Time to Hit the Ice!

Hello Everyone,

You will never believe this but the weather has gone from -27'C to 8'C! Yippeee! Although I am super duper excited, I know that unfortunately it wont last for very long! :(

Speaking of excited, I am also thrilled that the lockout is over AND Hockey is Back! I am from Canada, after all! My kiddies, of course, are huge NHL fans and so we celebrated the return of the game with some sweet little stories and crafts.

LOOOOOOOVE these little guys and girls! Some students chose to create hockey players, while others opted for figure skaters. I just love how they always manage to make each craft their own! Never two the same! They are sooo creative, and theirs stories... WOW!

This little kiddo is supporting the home team. Go Habs Go!

We had a blast and are also working on writing letters to a classmate who changed schools before the holiday break. These are of course great ways for us to overcome our winter blues! Hopefully Spring is not too far around the corner?!

If you want to make skaters with your little ones, check out my Let's Hit the Rink Craftivity right HERE!

This 37 page pack includes:

- templates to make a skater and/or hockey player
- 5 writing stationary printables
- spelling helpers (skating/hockey words)
- spelling center (with color word cards and black and white recording sheet)
- memory game (with color word cards and black and white recording sheets)
- describe the skater activity (with color skater cards and black and white recording sheets)

You can get more details about this craftivity right HERE!

Happy Hockey Season!

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Love is in the Air...

Hello Sweet Friends,

I spent this glorious Sunday with my best friend: My mama! I love her to pieces and had a wonderful day chatting, sipping coffee, shopping, and enjoying a nice meal together. Given my lovey-dovey mood, I thought I'd share my Valentine's Day Units with all of you!

I just love Valentine's Day. I love the cheesiness of it all, I love making valentines with the kiddies and dressing up in pink and red all day! 

Here are my two packs for VDAY!

Valentine's Day "BE Mine" Literacy and Math Centers Pack

It’s time to celebrate the day of love and what better way to do so then with some colorful and engaging literacy and math centers. Your students will love learning new vocabulary and spelling words and taking part in various Valentine’s Day activities. This 71 page package includes:

valentine word wall (32 words)3 writing stationary templates1 acrostic poem1 spelling center (includes recording sheet)1 ABC order center (includes recording sheet)1 dictionary center (includes recording sheet)1 bingo center1 less than/greater than center (includes recording sheet)1 number sequencing center (includes recording sheet)1 pattern center (includes recording sheet)1 double-digit addition worksheet (without regrouping)1 double-digit addition worksheet (with regrouping)1 double-digit subtraction worksheet (without regrouping)1 double-digit subtraction worksheet (with regrouping)2 word wall activity sheets1 word search

You can check this out right over HERE!

I also made a little Love'Bot! He can only function if you write about all the things you love!

It's a Love'Bot (A Valentine's Day Craftivity)

Valentine's Day is all about friendship and love! Why not celebrate by sharing all about your favorite things and all that you love. Your students will adore making their Love 'Bot "work" by writing about all the things that they love inside his belly. This 26 page pack includes:

- templates for creating the Love 'Bot
- "I Love" activity sheets (one draft and one final copy for the 'Bot)
- 4 spelling helpers
- Describe-a-Bot activity (including color robot cards and blackline recording sheet)
- 3 writing stationary templates
- 1 robot word search
- 1 robot acrostic poem

You can check it out right over HERE!

You can also grab these packs together in a bundle right over HERE!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

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Let's Give Them The Tools To Become Better Writers!

Hi Everyone, 

So glad to be back after only a short few days! I hope you are all doing well! Aside from the cold, I can't complain! It is not letting up. Instead of getting warmer it's only getting colder and colder. Tonight, as I prepare to venture back out to go to a work meeting, I shall face the -40 C weather. "Sigh"

(it really does need to be in large font!)

At least the kiddies and I have been having fun. We are rocking writer's workshop and loving every minute of it. As, I've mentioned in my last few posts, the kiddies are really starting to develop their writing skills so I thought it might be time to further advance their progress by introducing an adjective and verb word wall to our writing lessons. 

I created these little treasures to encourage my awesome writers to include more detail, description, action, and adventure into their stories. And, guess what!! You can too! You can grab yourself a free copy of each of these babies over at my TpT store!

Grab this freebie right over HERE!

And this freebie over HERE!

I placed the verb word wall right by the classroom door. We often line up and wait for the next teacher to come and pick up the munchkins for their next class and I thought that we could pick a word and actually DO the action while we wait! My little active kiddies will sure enjoy that!

I strongly suggest introducing the words to your students and explaining to them how to use this reference. I also recommend that you do not display all of the words at once as there are many and this might overwhelm them. 

I like to play word wall games with my students and often ask them to go find words that begin with certain sounds or that rhyme with other words. We also look for words with specific numbers of syllables or simply look for synonyms and/or antonyms. These games are great when you have a few minutes left over in a period, or simply need to get up and move a little! 

I hope you enjoy the word walls and if you live in a cold climate, stay warm!

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Cocoa Makes Everything Better...

Hi CyberWorld,

Brrrrrrrrr!!!! It's been cold here in Canada and the kiddies and I were looking for a fun and creative way to keep warm this week! 

Here I am with one of my colleagues, preparing for morning supervision!

And, here is our beautiful yard! The kiddies love those mountains!

Gotta love Winter in Canada!

So back to getting warm... I gotta admit, the kiddies and I had a blast with these Cocoa themed Craftivities and it did help us brave the cold weather!

We began with an anchor chart, which I have to admit I've only just begun using this year, and then wrote a class story together. I'm loving the anchor charts for extra theme words and I always have it hanging up in the morning with the craft to get the kiddies excited about what our day has in store for us! I love watching them go up to the chart and craft when they walk in and I also love hearing them chat and say: "Yay, we are doing "this" or "that" today!" Such a great feeling to hear enthusiasm about learning!

Then the kiddies wrote their own stories. I love that the transition from writing basic facts to adding creativity and imagination to their stories is occurring right now. It's such a great experience to see them evolving as writers and their tales are so much fun to read!

I love how the character turned into a monster after having so much cocoa and then turned back into a regular boy when he ate a vegetable! Too stinken cute!

I wouldn't have minded living on a planet made entirely of cocoa and Tim Hortons happens to be one of my very favorite places! These kiddies are so awesome!!!!!!

We glued the stories to the back of our craftivities and hung them up for everyone to see! Every time we do writer's workshop, I always send a student to read their story to the principal and always choose a few students to read their stories to the class. They feel so proud and it's fun for everyone!

I love how they always make the crafts their own. Their personal touches make all the differences!

You can make these wonderful crafts and stories too!

Check out my Teacher Store for this idea and other fun Winter activities. 

Check it out right HERE!

You will find templates for the craft, spelling helpers, measuring posters, writing stationary, and much more! Enjoy and stay warm!

I noticed I wrote "I love" about a billion times in this post! Valentine's Day must be approaching!!! Hehe! I am just loving everything about my class these days. Such a great feeling!

Hope love is all around you too!

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Wish Upon a Star...

Hello Friends, 

It has been a while since my last post. As usual, life is busy and often gets in the way of blogging! Just wanted to stop by and share a photo of my kiddies latest creations! They are excited to be back and are working very hard. Last week, we discussed our new year wishes and had a blast crafting away. 

First, we began by filling this anchor chart with New Year Resolutions!

It was great fun!

Isn't he adorable! Unfortunately, I didn't snap a shot of our completed chart! Each time we are done using a chart or a class story that we have written, I pick a name and the  lucky student gets to bring the chart or story home. The kiddies love it, it's a great big keepsake! Of course, I keep track of who receives the mementos in order to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to bring one home. 

Here is our completed activity...

Some of my favorite wishes...

Get along better with my brother and/or sister

I wish for my friend to have less trouble in math (PRECIOUS!)

Stay organized

Protect the environment 

Read more

Peace in the world

Love these kiddos and their amazing wishes... I hope they all come true!

I also had my older students (grade 5) write some wish poems. Wow, did they ever do a great job. I love their writing. They are quite the poets too and I intent to implement more poetry in our lessons. This is not something I have always been comfortable with and I am not that great at it either however, their enthusiasm and talent has inspired me to practice and to bring poetry into the classroom more often. I'm really excited about this!

Here are some of their masterpieces!

Caramel is our class pet. Unfortunately, she has to go :(

What are some of your wishes for 2013?

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It's a New Year... Time to Revamp and Update Some Materials

Hello Again my Sweet Friends, 

Well with two days left before the holiday vacation is officially over, I am in full teacher mode! I have put my mixer and icing tools away and have broken out the lap top, calendar, and class schedule!

As I do so, I have also been looking through some of my older units. I am quite surprised to see a significant change in the look of my work from a year ago to the present. Thus, I am slowly revamping some of my older items! 

First up is my Sweet for Contractions Unit!

Check out the new look! I love it! Always helps when you're a huge cupcake fan! HeHe

Included in the 57 page package are:

- 8 contraction rule signs (colorful and informative)

- a complete list of 64 words and associated contractions (can be given to the students as a reference)

- memory game (match the top of the cupcake/contraction with the bottom/words) includes recording sheet

- build a sentence game (choose cupcake card and write a sentence using the contraction on the card) includes recording sheet

- match the word with contraction game (match the cupcakes that have corresponding contractions and words) includes recording sheet

- build a contraction game (match the top of the cupcake with the bottom to create a contraction) includes recording sheet- 3 contraction worksheets (great for homework review)

If you have already purchased this unit, please feel free to download it again and receive the latest version. If you have not purchased this product and are interested in it please click HERE!

Stay tuned for more updates (it may be a while before it all gets done of course) AND new ideas and resources. 

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Winter Fun!

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Wishing everyone nothing but the very best for 2013! Lots of happiness, health, and good times for you and your families. 

I have to say, although I am enjoying this well deserved break (as I am sure you all are) I am a little excited to get back to work and see the kiddies. During the break, I did get some work done and although work is not always as fun as play (but it's still kinda is because we all love creating new stuff for our kiddies hehe) I am excited because I pretty much have all of January planned and taken care of!

As we live in Canada, and have received an abundance of snow, we are going to be embracing the cold winter and writing all about our favorite sports! 

Before we do that, we will of course look at our wishes for 2013! 

I love this little craft and can't wait to get it up in our classroom! Positive words and a little wishing will sure start off the year on the right foot! It includes:

- templates necessary to create the craft
- New Year themed spelling helpers (including 18 words)
- wish list writing sheet (a makeshift draft sheet for the wishes)
- New Year word search
- acrostic poem (spelling out the word "wish")
- syllable word game (including spelling cards & recording sheet)

You can check it out right over HERE!

While you're there, you might want to take a look at my Winter Packs!

You will find:

- templates to create hot cocoa and person
- 1 writing stationary for story
- 1 hot cocoa recipe card
- 2 measuring posters (spoons and cups)
- 4 spelling helpers
- 1 hot cocoa word search (includes all spelling helper words)
- 1 bingo game (includes all spelling helper words)
- 1 alphabetizing activity (includes all spelling helper words)
- 1 definition activity (includes all spelling helper words)
- 1 COCOA acrostic poem

Check it out right HERE!

I also have some Winter Sports Friends!

These fabulous little guys come with all kinds of great stuff!

Hit the Slopes

- templates to make a skier and/or snowboarder
- 3 writing stationary printables
- spelling helpers (ski/snowboard words)
- making change activity (with color shopping cards and black and white recording sheet)
- pattern activity (with color pattern cards and black and white recording sheets)

Grab it HERE!

Skate Party

- templates to make a skater and/or hockey player
- 5 writing stationary printables
- spelling helpers (skating/hockey words)
- spelling center (with color word cards and black and white recording sheet)
memory game (with color word cards and black and white recording sheets)
describe the skater activity (with color skater cards and black and white recording sheets)

Grab it HERE!

Toboggan Fun

- templates to make a child with toboggan
- 3 writing stationary printables
- spelling helpers (skating/hockey words)
- number word activity (with color number cards and black and white recording sheet)
number sequencing activity (with color number cards and black and white recording sheets)
greater than/less than activity (with color number cards and black and white recording sheets)
addition and subtraction activities (with color number cards and black and white recording sheets)

Grab it HERE!

You can also grab all 4 of the Winter Packs in a bundle!

Check it out right over HERE!

Enjoy, Have fun, and Embrace the Snow!

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