Thursday, September 4, 2014

1000 Follower Giveaway: Day 3


Day three is here, and I have more prizes for you to win! Don't forget that my store is also 20% through tomorrow, so make sure you get your shopping in before it ends.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

This next giveaway is another really fun one that I wish I could win, too!


The Lesson Plan Diva has the CUTEST line of teacher tees (I've searched around, and I'm convinced hers are the best), and she is offering winner's choice of one shirt. Here are some of my favorites, but please browse because there are TONS!



Umm...do your kids ask this all the time? I need this shirt!  I LOVE this shirt!!
And here are some fun ones for the gym:
Cute workout tank for teachers or just book nerds in general!   


**For this giveaway, you must be a U.S. resident.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

1000 Follower Giveaway: Day 2


Welcome back! I'm so stinkin' excited about this giveaway and the fact that I can offer up something new for you every day! Don't forget to go back and enter yesterday's giveaway if you haven't already. Each giveaway will be open for a week from when it posted.

I also have my entire store 20% through Friday to celebrate since not everyone can win, so be sure to check that out!

Today's prizes are:



a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am also giving away TWO 3-month subscriptions to the FarFaria reading app (available for iPad, iPhone, and Android)!


This app was created for families with children ages 2-9. It has over 750 stories available and adds 5 new stories each week. With the free version, you can download one book per week. This subscription will give you unlimited access to the entire library!

I have begun playing around with it and sharing with my son. His favorite books are the Find it! books under Preschool Playground. I realized after doing the Find It! Halloween book that this will be a fun way to teach Keagan themed vocabulary (skeleton, bat, etc). He was sold and cried when I had to take my phone away.

You know that kids already love technology, so this is a great way to work in some quality reading time!




a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tuesday, September 2, 2014

1000 Follower Giveaway: Day 1

Graphics by Megan Favre (I Teach. What's Your Superpower?)
It's here! It's here! I cannot believe that two years ago (almost to the day) I began this little blog bringing over a few followers from my personal blog (The Dalton Gang). It has grown so fast, and I'm truly blessed to have so many amazing followers!

I have some great things planned for you because you really do deserve it. Since not everyone can win, I'm also going to have my entire store 20% through Friday (since you can only run a sale for 4 days apparently), and I may have one or two other little surprises later on in the week. We'll see what I can put together.

Anyway, here are the prizes for today. I'm so excited that I wish I could win these, as well!



a Rafflecopter giveaway


On top of all that, Classroom Friendly Supplies is donating one of their amazing pencil sharpeners to my giveaway! They have a ton of great colors, and I promise you'll love it!

**This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, September 1, 2014

Currently September and Some Exciting News!

I'm SO glad to have a quick day off before the kids start tomorrow. Perfect timing to do Farley's Currently! 


Listening: Steven took Keagan to see Ghostbusters at the movies for the 30th anniversary, so I am enjoying some "me time" watching Safe Haven on Netflix while I check blogs and get things ready for my giveaway that starts tomorrow!

Loving:  I reached 1,000 followers while I was on vacation a few weeks ago, so I spent last week getting things together for something amazing. It all starts at midnight EST!

Thinking: Tomorrow is the beginning of my 9th year of teaching. Of course, in my new position, the first week of school is a lot easier. My craziness begins the second or third week, when I start pulling groups.

Wanting: I always love buying new clothes. Nothing specific, though.

Needing: I just finished sorting all of the fantastic sellers who donated to my giveaway into days and have created the images (just finished that), but I still need to do the rafflecopters and set up the posts to go live at the right times. It's going to be a 5-day giveaway, so at least I can just do one day at a time.

3 Trips: Europe is on my big list, but specifically London and Italy. I can't choose just one place in Italy because it all seems so gorgeous. As for Alaska, I really want to be able to go whale watching, and Alaska just sounds so beautiful! Of course, I hate cold so I want to go when it's the warmest!


*********************************************************************************

Okay, I've mentioned it all over, but here are the details. I will be holding FIVE days of giveaways (and some may have two chances to win) from Tuesday-Saturday. Each giveaway will run for one week before closing. Be sure that you're already following me so you can see them go live (midnight EST) and have the best chance to win!

Thanks Megan (I Teach. What's Your Superpower?) for the awesome clipart/background!

Now go link up with Farley by clicking on the currently above, then come back at midnight when my celebration begins!

Friday, August 29, 2014

My Room is (almost) Done, and I have some cute freebies!!

I feel like every year I say this, but I think this is the best my room has ever looked! There are still some additions I would like to make and eye-sores that I'm working to phase out and/or cover, but overall I'm very proud of how it's turning out for this year!

This is how I came back to it last Thursday. For once, I didn't come in ahead of time. But I always cover my shelves and keep all of my big furniture in place. The only thing I had to move was my desk/table which is pretty light. I also kept my "boards" up from last year.


Since I don't actually have bulletin boards, I bought one cheap plastic table cover (like the $1 ones in the party section at Walmart) and cut it to the sizes I wanted. Then I found this adorable chevron duct tape on Amazon to use as my border.


It's perfect! No fading, and the cloth is thin enough that my magnetic posters can go over and stay up.

Click links to find CAFE, Daily 5 Posters, Decoding Strategies, and Comprehension Strategies posters!
Yes. I have magnetic walls, which is a HUGE time saver. All the posters you see in this picture have been laminated and have those little magnet circles on the back. It makes set-up and tear-down SUPER easy, which is one of the main reasons I could wait until the day I had to report back to work on my room!

Under my CAFE board, I want to find two or three little black bookshelves. Then I can also display some great books on the top for students to have recommendations, etc. I've been checking Craigslist and may go to Salvation Army, Goodwill, and the Habitat Restore this weekend to see what I can find!

Click links to find VOICES and Pencil posters!
This picture shows more of my "eye-sores" - the rug and filing cabinet being at the top of the list. I need to get some scissors and just cut off some of those fly-aways, but I honestly don't even want to waste my cute tap on bordering that rug. It's not so bad with everything else, so I'm just dealing with it now. The cabinet just is what it is. I also want to get up to IKEA sometime to buy black stools for my table. Then I can get rid of those chairs!

I think my word wall is going to go above my desk area this year. It's not ideal, but it's really the only place big enough to put anything. Plus it desperately needs something. I may go buy another tablecloth to frame out another "board" for it! Then I may add a cute border (like a real one) to my Promethean board. I think I have a few from when I actually had bulletin boards...


I am SO proud of my new signs!! I actually made these on my own. And there *might* be a fourth sign on my desk with a certain Paramore song quoted...let's just say it kind of goes with my favorite "Life's tough. Get a helmet!" quote from Boy Meets World!


I had a cute pencil sign with this same quote that I got from Farley about 3 years ago, but I wanted a bigger one to put in these frames (Btw, thanks for the frames, Mrs. O!!)

If you want to download the signs I made, I'm attaching the links to my google drive. They're already in GIF, but I would recommend printing with a black border if you can because it was hard to cut them out to the right size.


And finallly, I have a tiny bulletin board outside my classroom. It used to have a little "Where are we" sign for my aide and I, but we always forgot to change it. This year I decided to try something new.


Did you scan it? Just in case you don't have your phone nearby or can't scan it, the QR code takes you to Reading Rocket's Parent Page. Farley posted a picture of hers on Instagram, and I instantly knew I wanted to do this! Mine definitely pales in comparison. I may change the letters to look a little better before Back-to-School Night!


I can't believe that we'll have students here on Tuesday! Good thing there's a long weekend to get some more summer in before hitting the ground running. I'm excited to start!


Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Using Morning Meetings to Enhance Vocabulary AND Last Week to Help Raise the Parr!

Hi friends! We are halfway through work week, and I have a LOT to do! My room is still not complete (although it helps that I don't have students until a few weeks in), and I need to finalize my schedule. Hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures soon!

Anyway, today I'm sharing a great way to introduce robust vocabulary through morning meetings over on Adventures in Literacy Land. I hope you'll head over there to check it out!


I also wanted to remind you about the Raise the Parr fundraiser. It will remain open until September 7, so go check out the packets available if you haven't already. There's some great stuff available, plus you're helping out!



Thursday, August 21, 2014

Blasting Off the Year with High Flying Ideas

Welcome to our back to school blog hop! I hope you have gotten some great tips for back to school. If you're just starting out, make sure to head over to Andrea's blog (Reading Toward the Stars) where the hop begins! 

I don't have my own group of kids anymore (Title I Reading), but I have been lucky that some of my co-workers let me come into their classrooms to start CAFE lessons and help prepare the students for Daily 5 (or 3 in some of our upper grades classrooms). We are now entering our third year of full implementation for Daily 5 and CAFE, and I just have a few quick tips for starting it in your own class!
  • I recommend starting with read to self. Use the T charts they discuss in the book, then have EVERYONE practice it together, then come back and discuss what worked/didn't work. 
  • Don't get discouraged when your kids only have a stamina of 1 minute. Chart it and celebrate growth! They have to start somewhere, and they will get there!
  • Get the kids into "Good Fit Books" as quickly as possible! I know at the beginning, you're just trying to get them to read quietly while you work on running records and other beginning of the year assessments, but the faster you can do this, the easier it will be for them to build their stamina. 
  • Once they have the hang of "Read to Self", go ahead and introduce the other stations the same way. I would have everyone do the same thing until they are all used to each station.
  • Use your own judgement for whether you will give student choice or assign stations. Some classes are ready for it from the beginning. Others need a lot more guidance. Trust your gut, and remember you can always change it if it's not working for you!
  • Have some kind of "assessment" for the stations to make sure they are on task. Since I work with struggling readers, I have MANY students who "read to self" without actually understanding a single word. Have them do a quick reading reflection or a sticky note summary...something to help hold them accountable. It doesn't have to be a grade, but it's important for them to know that this isn't just a time for them to sit quietly and pretend to be a good student.
There are SO many facets of Daily 5/CAFE! This is only scraping the top. Fortunately there are a ton of resources out there (and btw, they should all be free on TPT, so don't worry about paying for them). If you haven't already read the book, that's the best place to start. The sisters really break everything down into a very manageable and easy-to-follow format. I keep my book close-by to refer to even after 3 years!




Keep on moving to Jennie's blog for more tips to start the year off right!

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