5 Star Writing Freebie & Winners

Okay I must be doing something wrong but I can't figure out what it is. I have emailed the winners of my giveaway but I haven't heard back from them. I'm wondering now if I did something wrong with the email. So if Bethany from Bubblegum Tree and Kate from kshee23 and Letters, Numbers & Book Oh My would email me I will get you your prizes. I'll try again with the info that I have and hope for the best.

I found the cutest writing ideas over on Johanna's blog First Grade Fanatic. She's got some great ideas for the new core's opinion writing with Oreos and Hershey's Kisses. I am so doing this with my firsties!

 To go along with the opinion writing I have a rubric for a 5 Star + paper.

I recently went to a district training and we learned about the writing portion of the new core. One teacher used a 5 star grading system to grade her student's papers. So we plugged it in to the new core and this is what I went home and made. I've been using it for the past few weeks with my kiddos and only made to make a few changes. I added the + mark for a neat paper. I don't know about your kids but I have to constantly remind most of mine to write neatly and legibly. So I thought I'd add the + for a nice neat paper. It really helps. I love when I'm conferencing with the kiddos and we can go back to the rubric to check if they have everything in their paper. I am going to use the opinion rubric when I do Johanna's Oreo writing this week.
I made a 5 Star + rubric for Opinion, Narrative, and Informative Writing. If you'd like a copy of all 3 just click on the picture above for a FREE download. And a big THANKS to Michelle at 3AM Teacher for the great star graphic!
I hope you're enjoying your weekend and thanks for stopping by. I hope you've found something you can use in your classroom.

Winners and crazy news!

Thanks everyone for all the nice comments for my 200th follower giveaway! There is nothing a blogger loves more than comments. No wait, I think we love FREEBIES more, comments would be second. But anyway, here are the winners. You'll be hearing from me!

Now for the crazy news- we found out today that our principal is leaving us for a position at the district office. Maybe I should have said- scary news or shocking news or this-can't-be-happening-again news. It is such a learning curve to get a new principal for everyone involved- kids, parents, staff, teachers, and the new principal. This will be my 7th principal in my teaching career. Here we go again :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!

Spring Fever!

It is in the 70's here in Utah. It's been a gorgeous weekend! I think I've been bitten. As hard as I tried not to, it got me- the spring fever bug! Now what am I to do?
I don't know if the spring fever bug has bitten your kiddos yet but mine are starting to show signs of it. There's a lot of tattling going on lately and I'm sure it's because of the spring fever bug! So I figured it was time for the Tattling lecture. But this year I found a darling book called 'Tattle Tongue' by Julia Cook.

It's a great book to help kids learn the difference between tattling and telling. There are 4 rules the boy learns. My firsties told me to make a sign of the rules so they could remember them. So I started looking on line and low and behold some talented teacher had already made a sign and it's even a freebie on Teachers Notebook. Just click here on Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten and it will take you right to it. I love to find stuff like this. Thanks Krissy!

I got an email from Melly over on Stapler's Strategies. She's been looking for a jellybean machine like mine.

(From a previous post- check it out HERE) She found one at an etsy shop. If you're interested you can check out what she found HERE.

I finally finished my Suffixes with Lilly packet. It's up on the teacher shops if you want to take a look.

There are 7 fun activities for only $4. Michelle over on the 3AM Teacher has an adorable clipart bundle of Lilly.  You can check out my packet by clicking the words-

  TpT or Teachers Notebook.

And one last thing- if you haven't entered my giveaway, you need to hurry. It ends on Tuesday, March 27th.

I've got to get out and go for a walk or something. Need to enjoy some of this warm spring air!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something for your class.
Have a wonderful week!

200!!! GIVEAWAY

Wow! I can't believe it but I finally reached 200 followers. I appreciate all who read my blog! THANK YOU! I enjoy reading your comments. I love the teaching blogging world. Teachers are a special breed of people. I've learned so much from all of you and feel I'm a better teacher because of it. So lets have a giveaway!

P.S. I'm throwing a sale at my shops starting tonight Thursday (March 22) until Sunday night (March 25). Everything is 20% off. You can check it out at TpT or Teachers Notebook. Just click on the word.
I hope you have a great Friday!

Holidays

Well, Happy St. Patrick Day! Hope everyone survived there little ones yesterday. I had district inservice in the morning so I didn't get to be with my little ones the whole day. I know St. Patty's Day is not over yet but I've been thinking and working on Easter stuff. It's like we measure our lives from holiday to holiday. So here's what I have to share today.
1. I'm adding this cute little money egg activity to my math stations. It's very simple. All you do is put some fake plastic coins in 12 plastic eggs, write a number on each egg, print the recording sheet and poof- you have a fun money counting center.

Here is the recording sheet. Just click on the picture if you'd like a PDF. The graphics are by From the Pond and fonts are Kevin and Amanda.

2. My students all-time favorite math game is none other than BUMP! I thought they would get a little sick of it because I've made a board for every holiday but no way. They still love to play it. I created an Easter board but I made 4 different versions to share. There is addition to 12, subtraction, 3 addend addition, and addition to 18. That way you can take your pick. If you have some kiddos struggling you can use an easier variation. You can download by clicking on the picture. The graphics are from KPM Doodles, frames by From the Pond, and fonts by Kevin and Amanda.

3. One of my favorite spelling activities for this holiday is my Easter Egg Unscramble. Here is a picture of my kiddos doing it last year.

I pick 15 words and place tiles to spell each word in a plastic egg. You could print the letters on paper if you don't have the tiles. You can check tiles out here at Amazon.com just by clicking on the picture.

My kiddos go around the room and break open each egg, unscramble the tiles, write the word, put the tiles back and snap the egg together. They love it so much that I do it for 3 weeks. Yes, 3 times before Easter. One other cool thing is I don't let them talk when they are doing it. Yeah, that's my favorite part!

4. This one I can't really help you make or do. I wish I could. I'm just showing it off! It's also a favorite in my class. It's my JELLYBEAN MACHINE!

One of my sons won it at a family reunion several years ago. When he got to be a teenager he sold it to me for my class. Yeah, I raised an entrepreneur! He got $10 for it.  Anyhoo, when my kiddos are being really good, they get the 'j' sign. (Sign language for j ) That means they can go get a jellybean. The jellybean makes a really cool sound as it drops down the machine into their hand.and when the kids hear it they immediately start being good. It helps so much with that spring fever bug kids get about this time of year. It's as bad as the Christmas bug, don't you think?
I hope you found something you can use in your classroom. Thanks for stopping by! Have a great rest of the weekend.

Homophone Freebie

WOW! Holly over on her blog Crisscross Applesauce is having the giveaway of the Century. You don't want to miss this one. She's got a new look and hit 400 followers. Head on over and check it out. Just click on her button below.



We are working on homophones next week and to tell you the truth I wasn't sure the difference between homonyms and homophones. It's been a few years since I studied them in college. Did they teach them in college? So the good ole internet set me straight.
homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. Example- deer/dear
homonyms are words that have the same spelling and sound but a different meaning. Example- train (your dog) /train (choo-choo)
And then there are homographs which are words that have the same spelling but sound different and have different meanings. Example- bow (in your hair) /bow (curtsy).
So now you know! I'm sure the little firsties will really be glad don't care to know the difference. But if you're doing a lesson for your formal evaluation, now you'll know what you're talking about. Your principal will be so proud. Do ya think he/she knows the difference?
Anyhoo, here is a little sort I put together for any and all who would like it. There is also a little worksheet for some extra practice or assessment. Just click on the picture for a free download. Graphic are from Scrappin Doodles and KPM Doodles!

I'd love some feedback if anyone cares to leave a comment!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great Friday!!!

Linking party, Award, New Packets, & a Freebie!

Several things to post about so I hope you can hang in there.
1. Jeannie over on Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a great linking party. She is making a collection of K-2 blogs then she'll pin it on Pinterest. So hurry over and add your blog to her list. What a fantastic idea!

2. Thank you Chrissy over on First Grade Found Me for giving me an award!!! She has an awesome blog you really need to check out.

 This is the award she gave me! 

I'd like to pass it on to some other VERY deserving blogs.

Please check out these ladies blogs. They have super ideas and lots of freebies! 3. I posted some new packets on my shops. I hope you'll check them out.

This is part 2 of my Bossy R packet. It's only $2.50 and has some fun activities. This is a fun little Spring Math packet I put together for my math stations and it's only $4.00.

You can click on the word for a link to my shops! 

TpT or Teacher Notebook.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Wednesday!

FREE Irish Bump

I'm trying to get into the holiday spirit. Hasn't there been too many holidays lately- Dr. Seuss, Valentines, Christmas just to name a few. It seems like my firsties are always hyper because of some holiday coming up. Anywho, here is a little Irish Bump. I tried to make it more of a challenge by using 10-sided dice so they'll go up to 18. I hope someone can use it. The graphics are by KPM Doodles. I just LOVE her stuff! The frames are by From the Pond. I LOVE her stuff too. And of course the fonts are none other than Kevin and Amanda. Yeah I LOVE their stuff too! I'm so glad there are such talented artists out there because I can't even draw a circle. Directions are included. Click on the picture for a download.

Thanks for stopping by!

RAZ-KIDS and award

Oh my goodness! Our district wrote a grant and purchased RAZ-KIDS for all the K-3rd grade teachers. It is the coolest program.

My kiddos are going crazy over it. If you don't know anything about RAZ-KIDS (which I didn't) you need to check it out HERE. It is an on-line reading program. You set each students level and then they get online at school or at home and read books on their level or below. It will be great for Daily 5! They can listen to the book, read it, answer questions about the story, record themselves reading the book (which you can listen to and even take a running record of) and earn star which they spend in the rocket room. I just sent all my kiddos a personalized message after reviewing their work. I can't believe how many books they had read already. They are really pumped! I hope it lasts. Parents are VERY excited with the program too.

A BIG THANK YOU to Beth Ann at Taming my Flock of Firsties and Katie over at First is a Fairytale for giving me a blogging award. It's a pretty one too. (Make sure you check out their lovely blogs! They have great stuff to share!)

The rules are:
1. Link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers.
3. Follow the person who sent it to you.

It's always so hard for me to pass an award on because there are SO MANY lovely blogs in blog land. I'd like to give it to everyone.
Here's my list:

You really should check out these lovely blogs. There are TONS of great ideas! My how I love the blogging world. I have learned so much from all of you and I'm a much better teacher because of it.  I hope you have a great week!