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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Weather Posters & A Sale

One of my favorite units to teach about is coming up in March - weather!  There's so much to teach about - the water cycle, hurricanes, tornados, clouds, etc.

Usually I rely on books to show students the real images of weather.  Sometimes I'm left scrambling to pull something up on my TV to show students the differences between clouds.

Enter in....



Here are a few glimpses of what's in the packet.





You can find the posters HERE.  

If you follow me on Instagram (polkadotfirsties) you can see when I post new items.  All new items will be 50% off for the first 24 hours.

I'm sure you've heard about the TPT sale tomorrow.  My entire store will be 20%.  I always want to see what other teachers have in their cart because I find new sellers and new stuff I must have!


Here are my top 3 resources I'll be picking up!


I stumbled across Science for Kids' store while searching for some science related lessons.  I have to admit I don't like teaching science.  It's not my thing, but the kids always love it.  I need serious help in this area!


If you have to teach regrouping in any way, GET THIS PACKET.  Actually, buy the bundle.  I bought the addition with regrouping one and it changed my life.  Inside are pictures of anchor charts that you can recreate for your classroom.  It is really broken down step-by-step.  I have to teach this concept to first graders for the first time 4 years ago and I cringe to think how confusing it was.  I wish I had this packet then!


My student need more practice with text features and this looks like an amazing packet.  

Well, that's my top 3!

Want to see what other teachers are putting in their cart?  Check out these other blogs!




Sunday, February 15, 2015

Bossy AR & President's Day Freebies

I've been in such a rut planning my Reader's Workshop block.  There is just so much to squeeze in!  The last few weeks I definitely have fallen into handing out way more printables instead of creating engaging activities.

All of the sudden the creating bug hit me.  (On a Friday night!)  Our phonics skill for next week is r-controlled vowels, specifically /ar/ words.  We've all seen the pirate activities (and I'm still going to do a few of those), but a story about Karate Karmen popped into my head.





I also made an "I Have, Who Has?" game and a Word Hunt plus a few pages of printables.





Every time I add a new item to my store, it will be 50% off for the first 24 hours!  Right now Bossy /AR/ {Games, Posters, & Printables} is only $2!! It'll stay that way until I get up tomorrow morning.


Be sure to follow my TPT store, so you are notified when I add something new.  I'll also post on Instagram (user name: polkadotfirsties).


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How many of you have President's Day off?  I was so surprised to find that not all teachers have the day off tomorrow.  I'm sorry!!!  I'm already dreading the month of March because we don't get a single day off. 

A few years ago, I created an free Presidential ABC order.  Click the picture or link at the bottom of the picture to download.



I also made 3 Presidential posters and posted them for free in my TPT store.  They included George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama.






Friday, February 13, 2015

Five for Friday: 2/13/15


I haven't linked up with anything in a long time and I thought this was the perfect week to get back into the swing of things! 



My favorite holiday to celebrate at school is Valentine's Day.  There's not an official party.  We just pass out our Valentine's and eat a special snack.  




All the girls flocked to this little boy's Valentine box.  The shiny, fake diamond lured them in! Haha.  It starts young!

The added benefit is sometimes you end up with really neat gifts!







Backing up to earlier in the week, we studied ending digraphs.  


This year, my students love the "I Have, Who Has?" game. I had to whip up one for middle/ending digraphs.






Go to my TPT store to download it for free!




Do you have a subscription to Brainpop, Jr?  They have the best videos to introduce a topic!  They are short and engaging.


We watched two videos for George Washington Carver and Harriet Tubman before making our crafts.




I let the students complete their Venn Diagrams on their own.  I read through them to make sure they understood the concept.





Um, he compared Harriet's head injury to his busted lip. Way to make Social Studies more entertaining!



It's that time of year when the students are comfortable and love to talk to their friends about anything and everything.  Rainbows, unicorns, marshmallows....anything except work related tasks.

It was getting a little out of hand, so I had to use one of my favorite tricks in the book.

The Blurt Chart.



Each student gets 3 blurts a day.  If they lose all of their blurts, they get a number written in their binder (which correspond to "I was talking too much.")

Student 2 has permanently lost her blurts because she moved.  I didn't want a chart that said 1, 3, 4, etc. 

If they keep all of their blurts, they earn a Star Dollar (part of my class reward).  They will do anything for a Star Dollar!

Well, most of them....Here's how my chart looked after Monday.  This wasn't the best day, but we had much better days the rest of the week.



It's a great visual reminder.  Once they lose all of their blurts, they have to move their clip down on the clip chart.  It also helps me track how many time they talk during the day.

{This is not my original idea.  I found it on Pinterest way back when in 2011.}




I've started posting a little more on Instagram and I'm looking to follow new people!  Leave me your Instagram name!

Click the Instagram photo above to follow me on Instagram or look me up via polkadotfirsties.

Be sure to checkout Doodlebug's linky party for more great ideas!





Sunday, February 8, 2015

George Washington Carver

We are kicking off our Black History unit next week and I'm always looking to add more to this area of social studies.

A few years ago I made two crafts for George Washington Carver and Harriet Tubman.  The packets were in desperate need of updating.


I spent all morning changing and adding things in the George Washington Carver packet.  (Thank goodness for early Lifetime movies).





The packet now includes an information sheet, a fill in the blank story, a word search, labeling parts of a peanut plant, and a craft.




If you have already purchased, you can download it again (free of charge) to see the updates.


I'm working on the Harriet Tubman packet now, so grab it at the lower price!  I should be finished with the upgrade by tonight.