National Geographic

So my last class was all about Social Studies and Geography. It is finals week so I can finally share with all of you some of the great resources I discovered during the course.

Did you know National Geographic has an Education Website? 

It Does!

This site covers current events! It has lessons plans, videos, a map creator, pictures, student resources, access to standards, and so much more! I have added it to the resource section of my own classroom website for my students to use. 

This is a brand new resource and still in BETA format. So if there are any suggestions of changes, things you want to see, etc...just let them know. 

ENJOY!

Guest Post: Ground Hogs Day

Working with Honey Bunch Blog Designs has given me the opportunity to meet so many amazing teachers! I am so happy to be part of a community of teachers who are so dedicated to their students and teaching profession.

Today, I want to introduce you to a blogger who's blog we recently designed. She has some great things to share with all of us and so today I am loaning her my blog while she shares some fun activities for Ground Hogs Day. Please welcome Jazzy Grandma...

Well, we are off and running! Finished our first full week back. It was a good week. The kids were glad to be back. I can see so much more maturity growth at this point.

Kids really do grow up some in 3rd grade. It's amazing to watch the change. We will begin having meetings on our new evaluation system next week. That should be interesting.

I have been busy creating new materials. Much of it went along with my guided reading this week. It's fantastic to spring some new things on the kids. I have a compare and contrast form I used in reading. The kids compared/contrasted the main characters from their basal story and leveled reader. I have them use bullets to separate their ideas. I also had a place for them to illustrate each character.

I am offering this freebie in both of my stores on TPT and TN. Please just click and grab.

I have also created a Groundhog Day Activities Packet.

I've included two pages from the packet for you to see. Please check it out. Leave me a comment. And, I'd love for you to follow my blog. I am so excited to have entered the blog world!! Have a great weekend!

Happy 2013!

I know... I am late! Way late!! But I have some exciting news to share and a freebie. =)

Have you seen this commercial??


Every year I hear about people making new years resolutions and afterwards I hear about how they failed in achieving the goals they set. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this positive new spin on creating a new years resolution!

What will you gain in 2013?

This is what I am using with my students. What changes, gains, or milestones will you reach in 2013? I created this fun worksheet for my own use to list the top 10 things I will gain in 2013. I have added it to the front of my lesson planner as a reminder of my goals for the year. Click on the picture for your free copy. 

So what do I plan to gain in 2013?

So here is my exciting news and the reason I was MIA! 

I moved!!!

Yep...  we are no longer living with family. No more 5 people to a single room! It is amazing how big a two bedroom apartment can feel when you have lost everything but we are so grateful for the family who took us in. Our home has that whole "first apartment feel" but we couldn't be happier. 

So #1 on the list has been achieved!

For me, 2013 is all about rebuilding. A new career, new business opportunities, new furniture, and a healthier lifestyle. I am so excited about the year ahead. What do you have planned? 

Capturing Memories

One of the best projects I have ever done, was created  a personal family recipe book.

I have SO many cookbooks but I only use a handful of recipes from each one. There was no need for me to keep them all and it became more of a hassle to guess where each recipe was.

I went to Zazzle and searched for kitchen binders. If you have never been to Zazzle you need to go and check them out! If you are looking for a personalized gift... this is where to get it! There are thousands of choices (these are just 2 of them).

After I did that, I purchased white dividers for my cookbook. The areas I created for my binder are breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, parties, edible projects, desserts, and drinks. As you can see I broke it down into when we eat particular foods. This makes it easier for my kids.

Lastly, I typed up the recipes and placed each one into a page protector in the right section of the book. It is an ongoing work in progress but so much fun and so worth the time and effort it took to create. I notated who the recipe came from and any special memories tied to it.

This would make such a fun project for families to work on together over the winter break. Make a copy and purchase an extra binder to give as a gift.

Since I am baking galore for the holidays, I thought I would share my favorite cookie recipes with all of you. Just click on the picture above to get your free copy!!

Capturing kitchen memories is a Zebra Quest for my students. Each month I create a family style Zebra Quest for my students to complete. The November quest was to collect at least 5 recipes from various family members and then try them! Students then brought in a copy to share with the class.

Once all the recipes have been completed, I created a recipe book for my class and sent home a copy of the recipes collected. It was a lot of fun and a great way to involve students and parents. I saved the recipe book and can add to it again next year.

Each recipe includes the student's name, grade, date, and which family member they collected the recipe from. The recipe and a picture are included. Reviews of the dishes are discussed with the family and not included.

In case you missed my St. Patrick's Day Green Pie Tradition. 

This is a great dessert for the holidays as well.

I am always looking for new cookie recipes to add to my personal collection. Please feel free to share your favorite recipe on your blog and leave me a comment with the link OR just leave the recipe in the comments. 

Teacher Gift Ideas

"Never get tired of doing little things for others. For sometimes, 

those little things occupy the biggest part of their heart." 

~ Ida Azhari

I love this quote! I am one of those people who LOVE to give! I find it so hard to answer the question "what do you want for Christmas?" as truly I do not know. I rather give something to someone than get something. 

I was trying to figure out the other day what to get my son's teachers for the holidays but it is so hard to come up with a good gift! I could do gift cards but that is so over done. What I would like to do is get them something they would never think of buying for themselves. So I thought I would share with you some of my favorite things for teachers!

Red Glitter Apple Earrings

There are lots of teacher earrings in a variety of styles

So cute! 

Literature on a Scarf

Stacked inspiration

Teacher Apron

Every teacher needs this for the day she forgets to wear

clothing with pockets. (GUILTY!)

Framed Artwork

Monogrammed Basket and Waterbottle

This is perfect for the days when you need to bring more

than will fit in your school bag. I am also always losing my

waterbottle. Now I would know which is mine. 

Gift Cards

You know this has to be on the list!

Teacher's Store, Starbucks, Target, Dollar Tree, and Visa.

I avoid restaurants unless you know their favorite!

Customized key ring or lanyard

Love mine! I have the keychain version and it is connected to

my lanyard along with my whistle and a bunch of other stuff. 

Customized Hot & Cold Cups Set

Personalized Hall Passes

Personalized Door Signs

Personalized Clip boards, Hand Sanitizer, or Desk Sign

Now these ideas are amazing but I think they are out of the price range for most parents. Perhaps you can use these ideas for your best teacher buddy or relative who is a teacher. These are all things teachers would never buy themselves but love. 

Desk Set

Love these new matching sets!

I am still waiting for them to make a black & red version!!

THE pencil sharpener

OH! OH! OH! Be still my heart! 

Todd did it! He really did! 

He made created a red and black version.

Goodbye old blue friend...!

You will be replaced with one of these. 

Who wants my old one?? 

Magnetic Eraser

This comes in so many fun shapes. 

It is on my wish list for my classroom.

Smelly markers. Love my scentos!

Okay... so what would you add to my ideas for teachers? I know this list is no where close to being complete but I thought I would share some of my ideas. And yes... they come in other colors than red and black but I couldn't resist sharing them in my favorite colors. 

A new artist & FREE Clip art

One of the many things that I love about working with Erika over at Honey Bunch Blog Designs is meeting so many great new people. One person I recently met and became friends with is Dina over at Peachi Designs.

Dina is such a sweetheart. When she found out I was a teacher, she asked "what do teachers need?" My response, high-quality clip art at a low price. AND GUESS WHAT?? Dina listened! She is starting a whole line of clip art and other items for teachers!

Isn't this cute?? 

These little guys are from a bigger set of cute Christmas Clip art. We call my youngest son "bear" for a variety of reasons. Each day he seems to grow more into the name. When I saw these, it instantly reminded me of him.

Guess what??

You can get these guys for free right now at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Just click on their cuteness and it will take you there!

She also sent me her hall passes. This was her first teacher-made product that she sells on Etsy. And yeppers.... it is current available in my TpT store for free! Click on it for your copy. 

Dina is also the one we use for more realistic looking avatars. Kind of like a Melonheadz but not as cartoony. You can see her avatars all over the place and she is currently working on one of me. Perhaps my Melonheadz Me and my Avatar Me should pose one day for a photo! =) 

When you get a moment, head on over and check out her brand new website!! She also sells on etsy and has a facebook page.  Drop her a note and let her know what else teachers need. =) 

Count Down to the Election!

I have shared a lot of my favorite resources but I wanted to share a few more of my favorites as tomorrow is the big day. I am taking a poll in my classroom, we are voting to decide if we will have a new president or retain our current one. How would your students vote?

I love this site! A homeschool friend of mine sent it to me. Everything is free and the students will create a lapbook all about the election. I love this idea and could pair it with my interactive notebook pages easily!

I really like how this teacher remembered to include a voter registration card and taught her students how to register to vote! I need to remember this for the next presidential election!!

This is one of my favorite sites. In fact, I asked my students to use this site to help them find the answers to the INS pages in my Election Packet. This site has a lot of other great information as well.

Who does not love BrainPOP? I may have a BrainPOP addiction IF that is at all possible!

Fact Monster is also a favorite place for information! This one has great information on the candidates so you can compare and contrast and/or help your students make an informed decision about who they want to vote for!

And as always... Ben has some information to share with us as well.  Poor Ben he has always been an afterthought for me. For some reason, he just does not appeal to me.

What are your favorite sites for this year's election?

Novemeber... ALREADY???

Yes... November is indeed right around the corner. Tuesday is Halloween... the start of Holiday insanity here. It does not end for me until mid-January as we not only have holidays but birthdays galore to deal with.

That is why I am truly loving my new monthly series and I know many of you are as well!! It is now in stores and ready for your use.

I took a poll on FB and election information was not included in this package by request. My election unit and freebies are also in stock. Just a few more days until the move is over and I am hoping to complete a few more items I have been working on. =)

Instead - we are focusing on families, harvest, fall, and Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy it. If you have any suggestions on additions you would like to see in future packages, leave me a comment. I am trying to add more to each one to make it truly one stop shopping.

I polled my children and this month they wanted to make 3 different sets of calendar numbers and letters. I also changed it by making the vowels a different color than the consonants.

One of my personal favorites of these packages are the monthly sight words. I included an easy way to track these with my Sight Word Magic set as I use the same method for both. We all know how important vocabulary is.  We have all seen and used the Fry's list for sight words but I wanted something more.

Each monthly kit includes 50 seasonal "sight words"! These are words that are specifically related to the season and the events that occur in this month. These are words your students will encounter while reading seasonal books. By creating a list of words for them to learn, I know that no matter what they check out of the library, they will know these words.

It is also a great way to challenge your "gifted and talented." =) 

As a bonus... my students know that these words MAY show up as challenge words on their vocabulary and/or spelling tests. I may require them to use these words in their writings this month. There is so much I can do with these lists!!

Just like last month... this kit includes calendars, journal prompts, newsletters, center labels, stationary, and interactive notebook pages. Some of the fun this month includes:

Creating a family tree! Writing about our families and traditions. Exploring our origins and learning more about the trip to a new land.

Math in action... recipes! There are 2 different versions. I am hoping to complete a freebie to go with this to take this one step further math wise. =)

Speaking of math... I have been working a lot on a math project lately! But I realize that many students are still struggling classifying numbers. So this month's packet focuses on identify odd, even, and prime numbers.

In addition I spent A LOT of time this month going through my personal library (well the boy's library anyways), polling teacher friends, and researching to find books for this months collection! I found some new favorites and hope you will as well.

Please leave me a comment with your book suggestions for fall, Thanksgiving, or the upcoming elections and I will be sure to add them.

As always... there is a lot more inside but this is just a sneak peak at what is in this month's  packet o'fun! You all enjoyed my freebie weeks this month and so I am going to try and schedule another freebie week and linky party too!

As always - leave a comment and I will have one of my boys pick a lucky winner! =)