I'm joining Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop. Read all about what everyone is up to today!



Here's the scoop on my Sunday!

Don't forget tomorrow is the start of the TpT Cyber Monday sale. Receive 28% off in my TpT store by using the promo code SMILE. Learn about some new products I've listed by clicking HERE.

Enjoy your Sunday!
Get those TpT carts loaded and ready...Cyber Monday is right around the corner!


Check out several new items I've added to my store recently...

These Physical Science and Life Science Interactive Notebook packs offer many fun foldables to enhance your study of science. I've based these on the Florida 3rd grade science standards. Each set has not only foldables, but Think About It questions to use as a warm-up to the lesson. Check out the previews on TpT for a closer look!



Two products just added this weekend are December ELA Skill Cards and February ELA Skill Cards. (January is coming soon!) I've been in dire need of extra language arts practice for my kiddos. Their skills are weak and I find that daily practice is what they need to master these skills.

Each monthly themed set comes with 30 cards that can be used as a Scoot game, task cards for centers, a warm-up to an ELA lesson, or even morning work. I'm going to print out each page and project it on the board in the morning. My students will use the recording sheet to complete one page (6 tasks) per week. Use these with your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th graders. Every bit of practice helps!!
Go to my TpT for a closer look!



Don't forget to stop by Monday and Tuesday for 28% off all of my products! Use the code SMILE at checkout!!


Hello Friends!
I am so happy to be posting today! It's been FOR.E.VER!! Since the start of school, it's been one thing after the next! My son started high school. My daughter is in 7th grade. It's been endless homework, activities, carpools, etc. You know what I mean...taking care of the family is beyond a full-time job and pile that on top of school....whoa! Are you pulled in a million directions, too? What's your escape or how do you spend time on yourself? Leave a comment. I would love to hear!

Starting back with blogging is fun with Farley and her monthly Currently. Here is what I'm up to today!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog today. I appreciate it! I'm on Instagram and Facebook, too! Follow me and let's be social!

Please swing by my TpT store and check out my autumn products. You'll find some freebies, too! 

Enjoy your weekend!

If you haven't heard then WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? The TpT sale starts TOMORROW! August 3 & 4 my entire store will be marked down 20% and TpT is giving another 10% off with the code BTS15. It comes out to a 28% discount...don't ask me to do the math!

So get those carts filled up today and get ready to SHOP SHOP SHOP!

Check out my TpT store for BTS products and classroom decor that will get your school year off to an exciting start!

REMEMBER...leave feedback for products you have purchased and earn FREE money towards your purchase!

I am now in week 4 of this thing we call SUMMER VACATION! I'm just lovin' life. What am I doing? Not much of anything. Hanging out at home. Reading. Sunning. Beaching. Creating. Whatever the day brings I do!

Today I'm joining up with Jen from Teacher by the Beach for Wishlist Wednesday. Check it out!





























Today I am showcasing my We are Here Door Hangers. These are perfect for letting everyone know where you are when you're not in your classroom. This summer I gave this product a complete makeover. I love how they came out and I think you will too! Stop by my store today and pick these up at a discount July 1-3. Be sure to take a look at the preview and the list of 28 titles that are included in this adorable set.
I'm happy to be linking up with Cyndie from Chalk One Up for the Teacher for

Every Tuesday I'll be offering 2 products at a 50% discount just for the day! Since I'm late to the party today, I'll keep today's products on sale for the next 24 hours.
Today I'm offering two products you can start the year with. The first is my ABC Order Seasonal Printables pack. This set includes 10 printables for practicing ABC order throughout the school year.
Autumn Days is a product that includes 11 printables for fall. These will get your kids thinking outside the box and practicing ELA skills. Both are perfect for morning work or homework! Take a peek at the previews for a closer look! Enjoy!

Happy Hump Day! It's time to join Teacher by the Beach for another week of Wish List Wednesday!

Today I'm featuring a product that is fun and versatile! Reading Response Improv Cards will be a great addition to your reading time.
Your students will have the chance to demonstrate their understanding of the books and stories they are reading with these 36 improv cards. Hand these out to small groups or individuals. Use them as an assessment tool or as a brain break.
The kids will be SHOWING their understanding of books not just TELLING about the stories!
My students found these very challenging this year. They asked to do these over and over again!

Here is a sample page:

 I offer suggestions for using the cards, too!

I think you and your class will find these are a fun and different way to practice reading comprehension!

Grab them at 20% off in my TpT store for the next 24 hours! Check out my NonFiction Improv Cards too!


Thanks to Jen from Teacher by the Beach for hosting this cool summer linky. Every Wednesday I'll be highlighting one of my most wish listed products. I'll offer it to you at a discount, but just for the day! (Today I will keep this marked down for 24 hours since I got a late start on posting today.)


Today I'm featuring my Fraction Scoot. I love this game because it covers a variety of  skills that students need to know. Skills covered include finding missing numerators and denominators, writing fractions for the shaded and unshaded part of a shape, writing fractions in simplest form, and defining math terms. It's great for assessment, pretest/posttest, practice, or use as task cards at a math center. There are 32 cards (enough for the entire class), an answer sheet, and answer key.

Fraction Scoot sells for $3.00, but today it will be on sale for $2.00. A little more than a 30% savings.

I know you and your students will find this fun and educational!!
I am super excited to be a featured teacher over at Art with Jenny K. Learn how my students used nature to create works of art and pick up a little freebie.

Visit Jenny's TpT store, too. Her pop art is so much fun. The kids really have to think creatively on these projects! I love them and use them often! Jenny has inspired me and reminded me how important art integration is in the classroom! THANKS, JENNY!!


Ahhhh! It's the first official day of summer vacation! I am so looking forward to the next 10 weeks off! It's the first summer in a very long time that I am not working!  I was so super busy the last few months that I just haven't had time to share...better late than never, right?!

Here are some things that happened in my classroom the last few weeks of school.







Even after you have collected reading books, students can continue practicing research and reading skills. I created these author study books and they are great for the end of the year. You can choose the author to study or assign different authors to individuals or groups of students. Be sure to gather books by the author(s) for students to read and reflect on. Find this product HERE in my TpT store.

If you are still in school and looking for some fun end of the year/summer activities, check out more of my products HERE.

My Travel Journal and Hobby Time are also perfect to use after textbooks have been collected, but you still want to keep an academic atmosphere.


Enjoy the rest of the school year or the start of your summer vacation!

Hey everyone!! It's nice to be back and posting after a short absence! Things have been hectic this year, not to mention stressful. I just haven't had the drive or motivation to do much after school hours. I feel like I'm getting my mojo back though...maybe it's the excitement of summer coming or perhaps it's because our state test has come and gone. Either way...I'm here and ready to share a fantastic product with you all.

First, thanks to Melissa from Jungle Learners for connecting teachers and organizing another fabulous and fun Stop, Swap, and Roll party!

I feel so fortunate to have been partnered up with Carla over at Comprehension Connection for this swap party! She is the reading queen and teaching reading is one of my most favorite times of the day!
Carla has so many great products in her store to enhance literacy.  I'm really excited to tell you about how I used one of her newest products. It's called Building Poetry Pros. I choose this product because it went right along with what we were doing in our literacy time...studying poetry!


As you can see, it covers all of the figurative language devices that students need to practice for not only reading poetry, but writing it, too. It's a product after my own heart! Why? I love resources that allow flexibility. There isn't just one way to use it. That's the beauty of graphic organizers!

When I create products I like to give you a variety of ways to use the materials and when I purchase products I like to have that choice, too. This product does just that! 

I decided that my students would practice figurative language using picture books rather than poetry at first. (We had already read and written some poetry prior to this lesson.)  My plan was to start with similes, metaphors, alliteration, and hyperbole. So, I gathered some mentor text and printed out the organizers I would be using for the week. (I included a list of books at the end of this post.)

 The other part of this product that I love, besides the organizers, are the task cards and the anchor chart posters. The posters are clear and easy for my 3rd graders to understand. They have been up on my chart stand now for about a week and I've referred to them each time we met for a whole group lesson. I also like to use them to review the previous day's lesson, too. As we have been reading poems I've been using the tasks cards as a guide for me, using the questions during my whole group lessons and conferencing.
Here's how my lesson was structured. I started by choosing several mentor texts as models. I had the pages marked ahead of time that had similies (or whichever devices we were learning about). I did not read every book aloud from start to finish. I only read the page or part of the passage that had the example of figurative language. After spending time as a whole group discussing and practicing, I sent the kids off in partners with a book to read and a graphic organizer. The partners read together first then went back and used sticky notes to record the similies (or what ever device we were working onthat day). I was able to listen in to each group as they read and discussed what they found.
 After they finished their reading and recording, they took their similes to the graphic organizer. As you can see, they had to write the similie and tell what it looks like. They had the choice to draw the image in their mind or write about it. The organizers were put into their reader's notebooks as they finished.
 The next day I had the kids write similie poetry. It is a very simple format. Four line verses and each line starts with "I am as ______ as a ______." Each student wrote two stanzas. They could use similies they found in their books, ones they have heard, or try to make up their own.
We worked in a similar fashion for alliteration and hyperbole. (John Henry by Julius Lester was my mentor text for hyperbole. Tall tales are perfect for that!) The only difference was when I sent them off to work, each pair was given a copy of the poem "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" by Shel Silverstein. This poem is full of exaggerations and alliterations. Instead of using sticky notes they marked the text with colored pencils.


 After marking the text, they again took their examples to the graphic organizers. They did a really nice job showing me what they visiulaized!
Again they had the choice of drawing or writing about their visualizations.
























Our work is not done yet. Next week we will continue in the same way with metaphors and personification.

If you like what you see then please enter the Rafflecopter drawing for a chance to WIN Building Poetry Pros. You can also download a free mini lesson HERE and try it out with your class.

a Rafflecopter giveaway






Now hop on over to Carla's blog, Comprehension Connection to see her review of my product, Text Features Pack: Posters and Activities for Informational Text which is on sale until Monday, April 27th.


Check out the books I used in my classroom this week.

Teaching similies? Grab these books:
        






   

Check out these books for personification:
  


Mentor texts for metaphors include:
  


Stop by Jungle Learners to see other grade levels and swaps! There are lots of raffles going on, too!





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