Flip Flap Book Report Project--50% off

After some internet struggles this morning, I was finally able to upload my newest product:

click here to get it

I assigned this project to my students and they were so excited to make all those flip flap books. They were also excited to make their own lapbook about their book. In order to make all the flip flap books fit, I added a page to the inside of the file folder. If you cut off the shorter side of a file folder (I used some old folders that had writing on the tab) and glue the "bendy" part to the inside, you can make extra pages. The "bendy" part is the part that is usually at the bottom of the file that allows it to expand. It makes a PERFECT page inside the file folder. 

If you don't have enough file folders, you can also give the students poster board or staple sheets of construction paper together to make a book, which is what I usually do for our lapbooks. This product contains everything you'll need, except of course, a book! My students were really enthusiastic about this project because they got to choose any chapter book, as long as it was a fiction book. Here's what you'll find in this product:

Oh, did I mention that it is 50% off right now???? Run over to my TPT store and grab it up!

Five For Friday- I made it to Spring Break!!!!!!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday...and then I'm getting myself a tropical drink!

This week was a wild one with my little wild ones! I barely had a chance to take pictures, but I did manage a few. Most of my kids finally finished their Polygons with Personality stories, whew! Some of them were really awesome/funny/silly. Check out Clutterfree Classroom's lesson here. I'm sorry about the yucko pictures. I completely forgot to take pics until they were up on the hallway wall. 

My awesome (have I mentioned this before?) student teacher did a great lesson on area with our kiddos. She had different sized squares and asked kids to cover their desks with them. They discussed why there had to be more of the smaller sized squares. I think it took her FOREVER for her to cut them out! I really hope she can find another use for these perfectly cut squares.  

We've zoomed through our spelling program and are on our last week of spelling tests and homework! Woohoo! It is way too early to quit giving out homework so I came up with a book report project for them to do over the next three weeks. At first I was going to throw it together, but 5+ hours later, I had a pretty good project that I'll be posting to my TPT store this weekend. My colleague and I put the packets together on Wednesday and I have to say that the kids are pretty excited about it. They'll read a chapter book and make their very own lapbook about it. I'll blog about it when I get it uploaded. Make sure you follow my TPT store so you'll be notified when it has been added. I'll offer a 50% discount for the first couple of days. Here's a sneak peek:

Have you tried GoNoodle yet? OMG, my kids are obsessed (and so am I) with this awesome brain break site. They absolutely love the Happy song with the Minions. They broke into a spontaneous conga line today! It was so cute. If you haven't checked it out, do it right now! There are also calming brain breaks and the best part is that it is free! 

Last Sunday I took my daughter to Alamosa, CO to play a couple of soccer scrimmages with the teams from Adams State and Otero Junior College. She's a junior in HS but is looking to play soccer in college so her coach set up these scrimmages so the girls can see the level of play that will be expected of them. It was an eye opening experience, especially the weather! Ummm, to say it was cold is an understatement. It was freezing! Luckily, I had my trusty sleeping bag, down jacket, gloves and scarf in the car. A soccer mom is always prepared! I had to take a picture from my little peephole in the sleeping bag so that people would believe how much it was snowing!

The green "grass" is actually turf. This is the beginning of the snow.
My daughter is #26 :)

Spring Break starts today after the kiddos leave and I can't believe how busy my break will be! Between lunch dates with friends, a haircut, a visit to my grandma, Easter, and a couple of meetings, I'm not sure how much time I'll have to make products and blog, but I'm going to try! I actually crave being busy, I'm weird like that.
Have a great weekend!

Five for Friday

What a crazy, windy, sneezy, fun week! This week's Five for Friday linkup with Doodlebugs is truly random.

First, we started the week with a new math unit: Geometry. My fab student teacher went all out with her lesson. She found this idea and some other great Geometry products at The Clutter-free Classroom.

Monday was my birthday and when I fired up Google Chrome, I saw this:

I thought, "Oh how cute all those desserts are!" so I hovered over it to see what it was all about and it said, "Happy Birthday Suzy". I just about fainted! I swear I didn't know it would do that on my birthday. It was so cool, I had to call over all my colleagues and show them.

Over the next 5 years our school will get a complete makeover! I get to be on the building committee and we took a field trip to see a couple of schools that are about our size and have newer, two story buildings. I fell in love with one of the schools. Let me tell you, these classrooms had so much storage!!!! They each had a huge closet and these adorable cubby/coat/backpack hooks built in! My classroom has no storage and I hate all the backpacks, coats, and lunches along the wall because they never stay on the dinky little hooks.

Now I just have to wait 5 years to get a new classroom. *big sigh*

Our school carnival, The Husky Howl, is today so we had to come up with a booth as a grade level. We're doing an Estimation Jar booth this year and so we asked parents to save jars and send them in so we could fill them. The kids get 4 guesses per ticket and we can only give them hints such as "higher" or "lower". The kids L-O-V-E this booth because if they guess correctly they get a big ol' jar of stuff! I didn't take a picture of the complete mess as we were elbow deep in jars, candy, toys, gum, and other stuff, but I did snap a picture of the table with some of the jars on display. Thank you to my lovely 2nd grade team!!! Love ya'

ladies!

Spring in New Mexico means wind, wind, and more wind. Wind means allergies. Allergies mean lots of tissues. Lots of tissues means a red nose. I am not even exaggerating when I say that I am personally responsible for using 3 entire boxes of tissues this week. NONE of the allergy or decongestants really work for long so I'm either kinda fuzzy-brained or always on the verge of a sneeze. I'm quite afraid that I have THAT face. You know the one? The one that is about to sneeze. Yep, any second now. Almost there...now...aaaaah....ahhhh....now it's gone. That's my face. All.Day.Long.

Geometry

My amazing student teacher did an intro lesson for our geometry unit using a book called The Very Greedy Triangle. She made these awesome shape shifters for the students so they could make the shapes as she went through the story. 

She got the lesson idea from the Clutterfree Classroom. Then we worked on vocabulary and had some geometry math stations. 

My kids loved the geoboard app (and I loved having less rubber bands flying). They also played a game by the Clutterfree Classroom called the Polygon Trail at the teacher station and then wrote shape attributes at another station. It was a really awesome lesson and the kids loved it! Today we started the Polygons with Personality lesson and I can't wait to see how it turns out. You should really check out clutterfreeclassroom.blogspot.com for more geometry lessons and products. 

April Currently

Yippee for April! I'm sooooo ready for Spring Break to start. Just 9 more days of school.
I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade for her April Currently. I was thinking about doing the post after school, but lucky me, I'm up at 3:30 AM because of allergies! If I can't sleep, I may as well get working!

It is well before the time anyone who has to teach 24 second graders should be up, but I do enjoy the silence. Yesterday (3/31) was my birthday and I had such an awesome weekend and day that I really can't complain about being one year closer to the big 40. I had a fab dinner out with my family on Saturday, my sweet hubs and girls cleaned the whole house on Sunday while I was at my soccer game, and then my amazing colleagues and sister (also my colleague) organized a lunch for me, complete with homemade chocolate cupcakes! My students were so cute and I love the cards they wrote for me, especially this little gem:

 

 

 

Can you tell we've been studying land forms? Don't you just love it when they show what they've learned in a completely unsolicitated and natural way?

 

I can't live without my to do list app, but I'm afraid it is going to malfunction if I put anything else on it. This explains the "needing" section. I know it is a common theme among teachers about not having enough time, but I'm really feeling the crunch this week. My grade level is giving a PD at our staff meeting Wednesday morning, our school carnival is Friday, and I have a billion meetings to attend. Our school will be getting a complete makeover over the next five years and I'm on the building committee. We're taking a "field trip" on Wednesday to see some newer schools so we can get some ideas. This, of course, means I have to also do sub plans. Gag.

 

Finally, our school hours are so long because the students leave early on Wednesdays so we can have time to collaborate and get our prep in. It makes for a very long day, especially if you factor in how late we start! I am an early bird and get to school at least an hour before the bell rings and stay at least 90 minutes after school gets out. I'm so glad our last day of school is May 22!!! I can't wait for summer break! Have a great week everyone!

 

Hey! I just realized that I can cross something off my to do list!

Five For Friday- Two Weeks in a Row???

Last week and this week? I may be on a roll, but it's too soon to tell. I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for Five For Friday.

 Signs of spring are everywhere! Trees are blooming, the weather is warming up, and the grass is getting green again. Also, the kids are restless. We have two more weeks until spring break! Just keep swimming...
I have a lovely little patio outside the back door of my classroom and I can't help but smile when I walk by these beauties.

This is also the time of year when kids really start to enjoy reading. They are allowed to find a comfy place to read and choose their own books. Often they are reading more complex texts such as chapter books and science texts. I love to see the variety of books they are choosing to read independently. 

I have a little guy in my class that is just so wiggly and unable to focus. I have tried various methods to get him to complete tasks in a timely manner. He has a bungie cord tied around the legs of his chair, lightly weighted lap pillows, and other sensory tools. He also is VERY smart. He is capable of doing the work, but just can't focus long enough to finish it. One thing he is pretty motivated by is computer time. He also has some trouble with social skills so I combined those two things as a reward. If he completes 10 tasks, he gets 15 minutes of free time on the computer with a buddy. He also can't stand to have things on his desk, so I hung this chart on the wall across from where he sits so he can see it. He is pretty motivated this week. Let's hope it lasts longer than the other strategies I've tried. Here's a picture of my latest attempt (sorry for the poor quality):

I'm trying my hand at close reading lately and it is pretty difficult sometimes. I found this awesome freebie packet Close Reading Passage Freebie for Spring by 24/7 Teacher.

It is an awesome pack if you are interested in trying it with your class. Let me tell you, we're struggling to do this deep thinking. I don't know if it's the warm weather or what! Here's a picture of a student working on the questions and flipping back to the text to make sure she is citing evidence!

My students are just so cute! One of them wrote a note to each student in the class inviting the students to a class meeting (at recess!) to discuss my birthday! It is just too precious! I tried really hard not to notice. I found a note while they were at art to take a picture of: 

Well, that was my week! Have a great weekend everyone!

Sunshine Award

I got nominated by Amy at Albuquerque Amy's First Graders for the Sunshine Blogger Award.

Here are the rules: 

1. Post 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers you think bring sunshine to the world.
4. Make up 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

Here goes my randomness:

1. I have been playing soccer since first grade.

2. I love daffodils.

3. I'm obsessed with salted caramel anything.

4. I love coffee and tea, sweetened and with cream.

5. I have attended three different universities (NMSU, UNLV, UNM) but all my degrees are from UNM.

6. I would wear flip flops everyday if I could.

7. I hate snow.

8. I'm a good cook, but a not so good baker.

9. I've been on 5 cruises and wish I could go on one a year.

10. I'm an early bird.

11. My dog has at least 20 nicknames.

Now for Amy's questions:

1. If was it was your birthday and you could do ANYTHING you want, what would it be? I would go on a Hawaiian cruise. See random fact #9

2. What’s your #1 favorite book? The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
3. If you could play any sport, what could it be? I've always wanted to try Roller Derby. I think I'll settle for coed rec soccer, though.
4. Could you not watch TV for one month? If I had enough books and internet I could.
5. Who is your biggest role model in life? My parents because they taught me to work hard and try to be the best at whatever I do.
6. What are your nicknames? My husband calls me Princess and my sister calls me Squeesties but most people call me Suzy or Suz.
7. What did you want to do with your life when you were 7? I wanted to be an archaeologist. My grandfather had a subscription to National Geographic and I always loved the issues with archaeology. The problem is that I don't like to get dirty. Or go without plumbing.
8. If you could have ANY superpower, what would it be? I would like to be able to fly so I can get places faster. 
9. If you had to wear pants or a dress for the rest of your life, which would you choose? Pants for sure. Things could get awkward if I had to play soccer in a dress. 
10. Why do you think there are SO many women teacher bloggers but not a lot of men? Women don't mind sharing their thoughts. Many men have trouble with this concept. 
11. What or who made you want to teach or work with children? I have always loved school and would play teacher with my little sisters. I used to hang around after school and help my teachers. I just love to spread the joy of learning.

Now for my Sunshine Blogger Nominees (I'm sorry if you've already been nominated):

1. Tricks of the Trade in First Grade

2. Caffeine and Lesson Plans

3. Seconds at the Beach

4. Appsolutely April (a great tech blog)

5. Love, Teach 

6. The Ordinary to Extraordinary Classroom

7. Teach Two Reach

8. Teaching Tidbits and More with Jamie

9. iTeach2nd

10. Primary Paradise

11. Practice Makes Perfect

And now for my questions:

1. What is your favorite meal?

2. What is your favorite vacation?

3. What is your best childhood memory?

4. What was your favorite toy/game as a child?

5. What do you think you'll be doing in 20 years?

6.What is your biggest fear?

7. Would you rather be blind or deaf?

8. What is one thing you wish you could have a "do-over" on?

9. What is your ideal day off from work/chores/etc.?

10. What would you do with $1,000,000?

11. What is your favorite flower?