New Unit Alert!

Hi everyone, 

It's that time of year, when we begin to think and plan the upcoming school year. Yes, it's been all of three days after the last day of school and I am preparing for next year's kiddies! 

What can I say, I do not wish to have anxiety looming over me all throughout my vacation! 

Here are some of my latest units!

I can't tell you how many times a day I hear the phrases: 

"Miss, I'm finished! What do I do now?"

To which I shall now respond: 

"Please take out your I HEART Writing Booklet and choose a topic to write about!"

I'm thinking this will also be great for Work on Writing!

You can check out my latest booklet right over HERE!

While you're there, you can check out a more advanced writing prompt booklet. I shall be adding fifth grade language arts teacher to my assignment next year and have been hard at work creating some new units and booklets for my future students! Don't fret, I will continue to teach the younger kiddos and will have plenty of ideas and units to share!

I absolutely love this booklet and plan on using it as a routine activity before every language arts class. The students have three to five minutes to write lists, paragraphs, stories, and more from topics ranging from their favorite sports to what they would bring to a desert island. I'm thinking this will really get their creative juices flowing before we begin each lesson. Check it out, right over HERE!

Finally, I'd like to share a little Hollywood Booklet I made for the kiddies that will tie in well with my Celebrity Literacy Centers Unit. The students can write all about their favorite celebrities, describe scenes from their very own movies and learn all about various awards and trophies that one can win. 

Come take a look right over HERE!

If you like this little booklet, you'll love my Celebrity Literacy Centers Unit as well. 

Check it out right over HERE!

Don't forget to check out my TpT store for more literacy center packages, booklets and freebies as well!

 Until next time...

Ms. Nicole xo

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Made from Scratch

Oh, blogging world! How I have missed you so!

Tomorrow shall mark the end of another fabulous school year! As always, it is quite the bittersweet emotions that come over me at this very exciting time of the year! I am looking forward to some well deserved rest, as well as vacation fun! However, my kiddies have really touched a special place in my heart and I am going to miss them!!!! 

I have not had the opportunity to blog in a while, as report cards and assessments were what I woke up to in the morning and what I saw last before I closed my eyes at night. With all that behind me, I can begin to plan some integral parts of my new theme: SAFARI! Let me tell you something friends, I have JUNGLE FEVER! This is going to be soooo much fun! I can't wait to start sharing some ideas. 

The safari craze will have to wait for now, as I have a great experience to share with you all. As most schools, my second home implements the common practice of chocolate drives for fundraising. To encourage the students to sell, the school and P.P.O have come up with an incentive program, whereby the teachers provide a unique reward for students to choose from, when they have sold a certain amount of boxes. Each teacher decides upon a reward and creates an enticing envelope to encourage the students. The rewards vary from, principal for the day to a special lunch with a teacher. The envelopes are displayed on a bulletin board and students can place their name in the envelope of their choice. Once the fundraiser has come to an end, one name is chosen from each envelope 

and the winners claim their prizes! 

Being the avid baker that I am, I chose to have a baking session with a lucky winner!

To my surprise, it turned out to be quite popular and the lucky winner (and a friend) were overjoyed to bake for their classmates. 

Here is my envelope! 

Gotta love scrappindoodles! The cute graphics really won them over!

I decided that I wanted to make this activity extra special for these kiddos and so I created a recipe sheet for each of them to follow and keep. I also made them some pretty spiffy chef hats!

Here is a sneak peak at our vanilla cupcake recipe with buttercream frosting. 

I made the students follow the recipe and they made everything themselves. They did such an amazing job and we had a fabulous time together! I definitely plan on offering the same reward next year! 

It was so much fun!

As I mentioned, I also made hats! I got the idea from, none other than, Cara Carroll over at the First Grade Parade. Stop on by and check out how she made them! Super easy and "OH, SO CUTE!" 

Here's how mine turned out!

Not gonna lie, I wore one too! We would have made any pastry chef proud!

My little chefs created some real delicious masterpieces!

What I loved most about this idea was that the students got to choose any activity with any teacher. Thus, I got to spend time with some fifth graders! 

Thanks for stopping by and I apologize for being M.I.A. for some time now!

I am currently working on many new units for next year. 

I shall be posting all about my safari theme soon and posting some new fun units on TpT! I'll be teaching math again next year so I'll have some language arts and math units!

Until next time...

Ms. Nicole

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The Sandcastle Contest

I'm back! Three days in a row! Woohoooooo!

Today the kiddies embarked on a beach adventure and took part in literacy centers. We finally got to experience my Let's Go to the Beach literacy pack! I love getting feedback about how much fun your kiddies are having with this unit and now I can also say that my munchkins are enjoying these activities too! If you haven't already checked it out stop by my TPT store and take a look at my

Let's Go to the Beach Unit. It's great for the end of the year, summer programs and even a cute welcome back at the beginning of the school year! 

Alongside the literacy activities included in the package, I added 2 extra centers. I chose some beach themed books for the students to listen to over at our listening center. If you don't have many books on tape or cd, you can always record yourself reading the story books. 

The kiddies get a real kick out of that!

I also added an art component. As I've mentioned in previous posts, we are working on a reader's theater production of The Sandcastle Contest by Robert Munsch, so we decided to make sandcastles as part of our "set design." As usual, I gave the kiddies some templates on card stock and let them trace the pieces on various "sand colored" construction paper. I think they turned out great! 

Can't wait to put them up! 

Grab yourself a free copy of the sandcastle template right over here!

Until next time...

Ms. Nicole xo

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Time for a Swim!

Hi friends,

I'm back, a second day in a row! I'm busier than ever, yet I'm finding more time to blog! Go figure! Today was a cold one in Montreal, however the kiddies really wanted to go swimming! So we did!

As usual, I gave the kiddies a template on card stock (Guess what! I'm giving it to you too!) and they traced the swimwear onto their preferred color of construction paper. I don't know if I've ever mentioned (I'm sure you all do this anyway) but I always make a model and place it on the board. I also make several copies of the template, so as to keep the peace! I usually make about 6 for a class of 20. It's a good number. They never finish the writing portion at the same time, 

so there is always at least one template available. 

I think these turned out darling! The kiddies did such a great job! My favorite little touch is the shoelace drawstring on the swimming trunks. I simply purchased shoelaces at the dollar store, made a bow, and used my hot glue gun to stick them on! Cute right?!?!

Grab yourself the SWIMMING TRUNKS

Don't forget the SWIMSUIT 

Until next time...

Ms. Nicole xo

 

6

Digging in the Sand

Good Morning Everyone,

It's been a week since I've last blogged and I've missed you all so much! I can only imagine that you must all be going through the same busy, hectic, crazy schedule as I am and probably haven't had much time to blog either! There are exactly 14 school days left for us and I am getting quite excited to welcome summer vacation! Lots of great stuff planned for my vacation time!!!! Of course, I will be planning for next year as well (which is also exciting!). 

As mentioned in previous posts, we have completed an ocean theme and are now at the beach! We are working on a reader's theater production and updating our writing folders. The parents will be coming in for a fun day of theater and portfolio revisions. They have also been invited in on the last day of school for a picnic! While we prepare for these wonderful events, we have been turning our classroom into a veritable beach! 

Here is our latest addition...

The kiddies went digging in the sand and you wouldn't believe the things they found to put in their pails! Flowers, Legos, crabs, shells, ice cream, broken umbrellas... What an imagination...

I simply printed the templates on card stock, cut them out and let the kiddies trace them onto constructions paper. 

Grab yourself some free templates!

pail

shovel

stationary

Until next time...

Ms. Nicole

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