Goals for 2014!

 

I decided to link up with Jessica Tobin from the First Grade Nest to set resolutions for 2014.  I really need to stay focused on my goals and not get overwhelmed by life in general:)  That is my major goal for 2014!!!

What are your goals for 2014?? 

This Christmas......a wordless photo linky:)

 

 

 

 I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!

In Silence We Remember.....

Five for Funday.... An Odds and Ends Post

 

Hello friends!  Happy Holidays!  

 

 

My little guy's 3rd birthday tomorrow!  Where does time go?  It seems like yesterday he was an infant.  Although I wouldn't go back now I almost have him potty trained and I definitely wouldn't want to relive that experience.  Here is my adorable little guy who definitely keeps me on my toes:)

I finally got my December word bank done!  Snag it this afternoon through tomorrow night at a special "Firstie Friends" Gingerbread Hop:)  Plus you will be able to fill up on a ton of other goodies if you follow the gingerbread trail.

I don't know about you guys but I loaded up on some awesome goodies at the TPT sale this week!  Of course I loaded up on way more Melonheadz clip art then I should have!

 

I snagged a couple of awesome packs from Kristen Smith.  I love her products!!

 

I snagged this awesome Christmas literacy pack from Sarah Paul!  

I will be honest I own most of her store;)  She is fab!!

 

I finally finished my Fry Phrases fluency pack which I have been working on since this summer.  They were inspired by my blogging buddy Christina Wagers.  I have used her sight word passages to work on fluency for the a year now and have been very pleased with the results. I did a post about her awesome passages here. 

I needed something a little bit more challenging for my older students since I work with multiple grade levels so I have been working on using fry phrases to generate passages.  This pack can be used as a six week intervention but it usually takes me longer to feel like my students are ready to be tested on the passage.  I have found that "repeated readings" are a perfect researched based intervention for my students:) 

 My little guy is full of the Christmas spirit!  When he sees Christmas lights he says, "It is Christmas at that house!"  It definitely makes the holidays more fun to have a little elf full of cheer.  We got the house all decorated this week so that we could have Christmas at our house!  Yay!

 I hope everyone has an awesome Sunday!  Two weeks until Christmas break!!!  Yay!  I am excited to start some Christmas Around the World stuff this week.  I am pumped about my new interactive notebook pack from Lisa Richling.  I can't wait to use it.  What is your favorite holiday pack?  I would love to know;)

 

 Until next time,

Black Friday Sale!

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving full of lots of love and yummy food.  I'm dropping in real quick to tell you about an early bird sale happening tomorrow on Black Friday! I love a good sale, don't you?!  

In honor of Black Friday, I am joining a whole bunch of my blogging buddies, and putting my entire TPT store on sale on Friday, November 29!  I will be braving the Black Friday crowds myself to try and get a little bit of my shopping done.  Christmas is right around the corner:)  Plus my little guy turns 3 on the 9th of December.  I currently have zero presents purchased.  Wish me luck!

On Friday only, you can save 20% off of every single product!

If you choose to wait for Cyber Monday and Tuesday you'll receive an additional 10% off with the code CYBER, this is just an option for those of you who want to shop early so you can get it prepped for next week!

I am so thankful for all my bloggy friends!!  I hope everyone has a great holiday!!

Gobble........Gobble...A Thanksgiving Post

I enjoy teaching the kiddos about the Pilgrims and the 1st Thanksgiving.  I am a total sucker for themes.  One of my biggest frustrations as an intervention specialist is TIME!  I never have enough time get everything done that I would like to accomplish.  Unfortunately it seems to be a common problem for all teachers.

To begin:

Student's wrote their schema about the Pilgrims before we began our reading.  This chart is not that pretty but it works!! 

**Looks like we still need to take time to add our new learning to the chart:)  That is my favorite part.  I love it when students are pumped up about their learning!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of you know that I am a firm believer in using visuals when teaching concepts.  I believe our school psych calls it visual and verbal pairing of information.  I created vocabulary cards with visuals and definitions to accompany them to enhance my students learning.  The kids love to match the definitions to the correct word.

I get frustrated when I want to teach about a concept and I can't find material that the students can READ!  This year I decided to create three different levels of Thanksgiving books to use with my various groups.  Then I realized that I needed a sight word reader for my kinders so I created a fourth book. This way I can still get my kiddos to learn some factual information and also work on decoding skills.

Below are examples from the 4 different versions.

 

 

As with anything we read, written responses are a critical piece.  The students and I do a ton of oral discussion while we are read but I also require them to put it in writing to prove to me that they can put their responses on paper.

 

This pack is available you still need a little something for next week!

It is half off until after Thanksgiving!!

Also if you didn't get my updated Thanksgiving word wall pack and visual writing cards click the picture below.

The first 5 people to comment can get my newest Thanksgiving pack for FREE!

Welcome Fall.......with a Facebook Freebie Hop!!

I am teaming up with my Firstie Friends today to share some fun freebies with ya'll!  We have put together a little hop.  All you have to do is hop along our Facebook pages and pick up freebies as you go:)  Click the picture to get started hopping along the fall freebie trail!!!

A Blog Post just in time for HALLOWEEN!

Hello my friends!!  Today was my day to post on Teaching Blog Round Up!  I will admit I almost forgot but luckily I remembered just in time!  I decided to share some ideas about how I teach sight words in small groups!  Of course I would not let ya'll down and I included some FREEBIES!

Click the button below to check my post and snag your goodies!

 

Happy Halloween Everyone!