Teacher Appreciation Sale

Being on maternity leave this entire school year means I haven't purchased anything all year except tons (too much) clipart. I got a call from my principal yesterday letting me know which grade I will be teaching next year which got me excited about getting back in the classroom. Talk about perfect timing! I get to take advantage of today's Teacher Appreciation Sale at Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook.

I am linking up with Speech Room News to show you what's in my cart. Is it bad that my cart totals up to almost $200. Yikes! Before I show you my goodies here are my 3 must-haves that I use every year.

Every week we focus on a new sight word & read our sight word reader for that sight word every day at my guided reading table. Students write their new sight word to complete each sentence and color their reader to personalize it. Every Friday they bring their reader home to read to their parents. After we have covered that sight word I then add a laminated version of that reader in our class library. I find this to be especially favored by my readers who need extra support. These readers can make any child feel like a pro reader. 

Just click on the photo of the products for all the details.

 

Who doesn't love a little FREE taste of a product. 

Get the From Sight Word Reader for free.

Starting the school year right with discussion on our school & classroom expectations is a must for the beginning of the year. I do this successfully with The Monster Came to School story & activities. This is my #1 best seller in my store.

The school year is coming to an end for all of y'all & what better way to show love to your students than by celebrating them! At the end of each year I host an End of the Year Celebration in my classroom every year and it is a favorite time for me, the students and the parents. Read more about it HERE.

 Now, as for my cart...

Reading & writing have always been my strong points in teaching so when looking for resources for next school year I was on the look out to improve my areas in math & science.

Have you seen this AMAZING Nonfiction Resource Bundle? Oh boy! I can not wait to get my hands on this!!! I think this could help my science lessons go to the next level.

Deanna & Deedee recently posted these FREE & totally awesome Guiding Kinders Math Lesson Plans and Curriculum Map that help demonstrate how they plan using these Guiding Kinders Math Units. I was reading through the comments & ratings and one buyer mentioned how it is perfect for her teacher assistant to use to teach math lessons while she works with those students who need extra help. Hey. Wait a minute. That is exactly what I am looking for! I usually focus on reading & writing skills at my guided reading table while my TA works with students on math skills that they have learned.

 Working on improving your strengths never hurt anyone, right? I think Deanna's Chit Chat Bundle can help me do just that. 

I am still on the look out for more math & science resources so if you have any recommendations please feel free to share. :)

Hosting End of the Year Party with Awards & Giveaway

Do you hand out awards at the end of the year to your students as a class or as a grade level? Our end of the year celebration is one of my favorite times at the end of the year. At my old school we handed out our end of the year awards as a grade level. The school I am at now does not have an end of the year celebration with awards so I just had one for my class. You can't have a celebration with invites right? Here are the invites I used for my class. I invited my parents to join us.

This is what my invited looked like that I sent to parents. Below is an editable invite you can use if you'd like.

I had coffee, juice, water, biscuits & jam put out on my table for parents and students. Students had to wait until after awards to dive in to the breakfast goodies. 

 As you can see, this sweetie got the Accessory Award. She literally also had 2-3 pairs of shoes, sandals or heels (yes, heels!) in her cubby to change into through the day. She also loved wearing her purse, jewelry & lip gloss to school. 

See the green paper on the table behind her? Not only did this serve as a table cloth for when the kiddos ate their breakfast, but it also served as their doodling paper. When they finished their breakfast after awards they could grabs crayons & markers to color on the "table". This helped me see who all was done with their breakfast and gave the kiddos something to do while everyone finished up & parents could make their exit.

And that colored poster board folded in half, stapled & decorated.... That's the kiddos' portfolios. Each student's got to show their parents their portfolio and all their work inside of them. I love putting these out for parents and kids to look at after our awards ceremony because afterwards the parents take these home with them. This helps us avoid students having to carry these big & heavy portfolios on the bus, to their car or home.

Are you one of those parents who would have out your camera to snap some shots of your sweetie receiving their award? I know I totally will be. I had students make this personalized hand print backdrop for us to hang so the background for pictures would be cute. Please excuse my big pregnant self. These photos are from last year when Raley was still a bun in the oven. :) 

 If you are still in need of End of the Year Awards I have 2 giveaways going on right now.

You can enter to win via Instagram @lovelyliteracyandmore.

You can also enter to win via Facebook. 

It's Currently May... You mean already?!

I seriously cannot believe it is already May. Only 2 more months of school left. Well, actually a little under two. So much is happening here and I feel like these last 2 months of school are going to fly by. It's also that time (or it was 3-4 days ago) to link up with Farley @ Oh Boy 4th Grade.

 

 

 

Listening-

All that hammering & drilling I am hearing is coming from the hubs & dad-in-law. They are finishing our basement to add another T.V. room/play room in preparation for our wee one. Plus my mom is coming up in September for 2 weeks to help out with our soon-to-be new addition & I figured she may want to stay in the basement in case our princess cries a lot or loud at night. Since we will be 1st time parents I figured "Babies can be like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get." LOL! That's my twist on Forrest Gump.

 

Loving-

On Friday I signed a teaching contract for next year so that I will have a job. YAY! I am so- pumped. Here in Canada, or in Alberta at least, I have learned that for the 1st 2 years or until you have taught for 400 days straight you have to be offered a new contract each year to sign. You are not guaranteed a job for the following year. Since my school only had a part-time job for me this year teaching kindergarten I am even more excited that I will have a full time teaching job next year.

 

Thinking-

Yep, that's right. I will be going from teaching kindergarten this year to teaching 4th grade (or as they call it here, grade 4) next year!!! Ummm... Help?! I am really excited to be able to teach older kiddos but while I am excited about a new adventure I must admit that I am pretty nervous. I do LOVE my Kinders!

 

Wanting-

My hair normally grows slow but it's growing so fast and I need a haircut asap. Luckily I have an appointment next week for one. I am also in need of a bigger bra. You guessed it. Being pregnant has these bad boys growing out of control. LOL! Yes, I said it.

 

Needing-

Any & all furniture I can use for a new big kid classroom. Since I teach kinder only part-time now I share a classroom with another kindergarten teacher. This means next year I will have my own classroom & starting from scratch. I am keeping my fingers crossed that since many teachers will be switching classrooms this summer that they will be cleaning out & will want to get rid of some bookshelves & tables. I will be in desperate need of them.

 

Surprise-

 

While I LOVE all my kinder & 1st grade bloggers out there I am now in desperate need of inspiration for grade 4. Teaching with Blonde Ambition is a blog I have followed for a while but since I teach K I didn't follow her blog as closely as I did with my fellow K teachers. Her blog has quickly become my go-to blog for inspiration. My TPT Store cart & wish list has quickly filled up with lots of goodies to use in my grade 4 classroom from Nicole's TPT Store. Thanks Nicole for your inspiration.

 

This month our classroom was turned into a rainforest for our unit on the rainforest.

 

 Medial sound short u sort on butterflies.

 

Our lazy sloths.

 

Students created addition sentences on their sloths.

 

Our Spring writing.

 

Don't forget to grab your End of the Year Award Certificates!!!

I promise you these are the BEST end of the year award out there.

 

 

 

 

 

End of the Year Award Certificates updated & ON SALE

Boy oh boy, have I ever been so busy updating such a large file! My Editable End of the Year Awards were such a big hit last year that I decided to create a large pack so that it will offer you a variety of border choices. Well.... since there are over 190 awards for each set and 9 different border choices it made this file over 1,700 pages! Wowzer!!! I always love buying products with a variety of choices and I am one of those teachers that likes to change up my class theme/colour every once in a while so I figured there are others out there like me.

 

I am putting these awards on sale for the week at only $15.00.

This is my baby gender reveal sale! LOL... I am so excited to find out the gender of our baby tonight.

 

 

 

Here are the border options include in the Editable End of the Year Award Certificates Pack. 

 

 

 

 

 

Trying to make my awards EDITABLE... HELP! Plus a Quick Freebie :)

I am in the process of making my End of the Year Certificate Awards EDITABLE!!! It's my 1st attempt at making something editable & I need your help!!!
Leave your email so I can send you my Editable End of the Year Awards in Blue Green Chevron to get your feedback on if this editable awards actually works. I saved this format in PowerPoint and PDF file but I do not have the Adobe Reader that lets me type in text to edit.
I'll send it to the 1st 3 emails left in a comment :)

 

 

P.S. Head over to my TPT Store to grab a fabulous FREEBIE that's almost 400 pages! WHAT!!! Oh yes I did... It's only available until 3:00om (mountain time) and feedback is much appreciated!!! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of the Year Awards say WhAt?!

"Is this gal crazy? Is she really making something for the end of the year already?"... Many of you may be thinking this if you are reading this post. And yes it is true! Ha ha ha... I know the end of the year isn't for 4 to 5 months for anyone but at B.V.E. we always had an End of the Year celebration and each child was presented with a certificate award. Now these awards are for grades, or Accelerated Reader scores, or test scores... These awards had to do with their personality, what they liked, their interests, if they were improving and what they were improving in, and things like what they want to be when they grow up. These are obviously fun awards, which is what I think awards should be. I just finished making one set so here it is... I will be making more sets with different borders so that teachers that would like to use them can have the awards match their school colors, classroom colors, etc. You can check them out at my Teachers Notebook Shop for $10.00 and it will soon be uploaded to my TPT Store for $12.00. Check out the images below for a few examples. 

Hope y'all like it! :)