Here comes October!

I am so excited... October is almost here. A few more weeks of 100 degree temperatures and we will finally hit the 90s. By Halloween... we should be in the 80s and if we have any kinda luck by Thanksgiving we will be in the 70s. That's fall in Arizona peeps!

I remember a story several years back from my youngest son. He came home crying from Kindergarten because he thought his teacher lied to him. When I asked what she lied about he said she kept telling him about all these seasons where leaves change and snow falls but that only happens in the movies. After I stopped laughing, I had to explain where we live is different then planned a trip to a nicer climate to prove his teacher didn't lie afterall.

From that moment on, the child never really like his kindergarten teacher or trusted her despite getting proof that she told the truth. It is one of my favorite memories of fall....

Since I am always HOPING for fall to arrive, I always end up in full decorating mode. You should see the amount of decorations stored in my garage or maybe you shouldn't..... This has carried over to the classroom. I have files and files and files of Holiday STUFF!

But I admit, I forget the digital files exist. I need something all in one. Click... print... go! That theory is what prompted my new line of products. Each month, I will be introducing a new packet with lots and lots of resources.

So this guy here has everything that I need in it for the month of  October. I will probably add to it later but for now it is 39 pages and has everything I need as a teacher to prepare for the month ahead!

Calendar numbers (in both formats!) and letters for my classroom boggle board. Boggle is one of my early finishers options for the month. I have a wide variety of things they can do if they finish early but they are all grade-level common-core aligned activities.

Interactive notebook pages. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my interactive student notebooks... known as Brainy Matters in my classroom. It keeps both me and my students organized, it doubles as a portfolio and review tool. You will notice that a lot of my products are now including these pages as it is what I need and use.

There are also writing prompts that cover retelling, inferencing, and creative writing, 2 sight word lists with words that pertain to the month of October, and 2 word hunts.

Math review worksheets. Again, these are core-aligned and skills that all students need to know. My fourth grader was using this one tonight as he needs a refresher on basic math facts. I use these for my students who finish early during math. This way I know they are still getting those instruction math minutes!

There are also 2 roll and cover math game boards. I use this in multiple ways... matching numbers, creating a problem equal to that number (have students record in math journals), and use that number in a problem and have you buddy solve it (mental math). 

Now while all of the above stuff is awesome... Teachers need things too! So I created a 2 newsletter (1 Halloween & 1 Columbus), labels for this months centers, 2 letters home, and 4 pages of books to read (picture books and chapter books!) for the month.

There are also 3 October calendars which I use in my classroom. I have a plain calendar for behavior and a math calendar that we use with our circle time. None of the calendars are dated as I have my students do this to help reinforce counting skills. On the math one... the right the digital date as part of our calendar time on their math calendar.

The one pictured here is the reading log. Students record minutes on the calendar and books to the right. The rubric is on the bottom. No daily minimums are listed on this calendar so you can use it as you wish. This goes home in our file folders which stay inside out binders. The left side has the instructions and the right the calendar.

We worked on this bundle for 3 days solid and I wanted to get it to you before this weekend so you would have time to use it for the upcoming month. In future packets, I am planning on adding the Family Zebra Quest Challenge and our monthly book project. I just ran out of time and steam this month.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this project. This includes clip art from 5 of Melonheadz Illustrating sets as well as exclusive pieces made just for TWT. Each month's kit will be created in a similar fashion and cover two different topics. This kit covers Halloween and Columbus Day. I will do Fall next month when it kinda feels like it here.

Leave me a comment and I will randomly select a winner!

Help Wanted! = Freebies

Hi all -

I have a dilemma that I think with your expertise I can resolve. I recently opened a TpT store as you all know (and are hopefully following) but I need help with it. I need followers and reviews. I also need honest opinions about content, to check for editing errors, and to help me with pricing. I want to know what you think is a fair asking price.

So... I have decided to start something new. Each time I create a new product, the first three people to respond will get a free copy in exchange for reviews. Why 3? Well... I have 3 sons, for some reason I always liked odd numbers, and all the other peeps I saw were doing 2. Two sounded boring... three sounds fun. I am weird... I know.

So... I have a lot of products in my TpT store tight now that need reviews and edits. I am breaking them down into "packages" so that it won't be overwhelming. Please leave me a comment with which packet(s) you would like to review for free. Remember the first 3 to request the item gets it free!

Tic-Tac-Spell... this is the only spelling item I have at the moment.

I am planning on uploading a free copy of the form I use for both pre- and post-tests.

Zebra Quest Club Kit and Zebra Quest Binder Kit

There are two more products in this series that I need to finish working on.

Brainy Matters and Core Standards for Brainy Matters (always free!)

My Seuss Collection

Lorax Calendar Numbers; Goldfish Calendar Numbers; The Cat's Hat Calendar Numbers; Read Across America Bulletin Board Letters; Lorax Poster (always free!); Read Across America Picture Prompts; Read Across America Binder Set;

My St. Patrick's Day Collection

Shamrock Calendar Numbers; Pot o' Gold Mystery; St. Patrick's Day Binder Set; St. Patrick's Day Picture Prompts (always free!);

My Spring Collection

Spring Binder Kit; LadyBug Letters for Bulletin Boards;

My Easter Collection

Easter Egg Calendar Numbers; Easter Bunny Calendar Numbers; Easter Binder Set;

There are other items in my store as well but they are free... multiple kits of picture prompts, a guest teacher form, the beginnings of my lesson planner.... they need reviews as well but I wanted to "giveaway" as much as I can as a thank you and focus on that!

OH!!! I almost forgot... I am working on a top secret project for a top secret mission (you will see at the end of March. SO excited!) and need some opinions from 3 teacher friends in the 1-2 grade range.

Besides... I really want to giveaway something! I have been so tempted to close the 50 follower giveaway early just so I can pick a winner. Insane! I know! So this allows me to give stuff away before I announce the winner tomorrow.

It also appears that I will be hosting the 100 follower giveaway in the next week or so. YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT! I don't want to miss it! I want one!!!! In case ya haven't figured it out, I tend to giveaway the items that I am currently most coveting.

Make sure you leave the kit(s) you want and your email address so that I can send these out to all of you right away. Happy Tuesday!

Brainy Matters 2

I am still waiting on the logo for this item but the rest of it is done! YES!! I uploaded it to TpT but that is where the trouble began. I tried to go in and edit the old version and replace it with a new version as it has been downloaded 17 times! I am shocked that so many people have visited little ole me and my stolen idea from Mr. B.

Any who... according to TpT I am suppose to be able to change this. Well.. I can't. It keeps asking me to select a category only it won't let me select a category and it won't let me buy pass selecting one. Grrr! I tried in Google Chrome, I tried in Firefox. I tried in Internet Explorer and then I got out my iPad. No, it does not work on an iPad or an iPhone or an Android. I think we may have too many electronic gadgets around here but that is a post for another day.

So what I ended up doing was creating a whole new product... Brainy Matters. Sigh... I guess I will just delete the old one. The new document is now 8 pages long! What will you find.....

2 pages of how I tweaked this to fit me and a few stolen borrowed words from Mr. B explaining what a brain book is.
2 pages of the parent letter which you all saw in the original document.
1 page of title page. The outside one I am still waiting on the logo for.
1 page of template example
1 page of achievement map and grade scale
1 page of monthly goals.

Yep - I am a big picture kinda girl so that means I added a monthly calendar and goals to my brain book. It is kind of my own unique twist on a planner and brain book combo. I like having the calendar there to remind parents and students of tests and holidays but I do not want it to be the main focus. That is the heart of the brain book - the students reflections and educational journey throughout the year.

Just imagine what you will have at the end of the year! The student will have documented every education moment. He/she will have written in his/her own words the knowledge and skills they have gained. They will have set goals and accomplished them! They will learn to take responsibility for their own education. They will be independent learners and will be ready for the middle and high school classes in their futures!

And if the curriculum cops ever wonder what happens in your class, what students are or are not learning, and why the are or are not achieving the goals they wish... you have proof in the students own words. I love the fact that this takes one piece of documentation off of my desk and onto theirs!

I aligned it with the Common Core Standards for Grades 3-5. =) The Brain Book is truly a marvelous invention. It does so much work in one nice neat little package. So long planners! It was nice knowing you but you do not offer enough benefits to keep you hanging around. Hello my beautiful brainy books. Have I told you that I love you yet today?

I hope you all enjoy. I hope it makes sense and the formatting came out right (finally!).

Brainy Matters

I was out blog stalking the other day and came across a brilliant idea at Mr. B's Beach Brains. If you are not following his blog, you are truly missing out.

I have mentioned before that I have two special needs children but have never shared much more than that. One was recently diagnosed with damage to his working memory. While this was a relief to know the issue behind the problem it also presented some new struggles as I was informed that there is no cure and no treatment. From researching on my own, I have found that this is incorrect. There are things that can be done to improve his capabilities.

What is the working memory?
The working memory is the part of your brain that takes in information around you and processes it. In fact, you are using it this very second. How I explained it to my son is that the box in which he gathers information into his too small causing his brain to turn off and stop taking in new information. From the working memory, information is sent to the short term memory then the long term memory.

For him, his brain usually shuts off after five minutes. This is nightmarish to me as who ever heard of a five minute lesson! Once his brain is full, he has to process the information to his normal sized short term then long term memories. If he does not process it, he loses it. If he gets too much, he loses it.

What does this have to do with Mr. B?
Ah yes... back to the brilliant Mr. B who stole borrowed this idea from another teacher. I stumbled upon his Brain Book right after trying to digest information on what my son would need to succeed. This book correlates with so much of the research I have read on handling children with traumatic brain injuries!

I, of course, had questions and wanted more information. Checkout Mr. B's answers! The answers helped but I knew if I did decide to utilize the Brain Book, I would make it my own.

I also called in my guinea pigs for their take of this idea.The first question was if they could have a notebook shaped like a brain. Ummm... no, sorry guys! This mama/teacher is not cutting out countless brain-shaped pages for your use. Despite the lack of a brain-shaped notebook, they like the idea.

This is the first in a series of posts about the Brain Book as I am tweaking it to fit me. I am using a black notebook for my brain book. (For organization purposes, all students use the same color notebooks so I can see at a glance they are using the right book.).

Page 2 & 3 - Brain Book Expectations - Using Mr. B's document as a template, I created my own letter to parents.

The students will actually begin writing on page 7 or 8. It depends on how the other things fit into the book. What other things you ask and what happened to page 1? Ah... yes, that is a post for another day.

UPDATE: I have created an entire kit for use in your classroom! The name "The Brain Book" is protected by copy right so my book is called "Brainy Matters." The boys laughed and thought it was cute. Get your copy today at TpT!

Now I am off to do my homework!