Just Imagine How Much Cooler I'll be In Summer

So this is officially my fourth day of summer and I have yet to do any relaxing. What is wrong with me?! I am sure I will get into total veg mode when it comes closer to August but right now I am feeling totally ready to prep for next year!

With some of my Barnes and Noble Gift Cards from my babies (tear!) I got to buying some new books for next year! 

I will be using The Exceptionally Extraordinary Ordinary First Day of School to teach how setting can affect the plot. It also has some really awesome facts and vocabulary in the margins. I also love 11 Experiments that Failed, which I just received today, I will use this to introduce question, hypothesis, and developing procedures to test experiments. It is so cute and very funny! 

I have also been working on some new TpT products. First, a freebie! I know many of you are already out of school but I developed these gift tags for our end of school gifts. You can get them at My TpT Store!

  

I have also uploaded some of my new research products. These worked so well in my class. Though they were time consuming, my students got to be very good at research. It also provided students with so much choice. All of the final products in my class were wonderful! 

Well, I am going to do some summer things. Netflix marathon, anyone? 

Just Another Manic Monday!

Monday is the busiest day of the week in my classroom without a doubt. First because on Monday I need to get to school extra early to get everything set up and ready to go, so by the time my students have arrived the coffee has set in and I am ready to go! And also because on Monday we are usually starting something new, something that we will grow and develop all week, so it is exciting.

Today we studied, Alliteration and Personification. We had a ton of fun! Mostly because there are COUNTLESS youtube videos on this topic. We watched the following video first. I asked students to identify what they all have in common.

First, they started saying things like they're all commercials, then they're all Geico commercials (umm.. no), then they all have characters, and then someone got a light bulb. One of my students said they all had animal characters, so I questioned further, and what is special about these animals? Immediately hands flew up, " They can all talk," and that is how the spark got lit. They were excited and ready to go. We completed our interactive notebook page, which I would have included, but it is most certainly not TpT ready. After we discussed some lines from poems. We identified what was being personified and how. 

Then it was time for another video, we watched Screaming Eggs and discussed what was being personified. Then it was their turn! I let them  watch The Annoying Orange on the iPad, and they had to explain what was being personified, how, and why it made the video humorous. Warning this video is A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G but my students loved it, so I guess thats the trade-off. They also got to create their own example of personification. Click the picture for the Google doc link!

I will be doing some more figurative language in the upcoming weeks, so check in for more! Or check out some of the figurative language products on my TpT Store. 

 

Have a wonderful Tuesday! 

Fall In Love With Learning

I am just loving this fall weather in South Louisiana! It has finally cooled down and although this has been a very rough football weekend for LSU fans I enjoyed tailgating in the cooler weather.

October was a very busy month for our class. We completed a nocturnal animals unit where we learned about Owls, Bats, Opossums, and Wolves. My students loved exploring these new animals. I also enjoyed using these narrative nonfiction texts by Nicola Davies. They have some awesome text features that can foster conversation between students. Additionally, the pictures are wonderful!

We also discussed descriptions of these animals in the text. We even got to make our own owls by using descriptions and then wrote to explain how the features on our owl matched the description. This was a fun hands on way for the kids to really use and benefit from the vivid descriptions.

We also had lots of fun with our pumpkin unit! We read about pumpkins, experimented with pumpkins, and did some engaging pumpkin math.

I love to see my students 100% involved and learning as they are investigating topics. I have uploaded my unit to tpt. This is my third year doing this unit and this year I finally got out all the kinks! I have added some new literature to our unit which really made the connection to the pumpkin arrays.

Some of my students arrays ended up HUGE and took lots of time, but it was totally worth it! They loved finding out the biggest pumpkin actually did not have the most seeds and now can predict the seeds better based on the looks of the pumpkin!

I have also uploaded my Multiplication Properties Show What You Know Book. My class this year has been great about learning and showing they know the properties. I have seen how much this has helped them solve higher multiplication problems and think that it standard OA 3.5 should be stressed when teaching multiplication. 

Now that things are starting to slow down I am hoping to get more products and ideas up in the next few weeks! I hope you all are enjoying the fall weather! 

Happy Teaching!

Made it Monday!!

Well, I'm back for another #MadeItMonday! This time with an exciting new made it!!

This weekend and this morning I finally finished my Accountable Talk Rocks mini book, posters, practice text, and graphic organizer to help your students become accountable talk rockstars!! 

I am loving the Melonheadz Rockstar Clip Art we got in Vegas! This product was inspired by my best seller, Analyzing Text Structure. In the past, my kids really love creating mini books and getting a chance to model and practice as we go, so hopefully this year's bunch will be the same!

And for made it #2. With the help of my amazing boyfriend, who may be a better laminator than I am, I also got all my new TpT things printed and laminated. As I said yesterday I am loving my new Polkadot and Burlap Banner, Calendar Labels, and Numbers! 

I am also totally freaking out about getting into my classroom, which has apparently been postponed until THURSDAY. What?! We begin school Monday!!! {Full panic mode ensues!} 

But will I take others word for this? Nope. I am about to march by Nike shorts into school and hope my smile and pure desperation will get me in for a few hours today.

Last, but not least, I want to wish a happy birthday to this girl. 

Yes, I said girl! Today, my granny is 90 years young. After a wonderful family gathering last night, I could not be happier :) Quick funny story- My Granny always wanted to be a teacher, so much so that as a little girl she played school with a deck of cards and when one blew over they got a "bad mark."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the lady that taught me piano, sang and danced with me, watched me after school, let me and my cousins build tents all over her house, and who always reassures me that being a teacher was the right decision. 

Additionally, Way too much food {Yeah, were from New Orleans-- its always like that} means I have lunch and dinner for a few days. NO COOKING-woohooo! 

Don't forget to check out my sale today and tomorrow!! 

Winter Wonderland!

I am finally living in a winter wonderland- or at least my version of it. It is once again 70 degrees and I could not be happier to turn off the heater, ditch the hot cocoa, and watch a little Winter Olympics on TV. Yes, it is certainly not winter weather, but it is my idea of perfect! I am currently obsessed with Meryl Davis and Charlie White. I think she is so gorgeous and their story is just precious! I hope to see them capture another gold tonight :)

Speaking of the Winter Olympics, I am loving using Ashleigh @ Ashleigh's Education Journey's Winter Olympic Pack. 

This pack is awesome -- it contains tons of leveled texts with the lexile levels marked. The best part is it is set up so the kids can read different texts, but still answer the same questions, which makes for seamless differentiation.

 And this week I am also eating good! We recently got a Trader Joe's in Baton Rouge and I now spend more nights a week picking up something from Trader Joe's then I ever did at Walmart. I have found some awesome things and the prices are really great as well. This week I tried something a little different and got some Fig Butter.

I toasted a wheat tortilla, added a little Fig Butter, and topped it with some goat's cheese and tomatoes and boy was it delicious! It was a quick easy way to have an amazing dinner. Just looking at it makes me hungry! 

 Oh and happy Valentine's Day to all! I had a wonderful day with some really sweet surprises. I got some of the best notes. Its these kind of days that make me love being a teacher. No matter how much work I put in, it is great to see how appreciated I actually am.

And that night I got an even better treat. I got to see my younger brother start a game in Tiger Stadium. His team did not win, but they did an amazing job against such a great ball team. I am partial-- but he looked great as well!

It was a great weekend of family, baseball, and finally some springtime weather. Hopefully I will make it through this week without too much sleep lost. If not….

There's always PJs Granita!

Happy Teaching, 

Ms. Winter

Baby It's Cold Outside.. Or it was!

Well after three days of being stuck at home because of Winter Storm Leon, I am actually itching to get back to work! "Snow day" is surely not a term we hear often in the South, unless we are reading a story about someone in another part of the country. I am glad we got to experience one, oh wait no-- four, but now that all my laundry is done, my house is {somewhat} straightened, and I am {slightly} ahead with my schoolwork, I can't wait to get back! I have had enough hot cocoa for a long while and I even go to try out all those cute mugs my students and teacher friends have given me!

The term "snow day" is actually very deceiving for what happened here in Louisiana, because I never actually saw any snow. I did see however, lots and lots of ice. Today, while driving around running errands, I even saw this beautiful ice garden! Apparently someone didn't turn off their sprinklers!!

In honor of our snow cation, I have created this freebie with an informational text on Winter Storm Leon and its effects on the Southern United States, which we will do tomorrow morning!

Well, time to hit the gym and get ready for my one day week! Hope you all have a wonderful Friday :). 

Happy Teaching!!!

Ms. Winter

Well once again it has been a while!! Once school picks up I get so caught up in creating things for my own class that I rarely make it TpT ready and get it up and going. But, finally I have finished my Candy Centers Pack. I am using these centers in conjunction with the reading of The Chocolate Touch, but they do not correspond to the text, just the common core skills.

There are 4 ELA centers and 4 Math centers and they cover the following "I can" Statements, which have proven themselves to be tricky for my students. 

I can choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely. (L 4.3a) 

I can identify how a text is structured and answer questions about the text. (RI 4.4)
I can identify how a word is used in a sentence. (4.L.1) 
I can identify figurative language in a text. (RL 4.4)
I can solve word problems using elapsed time. (4.MD.2)
I can identify equivalent fractions by multiplying a fraction by n/n. (4.NF.1)
I can identify which operation to use. (4.OA.3)
I can find the factors of a number. (4.OA.2, 4.OA.4)

 I want to give a kudos to an AMAZING teacher I found while searching the web! I literally do not know how she does it.. her products are so comprehensive and have made my life so much easier!

Her assessment pack for ELA and Math are both awesome!! I even had to gush to my students about my new teacher idol! Who is yours?! 

In other exciting news, my school's chess team recently went to our first tournament. We played in The Chess Mates Classic at Scottlandville Middle Magnet in Baton Rouge. The kids had an awesome time and our team came in second place!! Not too shabby considering their coach just learned to play this summer!

And last, but not least, we have been having some CRAZY weather. We even had a snow day last Friday and its expected to snow again on Tuesday. For those of you up North, stop looking now, because when you see our snow you will surely laugh but for Louisiana, this is a BIG deal. 

But can you blame us? Look at all this snow! Haha!

In honor of the Winter Snow Storm 2014. I have a Snowman themed freebie!!

Enjoy your winter week!

As Always, Happy Teaching, 

Ms. Winter

Going for two!

Wow! Two days in a row.. amazing everything you can get accomplished when you don't have to go to work :)

Speaking of getting things accomplished.. I finished my Christmas Countdown. 12 days with a new skill each day. I play on using it for morning work and then we will create a booklet on the last day!

I also got in my new classroom timer. I have figured out how to get it to work for one time, but I am still playing with it! I think it is going to work very well for my small group rotations!

And last but not least, I totally forgot to add a wedding picture into last weeks blog! Here is my friend Brittani and I at our best friend Jeanne's wedding last Saturday!

And Don't forget my sale on TPT!

Happy Resting, 

Ms.Winter