And the winner is....

I finally picked a winner (I'm a little late..ooops!)  for my 100 follower give away! Thank you to all of you who entered and to all of you who follow my blog.

And the winner is....

Allie from The Gypsy Teacher.

If you don't already follow her, stop on by and tell her I sent you. :) I will be emailing you shortly, Allie!

Hope you all had a happy, Wednesday! We're over the hump....

2 more days...

   2 more days.....

More Tangram Fun .... And Last Chance for a Giveaway!

Happy Monday! Hope you had a good one! Mine ran fairly smoothly but I am exhausted tonight. Not a good sign since it is ONLY Monday!

Anyway, I wanted to share a fun activity we worked on this morning.

I blogged about using tangrams HERE, and we continued the fun this week with this fun vocabulary tangram puzzle:

I used the tangram template from Laura Candler's freebie back. Then I wrote the geometry vocabulary words and their definitions on the tangram pieces. The kids put the tangram puzzle together with their partners and discovered the meanings of  the vocabulary words for the week.

They then recorded the meaning and drew an example of each word in their math journals. It was a fun quick project. The kids were challenged and really enjoyed working with the tangrams!

I was inspired by this pin:

(Source)

In other news, I will be drawing a winner for my 100 follower giveaway tomorrow. If you haven't done so already, enter NOW!!!

I will be giving away a $30 Target gift card. Think about all of the damage you could do at the dollar spot with $30 dollars. :)

To Enter: 
-Follow my blog and leave a comment w/your email address saying that you are a follower....
-If you are already a follower, you can play, too!  Just leave me comment telling me that you already follow my blog.
-Don't forget to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

Ends tomorrow! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks so much for entering! :) 

100 Follower GIVEAWAY

Hi all! This post will be short and sweet.  I just wanted to remind you to enter my 100 follower giveaway!


I will be giving away a $30 Target gift card. Think about all of the damage you could do at the dollar spot with $30 dollars. :)

To Enter: 
-Follow my blog and leave a comment w/your email address saying that you are a follower....
-If you are already a follower, you can play, too!  Just leave me comment telling me that you already follow my blog.
-Don't forget to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

Drawing ends  next Tuesday (Feb. 26th)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks so much for entering! :) 

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Five on Friday

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five on Friday Linky (and I'm actually on time this week!). 

1) Tangram Fun! 

We had lots of fun with Laura Candler's Tangram Polygon Exploration freebie. It was really fun to see the kiddos working and thinking with shapes in new ways. The best part was seeing them work together and help each other meet each challenge. 

I love the paper tangram templates. Such an easy low tech way to create manipulatives. I printed mine on astrobrights paper and laminated. Easy-peezy! 

I also downloaded this fun app for the high tech version. The kids loved this one too! :) 

We have a few more activities with our tangrams next week and while I was searching for ideas on pintrest I found this gem! 

(Source)

How fun is that! I'd love to attempt this for a fun snack for my students.....we'll see if it happens....

(The picture links you too a great blog with lots of other great ideas with tangrams, too!) 

2) Yummy Soup

On the home front, I am trying to cook more meals at home. I tried this crock pot soup this week and it was super yummy and super easy! 

It is from 365saysofcrockpot.com. If you haven't already, go check it out. So many great recipes on my "to try" list! 

3) Pizza! Pizza! 

Our admin had a pizza party to celebrate the students who improved their benchmark grades. There was lots of extra pizza left over for the teachers....it's the little things that make this teacher happy! :) 

4) Astrobirghts Everything

I love this paper and cardstock! I even just found sentence strips in astrobright colors t Michale's, Live, love, love! 

5) Cheap, comfy, cute shoes! 

I love these Payless flats. They are the comfiest flats I own....even better than my more expensive pairs. I own four different colors and I think I'm gonna swing for this black and white pair this weekend. So cute! 

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway! 

To Enter: 
-Follow my blog and leave a comment w/your email address saying that you are a follower....
-If you are already a follower, you can play, too!  Just leave me comment telling me that you already follow my blog.
-Don't forget to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

Drawing ends  next Tuesday (Feb. 26th)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks so much for entering! :)

Enjoy your weekend, teacher friends! 

The important things about a blog is that...

you can share lots of ideas.

Some are old and some are new.

You meet new people and collaborate.

You become a better teacher.

But the important thing about a blog is that you can share lots of ideas.

Now I know that this idea would fall into the "old idea" category but I had forgotten about using the Important Book  and thought that you might have forgotten about it, too....or  maybe it is even new to you.

Anyway, the basic premise of the idea is to use Margaret Wise Brown's classic, The Important Book, as a model for your students' writing. I love using important books in my classroom. 

Here are some ways that we've used in our class: 

-Summarizing chapters in a novel 

"The important thing about Chapter Three is that Nana comes to visit....." 

-Writing our own nonfiction texts in content areas
"The important thing about your heart is that it pumps blood to your body...."
-Writing special books about classmates 
"The important thing about Stephanie is that she is a great friend...."

This is a great template to use when you want your students to work on main idea and detail.  It is a great tool to use when you are working with struggling writers. The format is structured so that everybody is successful. Whenever we write an Important Book we always have an author's read aloud. The best part is that my kiddos are always so darn proud of their important books. Love it! 

For your free Important book template click HERE.

Also, don't forget about my 100 Follower Giveaway!!!!

I will be giving away a $30 Target gift card. Think about all of the damage you could do at the dollar spot with $30 dollars. :)

I really hope they have the gift card in the image above available! It is so cute! 

To Enter: 
-Follow my blog and leave a comment w/your email address saying that you are a follower....
-If you are already a follower, you can play, too!  Just leave me comment telling me that you already follow my blog.
-Don't forget to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

Drawing ends  next Tuesday (Feb. 26th)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks so much for entering! :)

Well, I am off to school now! Nothing like a little early morning blogging. :)
Happy Wednesday! 

Five on Friday (Super Late!) and a GIVEAWAY!

Well, I'm finally linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the February 15th edition of this weekly linky.

I'm getting later and later with this linky! Oy vey! But better late then never....

1) M&M's and Math 
Candy always makes math a little more fun! We completed this fun activity from Teacher's Resource Room during our math block on Valentine's Day.

 

 Each student received several m&m's. They then had to sort their baggie by color and determine the percent, fraction and decimal of each color. For example, 5 out of the 25 m&m's are red, which can be written as a fraction 5/25 or 1/5 are red or written as a percent, 20%,  or  decimal, 0.20.

Such a fun way to reinforce decimals, fractions and percents! Click on the picture to purchase your own copy (only $1.00). This would make math on an ordinary day really exciting...plus now all of the Valentine's day candy is on super sale! :)

2) "My Life as a Raindrop"

On Friday we wrapped up our water cycle mini unit with some creative writing. Each student  wrote a story entitled "My Life as a Raindrop". They had to incorporate our vocabulary words into their story (condensation, evaporation, collection, precipitation, and water cycle). They had so much fun with this assignment and had me cracking up when they shared their stories! :)

We used the sweet image above for inspiration! It is from mycutegraphics.com.


3) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 

We dove into this book on Wednesday. So far the kids are loving it! :) I'm busy working on some activities that go along with the book today. So many possibilities with this book! Now to FOCUS my energy!


4) Cupcakes

How cute are these cupcakes?!?!?! 

There is a new food truck called "Sweet Treats" that just popped up in my neighborhood. (Are food trucks popping up in your area too, or is this just a Bay Area thing???)

Anyway,  it parks right next to Target. Uh-Oh....I see a lotta cupcakes and extra lbs in my future!

Speaking of Target....


5) A Giveaway 
As promised, I am throwing a giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers! Wohoo! I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to all of my follower so...

I will be giving away a $30 Target gift card. Think about all of the damage you could do at the dollar spot with $30 dollars. :)

To Enter: 
-Follow my blog and leave a comment w/your email address saying that you are a follower....
-If you are already a follower, you can play, too!  Just leave me comment telling me that you already follow my blog.
-Don't forget to leave your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner.

Drawing ends  next Tuesday (Feb. 26th)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks so much for entering! :) 

Now, I'm off to catch up on all things school work and housework ! I was away for the weekend visiting my mommy at the beach. So relaxing! But now I have a lot to catch up on! I hope you are all enjoying your long weekend, too! :)

More youtube finds!

Happy Sunday! I hope you are all enjoyed your weekend. The weather looks pretty crazy back east...hope you are all safe and warm if you are in the path of the snowstorm.

In other news, I am officially at 100 followers! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am planning some sort of a celebration soon. Stay tuned....

I love using youtube with my class! I've already blogged about some of my favorite finds HERE but I wanted to share my newest finds with you all today.

I love to use youtube as a way to reinforce topics with a catchy tune. It doesn't take much time to throw these into a lesson and the kids are always begging me to play them again and again and again....Plus those little songs (and their concepts!)  get stuck in everyone's head. We learned a song about dividing fractions last week and it has been in my head ALL day!!! I hope that it's stuck in my kiddos' heads too.

Here are the songs we used last week:

Dividing Fractions

An oldie but a goodie.....

This Integer Rap is on the books for Monday....

What are your favorite videos to use in class??? I posted about some other favs HERE. 

Have a great week!

Five on Friday (a little late :) )

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for another round of Five on Friday. Yes, I know I am a little late! Whoops!

1) Facebook Character Activity 

We just finished one of  my all time favorite books, Because of Winn-Dixie. I seriously L-O-V-E that book.

 There are so many interesting characters in the novel so I really wanted to do some sort of character project. I had seen some really cute projects using Twitter or Facebook formats and found this FREE template on freeology.com. 

(Click on the Picture to download your own copy) 

My kids really worked hard on their profile sheets! I wish I would have snapped a few pics but I didn't. They were also pretty impressed that I knew some FB lingo. :) 

2) Because of Winn-Dixie Party 

At the end of Because of Winn-Dixie, all of the characters get together for a big party. On Friday we recreated the party in our classroom. The kids decorated their desks with streamers and  we had pickles, "Dump Punch" (orange juice and 7up), Litmus Lozenges and brownies. (In the book they had egg salad sandwiches but I did not have access to a fridge so I subbed brownies....the kids didn't seem to mind. :) ) 

Then we watched the movie version. I have to say I really prefer the book over the movie but it was a still a nice way to end our week and wrap up our novel. 

3) Assessment/Data Binders are D-O-N-E! (Thank goodness!) 

This year we are implementing assessment binders at my school. We turn them into our administrators every 8 weeks to be reviewed. Ours were due Friday. I'm so glad to get rid of those binders for awhile!!  Don't get me wrong, in some ways I really see the benefit and like the idea but they are a lot of work! 

4) Mani 

Okay, okay enough about school...it is the weekend after all! I am also in love with my new mani. It is pintrest inspired and basically looks like this: 

(SOURCE) 

Except my heart is dark pink. The pin is a tutorial but I am the worst manicurist ever so I treated myself with a trip to the nail salon. I never get my nails done because I just can't justify spending the money but I splurged this morning and I am so happy I did. :) It's the little things! 

5) Story of my LIFE: 

 

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! Now I am off to blog stalk.......

PS I am at 98 followers. If your not following yet please clickity -clackity  on the followers button. Pretty, pretty please! :) 

Black History Month & Poetry

I've been blog stalking this evening and drooling over all of the fun stuff everybody picked up in the Super Bowl Sale. It looks like everybody won big (everybody except my bandwagon team! Wah!). 

I loaded up on a bunch of fun stuff too. One of my favorite finds is this gem from Barb at It's About Time Teachers.

I had pinned this a while back and was so happy when I actually got around to purchasing it during the TPT sale. It is packed with so many great activities! I love that I can work it into my ELA block but it also meets social studies standards too. 

(Click on the picture to buy your own copy) 

Of course it is perfect since we are just beginning Black History Month, but it is doubly exciting for me because we are also in the middle of our poetry unit! I'm so excited to introduce this pack next week! 

Over the weekend I also found this amazing book and my favorite neighborhood  bookstore. 

I am seriously in love with this book!!! The poems are wonderful and the illustrations are great! Plus it came with a CD with many of the poems read aloud....some by the poet. I love the diverse poets in this book from Langston Hughes to Tupac.  My kids are going to go crazy over this! 

Now I just have to find away to fit it all in....between Valentine's Day, President's Day and midyear assessments. Why are so many things crammed into the shortest month of the year????

Currently and Super Bowl Fun

Hello and happy Super Bowl Eve! I am linking up with the amazing Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade.

 Click on over and link up too!

I came down with a bug Wednesday and by Friday my voice was totally gone. I have been spending today in recovery mode.

After a day lazing around the house, I am now getting ready for a little late night Walmart shopping spree. (Such is the glamorous life of an elementary school teacher!) 

I'm in search of a 49er's gear and craft supplies.  Now I am NOT a sports fan but I do  live in the San Francisco Bay Area so I am jumping on the 49er's bandwagon....just like I jumped on the Giants bandwagon when they one the World Series....I know you sports fans look down on that kind of behavior but that is just how I roll. 

 I also need to grab some goodies for Valentine's Day crafts and science lessons for the week. I was afraid to brave the crowds today (see the above pet peeve: traffic) so night time shopping it is....

Before I go I wanted to share one of  my all time favorite recipes for Super Bowl or any other party (it's nice enough for bridal showers and holiday dinners, too!). Now I am not a chef by any means but this recipe is easy and yummy too. It is originally from Pampered Chef but every time I need it I just call my mama! She's made it so many times that she has it memorized. 

Cheesy Artichoke Triangles Squares

Makes 24 servings

2 packages (8-ounce each) refrigerated crescent rolls

2 packages (8-ounce each) cream cheese, softened

1 cup (4 ounces) fresh Parmesan cheese, grated, divided

2 eggs

2 teaspoons lemon pepper seasoning mix, divided

1 can (14-ounce) artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped

1 garlic clove, pressed

2 plum tomatoes, sliced

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, snipped

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Separate dough into 4 long rectangles. Press rectangles to make a crust in the bottom of an ungreased 15-x-10-x-1-inch pan, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Press crust up sides of pan. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.

2. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of the grated cheese to the batter, then eggs and 1 teaspoon of the lemon pepper. Blend well. Add artichokes and garlic to cream cheese mixture and mix well. Spread evenly over baked crust. Thinly slice tomatoes and arrange over filling. Toss parsley with remaining Parmesan and sprinkle evenly over filling.

 Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool 10 minutes before cutting into 12 squares, then cutting squares in half to make 24 triangles. Serve warm.

Note: Your supposed to cut these into petite little triangles, but when it comes to food me and my mama are on the same page. Ain't nobody got time for that! We cut these cheesy wonders into large rectangles and chow down. :) However, you decide to cut them, I'm sure you'll like them! :) 

These are seriously the best things. EVER. 

I hope you all enjoy your Super Bowl weekend!