions, Balanced Equations, and Craftivities!

I hope that everyone has been well! I am looking forward to my spring break next week and I am very excited about it! Have you had your spring break yet?! I can't wait to take some time off and just relax. We have been working hard in class on balanced equations and contractions. I am running out of good resources and had to whip some up myself. 

This pack includes: 
Balanced Equations printable
Balanced Equations Butterfly Craftivity
Balanced Equations 3 addends printable
Balanced Equations Subtraction printable
Balanced Equations Pocket Chart Center
with recording sheet
Blooming Balanced equations Craftivity
Ladybug Contractions Craftivity
Contractions Printable
Contractions Cut and Paste
Compound Sentences Anchor Chart
Compound Sentences Graphic organizer
Compound Sentences Printable 
Compound Sentences Cut and Paste
Butterfly Craftivity
Spring How to writing
Spring Persuasive writing
Graphic Organizers

Here are a few pages...

I hope that you can use these in your classroom. I went with a cute spring theme because I am over all of this cold weather! Today is the first day it has been a little warm. I hope it stays that way! 

Don't forget to pick up your freebie! Click here and hit DOWNLOAD PREVIEW to get it.

I am giving away 3 of these awesome packs so be sure to enter below. Just share on Facebook and Pinterest! If you can't wait it is on sale for 1 day only! Enjoy! 

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Summer in the City

Author Kathleen Wainwright has published her first children's book, Summer in the City. Welcome to day 5 of her virtual tour! Today Kathleen will be sharing a cute compare and contrast activity that can be used with her book!

Click HERE for a complete list of tour dates

Hi Jenaya! Thank-you for agreeing to host me during my virtual book tour! I love your blog and share it often with friends who are looking for primary activities. I appreciate the opportunity to share my ideas behind the story, Summer in the City.  

...................

If you have been following the blog tour, you know that this book is reminiscent of my childhood. What I love most about this story is that no matter who I share it with, regardless of their age, they all seem to love it the same. My mother, my friends, my students....all of them can pick out something that remind them of their summers. Even better, when I shared this story with my blogging friends, who come from all different parts of the country, they could relate to it too!



Summer in the City's setting was inspired by the city of Philadelphia; however, some of the things you find in this story can be reflective of any city. One great activity that you can do with your students is to compare and contrast highlighting where you live and comparing it to the setting in the book. I have also created a mini compare/contrast activity guide that is included in the Teacher's Reading Companion that comes *free with every purchase made on TPT! Find it *free here for a limited time! I have included forms that are unique to the book and some that can be used with any story!

Download HERE! 

Download HERE! 

 

Summer in the City is a heartwarming picture book based on author Kathleen Wainwright’s childhood growing up in the city. Before there were 24-hour cartoon channels, laptop computers or the internet, what did kids do all day to occupy their time when schools were on break and the days were hot?

KIDS MADE THEIR OWN FUN!

Double-dutch, hopscotch, hide and seek…There never seemed to be enough hours in the day for kids to play with siblings and friends, explore their surroundings, or just laugh and giggle. Children and adults can enjoy this timeless story, which captures memories of blissful childhood summers in cities everywhere.

I hope that you've enjoyed hearing all about my new book! If so, stay connected.



Follow Summer in the City on Facebook

Join the Summer in the City Mailing List





To purchase the Summer in the City e-book, visit my TPT store here! To order a Summer in the City as a hardback, visit my website! 



Tomorrow, Selina Smith, will be hosting me! Stop by for a free Summer Bio-Poem!



I will also be giving away 10 free, signed copies of Summer in the City at the end of her virtual book tour! Be sure to enter the giveaway for your chance to win! For additional giveaways, click here!


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Kathleen Wainwright is a dedicated teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. She received her bachelor’s of Science degree in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and her master’s in education with a focus in literacy, from West Chester University, in West Chester, PA. Kathleen also teaches literacy courses to aspiring teachers at Temple University and developmental reading courses to incoming freshman at Delaware County Community College. “This story captures a typical summer’s day for me and my friends growing up in the 80’s! Every time I read it I travel back to some of my favorite childhood memories.” Kathleen recently earned National Board Certification in Literacy: Reading-Language Arts (Early and Middle Childhood). She enjoys sharing her personal teaching experiences and educational resources in her blog, The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher (www.notsowimpyresources.com).

Math Action Cards In Action!

I tried out some more of the Math Action Games this week and my kids are really doing well with them. They have now gotten used to the format so really no explanation is needed at this point. They know that every game requires their math journals so they get those out automatically. They now realize that all of the games are repetitive so after they finish one rotation they know to keep going. My kids are being constantly engaged and staying on task with meaningful activities and I love it.

In this pattern block game the students had to make an AB pattern with the pattern blocks and then find the value of the pattern if each block had a value of 2. This game reinforced skip counting. They had to also record the number sentences for each pattern in their math journal. It was funny because some of them spent so long making these long detailed patterns and then they realized they had to count all of that! LOL

In this game the students have to represent the flashcard with unifix cubes and then write a number sentence. They must race to complete their deck of cards first. It is a game of speed, accuracy, and a good practice for those math facts. They realize they have to record the right answers because I can go back and check! 

In this game the students have to roll the dice and make the amount with tens and ones. They must draw the tens and ones in their math journal. Then they must determine if the number is even or odd.

I use rubber bands on my cards because the kids like to fling them around and the paper clips were not working. I keep them all on a ring so it is easy to flip cards and keep them all together.  I use these in my math stations and it take little to no planning on my part. I do go around and model each game before we begin just to make sure the kids get the idea. After that they are able to read the cards and stay on task themselves without interupting my small group. The cards are written in a simple language on pupose so that they can uderstand them. So modeling the activity helps intially until they get the hang of it. Once they have played all of the games they won't need help and will know exactly what to do. (At least for the youngers ones.) Well that is it for this week! I will review a couple more next week! I am so loving these cards! Thanks!

Have you heard of Scootpad?

Do you use Scootpad in your classroom? If you don't you should! I was just introduced to this website by a fellow teacher a few weeks ago and I must say I am highly impressed so far! This website provides differentiated common core activites for each individual student in your class. WOW, right? I have used some other similar programs but they did not offer as much as this one does.

 I will tell you a little bit about how I use it in my classroom. I jumped right into this and started using it. It is very kid friendly and easy to use. My kids have been using it for about 2 weeks now and they LOVE it! I signed up for the free membership option, created a class, and added all of my students which was VERY easy. It generates a username and password for you so it literally takes 5 minutes. It automatically generates a parent letter that explains everything and provides log in cards for the kids! I sent those puppies to the laminator and we were rocking and rolling!

That night 50% of my class logged on and I was very surprised because not all of my kiddos have computers at home. The next night all but 2 kids logged on. TOUCHDOWN! LOL

                                       

This is the class wall. The kids love this part because they can talk to each other on it and leave messages. My son said he had to "text" one of his classmates on scootpad tonight..LOL! They can even change the avatars! I leave encouraging messages for them here their progress.

When you add assignments for students you add them here and everything is COMMOM CORE ALIGNED. LOVE THAT! I use this to give my kids extra homework or extra practice on skills they are having a hard time on in class. I am even using it for RTI data. I can look at my reports and see where my class is and each student. I can see exactly what they got wrong and what standards they need additional practice on. You can even print progress reports by student to use for conferences that show exactly what that student needs to work on.

I can then click on the area they are having a hard time and that standard will pop up and I can assign an assignment to that one student on that one particular skill!

My students are ability grouped in my room so I can go in and assign whole group assignments or assignments for a particular small group etc. For example, my blue group is working on 2nd grade common core right now so when they log in they see the assignments they have to complete and the due dates that the rest don't see. Below shows you some of the 1st grade common core standards. You can click on preview and it will show you what type of question it asks.

All the subjects and standards are listed so it is easy to follow. The questions are multiple choice and it even READS the question as an option!!! I love this for my ELL kids. It is totally student directed so the parents do not have to help at all!

Every morning I display this on my projector so they can see who is in the lead. They earn points for all assignments completed and those points earn them rewards or games like hangman! I can even add my own rewards!

Every morning my kids come in they are so excited to see who is in the lead. This program has been a hit so far. You must check this out and start using it in your class. Even if you are not a teacher you can use it as a parent.  I cannot begin to explain to you how much I love this program. My son uses it every night as apart of his homework routine. 

I wanted to review this program on my own, they did not ask me to do it. I really think it is just that great and I love using it in my classroom! There is a free and premium membership that is $4.99 a month. It is worth every penny if you do upgrade. My kids are excited about learning using this program! Be sure to check it out!

www.scootpad.com