Digital Citizenship AND Blends!

PPhew! What a busy week! We finally got our class set of iPads today and I am THRILLED! It has been such a long wait and my kiddos were so excited to get to use them! We are doing digital citizenship lessons (one a week) from Common Sense Media. It is amazing and has tons of ideas and lesson plans. Check it out at CommonSenseMedia.org

Once you get there, click on Education.

Then, click on Digital Citizenship on the left. 

Under Printable Curriculum, click on Scope & Sequence.

Then BAM... You have a ton of options to choose from for your lessons! 

We have to teach our kids about the cyber world! It's such a huge part of their future! 

On another note... We are working on blends and word chunks! My kids are doing so great with these and I wanted to share with you some of our word sorts. I do a word sort every week. I do the lesson on Monday and give kids their words. I usually have three different sets of words going... But that's a whole different blog post ;) 

Monday- Kids cut up their words into a pile 

Tuesday- They sort them based on the bold header cards

Wednesday-After they sort them based on the skill, they use a DIFFERENT skill to sort them. So this set was sorted by vowel teams or no vowel teams.  

Thursday- Speed sort with a partner. Glue the sort in your word study notebook.

Friday- Spelling Test

Some teachers don't have kids glue their sorts because they reuse the cards. I think that's great, too. I keep an extra set of cards and store them in baggies so that when I need to readdress with a small group, I already have them ready!

You can grab your free R Blend Sorts HERE or click the image below!
If you download, make sure you leave feedback! It really makes a difference :)

:) Chelsey

Guided Reading and a FREEBIE!

I love guided reading groups. You get a chance to work closer with the kids and learn more about them and their interests and background. It's so rewarding to watch them grow as readers through the year! 

I finally got all my groups organized and my kids reading independently (mostly) during Workshop. Now, I get to get down to the nitty gritty! My struggling readers are working on *chunking words* and retelling. They were so excited to work in their comprehension books today!

We did our picture walk and made a prediction about the story. This little fella is too smart for his own good ;) And he even added a speech bubble for his fire engine. So cute! 

You can grab my comprehension books here. I just print the pages I need depending on the group I am working with and BAM, you are ready to rock. 

Onto the FREEBIE!

We are working on place value for math and let me tell you... "The struggle is real!" We are going to practice, practice, practice until my kids are seeing hundreds, tens and ones in their cafeteria peas. I am SO EXCITED to pull out my Halloween math centers for my kids! One of my activities is working on tens and ones. 

You can get it for free in my Math Center Freebie. 

You also get a little word problem action in the freebie, too! I hope you can use one or the other (OR BOTH) for your kiddos this October. 

Don't forget to enter the giveaways at Tiny Teaching Shack and Teacher Treasure Hunter to win some of my new units--- PLUS a ton of other great products! 

Have a wonderful-- and restful Monday! 

(: Chelsey

Five for Friday... On Sunday.

I'm linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky. I know, I know. I am super late. But it's my first time, so I'm super excited and couldn't wait until next week!!

I LOVE Hobby Lobby. And I think everyone who teaches can relate. Actually... I think everyone can relate (except my husband who refuses to go with me). They have the best sales and I never pay full price for anything-- WIN! They had their metal and wood sale this past week and I hit the jackpot! 

Many people don't know that when I was in college, I found out that I had a very unique medical condition. My doctor told me that if I could even get pregnant, that it would be very difficult and possibly impossible to carry a baby to term. When I found out I was pregnant, I was shocked! And terrified. We had to go to a specialist every 4 weeks (so with all appts- I was at the doctor every other week) to make sure Madden was safe and locked up in there! I went into early labor at 34 weeks, but the doctor's were able to stop things so that the little man could develop as much as possible. And what do you know.. 39 weeks came along and he didn't want to come out at all! I had to be induced in the end. Anyway, this is perfect for my baby because he is truly a blessing from God! 

I also found this adorable Halloween owl for our door.  (Don't judge the pollen still caked on our door)

I am obsessed with shoes. Usually boots and flats, but I found these Nikes and I love them! They have both my favorite colors in them and match all my workout stuff. Let's not pretend I work out.. I just wear the workout gear and let people think I do :)

My best friend Heather, who teaches 1st grade, had a birthday on Friday and I was so lucky that we got to spend some time together celebrating her birthday on Saturday! We were the last to leave the restaurant last night and I think they were mopping our shoes. She lives about an hour away and we don't get to spend enough time together. But we can always pick up right where we left off! 

A local journalist took our picture at a restaurant about 2 years ago in Charlotte and we were featured on their online site. I felt pretty famous, I'm not going to lie. 

I feel like I look so sick when I'm pale, so I spray tan. Sometimes I go to the salon and get it done, but I usually don't have the time. I found the most amazing spray tan mist at Ulta. I probably use them 2x a week. 

You can't beat 9.99 to look tan and FABULOUS! ;) 

I couldn't pick just one here so... My last one two are my new fall products I uploaded this week to my TPT store. And they are both on sale until tonight!

Don't forget that Melissa at the Teacher Treasure Hunter is giving away a copy of this pack on her blog. Head over to enter ALL her awesome giveaways. 

I'm sure I will forget something that I wanted to say and have to update later. It's still early and we had a late night! 

Chelsey

It's Fall, Y'all!!

You probably saw some changes to my page and TPT Store! Things have being going really well and I am moving towards a new site. So my site is no longer THE WILD WEST. I am so excited about the change, but it's still a secret! Keep checking back because I have some great things in the works!

Oh, the weather outside is PERFECT! And my house is now oozing with apple cinnamon and pumpkin spice Scentsy goodness! In honor of the wonderful weather and delicious smells... I decided to throw a sale. I love sales and am always looking for a good reason to throw a sale. Couldn't think of a better one :)

Have a great weekend :)

New Halloween Unit!

Oh my goodness, I don't even know how I am still awake right now. I have been having trouble sleeping and so I have just been working on my store and making goodies for my classroom. If you follow my TPT store, you have probably noticed that I cranked out several new items and updated a few old ones. I am actually pretty proud of myself because I had a serious drrrrrag on my TPT game for awhile. If you haven't seen all my new items... Check them out here. Click Most Recent to sort my items and see the newest items over there. 

I am super excited about this baby! If you missed it, I posted a freebie from this unit a few days ago. You can go back and check it out here. I love nonfiction reading passages-- and so do kids. 

You can click the image below to preview the unit and grab yourself a copy. (Or wishlist it for later, because I feel a SALE coming on!)

I am trying to zonk out early and hope I can sleep until at least 6. Say a little prayer for me :)

Another giveaway!! And a new pack :)

I have been working on How-To Writing with my kiddos. So far, they are doing awesome. We read How to Babysit a Grandpa today with my clinical student and my kids were LOVING it! 

We recorded the steps after reading and talked about how the author used the process to teach us something (even something so silly!). 

Tomorrow we are reading How to Teach a Slug to Read. You can check out the book from Amazon here:

 This is the first year I have read this with my class. Can you believe I had never read this book before?! What a gem! We are going to do my Slug Craft and Writing How-to from my new pack! 

You can check out this writing activity and craft by clicking the image above.

I need to send a shout out to the Tiny Teaching Shack- she is also celebrating a big milestone! I am giving away my new math pack for addends and sums (perfect for K-1)!! Plus a ton of other goodies! 

Keep an eye on her blog so you can enter her giveaway to win some great products from some awesome teachers!

Sleep tight my friends :)

Fall Giveaway and a Freebie!

It's been awhile since I have posted a freebie... Well, here we are ladies and maybe gentlemen. I am working on a nonfiction unit for October and it's just about done. I wanted to share a little piece of it for you. Everyone, including me, does bats and spiders for October... But does anyone do cats? The spooky black cats that give you bad luck? The guardians of the afterlife? Ok. Ok. Too much for primary kiddos! Grab your nonfiction freebie below! It's just a little tiny bit of thanks for all my wonderful friends and teachers :)

Cats NonFiction

Huge shoutout to Laura at MyCuteGraphics for making some adorable clipart for us :)

And.. I have to give a shout out Melissa at The Teacher Treasure Hunter! She has met one of her big follower milestones and she is celebrating with a giveaway! She is giving away some awesome goodies from some GREAT bloggers. She just might be giving away a copy of my Fall Literacy Centers... (Which is marked down today ONLY from $4.75 to $2.50!!)

Keep checking back for her giveaway link! It should be up soon!

Fall ELA Centers and Don't Forget to Link-Up!

Did you all have some cooler weather? I hope so! It was so hot the last few weeks, I didn't even want to go to recess, but today it was pleasant 70 degrees. Can I get an AMEN?!

If you haven't yet, check out my linky below. You are more than welcome to add your new (or old) product from your store. I only ask that you check out the other seller's items (pin a few, buy a few, and like a few) and that you link back to the linky page on my blog if you write about it on your blog.

I am so excited for Fall! I could not wait to get home to share my new ELA centers with you! I know my kiddos are going to love these! They are all about some centers :) Click the image below to check it out at my TPT store.

Inside it's 65 pages, you will find 9 different centers:

*Noun and Verb Sort
*ABC order
*Contraction Action
*Falling Synonyms
*Making Words
*Compound Words
*Long A and Short A Sort
*Long I and Short I Sort
*Early Finisher Writing Paper

Each center has a corresponding recording sheet. 

You can get your copy at my TPT store!

Hope you had a wonderful Monday! 

Busy Beaver... And a Linky Party!

I have been so busy updating my old packets and bringing them into the new age! If you haven't been there yet, today is the last day for my TPT sale. Head over to grab your copy of some of my new stuff, and some of my old (but still wonderful)!

Like this baby- That was one of the first things I created, but just got a total face lift! 

Or this gem, that got a new cover (FINALLY!)

I also just opened a Facebook page- If you like it, you will probably get some freebies and exclusive offers in the future... Just saying!

And onto the Linky Party:

Since I am making old my "old" products new again.. I wanted to host a linky party for you to share some of your new (or old) products! I ask that you try to visit the links before you and check out what others are linking! Make sure that if you add your link, you back link to this page! Here you go :)