B2S Blogger Product Swap

I am super excited to be participating in this year's...

Special thanks to Cara from Creative Playground for
organizing this year's product swap!

I was even MORE excited to learn that I was paired with my super, sweet blogging buddy Jessica from Joy in the Journey. Jessica is a dedicated and faith-filled, fifth-grade teacher who is passionate about teaching, her students, and the products that she creates. Jessica invited me to "shop" her TpT store and select the product that I would like as a swap. Oh my! She has so many wonderful items, it was not an easy task. Here is what I finally chose, an activity to help my 5th and 6th grade kiddos with their study of figurative language.

The Horsing Around with Hyperbole packet includes:

• Hyperbole Poster

Great to use as the skill is introduced or as an anchor chart.
It could be miniaturized and placed in an interactive notebook for reference.

• Hyperbole Student Note Sheet

Perfect for use in an interactive notebook
and to aid students in listening skills during a lesson,
focusing on the main ideas and important points.

• Hyperbole Task Cards (20)

Attractive and easy to read, each contains a kid familiar example.
The cards can be used in a literacy center, for a scavenger hunt, or for a game of Scoot.

• Student Tracking Sheet

Convenient for students to use, especially as part of a literacy center
since Jessica provides a place for a score and reference to self-checking using the answer key.

• Answer Key

Easy to read and a perfect addition for a self-checking literacy center.
The answer key is identical to the tracking sheet, making it super simple for students to
check their work with ease.

• Heaping Hyperbole Poem Activity

Students are asked to read Shel Silverstein's poem "Sarah Cynthia Slyvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" which is RICH in hyperbole. They are then asked to explain why this poem relates to hyperbole, requiring them to use application skills.

• Heaping Hyperbole Visualization and Re-call activity

Related to the Shel Silverstein poem activity, students are required to demonstrate
recall of material they have read, taking this from a figurative language activity,
into a basic comprehension skill practice. As a teacher, I appreciate integration of multiple skills
in a singular product... more bang for your buck!

• Hyperbole or Not? Worksheet

Jessica provides further practice with more examples of hyperbole
for students to identify, this time with a little coloring involved. This page is perfect
for individual assessment as an in class paper or for simple review for homework.

• Answer Key

Jessica conveniently includes an answer key for the independent practice activity as well.
This addition allows the activity to be part of a literacy center as well.

Horsing Around with Hyperbole is chock-full of great activities that provide whole class, small group, and individual learning experiences for third through sixth graders especially. It can be used for practicing multiple skills besides simply identifying hyperbole: note taking, reading comprehension, writing, and listening. I can NOT wait to try this out with my Language Arts classes this coming school year. I think you should try it, too!

Please be sure to stop over at Jessica's blog, Joy in the Journey, where she will be describing and reviewing my item for the blogger product swap: Fall Scoot Prepositional Phrases. If you like what you read, hop over to my TpT store where you will be able to download this fun and engaging Scoot game for half-price now through Aug. 3, 2014. 

Then make sure that you visit all the other blogs below for more great products to use throughout your school year.

An InLinkz Link-up

While you're hopping around to all the great teacher blogs and checking out all the terrific teacher products available in their TpT Stores, you might want to build up your TpT wishlist. The Back to School Teachers Pay Teachers Sale is coming soon. Now is the time to grab all those TpT items that you've been wanting for a substantial savings, up to 28% off when you use the special promo code at checkout! WOW! Just in time for a brand new school year.

Let's SCOOT into Throwback Thursday

Are you ready? Let's SCOOT on into...

What is Throwback Thursday? How does it work, you might ask? Simply look through your PURR-fect Previous Posts, perhaps a particular favorite of yours, and re-post it! Then add the TBT badge to your post and include your link below! Purr-fectly easy and simple! Your post doesn't have to be from LOOOONNNGGG ago; it can be from last month. And if you don't have a post to share, perhaps an old photo or two from WAY BACK will do! Even a favorite pin is PURR-fect! Just join in the Throwback fun!

Scoot is one of my students' all-time favorite classroom activities. One year ago I had NEVER heard of this "game" which is technically not a game but rather a method of practicing academic skills. Scoot is SO much fun, students think of it as a game. If you are not familiar with Scoot, HERE is a great explanation from Task Card Corner.

Here is my TBT offering for this week, originally appearing on The Teacher's Desk 6 on October 29, 2013...

The teacher who teaches fourth grade Language Arts also happens to teach fifth grade Science. She needed the fifth graders for an extended time today so they could do some hands-on science stations about animal adaptations. The only time in the schedule that we could conjure up was when I normally had the fifth graders for Language Arts. However, my sixth graders were with another teacher who was administering a social studies test to them soooooo...... I took the fourth graders for Language Arts.

What to do at the last minute? SCOOT, of course! The fourth graders had been studying nouns and verbs, particularly as subjects and predicates. I decided to ramp it up a bit for them and add adjectives into the mix.

I started by sharing one of my new favorite books: Bats at the Library by Brian Lies.

With the predictable rhyming text, the fourth graders were quickly chiming in and helping me to read. After the first reading, we went back, extracting nouns and matching words that described them... ADJECTIVES. Next we brainstormed all the adjectives that we could think of to describe HALLOWEEN NIGHT, and what a list it was! We then used the words in sentences, noting nouns and verbs as well as adjectives. Then finally we played SCOOT wherein they practiced identifying nouns, verbs, and adjectives in sentences.

They caught on quickly and really enjoyed the activity! So much so that they asked to come back again SOON! I think it might have had something to do with the cool orange paper that I gave them to write on... LOL!

If you haven't tried Scoot yet with your students, this school year is a time to give it a whirl. Grab some flashcards, a set of task cards, or stop by my TpT Store for a pre-made set and get your kiddos SCOOT-ing into some fun skills practice!

Now it's your turn to throwback!

First a  throwback, now let's Blast Off for a TpT sale! Just in time for Back to School. Spend the next few days shopping and building your wishlists. You'll be able to stock up on terrific teaching items while saving up to 28% off your entire bill when you use the special promo code at checkout.

Wordless Wednesday

Guess what? It's time for...

Can you guess what back-to-school item I am crazy about? 

Do you have a particular favorite?

Be sure to stop by Sugar and Spice to see all the fun Wordless Wednesday posts. I look forward to this linky each week, spending time during the day visiting various bloggers and leaving messages on their posts. It's a great way to spend a lazy summer day.

Are you ready for tomorrow?

Two for Tuesday

Time to join The Teaching Tribune for...

This week I've chosen two products that are perfect for setting up a homework or behavior management system in your classroom.

Contained in this packet are 5 pre-programmed punch cards and 5 editable punch cards with 7, 14, or 20 punches. Use the punch cards to track student behavior and provide rewards. When a student performs the behavior you are seeking, punch a space on his/her card. When the student earns a particular number of punches he/she receives a reward.

These punch cards are larger in size than typical ones. They easily fit in a pencil pouch or toolbox and are harder to lose or misplace. 

The brag tags referred to on the pre-programmed punch cards are simply small cards with positive messages. Brags tags are a little like trading cards; they are sometimes called behavior beads. Students collect them and store them on a metal ring, cord, or thin chain. They are a visible/concrete symbol of student success and achievement, something a student can brag about. There are several styles of these available on Teachers Pay Teachers. A simple search using “brag tag” or “behavior beads” will lead you to them. A few are even free. I have MANY sets available in my TpT store, some which even coordinate with these punch cards. You can read more about brag tags HERE.

The blank punch cards are editable. You are able to add your own text and graphics and determine your own goals and rewards. Simply use the “insert” feature. Then select “text box” or “picture or clip art.” I have included text boxes on each blank card for you to begin with. You are free to use your choice of font(s) and graphics. However, please be respectful of copyright. To purchase these punch cards TODAY for only one dollar, please click HERE.

Similar to the above product is this.

Contained in this packet are 10 pre-programmed homework punch cards and 10 editable (any subject) punch cards each containing spaces for 20 punches. The cards contained are for Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Spring, Patriotic, and Summer. These are available TODAY for only $1.50 by clicking HERE.

Be sure to stop by The Teaching Tribune for more great Two For Tuesday deals on terrific teaching items.

Also, don't forget what happens in two days. Be sure to come back and share your PURR-fect posts, pics, and pins.

Monday Made It Double Take

Another Monday has rolled around so it is time for...

I titled this post "Double Take" since I  made not one but TWO of the same item. It started out looking like this, plain gray...

... to which I added some colorful paint that adheres to plastic.

I made some labels in a matching color scheme. This took a little bit of doing, trial and error, for the correct sizing, but it wasn't long before I had them completed...

... and ready to put on the drawers. I used double sided tape and placed the labels on the outside of the drawers. This will allow for easy removal and replacement.

When I was finished I had not one but two custom teacher toolkits, one for my supplies and one for all of my brag tags, punch cards, tickets, and coupons.

Be sure to stop by Tara's blog, 4th Grade Frolics, to see all the other great Monday Made Its created by crafty teacher bloggers.

BUT WAIT!!!! Speaking of Made Its... My sweet bloggy friend Lisa from Mrs. Spangler in the Middle has made it to her first blogiversary! CONGRATULATIONS! In celebration she is throwing a wingding of a giveaway from today through August 1, 2014, with prizes furnished by these teacher bloggers.

Be sure to stop by Lisa's blog to enter to win one (or all) of the four prize packages!!!

Ingredients for Teaching Faith-fuel-ly

Many of you are familiar with Christina from Sugar and Spice. She is the hostess of the ever popular Wordless Wednesday weekly linky that so many of you, including me, enjoy so much. Christina recently wrote about how she chose the name for her blog by thinking about the most important thing (quality) that a teacher needs to possess. She couldn't choose just one, after all a teacher needs lots of things mixed together, like all the ingredients that go into a cake... sugar and spice and everything nice!

Christina is inviting all teacher bloggers to share our own teaching ingredients via a special linky party.

Most of the ingredients in my teaching are fairly self-explanatory. However, I do want to point out the cross in the center. The cross is a symbol representing The Lord. The Lord is at the center of all that do, but especially at the center of my teaching. I am blessed to teach in a Catholic school where I can freely let my faith shine, and I can incorporate my beliefs in all my lessons.

Because my faith is an important part of my teaching ingredients, I am also joining my sweet, bloggy friend Jessica from Joy in the Journey for her special weekly linky.

Some of the ways that I am able to incorporate my faith within my teaching are by creating worksheets, activities, and teaching aids that contain faith-filled elements. How many of you use grouping cards when you ask your students to work in cooperative groups? The grouping cards that I will be using this coming year all contain pictures of Biblical characters (the clip art characters are designed by Edu-clips). If you are interested in learning more about these cute cards and how to use them, please click HERE.

I also will be doing a CURRENTLY activity with my students each month that includes elements of our faith. Currently is a favorite weekly/monthly activity for many bloggers, both teaching and non-teaching. It is a great activity for students to generate ideas, practice introspection, and broaden their thinking capabilities. Here is the first CURRENTLY that I will be using with my students when we return to school in mid-August.

You'll notice that one of the elements to which I'm asking students respond is PRAYING. Prayer is an extremely important part of my students' day. You'll also notice that the image (designed by Charlotte's Clips) is that of Jesus. What better way to start back to school? If you'd like a copy of this particular CURRENTLY, simply click HERE. This Back to School page is a FREEBIE, but if you'd like to learn more about the rest of the months, please click HERE.

I hope that you will stop by Sugar and Spice and Joy in the Journey to read more about what ingredients it takes to teach and about how our faith impacts our daily lives. If you are interested in other faith-filled teaching items, please visit my TpT store where you will find additional items, including more freebies. And if you are in search of even more freebies, be sure to check out Freebie Friday. You won't be sorry that you did!