We Have Winners!

Yay!  My first giveaway is over, and I think it was pretty successful!  There were 68 total entries and now we have two wonderful winners of the gift certificates to TPT and/or Donors Choose!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The 1st place winner is entry #48, Katie of Adventures of Ms. Smith!  Katie, you won $15 in gift cards!

The 2nd place winner is entry #26, Heidi of My (Not So) Elementary Life!  Heidi, you won $10 in gift cards!

Katie and Heidi, watch your inboxes!  I'll be emailing you today about your prizes!  Congratulations to you both!

I felt like a winner yesterday too!  I got this package in the mail right before I left for vacation bible school!  I'll be telling you more about it in a few days, but I'll give you a little hint...It came from Classroom Friendly Supplies!  I can't wait to try it out!

Groovy Giveaways!

Today, I just wanted to send out a quick reminder to everyone that today is the last day to enter my giveaway!  So swing by in a hurry and enter to win before midnight!

Click here to enter!

While you're at it, enter these great giveaways too!

Elisabeth is giving away everything in her TPT or TN store!  Wow!

Learn more about the HearALL assessment recorder and enter to win one of your own!

Don't forget!!  

My giveaway ends tonight at midnight!!

OO.com and Donors Choose

If you haven't heard, a great website, oo.com, has partnered with Donors Choose to help teachers like us get our important projects funded!  You know how I love Donors Choose and applaud their work.  Well oo.com is helping specifically with technology related projects!

oo.com is a site that helps you find shopping deals and discounts, but they're doing something much more significant!  They find technology related projects (requesting computers, printers, nooks, iPods, etc.) and highlight them on their "save & give" page, http://www.oo.com/sa500kids.  It's free and easy to sign up, and you don't have to purchase anything to vote!  You can vote for multiple projects with just the click of your mouse, and you can vote every day!  Like a project (via Facebook) to give it 10 votes!  And if you do choose to shop through oo.com, every dollar you spend = a wow point, and you can "wow" a project to give it 20 votes (as many times as you want)!

If you have a technology related project, hurry on over to oo.com, look for it, and start voting!  I was surprised to find mine on there the first time!  If you don't have a project that will be featured, swing by and see who you can help!  You can explore the projects and search by state and even city.  I would love, love, love for you to take a moment to vote for my project!  I'm hoping to get a SMART slate for my class!  You can click on this link, the picture below, or the picture in the sidebar to find my project!

Remember, you can vote multiple times, so look around for other projects to support while you're there!  If you find one of your donors choose projects, leave a link to it in the comments below!  I would love to vote for your project too!

Daily 5 and CAFE

Okay, I have a question for you!  I've heard sooo many good great things about Daily 5 that I have to wonder about using it in my classroom.

     

So here's my question...my school uses the Scott Foresman Reading Street series.  Could I still do the daily 5 or parts of it with my basal?  Do you have a series and use the daily 5 with it? 

I've seen a few blogs that are having book studies on these two books this summer, and I'm really thinking about joining in.  I just want to make sure I can incorporate it into my reading class.  One of those blogs, We Read, We Blog, We Teach is brand new, and this is the first of many book studies they will have!  A few great blogs are giving away a copy of each book, so if you're planning to participate and don't have your books yet, go check out Lessons with Laughter, Corkboard Connections, and Adventures of a Sixth Grade Teacher!

 

Owl Things First and Fun in 1st Grade are having a giveaway too...a totally awesome 80's giveaway!  And I love it!  They're celebrating 80 followers!  I have just over 80 now, and it's exciting stuff!  Go over and enter on each of their blogs!  

So, back to my question...help me out...

is the daily 5 something I could do with our basal?

Technology in the Classroom

I'm linking up today with 3-6 Free Resources and Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera to tell you about my favorite websites and you tube videos to use in the classroom!

Websites for the Classroom

1. I love using Wallwisher with my kids!  Teachers can create an account for free and create walls.  Students can post short messages on the wall on "sticky notes".  You can set it so that you have to approve each post before it shows up on the wall.  The best part is, they don't have to remember any log-in info!  I used this to have the kids post short reviews of the chapter books they read.  Here's a screen shot of one of those walls!

2. We use Spelling City at my school, and my students use it at home, so it has to be on the list!  We can add our weekly spelling lists to the site and the kids can practice by playing games at school or at home!

3. Waltke's Web is a great website for teachers who use the Scott Foresman Reading Street Series!  There are lots of resources to print and use and links to websites that are related to the stories.

You Tube Videos for the Classroom

1. "The Tale of Mr. Morton" and all of the other School House Rock videos!  I love School House Rock, and my kids really like it too!  "The Tale of Mr. Morton" is a video we watched about subjects and predicates.

2. The "Helping Verbs Song" and similar videos!  Near the beginning of the year, we learned this song and sang it while we were learning about helping verbs.  Then we made our own video.  My kids still remembered it and could sing it in May!!

3. The History Teachers have some great videos for older students (high school or maybe middle school), but I just had to include one!  They take popular songs and change the lyrics to tell about historical events and people!  Definitely not suitable for my little kids!  Here is a video about Henry VIII!

Go over to  3-6 Free Resources and Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera to link up!  And don't forget to enter my giveaway!  Just a few days left!

So Many Lovely Blogs

It's a gloomy, very rainy day here, but knowing that others are reading my blog and actually enjoying it (I hope) makes it a little brighter!  So today I have to say thank you to a couple of my fellow bloggers, and unfortunately I have not been timely in doing so...sorry Michelle!

So, to get to it, I would like to say thank you to Michelle, at No Monkey Business, and Jess, at From Blood to Books for giving me the One Lovely Blog Award!  Michelle has some terrific ideas on her blog and cute, cute units for sale in her shops!  And I love Jess's story!  Her blog is the story of her journey from nurse to teacher!

There are a few rules to follow when you receive this award:
1. Follow the person who gave you the award....check!
2. Tell your readers about the bloggers who gave you the award....check!
3. Pass the award on to 15 other bloggers....check!

Congratulations to these lovely blogs!

Amy, Gretchen, and Shelley at 3 Teacher Chicks
Ms. Smith at Adventures of Ms. Smith
Bonnie at Living a Wonderful Life
Courtney at Miss Third Grade
Lisa at Mrs. Tilmon Says...
Britney at Mrs. V's Adventures in Teaching
Miss Nelson from Run! Miss Nelson's Got The Camera
Brittany at Sweet Seconds
Allie at The Gypsy Teacher
Tiffany, Rayann, and Holly at The Lemonade Stand
Colleen at The Teaching Chameleon
Abby at Third Grade Bookworm
Doris at Third Grade Thinkers
Julie at Thoughts of a Third Grade Teacher
Meghan at Third Grade in the First State

I tried to give this award to those who hadn't yet received it.  Some are blogs I've followed for a while, and some I've just found!  Check them out and get some new ideas!!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for the TPT gift card or Donors Choose gift card!

My Rockin' Resources

So, Kelley, at Teacher Idea Factory is hosting her first linky party to give everybody a place to share those special classroom items you can't live without!

Rockin' Resources: Things I Couldn't Live Without

I'm going to tell you about my top 5!

1. Donors Choose - I have had 4 projects funded so far that amount to over $1,200 worth of products and supplies that my students benefit from!  I couldn't give them all of these resources on my own...my husband already thinks I spend too much!  So I am extremely appreciative of all of those that choose to give to others and donate their hard-earned money to help our students!  I told a little bit more about 3 of my funded projects in a previous post. 

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2.  Colorful Pens & Markers and Scented Stickers - If I have to grade papers, I can at least spice it up a little with some cute colors!  Flair pens are one of my favorites for grading!  I love colorful dry erase markers for writing on the board too!  And my kids absolutely love scented stickers...there is nothing better!

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3.  My students' work organizer - I bought one organizer like these from Wal-mart when I moved to third grade for my kiddos to turn in all of their work.  I love that they have a specific place to turn in each different assignment!

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4. These handy little "grade book" slips, and highlighters!  I found this form at Teach 123 thanks to pinterest!

I write my students names on the slips and then copy them.  I cut them apart and tape them down next to our organizer, one for each assignment.  The kids highlight their name on the list and on their paper before turning it in.  I could count the papers turned in with no name on ONE hand after implementing this system!  And it's so easy for the kids to do...my third graders caught on quickly and didn't need any more instruction in how to turn in their papers after just a few times!  It's simple for me to see who hasn't turned in their work as well.  I just paper clip the slip with the finished assignments when they've been turned in.  This year, I might copy the lists onto different (light) colors for the different subjects I teach!

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5. Dropbox - This website offers free storage for all of your files and documents that you create or download. {TPT anyone?}  I love using dropbox, because you can access your account from any computer with internet access or even your iPhone and iPad.  You can create folders just like you do on your computer.  I can work at home and upload my documents then open and print them at school (or vice versa).  No more worrying about forgetting my flash drive!  Here's a screenshot of what my dropbox folder looks like.

Visit the factory and link up!  And don't forget to enter my very first giveaway!