A Gaggle of Geese

A gaggle of geese = a bunch of geese.

A mischief of mice = a bunch of mice.

My son said something at dinner the other night that started the hamster wheel in my brain turning.  Before I knew it, I was writing a partner play about all the normal, silly and weird names for groups of animals (i.e. collective nouns). It's a rhyming, 2-page play and it's FREE, so go check it out!

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  

Now do you get the title of the play?

School's Out and I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack!

I am officially freeeeeeeeeeee for the summer!

I am feeling giddy that tomorrow I don't have to go to work and can do whatever I want, when I want!  I'll most likely spend it working in my gardens and yard, running to Home Depot and maybe even taking a nap. . .

This year I switched grade levels (up to 2nd), renewed my National Boards in Literacy and had the largest class ever in my 17 years 

(and 90% of my boys were 'squirrels at a rave').

The last few weeks were CrAzY, with everything winding down, putting on a triathlon for kids in our city, creating and distributing our school's yearbook and being DJ for our annual end-of-the-year DJ party. . .all while my husband was in Japan. . .thank goodness my mother-in-law flew up to help me out!

But I LOVE all the FUN things I'm involved with at my school!  Time to have fun in the classroom and at school continues to dwindle and I've had enough so I'm bringing the FUN back in any big or little way I can.

Speaking of fun, have you read the book "The Day the Crayons Quit" by Drew Daywalt?  HILARIOUS and clever!  I read it a few weeks back and as I was reading it I said out loud "This story would make a great Readers' Theater play." and everyone cheered.  So I whipped up a script and we performed it for parents in the music room with microphones and a black, velvet curtain...so awesome!

Click on the image below to get it for FREE and use it with your class, your RTI group, your summer school class, etc.

If you are not yet done with your school year, my thoughts go out to you:

Happy

All of the above are true. . .but #3 is a treasure I found the other day doing one of my favorite things: browsing the children's section in a new library.

The thing I was drawn to with this book was the artwork and the SEL connection.

My favorite!

I am definitely adding this book to my SEL lessons about feelings and created a class book to go with it.

You can get it for FREE by clicking here!

The one thing that amazes me each year when we do our feelings lessons is the response to these questions:

"Is it okay to feel _______ (mad, jealous, excited, etc.)?"   "No."

So we spend a lot of time talking about how it IS okay to feel a certain way, how you act upon that feeling can either be good or bad (angry: taking 5 deep breaths -v.s- hitting someone).  So that's why I titled the class book "We can feel..."

And I'm feeling excited to go visit my grandparents and a favorite beach of ours on Madeline Island in Northern Wisconsin tomorrow!

Greatest Hits

If you know me, you know how much I L-O-V-E Readers' Theater.  Freebies are also something I love! So I combined both of them.

You can now have 17 fiction & non-fiction scripts at your fingertips in one file.  You can use the TinyPDF app to use them sans paper.  Also included is some information about Close Reading and Readers' Theater.

And along the lines of Readers' Theater, I'm not sure where I got the idea but this past year I put up a permanent stage curtain in my classroom, in front of my main whiteboard and meeting area.  

It was a great decoration, was our stage for Readers' Theater presentations and was useful when I wanted students to only see part of the board and keep something out of view.  I bought a long curtain rod and 2 wall-mounted things to put the curtain rod on (kind of like brackets that you'd hang your bike up on when winter comes around)....not sure of the name.  But I got them at Home Depot and will put in a third one up (in the middle) next fall.

I took my kids to the library today and as they played I roamed the aisles of book and grabbed ones that stood out.  So I have some more (fiction) Readers' Theater inspiration.

New 2 & 3 person Reader's Theater PACK

Do you think bugs are interesting?  I do.

Do you think bugs are gross?  I do.

Do you freak out when bugs are around you?  I do.

Do you know a ton of cool facts about bugs?  I do.

Well.....

My newest pack of partner and trio Readers' Theater plays is finally done and I'm so excited to try them out!  I've worked long and hard on these gems; doing a ton of research.

click to get it

Here's one of the plays for FREE so you can check it out and see if it's worth adding to your guided reading resource stash or a good fit for Read with Someone.

click to get it

I cAN'T wait to start my next Readers' Theater project (get it....can't/cANT)!

Thanksgiving Class Book FREEBIE

Have you ever picked up a forwards-backwards book?

This is what I call a book that you can read normally but also turn it over and upside down and read it again but kind of backwards.  Well I was lesson planning and thinking about what to do for writing this week since it's a short week and it's Thanksgiving.  This class book idea hit me and I had so much fun making it (especially the turkey's escape ideas). 

Click here to get this FREE class book.

As I was creating the book though I started thinking about those who don't eat turkey or the thought of eating turkey and that's why I created this second, companion book, to go with the farmer's book.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Brain Breaks MENU

I know taking "brain breaks" is important during the school day but with everything we have to teach and fit in, I find myself just plowing through our lessons trying to get everything done and stay on track with pacing guides. 

But we also need to give them a break...

So I finally made the time to sit down and look into some ideas for brain breaks.  But as I looked and read up, I realized that what kids need is movement too.  So I prefer to call them brain & body breaks.  I finally decided to create my own tool and came up with a menu and a dice.  I took great ideas, tweaked some of these great ideas and created some of these great ideas myself and I'm ready to share! You can get this FREEBIE by clicking below.

Descriptions on the back for quick and easy reference.

Snow Day and a FREEBIE!

Last Monday it was snowy here in Anchorage and as I left for work I didn't think anything of it.  But as soon as I crossed an intersection that was a mile from my school it became stand-still traffic and it took us an hour to get to school.  Luckily my kids had art first thing and there were only 6 of them.  

Fast forward to TODAY: It snowed like crazy in only a few short hours, but I did not think school would be cancelled.  First I got a call saying there was a 2-hour delay in effect (never had that happen in my 12 years here).  Then, 10 minutes away from leaving the house with my kids, another call announced that school was now cancelled.

I'm glad the district erred on the side of caution this time.  So we immediately got into comfy clothes and started playing.  The sun came out too and it was beautiful!  We went for a walk, me pulling them in the sled, and delivered some freshly baked cookies to some friends in the neighborhood....that was awesome!

Also awesome was that I was able to get some work done and finished a project I've been wanting to whip up for a few weeks and you can get it for free here!

Five for Friday

I'm happily linking up again with

I love to steam my face!  It's so relaxing and feels great but I don't do it very often because it takes more time than I'd like to boil a pot of water on the stove.  So I randomly googled "facial steamer" and ended up buying this off of Ebay.  You put a small amount of water into the base (I add essential oils too!) and then turn it on.  It takes 3 minutes to heat up and I brush my teeth, etc. during that time.  I absolutely love it and there is also a sinus cleansing part that comes with it that I have not tried yet.

I finished writing another non-fiction life cycle Readers' Theater script, which focuses on the flower, and it's a FREEBIE!  My next step is to take all 8 life cycle scripts and put them together in a MEGA non-fiction pack...

Thanks to an idea I saw on FB, I've set a running goal of doing at least one race a month.  I usually train from March-June for a triathlon, a 5K and a half marathon and then stop running.  But this little idea has kept me going so I can add race bibs to my collection....and keep running of course :-)

Tonight I'll be doing a 5-miler in honor of a local athlete who was killed by a car one year ago right in front of his house as he left to go for a bike ride :-(

It feels good to do races that have a higher cause!

I finally started composting!  I bought a big, outdoor garbage can and drilled holes in it.  I mulched a bunch of trimmings from bushes and mowed the yard and threw everything in to get started (per a Pinterest idea I saw).  I bought a small compost pail for kitchen scraps and have stored it underneath the sink and empty it into the big bin when it's full.  Can't wait to turn it into rich soil!

This is a computer desk for 2 students that I built this week.

I was on a run and started thinking about how I will set up my classroom this year.  I love how I have it EXCEPT one BIG thing....the computers cannot be facing my small guided reading table!  So then I started thinking about how I could kind of 'hide' the computers and came up with this slim desk for 2 that I'll put behind my classroom library and next to my GR table.  

Bought a special drill attachment to drill these big holes for the computer cords.

I bought 3 pieces of wood, which I had Home Depot cut up into the measurements I wanted and then put it together in my garage with my BFF tools Thelma & Louise :-)

If the desk does indeed fit where I need it to fit, then I'll whip up 2 more!  I also plan to hang some cute fabric from them so you can't see them and my library bookshelves (which will be directly in front of the desks) will have a cute fabric backdrop.

Have a FunTASTIC weekend!