Roll and Write {January} Giveaway!

Happy 2014, friends! Hope you had fun ringing in the new year {if you stayed awake ;)}! 

I just LOVE the new year!! The fresh new start, the goal setting, the organizing!!! I am SO like Monica on friends! Organizing makes me HAPPY! I even have a 'Monica closet' in my house! Did you see the episode of Friends where Monica has a locked closet and they all try to get in to it…only to find that is stuffed FULL of stuff! My house is neat…but be careful opening the Monica closet under my stairs…things may fall on you! :)

I am SO excited that is fiiiinally Juanuary! Can't wait for this new season! 

And in other news, I just started watching Revenge on Netflix and I am OBSESSED. Where have I been???????????

With the new year comes new products! One of my all time favorite items in my classroom is DICE! You may have caught on to this with my Roll and Read and Roll and Graph units! :) 

Next in the line up is Roll and Write! 

Around this time of year, I feel like Work on Writing in Daily Five is getting a little stale!  My kiddos are very comfortable with the nonfiction can-have-are graphic organizers in my Write On! {Nonfiction} Graphic Organizers and Paper. They are comfortable with the Opinion graphic organizers and all of the writing papers used in our units of study in the fall. 

I like to introduce a lot of new materials to use in Work in Writing spring semester…but nothing too complicated or that requires a ton of directions! Roll and Write fits this bill! 

Spice up your writing time with Roll and Write! All you need is a die, a color or black and white copy of the Roll and Write January page, and a Roll and Write printable writing paper. 

Your kiddos will roll the die and write about what they rolled. 

This activity pack includes:

6 picture cards {3 black and white, 3 color}

6 sentence starter cards {3 black and white, 3 color}

7 writing pages {1 graphic organizer, 3 with handwriting lines, 3 with regular lines}

Comment below with your favorite soup and your email for a chance to win one of three copies of this unit! I am all about some soup these days! 

We are delayed two hours in the morning due to the 'Arctic Blast!' 

I am off to watch another episode of Revenge! :)

Schedule Spotlight Series #6 - Writing

Happy Monday!!! I am NOT watching the Bach right now...I decided to catch up on TiVo tomorrow morning! I didn't want to succumb Mr. B to it yet another week! :)

This is the sixth {say what?!?!?} post in the 10 week Schedule Spotlight series!

For those of you just joining in the fun, we are going through our day, minute by minute and hour by hour! Almost as a good as observing…but saving money on gas and sub pay! :)

7:45 - 8:15 ~ Morning Work {Post #1 - June 10}
8:15 - 8:30 ~ Calendar {Post #2 - June 17}
8:30 - 9:00 ~ Math {Post #3 - June 24}
9:00 - 9:45 ~ SPECIALS
9:45 - 10:30 ~ Phonics {Post #4 - July 1}
10:35 - 10:55 - RECESS
11:00 - 11:30 - LUNCH
11:30 - 12:40 ~ The Daily Five Sessions 1 and 2 {Post #5 - July 8}
12:40 - 1:10 ~ PE
1:15 - Restroom Break
1:15 - 1:45 ~ The Daily Five Session 3

I mentioned in the last Daily Five post that my first Daily Five mini lesson is writing! I do a mini lesson first thing when The Daily Five starts, so that all kiddos will have had the mini lesson before they Work on Writing.

11:40 - 11:55 ~ Writing Mini Lesson

I have done this differently every year. For the past two years, I have incorporated Writing Workshop into The Daily Five. Because we have both specials and PE most days of the week, there just wasn't enough time to do 2 or 3 sessions of Daily Five in addition to Writing Workshop. 

I still do the essential elements of Writing Workshop, including mini lessons, conferencing, and student author sharing...it is just broken up a little up during The Daily Five. 

I love this set up for one main reason: Not all 18 of my kids are sitting at tables at the same time trying to concentrate and write! During the Daily Five, there are 3 sessions and only 5-6 kiddos are writing at one time. This means that only 2 kiddos sit at each table and have plenty of room to spread out and get in the writing groove! :) This also allows me to conference with more writers more often! If we are doing a lot of publishing or editing on a certain writing project, I will have all 6 of the kiddos who chose Work on Writing for that session meet with me for a writing small group!

We use a variety of resources for our writing lessons, including Lucy Caulkins' Units of Study for Primary Writing, Talking, Drawing, Writing: Lessons for Our Youngest Writers by Martha Horn and Mary Ellen Giacobbe, and of course, fab bloggers like YOU! 

I can honestly say blogging has made teaching writing WAY more fun! :) 

This was our plan last year:

AUGUST - What Writer's Write

SEPTEMBER - Why Writer's Write

OCTOBER - Fix It Up! Editing

NOVEMBER - Descriptive writing

DECEMBER - Letter writing

JANUARY - Paragraphs

FEBRUARY - Nonfiction writing

MARCH - How To writing 

APRIL - All About books 

MAY - Booklets **Changing to Opinion writing in 2013 - 2014!*

I loved setting the tone for our writing time with the What Writers Write and Why Writers Write ideas from Cara Carroll! Check out her awesome post about this {here}.

Link up below to tell us all about your Writing time!

Join us next Monday, July 22 to hear about how small groups roll in my classroom!

Have a fab summer week! :)

Write On! {Nonfiction} Graphic Organizer Freebie

Hey y'all! Hope today was great! 

I LOVE this time of year...my firsties finally know to put their papers in the zebra basket {HA!}, Daily Five and Math Work Stations are running smoothly, and all of our classroom routines are automatic...be still my heart! :)

I HEART using can-have-are charts in my classroom. I like that it gives firsties support with organizing their thoughts, as well as varying sentence structure, when writing nonfiction. I find myself reaching for these for almost every unit! So, I decided to put together a collection of can-have-are charts that I use throughout the year! My unit includes 53 graphic organizers and coordinating lined paper with 4 lines. 

The following topics are included in this unit:

FALL {Apples, Leaves, Pumpkins, Scarecrows, Bats, Owls, 

Spiders, Cats}

DINOSAURS {Bones, Dinosaurs}

FARM {Pigs, Sheep, Horses, Cows, Farmers}

THANKSGIVING {Turkeys, Corn, Pilgrims}

CHRISTMAS {Reindeer}

WINTER {Snowflakes, Snowmen}

HEARTS {Hearts}

WEATHER {Rainbows, Clouds, Raindrops, Tornados}

SPRING {Clovers}

EASTER {Chicks, Eggs, Rabbits}

INSECTS {Butterflies, Ladybugs, Caterpillars, Bees}

SPACE {Stars, Planets, Rockets, Astronauts}

OCEAN {Crabs, Octopus, Fish, Seahorses, Sharks, Dolphins, 

Shells}

RAINFOREST {Monkeys, Iguanas, Parrots, Toucans, Frogs}

PLANTS {Seeds, Flowers, Plants, Trees}

I will be adding more shortly...please let me know which ones you need in your classroom! 

Click on the pic below to check it out! This unit will be 20% off until Wednesday, October 24. 

Download the preview from TpT for a freebie! If you are not a member on TpT, sign up for free!

The freebie includes a graphic organizer for bats and owls, as well as coordinating paper with lines!

Have a great week, y'all!

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick!

I HEART chicks!!! Everything about them is so presh to me! Their fuzzy little feathers, cute little beaks, and the fact that they mean Easter is right around the corner! My hubs is OBSESSED with the SweetTart Chicks, Ducks, and Bunnies…I have to start buying them in bulk to last him throughout the year! When I saw them at Target a few weeks ago, I knew it was time to email Denyse at Scrappin Doodles! :)

I had so much fun making the latest Old Lady unit! Denyse worked her magic yet again and is always so sweet and patient when creating custom graphics! I am SO glad she agreed to draw these great graphics…I think they match the story perfectly!

Click {here} to check out There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick! on TpT.

For you night owls {maybe my fellow Spring Breakers??!!}…I will email this unit to the first 5 chicks to respond WITH your email address…just tell me you are a follower!

Have a great week, chickadees!

Once Upon a Time {Hard and soft /c/ and /g/} Word Work

Happy Hump Day! Why do the four day weeks always seem longer??? I guess because I am trying to stuff five days of fun into four! My student teacher is slowly taking over one subject at a time and I love that I can spend more time working with kiddos and getting organized making LOTS of to do lists!!!

Here is what we’re up to this week:

Math: Money

If you haven’t checked out Cara’s The Great Coin Collection, go NOW! It is FABULOUS! It is chock full of goodness, including number work activities and games!

Writing: Stories {Beginning, Middle, and End}

We have been learning all about Sticker Stories! The kiddos are OBSESSED! This will remain a choice in Work on Writing for the rest of the year! Click {HERE} for the freebie Sticker Story printable!

Reading Comprehension: Asking Questions {Who, Where, What, Why, How}

We are doing an Audrey Penn author study this week! I HEART CHESTER!

Phonics: Hard and soft /c/ and /g/

This MIGHT be the hardest spelling pattern we have worked on all year! I feel like we might need to revisit this again before the end of the year! I created a unit that includes a Word Sort with a printable, a game, and a mystery word making words activity. Click {HERE} to check out Once Upon a Time {Hard and soft /c/ and /g/} Word Work on TpT.

I will email the Once Upon a Time {Hard and soft /c/ and /g/} Word Work to the first five peeps to comment – please leave your email address! Congratulations to Cheryl, Christine, Cassandra, Jennifer, Gina, and Kasey! :)

Have a great rest of the week!

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!

Happy Hump Day! Today was our teacher workday…aren’t those first few minutes the strangest???? You unlock your door and kind of look around in awe…where am I??? HA! Then I spotted my to do list on the back table! I always do this before leaving for the break…I NEVER would have remembered half of the things on the list. I love a good to do list! :)

Speaking writing of organization…be sure to check out The Clutter Free Classroom Project. Save TIME and MONEY this year!!!

Click {HERE} to check out my new There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow mini unit on TpT. It includes sequencing cards, a sequencing printable, an alphabetical order printable, a creative writing printable, a long vowel /o/ {o, oa, ow} word sort and printable, a winter Roll and Graph {a new version of Spin and Graph} and read aloud companion suggestions for this PRESH book! Can’t get enough of the little Old Lady! :)

I will give this unit to the first FIVE peeps to comment WITH their email address!

Congratulations to Alexa, Anna, Kylie, Dee, and Heidi! :) Thanks, ladies!

*Only two more days to swing by Mel’s blog to help her celebrate the big 4-0! Enter her amazing giveaway for 40 + units {including my Popcorn! Popcorn! Contraction Word Work Fun!}

Stay warm, friends!

The Daily Five posters and activity sheets

If you have just started or you're about to start teaching The Daily Five...this post is for YOU!

The Daily Five - The First Week: Introduce Read to Self

Day 1 - Good Fit shoe lesson, Make 3 Ways to Read a Book anchor chart *

Day 2 - Goldilocks and the Three Bears Just Right book lesson, Make I PICK anchor chart *

Day 3 - Make Read to Self anchor chart and model correct and incorrect ways to Read to Self

Day 4 - Review charts and build stamina for Read to Self

Day 5 - Review charts and build stamina for Read to Self

The Daily Five - The Second Week: Introduce Work on Writing

Day 6 - Review Read to Self charts, build stamina for Read to Self, introduce Work on Writing

Day 7 - Review RtoS charts, build stamina for RtoS, make Work on Writing anchor chart

Day 8 - Review RtoS charts, build stamina for RtoS, Review Work on Writing anchor chart, model correct and incorrect ways to Work on Writing

Day 9 - Review RtoS charts, build stamina for RtoS, Review Work on Writing anchor chart, build stamina for Work on Writing

Day 10 - Review RtoS charts, build stamina for RtoS, Review Work on Writing anchor chart, Make list of topics to write about during WonW, and build stamina for Work on Writing

*For more info, refer to the book. In order to do D5 effectively, you MUST read the book! :)

The beginning lessons focus on modeling and discussing what it should LOOK like and SOUND like during D5. It is A LOT of sitting!! I created these fill in the blank sheets for the kiddos to complete that complement the anchor charts in the book. I did this for 2 reasons...to get the kiddos off the carpet for a few minutes AND for the parents to see the Daily Five expectations! :)

I also create the anchor chart posters in bright and primary to match your room! :) My plan is to take them to an office supply store and get them blown up a little, or you could post them as is! :)

Please comment to let me know you've downloaded these and if they are useful for you in your classroom! :)

This week will be all about short vowel /a / word families, Work on Writing, Addition with manipulatives, and My Family and I! Have a great week! :)