Wild About Us! Freebie

I recently discovered an adorable book called Wild About Us! by Karen Beaumont. It is a super sweet book about animals celebrating their differences. As I read it, I realized it was a perfect text to have students model to celebrate themselves.

From wrinkly skin to huge feet, from long noses to spots, the animals don't make fun of differences, they embrace them!

I've created this super simple freebie to get students writing about (and celebrating) what makes them wild about themselves. You can click {HERE} or the picture below to grab it.

You could even use this to make a fun Wild About Us! class book to begin or end the year!

Counting down the days . . .

Well, hello there. Long time no blog. Actually, it's not that long since my usual blogging schedule is only about once a month!

So, what has been going on? Well, all kinds of end of year craziness. All over the blog, Facebook, Pinterest world, I keep getting bombarded with reminders that each day, teachers are entering summer vacation, buuuuttttttt, we are not quite there yet. A few more weeks to go still and I am scrambling to get things done.

Math, science, reading. We are trying to cram it in, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on if you're asking the teachers or the students!), there is so much stuff coming up. Oh, well. I guess that's the end of year teacher life.

If you are like me and seem to be (lacking extra prep time), and need a little help during these weeks, check out my end of year and summer resources. From Daily Language & Math reviews to Word Problems to printables and freebies, there are a ton of no-prep and low-prep options from which to choose:

And if you're finished the school year already (lucky you!), then you might be interested in some of the classroom decor packs I am sllloooowwwly creating. You can check out some of the latest below:

If you're interested in any of the above packs, just click the pics!

Whether you're on summer break or counting down the days, have a great rest of the week!

An oldie but a goodie . . . freebie that is!

Things look a little different around here. I decided to freshen up my blog look, despite the fact that I haven't blogged in forever!

But the new blog look is not why I'm here today . . . I'm here for a freebie! I'm linking up with Freebie Friday over at Teaching Blog Addict, so make sure to head over there for more great freebies! Today, it's an old freebie - but still one of my favourites - it's my Summer Vacation Printable Mini Pack!

I don't know about you, but the end of my school year looks crazy. We still have five weeks to go, but those weeks are packed full of assemblies, field trips, special events, and, oh yeah, a *wee* bit of downtime (and learning, too!). In between the busy moments, I always find we have little chunks of free time where the kids are still all kinds of crazy, but we don't have *quite* enough time to get anything substantial done. Enter this mini pack. It is NO PREP for teachers - you are already busy enough - and has a few fun & simple activities to get you and your students through the last few days of school.

You can click {HERE} or the picture above to check it out - hope you enjoy!

A Random Assortment of Books, Shoes & Reviews

Can you believe the end of the school year is just around the corner? No? Me neither. The school years keep passing faster and faster and I cannot believe it.

So, it's the end of the school year and I haven't blogged in over a month, of course there are a few random, unrelated things about which to talk.

Number one is new books. Lately I have been finding a ton of new books/authors that are "new-to-me." It doesn't matter to me if they came out a year ago or one month ago, it is great to find new classroom books to add to my classroom library. I may or may not have a bit of a book obsession. It doesn't matter what age/grade level the books are meant for, if I like them, I buy them. Here are two that have caught my eye lately.

The first one I found came out about a year ago. It's called Have You Seen My Dragon? by Steve Light. If you teach preschool, kindergarten or even first grade, this one's for you. It's a great book for little learners who are practicing counting up to 20. The heavily detailed illustrations are in black and white *except* for the object that is being counted. Students will enjoy spending time counting the objects and searching for the dragon in each picture.

Click {HERE} to check it out on Amazon.

Another great book is Oh No, George! by Christ Haughton. This is a great book for students who are *trying* to make good choices, but may be struggling. George demonstrates how to make things better when his choices have negative repercussions (hello restitution!). **Spoiler alert** The unfinished ending provides a perfect opportunity for students to decide what the best decision would be, providing great practice for students who are struggling in that area.

Click {HERE} to check it out on Amazon.

Another thing I've been thinking about lately - shoes! I am not a huge shoe person, but I do love a great ballet flat. These new colors of Tieks have been calling my name. What's your go-to shoe?

And finally, I'm thinking about the end of the year - what teacher isn't? I don't know about you, but the next few weeks (still almost two months left) are full of assemblies, field trips, meetings and, oh yeah, curriculum. It is so important to make sure students are prepared for next year, so I have created a few reviews to help cover that. With an answer key provided for each packet, you just need to print and you are ready to go - a busy teacher's best friend at the end of the year!

You can click {HERE} or the picture to check them out.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend because you know Monday will be here before you know it!

Great Books for Earth Day

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE Earth Day! As soon as the calendar turned April (hello April Fools' Day) I started thinking about Earth Day. When I was in the library the other day, I found another Earth Day gem (check out number 2 on the list below) so I've put it together with some of my other favorites to create this list for all things Earth Day.

1) The EARTH Book by Todd Parr

2) 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh

3) The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

4) The Earth and I by Frank Asch

5) Why Should I Recycle by Jen Green

6) Why Should I Save Water by Jen Green

7) I Can Save the Earth! by Alison Inches

8) The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle by Alison Inches

9) The Three R's: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle by Nuria Roca

10) It's Earth Day! by Mercer Mayer

11) The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

12) Curious George Plants a Tree - H.A. Rey

13) Earth Day - Hooray! by Stuart J. Murphy

14) Don't Throw That Away! by Lara Bergen

15) We are Extremely Very Good Recyclers by Lauren Child (not pictured in the image above)

**All links via Amazon**

A REVOLUTIONARY Teaching Tool!

Do you ever find something that just CHANGES your teaching. Dare I say, revolutionizes it?? Well, I don't know that I've found that, but this year I did try something new that I really like and use all the time . . . SHEET PROTECTORS!

Let me back up. This year, I have a projector in my room, but no SMARTBoard. I know, I know, first world problems, but I still had to stop and think about my regular routines. I was so used to demonstrating things for the students so easily on the SMARTBoard, that it took me a second to think of how I could still do it, without wasting paper. It took me a few seconds, but then it occurred to me - hadn't I seen sheet protectors used a ton of times in all those fabulous pins I had pinned on Pinterest?

So, I went to Staples, picked up ten sheet protectors and tried it out. I initially wanted to use them just when I was demonstrating how to complete a worksheet to the whole group, but I soon found out there were SO many more uses for them.

In that completely out-of-season picture above (from Halloween), I used the protectors to house a fun roll-a-monster game (found for free HERE) for the students to use. They kept the papers from getting creased, dirty, etc. and they are still in perfect shape for next year.

I don't know about you, but at this time of year, the school is running low on paper, so tons of copies are kind of frowned upon. Don't get me wrong, I try to save paper whenever and wherever possible, but it's beginning to be less of a choice, and more of a necessity. So instead of printing off worksheets, printables or activities for each student, I can now print off one or a few copies and place them in a center for rotation. Students can use whiteboard markers to complete the activity and wipe it clean for the next student. And these do wipe completely clean; I have seen no evidence yet of stubborn marker sticking around.

Long story short, I have now bought about 100 of them (it probably only cost me $10!) and I use them all the time. Not only that, it is nearing the end of the school year and they are still in perfect shape, so I'm hoping I'll be able to reuse them next year.

So that's my little, unoriginal tip for the day - sheet protectors, go get some for yourself! Unless of course, you already know about the awesomeness of them and use them all the time, then just disregard this post, as you could probably give me some tips on how to use them!

Some new units, some new-ish units and a TpT SALE!

Are you counting down the days until Spring Break? Yeah, me too. We're at less than two weeks here and I can.not.wait!

In other exciting news, did you hear about TpT's Teachers are Heroes sale?

Starting tomorrow, my whole store will be 20% off and if you use the promo code: HEROES, you'll get an additional 10% off in savings.

I only need the slightest nudge of encouragement to buy clipart, so my TpT cart will be filled!

Some of my new units that will be on sale:

Math Mystery Phrases without Regrouping (2- & 3-Digit)

Regrouping Math Mystery Phrases (2- & 3-Digit)

Some of my new-ish units that will be on sale:

Daily Language 4 (Spring) Second Grade

Word Problem a Day - 2nd Grade (Bundle)

Daily Language Second Grade Bundle Pack 

A few favorites:

Reading Comprehension Printables for any Picture Book

Multiplication within 100 Task Cards

While you're there, you may as well pick up a few freebies, too!

Let's Read & Write with Leprechauns

Place Value Mystery Number Cards 

Telling Time Math Unit

Happy shopping!