Earth Day Freebie!

Happy Earth Day!  I hope your Earth Day is bringing you sunshine and warm weather.  It looks like we're going to see some sun and decent temps.  I have a small Earth Day freebie for you today.  It's a little graphic organizer perfect for prewriting or center work.  You'll find in my TpT store.  Click this link to go to my store to download the freebie!

Earth Day and Earth Day Task Cards

I can't believe Earth Day is almost here.  April has been a strange month with spring break and testing.  We've had a few warm or almost warm days, but it still doesn't really feel like spring here in Upstate NY.  The boys and I did pick some daffodils last night to bright up the dining room, so I guess spring is starting to bloom a little bit.

I wanted to share with you my new Earth Day Literacy Center Task Card set and let you know about a great linky party happening at Confessions of an Undeniable Dabbler.  She's having a linky party for just Earth Day materials.  Check it out here!

Here's my Earth Day set available at TpT.

Congrats!

Congratulations to Colleen.  She was the winner of my first giveway.  Colleen, I've sent you an email!

Backstage Passes Freebie

I love my backstage passes too much not to share them with you.  My kids loved them, and I hope yours will too.  Visit my TpT store to pick them up free for a limited time, and don't forget to enter my giveaway for an item of your choice from my store.

Update on Testing Motivators and My First Giveaway!

I really wish I had remembered to take pictures of my students yesterday. They were thrilled with their test survival bags that were filled with their treats, water, and backstage passes. They loved the candy of course, but they thought the backstage passes were as they would say, "epic." I'm glad they liked them because they were my favorite part of the kit. I took their school pics and put them in the picture spot.

I thought it would be fun to run my first giveaway. I'd like to give a lucky winner the opportunity to win her/his choice of products from my TpT store. All you have to do is check out my products at TpT and become a follower of my store. The giveaway ends April 16, 2013. The winner will be announced here and notified by email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Testing Prep Pack: Rock the Test

I wish I was a great blogger. It's been a wish of mine for a long time. Here's the thing though, I just can't seem to find the time to do it well. So I will have to settle for mediocre for now, until I figure out a way to manage my time better or find something to give up that frees me up to blog more often.

I did want to share with you my new pack that I made to help psych up my reluctant learners for our upcoming state tests. We've been on spring break for a week, and now we have just a week to go before the tests. I plan on using all these materials to gear them up. My fifth graders are always, always motivate by food. Their tween appetites amaze me! They're going to love the survival kits full of motivating messages and treats.

I've been invited to my first linky party! So once you've checked out my packet, check out some other fabulous products from other amazing teacher authors.

 

You can find the linky party here!

Welcome to my new blog.  I've blogged in the past as a digital scrapbook designer and as a member of various scrapbooking creative teams.  However, this is my first blog dedicated to my life's work as a reading teacher.  I've been a reading teacher for 16 years.  Before that I taught a year of first grade, and worked two years in special education as a long term substitute.

I became a reading teacher when my first grade teaching position was cut due to low enrollment.  I found myself falling back on my master's degree in literacy.  I was sad at first, being a first grade teacher was my dream.  I quickly learned that reading was where I was meant to be.  Now 17 years later, I can't imagine doing anything else.

After many years of working with kindergarten and first grade readers, I'm now serving first, second, third, and fifth graders.  I've had to make some adjustments, but I love a challenge.  I still trying to find my way with my older students.  They bring a different dynamic to my day, and I'm enjoying them more than I ever imagined I would.

Despite enjoying this new wrinkle my principal has thrown at me, helping first graders learn to read is my first love.  They are the highlight of my day and watching them grow from brings me such joy.  Combine that with my love of creating classroom materials and you have my latest creative outlet, designing materials for TPT.
Right now most of my products are sight word activities.  Our school district purchased HMH's Journeys last school year.  I started making materials to use with my first grade readers and now I'm sharing them with others through TPT.

Here's my first freebie for those you don't use Journey's: Stop! A Sight Word Game.  It includes flashcards for words 1-100 on the Fry list and directions on how to play Stop!  Stop! is our favorite review game.  You can find it here in my TPT store.