TpT Reached 100,000 Facebook Likes!! Surprise Sale!!

Hello Friends!!

Wow!  What a surprise when Teachers Pay Teachers announced that they reached 100,000 Facebook Likes this afternoon!!  Whoo hooo!! Congratulations, TeachersPayTeachers.com!! They are celebrating by offering 10% everything on site using code FB100K! We are joining in the celebration by offering 20% off everything in our store through Monday at midnight!! That's a 30% savings, friends!

Off to join the celebration and fill my cart!!!!

Three Day Weekend FUN!!

Happy Three Day Weekend!!!  WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!  

We are ecstatic to have a long weekend to decompress and rejuvenate!  Stacy's plan is to catch up on some things around the house (a.k.a. housework, laundry) but also to have some fun with her family. I (Colleen) am SO excited to have my sister home from college for Columbus Day and am looking forward to spending some time with her. I'm also looking forward to a youth group campfire on Sunday night and a conference on Monday that will help me be a better small group leader to the high school girls I lead through the church! :) 

This week we are teaming up again to share the highlights of our week for Doodle Bug's linky party.  We're so excited to share our Reading Room/Grade 2 "Happenings of the Week"!

First, for news from the Reading Room....

We were thrilled to donate our "Magic-e Show" bundle to a Teachers Pay Teachers fundraiser for breast cancer research put on by the wonderful Lindsay from Beyond the Worksheet.  151 Teacher Pay Teachers Sellers have donated over $720.00 products with proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Each bundle is selling for $25.00 and is available through the month of October!  We encourage you to check out all the wonderful resources that were donated.  Amazing work! 

About a month ago, I came across a fabulous idea by Gina from Beach Sand and Lesson Plans.  She described how she uses and displays exit slips in her classroom.  I have used exit slips in the Reading Room for a long time but I have always referred to them as "Ticket Out".  For example, before my students head back to their classroom, I will say, "For your ticket out.....I want you to tell me...."  When I came across Gina's post and saw that she DISPLAYED her exit slips, I knew I had to create my own "Ticket Out" poster using Willy Wonka's golden ticket clipart!  This is a snapshot of some of my student's responses after our lesson on Good Fit books.  When I reviewed each response, it was clear who had a good understanding of what we discussed and who needed more review and reinforcement!  Immediate assessment!!  Check out how Gina uses her exit slips here.

And now, for some updates from 2nd Grade....

In 2nd Grade, we do something called Friday Letters. It kind-of works as a weekly newsletter without me having to do the work. I have really grown to LOVE our writing times. On Thursdays we brainstorm about what happened throughout the week and then Fridays I print that brainstorm and our writing rubric and by Friday afternoon everyone takes out their journal, finds a quiet writing space and gets hard to work. I'm so proud of my kids for how hard they work during this time. The quiet music I play perfectly compliments this special time to debrief the week and report back about all the exciting things we've done. Most of my kids wrote about how we had an Alaskan author come and speak to us and about how we started Big/Little Buddies today. My kids were ECSTATIC today when they saw Big/Little Buddies on the board. It was a big surprise!  They were so sweet to our little first grade buddies. Even the kids I was a little bit nervous about were so compassionate and caring. We matched our buddies using puzzle pieces that had the children's names on them. One little friend that I paid close attention to because I thought he may shut down with this experience, walked right up to his buddy, and put his hand on his back and said "wanna see my desk?" while guiding him over to his area and showing him his dinosaur books. Oh my heart! This little munchkin's writing today just made my heart happy! :) 

This week in Fundations we have been learning about glued/welded sounds. Today, we played our Basketball Slam centers. The kids LOVED it and I felt that it truly reinforced the concepts we'd learned about all week. My kids love Friday centers and they have gotten way better at the switching and rotating concept too!

 Just like last time, I set up my centers as follows:

1) I Have Who Has

2) Board Game

3) Word Sort

4) Word Search and Word Shapes (copied back to back)

5) Finish the Word and Ladder Page (copied back to back)

If they finished any center early they took the Read and Illustrate page and picked two words with glued sounds, illustrated them and wrote a sentence using the word.

I spread out my centers around the room and put a rotating list on the smart board of how they should move. When the kids heard the bell, we switched. The kids had so much fun and I did too! Get your own set from our TpT store! It's so worth it!

And last but certainly not least....

GET READY!!!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS for an awesome Mystery Blog Hop at the end of the month!  28 Reading Specialists/Literacy Coaches will be sharing best practices in literacy coupled by a mystery-themed freebie!  AND after collecting clues along the way, you can enter to win some fabulous prizes!  Please "like" our facebook page for upcoming announcements about this exciting event!

We hope you have a wonderful weekend, friends!  Talk again soon!

Positively Pink! [TpT Breast Cancer Research Fundraiser]

Happy Sunday, friends!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Stacy and I are so happy to be participating in a Teachers Pay Teachers fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation put on by the wonderful Lindsay Perro. Tons of awesome bloggers and TpT creators have come together and donated to the cause leading to 151 donated resources worth $720! The resources were combined into booklets by grade range and content area. If you click the banner above, or just click here if that's easier, you'll be led to the TpT store that's been created just for this wonderful outreach event.

Here is what we ended up with in each booklet:
K-2 ELA : 29 resources valued at $120.14
K-2 Math : 25 resources valued at $152.95
3-5 ELA : 29 resources valued at $136.50
3-5 Math : 24 resources valued at $87.50
6-8 ELA : 13 resources valued at $65.10
6-8 Math : 16 resources valued at $61.80

Clipart : 15 resources valued at $96.70

Each booklet is only $25.00!

I'm sorry.... did you actually read that?!?!

$25.00 donated to an amazing cause and in return you receive tons of resources that if you were to buy separately would cost you around $100?! COME ON!

No matter what your grade level or content area, we've got something for you!

In the K-2 ELA booklet you'll find our Magic-E bundle of common core aligned games and activities to help your kiddies understand the vowel-consonant-e/final-e/silent-e. I can't wait to use this one with my 2nd grade munchkins. This is definitely something we need to work on and this is just the pack to help us reinforce our learning!

 Breast cancer is a cause near and dear to my own heart because of two of the most important woman in my life: my mom, and my Irish Step Dancing teacher. 

When I was in first grade, my mom battled through breast cancer and eventually won. I remember the way she would come home from chemo so tired and sick but would still tuck me into bed at night and I distinctly remember her pushing through to be one of my class' room moms and how our whole class rallied around her and created a book of letters and encouragement.... complete with a title page covered in band aids with each one of our names on it. I think we still have it too.

My mom is a breast cancer survivor and for that I feel so blessed. I honestly don't know where I would be without her- and she's not just a mom to me and Kerri but to all my friends, too! She's a hero and an inspiration and she continually helps others through their diagnosis' and journeys as well. I love you, mom!

First Grade was also the year of my life that I began Irish Step Dancing, something I practiced, and loved up until my freshman year of college. My teacher was named Mary McInerney.

I remember walking into my first dance class to meet a cheerful red-headed woman carrying a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup. It wasn't long before she had to put that cup down to take out a sharpie and write a big 'ol R on my right foot and L on my left foot due to the fact that I was super brilliant and continually pointed the exact opposite foot of the one she called out... whoops. 

That smiling red-headed woman quickly became like another mother to me. She was tough, but encouraging- and her dancers excelled because of her teaching. She taught me not only how to tell my right foot from my left and how to point my toes but how to push myself, how to be confident and poised and how to exuberantly love life and be grateful for the people around me. 

Mary passed away of breast cancer in 2009 and I've never been more heartbroken than during that season of life. I still miss her and think of her often... and when it thunders, I look up and smile because I think that Mary just may be leading Heaven in a giant trebel jig. Her teaching style is one that I hope to embody as I embark on this journey of my own in teaching and I'm thankful for her influence on my life and heart.

Cancer has, in some way or another, touched everyone and I hope and pray for a day that there is a cure. But until then, I can't think of a better way to support the amazing organizations such as The Breast Cancer Research Foundation in the way they tirelessly work to search for it than to purchase one of these jam packed booklets.

So friends, be positively pink and go grab one of these awesome sets of resources. The booklets are available through October.

Have a wonderful week, everyone! 

If you're new, be sure to leave a comment so we can get to know you a little better, too. We love new friends!

Five For Friday Fun, FREEBIE contest, & Mystery Marathon Blog Hop!

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY YAAAA!!!

Man I just love Friday!

Today, Stacy and I are joining forces for our Five for Friday post! We're so excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs again! We just love to 'meet' new blogging friends through this awesome linky! 

Numbers 1 and 2 are from me (Colleen) and 3 and 4 are from Stacy. AND thennnnn, number 5 is a big announcement from us both! 

 So get excited and get reading :) 

I don't know about you, but for me, the beginning of this week seemed to drag on forever. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday seemed to be just tough days for my class as a whole. By Thursday, I was exhausted and feeling overwhelmed. When I went to grab my mail on Thursday morning there was a card in my mailbox. When I opened it, it was from my principal! Hand written and thanking me for being a community builder... it turned my attitude right around and really made me smile! There's definitely something powerful and amazing about simple encouragement! 

And then yesterday and today were such awesome days. Today we started the day out with an enrichment program and then my class got compliments ALL DAY! We got awesome compliments from our specials teachers AND in the hallway, a second grade teacher came out from her room and said that she saw bodies moving outside but didn't hear any voices at all and she couldn't even believe how awesome my class was in the hall. YESSSS!!!! Proudest moment of the day! I gave out a class bucket gram to my 24 friends and we packed up and walked down to the office where, every day at 2:30, children who've received bucket grams can come down and sign 'The Book of Names'. Then, one of my students wrote "Miss McBride's class" on a cut out leaf and we all walked out to a wall in the entryway of the school painted with a giant mural of a tree where we placed our leaf. I SO wish I had pictures of this... it was special. The kids really loved it. And I was so proud of them! 

I've been waiting for a good time to post about this... but a couple of weeks ago, when school started, my 24 munchkins and I learned about this special group of people called the 2nd grade expert club! If it's not obvious by now, or you don't know yet, I'll tell you again... I'm basically obsessed with everything that Lyndsey from A Year of Many Firsts makes. This phenomenal idea was from her We're Back For Seconds pack and I would highly recommend it!

First, I introduced the members of the expert club: Responsible Ryan, Ready To Learn Robert, Respectful Rachel and Really Safe Rita. We spent time talking about what it meant to be like them and how to be responsible, ready to learn, respectful and really safe. I then explained to the kids that the 2nd grade expert club contacted ME and told me they needed more members and they wanted my 24 kiddies to apply because they heard that my class was the best second grade class in the world! I told my kids that if they could model for me that week that they knew what it looked like to be members, we could apply.

So... we applied. And I took the applications to the post office, and I had them mailed back to the school sent them to the 2nd grade expert club! When we got them back, the excitement in the room was amazing! I told my kids that we needed to see if we were approved all together! So I had them cover their eyes with their hands so they couldn't touch and I handed out each of the applications face down on their desks. When everyone got one, we did a little drum roll and then opened our eyes, flipped over our papers and saw that we were approved! There were cheers, high fives, fist pumps and smiles and it filled my heart big time! Just observe the pictures above... amazing!

We still talk about the expert club all the time and I often remind my friends to model for me 2nd grade expert behavior! They also have tons of questions about the club. Their biggest question this week... "Miss McBride, at the end of the year can we take a field trip to meet them if we're really good and behave like they told us to allllll year?".... Welp kids, we'll just have to see about that one won't we.. :)

 And now for some news from Stacy in the Reading Room!

I was really excited to start my second grade groups this week.  The Reading Tutor and I will be targeting ten students that were identified with weaknesses on the fall DIBELS and Fountas & Pinnell assessments.  I always like to start off the year by having the students complete a Reading Inventory to get a sense of their feelings towards reading, interests, and dislikes.  This year I used a FREE Reading Interest Snapshot from A Rocky Top Teacher.  It was quick and easy for my students to complete. 

I was relieved when the majority of their responses looked like these.......

And concerned when I had responses like these.....

Yikes!  I'm definitely going to spend more time with the last little guy building his confidence while trying to bring back that love of reading!  I was actually VERY surprised that this particular child wrote this response.  He is one of my quiet students that always seems to go with the flow.  It confirms the importance of surveying students at the beginning of the year because you may not have a true sense of how their feeling.  My assumptions were WAY off on this one!

I had a second "ah-hah" moment when I completed my "Good Fit" book lesson using A Year of Many Firsts' FREE Daily 5 Classroom Resources.  First, I used the shoe images to emphasize the connection between choosing the correct shoes and the correct book when reading.  Boy!  They were rolling on the floor when I asked them to visualize me shoveling a foot of snow in my high heels!  Second, we brainstormed what we thought makes a book a good fit while I modeled different scenarios (easy read, difficult read).  I concluded the lesson by giving each student a basket of books to see if they could independently choose a "Good Fit" book.  I purposely chose titles that were significantly above and significantly below their actual reading level while mixing in a few appropriate titles.  Can you guess what the majority of my struggling readers chose as their "Good Fit" book?  THE FIRST 2 PEOPLE TO COMMENT BELOW WITH THE CORRECT ANSWER WIN A PRODUCT OF CHOICE IN OUR TPT STORE!  DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL!

And finally!! Our big finale! 

Grab your calendars, friends!  From Friday, October 25 through Sunday, October 27th, we will be co-hosting a Mystery Marathon Blog Hop with Carla from Comprehension Connection!  Approximately 25 Reading Specialists and Literacy Coaches will be featuring a spectacular adventure where participants will collect clues to crack a mysterious reading code which unlocks some FABULOUS FREEBIES AND PRIZES!!  Jump on over to Carla's blog and read this post to take a sneak peek at the bloggers who will be participating!  I bet you will recognize a few faces!   

TGIF, friends!  We hope you have an awesome weekend!!

Happy Tuesday....Stacy's October Currently

We are celebrating the first few weeks of school by joining Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her monthly CURRENTLY linky party.  We love to read what everyone is up to at school and in their everyday life! This month you will get to hear what Stacy is currently feeling as the leaves start to change in New England!

I had TWO SURPRISE VISITORS today!  My husband and son, Logan stopped by school on their way to my step-son's cross country meet.  I was ELATED when Logan immediately dove into a basket of books on my counter.  This picture was taken as I was sitting at my desk, listening to him read.  It's such an exciting feeling when a child's reading starts coming together and taking off!  Super Job, Nugget!

YIPPEEEEEEE!  DIBELS Benchmark testing is done until January!!  In three weeks, the Reading Tutors and I tested, scored, entered data, and ran reports on approximately 250 students in my school.  Wipe the sweat from my brow....I am DIBEL DABBLED out!   A worthwhile task but I am anxious to discuss this information at our weekly data meetings and get my groups started! 

I currently am taking courses towards a CAGS (Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies) in Literacy degree through the University of New England.  It is a 15 credit program for educators who wish to delve deeper into current best practices in reading and writing instruction.  The program is unique in that it's completely online.  I wasn't sure how I was going to like it but interestingly, it has been incredible.  I have loved meeting people from all over the world and learning more about their ideas and struggles around teaching literacy.  The next course that I take focuses on the struggling learner which should be really interesting and relevant to my work.  Although I'm excited to continue with my coursework, I've been thinking about how I'm going to squeeze all my responsibilities into my everyday life.  It can sometimes be a tricky juggling act!!



Ahhhhhhhh.....I found this picture on my camera.  I make a MEAN frozen margarita!  Although I'm loving the seasonably crisp fall days, I would love a chilly beverage in my hand while laying on the beach :)   Just for a couple of days!



Speaking of fall....my mother made me feel incredibly guilty when she asked me if I had all my autumn decorations up yet.  Nope!  Not a pumpkin or gourd can be found in my house!  Again, it goes back to finding time to do everything with a packed week and an even busier weekend.  But really?  If I don't have mums in my planters, is the world going to end?  Jeez, mother!

Or maybe it's a trick?  Either way, I LOVE this idea!  I really am not that crafty (see above) but I THINK I can handle this project....I just have to find the time :)  Click for directions!!

 

Have a GREAT rest of your month, friends!  Here's to jumping in leaves, pumpkin spice candles, crisp morning air, and hayrides with the ones you love!



Yesterday was: Thursday, Today is: Friday, Tomorrow will be: SATURDAY! Hallelujah!

Well, friends! Here we are at another Friday.... Can I get an amen?!

There were certainly some shouted out in our school at 3:00 today! It feels like this week was long across the board. But really, when my calendar board looks like below..I'm all smiles!

It's been a couple of weeks since I've written on this little blog of ours... I'm sure all you teachers can understand- the first year is just plain CRAZAYYYY! There's so much to think about, to do, to plan, to manage... my list gets longer by the minute (typical, I know) but I'm starting to get into a routine that I think both myself and my kids are really enjoying. This week we also had Open House. Now that that is over I feel like I can breath a little bit more easily!
All of that is really nothing I can complain about though because I really love my class. They're coming together so well and I really feel like we're working as a team now.

Just a little story about how awesome my kids are... The other day we were working in our groups (always working on social skills and friendships) and I noticed one group was getting a little chattier than the rest. I play pandora radio all day in my classroom- I call it quiet working music. I think it really creates a calming sense and feel in the room and my kids just love it. Now they even ask for it when Miss McBride forgets to press play. Anyway- my words are always the same... "If you can't hear the music, your voice is too loud". Well, this group's voices were too loud... but I kept hearing things like "Me too!" or "I know! Best ever!" or "That's my favorite".... I went over to the table to ask them to lower their voices and remind them to listen to the music and one of my sweet munchkins jumped out of her chair and gave me a hug saying "Miss McBride- sorry we're so loud... we're all talking about how you're the best teacher ever!" Welp... warm my heart right up sweet girl. Gosh I love them. And I love that they love school!

Today, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for a good 'ol Five for Friday! 

Let's get right to it! This one is really gonna be random!

 It's officially fall. The leaves are changing, the air is cool and it's sweatshirt weather which just makes everything amazing. I love this time of year! And I love pumpkin everything. Sooooo it's a win win.  Read more about why I love it here!

Yesterday, we celebrated my momma's birthday! Happy birthday Mom! I love you!

Class Dojo is my new favorite thing. My kids LOVE it and I do too! They all went home the day I introduced it and made their own little avatars! I keep Class Dojo up on my SmartBoard all day. About a week ago, we had a discussion on positive and negative behaviors that I am either looking for or looking to avoid and we plugged those into the website. Now, whenever I see someone demonstrating one of those behaviors I can click on their little avatar and award points and my SmartBoard will make a little sound that all my kids just know to listen for. Obviously, my goal everyday is to highlight the positive behaviors in my class. I find that if I notice a negative behavior occurring, and I give a point to someone who is demonstrating a positive behavior, the child demonstrating the negative behavior checks themselves and turns it around. The picture above of the 98% donut was my class' record for today! So proud of them!! :) 

Last weekend, I went on the Youth Group's Fall Retreat. It was such a wonderful time and I loved being away for the weekend. The teens had a great time too. The funny thing is, my church shares the camp that weekend with another church from Boston. A woman from my school leaned over to me at assembly this morning and asked me if I happened to have been in New Hampshire last weekend at the exact camp that I was at! She was there as a part of the other church we were sharing the camp with! Such a small world! Pretty cool :)

This morning, right before school started, my friend Tom from Kenya called me! My heart just flipped around in my chest as I answered and heard his voice! AND! I got to speak with a bunch of the kids from Flying Kites- the organization that I was working with in Kenya. The boy in this picture is named Benson. I call him Benny and he just stole my heart. You can read all about why on my personal blog here! Anyway, it made my morning to talk to Tom and Benny, Lucy O and Mary! Really, I couldn't stop smiling. It made me yearn for Kenya even more than normal. But my heart is so full!

Last but not certainly least.... This week in Fundations we've been reviewing digraphs and blends and I just knew that our Sweet Tooth Crush set was beyond necessary for my classroom. I was so excited to use it and my kids just loved it! We typically share our stuff and explain that everything comes with a week of reinforcing activities but over the last two days, I had some good chunks of time in my schedule since Guided Reading groups haven't started yet and I couldn't wait to use this bundle of goodies for centers! I set up my room in 5 centers. It was perfect! To start, we all played Scoot! What a fun game. The kids loved it AND the OT teacher was in my room to observe- and she said my room was super OT friendly and she loved being in there. YES! And... when we had our Fundations assessment today, most all my kiddies got all their words right! Again, I'm so proud of my kids!

I set up my centers as follows:
1) I Have Who Has
2) Board Game
3) Word Sort
4) Word Search and Ladder Page (copied back to back)
5) Read and Illustrate and Word Shapes (copied back to back)

I spread out my centers around the room and put a rotating list on the smart board of how they should move. When the kids heard the bell, we switched. It took us 2 days to get through all the centers because it was our first time doing it. Everything takes longer the first time- all that explanation and modeling that's SO vital just takes up a good chunk of the lesson. The kids had so much fun over the last two day and I did too!

Grab your set in our store! It's so worth it!

What an awesome (but long) week! I just love being a teacher. I love the struggles and the challenges that lead to new understanding and ah-ha moments and today I realized I love love love Friday hugs before dismissal.

Happy Weekend Everyone! The weather here in New England is supposed to be beautiful! Enjoy :)

And just because I'm obsessed with both Fall and Melonheadz....