Blogging from McDonald's... with a freebie and a GIVEAWAY!

Oooh, I have a Freebie, a book review, and a GIVEAWAY today!! Thanks to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky. Gotta love Five for Friday!

1.  What a glorious morning!

Well, THAT gorgeous morning was not THIS morning, but one last week. I love to see the dawn and that breathtaking sky, and feel like anything is possible. Usually I'm rushing around to get out the door with the oh-so-necessary three dozen bags a kindergarten teacher must always have on her person when she leaves the house. I share this so you can feel anything is possible on this Good Friday, too.

Because we don't have school today, I treated yesterday, Thursday, like IT was Friday. I mean it was the last day of the school week after all. On the way home I picked up a bunch of movie rentals– yes, we are among the rare citizens we don't have a million cable stations and movie subscriptions. We love Redbox where we simply grab a movie or two... or three for the night. I threw together a dinner and Jonathan and I settled in for mindless entertainment: Specter. Jonathan's choice, not mine... I've seen every James Bond movie that ever was because of the men in my life... brothers, boyfriends, husband... only one husband, thank goodness. We were halfway through when flicker, flicker, click. No power.

WHAT???? A whole glorious night of movie escapism ahead and now. no. power!!!! I even took a fifteen minute nap when I got home so I could stay up late! How were we to watch those red boxed discs now? Hmmpf.

I reported the problem to the electric company and signed up to get a text when the power came back on. We packed up the laptop, cord, earbuds, and movies- NOT Specter because it was stuck in the player which doesn't open without power– and headed to our favorite coffee shop. Coffee and chocolate cake only made the evening better. It was an adventure!!

Here we are camped out in the comfy chairs with the laptop between us. Gotta love selfies and how very attractive they make you look... my nose is really not that big...

We got back home about midnight, stumbling through the dark house and flipping every lightswitch as we went. We knew the power wasn't on yet because the porch light was still off, but for some reason we found we couldn't remember that fact from one room to the next. Stumble, grope, click. Hmmph. Stumble, grope, click. Sigh. Stumble, grope, click. Dang it why do I keep doing that! Both of us. Through the house. At every switch. I bet you didn't know there are magnets in lightswitches that make your hands automatically grope for them in the dark. What an interesting phenomenon.

This morning the power was still not on. No power, no heat, low overnight temps of 26 degrees. The adventure was over. I briskly hustled out of pajamas and headed off to breakfast with a teacher friend so I didn't have to open the fridge, and then camped out later at McDonald's to blog. McDonald's, on a Friday, when there is no school, and apparently not much else to do in town. Again, not so much an adventure. But what's a blogger to do.

2.

Aren't these adorable! And so easy to make!

One of my students brought this in to me yesterday. Well, one of my former students. Don't you just love when they come back to see you. A real advantage of teaching kindergarten is that you know the kids for their entire six years at school.

I thought this was so cute I took a shot. And it's pretty easy to make. A rice crispie treat "nest" formed by pressing the mixture into a muffin tin, then some frosting to hold the jelly bean eggs and a Peep bird to the nest. These are probably all the go on Pinterest but I had never seen them before. If I'm ever again in a phase of life when I need to make such treats, I'll try these. And I'm going to pin my own photo up  there so I don't forget about it. Pinterest: the memory I don't have.

3.  I blogged about this game idea which I found on Pinterest a couple posts ago. I report on it again because it is a HUGE HIT!!

That is a foam die in my kiddo's hand. You simply drop the die into the center dish and it bounces into one of the dishes around the edge. It works amazingly well. It bounces right into one of those depressions 99.4% of the time like pure magic. It takes work to make it bounce out... which means if yours bounces out you worked at it... and you lose your turn. Funny how it only took one or two off bounces for off bounces never to happen again. They love it that much.

The game edition in the picture has two word wall words per bounce. Every student chooses one of the words to graph with every student's turn, which keeps everybody engaged and the words being read aloud all the time... and it seems like there is strategy because you get to CHOOSE the word... I don't need to tell you I've been teaching kindergarten a long time to come up with this exciting game version.

With the one below, the die has letters on it, and the kids write the word that is made with the letter that is up and the word chunk landed on.

They write the word on the "earthling" side or the "alien" side of the recording paper- surely on Mars they must say words like tig and bap.

The kids love writing nonsense words on our Alien sheet. You can download mine by clicking on it above. So nice Jonathan can draw Martians. Let the kids use it for recording real and nonsense words with any word chunk/word family manipulatives you put out in your classroom.

You can use the bounce tray to practice lots of concepts in reading, math or, well, anything. You'll find the dip tray at dollar stores. Post-it notes easy to use because you can switch out the same tray for many uses, though I do have several of these trays now. I shared it at our staff meeting with K-5 teachers. It really is fun to bounce and I caught several teachers giving it a go after I shared it. hee. I strongly recommend it to any teacher, no matter who or what you teach.

4.  My friends at Flashlight Press sent me a brand new book that is just hitting bookstores. It is called Hammer and Nails, written by Josh Bledsoe and illustrated by Jessica Warrick. If you are a regular reader you know I love the books Flashlight chooses to publish, and this one does not fail my high expectations.

This is the story of Darcy, whose plans for a playdate are foiled when her best friend gets sick. It's Daddy to the rescue as he orchestrates the day with activities from both Darcy's and his to-do list... except that they do them Daddy-style. Dressing up, mowing the lawn, Hair Salon and doing the laundry take on whole new meanings on this special day.

For the teacher or parent who keeps an eye out for learning opportunities, this delightful book is full of them. Dealing with disappointment, being flexible, trying new things, and making the mundane events of life FUN are all underlying themes in the book. I can think of lots of times in the classroom and in family life when this book would have extra appeal: Father's Day; as a baby gift inscribed with "Think of the good times ahead;" or as a gift for a daughter from a Papa who shares this approach to life.

When I read this one to my class, before they ever saw it, I asked what a book called Hammer and Nails might be about. Construction, of course. Then I asked them again when I showed them the cover. Hmmm. Then I asked a third time after we read it. That lead to a discussion of the meanings of nail and what a homonym was. Common Core standard on word meanings- nailed! snort.

Here are some shots of the book.

OF COURSE it has great endpapers and About-the-Author blurbs... a requirement for every good kids' book.

I told you it was good. You want this book and you can find it here...

5.  .... OR I might just send it to you!!!! Whoot Whoot! Yep, this is the giveaway I've been talking about. Well, writing about, but in my head I'm talking to you... babbling actually... excitedly babbling, as this is my FIRST ever giveaway. Flashlight has been oh so gracious enough to send me an extra copy. And all you have to do is sign up below. Yes, you have to follow via Bloglovin or email when you sign up because Flashlight Press wants more readers of the reviews I post, and I want more readers, period. All these wonderfully insightful, exciting, funny ideas I write about should be read by more people, right? So just fill in your name, how you are following, and your email address (so I can tell you when you win) into the Rafflecopter entry form below. Names and addresses do not become public on the blog. Rafflecoper will "pull the name out of the hat" on Saturday, April 2nd, at midnight eastern time, so you can enter until then!!  If you are already a follower, enter the contest and tell me how you follow. Come on, what do you have to lose?? I know you'll love the book!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Ping!!! Hey, I just got the DTE message that the power at home is back on!!  Goodbye MickeyD's. I'm outta here!

Except, whoa, I almost forgot... the giveaway for Hammer and Nails is only my FIRST giveaway. A Hue document camera and another book are on the way- this one from Usborne! Be SURE to follow so you don't miss 'em!

See more, more, more good stuff by checking out Five for Friday!

And one. more. thing. Do you know about Oh-My-Heartsie Girl's link-up? We're talking lots of posts on tons of topics. If you're a teacher, mom, wife, daughter, grandma... you'll find something!  Click.

Well two. more. things. These bloggers are fired up and provide a great way to peruse blog topics on their Sunday Link-up, too. Click to see.

See you next time!!!

Five New Resources for the New Year

What better time to find new resources than at the beginning of the new year? Some will save you money, some will make you money, some are good to share with your own students. I think you'll find a couple of goodies today. Thanks Doodle Bugs Teaching for a favorite Five for Friday linky!

1.  The folks from SightWords.com asked me to check out their website, and share as I saw fit. Well, I checked it out, and I see a LOT fit... a perfect fit for preK thru first grade, ELL and special ed teachers. The site contains tons of FREE resources that help teach sight words, phonemic awareness, and counting. And it is fully EDITABLE– you can choose from Fry and Dolch lists, or create your own word lists. You'll find games, flash cards, videos, and reference charts– truly worth checking out. Click on their icon below. Oh, and did I mention– all the resources are free, with nothing to buy on the site. Whoot!

2.  Do you know about Ziggedy? If you don't, you want to pay attention here. It is an EASY fundraising site that raises money for you to spend on your classroom to help defray the out-of-pocket costs that teachers experience all the time. It's super simple– sign up your classroom, then send invites to your classroom parents, your own friends and family members. After that, every time they shop on-line, a percentage of their purchase amount goes into your classroom account. It costs you nothing, it costs them nothing, and it only takes a click through Ziggedy before they put items in their carts to send money your way. They can even get a button that pops up telling them when they are on a site that will donate to their cause. And there are many commonly used retailers who participate in the Ziggedy program– Best Buy, Sears, Macy's, Lowe's, Office Depot and Staples, Kohl's, Walmart, Walgreens, Groupon, even travel sites like Orbitz and Travelocity. Here are two videos that explain it from the teacher and parent perspective.

And




I have earned approximately $40 this quarter by signing up and having just a few of my classroom families, and my own friends and family members sign up.  I should note here that Ziggedy is not like DonorsChoose which asks your families and friends for direct donations. (That is a great site btw and I got a set of rekenreks for my classroom, though I didn't really like asking people for donations.) On Ziggedy, regular shopping that people do anyway brings in money to the classroom, with no one spending any extra. Why wouldn't anyone let their regular shopping bring in money to classrooms? Click below to go to my referral page to find out more. Whoot Whoot!

One last thing. I am always a little skeptical of things that seem too good to be true, so I did a little digging into Ziggedy. It gets high trust ratings from all the sources I checked. They have also been very responsive to any questions I've had.

3.  Teachers and kids love picture books but Dragon and Captain is no ordinary picture book.

This picture book is a type of beginning graphic novel. Two boys, one who happens to love his dragon bathrobe and another who loves his three cornered hat, go off on an adventure that only they can see– except they let their young readers in on it, too. Writer Philip Allabach and illustrator Lucas Turnbloom do a great job of capturing the boys' imaginary world so that we see both their world of adventure and the ordinary world they live in. And they use all those great comic book devices to tell the story- speech bubbles, sound words, storyboard style with multiple pictures per page- anybody see a new mentor text here?? I have been saving this goodie until after break because this is the perfect book to not only teach about features of print but also a whole new genre. I think they're going to love it. AND the end papers are MAPS! I don't know about your kids, but every year my kids fall in love with maps and map making. This is going to be a hot feature of the book.

Anyone who reads regularly won't be surprised when I say this book is from Flashlight Press, one of my favorite small house publishers. I love all their stuff and have come to eagerly await those couple of new books they put out each year. Check. them. out.  And then go get your hands on a copy– I know our school librarian is going to be all over it as it fills a unique niche for kids who love comics. Great fun.  You can see my other book reviews for Flash Light Press by clicking on the "Books" label on my right side bar.

Click to see Flashlight Press books.

4. Coding, coding, coding. It's the wave of the future. I know very little about it, but as a teacher, even a kindergarten teacher, I feel a certain obligation to learn. In my learning process I heard about the site Code.org where there are various coding games you can play as you learn to code. My favorite– yes I played them– is the Star Wars game where you get to program for BB-8 and R2D2 to do various tasks... which help the rebel cause, of course. There is a video that explains a bit about coding and then it teaches you how to code using a block system. Great fun AND learning for you your students. It is recommended for kids six and up as there is some reading of directions. I shared this site with families to try, think it is a great site for kindergartners to go to with their big buddies from older grades, and also provides good challenge for my advanced students. There are many games on the site, including some that don't even need a computer. Check it out by clicking on the picture below.

5.  Weekend News is my last idea to share on this New Year's Day because it would be great to incorporate on your first day back from break. My kiddos don't do "bell work." I know as teachers we want kids to "get right to work" when they come in the door, but seat work at this time of the day for the first minutes in the door has never made sense to me. What adult do you know walks into the office, goes straight to their desk, and starts working on the day's tasks without first greeting and sharing with their co-workers? People need the connection with other people before they can put aside life's distractions and get to work. So I allow my kids to talk and share with each other– share about their time at home, their trip to school, and what's on their mind. I encourage conversation over good books, too, because our first work of the day is D.E.A.R time. Each day I have a different collection of books out-  DK Books for factual reading, words and letter books, puzzle and search books, kid magazines, our collection of current read alouds and, of course, our own book baggies of just right books. I see this part of our daily routine meeting ELA, language, and social-emotional goals.

We break from our D.E.A.R. routine once a week, however. On Mondays we are always full of weekend news to share, so when kids come in they grab a Weekend Chronicles sheet and share with their friends as they write and illustrate what they did over the weekend.

I went to see if my friends were home. They were playing outside so we built, made a fort.

I collect these after we do attendance and job board rotation and bring them to the carpet for meeting. As I flip through the stack of papers I ask each child if they have one thing to report from the weekend. Even kids who don't comment much in meetings usually take this opportunity for a sound bite. I might comment on a paper, or ask a follow up question as I flip through, but it is all kept very brief. Our reports go home so that another goal is accomplished– parents get to see what their child's most current writing efforts are. We use Lucy Calkins' writing workshop model– which I love– and we do other kinds of writing throughout our week, but I found that parents weren't seeing their child's "out of my head" writing, as one of my little guys calls it, often enough. This written sound bite lets parents see what kids can do, and comment and ask about the weekend they just spent together. Kids, parents, and I all love our weekend reports. It is one more way for us to write, talk, and connect in our busy days. Whoot! (I don't have this as a freebie because you need to name your own class reports- but the form is easy to make.)

Click on back to Kacey and see what Fives the rest of us are sharing on this new year's day.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Let me know in comments if you found anything of special interest to you. I wish you and yours a truly remarkable 2016!