technology rocks. seriously.

I love Valentine's Day and love doing some heart related things with my kiddos.
Below are some fun heart related ways for your students to practice writing and spelling!

This fun site allows you to type in your own words (poem, story, etc) and then it turns it into a heart shaped page! Here's one I did using part of I Corinthians 13.

This Word Hearts site allows you to change the color of font, the font, the background color, and use your own words to populate a heart. This would be fun to use for spelling word practice!

Make your own customized candy heart here

or here

which would be so fun for spelling word practice!

Make your own heart maze here.

Read Write Think has a fabulous shape poem interactive that allows student to create and print a poem (or short story) in the shape of a heart.

100 Day Posters

2012-02-01T10:51:00.001-06:00

I have a big blank wall in my room that is waiting for some computers to be delivered {woo hoo!}.

While we wait I've been using it as a giant bulletin board which I love.

Since Thursday is the 100th day of school, this week I put up some posters for my kids

to add to with our goal being 100 items per poster.

For them to add something it has to be unique and it's been super fun to see the neat things they add!

Here are the posters we have up:

100 Things We Love to Eat
100 Things We Hate to Eat
100 Different Animals
100 Different Things That Are Round{ish}
100 Different Books We Love
100 Things That Make Us Angry
100 Things That Make Us Excited
100 Things That Make Us Sad
100 Things That Make Us Scared
100 Things That Make Us Happy

Here are some of my favorites:

{Love Fat Albert}

{the bookroom was written by a teacher :}

Here are the headers if anyone would like them!

100 Different

Fun with Punxsutawney Phil

2012-01-29T16:39:00.000-06:00

Below are some interactive sites, printables, videos, and treats
to help you celebrate Groundhog Day with your students this week!

Groundhog Day Sites:

A great talking storybook by Mighty Books here.

Groundhog Day Story by Starfall

Whack a Groundhog Game

Official Website of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club

Groundhog Day Games

Online Groundhog Day quiz here.

Groundhog Day Songs here and here.

Groundhog day Smart Notebook files to download here and here.

Groundhog Day Printables:

From ABCTeach here.
Groundhog Day Quiz from Education World here.
TONS from Enchanted Learning here including: puppets, masks, follow the instructions worksheet, spelling worksheets, word hunts, alphabetical order, word search, analogies, poems, quiz, code, fractions, books and MANY more!

Groundhog Day Videos:

There is a great Groundhog Day slide show from the New York Times here.

Here are some fun YouTube Groundhog Videos:

Groundhog Day Treats:

There are also some SUPER cute little groundhog day treats I found recently on Pinterest.

How cute is this one from Sweetology?

Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons has several cute groundhog day treats here.

Family Fun has these adorable groundhog cupcakes! So fun!

Before you Facebook, TXT, Tweet, or Blog.... THINK

2012-01-24T20:11:00.002-06:00

I started thinking today after getting a comment on my

Before You Speak: THINK posters that our kids today

{and many adults too}

really need to heed that same advice before posting

things on Facebook or texting or Tweeting or blogging.

I big puffy heart technology but the immediacy of it can truly be a serious danger.

It's so easy to pop off and say something without thinking when
upset or angry or excited without pausing to consider if it's wise or hurtful.

So I made a new sign just to remind us all!
{myself included}

Before You Fb Txt Tw or Blog

Before you Speak: THINK {again}

2012-01-22T08:28:00.001-06:00

I'm pretty sure the Before You Speak: Think
poster is the most printed one I've ever made.

It's pretty bright- which isn't everyone's cup of tea-

so this morning I decided to do one in black/gray
for anyone who finds that one just a tad too much.

I also made one in my typical primary colors for those that like that better.

Such wise words we all need to remember.....at home, at school, at work- always!

If you have any trouble downloading these, just right click on the image,

save it, and print it as a JPG!

Before You Speak Think-3 Before You Speak Think2

Consider the Source

2012-01-21T20:31:00.001-06:00

If I had a dollar for each time I said the words "Consider the source"

I'd be able to take my family on a super snazzy vacation.

I say it often to my students, to my sweet daughter, and to my friends.

I found myself saying it often on Friday to a sweet friend who

was very upset by something someone had said to her.

In our conversation I kept reminding her that this person who said the hurtful things

was someone who was known for causing trouble-

who in fact seemed to actually enjoy upsetting people.

I decided I'd like to have this hanging in my classroom as a reminder

to me and to my students that before we assign value to something someone has said

we need to consider who it is doing the speaking.

Here it is in case you also need the reminder!

Consider the Source

The 100th Day of School

2012-01-17T14:36:00.001-06:00

The 100th day of school is quickly approaching.
How is that possible? Didn't we just start school the other day?

Below are some fun sites to use with your kiddos that
I posted about last year as well as a few

new ones to help you celebrate this special and fun day!

100 Owl Grid is a fun interactive game from ABCya.com.
Children must help the Owl to find his friends. The Owl will tell you a number that represents where his friend is hiding in the number grid. Click on the correct square.
Be careful...you only have two chances or you will lose his friend!

100 Snowballs is a fun interactive from ABCya.com. Simply touch and drag the snowballs to create your own image, as long as you use 100 snowballs. If your class is reading 100 books, add a snowball as a way keep up with how many books the class has read throughout the day.

Give the Dog a Bone is a fun game that works great on the Smart Board. The object is to find 10 hidden bones on the 1-100 number square in less than a minute. A fun challenge for the 100th day!

Starfall has a cute 100th day of school book that would

be great to show to your class on your Smart Board.

Mathwire's 100 Days of School activity page is full of fabulous math activities. One of my favorites includes the 100 ways to represent 100 activity.

This fabulous People in Order video includes 100 different people

who are arranged according to their age, starting from age 1.

{wouldn't it be fun to make your own?}

Count Along to 100

Splat Square

Below are some 100th Day of School Printables

From ABCTeach

Printable Book from Enchanted Learning

100th Day of School Book

100 Animals book

100th Day Poem

From Starfall

From Scholastic

100th Day of School Songs

Books to read on the 100th Day of School

Find tons of great links to 100th Day of School boards on Pinterest here!

Kid Resolutions

2012-01-16T17:36:00.000-06:00

Last week in each of my classes we discussed resolutions.

It was a fun discussion where we talked about how resolutions were basically a goal-

something people wanted to do {like exercising more}

or wanted to stop doing {like biting their nails}.

After a long discussion about realistic goals,

each of my students chose a goal for 2012.

Below are a few of my favorites:

I'm going to not blame my sister.

To not hit my brother.

Get ripped.

{A 4th grader getting ripped? So funny!}

Not get annoyed by Brandon.

{I don't know Brandon but this cracked me up!}

I would like to stop messing with my mom while she's working.

This is my favorite!

My resolution is to sometimes follow all the rules at home.

I love my kids!

Relationships

2012-01-16T07:55:00.002-06:00

I was recently contacted by a sweet blog reader who is a principal {Hi Kathy!}

and is writing a book and wanted to include some of my quote posters.

{How cool is that? Seriously.....like bucket list cool!}

I've been working this weekend on a few additional quotes for her book

about relationships and thought I'd share them.

If there is one thing I've learned in my 20 years of teaching is that

building relationships with your students is key!

No Significant Learning

Relationship Are All

Snow FUN!

2012-01-08T09:03:00.000-06:00

In addition to the virtual snowman builders I posted last week,
here are some fun snow online activities for your students!
Snow much fun!!

Snowdays- this site allows students to create their own snowflakes. Kids (and adults) absolutely love this site! Once they have created some snowflakes, they can search for their own flakes in the search box at the bottom of the page. If you want to see some really fabulous snowflakes, search for Flake Fan. Snowflakes can also be printed out!

Snowflake Workshop- this is another cool snowflake maker called Snowflake Workshop that works great on the SMART Board. Just click on the pencil and draw the cutting lines. Then click on the scissors and watch your snowflake generate.

10 Little Snowmen Interactive Story

Snowstorm Game

Snowflake Symphony Game- Make beautiful snowy music with Snowflake Symphony. Move your mouse over the snowflakes, click on them and you'll hear a musical, magical snowflake symphony!

Build Your Own Snowman.....even in Texas!

2012-01-05T08:45:00.001-06:00

Here in Texas snow isn't something we see often, if ever.

So winter activities like building a snow man are something our kids don't get to do.

Lucky for them, there is an easy and fun solution!

Here are a few fun virtual snowman building sites

so you students can practice building a snowman even when it's warm!

Build a Snowman

Make a Snowman

Snowman Dress Up Game

Build a Snowman

Highlights Build a Snowman

Virtual Snowman

Snowman Maker

Snowman Family Builder

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

2011-12-14T13:47:00.000-06:00

We are in the home stretch.........only a few more days!

Here are some super fun reindeer sites to use with your

kiddos during these last few days before the holiday break!

This is one of the cutest sites out there to use during the Christmas season!

The Rain Deer Orchestra is a site where students touch the nose (or type the number on their shirt) of a reindeer to play different musical notes. There are three song choices to choose from- Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Deck the Halls- or you can free play and play and make up your own song.

This is a fabulous site to use with students on your Smart Board-with a different student in charge of a different number or one student in charge of the entire orchestra. Students could also do this at individual student computers-which would be a fabulous way to practice number recognition and mouse skills.

Oh no! It's Christmas Eve and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is missing!

Rudolph is Missing! is an online story that asks inference questions as the story goes along.

It's up to you to find out where Rudolph has gone!

Where's Rudolph? and Christmas will be ruined if he isn't found!

Click on the picture to find the hidden reindeer. Rudolph hides in a different place in every new game!

Here's a fun online reindeer coloring page!

There are many online sites where students can listen to Christmas stories.

This is one of my favorites because it gives visitors the option to read the story themselves or have it read to you.

The Reindeer Barn is a part of the NorthPole.com site. Raymond is a reindeer that lives in the reindeer barn with all the other reindeer and hopes to be the newest member of Santa’s reindeer team. Students find the places in the barn that take them to Raymond’s stories about his adventures.

Sparklebox has some great reindeer printables including these

reindeer with numbers 1-50 on them

Christmas Sites GALORE!

2011-12-13T12:38:00.002-06:00

With only a few days till Christmas break I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Christmas sites!
I usually show my kids these sites during class and then put them on my website
so they can play them over the holiday break!

Virtual Tree Decorating:

This Tree Decorating page from SantaClaus.net has lots of options and

even garland that you can move around and stretch!

This site from Muse Arts is beautiful and you can even turn the lights off so it glows!

This one is fun because it gives you many choices, allows you to

stretch and rotate items, as well as the ability to print your finished tree!

The National Christmas Tree allows students to decorate a real looking

tree with garland, ornaments, lights and toppers.

Christmas Games:

The Christmas Tree Puzzle is a fabulous online site for problem solving and critical thinking.
The goal is to light up the Christmas tree by connecting all the wires to the light source.
It's lots of fun but it is definitely a challenge that requires lots of problem solving.

The Christmas Tree Maze is another fun tree puzzle. To complete this task, you must drag the bar of lights at the bottom of the tree along the maze of white wires until one of the end bulbs lights up the star at the top. Any move is legal, as long as all three bulbs stay in contact with the white wires at all times.

Santa's Sleigh is a fun and challenging game. The object is to put sleighs so that each Santa has one sleigh and each sleigh only belongs to one Santa. It's fun and much harder than it sounds!

Christmas Memory is a game is a basic concentration game with a twist. If you aren't fast enough, the rows move and you are timed. It has levels that range from EASY to VERY HARD.

On the site Santa Claus's Trip, students view a map of the world, are shown the route that Santa will take to deliver toys, and then they have to touch the countries to recreate his route. When the correct country is touched students even magically travel to that country to see the gifts delivered. What a great way to review the world map and have fun all at the same time!

Holiday Practice is a fun game of multiplication practice. For each multiplication question you answer correctly, your gingerbread house gets a new decoration. There are three levels of multiplication to practice: 0-3, 0-6, or 0-9. At the end of the game, if you've done well, you get to decorate your very own gingerbread house. What a fun way to practice multiplication facts during the holiday season!

Christmas Lights: Math Fact Fun is a a fun fact game that allows students to put up Christmas lights after practicing math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts) for one minute. Students will want to work quickly because the more math problems you solve correctly, the more lights you will be given to decorate your house!

Christmas Lights: This game is the same as the Christmas Lights: Math Fun Facts game but without the math facts. A great and fun game for younger students who need to practice their mouse skills! The lights in both games are animated and look beautiful with the overhead lights turned off. Both of these games would be wonderful to use as a whole class on your Smart Board or individually with students at their own computers.

Christmas Calendar Countdown:

This Around the World calendar features a question about how

Christmas is celebrated in different countries each day.

This fabulous one is based on the book "The Polar Express"

This calendar is purely for fun. Each day a new

animation is added to the Christmas tree as you click on the number.

This calendar has an activity for each day until Christmas.

Christmas History:

The History Channel has a fabulous website full of information on Christmas.

It is a truly awesome site that includes videos, traditions, games and much more! There are videos on The History of Christmas, Christmas Trees, The Evolution of Santa Claus, as well as several on Hanukkah and Kwanza. Christmas Facts, World Traditions, the Christmas Truce of 1914, Christmas Tree Trivia, are just a few of the topics that are covered. There are also some games for students to enjoy!

Christmas at the White House is a very detailed resource guide for teachers about Christmas in the White House. This link is to a PDF file with background information, lots of printables, discussion questions, writing prompts, puzzles and other activity ideas. This is a fabulous guide that is adapted to many grade levels. What a great way to integrate history into your December activities.

Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg is an absolutely wonderful site full of information about Christmas during the 1700's.

The site includes slideshows, songs, videos, podcasts, recipes, downloads, journal articles, music, games, timelines, electronic fieldtrips, and interactive activities. It's a great place for students to experience how settlers celebrated Christmas. It also includes sixteen interdisciplinary lesson plans that truly capture the essence of Colonial Williamsburg. As an extra bonus, the background research for the plans are hotlinked into each lesson. These lessons make it easy to plan an entire unit on life in Williamsburg, from mathematics to a colonial Christmas.

Gingerbread Fun

2011-12-12T20:56:00.000-06:00

Gingerbread Apps:

This is a super cute The Gingerbread Man App for use on an iPad or iPod Touch for 99 cents.

It's an interactive children's storybook. Students can choose Read to Me or Read by Myself.

This Gingerbread House Maker App is available for only 99 cents and is a simple
and non-messy way for kids to decorate a gingerbread house!

Gingerbread Decorating:

Decorating gingerbread cookies is a wonderful yet messy holiday activity.
Here are some great sites where your students can decorate their own personal cookie-
with zero mess!

The Gingerbread Man with Everything is a free site from Sprint with tons of candy choices- all that can be rotated and moved. There are also lots of icing choices- including color and size. Completed cookies can saved, sent, and shared. Be sure to check out the gallery full of already created cookies that are fun to view and try to copy.

My favorite is the Rapper. Too funny!

Time to Decorate is a simple site from Blenderbox that lets you decorate a cookie.
There are only a few candy choices but it's still fun!

Here is another fun gingerbread decorating site with lots of options- shape, icing, and details!

These sites would not only be a fun one to share with your students- whole class on a Smart Board and individually- but would also be a fun way for them to practice mouse skills at the same time!

As wonderful as it would be to create gingerbread houses with all of your students each year, it's sadly both cost and time (not to mention mess) prohibitive.

Here are a few sites to do so virtually:

This fabulous site from Highlights website- Design Your Own Gingerbread House will allow each of your students to create their very own individual gingerbread house!

On this site students can choose from many different food, candy, icing and other items to decorate their house any way that they choose. All items can be rotated, re-sized, and flipped which makes each house unique. This is such a fun and creative site and would be fabulous as both a whole class activity and as an individual student activity.

The completed houses can even be printed so students can take them home once they are completed. These houses won't be quite as sweet as real ones, but they are a great classroom alternative!

This site by Jan Brett is beautiful and fun!

And my favorite, Home Sweet Home's Gingerbread House

All three of these gingerbread house sites would be great for story starters or just for fun!

The Gingerbread Man:

Here is a great simple version for little ones at Starfall

Here is a great interactive story

and here is a sequencing activity once the story has been read.

Here is a version of the story from TopMarks

Gingerbread Printables:

Here are some printable masks so your students can act out the story themselves.

Sparklebox has some FABULOUS Gingerbread printables like:

story aids, masks, sequencing sheets, gingerbread men

with numbers on them and many more!

Gingerbread Math:

Mathwire has some great Gingerbread Man Math ideas including:

Gingerbread Man Math Activities

Gingerbread Man Glyph and Graphing

Math-Literature Connections

Gingerbread Man Games

Gingerbread Man Problem Solving

Christmas Letters and Numbers

2011-12-06T05:02:00.000-06:00

Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things to do each year!

Not just my home but my classroom too!

So I put together some fun polka dot Christmas letters
and numbers just for this season!
They are great for a ton of math and literacy centers and games.
Enjoy!

Green Polka Christmas Letters Green Polka Christmas Numbers 1-50 Red Polka Christmas Letters Red Polka Christmas Numbers 1-50

Ruffled Tree Skirt GIVEAWAY!

2011-12-04T20:30:00.001-06:00

Over on my other blog, Sweet Blessings,

I'm giving away a ruffled Christmas tree skirt this week!

Click on over if you'd like one of your very own!

Uppercase Polka Dot Letters

2011-12-02T20:59:00.001-06:00

A sweet reader asked for these letters in uppercase to use with her little ones- so here you go Fran!

Multi Polka Dot Letters Uppercase

Fair

2011-11-30T20:48:00.001-06:00

I saw this saying recently on Pinterest and absolutely LOVED it

and knew I simply had to make it into a sign!

Every teacher and parent in the world has heard the words "That's not fair!" countless times.

When working with gifted kids or special ed kids who receive modifications and services that other students do not, this saying is a great reminder of what fair really means!

fair isn't

How do you cook a turkey?

2011-11-21T10:15:00.001-06:00

Many schools are out this whole week for Thanksgiving
but we have school today and tomorrow.

I decided to do a fun writing activity about how to cook a turkey
with my second graders today and
thought I'd share my little worksheet.

I can't wait to see what they say- no doubt they will be a hoot!

How to Cook a Turkey

I am thankful for you because....

2011-11-16T20:02:00.001-06:00

In my 20 years of teaching I've gathered a file full of
sweet parent, student, and co-worker notes.
Once or twice a year, on those REALLY tough days,
when I feel like nothing I'm doing is right, I pull out that file and read through it.
Reading those kinds words immediately makes me feel better.

The written word is powerful and in this day of
texting and emailing and IMing and chatting,

it is rare that we ever stop long enough to
actually write something down.

I made this quick little half sheet printable so that I could jot down notes
to some co-workers, students, and others in my life that I'm thankful for.

I'm going to print a bunch so that my students can fill a few out too-
to share with those they are thankful for.
I'm planning to leave one tomorrow in my classroom for our sweet custodian
along with a gift card because I truly am thankful for her!

I Am Thankful for You Because

Thanksgiving Fun

2011-11-11T11:31:00.001-06:00

In addition to this great Thanksgiving Dinner game, here are a few more good sites

to use with your students this Thanksgiving!

The object of Turkey Swap is to swap the locations of the turkeys

and the pigs with as few moves as possible.

You can move each tile by clicking on it. A tile can be moved to the empty space if the space is immediately beside it, or if there is one tile between it and the space.

Too Many Turkeys is a fun game for younger kids.

The goal is to find Pete, the Perky Turkey {who wears a bow tie}

in a sea of turkeys as quickly as you can!

Turkey Anagrams are fun Thanksgiving word puzzles.

Primary Games has lots of Thanksgiving games here

{I love their site but they do have ads} but my favorite is

Turkey Liberation 2.

The directions are:

Be warned- it is difficult- but fun!

Thanksgiving Dinner

2011-11-09T10:31:00.000-06:00

The Thanksgiving Dinner game is a fun way to

practice logic and problem solving!

In this game there is a table full of food and a bunch of family members. Your task is to arrange the family members to sit at the table. Each family member has their own preference of whether to sit close to a certain dish, or not to sit close to a certain dish, they may also like to sit close to a certain person, or not to sit close to a certain person.

Just drag the family members to their seats, and then press the finish button when finished. The better the family members' preferences are met, the higher your score!

We are thankful for.......................

2011-11-07T19:02:00.000-06:00

The Halloween stuff is put away and

I decided that with only 12 school days until Thanksgiving break,

I'd do something to remind my students of our MANY
blessings as we approach one of my very favorite holidays!

Since I have so many different kids in my room during the week,
some for a short period of time
I needed something quick and easy so
I decided to just post a fun "We are thankful for..." banner
and have the kids post something they were thankful for
on some fun polka dotted paper.

It's so fun to see what they are thankful for!

One of my most challenging students wrote this today

and it just warmed my heart:

Here's the banner in case you'd like to join me!

We Are Thankful for..

And as always...if you'd like it another color just let me know
and I'll be happy to change it for you!

Multi Polka Dot Numbers

2011-11-06T08:42:00.001-06:00

A reader asked that I make some numbers to match
the Multi Polka Dot Letters so here they are!

Multi Polka Dot Numbers

More Polka Dot Letters

2011-11-02T07:15:00.000-05:00

Back in August I made and posted some red polka dot letter tiles.

Since then I've had a few requests to make them in other colors.

So here they are in black and pink. If there is another color you would like,
just let me know and I'll be happy to add it!

I also decided to make some multi colored polka dot letters.
These are a little smaller and I included a page of blanks as well!

Multi Polka Dot Letters

Black Polka Letters Pink Polka Letters

Happy Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T14:52:00.001-05:00

Halloween Infographics

2011-10-26T19:30:00.000-05:00

Infographics are such a fun way to talk about numbers
using interesting topics and great visuals.

Here are a few great Halloween related infographics!

Halloween Trends 2011
Halloween Report
Halloween By The Numbers
15 Fun Pumpkin Statistics
A Guide to Halloween Candy

All images were added to Zoom It so that they are zoomable!

To Be Early

2011-10-24T20:01:00.002-05:00

A sweet blog reader named Jenni contacted me recently and asked me to how to make a poster because she wanted to make one for one of her daughters teacher.

I offered to make one for her and just loved the quote.

It's the teachers favorite saying and I think it's a hoot!

to be early

Font Questions

2011-10-20T07:23:00.000-05:00

I've had several people email recently to ask what fonts I used in my some of my printables so I thought there were probably others

who wondered too so........I figured I'd post them here.

I've also had some emails lately asking how to install fonts once they are downloaded
so I made a quick video to show you how!

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Nothing is worth more than THIS day!

2011-10-17T19:38:00.000-05:00

This sign was suggested by Boddie.

Thanks for the great saying Boddie!

Nothing is Worth More

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a favorite story of elementary school kids & teachers.

FunBrain has an online version of the story

that would be fun to read with your class.

There are 24 days of the story- complete with the fun illustrations!

This would be fun to put on your Smart Board and have the kids take turns reading!

Mad Libs Junior

2011-10-11T07:46:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you but growing up we often played Mad Libs in the car

on long road trips and I absolutely loved them.

{Kids today may not even know what Mad Libs are because they

are always using a Nintendo DS, computer, iPad, or iphone!}

FunBrain has a fun Mad Libs Junior game

that is awesome for practicing parts of speech.

Students simply type in the part of speech asked for

or they can click on one of the words suggested.

Once all of the words are added students click OK

and the story opens in a new window.

You can even have the students print their story in order to check their work.

There are four different Mad Libs available:

Alphabet, Prehistoric, Once Upon a, and School Rules.

These would be great to use on the smart board

or as individual work for students.

Always do your BEST

2011-10-09T18:31:00.000-05:00

This sign was suggested by sweet Becky!

Thank you Becky for the idea!

Always Do Your Best

Compass Learning Sample Activities- Science

2011-10-06T08:04:00.000-05:00

Compass Learning has a site full of

wonderful learning activities for kids.

Although the site requires a subscription,

they do have some fabulous FREE

sample reading, math, science, and social studies activities.

One thing I really love about the activities on Compass Learning is that they aren't simply games, they are truly lessons with content taught before the game.

Here are two of my favorite science activities.

Grouping Animals is a super cute lesson about grouping animals by what they eat. Students learn how to look at the teeth of an animal

to determine what kind of eater they are.

Voyage to the Earth, Moon, and Sun is a lesson

on the movement of the earth, moon, and sun.

Be sure to check out these great FREE lessons!

Compass Learning Sample Activities- Social Studies

2011-10-05T07:50:00.000-05:00

Compass Learning has a site full of

wonderful learning activities for kids.

Although the site requires a subscription,

they do have some fabulous FREE

sample reading, math, science, and social studies activities.

One thing I really love about the activities on Compass Learning is
that they aren't simply games, they are truly
lessons with content taught before the game.

Here are two of my favorite Social Studies activities.

Over the Edge is a lesson and activity that teaches about directions-
north, south, east, west, and about a compass rose.

It's a Matter of Time is a lesson and activity

that teaches about timelines and ordering events.

Be sure to check out these great FREE lessons!

There is ALWAYS a choice..

2011-10-04T18:58:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Leslie for this great quote!

Such a great reminder to kids AND adults!

I LOVE it!

There is Always a Choice

Compass Learning Sample Activities- Math

2011-10-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

Compass Learning has a site full of

wonderful learning activities for kids.

Although the site requires a subscription,

they do have some fabulous FREE

sample reading, math, science, and social studies activities.

One thing I really love about the activities on Compass Learning is

that they aren't simply games, they are truly

lessons with content taught before the game.

Two of my favorite math activities are for Kindergarten.

The first is called Sorting Under the Sea.

It gives both oral directions and a demonstration

before asking the student to sort the fish by color or size.

There is great feedback and even a checking option.

The second activity is

Estimate and Measure with Chef Pierre.

Students estimate and measure the number of cinnamon

rolls on Chef Pierre's pan and fit them into

his different sized pans.

This activity also has great oral directions

and help along with a checking option.

Be sure to check out these great FREE lessons!

Draw a Stickman

2011-10-03T07:15:00.000-05:00

Oh my word.......this Draw a Stickman site is so FUN!

You simply draw a stickman and click DONE.

Your stickman then comes to life and goes on an adventure

that includes dealing with dragons and sharks.

Your stickman walks around the screen

and asks you to draw different things to help

continue the story.

Once the story is finished you can share it with others

via Facebook, Twitter, or email.

There is even a FREE Draw a Stickman app you

can get for your iPhone, iTouch, or iPad.

So very fun and such a great way to encourage creativity!

Big-bot

2011-10-02T06:55:00.001-05:00

Big-bot is another great game from Merriam-Webster.

This game is a fun way to practice synonyms and antonyms.

To play you click on the correct antonym

or synonym that completes the sentence.

Then you pull the green knob to control the launcher.

Your goal is to make it into the big-bots mouth.

The tiny white dots show you the path the word will take.

This game works great on the Smart Board

and would also be fun for students on individual computers.

Alpha-bot

2011-09-30T20:43:00.000-05:00

Alpha-bot is a fabulous Merriam-Webster spelling website for kids.

Student touch the AUDIO button to hear the word spoken aloud.

They then click to drag a letter left or right or up or down-

which causes the entire row or column to move.

They double click a letter to lock in place

and then click the CHECK button to check their answer.

There are three levels and even a hint button if needed.

This site is fabulous on the Smart Board.

Such a fun and different way to practice spelling!

Polka Dot Numbers

2011-09-28T20:32:00.000-05:00

I needed some numbers for an activity with one of my classes
so I made a few sets this evening that I thought I'd share.

The larger numbers I made in turquoise
and in black in numbers 1-30 and then 35-100 by 5's.

The smaller red numbers are 1-100.

If you'd like different numbers let me know
and I'll be happy to add them!

Polka Dot Numbers Black

Polka Dot Numbers Turquoise

Red Numbers 1-100

Here they are on Google docs if
you'd rather download them from there:
Black Polka Dot #'s
Turquoise Polka Dot #'s
Red Numbers 1-100

Fonts, Fonts, and more Fonts!

2011-09-27T11:31:00.000-05:00

People often ask me where I get all the fonts
I use in my signs and to be honest-
I have a HUGE folder of fonts on all my computers
that I am constantly adding to so
I'm not totally sure where they all came from.

I download only free fonts and
thought I'd share some of my favorite font sites with you.

1. MissTina- I love love LOVE her fonts.

So many cute and unique ones! {Be sure to read her terms of use here!}
Here are some of my favorites:

2. Kevin & Amanda's Free Scrapbook Fonts-

I use these fonts all the time!

So many great ones and I love that you

can download all the fonts at once

{Just look on the bottom right side of the blog where it says Download All Fonts}.

3. Kevin & Amanda's Fonts for Peas-

Another fabulous site full of handwriting fonts.

They take actual handwriting samples from people

and turn them into fonts.

How cool is that?

As with their other site, you can also

download all the fonts at one time- so great!

{Just look on the bottom right side of the blog where it says Download All Fonts}.

Here are a few other sites that have tons
of great fonts to download for free:
1001 Free Fonts
Dafont.com
Urban Fonts

If you know of any other great sites,
please leave a comment and let us know!

The person you encounter....

2011-09-26T20:30:00.000-05:00

Y'all had so many great sign ideas that I decided to
make one from each person who left a comment!

Here's the first one suggested by love2read.

Such a true, true, true statement!
Such a reminder that people
are not always what they seem!

The Person You Encounter

Sign Ideas?

2011-09-20T20:11:00.000-05:00

Between being sick with a nasty case of strep,

missing work for two days,

doing NOTHING all weekend

{which is not something I EVER do}

and now trying to get caught back up at school and home,

I am WAYYYYYYYYYY behind.

So I need YOUR help.

I need IDEAS!

I need ideas sweet people!

What's a quote or saying you'd like me

to make a printable sign out of for your classroom?

Leave me a comment and let me know your idea.

There will be a special prize for the one I choose!

Webcam 101 for Seniors

2011-09-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

Ordinary vs. Extraordinary

2011-09-14T20:34:00.002-05:00

I love this little quote by Jimmy Johnson.

What a great reminder that putting in a little extra effort can have miraculous results!

Ordinary and Extraordinary

A Prayer for September 11th

2011-09-11T08:10:00.002-05:00

Don't Laugh at Me

2011-09-01T09:55:00.001-05:00

Don't Laugh at Me is a fabulous book by Steve Seskin & Allen Shamblin.

Originally a country music song by the two men Allen Shamblin was inspired to write the song after his daughter came home from school one day, telling him that she was being teased by other children at school because of her freckles. The song is a ballad in which various characters, such as children who have been teased or a homeless man begging on a street corner, all of whom ask for acceptance from others.

The two turned it into a book with wonderful illustrations

that would be great to use in the classroom when talking about acceptance and bullying.

Lesson Plan SOS posted a great lesson on Vivid Visualization using

this book here that includes some great printables!

Never Judge a Book...

2011-08-31T21:10:00.000-05:00

Can I get an amen?

Never Judge

Word Tamer

2011-08-29T18:52:00.000-05:00

Need a fun way to spice up your students writing?

Word Tamer is a fabulous interactive website where you

“tame words and train stories" created by author Judy Waite.

This fun site helps students create and develop new writing possibilities.

All of the ideas can be saved and printed off to be developed in the classroom-

away from the computer.

The site contains 5 different challenges:

Wild Words, Prowl Through Plot, Capture a Character,

Snare a Setting, and Grapple With Genre.

What a great way to add some fun to your writing!