Boy, Am I Tired!

Our Halloween at school was great....maybe the best one I've ever had with a class!  My team dressed up like the characters from Toy Story this year. So much fun....and I'm so, so tired!

Stay tuned tomorrow for announcement of winner of $25.00 Amazon gift card. 

The Best Laid Halloween Plans

Well, I have a plan for tomorrow.....and we all know how classroom plans for Halloween go!

I'm planning on having a slide show on my Promethean Board ready when we get to our room after Morning Meeting in the gym.

Each slide explains one activity we are going to do during the day.

First up, the students are going to work with their table group and look around the room for clues to help them make inferences about what we are going to do during the day.


Next, the students are going to choose RingPops and use their senses to write a descriptive paragraph. See the PowerPoint file at the end of the post for directions. I got the whole box of RingPops at Walgreens for about $5.00.

Next, students choose a pack of chips and look for nouns in the pictures and words on the pack. Walmart had boxes of Halloween themed chips.

Next, it's Buddy Reading time. Partners will read Halloween stories and joke books together.

After that, we will use the Spooky Noun Scavenger Hunt in our Science books that I posted about earlier. Click on the pic below to go to that post.

Then it's time for some Magic School Bus fun and fact and opinion practice.

Our local Rotary Club delivered dictionaries for each student to take home. The kids beg to race to look up words, so we are going to have a Spooky Speed Demon Race and use our dictionary skills. Click on the pic below for the PowerPoint for the activity or HERE for a pdf file. I didn't put a timer on the slides so that you could do that and use what is appropriate for your class.

For Math, we are going to use the activity I posted for The Thirteen Nights of Halloween. They have worked with it in centers, so now we are going to pair up and make posters showing different ways of representing numbers. Click on the pic below for the original post.

By then it will be time for refreshments. I have my other activities I've posted about throughout the month to fill in any gaps.

Click on the pic below if you would like a PDF doc of the PowerPoint slides or HERE for the PowerPoint files.

I hipe you have a fantabulous Halloween Day with your kiddos!

Don't forget to go HERE to enter my Giveaway for a $25.00 Amazon gift card. You have until tomorrow night at midnight.

Talking Turkey Freebie

We have just started working with division and relating it to multiplication. This freebie provides extra practice in relating the two, as well as identifying different ways of expressing numbers.

Let me know what your kids think!

If you haven't entered my Giveaway for a $25.00 Amazon gift card, go HERE and do it now! It closes midnight tomorrow!

Whoooo Knows Possessive Nouns?

Here's a freebie to use in a learning station for extra practice. Students sort possessive nouns, then write sentences with them.

Whoooo will leave a comment? :)

.....and if you haven't entered my giveaway for a $25.00 Amazon gift card, go to my original post and leave a comment.

Ends Halloween at midnight! Click on the ghost below for the link.

Graphic from ScrappinDoodles.com

So Close to 100 Followers!

I am so close to 100 Followers....plus it's the Friday before Halloween....so I think that calls for a Giveaway!

No Tricks......Just Treats!

Winner gets a $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon.com! Just think of all the cool books you can buy!

Graphic by ScrappinDoodles.com

You have two ways to win.........

1) Become a Follower and leave me a comment that says you did...or that you are already a Follower.

2) Leave another comment that tells me which of my freebies you have liked the best.

You have until midnight on Halloween night to enter. I'll use the Random Generator to pick the winner.

Happy Halloween!

Cancer Awareness Celebration

We celebrated Cancer Awareness at school last week. This is an especially happy celebration for my team because one of our members is a five year survivor of breast cancer. Our team finds or designs a T shirt each year, the faculty purchases it, and our principal assigns special days to wear it for a $1.00 donation. All proceeds are given to our team member for her fundraising efforts.

Does your school do anything special for Cancer Awareness?

Falling Into Arrays

Need more practice on matching up arrays and multiplication facts? Try this matching game.

Please leave a shout out if you download!

Halloween Story Grid

Try this Halloween Story Grid for your students who need a little help with an idea for a story.

Please leave a comment if you download!

Vocabulary Response Chart

We introduced our new vocabulary words for the week today. I used the following chart before we talked about context clues.

Students put a small post-it with their name next to each word under the column that matched their understanding of the word:  I Know It, I Have Seen It But Can't Explain It, I Don't Know It. This is what our chart looked like before our small group lesson on context clues.

Here is a closeup.

After our lesson on context clues, each group was allowed to move their post-it if their understanding of the word had changed. This is our chart after two groups had worked with the words. 

The students liked showing how their understanding of the words had changed.

Hip! Hip! Array! Freebie

Hip! Hip! Array!

We need multiplication practice!!! If you do, too, give your students these arrays to match up with a multiplication problem. Click on the pic to download. Leave a shout out in the comments if you download!

Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com

Fonts by KevinandAmanda.com

Red Rover, Red Rover, Let the Vowels Come Over

We were reviewing long and short vowel sounds this week and my kids just weren't getting it, so I decided to give them cards with our spelling words and have them sort themselves into groups of either long vowels or short vowels on opposite sides of the room. Even after they grouped, they still were not putting the words in the correct category. On the spur of the moment, I told the short vowel side of the room to call one of the players from the other side that didn't belong over to their side, just like when they played Red Rover at recess. They loved it! We also played it to review common and proper nouns. Click on the pic below to download the directions and the words we used. (They are from Scott Foresman's Unit 2 "Penguin Chick.")

.....and don't forget to leave a comment if you download!

Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com

Fonts by KevinandAmanda.com

Monster Characterization -- Freebie!

We have been working on characterization and this freebie will be a fun way to review! Students pick a monster, complete the graphic organizer to identify characteristics, and write a descriptive paragraph. (Includes a rubric.)

Please leave me a comment if you download.

Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com

Fonts by KevinandAmanda.com

Halloween Noun Sort Freebie

Help your kids have some howling good fun sorting these Halloween nouns! Students sort singular, plural, common, proper, singular possessive, and plural possessive nouns.

Have fun sorting! Please let me know how it goes with your kids.

Spooky Noun Scavenger Hunt Freebie

My kids have had trouble distinguishing between the different types of nouns. We are going to try this scavenger hunt for a review. Using Halloween books will make it even more fun!

Click on the link below to download the scavenger hunt.

Leave a comment after you use it and let me know how it turns out!

Scaredy-Cat, Splat! Freebie

Splat is such a scaredy-cat! Your students will love this freebie on main idea and details, sequencing, synonyms, and story elements. Click on the pic below to download. 

Please leave me a comment if you download.

Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com

Fonts by KevinandAmanda.com

Creepy Creatures Freebie

Your kids will love these cr~eeeee~py creatures I found at Walgreens today.

55 creatures for $2.99

I'm going to put them in my Writing Station and let the kids use them to write a story. The freebie includes the directions and a graphic organizer to help the students plan their story and a rubric to let them know how they will be graded. Click on the pic below to download the file.

 Leave a comment and let me know how your creepy stories turn out!

Monster Mash Multiplication

My kids love to play this quick game to review multiplication facts. (I have fixed the link, so try downloading it again if you had problems earlier.)

All you need are two dice, the game boards, and your kids! Click on the pic above to download (and you know I love to read your comments!)

Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat Freebie

Here is a fun freebie based on There was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat, by Lucille Colandra.  Students arrange the pictures in the correct sequence, then write a new rhyme for the story. Click on the pic below to download.....and please leave a comment!

Fonts by KevinandAmanda.com 

Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com

On the first night of Halloween my mummy gave to me...........

In celebration of our long weekend (after a long day of Staff Development and Parent Teacher Conferences yesterday...7:30 a.m. til 8:30 p.m.), here's a fun Halloween freebie!

Your kids will love this fun book about the thirteen (of course) nights of Halloween and will even want to sing it.

It’s also a great way to reinforce all the different ways of representing numbers and number facts.

Use this game to match up the different representations of numbers one through thirteen.  Click on the pic below to download....and please let me know what you think.

Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com  Fonts by KevinandAmanda.com

Halloween Dress Up Linky

This is one of the most fun linky parties I've seen! Go to Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits and add your pics!

Two years ago, my team all dressed up as pirates.

Last year, we were all Disney princesses and our male team member was Prince Charming!

I can't tell what we are going to be this year, because we like to surprise our students, but I'll post a pic Halloween night.

Spooky Synonyms!

One of our skills next week is identifying synonyms. We are going to play this game to get familiar with the words, then write spooky stories using the synonyms.

Click on the pic above to download the game....and send me a comment to let me know how you used it!

Halloween-spiration Linky Party

Ginger Snaps is having a Halloween-spiration Party to share classroom ideas! Be sure to go by and check out the fun ideas.....and add your own!

Stellaluna Freebie

Stellaluna is one of my favorite books. This freebie is full of activities on fact and opinion, comparing and contrasting, and identifying character traits. Please leave me a comment if you download it. And be sure to tell me what other activities you do with Stellaluna! Click on the pic below to download.

(Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com and Fonts by KevinandAmanda.com)

Friday Freebie!

Have fun with this Halloween making words activity. Click on the pic below to get the file. Please leave a comment if you download. Have a great weekend!

(Cute graphics by ScrappinDoodles and fonts by KevinandAmanda!)

Friendly Letter Freebie

Here is a quick freebie on friendly letters. It includes a poster of a penguin with the parts of a letter, a smaller version of the poster, a short list of books to use when teaching friendly letters, and labels for students to move around on a large letter. Please leave a comment if you download. Have a great weekend!

(Graphics by ScrappinDoodles.com and fonts by KevinandAmanda.com)