Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 7

On the seventh day of Christmas, Aloha to Second gave me....

Check out the other $7 sales below!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Santa Blog Hop

For this holiday season, I am going to post my Christmas Around the World unit for FREE!  Yes, I am feeling generous and want to share with you this fun unit I did with my class.  I know Christmas is about over, but maybe you could use it next year.  Check it out below!

We learned about Christmas in Germany, Sweden, and America.  Then, I created nonfiction books for the kids to read and create posters to share what they learned.  You can find those in my TPT store also.  We have had so much fun during this nonfiction reading unit.  My kiddos even said, "Mrs. Brosey, we are having so much fun, and we thought it was going to be boring!" hah! I love their honesty. :]

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.  Check out the other freebies by going to our Elementary Entourage Blog!

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas, Aloha to Second gave you....

Check out these other great products!!

Twelve Days of Christmas Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas, Aloha to Second gave you....

Check out the other deals below!  Merry Christmas! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Twelve Days of Christmas

Oh my goodness, the Christmas season is such a special time of year.  I love that it is the season for giving.  I love that all my blogger friends are linking up to have a Twelve days of Christmas celebration on TpT.  Check out the four products that I have posted for $1 in my store.  They are a great deal and definitely worth the dollar.  

I hope you're having a very Merry Christmas season!

I use these math journals every morning.  My students have a binder they keep them in, and when math starts they open up to the next page to solve the problem.  I also play a song and when the song is over, they must be complete.  It is a lot of fun and a great way to practice explaining your answer.

I start this at the beginning of the year and each student has one week dedicated to them.  I love how this works, and the students enjoy doing it.  One even thanked me for letting them do it!  If you want to learn more, check out my post here. 

These are always nice to have, and an apple goes with every time of the year when teaching!

I made these to go with my ocean themed classroom.  When my students move to the next part of the writing process they move their fish on the board.  I love it!

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas gifts

I am always looking for something to do for parent Christmas gifts.  This year I decided to do something simple.  I went to Dollar Tree and I bought pot holders.  They come two in a pack so I don't have to buy as many.  I just use one per child.  

I buy white paint (not washable) and paint their hand so they can place a handprint on the oven mitt.  I use a permanent marker to write the child's name and the date.  Check it out below. 

Then, I have students decorate bags for the gift to be placed in.  I am not sure where I got this idea, but I'm assuming on Pinterest!  I draw the line and write the words and the kids use their fingers to dot the light bulbs.  I just use stamps.  They are so cute! 

I hope this gives you some inspiration or an easy idea! Have a Merry Christmas! 

Student of the Week

I have a beach theme in my classroom, so I do a Catch of the Week.  This is so much fun! My kids love this and feel so special when it is their week.

I made these cute forms that can be sent home to have students complete the weeks' activities.  Click on the image below!

There are 3 different forms included in the pack.  Each form also has different activities to allow you to use what you want, as well as a blank form you can fill out.  The forms include, Catch of the Week, Star of the Week, and Student of the Week. 

Here is the layout of the form I use each week.  This is my favorite!

Monday: Bring in a completed All About Me poster.  We then display it on our Catch of the Week board.  I buy my posters from Really Good Stuff. 

Tuesday: Students bring in a Show and Tell item.  They love this!

Wednesday: I eat lunch with my student. I enjoy getting to know them and not talk about school work. 

Thursday:  My students have a special reader come.  I have them come at the end of the day that way the student can go home with them.  They read their child's favorite book or any book they want:  this is always fun and the kids love having someone come to our room!  It could  be their parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, brother, sister, etc.  When their sibling goes to their school, they always love when they come in and read!

Friday: We make a poster for the student telling why the student is our friend. I use chart paper and the kids all write on the poster and sign their name.  The kids love taking this home! I have had several tell me that they hang it up in their room. I always sign it, too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Do you do anything special in your room?  I would love to hear about it.  Please leave a comment below! 

Character Analysis Part 2

I shared my week 1 of my character analysis reading workshop unit.  Now, I will share my week 2!  I am really enjoying this unit.  It is perfect for the fall season!

We read The Littlest Pilgrim.  This is a sweet story about a small pilgrim girl trying to help her family. We read this story and discussed the main charcter and the supporting characters.  

Once we determined the main character, we discussed how she felt at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  Then, we talked about how her feelings changed and why.  It's important to understand how the character might change and what might cause it.  We discussed her feelings and how these may coincide with her character traits. 

We used our Pilgrim Character Trait books to record our observations about the main character.  We focused on using  descriptive words and steered clear from words like 'happy' or 'sad.'

We finished this part of our unit by making little pilgrims.  I think creating things helps students remember what they learned.  Plus they are just so darn cute! 

Check out my Workshop Unit by clicking on the picture below! 

Character Analysis Part 1

Reading Workshop might be my favorite subject to teach!  This month, we are focusing on analyzing characters in our texts.  We want to get to know the characters as if they are our best friends! This helps us understand what we are reading and enjoy the story!

I created a Reading Workshop pack to help me stay on track this month and reach all the Common Core standards.  If you're intersted, please click on the image below. 

During the first week, we worked on determining the characters' feelings in the story. We practiced predicting what might happen next by using our inferring skills.  

We read the Little Scarecrow Boy.  This was a great story for defining the main characters' personality and character traits.  Then, we predicted what might happen to the little scarecrow. 

We even made scarecrows to help us remember this lesson.  The template it included in the pack! 

We made crow books that had our predictions and then our revised predictions.  We learned that good readers are always predicting and correcting their predictions to help them remember what happened. 

Check back for part 2 of my character analysis unit!  You won't want to miss it!