Prepping for Hurricane Sandy!

 That's me in front of my tiny house and my brother's monster truck!  He took me out to get some supplies before the storm hits.

I bought these Hunter rain boots last year during the Bloomingdale's Friends and Family and I really have used them a lot!  

The flooding by the water in Lindenhurst, Long Island, NY!

 No school for us and the city is shut down!

Stay safe everyone on the East Coast!  Fingers crossed that I keep power and no trees fall on my house again.

Chicago: My Kind of Town

This past weekend was a blast!  I met up with my a wonderful group of bloggers/teachers in Chicago.   These ladies and I have become close friends over the past two years of blogging/selling on TpT.  It is amazing that we live all over the USA but still have so much in common.   We threw Amy a baby shower, you can click {here} to read her post.

It was fun to put voices with faces!  Everyone "loved" my New York accent...or at least they told me they did!  They kept making me say "dog," "walk," and "drawer."  They were also surprised that I have a really young sounding soft voice and I am not some harsh New Yorker.  I was not really surprised by anyone, except maybe Abby.  She is so tall and skinny!

I way overpacked and had no room for my good camera, so I stole a lot of pictures from her!  Thank you Amy!!!

To the city of Chicago, I really loved you!  You are so much cleaner than NYC and the shopping was just as good!

It is really amazing how TeachersPayTeachers and blogging has changed my life for the better.  I feel blessed to have these wonderful ladies in my life.   So thank you Paul, for helping to bring us all together!  

Amy from Step into 2nd Grade with Mrs. Lemons 

Cheryl from Primary Graffiti

Abby from The Inspired Apple

Rachelle from What the Teacher Wants

Kim Adsit from The Kinder Gals

Lindsey from the Teacher Wife

Deedee from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

Kathleen from Growing Kinders

Michelle from Fabulous in First

Sarah from First Grader... At Last!

Deanna from Mrs. Jump's Class

Hope from Second Grade Shenanigans

Cara from The First Grade Parade

Amanda from One Extra Degree

Batty for Bats

I just finished my Batty for Bats Unit.  It is a 59 page literacy and science unit.  I have always loved doing a bat unit with my students - click here to see last year's post and snag a freebie.  This year, I wanted to align the unit to the Common Core and focus on CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.2.  So, I plan on having my students write informational pieces on bats.  This will not be the only informational piece we write the whole year.  This piece will start us off and then hopefully the students will be able to write more in-depth pieces on other subjects as the year progresses.  To help you meet the needs of your students, I have provided some activities with a varying level of difficulty and different versions of the same activity. Click above to check it out on TpT!

I drew the little bat in the diagram myself!  I had a hard time finding clip art that would allow labeling.  So, I drew this little guy.  It took like three tries and then tracing over my final one.  Finally, I scanned it and saved it as PNG.  I was then able to insert it into a document as you would a graphic.   I wish I knew more about making graphics, but for now this works for me.

Hope your October is going smoothly.  Though, I am sure if you are like me, you are just barely keeping your head above water!

Don't forget to click here to check out my unit.

Halloween Themed Math Centers and Freebies

I have added two more centers to my Halloween Themed Math Centers packet.  If you have already purchased the packet, please re-download for the updates. 

Here are some of the centers included in the packet and some Halloween themed finds:

Here are the freebies!  Click the pictures to download.

I would much rather be trick or treating with my nephew, than home answering my door.  So I made up this little sign last year and it actually worked!   To be fair, I don't get that many kids trick or treating anyway! 

I hope you have a Happy Halloween!  The first three people to comment get my Halloween Themed Math Centers Packet for free!!

Mouse Cookie Graphtivity, Laura Numeroff Author Study, and Cameo Winner

This year, I decided I needed something really motivating and visually appealing for a whole class math activity.  I decided to tie it in with my Laura Numeroff Author Study.  The result: A Cookie Taste Test Party and Mouse Graphtivity (Abby came up with that word).  

I had the students taste test Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip cookies and Oreo cookies.  I made a big deal about how we were going to collect data.   They were so quiet and serious while they ate!  Then they colored in and cut out their choice for favorite cookie.  They put the results in a pile and I made the graph by placing one vote up at a time.  I had them color in the recording sheet as I completed the graph.  They could not wait to see the "winner."  The result: Chocolate Chips were the class favorite.  

After the graphing activity, we made this cute mouse topper to go over our data recording sheet.  This activity can be found on Teachers Pay Teachers in my Mouse Cookie Graphtivity packet. 

I displayed the Graphtivity in the hall along with our If You Give a Cat a Cupcake Math and Craft Activity.

These activities are included in my Laura Numeroff: If You Give...Author Study packet. 

I love all of the circular texts in Laura Numeroff's If You Give series and so do the students.  Here are a few more of the activities from my packet that we completed.  Click here to check out my packet on TpT. 

Click here to check out Laura Numeroff's Books on Amazon.com.  The stuffed animals were a Kohl's Cares find from a few years back. 

The winner of the Cameo giveaway is Sara Giovanangelo!  Congratulations Sara!!!!