Cyber Monday Sale-- How Cute is this Tangled Moose!

I'm sure that you all know by now about this awesome TpT Sale on Cyber Monday.  I just wanted to let you know I would be participating.  My store will be 20% and with the TpT code CYBER you will get a total of 28% off of your order!
I've got a ton on my wishlist!  It's a great time to stock up on fun activities for the holiday season.
I'm working on a new Christmas Figurative Language Pack which will be up in time for the sale Monday.  I  used this awesome... cutie pie....Tangled Moose from Messare Clips and Design.  Who Doesn't LOVE a moose!

The Moose is part of a Holiday Animal Pack that Messare Clips will have on sale on MONDAY and Tuesday too!  {Here} is the link to check it out and wishlist it.

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I am Thankful For...

Happy Almost Turkey Day my friends!  I'm just bopping in quickly here to wish everyone Happy Happy Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm linking up with one of my blogging buddies, Molly at Lucky to Be in First to share a few things I'm thankful for.

I'll really be thankful for Dunkin tomorrow at 5am when I'm boarding a train for NYC.  I'm taking my beautiful "24" into the city to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  YAY!  Something to check off on my bucket list.  I hope everyone has a HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY day!

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Workshop Wednesday and an Awesome Giveaway!

Happy Hump Day Friends!  I  am linking up with Jessica from Ideas by Jivey for her workshop Wednesday linky AND I'm participating with some of my BBBs in an awesome giveaway because we are all so thankful to our reader's and followers.

This week I want to talk about writing.  Sometimes I have a few reluctant writers.  I'm sure that I do what most of you do with this group of students.  Model, Model, Model, and spend one on one time with them as much as possible.  I find that I still need to do this with  my Smarties in Middle School as well.  A few weeks ago I wrote about how my middles like to talk about themselves, so instead of doing just a heart map when we start Writer's Workshop, we make an I am.  You can read about that activity {HERE}.
In sixth grade we spend a lot more time on informative writing.  I still think it is very important to allow my students to choose a topic themselves.  This Thursday we are putting on an Egyptian tomb.  I can't wait to share pictures of all of the work  they have been doing!  With this project we have had students write an essay, a museum card, and then partner with each other and create a connected summary.  I want to share one of these with you.  Two of my students paired up to write a one paragraph summary about their topics.  One of my smarties had the Nile River as a topic, the other had Egyptian mathematicians.  It was amazing to listen to these two boys talk about the connections between these two topics.  What they came up with is below.

Sometimes it is difficult to motivate students to write, but I think the best way is still allowing them the choice about topics.
Share with me something that motivates your students to write!  I would love to know!

A bunch of bloggers have joined up to say THANK YOU.  Thank you for following us.  Thank you for your support, encouragement, and friendship.  We have learned so much from you.  

So we wanted to say thank you with a Gift Card Giveaway.  

Simply fill in the rafflecopter below and you have a chance to win one of 3 prizes. 

(You can fill in the rafflecopter on any of our blogs, it's all the same one.) 

3 lucky winners will win a $25 gift card to TPT.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!  

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Passing Along a Clipart FLASH FREEBIE!

Friends, I know that I have blogged a few times lately about a new Clipartist, my awesome BIL at Messare Clips and Design.

I just wanted to take a moment and let you all know that he has a FLASH FREEBIE TONIGHT from 6-9 EST tup at his TpT store for 2 of Christmas items.  Even though it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, I know that I am thinking about bringing a little Christmas cheer into my classroom, and I am very thankful for a talented family member.  Hop on over and download these two freebies... click on the pictures and they are linked...  and to share the love, leave him a little feedback love since he was so generous in offering them as a freebie! Follow him too if you haven't already.. he has some great winter items coming out including silly snowballs!

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Five for Friday: Inequalities, Honoring our Veterans, and a Birthday

Holy Moly this was a fast week!  We had Monday off from school for Veterans Day, and the rest of the week has flown by!  I've had so many meetings, I've barely had planning time.  It was nice to stop and reflect a little about the week.

1)  INEQUALITIES:  My Smarties have finally finished up our unit on Inequalities.  We will definitely need to keep practicing these on our  Weekly Review Question sheets.   I created a foldable for my classes that really helped them learn the symbols.  One of things I liked most about it was that it was so interactive.  My students had to write definitions, graph inequalities on a number line, and then identify inequalities in sentences.  My entire math period they were talking about math!  I loved it... THEY loved it!  

If you need to teach this with your students, I put the foldable along with my lesson plan in a pack with class or homework sheets and a set of Scoot and Compute Task Cards.  You can find it {HERE}

2)  In ELA my class spent time reading one of my favorite pictures books:  America's White Table by Margo Theis  Raven.  This story tells about the Remembrance Table, a small white table which is set in American Legions, and military mess halls around the country to honor soldiers that are MIA or POW. This tradition began during the Vietnam War.  I used this lesson to teach about symbols and symbolism.  My students had to make inferences about the objects that are placed on the table, and then use evidence to independently answer questions about why the table itself is significant. I think I will work on a nonfiction article to go with it next year. 

3)  Veterans Day is also my beautiful daughter's birthday.  "24" is an official teen now!  I can't believe it.  She cracks me up with the funny things she says, and always has the ability to make me laugh.  I love the pep in her step!  This is a picture I took a few weeks ago with my daughter and my sister-- and yuckster the bear.  He is my niece's and he is YUCKY!

4)  In my Social Studies class we are working on our Ancient Egyptian tomb.  It will be presented this coming week.  My students have been writing and researching for several weeks, and they have been working on artifacts for the tomb at home.  I can't wait to see what comes in.

5)  Last, but not least, I'm getting geared up for another 'Cuse home basketball game tomorrow.  I love college basketball!  There were so many great games this week.  I mean DUKE lost !  WOOT WOOT!  That is great for my 'Cuse boys because we are in the ACC now and we will have to play them.  I hope we continue to improve our record!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Tried it Tuesday: Using Dropbox from Your Ipad or Iphone

Today I'm linking up with Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper to talk about something I learned this week.  Honestly, this one has nothing to do with actually teaching my smarties.  It's 100% about what I learned from my awesome BBB's Erin and Jessica.  

We were talking about seeing a ton of great freebies out there on TpT and I was whining...because I always see an awesome flash freebie while I'm out and not near my computer.  Erin was totally kind and pointed me to a post Jivey had written about using Dropbox.  You can go {HERE} and check out all of the details, I won't steal her great post by rewriting it.  But I will tell you to go out and download that app!  I have used Dropbox frequently since the summer to send things to school as I have needed them, but duh!  I never realized it would work via my phone.  It makes me so thankful for blogging buddies like Erin and Jess who point me in the right direction when my head is spinning. <hee-- hee> 

And, speaking of being thankful for great BBBS, stop by and visit Holly.  She and I bonded over being Buffalo Bills fans, and even with their loss on Sunday, we BILLIEVE!

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I'm Thankful for our Amazing Technology Department!

We have been so busy this past week with the end of the marking period.  My smarties just finished their first 10 weeks of middle school.  It always amazes me the things they accomplish in 10 weeks:  mastering lockers, the hallways, schedules, inequalities <hee hee.. we might still be working on that one> and specials.  Many of my students had technology which I love to see because they get to make rockets.  Our technology department is amazing!  I know I blogged about them in the spring, but I have to give them a shout out again, because they are truly amazing.  We have an entire aqua-ponics lab which has an awesome selection of veggies growing.

They also have a hydroponics wheel which is a pretty amazing sight.   A group of students in our technology club harvest the lettuce and veggie mix and sell it for $1.00.  The money pays for scholarships for students to attend Oswegatchie Camp in the summer.

One of the other things that I think is really amazing is the rocket launch.  Our 1st and 4th quarter students get to create rockets and launch them on the softball field.  They are always so excited about this.  I get invited to come out and be amazed.  This year I remembered my phone and I took a video.  Check this out.

Pretty cool huh!  Have a great week!

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Winner Winner Turkey Dinner and Thanksgiving for the ELA classroom

Happy Friday All!

I can't wrap my head around the fact that it is November!

I'm wishing I had a few of these silly creatures to help me catch up and get a little ahead!

I'm looking forward to this long weekend, but I can't wait to start back at school next week and get my students going on my Thanksgiving Figurative Language Pack!

Congrats to Karen H. for Pinning and Winning!  I'm emailing you as soon as I finish up this post!
Sorry if you didn't win!  If you are interested in adding a fun center to your ELA program, you can go {HERE} and pick up this pack.
I'm also going to do some prep work this weekend for my November Writing piece.  We make Turkey Survival Kits!

 You can check it out {HERE}.

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Thanksgiving Figurative Language Pack-- Pin It To Win It!

Happy Tuesday friends!

 I recently finished up a new Figurative Language Pack for my smarties to use and practice during the month of November.  The Pack covers:  similes, hyperboles, metaphors, alliteration, personification and onomatopoeia.  So far we have really delved into similes, alliteration and onomatopoeia.  Hyperboles are on the docket for the next two weeks.
This pack contains cards with 6 matching sentences for each type of figurative language.  I am using them in my independent and group work rotations as I am working with my novel groups.  I am also using the cut and glue sheets as formative assessments twice within the month.

I hope they can be helpful to you.  If you are interested, you can find them {HERE}
Otherwise you can PIN IT TO WIN IT!  Click the Pin  below and leave me the Pin URL in the comments.  I will pick a winner on FRIDAY.

THANKSGIVING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE PACK PIN

By the way, I'm loving the clipart I used!  You can check out this new Clipartist's TpT store {HERE}

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Five for Friday: November 1st Check out this new Clipartist!

So many busy and new things have been going on during the last week in October!  I can't believe our first ten weeks of school has almost ended!  I'm linking up with DOODLE BUGS for a Five for Friday, but this week, mine is only 3 because my CUSE is in the HOUSE tonight and I am running to the DOME to get my cheer on!

1)  My super awesome brother in law started a clipart store, Messare Clips & Design on Teacher Pay Teachers.  People, he is so amazing and talented, I wanted to give him a shout out on my blog.  Stop by and visit him, you will not be disappointed!

Check out some the cute things he has made!  I love the turkey, and the squirrel!

and these owls... how cute!

Plus this cornucopia  has fabulous colors.  If you are looking for something new for a product, stop by and check out his store.

 

2)  I've been working through inequalities this week in school.  This can really be tough for my smarties.  I put together a foldable for them to help them learn to graph, and I've created some word problems to help them too.  I'm going to hopefully post them in my store a little later this weekend, a few things need some tweaking after I used it this week in my classroom.

3)  SU hoops start tonight!  I'm headed to the Dome as soon as I finish up this post!  Go CUSE!

photo from Su athletics

Off to watch this great team!  Check out the awesome clipart above, and check back in a few days about my inequalities work if you need it!  Enjoy your weekend!

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