Jumpstart January Blog Hop and $50 Target Gift Card Giveaway

My Lesson Delicatessen friends and I wanted to make sure that you were set and ready to get back in action with your students, so we are giving you the Jumpstart January Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY.  Follow through each of our 10 posts for an AMAZING FREEBIE, personal blog giveaway, and at our final stop, enter to win our $50 Target gift card giveaway and find the links to all of our $1 deals! 

My January always seems like a bit of a blur...the students come back from the break tired, but excited, and I need to get them right back into the swing of things because we have a TON to accomplish!  In order to meet their needs to share, along with my needs as a persistent teacher, we begin with writing.

Jumpstart your January with Me...in 2015!  This self-relection writing resource will engage your students and encourage them to get right back into the swing of things.
 
When my students return from the winter break inspiring them can be very overwhelming tricky.  They have been out of the school routine for just long enough to need redirection and motivation.
In addition the school year is almost half over, and I want to engage my students and get them thinking about what they are hopeful to accomplish in this New Year, but remaining time of the current school year.  I often refer to my students at this point in time as 6 ½ graders!  So I created this Me…in 2015! resource.

Directions...
This writing resource is a tool I print out for each student, hole-punch, and help them navigate through to complete.  It is a tool that we then place in our writing binders as a reflection of what we hope to accomplish. Grab it here and check out the other great uses...

Here are a few more perfect ELA resources to Jumpstart January in your classroom for only $1...

 

  

Enter my giveaway and then check out another amazing FREEBIE from my Lesson Deli friend, Karen, and the other grab and go resources from my other teacher friends.  Best wishes for 2015!

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and here's how it went! Unwrap a Party Ball!

What fun did you have with your students this week?  I am a Pinterest fanatic!  I find that any type of inspiration, event, recipe, paint color, birthday idea, house design, bathroom remodel, etc...can be found on this wonderland of a site.  It didn't fail me this week as I was looking for a really fun game to share at my son, Brennan's, holiday classroom party.

I had pinned this a while back, but was waiting to implement it in my classroom or in one of my own kiddo's.  This past weekend, I purchased all of the goodies and put it together.  Because I was shopping with an almost two-year old and five-year old, I was just throwing the materials in my basket.  You can likely save lots of money if you plan ahead and grab the goodies when they are on sale.  Just a tip, Walgreens does not have the cheapest candy or office supplies!

Here is what I used:
4-bags of treats (I chose Laffy Taffy, Smarties, Nerds and candy canes because they are nut-free)
1-bag of bouncy balls
1-bag of holiday erasers
1-box of Saran Wrap
2-rolls of mailing tape (it is sturdy)
-invisible tape to hold treats in place
1-Ring Pop for the center

I started with the Ring Pop and then just kept layering on the Saran Wrap and goodies.  My son claimed that I made it too hard with so much tape, but those kiddos had a blast tearing and pulling.  I stopped when it was about the size of a soccer ball. It took me about 30-minutes from start to finish!

How To Play:

1. Put the kids in a circle on the floor.
2. I used 3-dice as I wanted it to be pretty fast-paced so I kept their attention for the 10-minute game time.
3. I gave the ball to the person with the closest birthday to Christmas.
4. Then the person to their right had the dice.
5. The person with the ball got to tear at it until the dice roller rolled a double.  As soon as a double was rolled, it was passed to the roller.  
6. The dice kept moving and the ball kept passing.
7. I had them roll in a little plastic container so the dice stayed contained.
8. With three dice the chance of rolling doubles was higher, so the game moved quickly keeping everyone's interest.
9. Students got to keep the candy they pulled out and eat at a later time.

Let the fun begin!

Fun was definitely had by all and I would totally do this again!  High-interest and fast-paced.  Perfect for keeping enthusiastic kiddos' attention.

I would love to hear about fun party games in your classroom!  Keep me posted!

Christmas Sales Linky Day 5: An editing tool to save your writers!

Day 5!  Instead of 5 golden rings, I share with you A TOOL FOR BETTER WRITERS! Even better, right!  Use this as a morning starter or in your literacy center to enhance student writing.  You students will become better at capitalizing, punctuating, and editing their own and peer written work.

Click the image for an even more elaborate description and to grab this great resource for only $5.

Here are a few more $5 deals from my generous teacher friends...

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas Sales Linky: Day 4! Writing and Word Work for Daily 5 in your Classroom

Sing it with me...

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me resources to help writing and vocabulary!

For only $4 each!

If you are looking for easy-to-implement tools for when you return from winter break, these are two must-haves.  Get right down to business with student writing with Writing Rules.  This resource incorporates ALL writing standards for grades 4-6.  Word of the Day is the perfect way to bring more vocabulary to your students in minutes a day.  Use as a morning starter or in a literacy center. 

For a bazillion other $4 resources, click the image to head to The Primary Gal's page for all links.

Christmas Sales Linky: Day 3! SUPER HOLIDAY FUN!

On the third day of Christmas, I don't want to get up because I know my students are going to be wild and crazy! 

It is going to be an exciting week, for sure!  Grab this Holiday Bundle for $3 and make the week engaging and fun for your students...my holiday season mantra is, "If you can't beat'em, join'em!"  With three reader's theater scripts and fun packs, plus word work, reader response questions, and journaling/writing, your students will be so engaged with learning they might even forget that Christmas is next week!

Here are some other $3 goodies to make your week fly by, sort of!

An InLinkz Link-up

Classroom Party Game! "UNWRAP A PARTY" BALL...

Holiday parties are events that students really look forward to at EVERY age. Even my 6th graders LOVE celebrating holidays with one another throughout the course of the year.  I am one of those teachers that loves to have fun, too!  It can be a bit pricey and time-consuming to coordinate it all, however!

I am ALWAYS on the hunt for new ideas...I have seen this "UNWRAP A PARTY" BALL idea on Pinterest and decided that I HAVE to give this a try.  Because I have the fun task of planning, organizing, and implementing a game at my son's third grade classroom holiday party, I thought this was the perfect time.  So here is a very simple "how-to create" this and I will keep you posted on how it all goes down...

I bought the following items:

• Saran Wrap-200 sq ft.
• Clear Mailing Tape
• clear tape 
• 1-Ring Pop 
• 2-bags of candy (Smarties and Laffy Taffy) due to peanut allergies
• 1-box of candy canes
• 3-bags of holiday erasers and bouncy balls

To CREATE:

1. use Ring Pop for the center/core
2. wrap a layer of Saran Wrap and tape 
3. tape candy or trinkets to the Saran Wrap
4. layer over the candy/trinkets with more Saran Wrap
5. tape over that with the Mailing Tape
6. repeat until you run out of goodies or until your ball is the size of a soccer or basketball

Supplies for creating!

Almost complete!

How to PLAY:

1. Students will sit in a small group.  The student with the birthday closest to Christmas goes first.  Then the game goes in a clock-wise order.
2. The first student will roll a pair of dice.  In order to begin trying to unwrap the ball, the player with the dice must roll doubles.  Once the player with the dice rolls any doubles, he may begin unwrapping the ball.
3. The player may continue trying to unwrap the ball until the next player rolls doubles.  Each treat that is acquired can be kept by the student that unwrapped it.  
4. The ball continues to be passed around and the dice are rolled until the teacher calls time.

I wrapped this things up REALLY well, so it will be pretty challenging to get to each and every layer.  I will keep you posted on how this goes!  Please share any games you love to play with your middle grades to upper elementary students.

Christmas Sales Linky: Day 2!

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, the best two dollar close reads.

If you are planning on doing test prep after the holidays or could use some resources to spruce up student reading homework, grab this today at $2.

 

Get your students thinking, problem-solving, and writing!

This bundle is ideal for a classroom scoot, independent or small group work, or in a literacy center.

These resources are also perfect gifts for colleagues that teach ELA. Also be sure to check out my holiday reader's theater for just $1.  A great resource to share with rambunctious students that are excited for the holidays.  Keep them working, focused. and engaged this week.

12 Days of Christmas Sales Linky

For the next 12 days I will be featuring different products each day at DEEPLY discounted prices to get you even more in the holiday spirit, or so you can have fantastic resources ready to go when your holiday break is over.  Nothing says, I love you like a good deal, right?!

So stay tuned for the next 12 days to find some AMAZING deals. Day 12 starts with $1 deals, Day 11 will feature $2 deals, Day 10 will feature $3 deals, and so on until Christmas Eve. 

Without further adieu, here goes...On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...ALL OF THESE ONE DOLLAR DEALS!

Make planning for the next week SIMPLE!  Click on the image to grab it for $1:

 

Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out what you can snag for just $2.

Click The Primary Gal's image to find more great $1 deals...

Giving Back to Norwood Connection

As teachers we may feel like we are overstretched very often.  It is times like these where we need to take a step back and realize how grateful we truly are for what we have.  Our time may be of the essence, but we have love, health, family, shelter, food, clothing, and the other essentials and not-so-essentials to get us through our trying days.

I have taught my entire teaching career in schools where: the majority,75%+ of students were on free or reduced lunch, many parents struggled to provide proper clothing for the cold-weather seasons, and where I provided students with the school supplies they needed to learn.  It is eye-opening, to say the least.  As a teacher in this type of school setting, you want to help every student and work to improve their situation.

I have had the privilege and honor to work with one of the most generous individuals.  Having taught 6th grade for many years and seeing the struggles of our building families, my teammate, Christian, began a non-profit called Norwood Connection.  Norwood Connection’s mission is to assist families classified as working poor who are under stress and who have children in the Norwood City School District.

I could go on for days about all of the things that Christian and his wife, Randi, have done for the families of our school district community...providing beds for kiddos that have slept on the hard wooden floors for far too long, getting the necessary strollers, car seats, and cribs to a mom of twins in need, providing a stove so a family could eat warm meals...his work is tireless and incredible.  He is always seeking out donations and working toward getting one more family back on their feet.  In fact Christian is the kind of guy that could convince you to give him the shirt off your back because someone he knows is more in need.  He is truly able to make AMAZING things happen for these families.

While I have donated baby items that are no longer needed in my household, I would like to do more.  On Sunday, December 14th, I will be donating 50% of my TpT store profits to Norwood Connection.  Please help me in making that amount be as great of a donation as it can be.

Thanks in advance and take a look at all of my other GENEROUS teacher friends...

An InLinkz Link-up

Unwrap a Gift Linky Party

I am one who is always in search of the perfect tools to enhance my students' writing skills.  It doesn't get any more fun or easy than this perfect DRAW, WRITE, and SHARE resource.

Draw, Write and Share is writing made EASY...Simply share the prompt, students create an illustration based on the prompt, students write about their illustration following the prompt, and then they share what they have drawn and written to enhance speaking skills.

Here is my Gift to YOU...

Inspiration…
Writing can be a challenge for students no matter what grade. When I did a Photo of the Day prompt for my 6th graders, many of my students thrived. They had an entire story to tell about the image displayed before them. However, with my intervention crew I found that this seemingly “fun” way of writing, was not fun because my very literal thinkers struggled to infer and tell a narrative about the displayed image. This is the RTI resource I created to help my students write based on the image they create FIRST, and then write about when they are finished their illustration. This writing source can be used for Daily 5 writing, in a writing center, as a morning starter, as enrichment/intervention, or as an “I’m finished, now what should I do?” activity.

Materials…
1. Writing Notebook or Writing Binder
2. Draw, write, and share prompt either displayed or printed
3. Loose-leaf paper and copy paper for student work if the Draw, Write, Share is not printed out for students.
4. Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
5. A partner or small group for “Read to Someone” or share time when the Draw, Write, Share is completed.

Directions…
1. Model with your students how to draw, write, and then share.
2. Select the Draw, Write, Share and copy or display for student use.
3. Give students enough time to work~20-40 minutes to complete their writing. Modify time as needed.
4. Evaluate how you see fit. Sample rubrics are shared.

Working on the Flyer for Holiday Prompt #1

Whole Product Contents Include:
Draw, Write, and Share Problem Based Journal product includes:
- (20)-Print and Go Journal Prompts
-(4) Rubrics to evaluate student writing
-A sample prompt to model the process for students
-(42)-pages of journal prompts with drawing space and a journaling paper for quick printing and student use

This product can be utilized in multiple ways...

1. Simply copy the prompt pages and have students cut and glue them to the top of notebook paper. Students can then respond with their illustrations and writing.

2. Print the entire ink-friendly product, hole punch, and place in a three-ring binder or folder for students to utilize as a journal.

3. Use as a whole class, small group, or literacy center writing activity.

4. Use how you see most fit with your students.

Holiday FREEBIE: Two prompts with drawing and journaling pages.

Simply print out the pages for students to read the prompt, create their problem based illustration, and then respond to the prompt.  Or for a page-saver, print out the prompts, and have students tape them to loose-leaf paper.

Copy saving option...

If you are having trouble getting your students to connect with their writing, this is the ideal tool for you to share.

Grab the whole product here...

 

Happy Holidays from my family to yours! 

Click the Primary Gal's image to check out some other AMAZING gifts to make your life easier this December...