Happy Independence Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Prefixes! Roots! Suffixes! Oh My!

Guess what we've been studying? 

Pretty much what it seems everyone else has been studying! 



 

As I finished my Greek Mythology unit with my 4th grade enrichment friends, we closed by studying Greek word parts. The picture above shows the standards we met and a quick view of the big letters.  Take a look at the finished display below, and I'll explain just what we did.  Ignore my pocketbook and mess on the table!

After finishing reading various myths and completing projects related to them, we went on to finish the unit with a study of Greek roots.  I found a great resource for this on Teacher Pay Teachers.  It is a unit of Greek roots that comes with illustrated examples.  Below are just some of the cards that come with the unit.  My friends got the biggest thrill when they connected the fact that in the myth The 12 Labors of Heracles the water serpent he killed was named Hydra which related to the root hydr/hydra and means water.  It all sort of clicked like magic for them.  There's a lot that comes with this resource including the making of a tiny box which holds a tiny version of all the cards.  Each of my friends had their own box of cards and we wrote additional words we could brainstorm on the back of each card.

Once we had studied most of the cards included in the unit, we went on to look at more common prefixes, roots, and suffixes that fourth graders will run into that may or may not be of Greek etymology.  I created a packet which listed some of each, their meaning, a couple of examples, and a column for my friends to work with a partner to brainstorm more words they knew which fit.

 

I had drawn some of them freehand (which is why some of them look a little wonky!) on white oak tag and spread them out on the floor.  After we had reviewed and discussed our packets, the kids were given a Sharpie and a highlighter.  They wrote their words on the corresponding poster, underlining the prefix/root/suffix.  We then hung them in the room.

I got the inspiration for the big letters from a Pinterest picture posted by the blogger of Smitten with First.  She was doing a lesson on suffixes and made some big letters of the most common ones. 
When I saw her picture, I knew it would work perfectly with my friends.  Some lessons just span the grade levels!

This lesson turned out to be a lot of fun for us all.  Having the display in my room has encouraged all the kids to constantly try and think of new words that could be added.  I told them we would create a chart to add the words to.  There is not way I am climbing on top of those shelves again!  :-)  While I did the is lesson with enrichment students, it is very much a great way to teach word parts to children of all grades and ability levels. 

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

On a different note, Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! 

It is a day to remember a great man and the courage and grace he showed in the face of intolerance and discrimination.  Last year, my friends and I had school on this day in order to make up days lost to Hurricane Sandy.  It prompted me to write a post on some of the activities I was planning to do in remembrance.  This year, like many of you, we are off today.  I know it is a little late, but if you are looking for something to do tomorrow, you can click HERE to see the post I wrote.  It includes several links to videos, activities, and lessons.

Day 8 - Kids

It's Day 8 of the December Photo A Day Challenge!

Day 8 - Kids

What follows is just my opinion!

Today's topic is kids.  Today's picture is a quote that I wish more teachers would take to heart.  

". . . when in doubt, choose the kids.  there will be plenty of time later to choose work. . . "

I should mention at the start of this post that I don't have any children.  However, most of the teachers I work with do.  Most have more than one child.  And, I see most all of them struggle to find the balance between school and work.  I think we all do, even people like me without children. But, I believe having children makes finding this balance a particularly difficult struggle. 

The field of education is always evolving, however it has undergone some significant changes in the past few years that has resulted in teachers being asked to do more and more in the school day. With the common core and new evaluation models, we are asked to revamp what we teach and how we teach it.  This doesn't just magically happen.  It takes hours and hours of time to revise instruction and create new activities, lesson plans, and materials.  We then are asked to find time to reflect on what we teach, correlate data, and revise instruction again.  I'm not making any statements that this is good or bad.  I am simply saying it is tremendously time consuming.  Time well spent? Usually, yes it is.  But, it is often time teachers are hard pressed to find.

For the most part, prep periods haven't gotten any longer.  Also, we tend to do this thing with the rest of our day called interacting with children and teaching which makes it impossible to do all that revising, planning, and creating.  Oh, and then on that prep period we still need to grade the work the children are doing, return parent emails and phone calls, handle discipline issues, counsel that child you know is bothered by something but not talking, and try to get in all the miscellaneous paperwork required in general.  

How do we try to keep our heads above water as the demands continue to increase?  We take work home.  We take lots of work home. We spend weeknights grading papers and Sundays writing lesson plans.  But here's the thing.  We've always done that.  It's nothing new. Any new teacher coming into the profession learns during their student teaching that it's just part of the job. But, as the demands increase, when do we cry uncle?

Our students are important.  The work we do is important.  How we do it is important and deserves all the attention and effort we can give it.  But, sometimes you just have to take a step back and realize you can only do what you can do.  Teachers have families, too. Their families are important, too.  I see teachers who regularly work through their lunch every day so that they can try to keep up and maybe take one less assignment home that night.  I have seen teachers bleary-eyed because they stayed up until 1:00 in the morning to get grading done as they couldn't start until their own kids finished dance/sports practice, had dinner, took baths, went to bed, and lunches were made for the next day. I see teachers who arrive at school almost two hours early so they can get some work done and others who stay so late the parking lot is pitch black when they leave. 

Still we can't get it all done. And, that I believe is something we teachers need to accept.  We just can't do it all.  Don't get me wrong.  I love teaching.  I love working with my students.  I love creating new projects and lessons that will capture their interest, motivate them to work, and teach them what they need to learn.  And many a nights I have worked on lessons to do just that.  But, many nights I have thought that if I had children this would just have to wait.  I am in awe of the teachers I work with that try to get it all done and raise small children.  But, I also see them frustrated and upset that they must continually struggle to find time to get all the school work done. I have to say my advice to them would be. . . 

". . . when in doubt, choose the kids.  

there will be plenty of time later to choose work. . . "

It would be so much easier if we made those infamous widgets.  We could put it on a shelf and get back to it the next day.  You can't put students on a shelf.  We know that the new day brings new demands, and we have to be prepared.  But, sometimes you just need to choose your family.  I'm certainly not advocating any dereliction of your teaching responsibilities, but we need to realize it just may not be the end of the world to put your family first at times. Leave no child behind applies to your children, too!  And quite honestly, no matter what your profession, sometimes you just need to put your family first.  Hmmm, kind of feeling like Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol right now!  God bless us, everyone!  :-)

Day 7 - Stockings

It's Day 7 of the December Photo A Day Challenge!

Day 7 - Stockings

Well, today's post has been totally thwarted.  I am unable to take the picture I had planned because today turned out to be, much to my utter joy, an unexpected snow day!  

The snow here in my area of NJ is just insane right now.  

But if you know me, you know that I love, love, love every snow day we get!!

Since my planned post isn't happening, I'm improvising!  Today's challenge is stockings so I thought it would be fun to come up with a list of some teacher-themed stocking stuffers.  Stocking stuffers are as much fun as actual gifts in my family.  I think they can be harder to buy than actual gifts, but it is always fun to see what's in there.  Some of these might really qualify as gifts rather than stocking stuffers.  So, here is a list of some fun, assorted stocking stuffers/gifts for the teacher in your life or if you are the teacher, ideas for your wish list!  Or, if you are a parent, here are some suggestions!  All pictures are from the linked to sites.

• Let's begin with that picture above.  It's actually a t-shirt from Zazzle.com. They have a lot of fun teacher-themed shirts, but I kind of love this one!

An Apple for the Teacher!  I've written about my apple cozy before.  It' silly, unnecessary, and totally cute.  I saw these on Etsy and think they are great.  They're from the shop KnoodleKnits and just $6 each.  Apple not included. :-)

• I would definitely be a lesser teacher if I didn't have my coffee each morning!  However, being a teacher usually means I have a cup of cold coffee on my desk because we all know it is impossible to just sit for even a minute.  I would always joke that every day was an experiment to see how  many times I could reheat my coffee until I actually poisoned myself. :-)  Then, I finally found the perfect thermos!  This is the Thermos Stainless King 16 ounce leak-proof travel tumbler.  It keeps my coffee hot for hours.  Honestly, not just warm but hot well into the afternoon.  It also is totally no drip or spill.  Once it is closed, you could twirl it in the air and not a drop comes out.  That has saved me a few times because I tend to throw it in my school bag where it tumbles about.  I got it on Amazon for $19.99.  Well worth every penny!  I have no idea why it is listed now for $39.99.  Not sure I would have bought it at that price, but I do love mine. It comes in black too, but I got the raspberry color.

                                                  

• Lanyards!  These days we all have to wear an ID, so lanyards are a given.  I like these Vera Bradley chain lanyards a lot.  They are breakaways, so if a friend happens to catch it, it will pull apart.  The best part is that they are now on sale for 50% off on the VB site.

• Every teacher needs a good bag to tote around the million plus papers we need to grade.  I couldn't not post about my Thirty-One Organizing Tote.  I won't go in to detail as I just posted about it in Day 5 of the December School Day Photo Challenge.  

• Okay, I had to add this one.  I so wish it were a sign, but it's actually a cross-stitch pattern.  The perfect gift for any teacher!  If it were a sign, I would hang this in my classroom in a heartbeat.  I can't begin to tell you  how many times I've had the, "A lot is not one word!" conversation.  If you cross stitch, please buy this pattern from nerdylittlestitcher on Etsy and make it for me!

• Flash Drives!  If you search for them on Amazon, you will find a million options.  I really like the bracelets.  There are all kinds of fancy ones available.  Amazon has some that look like real jewelry in gold and silver, with rhinestones and engravings.  They have fancy necklaces that are flash drives, too. 

 I opt for the cheap rubber bracelets like those below.  It is easy to throw it on your wrist and go.  I having to dig through my pocketbook to find it.  Also, if I'm on my way to the copy machine, it is one less thing to carry. Plus, they just are un-stylish enough that I remember to take it off before going home!

• Let's not forget the obvious teacher gifts, gift cards!  My favorites are Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Dunkin Donuts, and Starbucks.  Truthfully, I like any gift card I get! I don't know about you, but I always save mine for the summer. In my district we are only paid ten months of the year, September to June, so no paychecks over the summer.  It makes it nice to have some gift cards to treat yourself with over the summer.

• Finally, if you're the teacher, here's a little something for your husband! A "Real Men Marry Teachers" t-shirt.  This link will take you to Zazzle.com again where they have a number of different variations on this shirt.

So, that's my improvised "stockings" post.  

Hope your stocking stuffers are all you want them to be this year!

Day 2 - Wrapping Paper

It's Day 2 of the December School Day Photo Challenge!

Day 2 - Wrapping Paper

Well, this one is kind of obvious.  Wrapping paper makes great bulletin board background paper!  The picture up top shows a bulletin board a fellow teacher made using shiny, blue wrapping paper as her background.  With so many dollar stores around, getting wrapping paper for any occasion doesn't have to cost a lot.  Plus, you can customize it for almost any holiday or season.

The bottom half of the picture shows wrapping paper used to cover textbooks.  One things for sure, kids won't mix-up whose book it is when the wrapping papers can be so distinct.

One idea I had for wrapping paper and school comes from the idea of wrapping 25 different Christmas books as a countdown to Christmas.  Your child gets to pick one a night, unwrap it, and have it read as their bedtime story that night.  This would so easily apply to school!  Think of those last couple of weeks of school.  You could wrap ten books that have summer themes in summery wrapping paper.  Put them all in a basket and have a student pick one book to unwrap each day for a read aloud.  You could do this for Halloween, too.  Wrap Halloween themed books and put them in one of those plastic cauldrons you can also usually pick up at the dollar store. The kids could open and read one a day to countdown to Halloween. Actually, it would work for any holiday or event where you want to do a countdown of some sort.  It is a total hook to get them into a book, and who doesn't like to unwrap a gift?!  If you have certain books you want to read on certain days, you could number them rather than having the kids randomly pick.

                                               

Picture source

The picture above is from the Clean Mama blog.  She has a great site (not an education blog, but more homemaking) where she offers a free download of the numbers shown in the picture above. She also explains how she does a Christmas Advent countdown with books.  As a person who loves things to be organized, I love that she also has lots of tips for organizing pretty much everything!

So, back to wrapping paper and school. . . here are a couple of other quick ideas for using wrapping paper in school.

• Line the back of your bookshelves with strips of wrapping paper using some double stick taper for a pop of color.
• Wrap a few books from your class library that you know are great reads but have uninviting covers.  As much as we say don't judge a book by its cover, you know they do!  Cover a few of the books like the textbooks above are covered. Put them in a basket with a sign that says, "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover!" and encourage your friends to try one.  If you wanted, you could even write the title and a brief description on an index card, and tape it to the cover. This would be a chance to sell the book in a quirky or funny way.

Okay, that's all I have for wrapping paper!  If you have any ideas, please feel free to share in the comments.

Day 1 - Giving

It's day one of the December School Day Photo Challenge!

Day 1 - Giving

I come from a school full of amazingly generous children and adults!  The photo above shows just four giving programs currently going on in my school.

The bags full of groceries are some of the Thanksgiving dinner donations brought in by the children and staff.  It's part of the Pick A Feather program run by out PTO.  In our office is a big construction paper turkey with lots and lots of construction paper feathers.  With parent permission, students go down to the office and pick a feather off the turkey.  On the back of each feather is a food item which the students then bring back to school.  Our PTO organizes the food into GIANT care packages that are donated to local families.  It's a great program that really helps out many families, and the kids love going down to pick a feather.  This program coordinates with a meat drive done by our Student Council.  Parents are given a window of time during the school day in which they can drop off donations of turkeys, hams, etc.  It's run like a little drive through in the school parking lot. Parents don't even have to get out of the car!  These are also donated to the families in conjunction with the groceries.

Some classes recently got together to run a charity event for Alex's Lemonade Stand, an amazing charity that fights childhood cancers.  The classes ran a lemonade stand during our lunch periods for two days and collected over $600!  Parents volunteered to come in and help, but the kids were front and center.  It was a huge success!

Pop Tabs!  Our school is one of many that collects pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald Houses. The tabs are recycled and the money is given to Ronald McDonald House Charities which distributes the funds to a local Ronald McDonald House.  In addition to helping others, our kids are practicing recycling.

Every holiday season, our school does a toy drive for a local charity.  The kids enjoy seeing the toys pile up in the front lobby the weeks before the holidays.

Those are just a few of the school wide giving programs that happen in my school.  I've always felt it is important for students to learn the importance of helping others.  When I was a homeroom teacher, I actually did a few things with my class to try and instill this idea.

One thing my kids always did that didn't cost a penny is Free Rice. This is a great site for kids in upper elementary through high school.  Free Rice is a web site that quizzes children on the subject you select; English vocabulary, geography, multiplication practice, grammar, and more.  The topics even include an SAT prep question category.  For every question a student answers correctly, ten grains of rice are donated through the World Food Programme to help end world hunger. When you sign up, you can actually track how much rice you have earned but you can also play without signing up.   If you think ten grains of rice isn't a lot, think again!  In fact, this is a great site to use in conjunction with the book One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale by Demi.  This is an awesome book!

Set in India, it tells the tale of a raja that hoards all the rice harvested in his village. Not a problem until one day there is a shortage and the villagers are hungry.  He is reluctant to give the rice to the people, but a young village girl tricks him into giving away a billion grains of rice by simply asking for one grain of rice, then for thirty days the raja agrees to double the amount each day.  Thinking doubling the amount each day will come to nothing, he agrees.  The raja is, as your students will be, astounded to see how quickly doubling adds up!  In the back of the book there is a great chart that shows just how the concept works.  If you would like to preview it, below is a reading of the book. Not the most exciting of readings, but it will let you experience the book.

And, in the spirit of Day 1 Giving, in the end (Spoiler Alert!) the young girl ends up with all of the raja's rice.  When he asks her what she will do with it, she replies that she will share it with all the hungry people.  She also leaves a basket of rice for the raja.  This is a great book for any teacher's bookshelf.

What giving things are your school or classes doing?

A Techy School-Wide Halloween Costume Idea

I saw this picture on Pinterest.  

It's from a post on Popsugar about cheap and easy Halloween costumes.

picture source

It got me thinking this would be a great school-wide teacher costume.  

What if everyone was a different education app?  

Teachers at each grade level could be apps most useful for that age group

. 

Admin, secretaries, and other non-teacher school personnel could be apps for parents 

such as ones that provide info on common core, homework timers, etc.

Then, at the end of the day you could send home a list to parents 

of all the apps with a quick blurb explaining each.

It really is a quick, cheap, and easy costume idea 

with the added benefit of encouraging technology and parent communication.

The boards are also small enough that after Halloween they could be 

mounted as a big bulletin board in the school.

Just a thought!  

Dr. Seuss Door - Quick & Easy!

So, next week is the big Seuss Week.  My school is celebrating in a big way with many activities planned for every day.  One of the activities we are doing again this year is the door decorating contest.  If you've been around, you might remember the My Many Colored Days door decoration and activity that my friends did last year.  It involved a poem activity and was a lot of fun.

This year, I don't have a homeroom to decorate a door.  My room is pretty much my office, but I still wanted to decorate my door.  This is why I called the post "Dr. Seuss Door - Quick & Easy." This was going to be quick.  I actually did it all in one day, start to finish!

Since I didn't have students to complete an activity, I decided to Google a Dr. Seuss poem.  Here's the final creation.

 

Now, you should know there's not an original thought going on here!  I totally copied this from an image I found on Google.  And, I would love to give credit to someone for it but there doesn't seem to be anyone to be found.  This is the original image that gave me the idea for the door.

 

 

Cute, right?  However, in looking for the original site or creator to give credit I ran into a dead end.  Here's the link for the Google search.  And, here's a link to it on Pinterest.  However, nothing seems to link to anything else.  So, if you are the hat maker. . . Thanks for the idea!  And, leave a comment so I can happily credit you.

 

UPDATE:  I knew someone would know where this came from!  Thanks to Mrs. Parker from the blog Learning with Mrs. Parker for knowing the source.  Before I get to that, check out Mrs. Parker's blog.  The link will take you to a great linky party she did for Read Across America.  Tons of great ideas!   The hat poem is from Mrs. Krull's blog Of Primary Importance.  She is using it for a shared reading lesson.  Here's the best part.  She has the entire poem available for download on her site!  The link for her blog will take you to that post.  So, thanks to both Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Krull!

 

To make the door hat, I just taped a bunch of red and white construction paper together and used an overhead projector to project the poem.  I copied it with some black Sharpies and was done.  The various book characters you see around it are just more image searches that I printed out.  A quick and easy Seuss door!  You can't go wrong with anything that encourages reading, reading, and more reading!

 

I was going to do a post with lots of fun links related to Dr. Seuss, but honestly there is just so much out there a quick Google search will give you plenty.  The one thing I did think I would share is where you can download a "Dr. Seuss" type font.  It would be great to have for creating signs or activities for you classroom that look Seuss-y, if that's even a word!

 

The font is called DOCTOR SOOS and can be found at Dafont.com.  That link will take you directly to the Doctor Soos font.  It is free for personal use, so download and create!  Here's a quick screen shot from the site to show you what the font looks like.

 

Hope your Dr. Seuss activities and celebrations are amazing this week!

 

I'll be back later today to post the winner of the give away.

 

Have a great Sunday!

 

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Coming. . .

. . . and I need to get ready!

I thought I would share few resources I have come across and/or used in the past.

Let's begin with some video links!

Well, maybe a book/video link?

Do you know the book Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport?  It is a truly amazing book that tells the story of Dr. King's life with a focus on some of his most thought provoking quotes.  It can be read by/to most elementary ages lending itself to discussions that can be appropriate for all ages depending on how in-depth you want to go.

picture source

Sample page:

picture source

Read Write Think has a lesson (for grades 3-5) on the book, and part of the lesson includes this template  which lets your kids type and print their won "Big Words" page.  They select words that are significant to them and type in an explanation of the word.  You can also print out the template if you want them to write instead.

The best is that Teacher Tube has a video reading of Martin's Big Words.  That link will take you to the Teacher Tube video.  Below, I have linked it from You Tube, but it's the same video.

Another great video found on You Tube is MLK - The King and His Dream.  From the information on the page, it seems this video was a school project.  It is beautifully done and gives a very nice overview of his life while touching on some of the most significant Civil Rights issues.  It is appropriate, in my opinion, for all elementary ages.  You can watch it here:

The last video link I will touch on is from a source we probably all know, Brain Pop.  While you usually have to subscribe to this site, they have a great video on MLK you can watch for free.  If you are already a subscriber, they have a lot of related content connected to the video.

Okay, now on to one of my favorite places, Teachers Pay Teachers.  I was looking around to see what they had available, and there is a lot!  You will be sure to find something you can use in your classroom, all created by fellow teachers.  I've chosen to highlight four I found that happen to be free.

• The first is a set of four picture posters you can print. They were created by R. J. Fox.  Each poster has a quote by MLK and a photo.  These would be great to hang in your classroom.  
• The next is a great activity for upper elementary, but can be tweaked for the younger crowd.  It's Just or Unjust? by Sally DeCost who has a blog called Elementary Matters.  I really like this one!  After studying MLK and discussing how he fought to make a more just/fair world, students use the different idea cards and sort them into just or unjust piles.  It can lead to some very interesting conversations.  For that reason, if you do use this I would suggest reading all the cards and think about where those conversations might go.  You might want to use some and not others or add some of your own.
• This is a great activity for anytime, not just MLK Day but it does compliment.  It is an Act of Kindness and Justice Wall by Rainbow City Learning.  Students are given a brick wall page and record their acts of kindness towards others.  As the pages fill, you hang them up and create a wall of kindness in your classroom.  This would be nice to do on-going throughout the year.  It's also a great activity for a class meeting.
• This last activity/lesson is wonderful for incorporating some writing and test taking strategies.  It's MLK-Quotes-Writing-Practice-RACE-Strategy by Teacher Sol.  This activity has four different quotes.  Each quote comes with writing pages that have the students tell what the quote means to them using the writing response strategy of RACE (Restate the questions, Answer the questions, Cite or give an example that supports your answer, Extend the answer with detail or Explain how your example supports your answer.)  This is great for the older crowd and works nicely if you watch the Martin's Big Words video or read the book first.

For the free links above, I've also linked to the author's TpT store via their name.  If you like what they have for free, imagine what wonderfulness you could buy from then! Overall, there is a lot more available on the site for free and tons more available at VERY reasonable prices. These links are just the tip of the iceberg of what is waiting for you at TpT.  The best part is you can spend just a little bit to support a teacher and get some great resources.  Hmmm, I think I have suddenly somehow veered off into a TpT commercial! :-)

I'm going to stop here because this post could be a mile long with different resources!  I was prompted to write this post because  I will be in school  on MLK Day.  We usually have the day off in observance  but is one of our many make-up days due to Hurricane Sandy.  We always do something in school to mark the day and explain the history but being in school on the actual day this year means we are stepping it up a bit!

Hopefully these resources will be helpful to you as you celebrate the day.

I Couldn't Help Myself!

I just couldn't get the idea of the St. Patrick's Day

bookmarks out of my head!

Here's what I wanted as opposed to what I ended up with.

I wanted a shamrock shaped paper punch.  Not a one to be found. 

I ended up looking for stickers.

I wanted pot-of-gold stickers.  Not any to be found. 

I ended up with metallic shamrock stickers.

I wanted thin rainbow ribbon to match the pot-of-gold I ended up not getting. 

No thin ribbon, only thick.

So, I used that and also purchased some spools of rainbow color ribbons.

Either way, I love how they came out!  My friends are going be very happy!

I am also happy to report that I am a quick learner. 

When I went for my paint chips, there was no Hot Passion Pink this time! 

By the way, come back tomorrow.  I am posting a give-away for some fun things I think you will like!

A New Book on Valentine's Day

Look familiar?

Yup, I made the paint swatch bookmarks for my friends.  I chose pinks and reds for my girls and blues for my boys.  I figured that 5th grade boys might be a bit picky about pink and red bookmarks, Valentine's Day or not.  Turns out going with the blue was a good choice.  I did add some silver ribbon to both.  The kids really loved them.  I think I am going to make them again for St. Patrick's Day with some green swatches.  I could find a rainbow ribbon for the tassel.  Wouldn't that be so cute?!

Of course, nothing is ever as simple as it seems.  When I first got the paint swatches, I grabbed these:

Yeah, Hot Passion Pink. Oh my!  Didn't notice that until after I had already left the store.  Now, I personally wouldn't have a problem with it, but you never know how a parent will react.  It only takes one!  So, the next day I headed back to the store to get a new set of pinks and reds that wouldn't cause any conflicts.  Better safe than sorry!  By the way, I noticed on Pinterest someone commented that taking the swatches was kind of like stealing.  I went to two different home improvement stores and simply asked if I could have some paint swatches for a school project.  They were both happy to oblige. :-D

So, we had cupcakes, bookmarks, and played a rousing game of Heartbreakers.  And, my friends were very generous.  I got these yummy chocolates. . .

Usually, when I get chocolate treats like this, I open them in class and share them with my friends.  Stops me from eating them all!  However, this year I have a couple of friends with EPI pens, so that wasn't an option.  Guess I will have to suffer through and enjoy them on my own.  Oh, what I won't do in the name of good teaching! ;-)   I also got this gorgeous orchid.  It really is this color.  I didn't alter the color in this picture one bit!

 All in all, a lovely Valentine's Day with my little friends!

Then, when I got home today, there was a nice little package waiting for me from the International Reading Association.  I opened to find this book that I had recently ordered.

Small Group Reading Instruction: Differentiated Teaching Models for Intermediate Readers, Grades 3-8 by Beverly Tyner and Sharon E. Green.  This is the second edition of the book.  It looked really interesting, and I was looking for some new, relevant professional reading.  One of the things I liked was the resource CD in the back of the book.

Here's the blurb that sold me.  It's right off the IRA web site.

With the pressure of high-stakes assessments and heightened demands through the Common Core Standards, the quest for effective reading instruction continues to be at the forefront of education. Teaching reading in the intermediate grades brings the added pressure of content area mandates. Keeping in mind this increased pressure to succeed, Beverly Tyner and Sharon Green have revised and expanded their best-selling Small-Group Reading Instruction.

Chapters provide the knowledge base and practical application models necessary to implement small-group differentiated reading instruction for a wide range of readers in the intermediate grades. To help you provide struggling and proficient students with the specific instruction that will increase their overall reading ability as they face higher standards, Beverly and Sharon offer

• Lesson plans for each intermediate reader stage—intervention, evolving, maturing, and advanced
• Sample lessons that include both narrative and informational texts and in-depth teacher–student dialogue
• Reading and writing extension activities that reinforce grade-level standards
• Management ideas and tips, including classroom routines, organizational models, and sample schedules
• Assessments that support the small-group differentiated reading models and can be used to track progress in fluency, word study, and comprehension
• A CD with printable PDFs of assessment, word study, and support materials

At a glance, it looks like a great resource.  When I got home,  I opened the package and quickly snapped some pictures to include in this post.  I've literally had the book for only 30 minutes, so I've not had a chance to really look through it in any depth yet.  But, I'm excited to see what it holds.  If you know this book, please leave a comment and tell us what you think.  I'm not sure how soon I will be able to get to it, but once I read it I will come back and let you know my thoughts.

So, that's been my day.  I hope you and your friends had a spectacular Valentine's Day!

A Pinterest Valentine's Day

I have been thinking about what to do with my friends this Valentine's Day.   

For the past ten years or so Valentine's Day celebrations have essentially been banned in my school.   The ban went into effect when one year there was a ton of "He/She likes me, doesn't like me!" high drama.   This year we have a new principal who is happy to let us celebrate Valentine's Day with our friends.  I'm delighted!!! 

So, what to do? What to do?  I have to stay away from the chocolate because I have two friends with allergies and EPI pens this year. I needed some non-chocolate treat ideas.  I also needed some craft ideas. 

Well, being home sick has given me plenty of time to play around on Pinterest.  Perhaps the best part of being sick so far. :-)  I have come across a bunch of ideas that look like a lot of fun, and you know I'm all about the sharing!

To Give My Friends
My friends always need bookmarks, and these are super cute.  This is from the blog One Fantastic Housewife.  I am so doing this over the weekend!  Watch out Home Depot!  I'm coming for your paint strips!

If I knew where to get a bunch of bouncy balls, I might do this one.  It's from the blog The Creative Mama.



A Craft To Do

This one is from the blog A Day in My Life.  I think I'm going to do this one in class with my friends on Tuesday.  It would be a great card to take home and give their parents.

The hearts below are from The Peanut Paintshop.  I'm doing this one as is for my own family.  It's so cute!  I thought in school, you could use ribbon and construction paper to make a few with all your friends' names.  Or, this could be another great craft to do where each friend does one for their family and gets to take it home.  I think I may need to incorporate some glitter in this project!

Treats
If we are keeping things healthy, this is a great idea.  The link is to an Etsy shop, Twig and Thistle, that sells food safe stickers with these sayings on them. 

Since Valentine's Day is around the corner, it's a little late to order them for this year.  I was thinking instead you could always use a fancy font with a cute image and print it out on a half sheet of paper.  Then, you could put that on your friends' desks with the fruit on top.  Here are some other sayings:

You are the APPLE of my eye!

I'm BANANAS over you!

ORANGE you so sweet!

I like you BERRY MUCH!

Okay, enough of that healthy stuff!  Here is an idea from the blog Primary Perspective. All you need is some Fruit by the Foot.  While I don't think I would go with the "I love you" I would go with the "Always put your best foot forward" part.  A great message from a teacher.

Primary Perspective has a bunch more Valentine treat ideas for other candies.  She also has printables for each one.  Looks like a great blog.

Some Planning Required
These are really cute and I think your friends would love getting one with their own picture.  You would need to have take and print the pictures out ahead of time, which makes these a no go for me this year since I'm out sick.  There's no link because it was just "uploaded by user."  They are pretty easy to make though.  Just Have your friend hold their fist up, and take the picture from a bit above them.  Once you print them out, make a slit with an Exacto knife above and below their fist and insert the lollipop.

For this, you would need to have the heart shaped pan, but they are just too stinkin' cute!  The link will take you to the blog A Sprinkle of This, which has a printable for the circle you put the crayons on.

Finally
Of course, I am going to play a monster game of Heartbreakers with my friends. 

We are going to play an across the curriculum game.  It's a fun way to quiz them in all the different curriculum areas.  It's also a game they consider fun to play, yet from a teacher perspective is still a learning experience and keeps them from getting too nuts!

So, those are just some of the goodies I found on Pinterest.  What I posted here is only the tip of the iceberg.  There are a gazillion ideas on Pinterest.  I'm leaving you with one final goody.  It's not for your friends, but for you and your family.  I mean, let's be honest.  How sad would life be without. . .

Heart Shaped BACON!!!

I know!!!!  So heart unhealthy, but soooo yummy!!!!   It's from the blog The Paper Mama.  She gives you all the directions.  It's actually quick and easy to do.

So, what are you doing with your friends on Valentine's Day?