I'm BAAACK!!!

Wow, that was TOUGH staying away from blogging entirely (especially going into Bloglovin once a week to mark almost 200 posts as read without even glimpsing at the titles), but I can definitely say that I am refreshed and ready to go!

Today was our first day back from Spring Break, and it's crunch time for us. We have 3 1/2 weeks before SOL testing begins, and there are only 8 1/2 weeks left of school. Eek!! I have so much left to teach and review!

Right now, I'm working on context clues with my 3rd and 4th grade students. I bought this book a few years back, and it's great! The book focuses on eight different strategies to help, so I went through and made copies of the ones my students tend to struggle with the most. They have already shown some growth, but we still need to practice a LOT.

In 5th grade, I began a poetry/figurative language focus before break. I bought Kathleen's (Middle Grades Maven) Poetry Analysis booklet that has been the perfect review. The kids are really enjoying the poems, which are just the right level for them. And the questions really get them to think more in-depth about what the poem is trying to say. They still can't label most of the figurative language on their own, but I'm just excited that they can usually explain what the author meant by it!

On the blogging end, I'm going to start getting everything ready for my big giveaway (right now I'm sitting at 850 followers - wow!) and hope to post it by the weekend. I've already got some amazing blogger friends signed up to help, but if you would like to join me in the celebration, the form is here. I will, of course, list your blog and hopefully send some new followers your way!

Five for Friday with a Thanksgiving FLASH FREEBIE

Wow, it's been almost two weeks since I posted! Sorry for the absence. As usual, things have been very busy lately. I can't wait until Thanksgiving break so I can sit and catch my breath...at least for a day or two!

This weekend was really nice, so we actually headed down to the beach on Sunday after church. Keagan didn't understand that the water would still be cold, so he kept pulling me closer trying to get in. We did let him sit and throw sand for a while! 

I made a new Thanksgiving craft to go with my door theme:

Right now, the kids are still working on their writing (we're having a hard time focusing on one topic), but I hope to share them soon! This craft is FREE in my store until later tonight as a thank you to all of my wonderful friends and readers. I have guests coming for dinner, and I will be changing it to paid after they leave, so be sure to grab it. AND PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK!!!

Click on the image QUICK for your freebie!

I'm LOVING Erin's creations, especially with my 5th grade students! We are working on context clues right now, and I was thrilled to be able to use this freebie with them. Here's a sample of what's inside. It really is great for helping them realize the types of context clues, and there's another great activity that goes along with that.

She also has an awesome pack for Thanksgiving related activities that I may be purchasing to use next week. 

Last night, I was SO excited to finally meet two wonderful VA bloggers that I have become "virtual friends" with over the past year. Andrea (right) from Reading Toward the Stars has become a good friend of mine after I found her two summers ago when doing a "reading specialist" search on blogger. She lives across the state, and we've been trying to get together for over a year now. She and a co-worker (I can't remember her name, but she was SO sweet) came to Richmond for a conference yesterday, and we decided it was time! We also met up with Nikki (left) from Teaching in Progress. Nikki's a hoot, and we had a blast at Cheesecake Factory talking and hanging out! I think we could have stayed there all night if Andrea and her friend hadn't had a 3 hour ride back that night to get to school this morning. I just barely missed Courtney from Polka Dot Lesson Plans who made the SIX hour drive to Richmond, but she had to leave after the conference to see her sister. Next time, Courtney!

And finally, just a reminder that next Thursday is my monthly Teacher Fitness linky party! This month, we're going to share yummy "skinny" recipes that we can make during the holiday season. I know this is the toughest time to eat right, so I'm looking forward to some great options that won't bust my calorie goal for each day!

Five for Friday

I skipped Five for Friday last week because my first few weeks back at school are pretty boring in comparison to everyone else. Since I am Title I, students have to send back forms to receive services, and then I can start pulling students. Monday will be my first day to pull groups, and I can't wait!

Tuesday night was our Back to School night, so I was at school for a little over 12 hours (well, with the exception of a yogurt run before dinner with my preggo friend who was craving something sweet). The sad thing about Back to School night for me is that nobody really comes to see me anymore. I mean, I was able to get some work done and all, but the parents are there to meet with the classroom teachers. I get a little bored.

Fortunately (maybe) I had work to do because I had received a question from one of my TPT buyers that she could not open my flipcharts for Science because she doesn't have a Promethean board. Was I wrong to assume that the section "Smartboard Lessons and Whiteboard Activities" was for Promethean as well? Please let me know if you think so because I will remove that. Anyway, I ended up spending THREE HOURS copying and pasting all 7 science units that I no longer teacher into PowerPoint so she could use them. Let's just say that I'm not a huge fan of science and seriously considered just taking them off of TPT completely.

I've been pushing into all of the fourth grade classes already because there are SEVENTEEN kids in that grade who did not pass their Reading SOL last year. Part of this is because it was a new test and written much more difficult, but I have 2-5 students that I will be seeing in EACH class. This week, we were focusing on Context Clues, so I pulled out this book:

I wanted to do a lot of practice with the students, so I had them come to the carpet. As we came to a word that was unfamiliar or used in an unusual way, I read the text and then had them turn to a partner to discuss what it might mean. They had to talk about what clues in the pictures or text helped them understand. Then we discussed it as a group, and I made sure to repeat the word and definition a few times. It was a really good lesson! 

I've been preparing for next week, and my other two grades will be working on Character. For fifth grade, I really wanted to dig deep and challenge them. I looked on TPT and found some good resources, but nothing was quite what I wanted (or it was too much to work with in one case). So I decided to create my own resource! And why not use my Duck Dynasty clipart that I'm loving?

TPT (finally up!) or TN

I'm also trying to choose my vocabulary words for the first week with students. I found this list of Character Traits from Read*Write*Think, and then I sat with my para to decide which words the students already knew well (dangerous, bad, nice) or could figure out with ease (brainy, messy). Then I started thinking about which words students would see most frequently and need the most. I think for fifth grade, we're going to focus on considerate, eager, and strict. When I choose books for examples, I will try to find some that show these traits. I'm thinking Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Any other suggestions?

I'm loving my new design that Megan did for me this week! I chose the Modern and Fresh Build your Blog pack from A Bird in Hand Designs (very affordable), and I also got matching papers to use for giveaways, etc. Well, I have been thinking about starting a linky for teachers who are trying to lose weight/stay healthy. I made this button and will be starting the linky next Thursday. 

This will be a monthly link-up (the THIRD THURSDAY) with a different topic each month. Next week will be all about eating healthy. Spread the word, prepare your post, and I hope to see a lot of people link up! It will be neat to build a support group for each other!

More TpT Products, Christmas freebie, and last day for the sale

I know this is the second post, but I wanted to have something more positive to say. Plus I decided to keep myself busy during my free time and uploaded a few more items to my TpT store, especially since the big sale ends tonight!

I started loading some science interactive notes that I made a few years back while I was still teaching 4th grade. We have Promethean boards in all of our classrooms, so I wanted to make flipcharts that went along with the notes as well. There are 7 different units (most are $3 regular - $2.40 right now), or you can buy the entire bundle for $18 (or $14.40 today only!). Actually, they would be even cheaper because that's just with my 20% off sale. Don't forget to add the promo code: CMT12 at check out for 10% off of that price! The sale ends tonight at midnight! I'm only going to link to the huge bundle, but you can go to my store to find all of the little units as well.

I may have mentioned this before, but I LOVE Christmas! When I was younger, we lived in south Mississippi - very close to Louisiana, where cajun culture is prominent. I remember every Christmas Eve, they would read this book called The Cajun Night Before Christmas on the news. My dad eventually bought the book, and it became a family tradition for him to read it every year. We LOVED it!

When Steven and I got married, we came across the Irish Night Before Christmas and bought it.

Last year, I decided it would be fun to read a few of these versions to my students and then have them create their own Night Before Christmas story. So I began putting together a little format to follow. Then I also searched Amazon.com to find as many versions as I could that already existed. I've found 27 so far! This item is a freebie in my store! Please pin it, share it, and rate me!

Have a wonderful evening! I'm on my way home to hopefully relax a little (and maybe do some online shopping).

Context clues and a giveaway!

My third graders have been working on context clues, and I wanted to share a few books and resources that I've found and enjoyed. Both of the books have words in a foreign language, but they give enough clues for the students to decode the words.

I bought this book when I first started teaching. My first job was in a summer school, and one of my students  knew very little English. I searched for any book that looked interesting and had both Spanish and English for me to work with her. This is such a cute story! It's the Spanish version of The Little Red Hen, so the students can make a lot of connections. When I used this book, I stumbled across this little resource from Go Fourth! with Mrs. Owens. The book had an example of all these clues, so it was perfect!

Today, I went back into one of the classes to review, so I needed another good resource. I got on my trusty TpT and searched "context clues" for freebies, and I found this little store with only 6 items, but I really liked this resource. 

Sorry I couldn't get a better picture, but this is from my pinning since I don't think Erin has a blog to link a picture to. By the way, I'm her only follower, so be sure to give her some love when you download this resource!

Anyway, what you may not be able to see is that these are a list of words from the book Baloney (Henry P.) by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (love them). 

The book is about a little alien who is once again late for school, and he tells his teacher this outrageous lie to try to convince her not to put him in permanent detention! He uses all kinds of words from real foreign languages (and some made-up words as well) in his story. The worksheet I linked to above lists all of these words with a place for students to put the clue, what they believe the word means, and then to check if they were right or wrong at the end of the story. The kids LOVED it!

The best thing about both of these resources is that they are absolutely FREE! I don't know about you, but money is tight at my house, and I need all the freebies I can get.

I also wanted to share a giveaway that I found this morning. Gina has 3 opportunities to win, and there are some great prizes!

In other news, I'm ALMOST there myself! As of now, I'm sitting at 93 followers, so I want to start planning my own giveaway. If you would be interested in helping out, please let me know!