Healthy Snack sign {printable}

Does your school have snacks provided? This is our first year of the Healthy Snack program and it is wonderful! The students get a snack three times a week. And though it may get a little sticky sometimes...

(pineapple is the worst!) it is so great to see the kids enjoying the healthy food...they just love it!

So I'm doing a quick little post (I just got on my computer and it is almost 10 o'clock at night! I am going through blog withdrawal!!!) and sharing this little sign--just in case your school does the same. Happy almost weekend!



Healthy Snack sign

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Consonant Blends Chart {printable}

I had so much fun making this chart this weekend!! I just realized this past week that some of my students would really benefit from such a visual this year.

We were working on one of our spelling lists and consonant blends came up in our word study...

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THANK YOU!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

I want to say thank you (and thank you again if I managed to catch you the first time!) for the lovely comments and thoughtful nominations for these great honors:

I have had a horrendous time with balancing everything lately and I am so sorry if I did not thank you immediately the first time...it's not like me and I hope that things will calm down soon so I can be a better blogger again.

Each of these awards is so meaningful to a blogger. I feel so fortunate to be thought of in these categories and have to smile, because I wouldn't really be in such a position if it weren't for the many, MANY other blogs I read. I do have my blogroll on the sidebar, featuring hundreds of bloggers who continually inspire and motivate me. I wanted to share it here as well (actually learned how to from this article!).

Thank you for everything again...I can't imagine teaching without the collaboration within this community, it's been nothing short of amazing.

Stay tuned for a new file this evening...hopefully it will serve as a thank-you to some! :)

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Mentor Text Book Bins {printable}

Hey everyone!! I am missing you all in blogland so much lately. School has been beyond busy (does it seem even busier than usual this year?). I feel like things just might be starting to settle down. Knock on wood!

So, back to blogwork...these labels to the left are for my mentor text bins.

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Functional decor with dry erase sheets!

I bought these little dry erase sheets this summer thinking I could print on them (because it does say you can!) BUT I did not read carefully and missed the fact it was for laser printers--not ink ones. But no matter, I have found some helpful uses for these little guys...

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New Word Detectives book {printable}

This is an oldie-but-goodie that has made such a big difference in my class. The original idea came from the wonderful Mrs. Patton over at Patton's Patch, and she graciously let me share a similar format last year.

We used Word Detectives as a word collection tool last year (you can read more about it in Word Detectives Part I and Part II).

It became such a hit with my students that I knew I wanted to take it even further this year.

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A Linky Party to Like (actually Love!!)

The fabulous Lesson Plan Diva (love her blog's name!) is having a linky party to share out Facebook Pages. She even has them organized by grade levels, which is such a wonderful idea!

My Facebook page can be found by clicking the icon to the left or...

you can always access it by the button found in my sidebar, below my blogroll:

I love having a Facebook page for my blog...it really is ideal for the readers who are huge Facebook fans and has helped my blog increase its page views. I'm always adding other blogs to my wall and I would love to see yours, so head on over to The Lesson Plan Diva and join the party!!!

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Mentor Text Labels {printable}

Our mentor texts for Reader's and Writer's Workshops have arrived (yay!).

Since I have books for 4th and 5th grade, I wouldn't even open the packages until I had labels for them--I would so mix them up in a heartbeat!

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Reader's & Writer's Workshop Routines

We launched our Reader's and Writer's Workshops this week and it has been going very well! Our district is following the First 30 Days from America's Choice right now (anyone else doing this?) and I'm also using strategies from the Daily 5 for Reading, as I have in the past.

Since we are an ELL magnet classroom, I must make many adaptations to the curriculum to ensure my students' understanding, while trying to follow it as closely as possible. This hasn't been too bad so far, as the routine-building portion is ideal for my newcomer students, as with many other students in the mainstream classes.

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Word Wizard book {printable}

Aaaaa! I have missed talking to you all so much!! Like many others, I have been crazy busy with our first week of school. It has been the best--I just love my class!!!

But now it is my favorite part of the week...prepping for next week! And right now, the focus is on a new way to manage spelling for this year...

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Reading, Writing, & Math letters {printable}

This is one of those projects I've been meaning to do all summer, but time has gotten away from me! We just had our first day of school on Friday (it felt weird to go back for one day only!)...

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