10 things about Me:)

So I must admit, I love all the linky parties that have been taking place on all the fabulous blogs I stalk. Mrs. Owens follow the link to head to her blog is having a linky party for 10 things about you (or me). She also has a cute freebie printable on her post as well (so snag it quick!)

Here's ten things about myself

1. I celebrate my 2 year wedding anniversary on August 29th. Aren't we cute:

2. I have 3 furbabies (Josiah a toy fox terrier, Kaylee black lab mix, and Salem pit bull mix)

 3. I love reading.  Book nerd for life


4. I am a part time artist/crafter. Check out my etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ohlovelyoil      and my crafty blog here: http://ohlovelyoil.blogspot.com/

5. I am an EC teacher (will be going on my 6th year) and teach students who have behavioral and emotional disabilities) 


6.  I have a slight obsession with birds, old keys, journals, and all things vintage.


7. I like to do fun things to my hair. my most recent being this:

8. My husband can dance. He teaches ball room dancing through the program Dancing Classrooms http://www.dancingclassrooms.com/ (in the North Carolina pilot program) as well as hip hop dance


9. "If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking...Oh how He loves us all" I love the Lord 


10. We have a pool at our house that needs a new pump, liner, etc, etc in order to become functioning. If you would like to donate to the pool fund you will be blessed (hehehehe)

Super Spelling Ideas

My students do a word study block using the WORDS THEIR WAY program by Francine Johnston as their spelling words for each week.

During the week they participate in various hands on activities to help them learn their spelling words. Here are some ideas you may want to use in your classroom to spice up your spelling.

Yarn Writing

All you need is paper, glue, and some yarn

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Larkin on Pinterest

Students use the glue to write out their words (one letter at a time is easier so it doesn't waste glue as the glue will dry quickly). Then they cut the yarn to form the letters using the glue outline.  Hands on, good for motor skills, plus they are spelling.

Source: somedaycrafts.blogspot.com via Jennie on Pinterest

ABC ORDER

(forwards or backwards)

I've found a ton of receipt paper at garage stores, thrift stores for really cheap.  My students enjoy this activity as they get to spread out in the floor.  I pass out a loooooooooooong strip of receipt paper and have students write their words out BIG (leaving space in between the words). Then after they write out their words they cut out the words. 

You can have them simply sort the words in ABC order (forwards or backwards) or have them glue the words on a poster in ABC order.  

Choo-Choo and RainBow Words

Source: matteart.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Choo Choo words are just writing out the words around then paper, then drawing box cars and adding wheels to make it into a choo choo train.  Once words are written they can add in a road, draw the smoke, and make their trains more personal. 

Rainbow words are when students use either colored pencils, crayons, or markers and write their words. Each letter has to be a different color.

How Much are my Words Worth?

This activity incorporates math as students are given a chart with each letter and the corresponding money amount.  (see link below)

How much are my words worth?

Then students write out their words and calculate up how much it's worth.

Example: 

fish: I see the F is worth 6 cents, I is 7, S is 5 and the H is worth 1 cent. 

So they would add up 6 + 7 + 5 + 1= 19 cents

This also helps to reinforce addition skills for students who may not have that skill strongly in place.

Computer Fun

My students love, love, love getting on the computer and typing their words.  

Some of their favorite activities to do on the computer with their words is:

1) write a story with your words

2). Type your words 3 times each (change the font and size (and color if you have a colored printer) for your words. 

3) Make powerpoint slides of your words including:

*The Word

*A sentence

*Clip art that goes with the word or sentence 

(they enjoy customizing the slides and adding animation as well)

These are just a few of the MANY things we do with spelling.  Head on over to teachingblogaddict for more 

Classroom Shopping Linky Party

Kristen over at Ladybug's Teacher Files hosted a classroom shopping link party.  As a school supply shopper addict, I knew I had to link up my great recent finds.

I cannot lie. Once summer hits and school is out I am constantly hawking the stores (my top prized 3: Michaels, Dollar Tree, and Target -especially the dollar section) for teacher goodness.  I sadly cannot enter into the Dollar Tree without spending at least 8-10 dollars average.  I have a weakness for school supplies and have already taken multiple trips to various stores in hopes that some "Back to School" supplies have started to be stocked on the shelves.  

After reading all the great Target finds from the Linky party, I was inspired to head to my local Target in hopes of being as successful as some of the other teachers were.  It was a sad let down and I walked away empty handed. BUT I did see a few bookbags being put out. That must mean the rest will follow eh?

I have managed to snag some great goodies such as:

fabulous folders. 1.00 a pack. I am going to use them for our Student Survival Guide (which houses all our classroom expectations and rules to be successful). I may have to go back and purchase more. A teacher can never have enough folders

Behavior Charts (a much needed essential in my classroom)

 stickers, stars for behavior incentive sheets (see previous photo) and tags 

I adore the Dollar Tree teacher section

 These blank calendar pages are great. I use mine to keep all my IEP's organized 

 I have a slight obsession with owls so when I saw this for Character Ed, I squealed with joy.

Perfect!

 Dear Michaels, you never seem to disappoint me.

thank you

Storage bins (I'm thinking colored pencils) and lots of H (for Hawk of course) sticky notes

 I love this. 

Can't wait to hang it and remind myself each day to be in celebration

Everyone knows Dollar Tree is the place to go for bins. I was happy to see these guys back in stock as I needed them for my classroom library.  

Ideas and Resources (Reading/Language Arts)

Summer break= blog stalking which I have had a lot of time to do.  I am super excited at all the resources I have came across and wanted to share a few that I am excited about using this school year.

1. http://storylineonline.net/
This site has lots of books read by various actors as well as follow up activities to do in the classroom.
Some examples of books that are featured include:

and a lot more.

2.http://freerice.com/

Not only does this promote language and vocabulary but it also donates rice to end world hunger

3. http://www.spellingcity.com/

I can't wait to use this for my word study block. Students can enter their word lists and then complete various activities such as practice spelling tests, games, etc.

End of the School Year Activities

I am so happy to be on summer break and have finally uploaded some photos from our last few days in the classroom.  Not only did I have to shut down the school year with report cards, IEP progress reports, and cumm folders, but I also had to pack up and move my classroom a few doors down into a new classroom. (the journey of unpacking, setting up and organizing will come later during the summer). Whew talk about exhausting.

Here's a few things we did the last few days of school.

Water Balloons

On one of the HOT days where we weren't allowed outside after 12 pm due to heat conditions, we headed outside with pages from our memory books, Popsicles, and a tub full of water balloons.  

First we sat around in a circle and I had each student share what they were most proud of from this school year. While they stood up and shared, I dictated their answers for a page that would go in their end of the year memory books.  Also while sharing we enjoyed icees as the sun was blazing down on us. 

Once we cooled off we practiced throwing our paper airplanes for the school wide Air Show that would take place the next day.  This made for some sweaty, ready to get wet students.

Then I had them pick partners and we played a few rounds of water balloon toss.  The last thing we did with the water balloons was a have a water balloon war.  We had a blast and it was a great way to cool down.

We also started  our End of the Year "remember me" shirts.  Each child got a shirt with each students handprint on it.  This served as a memory of all the friends they made this year as well as the specials times we shared as a class.  I got the shirts at a local thrift store and used my teacher discount at Michaels to get the fabric paint. 

We all wore our shirts on Awards Day. Here's how fabulous they turned out

yaay for fun crafting activities.

Candy Math

We also did a fun candy math activity using the following template i found via blog surfing: Candy Math Document  . This involves candy and math skills so you can't go wrong.  We used Skittles and M &M's. 

Once we completed the steps in the activity the students were able to eat their candy.

I don't know which they enjoyed better: the math activity, or eating the candy at the end (wink wink)

Feel free to snag any activities/ideas for future end of the school year days.  Also feel free to leave any activities you do with your students. Sharing is a MUST in the teaching world.

Personal Avatars

This year I came across a fabulous website where students can create their own personal avatar which you can find here: http://myavatareditor.com/  (they love it because these are the Wii avatars).

I used the avatars to go with our Acrostic Name poems project.  Students used their name to write an Acrostic poem. Then they went online and created their personal avatars.  Once we saved their avatars to a drive, they  created a power point slide where they typed their poem and inserted their avatar.  They were allowed to customize their slide to integrate technology skills.

Here's a quick snapshot of their finished product.




These avatars could also be used to create characters in stories written by the students or also for character education when working with emotions and feelings.

Mother's Day Handmade Frames

Being that I am a crafty creative person, I love doing art projects and crafts with my students.  I try to incorporate projects and art continually throughout the year which has been great because a lot of my students don't have the access to materials or crafting goodness. 

So for Mother's day I headed to Michael's and bought some unfinished wood frames as well as simple Mother's Day "stuffers" my students could pick to put in the bag with their frame.  Some of these goodies included: candles, soap, back massage's, nail kit, etc. 

We also painted bags for the frames to be presented in and wrote on the front of them adding some ribbon on the handles.  Here's a few photos of how wonderful they turned out.

Feel free to leave your Mother's Day crafting ideas in the comments section.