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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

February Promethean Board Calendar

I got such a positive response for my January Promethean Board Calendar! Thanks for all of the encouraging e-mails and kind words. If you're interested I've just uploaded my newest calendar. You can click on the picture to get a preview.


Now you know I have to give one...no make that two, I'm giving away my February calendar to two lucky wonderful teachers! All you have to do is follow my blog, like my facebook page and follow my TpT store. That's three seperate entries! I'm sweetining the pot :) You have until tomorrow at midnight to enter. I'll choose my two winners on Thursday. Good luck!

BTW I'm having internet issues (I'm posting from school), another one of my trusty external hard drives has blow it's top, (I did backup most of my files) and today my Promethean board went out (Serenity now!!!!).
 As they say "Y'all...please pray for me. Cause I"m coming up on the rough side of the mountain. I"m doing my best to make it in."

Does anyone else remember that old gospel song???

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Easi-Speak Winner and The Week in Review

 

And the winner of the Easi-Speak Digital Microphone is Veggieteach! Congratulations!!

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Week In Review

Let me start with the end first…well sorta the end. This is what my yard looked like on Thursday Afternoon.

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Alabama had it’s first winter event of 2013. Our school didn’t let out until 2:00…right in the middle the heaviest snowfall. And yes ladies and gentleman I was driving home right in the thick of it….slip sliding and white knuckling it all the way home while singing that familiar refrain..”Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,,,,Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” There are three things I hate about driving: Driving at Night, Driving in Heavy Rain and Driving in the SNOW!

It was over fairly quick, but on my side of town we seemed to get the worst of it.

 

Earlier in the week we played First Grade Yahtzee Minus One . I think it was the big dice that excited them the most. They partnered up and rolled two dice. They had to add the dots then take one away from the sum. The winner was the first person to cover their board. They loved it! If you’re wondering why my sweet student has on the Cat in the Hat hat, she cashed in a coupon to wear a hat in class. Still loving Mel D’s coupon system!

This was also a great assessment opportunity. I could see who didn’t have count each individual dot, who really understood what minus meant and who didn’t have to use the number strip to count backwards. After my observations I jotted some quick notes to remind myself who I needed to work more with during math station time next week.

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We also worked on our class science project. Every year we have a big school wide Science fair and K-2 submits class projects. We decided to find out what is the best way to clean stains from clothes. We soaked six cotton t-shirt scraps in grape juice. We let them dry overnight then tested four products: water, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, bleach and a stain remover stick. Here we are applying and observing. We found that the bleach worked instantly.

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Flip and Flop: This week we read the story of Flip and Flop. It’s a cute little story about penguin brothers who find new friends to play with…but not without a little drama first. We then completed a group retelling of the plot. Then the students had to write their own retelling in their own words. They did an amazing job!

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Mitten Descriptive Writing: We completed our mitten descriptive writing.

You can read about that in this post.

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Click here to get the mitten patterns.

Lastly, a sweet customer asked me if I’d create some Penguin Cover Up games for adding ten and doubles plus 1. So I made this. The set includes four games. Two for Adding ten (with one die and two dice) and two for doubles plus 1 (with one die and two dice). Click on the picture to check it out.

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Okay just one more thing. I ordered these books and I’m waiting patiently on them to arrive. They look pretty good. I’ll let you know about them.

Math Exchanges: Guiding Young Mathematicians in Small Group MeetingsMath Sense: The Look, Sound, and Feel of Effective Instruction

Have a Happy Sunday!!!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Positively Penguins Winner and a Freebie

And the winner is…
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Mr. First Grade!
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Your math station kit is on the way!
Here’s freebie for you. Last week the sounds of “Y” was our phonics focus.
Click the picture to grab your copy.
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Tomorrow is Hump Day!

Don't forget the enter the Easi-Speak Microphone giveaway. Click here to enter. I will announce the winner for this on Sunday.

Positively Penguins and a Winner

The Winner of my January Promethean Board Calendar is Leah Foster. Your file is on the way!
Here's another giveaway! I'm having fun this week!

I’ve uploaded my Positively Penguins Math Stations Kit. My students saw me taking these to be laminated and they were excited about math stations for next week!
Click on the Picture Below to check them out on TpT
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A little preview
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And I’m giving one away! You have from now(5:00pm CST) until 7:00pm central time to leave  your e-mail address in the comments and I’ll announce the winner @ 8:30 central time. See how easy that is. Good luck!

Don't forget the enter the Easi-Speak Microphone giveaway. Click here to enter. I will announce the winner for this on Sunday.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Calendar

I’ve uploaded my first Calendar for the Promethean Board to my TpT Store front.
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I’m giving one away! You have until the end of the day today to leave a comment about your favorite winter unit to use with your students. I’ll announce the winner on tomorrow. Don’t forget to leave your e-mail address. This file is for Active Inspire software.
Have a Marvelous Monday!

Don't forget the enter the Easi-Speak Microphone giveaway. Click here to enter.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Easi-Speak Microphone Giveaway

In addition to using the Hear All Recorder, I also had the privilege of using Learning Resources Easi-Speak Digital Microphone. My students get a kick our of using this at the beginning of the year.

Each week I let them record themselves re-reading a familiar book from a previous reading conference. Then I’d go back and listen in order to plan teaching point for our next conference. Sometimes I’ll record them after a quick book introduction and let them have a first read as I complete a running record.

We will use this to record our Reader’s Theatre scripts during small group. During the second semester I always introduce reader’s theatre in small group. We practice our scripts for a few minutes towards the end of small group time, and the students usually present on Fridays.

 

<br><i>Fun MP3 recorder in the shape of a microphone invites students to talk!</i><br><br>

Would you like to have one of your very own?

Here’s what you have to do:

Like Learning Resources on Facebook.

Follow Learning Resources on Pinterest.

Follow my blog and leave a comment when you’ve completed all three.

You have until midnight Friday January 18th. The winner will be announced on Saturday January 19th. The winner must provide a mailing address.

Visit Learning Resources.

Visit their YouTube Channel.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Hear All Assessment Recorder Winner

 

And the Winner is…

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Congrats Sandy!!!!!!

 

In other good news…I hope to have my first Promethean Board Calendar uploaded to my store by Sunday! I had to make sure about the clip art use with the wonderful DJ Inkers and now I’m ready to roll!!!! So excited!

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Also, I got a burst of inspiration and have been working on this. I’m putting the finishing touches on it and will upload in the next day or two. I’m positively pleased with it, if I do say so myself!

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Don’t forget tomorrow you’ll have a chance to win Learning Resources Easi-Speak Digital Microphone.

 

<br><i>Fun MP3 recorder in the shape of a microphone invites students to talk!</i><br><br>

Sunday, January 6, 2013

New Year New Giveaway

I have had the opportunity to use Learning Resources Hear All Assessment Recorder.

<br><i>Who says a teacher can’t be in 2 places at once?</i><br><br>

This device has been the centerpiece of all of my assessments (small group and individual conferences) since the beginning of school.

How do I use it you ask?

The beginning of the year I used it to record my students reading when I administered the Fountas and Pinnell Assessment System.

Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System 1, 2nd Edition

Recording my students allowed me to revisit anyone I had questions about, to rate them for fluency and to take a closer look at my running records. I was able to pinpoint which early strategies they had in place and which strategies we’d work on in small group and individual conferences.

Recording during small group instruction has been really beneficial. I’m able to see who’s participating, who is catching on and who is having difficulties. I don’t know about you but sometimes during small group you’re not only teaching your group but you’re also trying to stop Johnny from sticking a crayon up his nose or giving Sally the stink eye, willing her to get back to work and stop dancing to music that nobody hears but her. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. :)

Weekly Fluency Grade: Starting the second half of the year I’ll give my students a bi-weekly fluency grade. They will use the recorder and tape themselves reading one of our fluency passages. Then I’ll go back and listen and rate them along a fluency scale.

The Hear All Recorder would be a good tool for use in your classroom. Would you like to have one of your very own?

Here’s what you have to do:

Like Learning Resources on Facebook.

Follow Learning Resources on Pinterest.

Follow my blog and leave a comment when you’ve completed all three.

You have until midnight Friday January 11th. The winner will be announced on Saturday January 12th. The winner must provide a mailing address.

Visit Learning Resources.

Visit their YouTube Channel.

 

Good luck. Next week you’ll have the chance to win the Easi-speak digital microphone.