HUGE 100 followers giveaway!



 

 

Happy Friday!  I am ridiculously excited to post about this giveaway! 

 

(I'm pretty darn excited about reaching 100 followers too! Thank you for making that happen!)

 

My fiance is at the firehouse, so it's just me and this guy tonight.

 

 

 

At least he's handsome, right?

 

It's 6:00 pm and I'm already in my comfortable clothes pajamas.

(Let's just go ahead and be honest and call them what they are.)

 

Because what else is there to do on a Friday night besides blog in your pajamas, right?



Enough about my wild and crazy Friday night...on to the giveaway!
 

 I have 20 amazing teachers joining with me to offer an opportunity to stock up on some AWESOME products!  I am constantly in awe of how generous the blogworld (and educators in general) truly are!

 

I'm also throwing in my Sight Word Super Pack...




AND

a $25 gift card to my favorite store to find cute teacher clothes....

Ann Taylor Loft.

 

 

Beause everyone needs a pair of colored skinny jeans pants or some denim trousers to wear when it's not a dress down day. ;) 
Am I right?
 

 

These are some of my absolute favorite blogs and TPT stores.  Go ahead and check out their blogs and stores to get a little preview of what you can win!
 

 

 

 

Rachelle @ What the Teacher wants is offering ANY item from her TPT store. 

 

 

 

  Abby @ The Inspired Apple is offering ANY item from her TPT store.           Deedee @ Mrs. Wills Kindergarten is offering a set of her Literacy Task Cards.            Sarah @ First Grade Snippets is offering her set of Writing Rubrics.        

 

Kelley @ the Teacher Idea Factory is offering her latest Good Morning Work pack.

 

 

 

 

Lindsey @ The Teacher Wife is offering her brand new Halloween Unit.

 

 

 

 

  Stacy @ Leading and Read is offering ANY item from her Teacher's Notebook store.           Jennifer @ First Grade Blue Skies is offering ANY pack from her TPT store.      

Kelly @ Teaching Fourth is offering ANY  item from her TPT store.


 

  Rebecca @ Darlin' in First is offering her "I Mustache...What are you Reading?" pack from her TPT store.           Teri @ A Cupcake for the Teacher is offering ANY item from her TPT store.           Stephanie @ Falling Into First is offering ANY item from her TPT store.           Heather @ Heather's Heart is offering ANY TWO items from her TPT store.           Special Teacher for Special Kids is offering a set of Task Cards from her TPT store.           Heather @ The Busy Busy Hive is offering ANY item from her TPT store.         Deborah @ The Paper Maid is offering ANY item from her TPT store.         Rikki @ The Hive is offering her brand new Probability unit.           Casey @ Second Grade Math Maniac is offering ANY item from her TPT store.      

Jessica @ Mrs. Stanford's Class is offering ANY item from her TPT store.
 

 

Latoya @ Flying Into First Grade is offering ANY item from her TPT store.    

Ummm...WOW.  I think I want to win my own giveaway. :) 

Enter below!
This giveaway will end next Friday October 5th at midnight.  I will be in touch with the winner on Saturday.


 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Good luck to you!

 

 

Fall Freebie!

 Hope you're having a fabulous fall weekend!  The weather is nothing short of perfect here in Virginia!  I was hoping to have all of my fall activities ready to share today...but it doesn't look as though that is going to happen. 

 

Life is getting in the way. :)

 

I still have grades to enter and lesson plans to do.  My morning was spent at a group obedience class with Sawyer.  He has some...ahem, "issues"...that we are trying to work out. He needs practice being in the same space with other dogs, following commands with distractions, etc. 

 

Andy calls it "group therapy."

 

I call it nerve-wracking.

 

Anyways, we survived another week of that and all three of us are worn out from it.

 

I do have one activity (a fall poem!) that I wanted to share, in case you are able to use it this week.  We are studying the seasonal changes this week and this is one of my favorite activities to do with my kiddos.  It makes a beautiful fall display on our bulletin board when paired with some fall artwork. 

 

I love to read this book:

 

 

before writing our poems, but you certainly don't have to. 

 

Now...if I could just decide what fall art projects I will have time for.  Darn pinterest is giving me too many options!!

 

Click here to grab the directions and poem template from my TPT store for free!

 

 

By the way....the ADORABLE fonts I used on this poem template are from Rowdy in Room 300. I love them...they are my new favorites.  I just found her blog and it is too cute!

 

So head on over to to download them for FREE.  She actually MADE them using an ipad app.  Can you believe that??

 

 

If you are able to use my freebie, please follow my blog and my TPT store. It means a lot. :)

 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Happy teaching to you  (and Happy Fall!)

 

 

 

 

 



Giveaway Winner!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Woohoo! Congratulations, Denise!  So glad that you won my Sight Word Super Pack! I hope you love using it as much as I do. :)

 

I will be emailing you shortly.

 

There's still time to grab it while it's on SALE today and tomorrow.  Thanks so much for entering! 

 

 

 

Please share my blog link so I can start planning a 100 follower giveaway. Rafflecopter is way too much fun!

 

I hope to be back very soon with some fun fall activities & freebies.

 

Happy Saturday to you!

 

 

Fall Linky!

The super duper cute Mrs. Wheeler over at Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits invited me to link up for her fall sale! 

Then...I realized TONS of bloggers were celebrating the first day of fall with sales!
 

Ahh! I'm not quite finished with the fall activities I was planning to share (being sick this week has been rrrrrough!)  but I don't like to miss out on good sales!

(Plus, if you haven't checked out her cute blog...head on over.  I love her blog, you will too!)

 

So...for now, here is a little fall freebie for ya!

 

My firsties are shying away from taking chances with their writing.  They are stuck in a

 

"I like ________."

"I see a ________."

 

writing rut.

 

I'm ridiculously happy if they just write a sentence with finger spaces and a capital letter and period right now, so I'm not complaining....but I made these silly fall sentences to encourage them to take a risk and write some new things.

 

These are fall sentences...with a twist. 

 

 

 

A scarecrow having a birthday party with a squirrel?

check.

 

A ghost eating a lollipop?

yep.

 

A cat with a bumblebee on it's tail?

of course.

 

I think they will have fun with these. :) 

 

I sure had fun making them...but maybe that was the cold medicine taking over...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In any case, help yourself if you think your kiddos would enjoy writing some silly sentences to go with these crazy pictures!

 

 

 

And, yes....everything in my TPT store is on sale tomorrow (20% off). 

Check out these linky parties to find TONS of bloggers with good sales going on! :)

 

Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits

 

 

 

 

Second Grade Math Maniac  <---just found her blog and am lovin' it!

 

 

 

But if there's anything I love more than a good sale...it's FREE stuff. 

And...pssssst.... almost everything in my store is free. :)

 

So head on over and stock up!

 

I'll be back soon with tons more FALL activites.  Be sure to follow my blog and TPT store so you'll be able to check it out when I get it all posted....lots of freebies!

Here is my current best seller.  An entire year's worth of Dolch sight word curriculum with word cards, daily assignments, homework, assessments, weekly oral reading checks, etc.

 

 

I'm getting close(ish) to 100 followers and I'd love to start planning a fabulous giveaway.

 

Just sayin'.  ;)

 

Happy Weekend to you...and Happy Fall!

 

Classroom Management Linky

So excited that the sweet ladies over at What the Teacher Wants decided to host a Classroom Management Linky!  I am always on the lookout for new and exciting things to encourage my kiddos to make good choices.  

 

 

 

Unfortunately I have been SICK as a dog this week.  All stinkin' week.  I should have gone to the doctor sooner but of course at the peak of feeling yucky, I had back to school night Tuesday night.  That was...fun.  To top it off, Andy has an eye infection and he can't exactly do his job (he's a firefighter) with glasses so he's been out of work this week too.  Our house is a hot, hot mess. We need a biohazard sign on the front door.

 

 No worries though, Sawyer has been taking very good care of us. His bedside manner is incredible. ;)

 

 

 

I took a half day Wednesday to go to the doctor and got some antibiotics.  Then, as much as it KILLED me to take a day so early in the year...I broke down and took today off.  I absolutely detest missing a day of school.  I'm glad I did though.  I got some much needed rest and even though I'm far from 100%, I think I'll be able to make it in tomorrow to finish up our apple unit with crockpot applesauce and biscuits as a special treat for my babies!

 

My classroom will smell so yummy, can't wait!

 

My unexpected day off made me realize I need to quit procrastinating and go ahead and put Rachelle's Substitute Survival Kit together!  I've had it for a while and it is fantastic.  I just need to print it out and fix it up with my info....no more procrastinating!  If you don't have some emergency sub plans go ahead and grab her kit and get ready...just in case.

 

OK...here we go.  My classroom management plan is pretty simple, but it works for me.

 

We have a schoolwide program that our fabulous guidance counselor implements that goes along with this sweet book.

 

 

We put marbles in a bucket anytime they make good decisions as a class or an adult catches someone being a bucket filler.  I like to acknowledge when a student helps pick up someone's crayons that fell in the floor, when I hear someone give another student a compliment, or when I see partners working nicely together, etc.

 

When they earn 10 marbles in their bucket...we get a star to display outside of our door.  The colors of the paper stars change each 6 weeks so everyone can keep track of how many stars each class has earned.  I add a little extra "incentive" and tell them that if we earn 3 stars before the colors change, we will have a class celebration (donuts, popsicle party, lunch in the classroom, or something similar!)

 

For an individual classroom management plan, I use these products from my absolute favorite teacher store, Creative Teaching Press.

 

Students collect these tickets:

 And store them in their desk in these cute little library pockets with their names written on them.

 

I give out tickets all...day...long.  There are ALWAYS some in my laundry room closet at home because I just carry them around all day in my pockets...ready to pass out if I "catch" a student doing anything spectacular!  If they are the first one to follow directions, if they are working extra hard, if they use good manners...anything goes!

 

On Fridays, we count our tickets.

 

If a student has 10 tickets, they turn them in and get to write their name on one of these.

 

 

Then, at the end of each month...we have a raffle for prizes and special privileges (lunch in the room with a buddy from ANY first grade class is a favorite!)

 

I use a lot of books (from Scholastic), small toys, coloring books candy etc. for the prizes.  Some are bigger, some are small. 

 

I try to get one or two big things to save for last.  I have a feeling this month, it is going to be one of these guys...

 

 

My kids loooove them some Pete.  They will go bananas over him.  I have one that lives in our classroom and they just adore it.

 

Another way they can earn a ticket is by being picked for "Mystery Walker." I posted about how it works here.

 

 

 

The ticket system keeps everything nice and simple for the most part...and then I just have to get things together for one raffle each month.

 

I prefer to use a positive approach to classroom management, because it helps me stay more positive....but don't you worry.  I take a ticket or two on occasion.  They don't like to lose their tickets, so it's effective.

 

Set aside some time to head over and read the other awesome classroom management tips at What the Teacher Wants.

 

So many awesome ideas. :)

 

Also...don't forget to enter the giveaway for my new Sight Word Super Pack in my previous post. 

 

 

 

Giveaway ends TOMORROW!

 

Happy Friday to you!

 

Super Sight Words! And a Giveaway!

This has been a work in progress for a LONG time and I'm so excited to share it with you.  When I first started teaching first grade (6 years ago?? really??)  we were using a reading series that had "vocabulary" listed before each story that the kids were supposed to learn for the week.

 

The problem was...it wasn't vocabulary.  They were sight words, some story words, and occcasionally some vocabulary...all sprinkled in one page for the week.

 

Umm...what?

 

So I thought "Silly reading series...don't they know the difference between high frequency words and actual vocabulary?"

 

Well the answer to that question, my friends, is NO.  They do not.  And neither do their other reading series friends.

 

I know this because we adopted a new reading series last year and I thought for SURE it would no longer be a problem. Well, every darn series we looked at called them different things (high frequency words story words, vocabulary, sight words, etc.)  but they were all a big mess of different things.

 

Does anyone else feel my pain?

 

I am a firm believer in sight word knowledge contributing to the success of readers.  I also believe vocabulary is important...but I think they are two totally different things.

 

So...my coworker and I made our own lists of 6 sight words that we wanted the students to master each week a couple years ago.  We used words from the 220 on the Dolch list. We covered from pre-primer through second grade.  Over the years we have added games and daily assignments for each list.  I finally got around to organizing it and putting it into one huge "Sight Word Super Pack."  It is 270 pages full of word cards, daily assignments, homework, weekly assessments, benchmark assessments, sight word games, and more!

 

The thing that I have seen that makes my kids most successful with doing sight words this way is that I created it to BUILD each week.  So...practice, assignments, and assessments in week 9 contain all of week 9's sight words PLUS past sight words to make sure students are retaining them all.

 

The decoding skills are built in and also get progressively harder each week as well.

 

It is an entire year's worth of sight word curriculum that you can use to supplement ANY reading series.  It is a great way to assess sight word knowledge, oral reading, decoding, fluency, and comprehension.  Everything that you need to implement intense sight word instruction is included.  This was designed with first grade in mind but would also be excellent for second grade.  It would also be an awesome (easy/organzed) way to challenge those kindergarteners who are reading by mid year to advance their reading.

 

 

Here is what is included for each of the 32 weeks:

 

Word Cards (flash cards & word wall cards) 

*I send a set of these home at the beginning of each week*

 

 

"Read, Write, Read" practice sheet

 

 

"Create a Sentence" practice sheet

 

"Fill in the Blank" reading comprehension practice sheet (*awesome assessment)

 

Sight Word Phrases (for use in whole group/small group and/or homework)

*I send these home every Wednesday to practice fluency*

 

 

Sight Word Sentences (for use in whole group/small group and/or homework)

*I send these home every Thursday night for reading practice*

 

Weekly Oral Reading Assessment (running record with key for parents to explain marks)

 

 

-Sight Word Games (generic and seasonal)

 

 

Literally everything that you need to make your students learn and retain the Dolch sight words is included. I think you will see such a difference in your students' reading when they are getting true, intense, sight word instruction every day.

 

I usually spend 10(ish) minutes on sight words every day during my reading block.  These activities are made to fit in a 10-20 minute window.

 

Here is a link to my Sight Word Super Pack on my TPT store.

 

It will be $7, but it's on sale right now for $5 if you head over and get it early!

 

I would LOVE to give away this giant pack of sight word fun to someone. 

All you have to do is enter below. :) 
Get more chances to win by leaving a comment, following my blog, or following my TPT store.
http://teacherspayteachers/Store/Amy-Journell

Or, do all 3!

This giveaway will be open all week.  A winner will be randomly selected on Saturday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Monday Freebie: Weekend News!

One of the awesome teachers that I get to work with introduced me to "weekend news." I have loved incorporating it into my Mondays ever since!

 

Since today was our first Monday back to school, it is time for the first "weekend news" of the year! Very simply, for morning work on Mondays, my kiddos write about whatever they did over the weekend.

 

 Last year, they wrote on regular writing paper or in their journals. We would illustrate and share them and then they just took them home. This year, I designated a three-prong folder just for weekend news so we can save them throughout the year. 

 

It is such an awesome way to watch their writing grow and develop throughout the year and it also provides a lot of insight into their lives outside of school.

 

As a parent, I think it would be a neat thing to save at the end of the year, too!

 

I will probably collect several weeks in the pockets of the folders, date them, and then three-hole punch them and put them in a few at a time or ask a volunteer to do the same.

 

If you'd like to do "weekend news" in your classroom, here is a free template and a cover for your weekend news journal or folder. These can be printed front and back so that they have extra space as they start to write more and more!

 

 

Happy Monday!