I can't believe it's December! Time for... Currently!!

Hi Bloggy Friends!! I can't believe it's December already!! Didn't November just seem to fly by? I'm hoping the next few weeks of school kinda flies by too, but I also hope our Vacation goes ridiculously slow... I'm in need of some Mommy/Makenzie time!!!

Well, since it's the beginning of the month, that means Farley over at "Oh Boy 4th Grade" is having her super fun "currently" linky party.

Stop on by Farley's blog and link up!

Happy Saturday Night!! -Jackie-

HUGE 100 follower giveaway!!!

Happy Friday Bloggy Friends!!!

Our very awesome blog friend, Melissa from Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late is having a humongous 100 follower giveaway! She's invited some of the most amazing teacher bloggers and TPT sellers to be a part of this giveaway. We were so honored and extremely excited when she invited us to be a part of her tremendous giveaway! One of our most recent products, Magic Tree House Christmas in Camelot book study unit, is one of the many amazing products being featured in this giveaway. You must hop on over to her fabulous blog, and check it out!!

Have a fabulous weekend!! -Jackie-

Night Of the New Magicians and a Freebie!!

Hello Blog Friends!

I am finished with my newest unit, Magic Tree House Night of The New Magicians! I am very excited about it. =) Our friend Tracy, and our friend Melissa from Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late were wonderful peer editors and have given this unit a big thumbs up! I greatly appreciate their fresh eyes! Thank you so much ladies!!!

We'd like to share a freebie from Night of the New Magicians with you.

Click For Freebie!

If you enjoy it, please drop by our TPT store and grab your copy of Night of The New Magicians! It will be on sale until midnight tonight, so grab it quick! =)

Here's a description of everything included in this unit: This 49 page book study unit is full of literacy activities aligned with a variety of different 2nd and 3rd grade Common Core State Standards. This unit could easily be adapted for 1st and 4th grade students as well. When you download this unit, you will find: -a table of contents which outlines the entire unit -1 organizer for asking questions (before, during, and after reading) -1 story map organizer to organize story elements -2 character profile bubble maps -13 pages focused on answering who, what, when, where, why, and how questions using textual evidence -1 flow map for sequencing -4 pages of reader's theater for fluency practice -1 Venn diagrams for compare and contrast -2 Circle Maps to categorize -15 vocabulary organizers -1 narrative writing prompt complete with graphic organizer and publishing paper -1 expressive language poster -1 descriptive language poster -expressive and descriptive language word sort **plus you'll also receive a 26 page teacher's answer guide! All together, this is an 75 page unit! Your students will love it and have tons of fun learning!

Happy Wednesday!! -Danielle-

Hanukkah Literacy Pack, a Freebie, and our 250 follower giveaway!

Happy Sunday Bloggy Friends! I can't believe it's the end of my week-long Thanksgiving break! I've had fun with family, cuddled and napped with my baby girl, and I've completed a few projects on my "to do" list. Overall, it's been time well spent. I have to get back into the swing of school though, so after this post, it's lesson planning for the next few weeks before our next 2 week vacation! This upcoming month is going to fly by!

One project that I've worked on this week is my Happy Hanukkah Literacy Pack. My very awesome hubby was able to create the background, frame, and clip art for this pack! He's so technologically talented!!

I'd like to share this Happy Hanukkah Freebie with you!

If you like it, please check our our TPT store and grab the Happy Hanukkah Literacy Pack during the cyber Monday and Bonus Tuesday sale! Everything in our store is 20% off plus TPT will also take a percentage off for a total of 28% savings!

We are so excited to have reached 250 followers!! We thank you so much for your constant support and well wishes! To express our gratitude, we are going to give away TWO items in our TPT store to one follower! To enter our giveaway, check out our TPT store, become a TPT follower, and leave a comment in the comment section below this blog post. That's it! Super simple! We will randomly pick a follower's comment next Saturday! Spread the word!! Thanks again, and have a relaxing Sunday! -Jackie-

Happy Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday TPT Sale!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving, Friends!! We hope you all had an enjoyable day with family and friends! We had a wonderful day with our family... lots of yummy food, drinks, lots of laughs and of course Football! We all relaxed today since we're not black Friday shoppers. I even got a cuddle and a nap with my daughter Makenzie... she hasn't napped in almost two years, so it was a treat!I guess the trick is to keep her up late. Probably not... her teacher may not be too happy about that!

This is Makenzie... she's attends the afternoon voluntary pre-k program in our school. Her teacher is fabulous!! She does tons of awesome activities with her kiddos and they are learning so much!

I HAD to take a pic of this adorable turkey leg hat... I couldn't resist! Silly Aunt Danielle aka "Auntie Yellie" couldn't resist the turkey hat either! She looks cute too!

Danielle and I were even able to take a new picture together... we took it ourselves of course... instagram is so much fun! Overall, it was a lovely Thanksgiving. The quality time we spent with our parents was great and much needed! We're very lucky to be able to spend our holidays together as a family.
I'm sure many of you will be checking out the amazing deals TPT will be offering on Monday! Everything in our store will be 20% off plus TPT will also take an extra percentage off so everything purchased on Monday and Tuesday will be up to 28% off!! What an unbelievable sale! I can't wait to see what my favorite teacher stores are offering... i'll have to stock up! The amazingly talented Michelle at 3 AM Teacher created this fantastic button and super fun linky party! Check out all of the fabulous stores holding Cyber Monday and bonus Tuesday sales!

Here are some things up for sale in our TPT store...

Happy shopping and enjoy the last few days of this amazing Thanksgiving weekend!! -Jackie-

Christmas in Camelot Book Study and a Freebie!

Hi Bloggy Friends!

I am so excited that I'm finally finished with my Christmas in Camelot unit! I am sure my daughter is too... and my hubby for that matter! I absolutely love creating these units, and I plan on making many more!

I'd like to thank my sister, Danielle for proofreading for me. Gina at Beach, Sand, & Lesson Plans, and Melissa at Don't Let The Teacher Stay Up Late were also super helpful peer editors too! Thanks so much ladies!! Your help is greatly appreciated!

Please check out my Christmas in Camelot Book Study Unit on Teachers Pay Teachers. Your students will love it!

To celebrate the completion of this unit, please download this free Adjective & Adverb word sort which is a part of this book study unit!! Enjoy!!

Magic Tree House Christmas In Camelot Adjective & Adverb Word Sort Freebie

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!! -Jackie-

Proofreaders Wanted!

Hi Friends!! I just completed my latest book study unit for Magic Tree House book #29, Christmas in Camelot! It was a LOT of work, but I think it looks awesome. =) I've proofed it a whole bunch of times, but you can never catch every single mistake, so I'd like to do some "peer editing"! I'd love to give this unit to the first three followers to comment with their email address. Please read it, and email me all of your suggestions on how I can make it better. Thanks so much for your input... it is GREATLY appreciated!! =)

-Jackie-

So You Want to be an Inventor?

So, after working on my "Night of the New Magicians" unit, I realized that the book is about The Magic Tree House kids, Jack and Annie traveling to Paris for the 1889 World's Fair to save 4 magicians from an evil sorcerer. After actually reading the book while working on my unit, to my surprise, the four magicians happen to be Alexander Grahm Bell, Thomas Edison, Gustave Eiffel, and Louis Pasteur. "Woah, wait a minute", I said to myself. Jackie just told me about the book "So You Want to be an Inventor?" by the same author of "So You Want to be President?", the last unit I created. Oh boy, this realization got me really excited to do some theme and topic connecting. So long story short I will also be preparing an informational unit to go along with Inventors. Yay! Can you sense my excitement?? My plan is to go to Barnes and Noble tomorrow to purchase said book. I look forward to sharing all of my work soon. Until next time! -Danielle

Lots of things swirling in our heads...and a SALE!!

Hi Friends!! Now that we're on a very awesome 9 day Thanksgiving vacation, we've got some time to work on a few different units that have been swirling around in our heads. Our students have absolutely loved our Magic Tree House Thanksgiving units, so we've both decided to continue learning about Jack and Annie's adventures through some different stories. =)

It's almost Christmas time, so Jackie is working on a 2nd/3rd grade Common Core Unit for Magic Tree House book #29 Christmas in Camelot.

And, just in time for Winter, she is going to do a 2nd/3rd grade combination Fiction/Non-Fiction unit for Magic Tree House book #12 Polar Bears Past Bedtime and the Fact Tracker Companion: Polar Bears and the Arctic.

Danielle wants to write some units for a couple of her small groups. She thinks Magic Tree House #1: Dinosaurs Before Dark would be a Good Fit Unit for her three lower students to work on with scaffolding and lots of support.

She also thinks Magic Tree House book #35: The Night Of The New Magician would be a good fit for her medium group with scaffolding and support and for her high group to work on independently.

If you and your students enjoyed our Election and Thanksgiving units, then you're sure to enjoy these units!! We will blog all about them when they are done!!

We are so excited to be on "vacation"!! To celebrate, we are throwing a sale in our TPT store!! Everything is 20% off including already reduced items!! You can access our store by clicking this link: Sister Teacher's TPT Store

Have a fabulous Saturday!!! Happy Blogging!!

So close to a 250 Follower Giveaway!!

Wow!! We're so close to 250 followers!! We're so excited!! To celebrate, we're having a TPT giveaway once we reach 250!! Stay tuned for more details on how to enter. =)

Happy Blogging and thanks for following us!!

Teacher Tip Linky Party!

Hi Friends!!!I am linking up with Miss Kindergarten for a teaching tip linky party. Even though I've been teaching for 12 years, I still love reading everyone's tips. I've found so many really amazing ideas that I will definitely try out in my classroom... it's so important to change things up every once in a while! =)

Click this link to link up: Miss Kindergarten

My teaching tips are pretty simple, but they took a few years to actually figure out.

Tip 1. A label maker is your best friend! I love to get fancy and make super cute labels on the computer just as much as anyone else, but for time's sake, I use my handy dandy label maker!! I think I may need to buy a new one because it's pretty old and I've used it so much!

Tip 2. Use a crate and hanging file folders to save your student's work for the week. Grade their work as it comes in and send it home on Friday all in one neat and easy stack! As you can see, my label maker came in handy here too. =) When I first started teaching, it took me so long to pass papers back to my kids. This is such a simple trick, but a HUGE time saver!

Tip 3. Use a crate and hanging file folders to save all of your reading strategy/skill posters all in one spot. I also have writing posters, CAFE cards, and scales(rubrics) filed away here too. This crate is sitting right next to my rocking chair for super easy access. I used the label maker here too...I'm slightly totally obsessed!

I hope you enjoyed my teaching tips!! Be sure to link up with Miss Kindergarten to share your tips of the trade! Click on this link to link up: Miss Kindergarten

Happy Blogging!! =)

Big Makeover

So we really weren't feeling the latest blog makeover that my husband recently did. He really wasn't feeling it either, so he's redoing everything again. The blog might look a little whacked out for a few days while he figures blogspot out. Apparently it's not as easy to design and fix a blog as it is to make a website...something about codes and widgets are way too much for me to understand. If you have any tips to share, they would be appreciated. Stay tuned for a very updated look!! =)

Happy Blogging!!

Blog Makeover and a Freebie!

Hi Friends! My very awesome and extremely tech savvy husband is in the process of giving our blog a makeover!! He still has to work on a few things like the new button, and the little headings to all of the different links and things. I love it, and hopefully Danielle does too! =)

I am super excited about the Common Core ELA Magic Tree House Thanksgiving Unit that I created last week. I am going to start it tomorrow with my students. I'll take lots of pictures and blog about it throughout the week. In celebration of my unit, I am giving away this freebie that can be used for Thanksgiving on Thursday, Fact Tracker: Pilgrims or both. I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please check out the whole unit on our TPT store. If you don't want both the Non-Fiction and Fiction parts of the unit, I've also split them up, into two separate units.

=)Happy Sunday!

You can download the freebie on Google Docs by clicking: Magic Tree House Common Core Freebie!

Currently, Hurricane Sandy, and the American Red Cross

Wow... this is my first "Currently" in a while! Head over to Oh Boy 4th Grade to link up to this post!! This past week was difficult for my sister and I. Our Dad and so many of our friends still live on Long Island and other parts of the tri-state area. Waiting for word that everyone was safe and accounted for was tough. Our hometown of West Islip, NY was damaged tremendously and all of the pictures and video that we've seen have been heartbreaking. New Yorkers are strong and resilient people, so we know they will recover. It will just take lots of time, lots of prayers, and lots of donations. Any donations your can make to the American Red Cross will be used for their recovery. Please consider making a dontation. Every little bit helps! My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the Tri-State area!

Election 2012 unit!

I am so excited to announce that I have finally completed my first Common Core Unit of study!! While perusing the exemplar text list, I noticed a book called "So You Want to Be President?" On the way home from school, I convinced my sister to drive past Barnes and Noble to purchase said book! (It wasn't hard to convince her, since she was the one with the idea to start selling products on Teacher Pay Teacher) A few weeks later, for your teaching pleasure, I present my 2012 Election Unit based on "So You Want to Be President?". This unit contains Common Core questioning based on the book, as well as hand picked vocabulary to go along with the book and the election. I also added a fact vs. fiction lesson, persuasive writing, and a research project on election issues. To top it off, I included directions on how to have a mock election in your class. This 3rd grade unit covers 17 Common Core standards in informational text and writing. It can be easily adapted to fit your 2nd, 4th, or 5th grade classes in all states. I hope you enjoy! Happy voting!

Tons of Credit!!

I am finally finished with my first Common Core ELA unit! My unit focuses on Magic Tree House Thanksgiving books (Thanksgiving on Thursday and Fact Tracker: Pilgrims)!! Last year I read my class both books and did some basic things with them. This year, I wanted to really dive into them, write about them, and get into the meat and potatoes of the first Thanksgiving. With this unit, I believe I will accomplish those goals. I hope I have allotted enough time to do so. :-) After working on my unit for the past few days, I am shocked by how much time really goes into writing, revising, editing, revising again, and finally publishing a quality unit. I give my fellow TPT sellers tons and tons of credit for creating such master pieces over and over again! They are true masters of this profession! Please check out my latest Thanksgiving unit and tell me what you think! I appreciate any and ALL feedback! Happy Blogging!!

Common Core ELA Magic Tree House Thanksgiving Unit

Partner Wheel Freebies

Hey Friends!
I wanted to follow up last week's post about partner wheels with some freebies for you. My awesome techy husband worked on these partner wheels for me, and I am passing them on to you!! =) When you print, make sure you print 2 of them, one for the front wheel, and one for the back. You may also want to print them in two different colors. There are wheels for classes of 18, 20, 22, and 30. To read more about the partner wheels be sure to check out my "pinspiration", Karen and her awesome blog Flamingo Fabulous in 2nd Grade. Have a wonderful week!!

Happy Blogging!!!
-Jackie-
partner wheel 18 students
partner wheel 20 students
Partner Wheel 22 students

Partner Wheel 30 students

This might be the best Pinterest find yet!!

Hey Bloggy Friends!!
As I was "pinning" a few nights ago, I came across an amazing way to quickly pair students up. Karen from Flamingo Fabulous in Second Grade shared her partner wheel with the blogging community. I thought this was the absolute best thing since sliced bread, but her version was for 24 kids, and I only have 18. My very awesome husband designed a wheel for me with 18 spots. I LOVE it! I am taking Karen's word that the kids who shouldn't be paired up will never catch on to my sneaky scheme!

To print my copy out, click on the picture of the wheel, and right click on it. Copy the image and paste it to a word doc. You can then make it bigger if you'd like to. Print 2 copies of it. Make sure the button "fit picture to frame" is checked. Cut out the small wheel and fasten it to the larger wheel with a brad fastener.



Be sure to check out Karen's Awesome Blog and fabulous ideas! Thanks Karen!! =)

It's time for the BACHELOR... who is Ben going to pick this season?? I can't wait to find out!
Happy Blogging!!
-Jackie-

Happy New Year and Math Workstation Freebie!

Happy New Year!
As much as I wanted to lay around and be lazy during my winter break, I just couldn't! My first week off was spent shopping (last minute of course!) and cleaning the house to get ready for Christmas.
The major teacher geek (ultimate professional) in me asked Santa for 2 books, The Book Whisperer and Debbie Diller's Math Workstations. Santa was SO wonderful and brought both of them to me! Hopefully he didn't have to search through too many stores to find them. I know they're hard to come by.
Anyway, I just couldn't wait to read them both! I started (both of them) once my family left and little one went to bed. I alternated books as I finished reading each chapter. You could say I was "voraciously" reading!
In order to get my mind wrapped around the math workstations, I did lots of brainstorming and pinning lots of great ideas. In my head I know what I need to do when we start back in order to have a smooth transition into the stations. It'll be a little tricky starting them up in the middle of the year, but I figure it's better late than never!
The last math skill that my students were working on before break was adding two digit numbers with or without regrouping. I wanted to adapt the game "trade or no trade" to fit my class and previous teaching. Help yourself to my version of the game. Please let me know what you think. It's nothing fancy (I haven't invested in way cute clip art), but it'll get the job done. I plan on making the same game with subtraction, and hundreds for my high achievers.
May you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!!
-Jackie-
Addition Regroup or Don't Regroup

Where, oh where have we been?

Wow!! It's been quite a while (5 months to be exact,) since we've blogged! This school year has overwhelmed us both to huge degrees that something had to give. Unfortunately for both of us, it was our super fun and awesome blog. We're sad that we haven't been able to share our school year thus far, but our (at least my) new year's resolution is to be a better blogger!
Here's a very brief rundown of my year so far... As many of you know, I was able to loop up to 2nd grade with my amazing class. The year got off to a great start!! I knew exactly what my returning kids' skills were and we were able to hit the ground running. Since there were only 13 of my kids who actually returned, my class was filled to Florida's class size capacity with 5 new students. I spent a majority of the end of August-September assessing them, and planning for their instruction. I was thrown for a bit of a loop when I discovered one of my new sweeties is on the autism spectrum. Although he needs a lot of one on one attention, he has been welcomed with huge open arms by each and everyone of my former and new students. They love to assist him in any way possible. They are all wonderful role models and helpers. By October we were rocking and rolling with Daily 5, writer's workshop, and everything else that makes 2nd grade wonderful! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the curriculum too! It's fabulous to be able to write directions on the board on the first day of school and for the kids to be able to READ it and DO what it says!! I may not leave 2nd grade now. :-)
The change for me to my new 2nd grade team has been an adjustment. Due to my own personal request for keeping my 1st grade classroom as well as the lack of available classrooms upstairs, I am completely separated from my 2nd grade teammates. Of course we have a phone and email to connect with, but it's the lack of face time that I am missing. I am adjusting well though, and of course I still have my sister and 1st grade friends to bounce ideas off of. It helps that I am the team leader and we are required to have PLC (professional learning community) meetings each week in my classroom.
I think the "thing" that's weighed the most heavily on me (and my sister) is our new teacher evaluation system. Our district(county) has adopted the Marzano teacher evaluation system. Getting used to all of the new language, different domains, observations, etc... has been so time consuming! I've spent hours upon hours online researching different rubrics "scales", and learning goals. It has worn me out to the point where I stay away from my computer (except for facebook and pinterest of course!)
I had two amazing junior interns (Miss S. and Miss A.) who helped me tremendously. I'll post pics of their awesome bulletin boards once I get back to my classroom. I also have a fabulous parent helper (Mrs. W.) in my class each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. It's like I have my own personal para two times a week! I am sooo lucky!
I've also been spending lots of quality time with my little girl. She's growing up so fast and I don't want to miss a thing. I feel like her fist three years have been a blur and I don't want her next 3 to be the same, so I've been devoting my time after school until her bed time to her.
Although I would LOVE to have another 2 weeks off, I feel refreshed and ready to get back to my kids for the long haul. Our next break isn't until April! I have some lofty goals for the new year, one of which is to implement Debbie Diller's Math workstations! I've read the book during this vacation, and I am ready to go!! It's pretty crazy to start something new in the middle of the year, but if anyone can handle it, it's my kids. They are so adaptable and love to do and try new things. I've got a working camera again, so stay tuned for new pictures of my classroom and other happenings in my class!
Happy Blogging!!
-Jackie-

P.S. I would love to thank Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for nominating us for The Versatile Blogger award and Marcy at Buzzin' On Cupcakes for the I heart your blog award. We appreciate your nominations and vow to be better bloggers!!! xoxo