12 Days of Christmas (Day Two)

The Polar Express is such a great movie to share with your kiddos at Christmas. I have been searching the internet for different ideas to incorporate in my 2nd grade classroom. I pinned some adorable ideas to my polar express board.

Some of my favorites:

Smores Trail Mix from The Loopy Ewe

Polar Express Tickets  from Lidia Barbosa

Hot Cocoa Bar from The Actors Wife

Special Delivery from Mrs. Morrow’s Class

Head on over to her blog for the tips and tricks of this “chilly” surprise!!!!

On the 11th day of Christmas Mrs. Freshwater gave to me a sale on her Polar Express Unit. Today Only This 123 page unit is $8.00

This 123 page unit centered around a polar express theme will have your students believing. There are 19 different math activities and 14 different literacy activities to utilize during your polar express theme adventure.
Some Math activities included are:
Patterning
Measurement
Tally
Counting
Addition
Graphing
Ordinal Numbers
Time
Plus More

Some Literacy activities included are:
ABC Order
Sight Words
Rhyming Words
Emergent Reader
Syllable Counting
Ending Sounds
Beginning Sounds
CVC Words
Plus More

PS Don’t forget to snag up my two Polar Express Freebies too!!!

Always, Melissa

12 Days of Christmas

Good Morning! It’s hard to believe that December is here. It seems like just yesterday I was prepping my classroom for the new year. To help celebrate December and the magic of Christmas, I am doing a 12 days of Christmas giveaway and sale. Everyday from now until December 12th, I will either offer a sale on one of my TPT products or post a freebie for you to utilize. Most of my holiday items are for the kindergarten- first grade level as I created them when I was a special education resource teacher doing a lot of co-teaching and small group instruction.

So without further ado…

One the first day of Christmas Mrs. Freshwater gave to me

a sale on her Gingerbread Math & Literacy Packet.

On Sale for $8.00

This "sweet" packet is filled with 108 pages of various math and literacy activities to complete with your gingersnaps.

Some of the activities included in this scrumptious unit are: 
Math:
Patterning
Number Recognition
Counting
Simple Addition
Seriation
Missing Number
Graphing/Analyzing Data
Measuring
Odd/Number Sorting

Literacy:
Letter Recognition
Letter Writing
Sight Words
Gingerbread Emergent Reader
ABC Order
Syllable Count
Beginning Sounds
Write The Room (sight words)
Rhyming Words

Now, scurry on over and snag up the packet. The sale ends tonight at midnight… Stop back tomorrow for a new freebie or sale.

Always, Melissa

The Countdown is on… Are you ready for the BIG TPT Cyber Sale???

Well, the countdown is on for tomorrow’s BIG CYBER sale. Have you been filling your TPT cart with tons of goodies? I know my cart is busting at the seams. I am trying to stock up on clipart, winter, and spring items.

My entire store will be 20% of Monday and Tuesday

Use the TPT code ( CMT12) for an additional % off

Thanks Michelle @ the 3 am teacher for button

Any who…I have also been prepping for my return to school tomorrow. I am super excited to see my kiddos. Wonder if they missed me? I have decided to begin utilizing my B3C with my kiddos. I figured this was a great time to begin since we are starting a new Reading unit tomorrow. My original B3C packet has been out since June of 2011. There were 19 different graphic organizers in the packet, but I just added 9 more to correlate with the comprehension skills in my second grade reading series.

When I created this packet during the summer of 2011, I was working as a co-teacher in a leveled first grade reading group. This idea was derived from a blog post by Cara Carroll of The First Grade Parade. (She is amazing!!! Head on over and check out her blog!!!! Super cute and she has the BEST ideas!!!!) Where was I??? Oh yea…We struggled every week trying to help our lower leveled student's understand key elements of the stories therefore, we began implementing the B3C (brown bag book club) to help motivate and intrigue our students about the weekly story and to give them an opportunity to write down various comprehension elements and share with their peers. (To be honest this a “wonderful” strategy to get kids excited about reading and helps them understand various comprehension skills and strategies.) This oral discussion and written activity has helped the students immensely with their oral reading fluency and comprehension.

Again this is an updated packet!! Original Posting 6/2011 Updated Packet 11/2012

I just uploaded the revised packet- For those of you who have already purchased the B³C, simply head on over to your TPT purchases  and re-download for the new pages.

Here’s a sample of the updated pages

 

Always,

Melissa

I’m Baaaccckkkkk

Well, I figured this was a good time to start blogging again. My son is recovering nicely from his automobile accident in August. All I have to say is God does listen to prayers. Might not always answer right away, but he is definitely always listening!!! I am very grateful that Devon is alive and is progressing nicely with his leg.  Thank you all for the constant emails and warm thoughts. They have meant a lot to me and my family of the last few months.

As many of you know I started teaching second grade this year. My students are AMAZING!!!! I cherish each and every one of them. I have been working on my Scott Foresman Reading Supplemental packets to correlate with our reading series. I have Units 1-3 complete and they are all listed on my TPT shop. I have slowly been expanding the files as I go and learn what my students need. I will eventually go back and update units 1-2; to add the items that I have put into unit 3, etc. I am currently working on unit 4 and hope to have the entire unit up before Christmas. (Units 5-6 should be up by mid January)

Now, for my latest update. I posted a behavior reward catalog over the summer (click here for previous blog post) after reading a blog post from Sarah over at First Grade at Last. During the summer I only posted my reward posters, but since have received a zillion emails with requests for my certificates and reward style cards, well after being on my long hiatus I have decided to fulfill your requests. (I am sure there are many smiles out there!!!! Hopefully, this will stop my email account from blowing up LOL- I honestly loved some of the comments and pleas! They have gotten me through many days!!)

Now this packet has gone from 32 pages to 142 pages. It includes reward posters, certificates, and reward cards. Plus details how I use the system in my current classroom.

My kids LOVE this reward system and can’t wait to pick out of the “PRIZE BINDER”!! Plus, my pocketbook loves me and I can spend my money on extra things for the classroom.

Without further ado here is my “UPDATED” Behavior Reward Catalog

POSTERS

CERTIFICATES

REWARD CARDS

BTW

I am participating in the TPT CYBER SALE Monday & Tuesday

Thanks Michelle @ the 3 am Teacher for creating the adorable button

ALWAYS,

MELISSA