Hall Pass & FREE 4 All

I am joining up with TWO linky Parties tonight. The first is my lastest favorite blog- All Things Upper Elementary. They are having another FREE FOR ALL linky. Click on the pic below to see all the awesome freebies for Grades 3-5

The FREE item I am sharing are my Dr. Suess posters. There are 3 posters included that highlight my favorite quotes from Dr. Suess. 

 I also wanted to share a website that has tons of bulletin board ideas for Read Across America. Click on the pic to take you there.

Next I am linking up with Reagan from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits for her Hall Pass linky. She is just so darn creative. If you haven't checked out her blog head over there RIGHT NOW!!!! Wait until you see her classroom. If I could I would move there now to put my son in her class.  You can get to her blog and see the other bloggers who have linked up by clicking on the Hall Pass

Product: My favorite product is so hard to decide. I'm going to have to go with it being a tie between my Owl Theme set and my Circus Theme Set. They are so cute. I love the graphics and hope that other teachers can use them in their classrooms.

Area: Well this year I do not have a classroom since I am a Reading Coach, but I will highlight my favorite spot in my room.  This is where I keep my professional resources for teacher check out. The books are kept in white bins that I found at the Dollar Store and added black and white ribbons to them.  The cabinets above have inspirational quotes about reading and/or writing. 

Signal: I don't really have a signal that I use right now, but I have a few classrooms where I use the Whole Brain teaching "Class? Yes!" signal. My favorite is "Classity Class? Yessity Yes!"  My son's teacher says "Peanut Butter?" and the kiddos respond "Jelly!"  I thought that was so cute. We actually have started using it at home.

Sanity: I am an EARLY riser.  I like to be up, showered and dressed at least an hour before I leave for work. That way I have plenty of time in the morning to catch up on the news and spend some time with my little guy. I have to be at work at 7:30 so I leave around 6:50, so I am usually always up by 5:00  So, my sanity is a BIG OLD VANILLA ICED COFFEE from McDonald's. I can't go without it!

Give-Aways & I'm a Winner

Quick posts this Monday morning to share two FABULOUS Give-Aways going on. First, Taming My Flock of Firsties is having a Mid-Winter Blues giveaway. 

I am happy to be part of this along with some awesome fellow bloggers. I contributed my Owl Theme  set for the occasion!

 

And, to celebrate 800 followers, My Life as a 3rd Grade Teacher is hosting 2 contest. You can win one of those FAB "Quiet Sharpeners" or a TPT $25 Gift Certificate. Stop by, congratulate Lindsay and enter to win!

I am so excited that I have FINALLY won a give-away myself! I just love Kristen from Ladybugs Teacher Files and Haute off the Printer and today my blog stalking paid off- I won her Oh What a Storm article writing packet. It includes graphic organizers and a teacher's guide. What a great way to start the week. Thanks girl!
Happy Monday my Friends!

Fun 4 All- Text Mapping

I am once again linking up with my favorite blog, All Things Upper Elementary, for their Fun 4 All linky party. This link up is all about LOVE! So I am sharing about a strategy I LOVE! And also about a NEW LINKY Pinterest party I am LOVIN- see below!

Many of you know that I am a Reading Coach and work with the teachers and students at my school as we focus on reading achievement. A few weeks ago, one of our ESE (special education) teachers came to me about a workshop she had attended on engagement strategies for readers. She showed me what she had learned about text mapping and I was excited for both of us to get started and try it out with our kids.
I worked with a group of 4th graders, and we had so much fun- I think anytime we had markers to a lesson it seems to add a level of fun for the kiddos. We also pushed our tables out of the ways so they had some room to work.  Text mapping is a scrolls-based graphic organizer technique that can be sue to teach reading comprehension. . The basic gist is that you copy text and make it into one large scroll then the children box off or circle pieces of the text that go together and color code them. This makes the reading of the text easier for the kids to do (because they know the chunks that go together). It also helps them to see how each of the smaller parts goes together to make the bigger picture.
To learn more about text mapping, you can visit The Text Mapping Project website. Here are some pictures of my kiddos at work, and be sure to read to the end to grab a FREEBIE to use with your own students.

Here is the anchor chart we made to remember our codes. Click on the pic to download your FREEBIE.

Now for all of you bloggers out there. Check out this new linky party that combines my two favorite online things- Blogging and Pinterest!

That's it for now! Have a Happy Sunday!

What's in Your Cart?

Happy Sunday! I have a full day today. Lesson plans for my 4th grade groups for tomorrow, weekly bookstore visit with my son, grocery shopping and then off to a friends for a Super Bowl party! Although I have to admit that just last night I asked my husband who was playing. My father would be quite embarrassed if he knew. I have been excited for this weekend mostly due to the TN and TPT sales going on. Right now everything in my TN store is on sale. Click the link below to take you there.

 

Here is a peek at some of my most popular items:

   

 

I have a few items in my cart to purchase later today. I have a few more items to add, so I'm not checking out quite yet. I have two carts going- on at Teacher's Notebook and one at Teachers Pay Teachers.   Click on the name of the product to check it out and clicking on the author's name will take you to their store.

1.  Alphabet Phonics Headbands- from The Moffatt Girls to reinforce the letters that my son is learning in Preschool. Everyday he comes home and says "what's your letter?, what's Teddy's letter" He is asking for the letter our names start with:)
2.  Editable Chevron Binder Covers from SchoolGirl Style, just because I love me some cute binders, and because Melanie is awesome!!!
3.  Find Us a Forever Home by Tracy Tegeler. I love Tracy's shop and I can't believe I just found her. This is perfect for 2nd graders to reinforce reading for details.
4.  CCSS Information Text Grades 5-7 US History by Mark Aaron- This is to add to my text collection. As a bonus for me, Mark has created text dependent questions to go with them.
5. CCSS Comprehension Task Cards by Jen Bengel. Jen is one of my favorite bloggers. I follow her own blog and I also follow her on All Things Upper Elementary. This is a great reference to have at the guided reading table, or to use when conferencing with readers.

Now it's your turn. I'd love to hear what is in your cart (or carts). Leave me a comment about what item you have to have during these awesome sales!