Holiday Sale

Hello My Friends,

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I braved Target Thanksgiving night, but got way to frustrated and left. That's right, I waited in line and then left after being in the store for a few minutes. I went back out tonight and found a few of the toys I was looking for still at the same prices.  Speaking of SALE prices, I am holding a 30% off sale running from 11/24-11/26 in my TN store. But....the folks at Teacher's Notebook are taking an additional 10% off all orders as well. So, that is a savings of 40% at the Leading and Reading store. Many other stores are running sales as well. I know my cart will be filled up pretty quickly.

On another note, I am saying goodbye to my baby boy in the morning and it is breaking my heart. I'm sure he will be fine here at home with my hubby, but I will miss him. I'm heading to Philadelphia until Sunday to join some of my very best friends at my 20th high school reunion (Oh boy! I just showed my age!). I am soooooo looking forward to it, but I already miss the little guy to pieces.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Oh yeah....this week we tried out some fellow bloggers products, and I've been meaning to post pics and blog about them. But, did I tell you that I spent Monday-Wednesday sick in bed? Great way to spend my fall break. So, be sure to check back next week!

One Proud Auntie

Happy Sunday! I woke up this morning a little happier knowing that I get to spend the entire week off with my little guy.  I'm sure we will have lots to blog about as we are checking out some products from fellow bloggers this week. But today I want to share one of the many things that makes me a proud auntie.
About two weeks ago, my sister sent me this picture:

Might seem like its not much, but what if I told you this was the work of my 4 year old niece, Ryan.  That's right.....4 years old! She finished her art project early and her Pre-K teacher thought she would see if Ryan could do it.  Well later that day, I received a voice mail from Ryan telling me what she had learned and that she wanted Aunt Stacy to help her with more Math. I love that she thinks I'm so smart just because I am a teacher. Although when she plays school, she never chooses to be Aunt Stacy.   LOL!

Later that day, I got my Teacher's Notebook newsletter and saw that Annie Moffatt from The Moffatt Girls had two Fall Freebies (Roll, Read and Color Sight Words and the Fall Math Pack). I told my sister about them and just a few minutes later they were printed out and Ryan was hard at work.  Here she is in action!

She called me to tell me that she was coloring the leaves red, brown and gold, then she added "Well its really yellow, but I'm pretended they are golden!." She is sooo darn cute!


Then, earlier this week my sister sent me this video......

These years are so precious, and I am so thankful that Ryan loves learning and is so eager to try new things. I love you with my whole heart little girl...can't wait to see all that lies ahead for you!

Be sure to check out Annie's blog for all of her awesome products!

Finally....If you are still working this week, I have a 3 Day CCSS aligned Reading plan for you to use with Cynthia Rylant's "The Scarecrow." Click below for the FREE 3 Day plan.

My Top 10

Happy Monday! Today I have the day off in honor of Veteran's Day. This day is very important in my family as we are so proud of my father for his service to our country and his time serving in Vietnam. Although yesterday was Veteran's Day, today and every day is a wonderful opportunity to show our gratitude to those who have and are serving our country.


Speaking of gratitude, I am linking up with Storie for her awesome linky party. Click on the button below to check out her blog and the other bloggers who have linked up.

Here is my list.....I wish I could have added more than 10!

And of course I am so very thankful for being part of this thing we call blogging! I've "met" so many fantastic educators and I am proud to call each one of you a colleague. To show my gratitude, I have uploaded a FREE 3-Day CCSS aligned close reading lesson plan using Cynthia Rylant's book Scarecrow. Click the link below for your FREE 3 day plan.

That's it for now! Off to spend the day with the little guy....

CCSS & Close Reading Lesson Plan

Wow! It has been a LONG few weeks. I am so sad to see my parents leave, but it has been great having them here and I decided that when they were here I was committing my time to them once I was home from school. Therefore.....no blogging was happening! But I have missed  you:)

My little guy was soooo stinkin cute on Halloween. Here is a pic of him at his school story book parade. Does he make a cute Diego or what????

On another note....here is a lesson you may be able to use:


Our district is in full implementation of CCSS for Grades K-1, and are implementing key shifts to implementation in Grades 2-5 this year. As the Reading Coach, I have been offered some awesome trainings that I then deliver back at my school. Earlier this year, we trained our staff on Shift Number One: Selecting Complex Text and coming up we will focus on Shift Number Two: Text Dependent Questions.

One thing we emphasize is that  ELA Standards #1 and #10 as "Power Standards" because they are present in just about every lesson.  We are implementing a 3 Day "Close Reading" model where we use Text Dependent questions to read and revisit a complex text and end with a Performance Task.

This past week I had a few other reading coaches visit with me and I wanted to share the lesson that we created for 1st Grade. Perhaps some of you can implement it and give me some feedback.

We used the book Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant. I just love that book at this time of year, but usually use it to teach about using descriptive words in Writing. But this time we focused on character development and setting impact. The questions we asked were focused on identifying the words the author uses to describe the character and setting and also how the illustrator's pictures add to the meaning.

Click on the images below to learn more about the book, the 3-Day lesson plan and the performance task.