Giveaway Fun!!!

Click on the image above to hop over to Deb's blog and enter her 1000 TpT follower giveaway!  I and several other TpT sellers have donated resources to Deb's giveaway, so there's lots to be won! 

 (Click on any image to be taken to the seller's store.)

Raffle #1 
One winner will receive all of this: 

 Ms. Fultz's Corner blog

 Teacher's Take-Out blog

The Library Fox blog

Teaching with Blonde Ambition blog

Fab and Fun in Fourth blog

Shearer-ly Sadler 4th Grade blog

Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin' blog

Crafting Connections blog

 

Raffle #2

One winner will receive all of this: 

I {Heart} Recess blog

Chalk & Apples blog

Fifth in the Middle blog

A Tall Drink of Water blog

 Let's Teach Something blog

 A Teaspoon of Teaching blog

Crafting Connections blog

Good luck!

Graphic Credits: 

Mini-Me by The Library Fox

Bubbles Background by Krista Wallden

Frame by Lovin Lit

Font by Teaches Third in Georgia 

All Things Interactive Giveaway!!!!

Are you interested in winning Interactive Materials for your classroom?  Now is your chance! 

 

Click to take a look at the prizes and the awesome TpT sellers offering them to all of you!  

Get a closer look at their blogs by clicking 

on the links below the pictures. :)

 

Create, Teach, and Share

4mulaFun

Teaching With Blonde Ambition

*Nicole will give away the notebook of the winner's choice!

Common Core and So Much More

The SuperHERO Teacher

Crafting Connections

*Deb will be donating these five products that would work PERFECTLY in any interactive project!

The Science Penguin

One Extra Degree

One Lesson at a Time

Teaching to Inspire in Fifth

*Jennifer will be donating the fourth or fifth grade notebook of your choice!

Have FuN checking out our links, but please remember that can only enter this giveaway on one blog!  Please do not enter on multiple blogs, as it is all "going into the same pot!" :)

Thank you for your participation...now it's time to get started!  

Enter AwAy!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Theme-Filled Cupcake, Anyone? {GIVEAWAY!}

Hi there!

Deb here... I am so excited to be guest blogging for Nicole today!  Nicole and I first connected several months ago for the first time, when she was kind enough to notify me of a small problem with a resource I had posted at my TpT store.  From there, we have traded emails back and forth occasionally… and I am always SUPER excited when I see her name appear when I am updated that someone has purchased one of my resources.  Nicole Shelby has purchased something from me?!   I’m sure you can all relate to the “star-struck” nature of my statement!  However, I can just see Nicole herself wincing as she reads this.  I am fairly certain that she would say that she is no different than you and I – simply a teacher doing her best to do whatever she can to influence the lives and futures of the students placed in her classroom year after year.  :)

Okay, I digressed a bit there; back to the task at hand!  I asked Nicole if she would allow me to guest blog today about the ELA concept of theme.  Actually, if you would have talked to me a year ago, you never would have heard me say I wanted to write about this particular educational concept.  I’ve always considered theme to be a challenge to teach, simply because of the “abstract” nature of it.   Whereas plot, main idea, and context clues are pretty “concrete”, theme definitely requires a mental jump to some higher-level thinking, which frankly can be a challenge for some students.

That all changed, though, when I (with the help of my twin sister who is not a teacher, believe it or not) came up with the idea to use a crème-filled cupcake to help teach theme!  Theme-filled cupcakes!  WooHoo!  I thought, I think I’m on to something here!   Not only do we have the rhyming thing going on, but the analogy is perfect!   Like the crème filling of a cupcake, the theme of a story is not explicitly stated in most cases.  Rather, the theme is the hidden message (or deeper meaning) that the author is intending to convey.

Once I came up with this analogy, I was on a mission!  Out came the craftivity…. Out came the PowerPoint… Out came the task cards… Out came the worksheets… all with the same theme-filled cupcake analogy, making a nifty little memorable visualization that students can use to associate with the definition of theme.

Theme-Filled Cupcake Craftivity finished product

Craftivity, you may ask? I love craftivities!   (Hence the name of my blog - Crafting Connections.) Check out my recent post at All Things Upper Elementary for more information about what they are and why I love them for upper elementary learners.   (While you’re there, pick up my Idioms & Hyperbole craftivity for FREE!  I’m extending the free download (available exclusively there) for another week - so you can get it through next Sunday, September 22.)

My Theme-Filled Cupcakes Craftivity resource includes four short stores.   Students read each short story and then determine its theme.  From there, they assemble their cupcakes, complete with the “hidden” theme filling!   Suffice it to say that for the first time in all my years of teaching, I am actually excited to teach Theme in my classroom this coming year!

The "theme" filling is hidden inside!

But wait… I am on Nicole Shelby’s blog!   I simply cannot write on her blog without making some sort of reference to interactive notebooks… It just wouldn’t be right! :)   I am using Nicole’s Fourth Grade Interactive Reading Notebook resource this year, and these theme-filled cupcakes will make an appearance in my students’ notebooks.   I intend to make an extra set of photocopied cupcake elements for each student.   For the interactive notebook entry, I will instruct them to label the cupcake graphic as the overall story, and then write their own description for theme in a filling circle.  Then I will have them glue these elements in their notebook (just as they did for their craftivity, shown in the photo above).  Further, rather than gluing the entire set of four cupcakes from the craftivity onto the construction paper, I will instruct them to choose one to glue onto the next page in their interactive notebook.   This, of course, will give them a visual reminder of theme to refer back to throughout the year.


Let’s finish this with some fun! Let’s do a raffle giveaway! One winner will receive my Theme BUNDLE (which includes the craftivity, several worksheets, task cards, a PowerPoint, and a 7-day lesson plan)!  (Of course, if you choose to purchase this bundle right away, and then later win the giveaway, I will certainly give you $12 worth of products of your choice from my TpT store!)
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Before I leave you to make the most of the rest of your day, I invite you to check out my blog – Crafting Connections – I’d be absolutely honored to have one of Nicole Shelby’s followers as my own as well! 

Thanks so much for spending some of your time with me today,

A Chance to Win.....Yes, Please!!!!

Nothing says back to school like school supplies.  I love the smell of freshly sharpened pencils and the sight of opening a box of 64 crayons all perfectly lined up.  As a kid, I didn't even want to use my crayons because I didn't want to mess with their beautiful perfection.  You are a teacher, you know exactly what I am talking about.  :)  

To prepare for school this year, I had a few school supplies that were on my MUST HAVE list.  I have a desk drawer full of pens, but Flair pens are my absolute favorite.  I have ALL sorts of colors!  They are perfect for grading papers.  I just LOVE to write with them!!!  

SO, why I am telling you all of this????  Because I have teamed up with Rachel Lynette from Minds in Bloom and a few other blogging buddies to offer this AWESOME give away for teachers.  How would you like to win a $200 gift card from Staples?  I am sure the answer is YES!!!!!  So for chances to win, all you have to do is enter with the Rafflecopter below.  

A few rules for you to remember:  

* You must be a U.S. resident to enter.  

* Although I am hosting this with a group of several bloggers, you need to only enter through one of the blogs because the Rafflecopter is the same for all blogs.  :)  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck to you all!!!!  I would love to hear what you would purchase if you won the $200 gift card from Staples!  Leave your comments below.  :)  

Thanks for stopping by and entering!  

TpT Back to School Sale

Yes, I am sure you are like me and have anxiously awaited the TpT Back to School Sale!!!!  It's finally here.  All of the products including my popular Reading and Language Interactive Notebooks are 20% off.  If you were thinking about purchasing these, now is the time!  Check them out at my TpT store here or click on the picture below to visit my store.

So, I would love to know....what's in your cart?  What are some of your TpT MUST HAVES?

SO we have started our Reading Interactive Notebooks

I have officially survived my first full week of school.  I have been busy this week and boy I am tired!!!!  My body and my bladder are having a difficult time adjusting.  :)

I have spent the week laying the ground work for the school year.  In my language arts class, we began putting together our interactive notebooks.  The kids were SO excited about these!!!!!!  I get a lot of questions about how to put these together.  Here is what I have chosen to do with them.  Maybe this will give you some ideas.  

1.  The first thing I did was copy the cover, dividers, and all of the headers/I can statements for each standard.  

2.  The kids colored and glued the cover for the notebooks.  

3.  I had the students number each of the pages so we will always be on the same page and everyone's notebook will look similar.  The students numbered the fronts and backs of each sheet in the bottom corners.  

4.  We cut out and glued all of the headers and dividers on the appropriate pages.  When gluing the headers in, I allowed some additional pages for each standard for other activities that we might do in class that I wanted to be in the notebook.  

Now the notebooks are ready to go for next week.  We will be creating our interactive pages for poetry, drama, and prose.  I have decided to start with the Common Core Standard. 

RL.4.5Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.

The theory behind this is as we read fiction all year long, I can refer back to this standard by asking the students if what they are reading is poetry, drama, or prose and explain their answer by describing the structural elements of each type of writing.  

I will blog about our activities that we do next weekend, but I plan to use my unit Understanding Prose, Poetry, and Prose.  If you want to check this out in my TpT store, click on the picture below.  

I hope this post helps you with deciding how to start putting together your notebooks.  :)  

Have a great weekend!!!!!

Fridays with Friends

Hey guys and gals!  I haven't been much into blogging or creating lately because, believe it or not, I am back in school mode.  My students' first day is this coming Wednesday.  Yikes!  Where did my summer go?  Anyway, this is going to be a short and sweet message, but wanted to let you know about a giveaway.  My friend from Dots of Fun is having a giveaway on her blog.  You can win all kinds of great prizes....one of which is one of my Interactive Notebooks.  You can choose the grade level you want.  Here is the link for the contest.  I would love to see one of my sweet followers win.  Best of luck to you!

Happy Friday!