Linky Parties Galore

Holiday Time

We had a marvelous time this holiday season. We are still celebrating....I'll post more on our continued celebration later. For now, here are a few pics. 

These two cuties are cousins (my sweet girl is on the right). They were born six days apart. I'm hoping they grow up to the be the best of friends. I'm in my Christmas jammies. It is a little tradition I started four years ago. Every Christmas Eve, my Italian family throws a traditional Italian Christmas Eve feast. There is about 30 of us that gather together to celebrate. I was hoping my jammie tradition would catch on, but not so much. LOL. No worries though. I will continue to wear my jammies every year. 

Here is another snapshot of the babies reading together. They both LOVE LOVE LOVE books. This makes me one happy momma. It is never too early to foster a love for reading. 

My sweet girl did so well visiting Santa. No tears. I have a feeling next year will be a different story. 

How precious is this dress? I want one for me! Having a girl is expensive. She owns way more clothes than I do. Luckily, this was a Christmas present. 

Linky Time

It is that time of year again. The time for change. The time to make new resolutions. The time to kick off a new year the right way. Jessica, from Second Grade Nest is hosting a 2014 Resolution Linky Party. Head on over to her blog to link up. Here are my resolutions for the new year. 

My next link up is from Sunny Days in Second Grade. She asked us to choose one word to define the new year. I chose INSPIRE. I want to inspire everyone around me to be the best they can be, to always think positive, and to reach for the stars. Of course I want this for my students, but I also want it for all my family and friends. What is one word that will define your new year? Link up and share. 

My last link up is from Elizabeth at Kickin It In Kindergarten.It is an Instagram link up. I love my IG pals. I'm so blessed to have over 460 of them. Wanna join me on IG? Click {here}I use IG on a daily basis. It really is one of the best and fastest ways to stay connected to the teaching world. Head on over and check it out.

Here are my 3 favorite IG posts from the year 2013.

This is my baby girl. She turned one this year. Oh how time flies.

This is us on the first day of school. I missed her so much. She missed me too!

My kiddos might drive me nuts on most days, but they can also be so sweet. 

I wish all of you and your family a VERY healthy and happy New Year. 

Love This Time of Year!

EEEEKKKK.....It is almost Christmas! Oh what a joyous time of year. I have LOTS of goodies for you!

Linky Party

 I'm linking up with Katie from Little Warriors. She is telling us all about the best Christmas presents from her students. I've received some great presents in my day. None, however, top what she received this year. *Hint* you will need tissues.

Giveaway Time

Who is in need of a great giveaway? Well...how about not just one giveaway, but TWO! There are two fabulous giveaways going on RIGHT now.

First up....

Britney from Tailor-made Teaching . So many ways to win. So many great prizes to pick from. Be sure to enter this fabulous giveaway.

Next up.....

Keri from Enchanted Kinder Garden is hosting the perfect giveaway. It is in honor of reaching her 200th follower milestone. Yeah! Hurry and enter now!

Winter Fun

Who doesn't love penguins? I know I'm obsessed with them right now. So obsessed, that I created a mini Penguin Literacy Pack. There is a bonus craftivity project included in this pack. Your kiddos are SURE to love love love it. You'll love the low price too. Click {here} to grab your copy today.

Winter is such a special time. I truly enjoy this wonderful season. I decided to keep with the winter theme for my next product. I just uploaded it yesterday. It is perfect for this busy time of year and sure to have your kiddos engaged in fun activities after an awesome winter break. Be sure to check it out. Click {here}.

Another awesome iPad tip!!!!

 

What have we been up to this week?

My Snowmen at Christmas Activity Pack (Bonus Craftivity) is just what I needed this week. My precious little ones have been bouncing off the walls with Christmas energy. The book, centers, and writing activities helped them gain some focus, while still having a blast. We worked with this book all week AND we're still not done with all the Christmas fun. Do you need something to help you survive until Christmas break? Grab a copy of this packet and have an almost stress free week. Don't have the book? That's okay. Included in my engaging packet is the link to read the book online. Click {here} to grab your copy.

How cute is this little guy?! Seriously adorable. We worked hard on writing a persuasive letter to Santa. The goal was to persuade Santa to let the Green Nosed Reindeer help out with Christmas. Their letters were so inventive! The writing paper comes from Whimsy Workshop Teaching. It is a freebie!!!

I saw a similar snowmen on IG. I knew the moment I saw it, I HAD to have my kiddos make it too. Oh how they loved making them. SOOOO much fun. Thanks Apples and ABCs .

My kiddos earned themselves a cookie decorating party. They had a blast!!!! I could not have done it all without the help of an awesome parent volunteer. She brought in all the materials to make marshmallow snowmen. LOVE!!! I think I'll be adding this to my list of classroom traditions. 

iPad Tip

I've signed up for an iPad professional development course. The first thing I learned was something so simple, yet something I never knew how to do. So I thought, "If I don't know about this, other teachers must not know. I have to tell them!" The tip is how to lock a student into one iPad Application. That's right, they can't secretly sneak out of the app you want them to use. How awesome!!!! Read below for step by step instructions on how to use this iPad feature. 

Go to the iPad settings. Click General and then click Accessibility.

Click Guided Access.

Turn Guided Access ON.  Then turn Accessibility Shortcut ON. Last, Click Set Passcode.

Enter whatever passcode you'd like. 

Now pick an App. Click the home button 3 times. Your screen will then look like the above picture. Click Start. Now your student can only access that App until you enter in a passcode. 

To end the lockout, click the home button 3 times. Enter your passcode. 

Your screen should now look like this. Click End. 

I hope you found this tip helpful! Leave some love in the comments section for me!

Introduction to Infuse Learning (for iPad use in the classroom)

Infuse Learning

Are you one of the lucky teachers with iPads for your students? If you are, have you heard of Infuse Learning? Let me tell you, it is a life changer! The website lets you differentiate your instruction immediately. Right when you are seeing the need for reteaching, or just a need for a quick review. You can see if your kiddos are mastering the content being taught RIGHT AWAY. How awesome is that? The best part, you are getting answers from EVERY student, not just the ones that are raising their hands. There is a downfall, you can't get to the website using internet explorer. You need Fire Fox or Google Chrome. Let's get started. Click {here} to get to the website. Oh, this website is FREE!!!!!!!!

I highly recommend watching the video to help you get started.

Once you are all registered, sign in and start creating a class (this is where the video comes in handy).

How do I use it in my room? I usually use it in small group. This lets me reinforce any missed concepts right then and there. I will usually ask a question and use the Draw Response Quick Assessment. The students will draw or write their answers and send it to me. I can then modify my small group lesson based on answers being given to me. I especially love this one because it allows my ESOL students to draw their answers. The kiddos can also send me any questions. I do also use the Open Ended Text Answer. This one lets the kids type their answers. It usually takes my kiddos longer to respond when typing. With limited time, I only use this a few times during a lesson. The kids do enjoy the switch up from writing to typing.

 

Want to have a formative or summative assessment that is NOT paper and pencil that you can easily put in the grade book? Well TA-DA!!! All you have to do is easily create a quiz online. It can be a multiple choice test, open ended, true/false, etc. This is such an awesome feature.

I hope you find this information useful in your room. Please leave a comment below to let me know how you are using it. 

A quick pop in....

Hello out there! I'm bummin' that Thanksgiving break is over. The good news, it is time to break out everything Christmas! YES!!!!

I've linked up with Oh Boy 4th Grade to bring you this months "Currently" theme. 

Wanna link up too? Just click {here}

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Thanksgiving F-F-Fuuun....New products...and a giveaway!

I've linked up with Reading and Writing Redhead to let everyone know what we are thankful for. Here are my 10 things that I am thankful for the most:

What are you thankful for? Leave a comment below.Wanna link up? Click {here}

What have we been up to in class?

We read the delightful book, 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. I had the students sit in two groups and read to their peers. They all listened intently to each other. They even clapped for each other at the end. I explained their task and sent them off into groups of three. Each group grabbed an iPad and watched the story on YouTube. Their task was to create a sequencing map of the story. They were all working so hard and doing great when...... the teacher next door popped in and said she had extra materials to make butter. She wanted to know if we wanted to do it. Well of course!!! Who could pass that up? 

We had an amazing impromptu lesson complete with a hands-on how-to writing lesson. The kids did a wonderful job writing and I got an extra grade out of them before break. Win-Win all around! 

Here is how you make butter:

You need-

-baby food jar 

-heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

-fill jar 1/2 full with heavy whipping cream

-tightly close the lid

-shake shake and shake for 10 minutes

-open jar and pour out excess liquid

-tightly close lid

-continue to shake for 3 more minutes

-check for anymore liquid...if you have none, your butter is complete. If there is still some liquid, pour it out and shake for another 3 minutes. 

-salt to taste and ENJOY

Christmas in November Giveaway

What could be better than a marvelous giveaway??!! Easy Teaching Tools is having an amazing giveaway. Click {here} to enter for your chance to win and win BIG! 

Speaking of Christmas in November....

Have  you checked out my latest Christmas products?

I've created a math packet (geared for kindergarten and first grade) AND an ELA packet. My ELA packet is to the story Snowmen at Christmas. 

Click {here} to get to my store

Want a chance to win some UHHH-MAZING products? How about some CHA-CHING to TPT? Head on over to Kim's wonderful blog: Life Over C's

1 lucky winner will receive: $25 TpT Gift Certificate
$25 of products of your choice from Life Over C's 23 more great resources!
 1 runner up will receive: $10 TpT Gift Certificate
$10 of products of your choice from Life Over C's

The giveaway will end at 12am EST Saturday and the winner will be announced Sunday afternoon (U.S. time). in time for the winner to use the gift certificates in the Cyber Monday sale.

Boy, oh Boy am I glad this week is over! I'm sure many of you can agree. There was SOOOOO much going on this week. How many of you need an extra day to catch up? *Hand raised over here* 

Here is a peek of what we did this week. 

Vehicle Day

Our school had vehicle day. I LOVED this activity. The kids loved it more. We had many volunteers from our county stop by to educate our little ones. I had my kiddos take notes for each vehicle. We created an art piece and a writing piece when we went back to the classroom. 

Pumpkins Pumpkins Everywhere....

Who had a BLAST with pumpkins this week? I know we did! 

Measuring, weighing, graphing, OH MY! 

MULTIPLICATION 

We started multiplication this week. We just dabbled into it (there was so much going on). To help my kiddos understand multiplication, and have some fun, I created a Monster Multiplication Pack. Filled with centers and games.Check it out {here}.

Of course there is a freebie included in this pack. Head on over to my store to check it out! 

A Classroom Full of Smiles