Books I Want to Read - Reading Roundup Linky Party

I'm always collecting suggestions for different books, either to read professionally, for enjoyment, or to use in my classroom to help teach a skill.

What's on your To-Read List?

Join my Reading Roundup Linky Party and share one professional book you want to read, one book you want to read strictly for pleasure, and one you want to use to teach a skill in your classroom. Remember, these are books you have not read yet, but are next on your To Read List.

If you want to link up, grab the button above and link back to this post.

Here's my list:

Professional Book:

How To Teach Like a Pirate, by Dave Burgess
I've seen this book mentioned on a couple of blogs. I'm a firm believer that a teacher's enthusiasm for learning is one of the main influences on a child's learning. From what I've heard, this book reinforces that idea.

Here's another professional book I've already ordered from Amazon. (I know I said one book, but, really, who can limit books?)

Total Participation Techniques, by Himmele and Himmele 

I read about this tonight and ordered it right away. I'm all for learning about anything that has to do with student engagement.

Pleasure Reading:

Heading Out to Wonderful, by Robert Goolrick  This one is waiting on my bedside table for me. I read a review on it in "Southern Living" and ordered it. Amazon describes it as "a novel of obsession and love gone terribly wrong in a place where once upon a time such things could never happen."

Book to Teach a Skill:

My Even Day and One Odd Day, by Doris Fisher

I love using literature in my math class. It hooks the kids. I found these two books while browsing the Amazon site one day. Since this is our next skill in Math, I ordered them. As soon as they come in, I'll be posting a freebie based on both books, so be sure to check back!

Have fun linking up. I can't wait to get lots of new book ideas from you to add to my To Read List!
Link up below.
And don't forget the Rule of Three.
Go to the two links before your link and make a comment. Then, come back and comment on the link after yours.
(If you are not a follower of my blog yet, please join us now by clicking on the buttons at the right.)


Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a copy of The Miracle Dogs of Portugal. Click {HERE} to enter.

Common Core Poetry Freebie, Fourth and Final Freebie (For Now!) AND January Currently

Fourth and Final Freebie! (How's that for alliteration?!)

All the poems in these activities for my Common Core unit on poetry are based on a summer theme.

Click on the pic above to download.

(Remember to set your printer options to "FIT" so that all the material will print on each page.)

I'd love it if you would leave a comment and tell me what you do in your classroom to help your kiddos understand poetry.

Teachers go back to work tomorrow. Our kids don't come until Monday. I'm anxious to see them, but I sure do like being at home!

And that seems to be the theme for my January Currently!

Listening: to NCIS (I've been OD'ing on reruns and marathons while we've been off!)

Loving: that both my kids are home fro m college....although neither are currently in the house right now! 

Thinking: how much I love my time at home. Getting back in the real world starts Thursday. Sigh.

Wanting: Snow Days....lots and lots of snow days!

Needing: Snow Days....lots and lots of snow days!

OLW: I think my One Little Word is going to be Renewal. That covers sooo many aspects of my life..professional...personal...spiritual...

If you haven't linked up with Farley's January Currently, go now. It's a fun way to step back and take stock!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a copy of The Miracle Dogs of Portugal. Click {HERE} to enter.

Happy New Year! - Common Core Poetry Freebies

Happy New Year!

I'm joining the linky party at The Teacher's Cauldron to share a personal and a blogging resolution.

My personal resolution is easy: take better care of myself. That means more exercise, better eating, and better time management. The only problem is...I'm not too good at holding myself accountable! Anyone want to help?

My blogging resolution: Like most of us, I get behind on responding to my comments. That's my top goal for 2013. If a reader takes the time to comment, I want them to know how appreciative I am. AND I want to find a new blog to follow at least once a week!
(My husband wants my blogging resolution to be making money from my blog! :) I'm happy doing the freebie thing, though. If I'm making it for my own use, I might as well share it.)

Now for your freebie:

2012 brought a lot of changes to most of us professionally...implementing Common Core has been challenging, but I think it's forced me to get out of my comfort zone and stretch my thinking as a teacher. It's been good for me and it's been good for my kiddos.

One of the biggest changes for me has been integrating poetry on a regular basis in my classroom beyond just gluing poems in our poetry journals and illustrating them. Our first four weeks after break are focused on poetry. Here is the third installment of my poetry activities. The theme of these poems is Autumn.

Just click on the pic above to get the file.

(Remember to set your printer options to "FIT" so that all the material will print on each page.)

If you haven't entered my giveaway for a copy of The Miracle Dogs of Portugal, click {HERE} to enter.

Happy New Year!

The Best and Brightest of 2012 (and a Freebie, of course!)

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating tonight.
I'm joining the Linky Party over at Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge to share some of the best and brightest highlights of 2012.

According to my blog stats, my most popular post was my Cause and Effect Treasure freebie.

I don't really have a favorite product to share, because everything I post is a freebie, so I'll share one of my favorites. (It's actually second on my stats list, too.)

I had fun creating my "Be an Informational Text Super Hero" packet. Judging from the comments you left, it was one of your favs, too.

My most popular Math post was Measure This.

I get lots of fantastic, fun, and functional ideas from the "brightest" blogs I follow on a regular basis.

I love, love, love Classroom Freebies, because everything is free, free, free! One click leads you to lots and lots and lots of great ideas!

I love all the cute ideas from Rockin' Teacher Materials. Go visit!

The absolute BEST part of 2012 has been all the sweet comments from my readers and the help and contributions from my blogging friends.

And now.......

Here's my New Year's Eve present to you...

It's another basic Even/Odd activity for the Second Grade Common Core Standard 

OA2.3 {Work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication. Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an odd or even number of members, e. g. by pairing objects or counting the by 2's; write an equation to express an even number as a sum of two equal numbers}.

Just click on the pic above to download the file.

Have a safe New Year's Eve!

If you haven't entered my giveaway for a copy of The Miracle Dogs of Portugal, click {HERE} to enter now!

Even More Common Core Poetry Activities - Freebie - and a Doggone Good Giveaway!

I've got another freebie on poetry today and the chance for you to win a fantabulous book!

First....the freebie....

Click on the pic above to get activities tied to Christina Rossetti's poem, "Who Has Seen the Wind?" It includes other poems students can use for comparing and contrasting. These are the poems I'll be using our second week back after Christmas Break.
(Remember to set your printer options to "FIT" so that all the material will print on each page.)

Now for the giveaway....

I was excited when I received an email asking if I would be interested in giving away copies of The Miracle Dogs of Portugal, by Tracy Aiello. 

Really...need you ask? Reading is my passion. Sharing reading and books with my kids and friends is just part of that love.

Tracy Aiello's book is the "almost true" story of Henry the Navigator. I love the lyrical words in the story. Aiello actually captures the sound of the ocean in words. Click on the pic below for more info on the book and author.

I have five, yes FIVE, copies of the book to give away. All you have to do is enter below.

And the BEST part of this giveaway.....Miracle Dogs will be donating five additional books to give children affected by Hurricane Sandy. How cool is that?!

Enter now. The contest ends Friday, January 4 at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Common Core Poetry Activities - Freebie - and a Giveaway!

I think I'm the least comfortable teaching poetry because I don't read a lot of poems. I've spent some time developing activities for some of the poems recommended in the book, Common Core Curriculum Maps: English Language Arts, published by Josssey-Bass. I've used this book for ideas on implementing the Common Core ELA standards in my class. In fact, it's starting to show some wear and tear because I drag it home every night and back to school every morning!

Another resource that I don't want to do without is The Common Core Lesson Book K-5, by Gretchen Owocki. Both of these books have been invaluable to me as I've worked on implementing Common Core this year.

I used the list of poems from Common Core Curriculum Maps as the basis for my poetry unit we will begin on January 7. I'll be posting four different activities on these poems over the next few days. Each set of activities highlights a season.    I'm starting with winter and highlighting "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," by Robert Frost for the first week. I've included other poems for comparing and contrasting with the first poem in the packet. 

Click on the pic above to download the file.

I'd also like to give a shout out to a blogging friend of mine. Susanne at SOS Supply is celebrating her first bloggaversary with some great giveaways. I'm donating an Amazon gift card to help her out. Sue teaches in South Wales in the UK. If you don't already follow her blog, go now and help her celebrate. You might win some awesome prizes! Click on her button below to go visit!

Even and Odd Fun -- Freebie

I took an unplanned break from blogging--

Thoughts of Sandy Hook took all my energy and desire for creating for awhile. I've decided the best way to face that tragedy is to do something nice  once a day in honor and memory of the victims and survivors of Sandy Hook. I started with contacting a former teacher and letting him know how much I appreciated all he did for me in high school and in recent years. Think back on the teachers that meant the most to you. Let them know what a big part of your life they have been and still are!

The flu crept up on me (thank heavens I had a flu shot so it wasn't as bad as it could have been), and I even missed my party with my kids at school. 

Then Christmas came and went! Both kids are home from college, so nothing is normal!

I finally got back in the swing of things tonight. We tackle even and odd numbers when we go back to school on January 7, so I've created several activities to use in my math stations. I'll post all of them over the next several days. They are similar because I want my kiddos to practice on constructing even and odd numbers for several days.

Just click on the pic above to get the first activity.

Enjoy the rest of your break!