Day 90 Queen of the First Grade Jungle

Here is a great techy blogger, Katie King, to go hand in hand with Betsy Weigle from yesterday's blog.  Katie's blog Queen of the First Grade Jungle is a great learning place for those of you new to iPad's in the classroom.  She says that we need to train and teach our students skills for jobs that haven't been invented yet.  That is so very true!

After reading THIS POST I am now on a mission to get iPads for our primary classrooms!  Holy cow this is sooooo cool! We are a bit behind the times in North Idaho.  Heck, when it snows a lot or rains a lot or if the wind blows just the right way...it messes up our internet connection! lol  We are moving forward toward technology...it just may not be at the pace of other parts of the country :)

Katie also has a TpT Store that is full of great units.  Most of them are larger packets or Mega packs as some creators call them.  But she has a series of Busy Teacher packets that are full of great 1st grade leveled stuff!  And when I say stuff...I say it because it is full of just about anything you might need to teach writing, reading, language skills, math and more.  Each month has specific themes to go with the holidays and events that happen within that month.  It's worth spending a bit to get these great activities.  Just check them out and you will see what I mean!

Day 89 Classroom Caboodle Blog

What a fun find today on TpT...a neighbor teacher.  Yes, we aren't in the same state, but Spokane is just across the border from where I live in North Idaho.  They have Trader Joe's...we have moose.  They have hockey and baseball teams...we have little league.  They have big concerts like Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood...and we have Scout-o-Rama and the rodeo at our fair grounds :)  Good thing they are our neighbors! (But the gas at our Costco is about 20 cents less a gallon than theirs so we can afford to drive over the border more often :)

Betsy has a lot of resources for teachers.  She has a blog a website and a TpT store!   She has done just about everything but fix the kitchen sink in her school district.  But I wouldn't put that down as not being a possibility too!  Her resources are mostly for grades 3rd and up...but much of what she does and says can be brought down to the level you need it.

I love, love, love this lesson she has posted about teaching your class to line up!  I thought this was just a 1st grade problem, but apparently it's something that doesn't stick with the kids and has to be retaught each school year!  Her lesson is called: Teaching your students to Master the Art of lining up.  I just have to chuckle...because next year I plan to try a whole new attitude and approach to this simple task...but one that tends to hold us all up from leaving the classroom at least a couple times a week.

If you are looking for ways to incorporate technology into your classroom...then Betsy is your gal for that too!  She has just gotten a set of iPads for her class!  That is so cool!  I would love to just have a center full of them for all of our primary classrooms.  Betsy has an awesome series of posts about using the iPad and the apps to try with your students.  Click {HERE} to go to the posts.  She is posting more as she is working the kinks out with her students.  It's a great resource to get you started!

And then if you can't find enough treasures in her blog...she also has an actual website and a store on TpT.
Although most of her resources are for beyond the primary years....I found a treasure that I have added to my TpT Wishlist.  Betsy has a lot of math and science in her store.  And this cool lesson, Stacking Heart Challenge, now turned Valentine's Day and conversation hearts into a science project, not just a math project!!

Love it, Love it, Love it!  Can't wait to use it next February!  One of the things I love, even after 18 years of teaching, is discovering a new way to use something old!  Cuz when I'm excited, my students get excited...and when they are excited...they learn more!  Thanks Betsy!!

Today I didn't have to hop far...where shall I hop next?

Day 74 Happy Birthday to ME! A sale, plus one more blog!

Happy birthday to me!  Yup, tomorrow is another birthday.  Ides of March...the 15th.  Plus this week my youngest daughter also turned 15.  There is something special to that number this year.  So I decided to make it even more special...I'm going to give 15% off the creations in my store! Please stop by and see if something tickles your fancy and enjoy 15 % off at the same time!

Thanks!

For my birthday...here is a wonderful gift.  This blog is so full of ideas it's going to burst at the seams!  The name says it all...Teaching Blog Addict...it's what we bloggers tend to be...addicts to the cause.  As they say, they are "a fun resource community for educators."  If you are looking for some inspiration or a freebie or two or just tomorrow's lesson plan or art project, then this is a blog that should be on your bookmark bar!

Enjoy your Friday...my birthday will be a memorable one as we are riding a school bus 10 hours to Boise for our State Cheer Competition...yeah...

happy birthday to me...

stiff back it will be....

25 teenagers on a bus....

wouldn't you love to go with us?

sorry...too much Seuss this week--I broke into rhyme!

Day 72 The Creative Chalkboard

Oh my goodness...I find blogs that wow me all the time.  I wish I had as much time as some of these amazing teachers I find online seem to have.  Maybe I just get too distracted by all the "shiny objects" I find made by others...but I just don't feel like I produce as much as I think about in my head.

But thank heavens for those who do seem to have the time or the energy to get it all done and share it with others!  Today's bloggers is one of those that really made me say wow and to fire up the printer and to load up my wish list on TpT.

Krista has the blog The Creative Chalkboard and she has a wonderful store on TpT.  I found her through the TpT newsletter last month.  She does clip art...(I am a clip art hoarder...just to know...they haven't made a tv show about that yet though--guess Honey Boo Boo is more interesting...lol)  and Krista creates things to use with your class as well.

You can get a good freebie taste of it in her TpT store.  I love her writing templates.  They are so darn creative while still being usable.  Sometimes teachers make great stuff, but they don't have enough room for 1st grade writers to write anything on them.  Or they are so full of clip art that there may only be a few math problems actually on the page.

Krista has a nice balance to her creations.  And if you want more free fonts...she has those too.  Very cute, easy to read ones for young kids.

I love this hamburger organizer.  It goes perfectly with the poster I have in my room!  My 1st graders love the analogy.

Now...if the TpT treasures aren't enough...go to Krista's blog.  Now I want to find time to redo my classroom!  Maybe if I sell enough on TpT myself I can find the money to spruce things up a bit.  I dug deeper and found the tour of her classroom from last September because I absolutely love how she displays some of the things in her room!  Click here for the link to the tour of her classroom from last September.  Very cool and organized! 

I want to know what she is using the pizza pans on the wall for...and those lovely large compare and contrast posters...and the fact poster...and...well I think I just need to go to her classroom! I think I need a trip to Delaware!!

And here is a treasure...shows me that I don't go to the Dollar Tree near enough!  She found these cool eyeballs for her readers to inspire them to track with their fingers!  Now I am on a mission to find these!  Monster fingers are cool...but these are cooler...or the coolest (that was our spelling pattern a couple weeks ago -er and -est endings)

I'm still hopping along...this was blog number 72.  I can't believe that the year is flying by so quickly!

Day 71 Fourth and Ten

Fourth and Ten is a creation of Lisa, a 4th grade teacher in Ohio.  If you are a 4th grade teacher...then her blog is where you should be!  She has lots of creative ideas she shares as well freebies, sales and giveaways on her blog.

Here is one of the cutest game sets I've seen in awhile:

I love the Leprechaun theme to this  Fry word game.  It's the 3rd, 4th and 5th hundred words...so it's not for primary...unless you have some pretty advanced students.  But it's another cool thing to laminate and have for a center for those of you in 2nd-5th grades.  Or a great one for a resource room activity.  I have found that it's always tough to get those kids to learn their high frequency words unless it's something fun!

Day 70 Teacher Bits & Bobs

Happy Monday!  March is my favorite month...perhaps it's because it's my birthday month or that spring break is soon to come or that the hint of warmth is in the air or that everything is green (my favorite color) because of St. Patrick's day or that my husband will be making corn beef and cabbage soon or better yet...I find freebies!!!

There are lots of fun finds to be had this month...Teacher bits & bobs is a creation of two Kindergarten teachers, Kerri and Lindsay.

Today's post has two fun freebies that they created and shared.  The first one is themed writing paper.  It's great for a poetry starter.  Or just for sentence writing.

The second freebie is a skittles graphing activity.  I downloaded the Skittles activity and it was a great center!  I just bought a huge bag of Skittles and then put a share of them into different baggies.  Worked perfect...I do suggest you save this for centers in the afternoon though...you don't want them sugared up in the morning! :)

Day 69 Fancy Free in Fourth

Fancy Free in Fourth is a great resource for those of you who teach those kids that are taller.  (I teach 1st grade).  Actually, reading through her site, there are some things that could easily be adapted to my 1st graders.  

With it being March...and needing a little luck of the Irish...here is a great freebie to add to your collection.

Click Here to download it.

I love Fancy's clear and simple creations.  They are easy to copy and use with students.  Be sure to visit her blog and TpT store!  

There are a lot of creative and organized teachers out there...Here is another great management tool to add to your bag of tricks.  I love putting the responsibility into the hands of the students whenever possible. Students who are involved are better behaved.  Fancy hands out all her graded work on Wednesdays and has the student fill out their own Week in Review.  So when their parents ask "how is school going?" they can't say they don't know...because they have filled out their own grades! Simply genius!