Hoosier Blog Hop! On the Track for Fun & Freebies!

Thanks to KadyDid Doodles for the awesome clipart!

I am super excited to be part of the Indiana blogger blog hop! In case you weren't aware....there's more than corn in Indiana! Indiana is home to 

• Hoosier Hospitality
• Hoosier Hysteria -- Basketball, anyone?

and

• The Greatest Spectacle in Racing-- the Indy 500, which occurs one week from today! 

So we all decided to put the pedal to the metal and add to the festivities by hosting a Blog Hop! There are 18 stops on this hop with 18 fabulous freebies! I'm starting it all off here...

Ladies and Gentlemen......

Start your engines!

My freebie is a super fun sight word Uno game. It uses the 25 words from the 2nd 100 Fry words.

Your kiddos will have so much fun playing this game just like Uno!

Just click the pic to download your free copy!

After you grab this freebie (and please leave feedback!), head on down the road. Your next stop is Pencils, Books, and Dirty Looks.
Enjoy the hop!!

9 days!?! Spark Student Motivation

Phew! Only NINE....yes, NINE days left! Friends, I'm telling you, I already have a case of summer brain! And my kiddos are even worse! haha! I'm pulling out all the stops to keep those little sweeties motivated!

Last week, I decided I was going to do something a little different each day from now until the end of the year. Some of the ideas worked a little better than others. Here's what I've done....

1. I had a traveling prize that I moved from desk to desk of kiddos who were doing a great job being
   
   responsible and respectful. This worked really great....but I had so many with awesome behavior that I wished I had more to go around.
2. I brought in a couple packs of Kool-Aid Kool Bursts. I explained to the class that I would place one on the desks of kiddos who were being exceptionally responsible and respectful. BUT...they could lose it, too. If they still had one on their desks at Math time (which is at the end of the day), they could sip while they did their math. WOW! Did this ever do the trick! I am picking up some more of these babies this weekend!
3. Lunch Bunch- This usually does the trick. I "invite" (put their names on the board) kiddos who are doing really well to eat lunch in the classroom. Those periodic reminders of, "I'm looking for a few more people to invite to lunch bunch" really make them snap to attention.

So-- my plan of action for the remaining NINE days is to alternate between these (and a couple others I have up my sleeve), & some of the terrific ideas I've been reading over on Head Over Heels for Teaching's Spark Student Motivation Saturday Linky. Stop over and check out all the ideas that have been linked up! Or better yet, link up your own motivation tricks! I love to add more tricks to the bag!

And here's a sneak peek.......the Indiana Blogger Blog Hop starts Sunday! 

Make sure you check back tomorrow for loads of fun and freebies! 

Fairy Tales ~FREEBIE!

We are just now beginning one of my FAVORITE things to teach! Fairy Tales! So, so much fun! We kicked of our Fairy Tale unit with The Frog Prince. We read the traditional version today, worked on a Beginning, Middle, End organizer (boy, did they have some GREAT details in there!).

Tomorrow, we're going to write a new ending to the story. Believe it or not, in the traditional version we read from our school library, the princess THROWS THE FROG AGAINST A WALL, & it then turns into a prince! What?!? Is that just crazy? Or is it just me?! Hahahaha! In any case, that wacky ending gave me the perfect launch point for, "Well, that's not the way I would have ended the story".....and tomorrow, we're writing new endings. Can't wait to read what they come up with! Just click the image above for the freebie!



I also found the Muppet's Frog Prince on You Tube (just click the image)! We'll be watching that and doing a compare/contrast. I am so excited about this! Some fantastic, fun activities to do here as we near the end of the year (only 11 more days to go!).

Pssst.......I'll share a little secret with you..... 

Check back here on Sunday for a super fun blog hop! 

Teacher Appreciation Sale & Winners

Doesn't it feel good to be appreciated? I hope you are enjoying Teacher Appreciation Week.

I appreciate YOU! 

Everything in my store is 28% off with the code TAD13.

(Don't do what I did & forget to type it in before you check out!! Ugh!) 

I'd also like to say Thank You for helping me celebrate my blog makeover! I just love, love, love it! (Is it weird that sometimes I just bring it up so I can look at it? Sigh.). 

Congrats to 

Andrea

&

Jenna

You've got mail!

Cinco de Mayo

We had a lot of fun learning about and celebrating Cinco de Mayo today. We read several books, watched a short educational video, and made our own papel picado! What fun! My kiddos LOVED it! 

Easy peasy, and SO cute! Fold a piece of construction paper accordion style, then cut shapes on the folds.

And they turned out just adorable! Really brightens up our window!

I'm also celebrating my blog makeover with a giveaway! TWO people will win their choice of any item from my store! Click here or my new button below to find out more about it!

Visual Plans & a Freebie!

Only 19 days left! That's just crazy! It's hard to believe how fast this year has flown by! The next few weeks, we are going to be super busy!!
This week, we're learning about life cycles, celebrating Cinco de Mayo low-key on Monday, delving into adverbs and doing some compare/contrast with The Three Little Pigs and The Three Tamales. It's going to be a fun week! Just click on this picture & you'll link up to my Dropbox where you can download the PDF with clickable links.

Here is a fun little Comparative Adjectives Sort freebie for you. I found that my kiddos could identify the form of the comparative needed in sentences, but they really weren't too sure about the "you use different forms depending on whether two or three items are being compared". So I created this little sort to help with that. Just click on the image to link to the file in my Dropbox.

I'm also celebrating my blog makeover with a giveaway! TWO people will win their choice of any item from my store! Click here or my new button below to find out more about it!

Check out my new look! & Celebrating with a Giveaway!

I am thrilled about my new look! I love, love, love it!

If you have my button on your blog roll, would you mind replacing it with my new one? Super excited about it, & I'd love to see the new button in place of the old.

Big thanks to Christi over at Design by Christi for the FABULOUS work! If you've been thinking about updating your blog, or even starting a new one, I definitely recommend Christi. The process was super easy & she was patient with all of my ideas/requests/questions.


I'm celebrating with a giveaway! TWO people will win their choice of items from my store!  Just leave a comment below with your email, & I'll choose two random winners on Tuesday!