Turn on the Lights...Laser Lights Giveaway!

It's one of my very favorite times of the year.  Lights in the park, lights on the tree, lights on the house, and lights in the classroom!!  Light up your walls with some Holiday Text Feature identification practice.  With so many different types of text features embedded in informational text, students often get confused on which feature does what, what the purpose of the feature is, and what it looks like.  This new activity is an engaging game where students match the name of the feature to it's definition, as well as to an image that displays what the feature might look like. It can be done whole group, in centers, in cooperative teams, or individually. There's even a text feature reflection sheet.  Students get practice with a necessary skill AND you can "string them up" to light up your classroom with a colorful, holiday display.   Click on image above to grab!   

How much fun can you have this time of year (AND YEAR ROUND) with these LED finger laser lights?  The elastic strap slides over your finger for easy use.  They come in four bright colors:  blue, green, red, and white.  I found them on Amazon (40 pk) for $7.00.  Imagine sitting at your guided reading table having your students track print with these.  How about locating evidence in the text, or pointing out the problem and solution?  I'm thinking there are LOTS of possibilities!  So let's have some FUN with them!  Leave a comment with a suggested educational use for the LED lights in your classroom to share with other teachers.  I'll put the first 10 suggestions in a hat, draw ONE out, and I'll SEND YOU an Amazon gift card for $15.00 to get a set of your own!  That should even cover the shipping cost!  Rules are quick and easy:  
1.)  One entry per person! 
2.)  Share only one idea so lots of teachers can participate!
2.)  Email address must accompany your suggestion (so I know where to send the gift card!)

Bananas for those silly, little things that make me smile and say, "My students would LOVE this!"   Happy Holidays, friends! 

Holiday Freebies and a Huge Sale!

Happy Holidays educator friends!
Here's hoping this finds you prepping for the holidays with your family, friends, and your classroom!  There's no better time to grab some teaching materials at a huge discount during the TpT Cyber Sale Monday, Dec. 2nd and Tuesday, Dec. 3rd!  Tons of sellers, including myself, will be offering 20% off their entire stores AND TpT is offering an
additional 8% off if you use the Promo code:  CYBER. (For a quick trip to the sale, click on the adorable Cyber Monday Sale Sign (created by the extremely talented Jen Jones @ Hello Literacy). What a great opportunity to stock up on some Winter and Spring goodies for your classroom.  Some of the newer additions to my store: The "Word Family Train Wreck" game is a great way to give your early readers an opportunity to practice their word families.  Students will delight in building their word family train. Watch out of the Train Wreck card, though!  There are 13 games in this bundle! (Best suited for K-1 classrooms)
For the 2nd-3rd grade classrooms, I added the Government Interactive Notebook a couple of months ago, which is probably one of my favorites.  I adore interactive notebooking and enjoy getting to see how each notebook turns out differently.  Students and parents both love them.  Studying becomes a lot easier with the information organized all in one place.

Finally for the math fans, I've added Math 4 Ways!  This unit helps students learn certain math concepts in 4 different ways.  If they are exposed to addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, money, time, and place value in various formats, they have a better chance of committing the material to long term memory.  If they can demonstrate the concepts in all 4 ways, they truly understand it!



Don't forget your HOLIDAY FREEBIES up for grabs:    Practice synonyms and antonyms with an ornament match game OR dress Frosty with a variety of hats, mittens, and scarves by creating an organized list!
Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays this 2013 season.
Bananas for the blessings in my life each and every day...including my educator friends and TpT family!