Saturday, March 31, 2012

Teachers Pay Teachers Sale and Giveaway

Just a quick visit to let everyone know that I am having an End of the Quarter Sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers store until midnight tonight!  You can buy one item and get one item at an equal or lesser value for free!  Just email me the item you want for free at rms273@gmail.com and I will send it to you!  I know I don't have many items in my store yet, but I thought I'd have a sale for the things I do have!


Also, don't forget to leave a comment for my giveaway on Monday, April 2nd on my previous post below! 


Have a great weekend!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Kites and a Daily 3 Math Giveaway!!!

Spring is in the air and Spring Break starts TOMORROW!  I know my kiddos are ready!  :)  So this week we made kites to hang out in the hall.  However, these weren't just regular kites.  They were special kites that helped us learn different ways to show a number.  I let my kiddos choose any (two digit) number to put on their kite.  Then, on the ribbons my kiddos had to show that number 3 different ways.  They used tally marks, addition sentences, subtraction sentences, money, ones and tens, etc. 


I honestly do not remember where I got this idea.  I tried looking it up to give 'them' credit, but I can't find it.  So, I fully give credit to whoever created this idea!!  (It wasn't me, although I wish it was)  :)


It was kinda crazy while we were working on them.  My kiddos wrote their numbers out on practice paper first....but it was still a little confusing.  I didn't think it was going very well until I started helping them glue/tape on the tails with their ribbons.  Then, I was so proud of how good they looked!  We hung them out in the hall to get ready for spring and Spring Break....again, starting tomorrow!  :)


Check out their pictures: 
(I had them write their numbers in black crayon so people would be able to read them, but they used pencil on the ribbons.  Next year we'll use black crayon on the ribbons too.)




This little boy wanted his kite to look like a race car.  Hey- he was on task, focused, and excited about learning....I'll take it!  


I'm almost up to 50 followers!!  I'm so excited about that!  So....that means an early giveaway!  I am working on some math activities/centers/intervention materials to go with the Common Core Standards.  In our school, each grade level spends about 40 minutes a day working with intervention/enrichment groups as part of RTI.  I am currently working with some kiddos who are struggling with math- specifically number sense. 


This made me want to create something that would be easy to use with these kiddos, but also something they would enjoy.  I will also use these activities during my Daily 3 Math Groups.  Some pages can be printed and given to students for a quick practice, assessment, or homework.  Other pages can be laminated and used over and over with dry erase markers.  What first grader doesn't like to use dry erase markers?!?!  


I am also going to include flashcards up to 120 to align with Common Core Standards.  These can easily be used for missing number activities, adding, subtracting, greater and less than, etc. 


So, here is a quick look at my not finished yet (but I promise it will be) project:


Thanks to Graphics From the Pond for all of the cute graphics!  








This is just a quick look.  I will post it on TpT as soon as it's finished.  I am heading out of state for the weekend.  I will be able to finish these number sense activities, but I won't have as much access to the Internet as I do at home so I'm posting it tonight.  I'll be randomly choosing 3 comments to win my "Springing into Number Sense" pack Monday night.  My hubby's basketball team won their last 2 playoff games and Monday night is the championship game so hopefully we will be celebrating!  Monday, April 2nd at around 11:00 pm I will randomly choose 3 people to win!  


You can leave a comment for:


1. Following my blog (leave your email address!)


2. Following my Teachers Pay Teachers store (leave your email address!)


3. Grabbing my button (leave your email address!)


4. Linking my giveaway to your blog! (leave me a comment letting me know you did this and your email address!)


I always see reminders to leave an email address and I always thought who would forget that???  Well, I know now- ME!!  :)  


Good luck!  Enjoy your weekend and happy Spring Break to all who are celebrating!  :)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Chapter Book, April Activity Pack, and a Freebie!!

I read a chapter book to my kiddos every afternoon, as I'm sure many of you do too!  Well, I was out on Friday (BOO to allergies and asthma!!) so on Thursday we finished chapter 8 of a mystery chapter book we have been reading....there were 10 chapters in the book.  I usually only read one chapter a day because they can be kinda long.  Well, we were about to solve the mystery at the end of chapter 8 and my kiddos wanted me to keep reading!!  It was so exciting to see them wanting me to finish the book so they could know what was going to happen.  

I first told them they would have to wait until Monday, when I would be back, to finish because I wanted to know what was going to happen too!  This did not go over well!  Yay!!!!  :)  So, instead I told them that if they were quiet, and well behaved, and worked hard the rest of the afternoon we had time we would finish the book at the end of the day.  All afternoon, I was kindly reminded that we were going to finish our chapter book.  

So we did!!!  

I try to instill a love of reading in all of my kiddos and it doesn't always happen, but I try!  Last Thursday, it worked!  I was so happy to see them hooked by this book.  It probably helped that it was a mystery and had a dinosaur in it.....but, all that matters to me is that my kiddos loved it!  That was a good day!  

Now, onto my April Activity Pack.  I give my kiddos an activity pack every month.  They are allowed to work in it when they have finished all of their other work, or when I need to work with a couple of my kiddos, or when we have a sub.  I try to include a variety of activities so that all of my kiddos find something they like and can do independently.  This time I decided to create my own!  I have included a Word Search, Word Ladder, Cryptogram, Fact Families, Hundreds Chart, Earth Day Writing, Spring Writing, Coloring Page, Story Problems, Word Mining, Glyph, and a Word Scramble.  It is available at my TpT store!  There are pics below to show you what's included.  

Thanks to Michelle at 3AM Teacher for all of the wonderful graphics!!  And, since I'm still a newbie at blogging, I've decided to give 10 April Activity Packs away to my first 10 followers who grab my button, follow me on TpT, and leave me a comment with your email address!!  




I have also decided to give my Word Search page away for free!  



Hope everyone has a great week!  I'm looking forward to seeing my kiddos tomorrow....I miss them when I'm gone!  

Friday, March 23, 2012

Wonderful Aide, Freebie Reading Journal, and Daily Five Ideas!

BIG thanks to Christina over at Second Grade Sugar and Spice for sharing my new blog with her wonderful followers!  I felt so loved yesterday!  :)  Thank you to everyone who started following me and left a comment.  Warms a girl's heart....

I was asked a few questions about my Poetry Covers/Table of Contents and Literature Pack, so I'll try to explain.  My kiddos just have a regular 3 prong folder this year for their Poetry Notebook.  They are now able to put in each poem on their own.  That does take quite a bit of modeling and help at the beginning of the year.  Now, they got it though!  :)  Next year, I will look for a more sturdier folder/notebook to use that will hold up better.  Some of my kiddos' notebooks are in really bad shape at this point in the year.  :(  As many of you know, first graders can be tough on things!  

My Literature Pack is for sale at my TpT store!  You can purchase the chapter book and the picture book pack individually or you can buy the combination of both for a discount!  My AMAZING aide at school, Mrs. Justice (I asked her permission before giving her this shout out!) helped me put my Lit Pack goodies together!  I've posted a couple of 'orangey' pictures because I'm not a photographer as much as I would like to think I am pictures below of my posters, bookmarks, and guided reading sticks.  Mrs. Justice glued the goodies to matching colored construction paper, laminated them, and then cut them out for me.  This is what they look like when I show them to my kiddos!  The first thing they wanted to know was if they would all get a bookmark....so easily pleased!!  





I'm also posting my current Reading Homework Journal that goes along with my Lit Packs.  I'm posting this for free, but please follow my blog, grab my button, follow me on TpT, or leave a comment for me if you use it!   :)  I don't give homework on Wednesdays which is why there is no Wednesday on this copy.  I will be creating another Homework Journal for Monday-Thursday soon.  My kiddos will take a book home, read it, and then do the job of the day.  Right now Monday night's homework job is Retelling Rhonda, Tuesday night's job is Connecting Charlie, and Thursday night's homework is Wordy Wyatt.  





One last thing before I go....I'm finding some absolutely wonderful blogs to admire and follow and I found this great idea from Ali at An Education Lasts a Lifetime and wanted to share it!  We are BIG fans of Daily Five at my school (my kiddos LOVE it) so I'm always looking for new ideas.  Ali shares that during Work on Writing her kiddos get to choose 5 stickers to start a picture.  Then, they add more details and write a story to match their stickers!  I think that is such a clever idea- love it!  

Okay, I'm off to work on homework....  

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Thanks, I'm Famous, and a Giveaway!!

Yay! Check out my new look! A big thanks to Alicia at Dreamlike Magic! I love my cute little owls. :) Now, I just hope everyone reads my title as A (like on a block), B (like on another block), "SEY" (C- like on yet another block) mour (as in my name- Mrs. Seymour)! Does that make sense? A - B- "SEY"mour! My mother-in-law came up with it (she's VERY creative) and I thought it was so cute!


I have had so many meetings lately. Several have been during my planning period...which is no big deal, but I'm usually working on something for my kiddos during that time. Well, this week I told them I wouldn't be able to get such and such done because I had yet another meeting. One of my kiddos finally said something about me having A LOT of meetings lately so I told them it was because I was famous!!! :) I told them that I was just so famous that I had to meet with lots of really important people! I think some of them really believed me for a minute! Awwww....love my kiddos!


So, I've started doing Literature circles with my kiddos. I didn't like what I had used last year so I decided to create my own. I have a few kiddos reading chapter books and the rest are reading picture books so I created a literature circle packet to meet both needs. There are a total of 6 jobs: Questioning Quinn, Retelling Rhonda, and Connecting Charlie just to name a few! They're so cute- at least I think so!


To help get my blog off to a good start, I've decided to give my Chapter Book and Picture Book Literature Circle Packet away to my first 15 followers who leave me a comment!!!! I have my Chapter Book Packet, my Picture Book Packet, and a combination of both for sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I'm still working on a homework journal to go with them...that will be available soon! Below is a picture of my Chapter Book and Picture Book Literature Circle Packet!








I hope to make some new 'bloggie' world friends! :)

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Welcome to Blog World and Freebie!

I have officially joined blog world!  I have seen so many wonderful ideas, that I thought I would start sharing some of my own.  I still have some work to do on 'my look' but I'll get there!  :)

The first freebie I'm posting is my Poetry Notebook Cover and Table of Contents.  I created this for my first graders this year and they love it.  I hand out two poems every week.  The first one is usually a holiday or seasonal related one.  It's too much fun to read a rhyming poem and add some motions to it!  I don't always pick a rhyming poem, but they love them!  Then, the second one I pass out is usually about a word family or contains certain sight words that we need to practice.  We highlight words that we need to practice and of course we LOVE getting out our highlighters!!!

I hand out the poem and my kiddos know how to put them in their Poetry Notebook and they write the title on the Table of Contents.  They also add a page number to the bottom right hand corner.  This helps us find our poems faster when we go back and read older ones.  

My kiddos take home their Poetry Notebooks every Friday to read over the weekend.  I tell my parents at the very beginning of the year that it's not homework, but something fun to read.  My kiddos love to share their new poems so they don't even think of it as homework.  I also give a small reward for reading over the weekend!  Every little bit helps!  

I'll be back with more to share!  For now, click below and download my first freebie!  :)