I'm running a SALE...#savemoney#savetime#enhancelessons

Welcome December! #letthemadnessbegin

Welcome December!  It sounds so strange.  When my kiddos left on Tuesday I said "see you next month" and of course that brought a smile to their face.  I am so THANKFUL though that before I left all my "turkey" things came down and all my "snowman" things went up so when I walk in on Monday I will feel ready to begin the winter months. For all you in the warmer climates ... jealous!!
As you know I always try to stay a month ahead with my packets.  So the last few days I have been "madly" updating and adding to my January packet list.  The basic focus here is INFORMATIONAL TEXT and our writing will focus on RESEARCH to assure we are meeting the required Common Core Standards.  Each packet also includes crafts, language activities, word work activities and more!!
So this post is going to show you my January items and my outline!  Hope it is helpful to you.

So you can see I begin with Jan Brett and two of my favorite stories The Hat and The Mitten.

My favorite part about this packet is that it includes two Reader's Theaters with picture identification cards.

The freebie is a wonderful compare and contrast of the two stories followed by two writing activities.

 Click here to find.

Next I move into my Arctic Unit.  This has been totally updated and improved so if by chance you purchased it last year be sure to look.  This covers a number of Arctic Animals, the Inuit people, informational text mini books, vocabulary and many other activities to really enhance every area of your curriculum.  This comes with three of my favorite crafts...easy and quick to create. The freebie has a little data collection activity and is followed by a paragraph building activity.

Click here!

Martin Luther King is also an event in the month of January.  Again this packet has be completely updated and improved.  I love the story that accompanies this packet...The Crayon Box That Talked.  It is a perfect  way to begin discussion on "equality" and appreciating "differences".  The freebie is a delightful poem and activities to follow.  There is an anchor chart poem and bookmarks too!

Click here.

Next I have snowmen down BUT I am going to change that to Penguins.  It fits with our Arctic Study as we move to the opposite end of the globe.  This packet is so much fun and has some delightful fiction stories to accompany it.  Again there is informational text and research activities.  I have not finished it yet but have a third craft I will include for a cute little "stand up" penguin.  Keep your eyes open. The freebie is a label page followed by identifying different and alike for penguin and bird.  

 Click here.

And we cannot leave January without a calendar and vocabulary for posting.

By clicking below you will get the anchor chart and all the January vocabulary cards.

Click here.

My final January item is my Poem packet.  These are new this year and I LOVE them.

The freebie is the Martin Luther King Poem.  

And so everyone...Hang In There!  These packets and freebies certainly will help and allow you to enjoy your vacation vs. digging for ideas!!  Michele

Happy Friday All...#fullmoon#exhausted#onlytwodaysnextweek

And if you read the title it says it all!  This was such a long week and the kiddos are all pumped for Thanksgiving...top that off with a full moon and you have one teacher who can't wait for the weekend.
But then the weekend will bring shopping and getting organized for the family Thanksgiving.LOL!!
You gotta love holidays!
Okay here is the slide I promised you...not the cute font cause I am at school.
I'll try and fix that tomorrow.
This is the 100's one but there is also one for 10's.

 Click here to download.

Also, I am just a bit ahead of the game but wanted to send all the turkey and November things home to decorate the kiddos home.

Thank you Pinterest!!

Happy weekend everyone!

More Turkey Talk!

More turkey fun today!

The kiddos read informatinal text about wild and domestic turkeys.  It was even informative to me.  We then watched a fabulous short video clip that showed actual wild and domestic turkey.  I felt like we accomplished so much.  Now when the kiddos sat down to write they had so much information to share.

Finally we ended with a little fiction story and another cute turkey craft.

Finally I wanted to share a great resource with you that I found to support teaching facts.

It is really well laid out and super helpful in differentiating and teaching strategies.

Is anyone else using it?

Turkey-ific fun!!!

We had so much fun this morning with our guided reading story, comprehension, and then a little super simple craft that I think will make every Thanksgiving table look fantastic.  The perfect centerpiece or at least a project set out to decorate for the holiday.  The tails are just a coffee filter painted with water color.  All the rest is just construction paper, a little glue, and I ended up stapling the wings to assure that they stayed in place.

Next I wanted to share the tepee I was talking about yesterday and a photo of us at the historical village where we toured an original log cabin, a school house, a barn, and a train station.

I also thought you would like to see how I plan my months in advance.  The one is my outline and the other is the calendar for the parents.  Both can be found in my packet on Lesson Plans.

Finally here is the slide from the Place Value Packet.  I will put it up as a "freebie on Friday" so check back.

This one got a little damp coming into school as we had a good downpour after a "full moon"!  Michele

Happy Weekend!

I have been so bad about posting despite the fact that we have been so busy in the classroom doing some amazing things! We spent a week on the Colonial Americans and topped it off with a trip to the historical village.  Last week we explored the Native Americans in three different regions of the United States.  One of the kiddos brought in a tepee and we have had a fabulous time taking turns reading and writing inside the tepee.  This week it is going to be "turkey time"!  We are reading informational text as well as several fiction stories and I have some absolutely "turkey-ific" craft planned.  I promise to get pictures to you this week.

This weekend I finished a packet on Place Value to accompany our math program.  It is filled with games and activities to support the development and understanding of place value.  Games are accompanied by a work mat as well as record keeping sheet which makes assessment easy!  Students can complete the games independently in a math center or with a partner.  I am sharing a little freebie with you!  Enjoy...Michele

Click here for the "freebie"

Gingerbread Sunday...and a freebie!

I am so excited to have finished my Gingerbread packet.  It is filled with academic experiences perfect for the kiddos.  My only hope is that I have enough days set aside to complete all the Gingerbread fun.  After this no more December talk until December!  Happy Sunday everyone!  Michele

Click here for the freebie!

December Preview...Freebie for each!

December is quickly approaching and I am busy getting everything set for December.  I finished all my packets except for the gingerbread unit which I hope to complete today.  So I thought I'd post what I am planning to do with my kiddos for the month of December and for each of you there is a "feebie" attached.  Each packet is filled with Common Core Standards in the Language Area.  They also include some Social Studies and Science.  Some day when I have time I am going to label each activity but for now...trust me they are there.  When I post my Gingerbread Unit I will also post the two Units we will cover for Mathematics with the supplement materials I make.  Happy Sunday all!

Click here for freebie.

Click here for freebie!

Click here for freebie!!

Click here for freebie!

Click here for freebie!

Colonial Americans

With Monday and Tuesday being conferences we have a three day week.  Fiday we will head to our Colonial Village in town.  How lucky we are to have actual replicas of a log cabin, barn, school house, and train station! To prepare the children for the visit we spent the last two days learning about the Pilgrims, their journey, lives when they arived, and progress they made in a few short years.  It has been perfect for making connections and reading informational text.  We have written opinion pieces as well as informative paragraphs.  We also completed the cute crafts with the Pilgrim boy and girl.  So much fun and so valuable.  As you know Scholastic has a wonderful interactive site on Thanksgiving which includes information about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, and Wampanoag.  Follow the link below to get there.  Tomorrow we will learn more about the Wampanoag and compare their lives to the Pilgrims.  I will post some pictures tomorrow.  Below are photos of the work from the "free" worksheets I put on the site.

Scholastic Interactive...First Thanksgiving