Word Work FREEBIE and a Peek Inside My Centers

Here is a Spring Building Words FREEBIE for you to download: 

I use these cards in my literacy centers for students to practice making words.  They use a master recording sheet to write all of the words they create.  The center recording sheet has all of their centers that they will visit each week. As they visit their centers, they record their center work on each section.  They keep their recording sheet (we call it their "GOLD" so they don't lose it) in their reading folders and they turn in their  sheet at the end of the week.  We usually have time on Friday to catch up on any centers that they missed throughout the week.

  

I have kept the same centers all year long so my kids are pretty self sufficient during center time.  I do, however, have my center menu up on a poster in my classroom for students to revisit if they have a question on what to do.  The menu has an explanation of what to do at each of the centers:

I have a center schedule like the one below that students keep track of the centers that they go to.  Each student has a different schedule!  There's no switching center cards or wasting time telling students which centers they will go to on a particular day.  

My centers routine has worked out really great this year.  I tried several different methods over the years and this method seems to be the best.  It takes about 2 weeks to train all of the students on the expectations of the stations.  After that...easy peasey!!  There's no time lost on directions or transitions and the students know exactly where they're supposed to go.

I hope you all had a great Monday!!  If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer.  

PS-I do my math centers the SAME way!!  I know, I know...lol! 

Fraction FREEBIE

Here's a 9 page Fraction FREEBIE resources packet for you!!  Click on the pizza girl below to download this FUN pizza themed fraction packet.  It contains a mini lesson list, a student objective checklist, a fraction matching game, and a recording sheet.  

Have a wonderful week everyone!  

 

Rain, Rain Go Away, GIVEAWAY UPDATE, and a FREEBIE

 I just uploaded a new unit for you all!  It's Common Core based and contains 47 pages of Rainy FUN for you to use in your math and literacy centers.  You can click on the picture below to go straight to my TpT store.  My Spring Sale will continue on through Sunday 4/22. 

GIVEAWAY UPDATE:

We are really close to reaching 100 followers on Teachers Pay Teachers.  As soon as we hit 100, I will be giving away any 5 items from my store to one lucky winner.  Make sure you leave a comment by clicking HERE to be entered for this giveaway.  Please help by telling your friends about Our Sweet Success.

Rainy FREEBIE

Here is a FREEBIE for you!!! Click on the picture below for a peek at my new unit, "Rain, Rain Go Away"  ENJOY!!

A SALE in Remembrance of My Dad

This Friday, April 20th, marks the ten year anniversary that my dad passed away suddenly from congestive heart failure.  I miss him so much and I can still remember all the times he made me laugh with his silly antics.  I still mimic those silly moments with my students and they just get a kick out of it.  While I visited Pennsylvania for Spring break, I had the chance to visit him:  

In remembrance of my dad and the carefree life that he lived, I'm holding a special sale this weekend as a tribute to his life.  Everything in my TpT store and in my Teachers Notebook store will be 20% off.  I will also be offering several FREEBIES throughout the weekend.  

RIP Dad

April 20, 2002

I can remember that day like it was yesterday!  It was my first year at college and I was preparing for a visit from my parents.  This was going to be my parents first visit to see where I went to school.  They had planned a trip to come see a campus wide performance that I was going to be in.  I was anticipating a phone call from my mom to let me know when they were leaving.  It was about 10 minutes after the time that I had expected the phone call, my phone rings...it was my mom.  She proceeded to tell me that they were not going to be able to make the trip but she didn't want to tell me why because she didn't want to ruin my day.  I could tell by her voice that she had been crying so I asked her to please just tell me why.  (I can still hear the words that came out of her mouth.)  She said, "Your dad passed away last night in his sleep."  Oh my gosh, I can just remember the heart wrenching feeling that rushed through my body.  I felt empty...broken!  I couldn't stop the emotions that took over me.  I couldn't stop the crying!  Just to think that I never got to say good bye, never got that last hug, never got to say I love you!  I have so many things that I wish I would have done differently and things that I wish I had said.  That day changed my life forever! Be sure to say "I love you" and give those hugs because you never know when your loved ones will be taken from you! 

This is the last picture that I took with my dad.  

(My high school graduation.)

In Loving Memory of my dad:

Ronnie Kennedy

November 16, 1963 - April 20, 2002

100 Followers Giveaway

There will be 3 separate drawings when I hit: 

100 Our Sweet Success Followers

100 TpT Followers

100 Facebook Followers

Enter up to 4 times for more chances to WIN!!!

1.) Follow me on Our Sweet Success

2.) Follow me on TpT

3.) Follow me on Facebook

4.) Blog about this giveaway

 Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry and leave your email so I can contact you if you're one of the winners.  There is no deadline for this giveaway.  I will select the winners each time I hit 100 on each of my sites.

Each winner will get to choose any 

5 products from my TpT store!!  

That's a total of 15 products that I will be giving away for FREE!!!

Thanks for helping me spread the word about this awesome giveaway!

 

Airport Craziness and Pond Graphtivities

Hello all, I hope you are all enjoying or have enjoyed your spring break.  I have been trying to enjoy my time away in Pennsylvania while visiting with my family.  My boys are just loving all of the family time and the attention they are getting from their grandparents.  

Let me just tell you that we had an interesting time getting here.  We flew from Charlotte on Monday and we had our connecting flight in DC...NOT the best connecting airport to go to with 2 kids by yourself...FYI!!  It took us 40 minutes to get from our arrival gate to the next gate where our plane was waiting to take us to Pittsburgh.  (Who's idea was it to have a connection anyway!! lol)  Sorry for the rant, there will be a FREEBIE at the end!  :-)

So we finally get to our gate, after pushing a stroller and dragging my 4 year old through about 2 miles, a train ride, and about 15 elevators.  No.Seriously!!  It really did seem like it took that long!  lol  I might just count my steps and the number of elevators on the way back...oh wait...I have to do that again!?!  Ahhhhh!!  Thank goodness to the man on the plane that decided to take 20 minutes out of his time to play peek-a-boo with my 1 year old during the last part of the trip!!  He must have sensed some frustration.  lol  

After a day of recovering from that "interesting" experience, I have finally had some time to get some much needed units done.  So here is the newest addition to my TpT store.  It's called "Pond Graphing" {Common Core Graphtivities}.  I love the name!!  Thanks to all you girls who are posting about "craftivities" because it SO works with graphing too!  :-)  This download is 36 pages and contains 6 graphing activities which all include a recording sheet.  

The "graphtivities" are:

Froggy Food: Adding Tallies
Leapin' Lizards: Matching Game: Tally/Bar Graphs
Ribbit!!: Tally Graph Game
Creature Feature: Sorting and Tallying
Ruler of the Pond: Tally Battle
Spin and Graph: Interactive Spinner Graphing

The feature game, "Ribbit" is available as a FREEBIE below.  Just click on one of the "Ribbit" pages and you can download it for FREE.  If you want the entire unit, you can click on the pictures below to go straight to the TpT store.

You can download "Ribbit" for FREE by clicking on the picture below: 

 

Check back soon for lots more!!  Hopefully I can be a busy bee for the rest of spring break!

RECYCLE!! Another Math Fact Fluency Game

Well, after practicing some math fluency today with the games that I had created last week, I realized that my students needed something more challenging.  I have created RECYCLE!! to help meet the needs of my students.    

This download is a recycling themed addition fact game for harder addition facts. Students will practice known strategies to solve addition facts to 20.  I will probably be creating another one later in the week with even harder math facts.  My kiddos really enjoy using the hundreds chart to find their answers! 

The Common Core Standard addressed in this games is:
1.OA.6 - Add and Subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and
subtraction within 10.

I hope you all had a wonderful Monday!!  Four more days to go until our Spring Break!!  C'mon y'all, we can do!!  I think I can...I think I can!!  lol!