Fishing For Ideas

Come check out my NATURE friendly resources.  EVERYBODY loves camping!! (Except me!!  I love to view nature, but not interact with it!!!) Anyhoo....The A+ Collaborating Teachers <we host a website, Pinterest Boards, and a 'pinning' room on Facebook> is hosting all of the summer fun.  All that is missing is homemade ice cream, snow cones, and fireworks!

Be on the lookout for lots of giveaways and even some patriotic activities!  

Come and check out our blog!!

Visit us on Pinterest!

Each day I will have a new activity that will be marked down to ZERO!!  Yes, you read correctly.  Zero.  Nada.  Nuttin', honey!  Today <until I change it tomorrow>, the scoot game above will be free!  It is so cute! My 7 year old told me I had to put the All Star Verb or Noun game up because it is his favorite and there are stars on the flag.  Somewhere in there, folks, is a correlation.  I'm still working on it!  So, click on the scoot game to download it FOR FREE!!  When you go pick it up, please follow my store so that you can find out when new products go up!

Camp Sort-a-Vowel is a fun game chocked full of vowel sorting mats and cards.  LOTS of cards!!  I can't remember exactly, but this one download provides you with 50 or 60 games because you can keep putting different vowel pairs together!  This past year I had to remake this game because we played it so many different ways that our cards were worn out!!

 Camp Sort-a-Vowel is usually $3.85, but until June 20th, you can take another 20% off which makes it marked down to....well....uh....I don't know.  I can't find my abacus!  But you are welcome to go check and see what it is marked down to!  In fact, I marked my whole store down 20% so grab 'em what you can.  All of these camping games are going to be DA BOMB during the first nine weeks of school in the 2012-2013 school year during the 2nd grade unit on the Seasons.  Several of the texts recommended for that unit are about camping!

Need to brush up on capitalization?  Here is another fun game!  This is usually $3.35 but you can still take that 20% off!

Remember to come back tomorrow to see what the new freebie is!!!  Best of luck.  Now...go grab that freebie!!

When you get done, feel free to click on one the icons below and visit a different blog that is ready to entice you!

Jenn

The Five Love Languages

Hi!  I am Michelle from Teach123.  Jennifer invited me to be a guest blogger again while she is finishing up her school year.  Friday is her last day with students and she is up to her neck in paperwork, so here I am to save the day!

If you get a chance after you read this, come on over and check out my blogs!

The first time I read the book, The Five Love Languages,  was like the first time I went to the eye doctor and was fitted with a pair of eyeglasses.  Suddenly, I looked at the world in a whole new way.  Everything was crisp and clear!  This book made me see people and relationships in a more clear way.  The author, Gary Chapman, found in his marriage therapy practice that couples express and interpret love through five languages:  words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.  

There are Love Language books about children in regards to family relationships, but I think the principles of this book can easily be applied in a school setting as well.  Think about your class, do you have a student who frequently brings you a little gift?  Maybe he/she picked a flower from his/her flowerbed or gave you a new a packet of stickers.  This student's LL is receiving/giving gifts.  Do you have a student who always wants to be your helper?  This student pushes in all the students' chairs before coming to circle time or realizes you forgot your whistle at recess time before you do and brings it to you.  This student is showing acts of service.  What about the student who always wants to hold your hand when he or she is line leader?  His or her L.L. might be physical touch.  Have you noticed how when you compliment you class some students sit up a little straighter and  with other students it has little impact?  The students sitting up straighter are probably in the words of affirmation group.  During this month of love, try an experiment, see if you can identify the love languages of a small group of students that you have concerns with. Those students who are falling through the cracks, the behavior problems, the quiet student who is reluctant to participate, and see if reaching them their their love language makes a connection.  You might be pleasantly surprised with the results!

Note from Jenn:  You can go HERE to my church's website to take a quiz which will help you figure out what your love languages are!!!  Thanks for reading!  Isn't Michelle great???

April Fools Sale Info and Cynthia Rylant Books

It has been a lovely day here in Tennesse...sometimes cloudy and cool...sometimes sunny and warm....and now....the rain is washing off all of the pollen.  What more could you ask for except for a snowday.  But, it is too late in the year for that and it's the weekend!!!

hehe  I thought this was sort of funny.  My husband didn't get it at all.  Anyway....I have a sale on TpT that will start at 12 AM EST for you night owls.  It ends at 11:59 on Sunday, again for you night owls!!  I hope that you take advantage of it.  I have a whole slew of freebies in my store, also! So, go check it out!!

Today I went to 2 different bookstores, looking for the Cynthia Rylant books that are mentioned in the Common Core Curriculum Mapping Book (by the way, they have books for K-5, 6-8, and 9-12!) for second grade.  What I found was......nada.  They bookstores told me that they are selling out of Cynthia Rylant books quicker than they can stock them.  So, I turned to Amazon (my home sweet home!) to see what I could find.  I was shocked by what I found....Amazon itself does not have many of the books and is depending on independent sellers to fill in the need for Cynthia Rylant books.  So....moral of the story, start buying the recommended books now if you haven't already.  My theory is that as it gets closer to the new school year and schools begin phasing common core into some of the higher grades, the books will disappear and the price will go up and up.  In fact, one independent seller had one of the books I was looking for listed for $83.  I hope that was a typo!  Below is a list of Cynthia Rylant books that are needed for second grade with links to Amazon so you can take a look at the prices.


Suggested Works to have on hand in 2nd grade for Cynthia Rylant:

Poppleton in Winter by Cynthia Rylant and Mark Teague

Poppleton in Spring

Poppleton in Fall

Henry and Mudge and the Snowman Plan by Cynthia Rylant and Sucie Stevenson

Henry and Mudge:  The First Book

Cynthia Rylant:  A Writer's Story  (No link)

Hopefully this will cut down the chase for some of you and you won't try multiple book stores like I did! I had hoped to have a freebie for you, but Saturday errands and enforcing the chore list for my kids took most of my time.  If only I could bottle my daughter's drama of being overwhelmed at the task of hanging up/folding a small basket of clothes.  I bet I would be a millionaire!

Until tomorrow!