Can't Believe It's Already June!!

So I've been slacking recently on the blog front... However I have accomplished some other things, including stalking reading some of my favorite blogs. I am going to hook up with Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday Linky, even though it is Saturday. I may even make it a Six Seven for Saturday. Click the image below to head over to the Five for Friday Linky Party.

Here are my random things for this week:

1 - I have been applying to jobs like crazy. I think I put in about 5-10 job applications for full time teaching positions for next school year. I've also emailed my resume to the principals with open positions... I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that I get a full time position! 

2 - I posted a while back about my little brother and his baseball. Well, I spent three nights this week at the baseball field for the regional tournament. My brother and his team won the regional game and will be heading to state on Tuesday. Looks like I'll be heading to Lexington to watch the team play in the first round at state.

3 - I started going to boot camp this week. I want to get in shape, so when my mom started on Tuesday and liked it, I got up and went with her at 5:30 AM on Thursday. What was I thinking? I am on summer break and all.... But, I really am enjoying the boot camp, and hope I'll be successful at getting in shape and maybe knocking off a few pounds.

4 - I cannot believe it is already June. I can't believe I have been done student teaching for over a month now. Where has the time gone? All I know is that I am ready for the pool to be open so I can work on my tan before heading to the beach in July.

5 - In honor of summer coming, we're hosting a Kick Off Summer Sale. From now until Monday at midnight, everything in our store will be 10% off. Click the picture below to head over to our Teachers Pay Teachers store. Thank you to Ashley Hughes, Goodness and Fun, and Graphics from the Pond for the graphics used to create this sale image! Thank you to Jen Jones for the Hello fonts used in this image!

Feel free to grab this image if you'd like to join in on this kick off to summer sale with us! If you choose to join this sale, please comment to let us know!

6 - Our blog has received a lot traffic from Pinterest for the gifts I gave to my students in my last student teaching placement. Here is a picture of the image again:

Due to the high amount of traffic, I chose to make this poem a free download. If you'd like a copy , click the picture to take you to the Google Drive. You can then download the document and print as many as you need :) I have this document in a PDF because of the  border images and fonts used. 

7 - Last, but not least, I'd like to give away a product from our TpT store to one person -  you can choose one product. There are three ways to enter. 

1. Follow this blog.
2. Follow our TpT store.
3. Pin one of our pictures.

For each entry, leave a separate comment that says you follow our blog, follow our TpT store, or include the link to your Pin. Make sure you leave your name and email address in your comment so we can contact you. I will select the winner through a random number generator on Monday, June 10 at noon.

-Sami

Happy Hump Day!

I've been an extremely bad blogger recently... But, I have some good reasons. 

First, I graduated and was out of town for my graduation over the weekend. Woo hoo! I have my Master's. Thanks mom and dad for everything you've done to help me and encourage me to follow my dreams!

Next, I'm going to link up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for her May Monday Made It.

I have spent some time crafting with my Cricut. Since I still don't have any leads on jobs for next year, I have been working on some things that I can use in any grade level. I decided that I will use blue, green, and purple as my color scheme for my classroom. I have also decided that I'm digging chevron prints at the moment. So why not combine the chevron with stripes, polka dots, and stripes in my color scheme for classroom decorations? 

So, first I made these little alphabet signs as my word wall headers. We'll see how they look once they are in a classroom and on a word wall. I may have to change them after the school year starts.

Next, I made some calendar headers using the Cricut. I absolutely love these! I can't wait to see these with a solid black calendar and with black and white calendar numbers.

The last thing I made for my classroom is this Boggle poster. I still need to get this laminated. I plan on putting letters on each of the chevron papers for my class to use boggle as an activity during Daily 5 - word work. 

I'm so excited to keep creating things for my future classroom. I just hope that I get a job and have time to decorate before school starts/open house night. Good thing my sister owes me from all the help I've given her in the past five years! She'll surely be by my side cleaning and decorating so my room is ready in time :)

Do you have a classroom library? Do you want to know how to get "free" books to help build a  classroom library? Let me tell you my secret. I have just over 800 books that I maybe have spent $200 for in the past 3 years. Everything else I have gotten through a volunteer program. Scholastic holds customer appreciation sales two times a year throughout the US. At these sales, many of the books that they bring to school book fairs can be found for 50% off. Some books can be found for 25% off, and others are marked for one or two dollars. I personally have attended the Louisville, KY and West Chester, OH sales. I know that there are sales in cities across the country though. Anyway, if you want to get "free" books, you just need to sign up to volunteer at one of these sales. For each volunteer hour, you get a $10 voucher to spend at the sale. So, essentially you get $20 worth of books for each volunteer hour since most of the books are at least 50% off. Pretty cool, right? Take a look at the picture below - I got all 33 of these books for working for 9 hours at the sale. This was time that I worked on grading papers for my sister, surfing the internet on my phone, and talking to my friend who was also volunteering. It can be boring at times, but I think it is well worth the time if you don't have a lot of money to use to supply your own classroom books. So gather some friends and family to go volunteer with you - they can give their vouchers to you to use for classroom books and supplies. You can go to this website to check out the nearest sale to you http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/events/warehouse/. This site is updated in mid-late October and mid-late March for the December and May sales respectively. To volunteer, you register for the sale and click the option that you'd like to volunteer. The person in charge of the sale will then contact you about scheduling if they need more volunteers still. In my experience, the earlier you get signed up, the better chance of volunteering at the sale.

I'm hoping to have some more items on TpT by the end of the week. I'm thinking a third grade ELA language packet that is common core aligned, the fourth grade math common core assessments. I also have inspiration for some other documents, but I'm still thinking those through.

Have a great rest of the week!

-Sami

TpT Sale and Some New Products!

Since finishing up student teaching, I have been on a mini vacation in my own little world. (No, I didn't go anywhere, just took some time for myself and didn't get to blogging. Oh well, such is life!)

However, I have kept up with the blogs I follow and pinning away on Pinterest - thank goodness for the Pinterest iPad app.

I'd like to invite all of you teachers to head over to our TpT store starting tomorrow for a little sale. We have placed our products on sale from 5/6-5/8 for 20% off every item!! In addition to our sale, the whole site is an additional 10% off from 5/7-5/8. (This means that if you use the promo code, TAD13, you can get 28% off any product in our store on Tuesday or Wednesday.) Click the picture above, or the TpT to the right to be taken to our store. We have some newer items in our store.

Which brings me to my next topic... I have had requests for ELA common core assessments since I posted the math assessments for kindergarten, first, and third grades. I have finally gone back and started work on some ELA assessments for the language domain. I uploaded a first grade assessment pack last night. The upcoming sale would be a good time to add this to your collection of common core resources. Click the picture below to be taken to the product page.

What about the other grades you ask? My sister already has an assessment pack posted for second grade common core ELA language. I am currently working on a Kindergarten pack, which I hope to finish and upload before bed tonight. I just finished and uploaded the kindergarten pack and posted to our store. Click the picture below to go to the product listing on TpT. Next on my list is third, fourth, and fifth grades as time allows. I'm hoping to have at least third grade posted before the TpT 10% discount truly begins on Tuesday. We'll see how that works out.

Between creating things to post to TpT and applying for full-time teaching positions for next school year, I have been exhausted recently. My momentum is still going strong though!

Have a wonderful week!

-Sami

One More Day...

I can't believe that I only have one day left of student teaching. Now comes the stress of looking for a job. I'm hopeful, but also realistic that budget cuts may prevent me from finding a full time position for next year. I'm really hoping to be able to drop my resume off with some principals in the next few weeks before school lets out.

Alright, back to what I wanted to share.

First, I wanted to share the picture of my award that I received. I blogged about finding out that I was nominated and won the award a few weeks ago. I went to Louisville with my dad on Tuesday afternoon for the awards ceremony and snapped this picture on the way home.

Next, I uploaded a new document to TpT. A lot of people have been buying and liking our Turn Over Cards. I chose to make a set that has students convert fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions. I think these sets could be used in a fourth, fifth, or sixth grade classroom. Click the picture below to head over to the product page for more information.

Last, I wanted to share the small gifts I put together for my kiddos in my first grade class. I bought sidewalk chalk at the Dollar Tree and then put two pieces of chalk in each sandwich bag. I then attached this cute little poem that I found through Pinterest. Each child will receive one bag with the poem and two pieces of sidewalk chalk. {Click here to go to the post with the free poem download.} I also purchased some popsicles to enjoy during our outdoor recess tomorrow.

Here's to hoping I don't cry tomorrow!

-Sami

Plants, Polygons, and Circus... Oh My! {Five for Friday}

It has been a long, but good week. I'm joining in with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Friday again this week.

1 - First up, I had my solo week for my second placement this week.... Man am I tired. (But on one note, one of the little cuties went to my cooperating teacher and asked if she was going to teach again. When she said yes, he looked at her and said "Oh darn" {melts my heart}).

2 - We started our study on plants this week. I made a need/have/give anchor chart with the students over the course of a couple of days. They surprised me by how much they already knew about plants. They came up with everything on the chart, with a little guidance that plants need space. 

Here's a picture of the chart we made: (if you click on the picture, it takes you to the blog that I was inspired by - found through Pinterest)

Here's a video I used to help students remember the parts of a plant. I also made up some movements for the students to use this song as a brain/movement break during our Daily 5. I found this video on none other than Pinterest.

Here's another video I used to help students remember the needs of a plant. The kids had fun singing this song and repeating it over and over again.

The last video we watched was a recording of The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. Someone has uploaded a video of the book pages with the audio of someone reading the text. We used this video to introduce how seeds travel - wind, water, people/animals.

We wrapped up the week by planting marigold seeds for the students to observe the growth of a plant. We also watched the Magic School Bus Gets Planted Video on Discovery Education.

3 - In math, we worked on geometry. We talked about defining attributes and non-defining attributes. We made an anchor chart of 2-D shapes.

We also talked about the differences between polygons and non-polygons. We did a shape sort to create an anchor chart about polygons and non-polygons. I had some shapes sorted on the anchor chart prior to the lesson and had students help me figure out the rules/attributes I used to sort. I wrote the attributes as they were mentioned. I also told students that I remembered that I sorted the shapes into polygon and non-polygon categories and wrote those titles at the top of the chart. Then, all students were given a shape to determine where it belonged on the chart under the polygons or the non-polygons section.

We also used marshmallows and toothpicks to build shapes. Thanks to TpT, I found a fun handout for students to record their shape during the lesson. Click the picture below to go to the TpT freebie.

4 - We had our circus day in first grade. The kids had a blast! We made clown hats using images found on Google and long strips of construction paper. We read circus books. We completed math and literacy centers from my Circus Themed Math and Literacy Centers. 

5 - The last thing I'd like to share is not school related. I have enjoyed watching my little brother play baseball recently. He's a senior in high school who starts for the baseball team. He has recently set a record for the most triples during the high school career at our high school. Last season, he set the single season record for triples. To say I'm a proud big sister is an understatement.

Whew, I was long-winded today. I'm glad you made it through that long post.

-Sami

Updates and a Giveaway!

As promised, I have updated the fonts and formatting on the three common core math assessment packs that are posted in our TpT store. I have reposted these assessments, and notified everyone that has purchased the packs since their original listing. Currently, I have assessment packs for kindergarten, first grade, and third grade math common core available. I'm still working on fourth grade and hope to get both fourth and fifth grade posted prior to summer break (so, before June 1). Click the pictures below to be taken to items available for purchase.

I am willing to give one of each assessment pack away to someone who follows our blog, follows our TpT store, and leaves a comment with their name, email, and which assessment pack they would like a copy of (K, 1, or 3).

Have an excellent week!

Five for Friday and Spring Break

Boy, oh boy... This spring break has absolutely flown by. I can't believe we go back to school in a few days... Anyway, I'm linking up with Doodlebugs Teaching for Five for Froday again this week.

1 - First up, we loved the Daily 5 workshop last weekend, and would recommend to anyone considering going. I can't wait to get my own classroom to implement some of the wonderful things I learned at this workshop. I have to say, The Sisters make you laugh and truly enjoy your experience at the conference.

2 - We haven't shared this with too many people, but after the conference we had some sad times in our house. We made the tough decision to put our 16 year old dog down on Monday. I never knew how attached I'd be, and truly how much she impacted our family. We miss her, but she's in a much better place now.

3 - I spent the week doing pretty much nothing, and it was excellent. I did finish my lesson plans for my solo week, and emailed my cooperating teacher and supervisor about lessons they'll be observing next week.

4 - I looked into applying for positions within my school district, but can't apply quite yet since I haven't graduated. This is probably a good thing since my résumé is nowhere near up to date or ready to submit for a job application. Does anyone have any suggestions for a first year teacher's résumé to help them get hired? Any help is appreciated!

5 - Last, but not least, I have decided to go in and reformat my Common Core Math Assessments. Currently, I have them posted for kindergarten, first grade, and third grade. I have been working on fourth grade, but have come to "writer's block" and can't seem to finish. I have gone back and reformatted with newly found fonts and graphics. I hope to repost the current common core math assessments this weekend and take down the old documents. Be on the lookout for an update when the assessments are updated!

-Sami

It's Spring Break

Over the weekend, we went to Chicago to attend the Daily 5 workshop. It. Was. Wonderful... We went with Sarah's second grade team. We had a blast. Here is a picture of us, with The Sisters, and Flat Longhorn (the mascot at Sarah's school).

Even though it is spring break, we are both still working hard on things for school. I am working on lesson plans and items to post to TpT. Sarah has completed her lesson plans and is now working on stuff for grad school.

I can't believe it's already April 10 - that means I only have two more weeks of student teaching after spring break. And then it's graduation. Then, I'll be looking for a full time position for next school year.

-Sami

Buzzing Around

Our schools aren't on spring break until next week. So this week cannot end soon enough.

To help with my boredom before spring break, I have been busy creating a few freebies for you. The first is a buzzing about math packet with three worksheets that are common core aligned. These sheets come in a PDF file. Click any of the three sheets below to be taken to the download.

     

I also worked on some posters to go along with Daily 5 and CAFE. These posters are not endorsed by the Sisters. I created a set with monster graphics for my cooperating teacher. I also created a set with bug graphics and a set with bee graphics for other teachers on the first grade team at my placement school. Click on the pictures below to grab these freebies. 

I hope you enjoy these freebies! Please wish me luck as I work on finishing this long week before spring break!

-Sami

TpT Sale

Check out our TpT store by clicking the button on the right side of our blog.

We have a sale for 15% off anything in our store going through Easter. The sale will end at midnight on Sunday.

- Teaching Sisters

Five for Good Friday

I'm linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the Five for Friday posts. Click the picture below to go to the original post.

I'm going to make this short and sweet before I head to bed.

1. This week was a short week at school. The kiddos were out today while we were in training.

2. I completed my two day solo for my second placement. I think things went pretty well, but I also think that the students in this placement do not respect me, or my authority, as much as my students in my first placement. I think it's hard for the first graders to have a new teacher begin in the room only 3 months before school lets out. They are used to their teacher and have established relationships and routines. I think I will have a better transition into my own classroom than the classrooms I have joined for student teaching.

3. I got observed during my two day solo, and everything went smoothly. My supervisor seemed happy with observing a CAFE mini lesson - on expanding vocabulary (see last week's post for a word collection freebie), and a session of Daily 5.

4. I ordered my cap, gown, and hood earlier this week for graduation. Graduation seems much closer now than I ever felt with my undergrad degree. In addition to ordering my cap and gown, I also finished my final portfolio for my degree. So the only requirements that I have left are: five day solo, one formally observed lesson, and a professional growth plan. The end is truly in sight!

5. Lastly, I have been passing out tickets to students to use to buy items at the 'souvenir shop' on our circus day. These tickets are given out for hard work, good behavior, and outstanding students overall. These tickets have helped student behavior and effort throughout the day. Students are always looking to see who gets the ticket for an activity. (Side note - I gave all students in the classroom a ticket after walking through the hall and hearing a fourth grade teacher tell her students that the first graders in my class should be looking to them as an example, and not the other way around. I was so proud that my students were following procedures at that time and that I was able to hear her talk about our class in a positive light.)

I guess that's all for tonight... Got to be up early to head to Louisville for a jam packed day full of friends and winery tour and tasting.

-Sami

Five for Friday... On Saturday

I am happy to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for their Five for Friday Linky today, even though it is a day late. This is the first linky party that I've joined, even though I've blog stalked used linky's to find new ideas.

Here are my five for this week:
1. In my first grade class for student teaching, we had some St. Patrick's Day fun. On Monday, we read some St. Patrick's Day themed books. On Tuesday, we completed some Lucky Fact Families and we had a lucky charms graphing activity after the leprechaun left us some clues. I can't seem to find the blog where we got the great freebie for our first graders to do the graphing. On Wednesday, we did some writing about who is worth more than gold to us. We found the printables here.

2. We started Daily 5 full force this week with our first graders. Overall, they've been doing ok, but my mentor and I are trying to find a way for the kids to pick their choices without taking time in between sessions when we should be doing our many lessons. Any suggestions? Right now, each child has a little card with their picture on it, and they place that card in a pocket chart next to their choice and they change their choice in between sessions. I feel like this is inefficient and takes away precious learning time.

3. With us starting the Daily 5, we have also been completing mini lessons on the CAFE strategies. This week, I am going to be teaching the kids the expand vocabulary strategy - "Tune In To Interesting Words and Use New Vocabulary in Speaking and Writing". For this, the sisters had given their word collection boxes, but I didn't feel like this was a good resource for first graders (you know they wouldn't be able to fit more than two to three letters in a box). So, I am going to copy booklets that have lines and a page for each letter of the alphabet. It is their word collection book. I plan on having each student keep these in their book boxes and then go over the words written in the books during individual or group conferences. Click the picture below if you'd like a copy for yourself.

Graphics from Creative Clips
Fonts from Jenna Barrett

4. The weather in Kentucky has been awful, therefore, I have not been feeling well since Wednesday :( I'm starting to feel better, but my throat is still a little sore.

5. Last, but certainly not least, I got some good news this week. I received an email from the University of Louisville this week stating that I have been honored as the "Outstanding Master of Arts in Teaching Student in Early Elementary Education for Spring 2013 Commencement". After a little digging, I found out that the faculty members all get together and nominate one person for each award. Then they vote on the nominated students. I'm not sure how many awards there are, but am pretty pumped to have won the award. I'm excited to head to Louisville in April for the awards ceremony and see all of my fellow classmates who I haven't seen since December.

Freebie for Daily 5!

We have been working on Daily 5 in my student teaching placement. My mentor and I were trying to come up with a way to track student choices during Daily 5 and also keep track of what students we have met with. We want to make sure we meet with every child at least once if not more each week.

I came up with this little document which I am adding on here as a freebie for you all to use if you so desire. The way we will be using this document is to write the student names in the first column. Then, for each of the Daily 5 choices, we will mark the date in the corresponding box for the child. If we meet with that child for a writing conference, reading conference, etc, we will be highlighting the date of the time we met with them. This will show us visually how many times we have met with each child in a week's setting. (Click the picture below to go to the free download. Thank you Jenna Barrett for the font - I found through the comments of someone else's blog.)

I have made this document so that two full rotations of the Daily 5 are included on one sheet - so we will be using one sheet per week because each child will be responsible for visiting each section of the Daily 5 twice per week. 

Please let me know if you have any questions!

-Sami

We Joined the Blog World and a Freebie!

So... Here it goes, our first blog post....

After the successes of our TpT store, we decided it was probably time to start a teaching blog to be able share our teaching experiences and adventures with everyone online. We have enjoyed blog hopping from time to time, especially through the use of Pinterest.

A little about us, The Teaching Sisters. We are two sisters from Kentucky. The older sister is Sarah and the younger is Sami. Sarah is in her fifth year of teaching second grade in Kentucky. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Kentucky and a Master's in Education from Northern Kentucky University. Sami has a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from the University of Louisville and is currently working on her Master's of Art in Teaching for elementary education. She will be graduating this May from University of Louisville.

We share an account on Teachers Pay Teachers. We have been selling items for just about a year now, and are adding new products all the time. Sami uploaded Circus Themed Math and Literacy Centers for first grade yesterday. All 16 of the centers included in the pack are Common Core aligned. There are 8 math centers and 8 literacy centers. We will give one copy of the Circus Centers away to the first person to leave a comment on this blog post with their name and their email address! Click the picture below to be take to the product in our TpT store.

We look forward to sharing our experiences with the blog world, and hopefully will grow as educators through this journey!

-The Teaching Sisters