Book Fairy

I just got back from an amazing reading conference where I came back to my classroom packed with an armful of books, freebies, and ideas!  And now I am busily preparing to implement them into my classroom!  

One of my favorite ideas, and one of the easiest, is the idea of having a "Book Fairy" visit your classroom!  As teachers, we all know our students' hobbies, likes, and interests.  So finding books for your students is as easy as picking a book off your bookshelf, sticking a book fairy card on top of the book (they will know it's from you), and sticking them on their desk for them to find.  

They may not read every book you recommend, but they will be encouraged to at least try.  And eventually, they will read at least one of the books you suggest!

Click on the picture below to download your FREE Book Fairy cards!

Think Green!

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner!  Do you have your green ready?????

Here is a quick and easy art activity that the kids can do independently and have fun with.

Students get to choose any art supply that is green to randomly fill in squares.

In our classroom, students were able to choose from paint, water colors, markers, crayons, colored pencils, glitter, and oil pastels.

 

We then punched holes in the top and added green pipe cleaners for easy hanging.  Ribbon would work too!

 

For the FREEBIE printable, click below!

 

Enjoy!

Classroom FREEBIES that are a MUST HAVE!

These are some of my new favorite FREEBIES that I think every A+ class can benefit from!

How do you get your students to write A+ sentences?

How do you get your students to turn in A+ work?

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How do you get your students to have A+ reading responses?

 

How do you get your students to treat each other with A+ respect?

 

 

How do you get  A+ student participation?

 

How do you get  A+ test results?

 

Valentine's Day Freebies

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching so I thought I would share some of my favorite Valentine's Day Printables!

This is what I do each year with the kiddos so they have something to hold their class valentines.  

All you need is the printables provided (click on the picture for link) and a paper sack!

This can be used for any grade level as I have done it with Kindergarten and 4th grade and both age groups loved it.

Another cute activity to send home with kiddos to give their parents is this kangaroo.

Have them write a love letter to their parents and stick in the pocket.  They can also write chore cards to stick in the pockets.  I did this with Kindergarten, but a blank heart could make it easily adaptable to upper grade levels.  Click on the picture above for a link to printables!

Finally, for my class I give them a little coupon for 5 problems off an assignment.  They must attach to their homework. 

Enjoy!

Celebrating Birthdays and a Friday Flash Freebie

I love celebrating birthdays in my classroom, but in the past, have struggled to stay organized and on top of each student's birthday (especially those summer half birthdays we celebrate in the winter).

I thought I would share how we celebrate birthdays in our classroom!  It is a "can't go wrong" system!  I promise!

Create a bulletin board where each student has two cards recognizing them for their birthday. 

The top card is their "ticket" for a birthday surprise.  When it is time to celebrate their birthday, they get to tear off their ticket and turn it in for their surprise.  

The bottom card stays up all year long.

No one will be forgotten and it makes it easy to remember!

One might say it is foolproof!

Click on the picture for a FREE birthday sign.

Today's Friday Flash Freebie is an early elementary unit on hibernation, migration, and adaptation.

It is a fun "winter is coming" unit!

It includes an interactive student booklet.

It also includes a no prep interactive lap book.

There a fun review activities!

And more!

Page 1 - Cover

Page 2 - Copyright

Page 3-6 - All About the Desert Writing

Page 7-14 - Migrating, Hibernating, Adapting Interactive Lap Book

Page 15 - Hibernating Animals Worksheet

Page 16 - Winter Alphabetical Order

Page 17 - Winter Writing

Page 18 - Winter Words

Enjoy!

Favorite Freebie Sites and a Friday Flash Freebie

Check out these AWESOME sites that offer freebie downloads EVERY teacher can use!

Finding the best sites is hard because there are literally millions of them out there.  Here are my Favs!

Doodle Art Alley offers fun and unique free printables that students can color.  The variety is amazing and goes from the various holidays to different subjects to motivating phrases.

Here is a fun site that offers free fonts that can be used in the classroom!

We Give Books is an awesome site where you have access to thousands of books for free.  Just sign up for a free membership.  The nice thing about this site is you can project the books on your Smartboard and read them together as a class.  There are plenty of books for upper elementary as well as primary grades, so head on over there and check it out!

I am not a huge fan of showing long videos in class.  However, I do think videos can add so much to a lesson.  PBS Learning (also called Teacher's Domain) gives you free access to thousands of educational video clips.  You can search by grade level, topic, and subjects.  

Math-Aids.com is a nice site to go to when you need extra Math practice in a certain area.  I actually do not use this site a whole lot for classroom work, but I do share this with parents who are looking for extra Math practice for their children.  It's free!

I am going to be honest,  I have not been using this next site for  very long.  However, I love it and know I will continue to use it.  A teacher friend recently told me about GoNoodle which is a nice site for 5 minute brain breaks.  It gets students out of their desks and moving which, let's face it, they need!

And....saving the BEST for last is TpT!  I feel like this is an obvious one but I had to list it.  This site is my #1 go-to when I am looking for something.  There are lots and lots of FREEBIES, but there are also bazillions (that's a word, right????) of reasonably priced resources.  And you get them instantly!  Memberships are free so if you haven't been there, check it out!

  

Download this Divisibility Rules poster for FREE a FLASH!

Clip Art Favs!

I love, love, love adding clip art to my products!  What an easy way to jazz up any parent note, assignment, or newsletter!

I have spent the past several years collecting clip art and here are a few of my favorite places to get fantastic cute images and fonts!

My Cute Graphics is an excellent site to get FREE clip art.  This site asks only that you give credit to their work.  You will fall in love with this site!  Guaranteed!

I also love ScrappinDoodles!   This site offers reasonably priced clip art that you can use for personal or commercial use.  You can purchase directly from their link (click on the picture to head over to their website) or you can purchase much of their clipart on TpT!

Graphics From the Pond is another of my favorites.  Again, this clip art is reasonably priced and there are some freebies at their store as well.  Head on over to their TpT store and see what you think!

Last, but certainly not least, is Melonheadz.  I had the privilege of meeting her this past summer at the TPT Conference 2014: Supercharge Seller Success!  in Las Vegas. She was a presenter and her story of success is truly amazing.  Melonheadz offers beautiful clip art at reasonable prices.  There are a few freebies as well!  

Hello Literacy (Jen Jones) is my absolute favorite place for fonts.  Check out her store and install the fonts on your computer.  You will fall in love with her creativeness and it is super easy to have fun fonts!

This week's Friday Flash Freebie is my Classroom Response Movie Pack.  

It is No Prep - Ready to Use as an enrichment tool for any educational video you show in the classroom!

Enjoy!