Don't Be A Fool on April Fool's!

Hello there Friends!

I can't believe it's already Spring. SPRING, Friends!!!! Spring means butterflies and gardens and all things new and Easter and SPRING BREAK!! Woohoo!!! I know that you all are getting ready for Spring break and buying all those awesome no prep teaching packets, but I'm here to take care of you AFTER all the Easter festivities and all those eggy centers and worksheets expire. Enter... my No Prep April Fool's Day unit. Because really, whether you're just coming off of Spring Break or crawling your way towards it... or just a teacher in her right mind, the words "NO PREP" just makes this time of year doable. Don't be fooled though! These pages can be used whenever you need them. You know, on those days when your mind is already at the end of the year and all you can do is grab that stack of packet to the copier, enter 25 copies, double sided, stapled, and uncollated. Yup! I got you covered my friend!

This unit is fun! Your kids will follow Prankster Pete as he unscrambles sentences, mixes up numbers, hides words, and many more fun activities that are all common core aligned. Most worksheets have 2 different levels so that you can differentiate within your class. Keep talkin'?  OKAY! There is even a creative writing activity where students write a story about Prankster Pete and what they witnessed as he pulled off an EPIC (<---- all the cool kids are saying it) prank. Will they catch him? Or did he get away? OR... did they join forces with him? Your students will get to decide. :)

Here is a sneak peak of the unit.

A closer look. Just because we all like close ups!

 Here is my 9 year old trying out some pages. Because when you need a kid tested worksheet and you don't have time to wait until tomorrow morning at school because you want to blog about it already, you just go grab the nearest kid. Level 1 was too easy for him.

I had my son color code the Thinking Map. Then I had him read the passage and highlight it. Scroll down to the next picture. 

He highlighted the information in the passage that coordinated with the colors on his Thinking Map. Similarities were done in yellow, the fool's gold information in pink, and the gold information in orange. That way it would be easier to see the necessary information as he filled out his organizer.

I know that you and your kiddos will enjoy practicing these skills in a fun way! You can grab a copy of this unit in my TPT store for the same price as a latte. :)  Just click on the picture.

Blessings,

Bears and a SALE

Hmmm... what do these things have in common?

NOTHING! Well, except that I'm on vacation in Big Bear so I'm throwing a sale!

Off the topic here... but since we're friends I can share, right? Ok.

I HATE REALLY dislike expectations. You know what I mean? You have an idea of what you want things to look like or turn out ...and most of the time it's totally unrealistic. Or is that just me? Let me explain. I have been looking forward to our family trip to Big Bear for a couple of weeks now. I imagined our family happily driving up the mountain (happened), sitting by the nice stone fireplace when we got there (happened), kids falling asleep nicely (happened), <<Insert WARNING of things beginning to fall apart>> kids waking up and quietly playing while letting parents sleep (DID NOT happen), siblings getting along nicely (DID NOT happen), me smiling with my cup of hot coffee (coffee, yes......smiling, NO), kids speaking nicely to each other without whining (NO! NO! NO! DID NOT happen!!!) ..well... you get the picture. Are you crying yet??? Because I am.  So right now I am currently sitting in front of my computer with my headphones on and music blasting. This is the adult and MORE mature version of me plugging my ears and repeating, "I'm not listening to youuuuuuu!!!"

Mmmmmkay. I feel better. Thanks for listening, Friend, Totally needed that.

Back to the topic. SALE!!!

Oh my, I love sales! I can hardly resist them. A great deal on something that I *might*  need?? AWESOME..Buy it!  A great deal on something that I need? EVEN better....BUY it!!!

So here I am, sharing with you a great deal. I just finished my latest resource. It is my Houghton Mifflin unit for first grade. It is 240+ pages of rigorous work with fun and engaging activities laced throughout the unit. It has thinking maps, teacher cheat sheets, teacher guided questions, depth and complexity icons, and can be used easily for The Daily 5 or any literacy center that you have in place. AND it's on sale!!!! Here is a sneak peak....

There is something for EVERY story, even the Read Alouds.

Here is a closer look

I love my Skip and Scan! My kids love working together to find the answers in the text. I'm serious. They get to sit anywhere in the room just as long as they are using their "spy talk" voices. We begin by using the worksheets with the page numbers, then after a couple of weeks we use the one WITHOUT the page numbers. My Firsties can do it!!!

Text Dependent worksheets to add some rigor. Notice the depth and complexity icon? I love using them!!!

There's a worksheet on the comprehension skill and strategy that each story focuses on.

Vocabulary cards for each story with realistic pictures. This has been helpful not only for my language learners...but for ALL my learners. 

Teacher guided questions..... This one has a FREEBIE!! Yay!!

Bubble Map with 2 different levels....

I am so excited for this product mainly because I felt that our old language arts curriculum didn't have enough rigor in it. There is SO much changing in education and I found very little resources for our old curriculum that helped teachers with this shift.  I felt that I needed to create worksheets/activities to reflect these changes and to step up the rigor. I am so happy with this product and I know that you will be,too.

If you know anyone who still uses the old HM curriculum, I would love for you to pass my resource along. Just make sure that they download the previews to make sure that it's the same curriculum series. I would hate to have someone purchase it and stories not match up.

Sale ends tomorrow, so go grab it... like NOW!! :)

Sounds like the whining and crying has died down. It may be time to take off the headphones... *maybe* :)

Have a fantastic day, Friends!

Blessings,

Five For Friday... on a late Saturday night

Hello Friends!

Well, I have not linked up to the Five For Friday party with Doodle Bugs for a loooong time.  Today. I am entering the party a *tad* late. I've had a lot going on over the holidays, I'm sure like everyone else, so I will try and limit it to five.

Our family got to serve together at our church. This picture was taken at our Thanksgiving outreach. We were packing meals in boxes for others to deliver to needy families. We had such a great time working together!

THIS. This was AMAZING!!!! I was making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning breakfast (with a little help from my Pillsbury friend) and my hubby had the most FANTASTIC idea! He put the dough in the waffle maker. OH.MY.LORD!!! The outside was nice and crispy and the inside was just soft. Add the sugary cream cheese icing and watch the heavens open up and hear the angels sing!!!! I'm getting chills just looking at this picture. Ok. Moving on.....

We were FINALLY able to take family pictures this year. Every year I have high hopes in getting some professional ones done in November, then Thanksgiving hits and then December starts. Then it's baking and shopping and all the other craziness of the holidays. I am so happy that we got this done this year.

**Notice the same scarf?? I love it and wear it to sleep. No not really, but I DO love it!

We got to spend Christmas with my side of the family in the Bay Area. We hoped over to San Francisco for the day and had some clam chowder and went to Pier 39.  It was cold!!!!

Every New Year Eve we spend time with our friends counting down to the next year east coast time. The kids love it because they get to spend time with friends without being ridiculously tired while waiting for midnight to strike. We left our friends house late and as we were driving home, we realized that we had 10 mins before it actually was 12am. We raced home (we had driven 2 separate cars) and barely made it in the driveway.  We flung open our car doors and I think from then on the scene was in slow motion with some sexy song playing in the background.  I think it even rained on us for a split moment while we ran to each other for our New Years Day kiss!!!!! LOL.




6. I finished up my newest product:

YAY!! I got it narrowed down to *almost* 5 things. I'm just unpredictable sometimes so you never know when I can get long winded. :)

Hope you have a fantastic New Year!!


Blessings,