Sunday, June 26, 2011

Nearly There

This is my last week of summer school! Can I get a WA-HOO?!?! I really do like teaching summer school, but just like the regular school year, that last week is the hardest! It's finally warm in Idaho, feeling like summer, and the kids just want to be done. To make matters worse, our town just opened up a brand new water park last weekend, so the kids are all going to dreaming of being there all week long.

I can't really blame them. I want to be outside playing with my little man too!


So, five more days until I'll be cuddling this cutie all day long! Okay, not really, since he's a very busy little boy and I'll probably be running after him cleaning up the messes he'll make in our house. Either way, I can't wait!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Knight and the Dragon

I love this book by Tomie dePaola (he's one of my favorite authors). It makes a great read aloud, because there are so many pictures without any text, and the students can create their own dialogue to go along with the pictures.


One fun activity I wanted to try with my summer school kids is to read this book, then have them do some writing to make up their own dragon and knight story. I've been searching through web pages and blogs with the hopes of finding an activity that does just that. Most of what I found were students drawing pictures and dragons and knights and going from there. I love that idea, but summer school is only 3 1/2 hours long each day, and with centers, math, and reading, it just seemed easier for me to make up my own worksheet. It's not my best work, but I think the kids can get creative with this. Just have your students write what they think is happening in the story, based on the pictures (it's kind of vague, but I was hoping this would lead to many different interpretations.

Click on the picture to get your copy.


What fun activities do you do with this book?

Blog Stalking

Need some great, new blogs to stalk...er, I mean follow? Then head on over to Clutter-Free Classroom and check out the Blog Stalking Linky Party. I've already found some awesome blogs!



Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Congrats to Mireya!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Newbie 7 Giveaway! I hope to have lots of fun {FREE!} downloads for you through out the summer, so please keep checking out my blog.

A Special Congrats to Mireya @ First Grade Dual Surprises for winning a gift card to Barnes and Noble! Please contact me within 24 hours to claim your prize.


Congrats to all the other winners!



Monday, June 20, 2011

Audrey Wood Mini-Unit

Here's the mini-unit I created for my summer school kids. I kept it pretty simple, since they have a hard time with too much writing. I'm thinking it would be fun to do towards the beginning of the year for my regular class.

Click on the strawberry to get your copy!


A huge thanks to everyone who's entered our team giveaway, so far. I've been having so much fun getting to know new people. If you haven't entered yet, check out the post below. You have two days left!


Saturday, June 18, 2011

Huge Team Giveaway!



I'm so excited to be a part of this great giveaway! There will be 7 winners along with 7 different ways to enter. I can't wait to see who all will win some prizes {I hope it's YOU}! You have until Wednesday to enter, but you need to go to Little Miss Kindergarten's blog and comment there to enter. You can't enter on my blog, but I'm not opposed to you leaving me a comment saying hello :o)

Here's are the links for my newest buddies' pages for you to follow their blog or TPT store:


Good luck and thanks for entering!



Sunday, June 12, 2011

Favorite Things

Since it's Sunday, I'm taking a day off of school things and focusing on some of my favorite things.

My Little Man

Zumba
Flats

Colorful Post-its

Picnics and playing at the park

Linking up with Little Miss Kindergarten

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Ideas Needed


Oh, The Beatles. I love them. I do need some help with ideas. Today was the first day of summer school and I have a lot of adult helpers in my classroom. I have an aide who is great and can do/teach really anything, then I have two college students (that are with us all day on Monday and Wednesday) who are getting ready to do their student teaching in the fall and they seem very able to willing to do whatever the kids need. Everyday I do small group centers and have these teachers run a center.

The part that I need help with is how do you use helpers in your classroom? These summer school kiddos are, for the most part, the really low kids that need all the extra help they can get. I'd love some creative ideas, please. TIA!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Coming Soon...

Here's a sneak peak at what I'm currently working on. I've decided to add it into my summer school schedule (I'm thinking of combining it with week 2?). One of my co-workers turned my onto these awesome books. I can't believe I hadn't read them before (except for The Big Hungry Bear). If you haven't read these books, go to your library ASAP and check them out!