Today is an eclectic post. There's a little bit of everything in this one.... so let's get to it. First, the best part. A giveaway. Do you know Erica Bohrer? Of course you do. She teaches first grade, is a mom to some fur children, has 2 Scholastic books, and creates some amazing materials. She's a celebrity in 'Teacher Blogland.' We decided to team up and bring you a great giveaway. I'll dub it... The Word Wall Makeover Kit Giveaway. | | I posted my new Fry Mega Pack a few weeks ago and it's doing really well! You can read about it and see everything included in this post (lots of screenshots & photos. Or you can check it out and read reviews on TPT. I've been wanting to do a giveaway with it and Erica's new word wall labels match perfectly! You can check those out on TPT. So, the giveaway. The winner gets both of these products. Use them how you like, but they're perfect for anyone needing to give their word wall a little TLC. You can also implement a sight word program with my pack or supplement your existing one. Both packs combined equal a whopping 623 pages! And guess what? Everything is in black and white. Throw some colored cardstock in the printer and have at it! Use colors that match your room design! Ok. Ready to enter? There's a PunchTab form below! You know that Rafflecopter thing that a lot of people have? Same concept, but you can actually win other things too... just for visiting sites (see that little red ribbon?). I'm close to a Starbucks card. By entering, you won't be signing up for PunchTab. You're just entering the giveaway. I don't think I've even received emails from them, so it's nice to not be stalked. :) | Ok, on to equally as important, but less exciting things.... My room setup page has gotten almost 500,000 hits. Seriously. I keep adding rooms to it, so if you have a great post with awesome photos, then let me know by pressing that 'contact me' button in the sidebar! I can add you! I know a lot of people are going back to school this week or next, so hopefully you've been able to find some inspiration and peek into some beautiful rooms. It's this 'teaching blog frenzy' just so cool!? How did I ever manage without being able to blog stalk and get so many great ideas from people like Erica, Katie, Deanna, Cara, Abby, Kristen, etc.? | I've been stalking... Here's a wrap sheet of the posts I've enjoyed stalking in the last couple of days: - Cara's new room... I can't wait to see when she's done!
- Reagan's Room... Holy smokes. It's fancy ya'll.
- The Magical Product Swap.... you and another teacher swap items. I can't wait to participate!
- Made It Monday... I need an intervention. So many ideas!
- Teacher Toolbox... I need to make this. If only I had access to buy one that didn't cost $80. Seriously. I looked. $80. And shipping one over here isn't any better.
- Maree's Graphics... I went on a binge the other day. She had a sale and I may or may not have bought 20 sets.
- and JJ Heller's boat song... I love her music and have three of her albums. We saw her perform at our previous church. She is so sweet and completely adorable. I've watched the boat song at least ten times this week. Love.
| Games Anyone? I love, love, love incorporating games into my lessons and centers. It's just so fun! This past year I used a lot of board games with my EFL students because there is just so much you can do with them... spelling, photo identification, grammar, vocabulary, reviews, etc. I created a large set and am able to quickly create cards for it, but I also wanted a smaller version that could be played in about 10 minutes. And... voila! This little guy came into existence. You can download two black and white versions for free. Just click the link down there to the right. I make copies onto colored paper and laminate. I have already posted some more related items on TPT, but have several more planned out and in the works. Mini Game Boards: Colorful (12 boards in fun colors)See on: TPT TNCommon Core Board Game Pack: Kinder. Math (10 games)See on : TPT TN | | Fun with Fans Thank you to everyone who participated in my Facebook Fan giveaway! There were 105 comments and there are now 284 fans! Wowza! We will do it again at 400, so get ready.
If you want to be part of giveaways, take part in discussions, and stay on top of announcements from here, then it's easy to join the page. Just hit 'like' in the sidebar. See? Over there to the right?
It's a lot easier for me to post quick little things rather than writing whole posts about them. I give away a lot of things this way... I post a question, you leave a comment, I pick a winner. Easy peasy.
Plus, there are some other great freebie notifications and sales that get posted there. Someone told me about a flash $1.00 sale on Facebook and I went and got four ginormous units... for $4.00.
Ok, I'm done. Happy Thursday!
Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Valentine's day! I've been away for a few days. The husband and I went to Barcelona for a weekend trip. It was our joint birthday & valentine's day gift to each other. It was about twenty degrees warmer than Geneva, so it was welcomed even though it was still just 45 degrees. I didn't have to wear gloves though! Beautiful city. I think I could live there and eat tapas for the rest of my life. Soooo yum. Our Valentine's day wasn't overly exciting yesterday. We made pizza together and cuddled up on the couch. We've never been huge vday people. It's kind of weird... cute... but weird. We try to show our love, eat chocolate, drink wine, and buy flowers weekly. No sense in waiting all year for only one day of it. I always love reading the posts on Facebook from the Valentine's Day haters. It's so entertaining. Anyway, here's a FREE bingo set you can use for a Valentine's day activity. I posted this on TPT several days ago, but never got around to doing a blog post about it. Hopefully you found it before yesterday? See on TPT Hope everyone had a lovely Vday!
Ashley
I just posted one of my favorite things to TPT... after spending hours making it publishable. Is that a word? Publishable? Anyway, it's something that I use and I thought I'd share!
Drum roll......................... It's called Build-A-Board-Game. You probably already guessed that. You don't actually build anything, so don't worry. Well, there is some cutting, gluing, and laminating involved. No hammers or chainsaws though.
Basically, it's a board game that you can adapt to whatever you're doing in class. It's pretty simple (similar to Candy Land, but they have to use their brains a little more) and I. LOVE. IT. My EFL kiddos love it too. I can't show you their cute little faces (for risk of getting canned), but they got to play it in class on Wednesday and I snapped a shot:
I used it as a center for reviewing our first six chapters. 70 questions over any and everything: food vocabulary, sports, using 'this, that, these,those', verb tenses, family vocabulary, etc. Here's what my questions looked like for this past week: (this is 1 out of 70)
Here's what the set looks like:
I've zipped everything together in a file. You'll receive four documents: - Introduction & Instructions: I show you pictures and give details on how to make your board(s), adapt the cards, etc.
- Game Board: the game board is approximately 11 x 16 inches. It's two letter size sheets merged together after printing. Make sure you laminate!
- Setup & Rules, Special Cards, & 'Number of Players' Cards
- 70 Adaptable cards (10 for each color), 10 Sample Questions, an Adaptable Answer Key, and an Adaptable Content Focus Sign and List
Want to see it in action?! Watch... Hopefully you can find it useful! It's available in my TPT shop if you'd like to purchase. It's only $5 and you can use it to make as many game sets as you like. I will be posting different version soon too! (different colors, themes, layouts, etc.) If you would like me to make you a custom one, then please let me know. I can change the way the board looks, colors, etc. Just send me a message on here. So far, there are 3 versions... click on the colors you like to check them out in my TPT store. GIVEAWAY!!! I'll be giving one of these away (your choice of color) on Friday, February 3rd, at 4:00 pm Eastern Time (10:00 pm Swiss time... my time). All you have to do is...
1. 'follow' this blog (click the blue button to the left) 2. let me know you want it by leaving a comment below
Update: Congratulations to Randy! You won a set of your choice.
I'm hoping to get my follower count up to 10... hahahaha. Have a great weekend!
Ashley
This is an adorable and easy project my kids did during a short penguin unit (Winter time of course). Seriously. How cute are these little guys?!
This was a center during the week and I posted student-level directions for them to follow. The document has teacher directions and student-level ones. Click to download ! Here's a really cute penguin game/printable for math:
Created by Cheryl Carl Enjoy!
Ashley
I love this:
Another idea I found on Pinterest. The original source is MeckMom. My board game boxes use to last no more than two weeks in the room. They got beat up. Quickly. I like how she put all the pieces in little plastic storage bins and labeled the boards. So nice! And it saves space.
I usually put game pieces in these little clear pencil case/bags. Walmart sells them for like a dollar each. I have about 300 (not kidding) in several different colors. I love them.
Either way you go, plastic bin or bag, it saves space and is super organized.
Ashley
|