This Little Piggy is Guest Blogging!

This Little Piggy is Guest Blogging on Tonya's Treats for Teachers for a Friday Freebie!  I'm super psyched because I've NEVER done a guest blog post before.  My Freebie is digital backgrounds (cute) and a video about how to create TpT cover pages!

BTW, thought I'd share this with "ya'll" because I figured you might run into the same issues.  Our district requires Technology PD Training every summer.  I looked at the offerings today and "Apps" was one class.  Okay, I don't have a tablet in my classroom or available on my campus...so how will I use this class?  I figure it will go something like this...
Presenter: These are great apps you can use to engage students in the classroom.
Me: I don't have a tablet on my campus available to me or my students.  Are we getting them this year?
Presenter: Um...that's not my decision.  Maybe you could buy a tablet for your students to use.

PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT ALONE!

This Little Piggy hopes that you'll stop by Tonya's Treats for Teachers for your Friday Freebie!

I made my first "how to" video

I'm a visual learner - blame it on MTV (or cable in general), but it's the truth.  It helps me as a teacher because I am a good "modeler".

A few friends at work want to begin selling on TpT - they want me to teach them how to create products.  So, I decided to hold a meeting after school one day.  Then...all these things came up (grades, happy hour, field trips, sonic .50cent corny dogs,  packing classrooms, pedicures) you're a teacher, you understand.  So we couldn't all get together and do a class.  Instead, I decided to make videos for them.  I'm going to share the videos with you throughout the summer!  If you haven't begun selling on TpT - the summer is a great time to get started.

My first video is something I just learned how to do...make long pins!  The video is about 10min. long and I made it 3 times....shhhh!  I hope someone ANYONE will give me feedback.  I don't mind if you say "it's crap, you're so annoying" just give me feedback!

This Little Piggy HATES her voice!

The Never Ending School Year and Six for Saturday?

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday Linky...but I'm doing Six for Saturday because I'm Late with a capital "L".

We have 7 1/2 Days left (with kiddos) and according to me - this is The Never Ending School Year.  Many of my colleagues are teaching a 3-week STEM camp.  I know the money is good it will be cool, but I just couldn't do it.  The summer is my only chance to be a SAHM.  My girl is only 4 and no amount of money is worth the time I spend with her.

This pic is from her ballet recital last weekend.  It was soooo cute!  
I could definitely see her growth since December's recital.      

My entire week was Space & Astronaut filled.  We began by reading about Ellen Ochoa.  My kiddos made these awesome K-L Charts (I took out the W due to lack of space) about Astronauts and Ellen Ochoa.

We watched a little Bill Nye the Science Guy.  I really enjoy his videos and learned a lot too:)

We also used Courtney from Swimming into Second Grade's Astronaut Craftivity.

The kiddos really enjoyed it.  I didn't do a bulletin board because my items have to be taken down and inventoried by next Wednesday...maybe next year.

On Friday, our 4th & 5th Graders took a Field Trip to NASA in Houston.  Yes, Houston.  They left at 5 a.m. and they were expected to return at 10 p.m.  AHHHHH  I'm sure they had a great field trip and I was asked to go, but I couldn't because I had to pick up my daughter from daycare.  

While they were at NASA, we moved outside and used chalk to draw astronauts floating in space.  

 We launched rockets too (sorry, I didn't take any pics of the process, but it was AWESOME).

This Little Piggy is enjoying her relaxing weekend!

Manic Monday...oh we oh...Wish it were a Sunday

It's actually still Sunday as I type this.  But, pretty soon I'll be standing in front of 24 kiddos and they are going to want a show and I'm going to be daydreaming about my bed!  

I had a very productive Sunday!  I worked on many TpT projects.  I also found out how to create those long pins on pinterest.  Amazingly easy - you just change the size of the slide to 21 - 27 inches long and voila...  

   

So, this weekend I made some digital paper and End of the Year Awards...super cute;)

I also worked on some new Fonts!  Guess what?  They are my Manic Monday Freebie.

Can you tell I'm just a tiny bit obsessed with the passing of time at the moment?  Even my fonts are named after months!  I have July & September that I'll add to the pack...my hubby was on the iPad most of the day.

I have 2 linky ideas in my head, but I'm soo terrified of failure...I haven't even started working on them.  Anyone interested in partnering with this piggy?  One is about food and one is about clipart...let me know if you have an interest!

This Little Piggy had a great b-day week and weekend!

STEM in my Reading Classroom

We are a STEM district (science, technology, engineering and math) and I teach Reading.  Hum....how does it apply to me?  I often ask this question when I'm sitting in Math/Science PD's and we don't have a lot of technology at the moment.  Well, I found a way to incorporate it this week.  My fellow science teachers were in ahhhhh.  Seriously, they watched in amazement as my students worked together, developed plans and assigned jobs/roles.

We've finished reading Charlotte's Web last week.  During my pinterest/googling I found a classroom (can't find it again) that made ferris wheels after Fern went to the fair.  I thought that was interesting, but a little basic.

Do your kiddos enjoy challenges?  Mine do and they rise to the occasion.  In fact, I rarely give prizes...I give bragging rights and my kids LOVE to brag to the whole 3rd grade that their group "won".  So, their challenge was to use what was inside their paper bag to build a ferris wheel in 30 minutes.  I didn't lead the students.  I didn't show a model.

What was in the bag?  Some craft sticks, a paper plate, ripped strips of colored paper, wikki sticks (sticky sticks), 1 pair of scissors, glue, assorted stickers and assorted items from my craft box.  Not every group got the same exact items.

What did I love about it?
#1 - all of my kids were engaged...I'll say it again, ALL of my kids were engaged.
#2 - none of the ferris wheels look alike.  Yes, some were fairly similar, but no two had the same design.
#3 - most of the winning groups had RtI students in them and only 1 winning group had a Gifted student!

Here are some pics you might enjoy...

 

  

This Little Piggy has 14 days left!!!

Can I get 15 Birthday Wishes?

May 15th is my b-day! 

Since I just did a (very successful) 150 Followers Giveaway and gained upwards of 50 followers...I thought I'd do my own little contest!  

The first 15 comments with their own wish from my TpT Store and their e-mail address will get their wish come true!!  

We're doing a Charlotte's Web Novel Study right now.  This is my first novel study with 3rd Graders and so far...so good.  We have 14ish days left of school and my kiddos are about to jump out their skins seats.  So, today I decided to move class outside.  

We aren't lucky enough (yet) to have the technology available for kids to use in the classroom, so instead I introduced what a wordle is and what it looks like (the more you type it - the bigger it is).  As I read today, students wrote words they heard multiple times onto notecards.  As we read, if they heard the word multiple times they put stars next to the word and they were able to identify which words should be big, medium and little.  Then, we moved class outside and the groups used chalk to create their own wordles.  

This Little Piggy's favorite gift in the world is hearing My Girl say, "Happy Birthday, Mama!"

Mommy's Day and Beach Shack Tacky

Happy Mother's Day to All the Mom's out there!
This is My Girl.  She made me a Mommy.  I just love her to pieces!
I love being her Mommy more than anything else in the world.
She's definitely the best parts of me and my husband combined into one tiny person.

For Mother's Day, I got a mani-pedi and my family made me a frame for my Sunroom. 

I'm re-doing it this summer.  The theme: Beach Shack Tacky...  

The pic stinks, but in real life...it is so adorable!

Our Principal went all out for Teacher's Appreciation Week...we had breakfast (no bacon), lunch, t-shirts, office supplies, candy and ice cream sundaes!  One of my kiddos wrote me a poem for TA Week...so cute.

It's Sunday evening, time for Let's Get Acquainted Linky.

This Little Piggy is going to make chocolate shakes!

Teacher Appreciation Week

It's FINALLY Teacher Appreciation Week!  

We normally get breakfast on Friday Morning and my favorite part is the bacon!!!  YUM....  I usually eat turkey bacon, but NOT during Teacher Appreciation Week!

My TpT store is going to be 20% off this May 7th and 8th and if you use the code TAD13, you get 28% off.    

My best seller is my Inventor/Biography Research Brochure.  I know the cover is not the cutest, but I don't want to mess with it.  With 28% off it's around $1...can't get a better deal.  This will keep kiddos engaged at the end of the school year and guess what?  They'll still be working on standards. 

If you've already used my Inventors/Biography Research Brochure, then you'll love my new Differentiated Nonfiction Newsletter Bundle.  It has multiple templates, including planets, animals and any expository topic. This is a great way for Upper Elementary to reach across subjects!

I just re-did the cover and I'm loving it:)

If you're looking for a quick review activity as school is wrapping up and/or something for your bigger kids  who are about to jump out of their skin...this will keep them engaged!  

Click Here to Download

 

I'm linking this up to Manic Monday:)  I woke up this morning when someone left feeback for this Freebie:)

This Little Piggy has to get her daughter's Teacher a Gift....

Friday Alliteration Linky's

Five for Friday and Friday Flashback (both alliterations) are great link ups.  Join in the fun with me!

  

So my kiddos have 22 days of school left (that sounds better than 41/2 weeks) and they are acting as if each day is the last day of school.  So, this week I decided to do a poetry study.  At first, they were not really into it.  Personally, I feel that poetry is not my strongest area of teaching, but it turned out GREAT this week!  I owe it all to....Amanda Madden's Poetry Pizzazz Unit.  EVERYONE around my building is loving my hallway display.  

 **Friday/Monday**

We began making our Alliterainbows.  I had the kids work in partners all week long (of course, I tried to keep them with the same partner but you know how that goes with absences & 2 new kids this week).  These were the BIGGEST hit of the week for both kiddos and the adults in the building. They all love these!  

 

**Tuesday**

We worked on our Simile Sandwiches.  Oops...spelled Simile wrong all week...

These were my favorite and I think they turned out GREAT!

Sorry, I can't get this pic to rotate.

**Wednesday**

Wednesday I wanted to pull my hair out  was crammed with fun!!  We made Watermelon Rhymes.  The kids and I worked REALLY hard on rhyming poems that had some kind of "theme".  They really wanted to write a story that included the rhyming words inside the story.  I wanted them to write a poem that had a theme with rhyming words at the end of each line.  It worked out in the end, but I think I was married to my vision.   

 

Sooo sorry about these pics...blogger rotating my pics for some reason.

This poem is about a soccer game and I thought it was ingenious.  

This poem was about football and I thought it was fabulous!!

**Thursday**

We worked on our Pyramid/Napkin Poems.  Now, these would be OOOHHH so cute on actual napkins, but I have 68 kiddos b/c of departmentalization so the kiddos cut manila paper into triangles.  Next year, I'll cut them one more time so they are smaller.    Again, I gave the students a theme.  Today was weather/seasons. 

 Finally, it was time to assemble our "picnics".  We (teachers, not admin) have a "thing" in our building that our displays should look kid created not adult created.  Now, I have to admit that it often makes me cringe.  I hate seeing the lop-sided or uneven...but it's definitely kid created.  I have gotten sooo many compliments on these picnics.  I've had teachers knock on my door during class to let me know how cute they are.  The teachers who are also parents of my students have LOVED seeing these!  I also did a little art lesson on perspective.  The top layer is sky, the middle layer is grass and the bottom layer is a blanket/tablecloth.  

Without further adieu...

And finally, meet our new family pets...

Meet Gobi 2.0 (R.I.P. Gobi the First)

Meet Rex

This Little Piggy wants to sleep in soooo bad...not gonna happen (boo)!