Final Week of Sun,Sand, & Savings

They say all good things must come to an end...  This holds true for the amazing product discounts and giveaway opportunities Karen and I have been bringing you all month long through our Sun, Sand, & Savings deals.

The good news is, you still have 1 more week to score some amazing discounts!!!

Here is a sneak peak at some of the products you will find on sale next week:

Make a beautiful yet meaningful math bulletin board with these vocabulary posters. 

Math Vocabulary Posters

Multiplication games- perfect for fact practice or early finishers. *Teaching tip- students can play these while you are organizing and dealing with all the craziness back to school brings. 

Multiplication Games

Teachers tell us ALL the time how much value they receive with our Engage New York units.  We know these materials are worth every penny, but, we can't help to bring you some sort of discount during this last week of sales. 

Engage New York

The feedback on our Engage New York math vocabulary posters has been wonderful! So many teachers have reported the hours of saved time. Some teachers report that they don't even use the ENY curriculum but that the posters still serve as a quick, engaging visual intro and review for students and makes for a great focus display wall that even your admin will love. Next week this resource will be available for a buck so you can test the waters (reg. $3.50). SCORE!
Engage NY Math Vocab Posters for Kindergarten, Module 3

Did you know that I (Karen) created homework for Kindergarten for the whole year!? Whew. It was quite the undertaking, let me tell ya!! In fact, I only agreed to make these packs because my dear friend Linda asked me to help her out. Each month includes a full month calendar or half-sheet weekly calendar option, language arts and math mixed pages or language arts only pages, and a poem to send home one week with directions to interact with the poem each day of the week. As a bonus, the calendars are all fully editable as are any of the pages that have sight words. This is normally priced at $30.00 with a value of $43.75 but next week you can snag it for just $20.00. Wait, there's more (oh GEEZ, haha)... you will also have access to any and all future updates!!
Kindergarten Homework for the Whole School Year 

Are you looking for a way to supplement your Engage New York curriculum? Do you need a way to convey to your students' parents what you are working on in the classroom and exactly how you plan to teach the skills or concepts? Do you want to better engage your students AND THEIR FAMILIES? If you're like many of our buyers, you're saying, "YES, YES, YES!!!" Check out our letters and game packs. Kelie calls her packs parent newsletters, just FYI, if you're looking for grades 2-4. :) The feedback on these packs has been AMAZING and I know that our resources are saving teachers time and in some cases even helping new teachers (or new-to-ENY-teachers) to feel more confident in their ability to teach the rigorous Engage New York Math Curriculum.
Engage Your Families for First Grade, Module 5

And believe it or not, that is not all!!! On 7/25-7/27 search Teachers Pay Teachers with the hashtag #christmasinjuly to find additional dollar deals!

 

Wait, there's more!
Haha. Oh man... I'm sorry.... I'm just super excited AND low on sleep. Not the best combo. Haha. (Karen)

Be sure to enter this week's Rafflecopter Giveaways below!!!
FIVE WINNERS in each category.

#1 Rafflecopter giveaway 

#2  Rafflecopter giveaway 

#3 Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!! :)

Week 2 Giveaways and Flamingo Friday

We have teamed up with a TON of other teacher-authors to bring you some dollar deals...Friday, July 14, 2017 only. Search TpT for the hashtag to find all the amazing dollar deals! 

Are you trying to prepare for the upcoming school year? Well, if you missed week 1 and week 2 of deals, have no fear, we are doing another round of awesome deals you won't want to miss next week. Be sure to follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/karenandkelie to keep an eye on next week's deals.

Also, be sure and enter the Week 2 Giveaways by clicking the links below. We have some awesome prizes; enter before midnight EST Monday for a chance to win! Good luck!!

Giveaway #1 - FIVE WINNERS - $25 Vera Bradley Gift Certificate
Rafflecopter giveaway #1

Giveaway #2 - FIVE WINNERS - $25 TpT Gift Certificate
Rafflecopter giveaway #2

Giveaway #3 - FIVE WINNERS - $25 Oriental Trading Company
Rafflecopter giveaway #3

Come back next Friday to enter the Week 3 Giveaways.

 

Sun, Sand, & Savings Summer Sale Week 1

Welcome to Week 1 of Sun, Sand, & Savings! We have teamed up with some pretty awesome teacher authors to bring you some amazing deals! Whether you are teaching summer school or starting to stock up for next year, these discounts are just too good to pass up!

Hopefully you were able to cash in on some of the great products Karen and I discounted for you this week.  We can't wait to bring you another week full of great products! Here is a sneak peak of some of our favorite resources you will find next week during Week 2 of Sun, Sand, & Savings:

Common Core Addition & Subtraction Games

You can find tons of fun activities in this download to help your kiddos practice double & triple digit addition & subtraction strategies.

4th Grade Engage New York Math Vocabulary Posters

These vocabulary posters are written using kid friendly terms.  They are perfect for introducing new terms and make beautiful math bulletin boards. 

Digital Division Assessments

Going digital or already there? These activities are complete time savers and great for your division lessons next year. 

Braggin' Bling Brag Tags

Looking for a fun way to reward your students for positive behavior, good effort, great attendance, etc? Kids LOVE earning and proudly wearing or displaying these.

Engage New York Math Vocabulary Posters Bundled - First Grade Modules 1-6

These posters don't just make for a cute classroom focus board... They are also great way to introduce new math terminology and serve as a reference for students as you work your way through all 6 modules. 

Number 1 Giveaway: FIVE winners, $25 TpT Gift Card

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Number 2 Giveaway: FIVE winners, $25 Amazon Gift Card

 Rafflecopter giveaway

Number 3 Giveaway: FIVE winners, $25 Staples Gift Card

Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't want to miss out on a deal? Make sure to check our Facebook page daily next week starting Monday.

Find us on Facebook here :)

Spring Activities for Your Classroom

Trees and flowers are blooming and the weather is warming up, which can mean only one thing: spring is officially here.  With summer just around the corner, it is an exciting time of year in the classroom. Karen and I want to share some of our favorite ways to bring a little spring time fun into the classroom.

As we are approaching end of the year testing time in my classroom, we are reviewing all the skills we have learned this year.   One of those skills is addition and subtraction.   These plastic eggs (found at the Dollar Tree) used as dice holders put a fun spin on reviewing this skill.  Students roll the dice and record a 3 digit number.  They roll again and record the second number, then they add.  Here you can download an addition, subtraction, or number bond template to use in your classroom.  Not working on triple digit? That's ok, the templates can be used for larger or smaller number as well. 

Next up are these fun bunny light up sticks found at the Dollar Spot at Target.  My students love playing games with these.  To play, students get in groups of 3.  One student is the "teacher" and the other two players compete against each other.  The "teachers" roll is to give the players the prompt.  For example they may say, "Find the square that has parallel lines or lines that never cross". The other two players will race to bop the parallel line square with their light up bunny stick.  The first one to hit the correct square wins and keeps the prompt card.  The player to collect the most cards is the winner.  If you don't have these light up sticks, players can take turns flipping over a prompt card and covering the space with a game marker of some sort.  Geometry game can be found here.

Last up, is this fun activity to play with students learning to blend CVC words.  The head of the caterpillar can be made using half a pipe cleaner laced through half an Easter egg (the eggs already have two holes in them) and then use a sharpie or glue on some googly eyes. Last, add the letters you want to use to additional halved eggs.  Students can move the eggs around to make their own blends, or you can arrange the eggs for them. *I recommend using a single color such as purple for the vowel sounds.  This will make it easier when arranging the eggs to make words.

Click the picture to find additional CVC practice as shown below:

Hands-On Activities for Teaching Measurement to the Nearest 1/4 Inch & Line Plots

 Teaching measurement is such a fun topic to teach because it naturally lends itself to hands-on learning.  In 3rd grade, we learn how to measure to the nearest quarter inch.  I like to teach this concept after we learn about fractions.  This gives students some background knowledge about fractions of a whole.

Rulers can be a bit overwhelming to students when they are trying to make sense of all the "little lines" found between each inch.  A little trick I have learned to help them make sense of this, is to use 4 different colored highlighters to highlight the first inch.  Before passing out the rulers, I highlight each quarter inch in a different color.   

We practice measuring a few examples together, and then its time for them to explore this concept on their own.  We did an "outdoor scoot" using this activity.  To complete the outdoor scoot, I taped the bugs in various places outside.  Students went around in partner groups measuring the bugs and recording their lengths on the recording sheet. The bugs were taped in a central location to give the students enough room to move around, but not too far apart that I could not keep my "teacher eye" on everyone.  If the weather is not cooperating with you, this scoot can also be completed indoors. 

Once everyone gathered their measurement data, we created a line plot. After creating the line plot, its a great time for students to create questions that can be answered by their line plot such as, "What length was most frequently measured?" or "How many bugs measured at least 5 inches?".

Pretty fun right?  If you are in need of additional resources to teach measurement to the nearest quarter inch and line plots, you can find more hand-on activities here:

You can also find printable vocabulary posters here ( color or black and white versions included):

Win a Pot of Gold!

Hi there! Karen here...

I have teamed up with an amazing group of teacher-authors to bring you a HUGE giveaway! We are giving away not one, but SEVEN, pots of gold (one $100 TpT gift card, four $50 TpT gift cards, and two $50 Amazon gift cards). #teacherpotofgold

No sneaky Leprechauns! Just a Rafflecopter... 

So entering is easy peasy!

Hop on over to the Facebook page Kelie and I co-run by clicking here and enter via our GIVEAWAY TAB. Don't delay... the Rafflecopter closes at midnight EST March 7th. Winners will be announced on March 8th. :)

You may also choose to enter directly via this blog post below.

May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Thanks for entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Classroom Library Organization Made Easy With 2 IPAD Apps

Devouring books when I was a child was a passion of mine, so of course, I LOVE watching my little learners share that same passion!   Let's face it, we spend hundreds of dollars (and thousands of Scholastic Book points) to ensure that our students have access to books they want to read.  How do I manage that investment, using the least amount of time? I have enlisted the help of these two apps, which have totally saved my sanity when it comes to keeping my classroom library organized and readily available for my students.

To help keep students accountable for the books they checkout from my classroom library, I use the FREE app: Booksource Classroom Organizer. 

Booksource Classroom Organizer is a free web-based program that helps you organize and inventory your classroom library. The most time consuming part of using this app is the set up.  To catalog your books in the system, you must scan each bar code found on the back of each book in your library (a great job for parent volunteers or older students who want to "help").   The next step is to create a classroom roster.  Once these two steps are complete it is super easy to check books in and out to students! Simply scan the bar code to check out the books, and when students are ready to return their books, students show you their book.  With a click of their name and a click of the book title, the book is checked back in. 

To quickly access a book's Accelerated Reader level and point value, I use the app: BookScanner.

Our school uses Accelerated Reader to monitor students' reading levels and independent practice. By using the BookScanner App, you can quickly and easily scan the bar code off the back a book to  find any books' AR quiz number, reading level, point value, word count, and interest level.  This app has been a total time saver when I get a large book order.  It's also super useful when I'm at a book store looking for books, because with a quick scan, I can easily tell if a certain book is appropriate for my students' reading levels.  This app is $1.99 and in my opinion, totally worth the small investment.

The last thing I do to help keep my books from disappearing is: I stick a label on each book, with my name on it.  No app required for this!  Countless books have been returned to me because of these labels. 

And there you have it: a few ways to help you keep your growing classroom library manageable and easily accessible to your students.

Valentine's Day Freebies & a Giveaway

Well hello February! And hello fellow bloggers and blog readers. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Kelie and I have teamed up with some amazing teacher bloggers to bring you a fun February themed blog hop and giveaway to celebrate Kelie's TpT store reaching 1,000 followers! Woot, woot! Congrats, partner! <3

The giveaway will run until February 10th. Enter to win by hopping to all 6 blog posts and then enter via any one of the Rafflecopter links. One winner, chosen randomly, will be announced sometime February 11th and will win a custom t-shirt and a $30 Target gift card. SCORE! :)  Hopefully you will find some great ideas on how to celebrate Valentine's Day in you classroom as you "hop" to each blog.

Put A Ring On It
Kelie here- I love to integrate games that align to what I'm teaching because, well, it just makes learning fun. Grab this freebie from my store and put your worksheets to rest this holiday.  Your students will have fun solving subtraction equations and reviewing the skill of regrouping.

This game is perfect for early finishers, small group extra support, or  morning review. I'm sure you will think of other ways you can use it with your students as well.

If you are looking for tons of fun addition and subtraction games to play with your students, you can find the whole unit here:

Valentine Party Planning

Last year, I (Karen) had a Valentine's party planning letter featured in the TpT newsletter. It brought me lots of new followers and a lot of wonderful feedback. Most often I hear how much time my resource saved busy teachers have a successful and fun card exchange and classroom party.

Sweet Math Game
Like Kelie, I love when I can make learning fun and super engaging by playing games! The game below is full of task cards that review measurement, number bonds, and data interpretation (graphs). It was developed to align with Engage New York / Eureka Math for First Grade, however it is Common Core aligned and works well regardless of the curriculum you use. :)

Writing is Sweet

I love teaching writing! I created this pack to use in my own classroom. I may no longer be in the classroom, but this pack is still being used by my team. :) It includes fun Valentine's or love themed writing paper along with pocket chart or word wall cards. Can you keep a secret? Kelie and I have teamed up with several other teacher-authors for a hashtag sale called #ShareTheLove and this resource will be available for just ONE DOLLAR on February 9th and 10th. Interested? Wish List it now and get those kiddos writing this month! :)

Thanks for reading! Be sure to enter our Rafflecopter for a chance to win a custom T-shirt and a $30 Target gift card! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click the robot below to head over to Cindy's blog: Teacher's Brain

An InLinkz Link-up