I'm baaaaaaack...with a FREEBIE!

Hi, my name is Jaime and 

I haven't blogged since September...

This school year has proven to be very busy and challenging and it's been getting the best of me and kicking my butt.  But, with Thanksgiving break in sight, I'm getting my mojo back and decided to carve out time to blog and offer a FREEBIE.

I've got a few readers right now who really need to focus on fluency at school AND at home.  I purchased a fantastic leveled reading passage kit from Lakeshore Learning that helps me accomplish this in 1 minute increments each day that I do my small reading groups.

I created a self assessment rubric to go along with any passage, whether at home or at school.

But since Thanksgiving is coming up, I wanted to find a way for students to work on fluency AND learn about turkeys so we can do an informative piece later this week.  So voila

I feel like the little engine that could, seeing that Thanksgiving break is only 8 days away....but who's counting?  ME!

Back-to-School FREEBIE!

I love the Fourth of July...well I guess I really love the time leading up to the Fourth of July more because it's summer and I am not thinking about Back-to-School in any way, shape or form.

But once it's over, summer is half over and stores start advertising Back-to-School stuff.  Part of me is sad because I know my time off is coming to an end and part of me is excited for the start of another year.  It's a double-edged sword I guess you can say.

So here is something I got an idea for the other day because one of my goals this year is to create way more class books with my students.

Wordles are a super fun, easy, visual expression of writing.  Not sure if that made sense, but here's an example (the words under my picture):

Wordles can be used throughout the year for thematic studies, science, social studies and even math.

Here are some more Back-to-School goodies to check out as well:

FREEBIE

Smartboard File: $

$

$

Now go check out all the other fun FREEBIES over at 

Reading Quote

My favorite thing about reading (and listening to music) is visualizing.  I love to make a movie to match what I'm reading or hearing.  

This quote from Natalie Babbitt is one of my favorites and is hanging up in our classroom library and really highlights my love of visualizing and just getting lost in a book!

Grab this FREEBIE!

It's Monday, so go check out all the other great freebies over at

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeee...and a freebie for you!

Time flies...when you're wrapping up the school year!

I just realized that I haven't blogged at all during the month of May.  We wrap up our school year in May, so the month is spent doing assessments, report cards, end-of-year activities and then packing up and closing down the classroom.

This is what my classroom becomes on the very last day of school...

See you again in August!

On the last day of school we did some Readers' Theater for parents and the theme was pigs!  We performed 4 different plays based on funny fiction books about pigs.  One of the funniest plays was Pigs, by Robert Munsch.  There was lots of laughter from the audience and my students did a very good job!

So I'd like to share this play with you as a FREEBIE!

Head on over to

to check out more awesome FREEBIES!

Nature Hunt

The weather here in Alaska has been awesome and there is so much LIGHT now!  We just had to get outside last week and take advantage of our 'Living Classroom', which is an outdoor classroom complete with a walking trail and benches.  We did a Nature Hunt to reconnect with nature after many months of snow.  This is the freebie I'd love to share with you today via

And check out my guest blogging post on May 1st for Charity Preston of the Organized Classroom Blog!

Egg Week and a FREEBIE!

I think this week is going to be eggcellent!

I am back in the saddle full time, as my student teacher wrapped up her 4 week solo residency last Friday.  I did enjoy having a break from teaching but am really looking forward to being in charge again.  

I did get to teach a math lesson last week though because it's my FAVORITE thing to teach...and it's not part of the curriculum: TANGRAMS!  I love these 7 little shapes that make so many different pictures.  What I love even more is watching my first graders tackle them, it's so interesting because it's always the kids that you least expect who are fantastic at these tricky puzzles!  I revamped my SmartBoard Tangram lesson and it now has Chinese music infused into it :-)

Since it's

I'm sharing this FREE SmartBoard lesson! Tangrams are so much fun!

So my students need a break from our weekly Daily 6 reading groups and we're switching things up this week by doing something I call "Circle of Experts".  Our theme is EGGS since Easter is just around the corner.

Students will partner up and become an expert on 1 of 5 different oviparous (egg laying) animals: duck, butterfly, crocodile, turtle and snake.  To become experts they will read a Readers' Theater non-fiction partner script about their animal and complete a note taking sheet.  Then pairs will combine to make small groups of 4 and each pair will teach the other one about their animal.  "Teachers" will use their notes to convey information and "Learners" will take notes about what they learn.  The rotation will continue until each pair has learned about all the other animals.  I'm going to break it up so we do 2 rotations on Tuesday, 1 rotation on Wednesday (because we're also going to do an egg art project) and finish on Thursday with the last 2 rotations.

I'm so excited to try this kind of activity and will blog and post pictures about how it goes!  

Students will kick off Egg Week by getting an egg to take care of for the entire week.  When they get their egg, I will tell them what kind of oviparous animal they are (which is also what they will become an expert on).  I was going to give them raw eggs but figured it would be much less messy if I give them hard boiled eggs...but I'm not telling them they're hard boiled!

I hope you all have an 'egg'cellent week!

The Iditarod and TONS of sunshine!

These awesome photos were taken by a friend of mine, who was downtown for the start of the Iditarod.

Although WE weren't downtown at the starting line, we went to the first checkpoint on the Iditarod trail: the Campbell Airstrip.

The last mushers were just coming in and we got to walk around and take a look at dogs, sleds, trucks, and mushers.  It was a neat close-up!

It was a GORGEOUS 45 degree day (unusual for this time of year)!

Me and my little guy!

The dogs are waiting for all equipment to be packed up.

The inside of a truck.

A very nice musher chatting with my little girl.

a sled

The front of the sled where all dog lines start.

The dog harnesses off the lead line.

A sled anchor...not sure if there's a specific term for it.

After reaching this 1st checkpoint, all mushers pack up their gear and their dogs and drive 45 minutes north to the 'official' start in Willow, Alaska.  The start is on Sunday at 2p.m.

Discover some basic facts about the 'Last Great Race' with your students.

 

A cute snowman craft and a FREEBIE!

February is here, can you believe it?

Snowmen was our theme for January and we ended the month with a really cute craft I saw on Pinterest.  All you need is an old CD, white paint, googly eyes, orange paper and black paper.  

This is my awesome fold out art table!

We do our crafts during our Daily 5 groups on T, W and Th this year.  So on Tuesday, students painted their CD white.  I just happened to find a bunch of old CDs in our art closet!  Then we finished up the snowman on Wednesday.

The nose is just a piece of crumpled orange paper, stuck through the hole in the middle. 

Aren't they super cute!  I love how each one has its own expression :-)

Now for the FREEBIE!

I read the Jan Brett story 'The Hat' the other day to my students and they asked about doing it as Readers' Theater but I told them I didn't have that script. But, lo and behold, I did have it on my computer and forgot I had written it a while back!  So go grab it, it's FREE!

Happy February everyone!