Virginia is For Book Lovers

(SPECIAL NOTE TO VIRGINIA TEACHERS!  Make sure you check out 

the info on the SOL FB pages at the very end of this post!)

I am so fortunate to have formed some wonderful friendships with an amazing group of Virginia bloggers! And while we have come to know each other well and found lots of things we have in common, the one unifying interest and topic of conversation is what goes on in our classrooms. Every few months or so we like to come together to share what we love so this time around we choose our love of books.

Each of us will share a book and resource that we LOVE to use in the classroom for this very special hop. Not only that, but you'll find a book giveaway on each page of the hop, with a super huge giveaway at the end!

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What Invented Spelling Can Teach Us About George Washington's Birthplace

My own children wrote before they read.  When they were 3 or 4 years old, they wanted to write their name or label a picture they had drawn or help with the grocery list.  Since they already knew letters and most sounds, they used invented spelling to try to get a word on paper.  All before they could read a word.
Watching this unfold was a profound experience for me as a teacher.

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Fall Fun with the Virginia Teacher Bloggers

As sad as I am to see summer go, I must admit that autumn in Virginia is beautiful.  We are so fortunate to have four distinct seasons, each one with it's own beauty and benefits.

Autumn in central Virginia is usually still rather warm, with temps in the 70s and even the 80s some days.  My children wear shorts right on into November most years.  The nights cool down a bit and it's nice to sleep with the windows open.  No AC and no heat, just nice breezes blowing through open windows, frogs and critters singing throughout the night.

This weekend, all my boys and I will hit the pumpkin patch and bring home our jack-o-lantern fixin's.  Here are some pics from previous pumpkin trips:

*UPDATE*

We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday morning!  

Here is this year's pic:)

And now to share a little pumpkin fun!

Word problems are so important for our kids.  They need to have daily opportunities to solve all different kinds of word problems.  And not just any old problem we come up with on the fly.  

Did you know there are four different types of word problems?  

And 11 subsets?  Take a look...

But who has time to come up with several new problems every day?  And to make sure all the different problem types are covered?  I do!!  And I am sharing a part of the new October Daily Word Problem packet.  I hope you can use it and if you like it, the whole 60 page packet is available on TpT HERE, as well as several other Daily Word Problem Packs.

Click the picture to get the freebie:)

And now on to the next stop in the hop for another Fun Fun Treat:)

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After the Storm - Revised

Back in October, after Hurricane Sandy, I posted a little freebie pack of activities to help students talk and write about their feelings and experiences after a storm.  It seems as though that pack may be useful once again so I have updated it with new clip art and revised pages.

Here is the link to the original post:
http://teachinginprogress.blogspot.com/2012/10/after-storm.html
Here's an excerpt from the original post:
We have weathered many storms in our area - thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and snowstorms. We have had to deal with downed trees, power outages, washed out roads, missing roofs, car accidents, and even lost lives. When it's all over, we dust ourselves off and carry on. Back to the grind.

But we forget that it's not always that simple for our little ones. It isn't so easy for them to shake off the fear and worry and put it all behind them. They have been kept up all night listening to the roaring wind and pounding rain, or had to evacuate their home, or had damage to their property. Even if they don't see destruction first hand, they see it on TV. So scary for an itty bitty!

My students often return to school after a storm or natural disaster and cannot concentrate on the task at hand because they haven't yet worked through their feelings of fear, worry, or helplessness. I certainly can't teach fractions when the kids are afraid the roof might blow off the school!
So, whether you live near the storms or just have students who have been seeing a little too much news coverage, I hope you find some of this pack useful.

And if you have suggestions for additional pages or other ideas, PLEASE let me know!  I would love to add to the pack and make it as useful as possible to teachers and students.

 

 

 

I hope you are all safe and well,
~Nikki

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Teacher Appreciation Freebies Roundup

Teacher Appreciation Week may be coming to an end, but the celebration isn't over yet!  Teaching Blog Roundup is teaming up with 20 of the best blogs to host this Teacher Appreciation FREEBIES Roundup blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  I would like to show my appreciation with this great freebie for you.

Click Here for the FREEBIE:)

I'm glad you hopped by!  If you are new to my blog and liked what you see, don't forget to follow me!  Now head over to Fantastic First Grade Froggies to roundup the next FREEBIE!

We Appreciate You!

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Free Comic Book Day!

We all know how important it is to place varied types of reading material in our classroom libraries, so why not add a few comic books?  Especially when they're FREE!

Free Comic Book Day is on the first Saturday in May every year at participating comic book stores across America and Canada.  Various comic book publishers send out stacks of comics to participating comic book stores to give away.  Click on the picture below for more info and to find a participating store in your town.

My boys and I went last year and we had a great time!  The comic book store we went to had Stormtroopers and Jedi knights on hand for photo opportunities.

Two of my boys with a Clone trooper, Mace Windu, and a Stormtrooper

This year we're just embracing our complete geekiness by going to Dave's Comics for our free comics, then off to a local toy emporium to celebrate "May the Fourth Be With You" (another day to honor total geekdom) and finally to top it all off, to the theater to see Iron Man 3!  I can't wait!!

So go grab a few free comic books this Saturday, for your classroom, for your kids, or for yourself!

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You can read Kindle books without a Kindle? YES!

Maybe some of you are already privy to this revelation, but it 's news to me!

I just downloaded the Kindle Cloud Reader onto my laptop.  So, even though I don't have a Kindle, I can still download Kindle books (and so many of them are FREE! )

The Kindle app is available for smart phones, macs, pcs, and tablets.

Get it HERE!

Now that you have the Kindle app, go download this book for FREE until midnight tonight!  It was written by my colleague, another first grade teacher.  It is his first book and it would be awesome if we could all show a fellow teacher some love and download this book!!!  

I know he will appreciate any support you throw his way:)

~Nikki

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January Approaches...

My whole family has been in pajamas for the entire day three days!  But now we're running low on supplies and we must venture into the world for food.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted - staying up late, leftovers, video games, and toys, toys, toys!

It's time to start thinking about next week - the older boys are working on homework projects (please - what evil teacher assigns a project over Christmas break!?) and - uugghh - I must do lesson plans!

I think I am going to start with my Five Frosty Snowmen plans just to make things easy.  It's already printed, laminated, and cut!  Here is some of it-

The Poem

  Retelling

 

Compound words with the word SNOW! 

 

  Quotation marks and Reader's Theater

Seasonal Sort

 

Ordinals

  Roll and Cover

 If you're interested, this pack is available 

in my TpT store.

 I also need to walk in ready for the New Year!  I have been working on writing paper that has seasonal and holiday themed paper for the whole school year.  I use it for prompt writing, 'sticker stories' in the writing station, or post the color version on the Promethean Board as an additional writing opportunity.

Here are the New Year pages for FREE.  Check back - I will post the whole year long pack in my store soon!

Click HERE to download!

Happy New Year!  Hope you have a terrific 2013!

~Nikki

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