Teacher Appreciation Gifts For YOU!

Wow, it's May already and my favorite week of the school year.... Teacher Appreciation Week! Teaching is a lot more than just hanging out with kids all day. You are one of the most important people in your students' lives and you work hard to make a difference! So THANK YOU for all that you do.

To show my appreciation for my fellow teachers, I've got some awesome surprises for you!

And last but not least... don't miss out on the Teachers Pay Teachers special TEACHER APPRECIATION SALE!!! Click the image to visit my store for 28% off of everything (even my big, already discounted bundles!)...

Have a wonderful week!!

5 Back-To-School Tips For Teachers

1. Plan dinners for the first week back at school. - Okay, so that's kind of obvious, I know. But here's the real tip... Come up with five easy meals (Sunday through Thursday) that will also be great for leftovers the next day. Then you also have lunch for the entire first week! Getting up early for school is traumatic enough after a summer's worth of sleeping in. Having to make lunch too just adds to the pain. One of my favorite leftover meals is King Ranch Chicken. It's probably not the healthiest thing in the world but it is EASY and delicious (plus my kids like it and it's cheap.... BONUS). Here's the recipe I use: King Ranch Chicken. To make it even faster and easier, I cheat and buy a rotisserie chicken from the deli (shh...don't tell anyone).


2. Put together your school "emergency kit". - What? Like for fire drills? No, that's not what I'm talking about. I keep a small tote bag in my closet full of little things I might need: aspirin, safety pins, deodorant (yeah, it's HOT down here in Florida!), mascara, mouthwash (for those really long days like Open House night), an extra house key, extra sunglasses, Tide-To-Go stain remover, and the all-important emergency chocolate bar. I usually have a pair of flip-flops in there too for when my shoes start to hurt or when I stay after school for awhile.


3. Take a trip to Walmart. - Okay, I'm the first to admit announce that I hate Walmart. I seriously detest the place. In fact, I will happily pay 20% more just to shop somewhere else. However, there is one time I will venture into the depths of Hell-mart... back to school time. Here's why: When the kids bring in 80 packs of those super cheap pencils or several dozen paper pocket folders without prongs, Walmart will let you exchange them without a receipt (as long as they aren't Office Depot brand or something). Now, if you're anything like me, you will end up with an entire shopping cart full of unwanted supplies. So, I strongly suggest that you either call ahead or better yet, go in and talk to the manager while wearing your school badge in a prominent spot. Explain the dilemma of receiving so many unwanted supplies and how it would be so beneficial to your students to be able to exchange them for things they actually need. I've never been turned down.


4. Use your phone in class. - No, do not text your husband ten times to say how you wish summer had been just a month or two longer. You know how easy it is to get off schedule the first few days of school? How many times have you been deep in discussion about reporting vs. tattling only to discover that special area started 10 minutes ago? It happens! So before the first day of school, set your phone to alert you to those transition times.


5. Create new student bags. - One of the most disruptive things to an otherwise smooth school day is a new student coming in. Not that I don't like new students, but if I'm not prepared, my day goes completely off track. A good way to keep things rolling is to prepare a bunch of "new student bags". These include all of the essentials that I normally give students during the first couple days of school: homework folder, supply list, parent letter, student info sheet, folders for reading and math, desk tag, etc. When the new student arrives, I pull out a bag and everything is there. What a lifesaver!

So those are my 5 best back-to-school tips for teachers! Don't forget to stop by my TpT store for the BIG HUGE Back To School Sale on Monday and Tuesday. Everything will be 28% off including:

Don't forget to grab this freebie for all of those kids who speeeeeed through their work...

Enjoy!

Christmas In July!

Christmas is my favorite time of year but it's oh so far away! Luckily, you can enjoy a little bit of the holiday season right here in the middle of July. I've joined in with a group of awesome TpT sellers to bring you an extra special (HUGE) sale on July 13th and 14th. Everyone participating will have four of their best sellers or bundles marked down up to 60% off PLUS there will be a ton of flash freebies available only during the sale!!

To find all of the resources included in the sale, hop on over to TpT and type #Christmasinjuly into the search bar.

Here are the items I've chosen for my sale:

My freebie will be one of my awesome (if I do say so myself) interactive comprehension booklets:

But remember, these will only be available July 13th and 14th. Be sure to also visit some of these other sellers who will also have incredible Christmas In July sales going on:

An InLinkz Link-up

Fa-La-La Freebies

I'm linking up with Primary Powers to bring you some awesome holiday freebies! We all know how hard the days leading up to winter break can be. The kids are all n-u-t-t-y, right? Here are a few fun activities to keep them learning despite the Christmas Crazies.

This is a writing activity for targeted towards primary grades. Santa's reindeer are on strike. Students will think of another animal that can take their place pulling Santa's sleigh. A Venn diagram is included to compare and contrast the two animals as well as a graphic organizer for planning a persuasive writing piece. Your students will then write a persuasive letter to Santa using the included letter writing template. Just click the picture to download from my TpT store.

This freebie is a hands-on math center to help students practice sorting odd and even numbers. Just choose a cookie and decide which cookie sheet it belongs on - odd or even? This activity focuses on two-digit numbers.

This activity is just plain fun! Students decorate the Christmas tree based on their answers about themselves. Once complete, the tree pictures make a cute holiday bulletin board or window display.

I hope you enjoy these freebies and have a stress-free, not-too-crazy last few days of school! Be sure to click the linky button at the top to find more holiday goodies for your class.

Close Reading? Nah, Not Today!

As most of you know, I am a math teacher at heart. I just love teaching my students how to tackle a problem, fit all the pieces together, and make sense of numbers. When the math light goes on, it's a wonderful thing!

But alas, I must still teach reading. Not that I don't LOVE to read. A good book is actually one of my favorite things. What I do NOT love, however, is close reading. What?!! Did I just say that? Will the School Board Gods strike me down for uttering such blasphemy? Cover your eyes, don't look!

The main reason I dislike close reading is because my students dislike it. Our reading lessons used to be fun, full of personal connections and enjoying the author's words. Close reading often feels like pulling teeth. I fully understand the need to dive deep into the text but can't it be a little bit fun...sometimes? I'm really not sure where they got the idea that close reading means 3 separate reads of the same long, tedious text. Who really reads like that? Here's a great article on the effective use of close reading:

International Reading Association

The big problem I'm seeing is that we spend so much time dissecting text and looking at minute details (like why the author's choice of this one word could change the course of history) that the children are forgetting the big ideas... main idea, theme, moral, and personally connecting to what you've read. Summarizing and retelling? Forget it.

So this week I've broken the shackles of close reading! That's right... I'm not doing it. I feel like a crazy rebel, a lunatic who escaped the loony bin. Instead, we are SUMMARIZING!

This is a skill my students really struggle with. They want to give every single detail or include minor points instead of the most important ones. I tried using index cards and post-its, telling them they could only write what would fit on the card. They just wrote really small. So today I gave them a graphic organizer with guiding questions along with a passage about the Puritans. I had them read it to themselves...once. Then we worked on answering the questions using phrases and words rather than complete sentences (as in taking notes). Finally, they used those notes to write a summary in paragraph form. Here is what we used...

You can download a copy for yourself HERE.

Guess what... Their summaries were beautiful. They got the main point of the text. They understood why the Puritans needed to leave England. Who cares that the text wasn't the most complex? Next time, I'll make it a little harder. Today reading wasn't something to moan and groan about. Today they felt successful. 

Another Classroom Freebie

What a sad little blogger I am! Apparently I can't deal with school and blogging at the same time. I have managed to start three different posts this week. Where are they, you ask? Well...in my drafts folder all lonely and heartbroken that they haven't made it to the big time yet.

I really will get the finished SOON. In the meantime, here's another little freebie to help your school year get off to a good start...

I give out this homework pass whenever a student gets 100% on a math or reading test. They LOVE getting a "cupcake card" and I love rewarding them for hard work. If you'd like to use them with your class, just click on the picture above to be taken to my TpT store where you can download it for free.

Back to School Freebie

Tomorrow starts the third week of school for us. My plan was to loop up with my class and have tons of free time since they already know what to do and we could skip all of the getting-to-know-you stuff. Well, all of that has happened except for the tons of free time part. What is up with the first month of school? Seriously...should it be this exhausting? Look, I'm so tired I couldn't even think of a good title for this post. So, let's just get to it...

Here is a back-to-school freebie for all of my fellow exhausted teachers. Enjoy!

If you haven't started back to school yet, I wish you a great first week! Don't forget to hop on over to Classroom Freebie for more...classroom freebies!

Happy Easter...and a Freebie

I hope everyone has a beautiful Easter day! I woke up to the nice surprise of seeing my Jumpin' Jellybeans game in TpT's weekly newsletter. In case you didn't see it, you can download it from my store. It's a fun, small-group game for practicing multiplication facts. Just click on the picture to get it.

 

 Have a wonderful day!

Unwrap Your Holiday Freebies!!

How would you like to get 50 free resources for your classroom? I know I would! For the third year in a row, Teachers Pay Teachers has put out a Winter Holidays Tips and Freebies Book. It includes holiday teaching tips and products from 50 different sellers. This book is completely free to anyone who wants it. All you have to do is go download it and enjoy.

There are actually 4 different books to choose from...
  
   

I am pleased and honored to have been included in the Grades 1-2 book with my Reindeer On Strike! Writing Activity...

Go get your freebies now! They're free for a limited time. All you have to do is click on any of the pictures above.