Boho Birds

Today I'm sharing the next product in my box of Carson Dellosa goodies. Isn't just adorable!

 

 Boho Birds BulletinBoard Set

Love, Love, Love these Boho birds!  

 I received the bulletin board set but there are many more Boho Birds products on the Carson Dellosa website.  I may just have to change my room theme for next year!  The set includes one large and several small birds as well as branches and 40 leaves.

The minute I saw this set I knew just what I wanted to do with it!  I’ve thought about this bulletin board for quite some time but just didn’t have the right images.  TA DA!  Boho birds to the rescue! 

Check it out!

I’m always looking for ideas to have my students write for an

 AUTHENTIC purpose 

and this Twitter board is PERFECT!

To begin, I just let the kiddos write random thoughts.  They were SO excited to create a Twitter name and post Tweets just like mom and dad!  I used the small birds to display the user names and let the students post their own Tweets.  Of course, we had a few discussions on appropriateness before posting began! 

Later I plan on moving to an exit slip type idea with a “What did you learn today?” focus.  

I’ve also thought about “Random Acts of Kindness.” Lots of possibilities!

You can download my "tweet" form here:

Twitter Form

Honestly, this is one of the best ideas I’ve had!  Anything that gets reluctant writers writing is a teacher’s dream! We worked on creating short, focused writing pieces about topics of their choice. 

And, editing is easy to encourage because there’s not much to edit! 

You can check out how another teacher uses the Boho Birds set as well as several other new BB sets at

Creative and Coordinated Classrooms

FYI  These sets are on sale for $9.99 AND you could win $500 in the Golden Ticket Sweepstakes!  Buy the new Calypso, Lemon Lime or Teal Appeal set at your local teachers’ store and you may find one of 5 Golden Tickets hidden inside!  Click the pix!

You can also enter online.  Just click the picture above!

But HURRY!  You have until March 31^st!

I participate in the Carson-Dellosa Brand Ambassador Program and I received 

this product free to try and review.

Spectrum Readers

Wow!  Blogging two days in a row!  I'm on a ROLL!

Today, I'm sharing the next goody in my Carson-Dellosa Brand Ambassador box--another Spectrum product…

   

  

Spectrum Readers

With the Common Core State Standards focus on non-fiction, these Spectrum Readers for students K-2 are PERFECT!  Think reluctant boy readers!  Have some of those?  I do!  They are eating this book up!  It is NEVER on the shelf!  With titles like 

DANGER! Deadly Animals 

and 

STOP! Crime Scene, 

how could they not?

Take a look!

Boys:  Are you getting more of these books?

I’m always on the look-out for non-fiction to add to my classroom library.  These books at $3.99 are a steal!  The THRILLING! Sports book I received, devotes each two page spread, with action picture on the left and text on the right and a top border of additional action shots, to a different extreme sport such as skateboarding, surfing, and bungee jumping.  The pages are colorful, easy to read and contain weird facts with just the right amount of text to be informative but not overwhelming.

Let’s say that you are an e-reader fan or have e-readers in your classroom.  The news is even better! For $1.99 you can download the books!  With my classroom 4 iPads, I’m headed to Carson-Dellosa right now!

I’ve even recommended the series to parents of some of my struggling readers.  With the three level options, parents can easily find the range their child needs.  And, most of those households have some purchased some type of e-reader to increase their child’s interest in reading.

An added plus is the letter to parents on the inside cover with tips for helping their child become a successful reader.

I know your students will love them as much as mine do!

For more info, check out the promo on you-tube: 

I participate in the Brand Ambassador Program for Carson-Dellosa and 

received this product for free to try out and review.

I'm Back in Blogland!

I'm Back!  Gosh it's' been forever since my last post!  This year is flying by and I've just been overwhelmed trying to keep my head above water--sometimes, not too successfully!

Anyhow...it's time to get back to blogging!

First of all....

As a Carson Dellosa Brand Ambassador, I recently received a box of goodies to review and share with my friends in cyberspace.  The first is…

                                               Spectrum Test Practice

If you are in a testing grade OR must give a standardized test OR just like to know how your students are progressing, you have to check out Carson-Dellosa’s NEW Spectrum Test Practice Series available for grades 1-8!

Fortunately, I’m in the last category—interested in how my students are progressing and their readiness for third grade.  I am so excited about using this test prep resource!  In addition to the pages in the book correlated to the Common Care State Standards (Yeah!), online pages are available to provide bonus practice aligned to your STATE and grade level!  Having online access to a comprehensive practice test correlated to the CCSS available online is an absolutely wonderful bonus!

Comprehensive it is!  Each area (reading, language and math), is divided into skill components with lesson pages and a sample test.  For example, Reading includes

Word Analysis (Word Sounds, Rhyming Words, Contractions & Compound Words, and Root Words & Suffixes)

 Vocabulary (Picture Vocab., Word Meanings, Synonyms, Antonyms, Words in Context, and Multiple Meaning Words), 

and 

Reading Comprehension (Picture Reading, Critical Reading, Fiction, Reading Literature, and Nonfiction.) 

At the end of each area, a complete practice test is available.  

Each lesson page even has a clue for a great testing strategy.  Love this!

Another great feature is each page is student friendly—great spacing with not too much on a page.  My students aren't overwhelmed like they were on some of the district tests we used to give.  

I think the pages would also be a great resource for the end of a unit of study.

Now to the bottom line-PRICE!  Well, here's an awesome surprise!  Each of these handy test practice books is ONLY $5.99 for the eBook!  ($15.99 for printed) You can’t beat that value for a reproducible book with 125 pages! 

Click on the link above to check it out at Carson-Dellosa online or at your local teachers’ store!

I participate in the Carson-Dellosa Brand Ambassador Program and I received this product free to try and review.

Take care!

Blog Hoppin'

The beginning of school has just been CRAZY!  I come home exhausted and fall into a pile on the sofa!!  Way too many new things going on for the beginning of the year from new copy procedures to new evaluation procedures to common core integration to good-by classroom computers, hello iPads. Whew!

After being incognito for too long, I'm hoppin' over to Tori's Teacher Tips for her Teacher Tips Tuesday.  I'm sharing some of my tips for guided reading!  See you there!

WINNER!

And the winner is . . .

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered!  I hope to have another giveaway soon, so keep your peepers open!  Gotta run!  It's CRUNCH time!  School starts TOMORROW!!!

Currently

Hey, all!  I'm linky up with Farly at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the FIRST time!  It's August and Currently. . .

Tag, you're it!  Here's her button!

Whoop! Whoop! 100 Followers!!!

AMAZING!  That's all I can say!  AMAZING!  It's unbelievable that I've reached 100 followers since beginning this blogging journey in June!  A HUGE THANK YOU  to all of my sweet followers for making this possible!

So, it's time for my first GIVEAWAY! Woo Hoo!

These are the prizes that you could win:

and

Sound like a good deal??  There will be one winner!

Ok!  I'm going to try the Rafflecopter thing!  We'll see how it goes!  I'm keepin' my fingers crossed!

The giveaway begins today and ends Saturday at midnight.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck and spread the word!