Plan this field trip NOW!!!!

Today we had the best (and easiest!) field trip ever! In fact, we did not even leave the classroom!

Cisco, a certified therapy dog, came to visit all of the third graders at our school today!

Cisco’s owner, Terri Hancock, was so kind to provide our students with a FREE in- school field trip! Terri is the program director over at the Naperville Humane Society. This humane society holds a special place in our hearts! Remember in March when these girls were selling duct tape pens as a fundraiser for the shelter?

Well, that really inspired them to continuing showing empathy and compassion towards animals. After a few phone calls of talking with Terri, we scheduled a time for her to come and talk with our third graders. We sent home a permission slip, which listed the “wish list items” for the society. Ask and you shall receive! Look at what our students brought for the donations:

AMAZING!!!! Dog food, toys, leashes, litter, towels, paper towels, money!!!

The janitor, several students and staff members had to help Terri load all the donations into her (luckily!) big car.

Is this not the cutest picture ever??? Look at Cisco keeping a close eye on his owner during the presentation!!!

The kids **LOVED** every minute of it!!!! They all got to give Cisco quick pet on the way out!

Again, look at Cisco! Still looking at his owner! So sweet!!!!

I ***HIGHLY*** recommend that you call your local humane society or animal shelter. This was a wonderful opportunity for the students to learn about service, compassion, and empathy!

Cisco and Terri-  Thank you so much for the wonderful presentation!!!

Common Core with Camilla Cream! (and a FREEBIE!!)

A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon was our…

for the past month!!

During the mini lessons for reading workshop, Camilla was our inspiration for identifying character traits and quoting the text to prove our thinking.

We identified the theme of A Bad Case of Stripes- LOVE who you are!!!

We identified examples of cause and effect relationships throughout the story, finding using the text to support our thinking.

And we identified the author’s purpose for writing the story…again, we used the text to support our thoughts!

We then celebrated, as we do for all of our reading workshop units, with an adorable art project!

We just finished our new file:

Common Core with Camilla Cream: 10 anchor charts and reading response graphic organizers

And now for the freebie…

Please click on one of the pages of the freebie above, or click HERE to download the file for free. We hope you enjoy it!

A **HUGE** thank you to Michelle, from 3AM Graphics, for creating the adorable Camilla! Thank you, Michelle!

The first two people who comment will get the entire file for free! Who is your favorite book character? (Don’t forget to leave your email address!)

Teacher Appreciation Giveaway Winners Announced

Thanks to all who entered our week long Teacher Appreciation Giveaway Bonanza!!

Here's who the winners are...

Math Ski-Ball:
Briawna

Bubble Pop! Grades 1-2:
Kimberly Obenauer


Bubble Pop!  Grades 3-4:
Karen Ganon


Pencil Sharpener 1:
Chris Steller

Pencil Sharpener 2:
Karen


$25 Teachershirts.com gift certificate:
Amy Satterfield


Measuring Penny book:
Frances Jean Owen Kelley

Winners...if we have not already contacted you, please email us ASAP so that we can mail you your goodies! Congrats! :)

Day 6 Giveaway

I *ADORE* this book! My students ADORE this book!

Imagine my surprise when I discovered the author, Loreen Leedy, sells her own teaching resources on Teachers Pay Teachers! How awesome to be selling among such *famous!* authors! When I contacted Loreen about our teacher appreciation giveaway week, she was more than happy to offer one autographed book of Measuring Penny for a very lucky reader!

This book actually was the inspiration for hosing a paw-riffic paw-ty with my third graders, in which they used their stuffed animals to rotate to different measurement math stations. Can you guess what we first measured!?!? Yep, their pet’s height! But…more on that later!

Oh! Here is the link to Loreen’s TpT shop below- you will like what you see! :)

Good luck!

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Day 5 Giveaway

We've teamed up with TeacherShirts.com for a great giveaway today! 

We visited their website and ordered 7 T-shirts for some of our teacher friends. They just arrived in the mail a couple of days ago and look how cute they are!!!

The picture does not show the quality of these t-shirts- they are adorable and awesome!!!!

I surprised two of my teacher friends with a t-shirt for teacher appreciation week and they loved them! You might recognize Becky (on the left) from Dots-N-Spots!?!  I appreciate that she helped me keep my "keep calm and teach on" motto this year. Kelly, on the right, teaches right next store to me. I think we pop into each other's room at least 10 times a day...like I said we are RIGHT next door! Having coworkers as friends makes any job more special!
  

I *LOVE* the rhinestone shirts!!!!

 

And they don't just sell your typical teacher shirts!  They have ones for every educational profession including early childhood, principals, technology, lunch room workers, and more.  Not only are their shirts cute, but they are reasonably priced with the majority of them running between $18 and $23. 

And, for all you 2nd grade teachers out there...the rhinestone one below is only $12:

 

 

Today's giveaway is for a $25 gift certificate to TeacherShirts.com!

 

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling us the funniest gift you've every gotten from a student. I will start- my funniest gift was a toe ring. Yes, a toe ring.

Be sure to leave your email address!

 

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Day 4 Giveaway

Soooo excited about this one!

Troy, a teacher and also founder of Classroom Friendly Supplies, is so kind and is donating *TWO* pencil sharpeners for our giveaway today! That's right...two winners!

I don't know who appreciates this pencil sharpener more in my classroom- me or my students? I actually discovered this sharpener because my coworker was using this with her third graders. I noticed that she never had a looong line in the morning to sharpen pencils and now I know why! This sharpener rocks!!!!

Highlights of this sharpener:
* QUIET, I mean QUIET!!!!!!
* EASY TO USE!!!!!
*Automatic stopping once the pencil point is created- no more over-sharpening!
* Very sturdy
* It is portable or you can mount it
* This sharpener comes in a pack of three for only $53.97

It is short and sweet to enter below...

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We are choosing two winners! Good luck!

Day 3 Giveaway

If you liked the look of the Bubble Pop! Math Challenge Interactive Game for first and second graders yesterday, but you teach third or fourth grade...then this version from Lakeshore Learning is for you!

Bubble Pop! Math Challenge Interactive Games - Gr. 3-4
In this interactive game, students race to solve skill-building math problems in 4 different categories by popping bubbles that show the correct answers—before they splash into the pond! To play the excitement-filled game, kids choose a category & subskill from the menu…then pop the correct bubbles to build essential math skills—from multiplication & division to rounding & fractions! Kids earn points to progress through 8 levels of play, and with each level they unlock, the challenge increases—along with the fun! Best of all, the game lets you create & save a profile for every student in your class, so kids can stop & start whenever they want—and teachers can check kids’ skills & scores anytime! Software includes printable assessments & personalized reports. Compatible with Windows operating systems, as well as Mac OS X 10.6 and higher.

To enter this giveaway, follow our blog!  Let us know if you are a new or current follower.

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