Tag Time!

That girl looks kind of like she's running, right?? Or, at least, it's a pretty close representation of me running. Slowly. I'm not lazy, I swear!! I love to walk...just not run!

But I do love games. I'm a teeny bit competitive (or a lot, as my sister says). And even though I'm always a bit shy to share personal stuff on my blog, my very good friend Ms. M made me feel empowered to do so! Plus, the two sweetest girls tagged me: my lovely pal Kelley over at Buggy for Second Grade and a new friend Mrs. S over at Stapler's Strategies. Thanks ladies!!

(read more)

Snowflake Syllables Game {printable}

Helllooo...I've missed being on the blogs so much! I set aside a whole chunk of time last night to work on this post...I was so excited to be blogging again!

But then I somehow closed out my tab WITHOUT saving my almost-totally-written post!!! Could you hear me screaming "noooooo!!!" from across blogland?? It's ok though...my time was well spent reading all of your lovely blogs!

(read more)

Lattice Math Graphic Organizers {printable}

Hey everyone! I mentioned last night that my class is working on lattice multiplication right now, as one way to solve multi-digit multiplication problems. That's why I needed that new Multiplication and Division Chart.

The lattice method is something that is covered in both 4th and 5th grade Everyday Math. And it is a strategy that works so well for my students. Have you used this method before? I'm sure many of you have!

To help my students acquire this new (to them) strategy, I made a series of graphic organizers for note-taking.

(read more)

Sweet Facts! {printable}

Hello there, my teachybloggy friends! I have something new to share this evening that I really hope you can use in your own classrooms.

We have done extensive work with multiplication facts using charts this year. We have identified patterns, located facts we already know, highlighted the chart for ease of use, everything I could think of. It was going so well until...

(read more)

Be gone, Clutter!

Happy Friday!!! I'm linking up with Jodi over at Clutter-Free Classroom this evening. If you haven't seen her blog yet, you must run over there now! Not only does she have the most wonderful ideas and tips, Jodi is also orchestrating a major clutter-busting battle!

Sooo...

(read more)

Genre Board {printable}

Hey guys! I just shared a couple of signs recently that I made for the genre board we are required to do for our Writer's Workshop...this is a continuation of that post.

The genre board is pretty cool. We display some features of the genre, mentor texts, rubrics, and samples of writing.

(read more)

Video Tutorial: Threaded Comments

Have you heard the news about threaded comments yet?? I first learned about it over at Jill's Marvelous Mutliagers (be sure to check out her blog, she is so upbeat and inspiring!).

Soooo...


This is a feature that should show up after you complete a couple of steps...you can see the basic steps in the article Jill links up here: Threaded Commenting!!!

(read more)

Decluttering and downsizing materials!

Happy Friday!! Today we had an unexpected two hour delay and it worked out so nicely for my decluttering plans! I finally committed to getting rid of the materials you see to the left. :)

I got in early (well, not too early, I have to admit I did sleep in a bit!) and started sorting through my files.

(read more)

Generating Questions Graphic Organizer {printable}

This is a file I made awhile back when we first started our Report of Information study in Writer's Workshop. One of the first lessons was on building background and asking questions about a topic of research.

So I made these simple graphic organizers for my ELL students to brainstorm questions about their topics (they are writing reports on animals). The students worked in pairs to generate questions together. Then, they stored them in their folders, so they could add to the list as they thought of new questions.

I didn't realize at the time just how helpful these graphic organizers would be!

(read more)

Signs to share and some new fonts! {printable}

Hi everyone! This evening, we stayed after school for a little "make and take" workshop (don't you just love those?!). We are currently working on our "genre boards" for Writer's Workshop (we're following America's Choice...anyone else??). Anyhow, it was awesome! I got to lug my trusty Mac and do what I normally do at home. Make signs. Except this was way more focused since I was at a workshop and couldn't obsessively check the blogs in between making signs, like I always do at home. So I finished my work way faster!

Lesson learned? Probably not!!

(read more)

Sneak peek of my new blog!!!

Ok, it's a bit rough around the edges--but I've been dying to share my new blog with you guys!! I decided awhile back to move my blog designs to a new site...

(read more)

Student Information Sheet {printable}

Hi! This is kind of a continuation of a previous post on some New Student Organization I use.

As I mentioned last time, I work with a very transient population.

And I found out many of you do as well! So I hope this is something that may be of use to you. :)

(read more)

Clutterfree Classroom Project {Before Pictures--ugh!}

Happy Friday!! I hope your first days back went well! :)

Sooo...have you seen Jodi's oh-so-fabulousl Clutterfree Classroom Project yet??

This girl's got it all figured out...she has set up helpful posts, freebies, and a weekly linky party to help everyone declutter their classrooms! And I need to do this.

(read more)

New student organization for a new year

This is an oldie from last year, but I had to share it again (with an updated sign, of course!) because it has worked out to be a total lifesaver! You can see the original post if you'd like here (I've been working on improving my photography skills this year, can you see any difference? Ha! Probably not, just humor me!).

(read more)

Some things you won't want to miss!

Happy New Year once again!!

I am back to share some things going on around the blogs that you cannot miss!! I am so excited about all of them :)

Ok, in bloggy alphabetical order, we have...

(read more)

Giveaway Winners and Numbering Comments Tutorial!

Happy New Year!!! Thank you so much to all those who entered the blog design giveaways! Here are the winning names...

Congratulations ladies! I will be in touch shortly to get those designs uploaded!

I also wanted to share a little tutorial from this past spring, since there are so many new bloggers out there: Numbering Comments Video Tutorial (it makes it much easier when announcing those winning entries!!). I hope this can help you in your next giveaway, if you don't have numbered comments yet.

Happy New Year!!! :)

(read more)