Springing Into Science Blog Hop! And a New Science Game!

Butterflies in my classroom and bunnies in my back yard . . . don't you think it's perfect timing for a SCIENCE blog hop?  We did!  Over 20 teacher-blogger friends and I teamed up to bring you some great science ideas, as well as freebies and giveaways!  "Spring" on through to see what discoveries await!  

I decided to create a new science game to offer as a FREEBIE! (Sorry that this game is no longer offered as a freebie.  Be sure to follow my blog so you don't miss the next one!)  My son is really getting into reading lately AND he is obsessed with space.  So, I simply HAD to make a reading/science game that he would enjoy.  We played it for the first time tonight.  He really thought it was cool!  

My purpose with this game was twofold:  

1) I have created a few science games for my class, but I would love to have more!  Combining reading practice and facts about the solar system seemed to be an easy and effective way to add more science content to my games.

2) I tried to include sight words and simple sentences whenever possible.  Yet, as you can see, this proved to be quite difficult.  There is no way around including certain vocabulary words and the names of the planets.  Our solution tonight was for my son to read as much as he could while I chimed in with the names of planets and helped sound out challenging words.  It seemed to work well (due to the high-interest subject matter).  I bet he'll be able to read more of the sentences on his own tomorrow!  

To take a look at this game download your FREE SPACE-THEMED BOARD GAME, just click on the picture below.  I hope your students enjoy this one as much as my son did!  (The file is large, so Google Docs will not show a preview.  Just click on "Download" to get the file.)

Now, click on the button below to SPRING on over to Krista's blog!  

Winners of the Hoppin' Good Giveaway Announced!

Here are the winners from the "Hoppin' Good (Weather) Giveaway":

$25 Teachers Pay Teachers gift card        Nicole N.

PreK/K Resources Pack                          Andrea L.

$25 Teachers Notebook gift card             Wendy M.

Kinder/1st Resources Pack                      Sandra J.

$25 Teachers Pay Teachers gift card        Allee E.

1st/2nd Resources Pack                          Kristi K.

$25 Teachers Notebook gift card             Jennifer E.

2nd/3rd  Resources Pack                         Thursday T.

Winners:  Please check the email you used to enter!  I am in the process of emailing the items to you! 

You can also visit my last post HERE to see the winners listed on each Rafflecopter widget.  The first entry that was picked (by Rafflecopter's system) received the gift card.  The second entry picked received the pack of resources.  

I want to extend a huge "Thank You" to the teacher-authors who donated items for the giveaway and to everyone who participated!  

If you didn't win this giveaway, CLICK HERE to try your luck in my giveaway this week on Teachers Notebook (Ends on 4/21/14)!  

Hoppin' Good (Weather) Giveaway!

The weather is FINALLY nice here in Chicago and I simply cannot contain my excitement!  And what do teacher-bloggers do when they are excited?  They have a HUGE GIVEAWAY, of course!   So here it is.  Take a look at all of the wonderful items you can win and stick around to enter one (OR ALL) of the giveaways!

SCROLL DOWN to find the giveaway of your choice!  

Remember:  Only residents of the USA age 18 and older are eligible to enter.  You may only win 1 prize out of the 8 available.   Winning entries will be verified when possible.  Please see the "Terms and Conditions" on each Rafflecopter giveaway for further details.  

PreK & Kinder Resources Pack and $25 TPT Gift Card Giveaway  

In the first giveaway, 

*1 lucky winner will receive a $25 gift card for Teachers Pay Teachers

*1 lucky winner will receive a PreK and Kinder Resource Pack with 23 items (worth approx. $72)

Click on each of the items to see what is included in this Resource Pack:

*5 Little Ducks                                    

*Mother Goose Rhyme Theatre                                     

*Caterpillar Addition Center                

*Spring Counting Mats     

*Yellow Bee Reader                            

*Parent's Guide to Reading:  Kinder Edition                          

*Easter & Springtime Worksheets for Beginning Readers

*Butterflies Emergent Reader              

*Letter A Hunt      

*Baseball Math and Literacy Centers for Kindergarten                                                          

*Popcorn Sight Word Activities          

*Spring ABC Class Book                                    

*Springing Toward Summer Number Printables            

*What Does the Bunny Say?  Emergent Reader                                   

*Easter & Springtime Worksheets for Beginning Readers                                                                                                       

*Comparing Numbers 0-10  

*Enrichment Activities for the Very Hungry Caterpillar  

*Math Matching Activity (Teen Numbers)

*I Like Apples Emergent Reader                                    

*Survey and Graph Pack

*Seasons Sort                                  

*ABC's to the MAX

*Word Family Match Up       

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Kinder & 1st Grade Resources Pack and $25 TN Gift Card Giveaway

In the second giveaway, 

*1 lucky winner will receive a $25 gift card for Teachers Notebook

*1 lucky winner will receive a Kinder & First Grade Resource Pack with 24 items (worth approx. $90)

Click on each of the items to see what is included in this Resource Pack:

*Sweet as Springtime Math and Literacy Centers

*Spring Scrambled Sentences

*April Kindergarten Math Journal

*Easter Eggs-travaganza Addition Math Centers

*How I Became a Pirate Activity Pack

*Sight Word Fluency Bubbles

*Spring "Roll, Say, Keep!" Primer Dolch Sight Word Center & Printables

*Print and Go Sight Word Packet

*There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick

*Plants!

*Frog and Toad are Friends Book Report Pack

*Fascinating Frogs

*Frog Life Cycle Unit

*Dental Health Week-long Unit

*Short A Word Family Centers

*Spring Friends Roll, Say, Keep

*Spring Loaded Language Pack

*Easter Compound Words

*Easter Addition Word Problems Within 5

*How Many Eggs Are in Your Basket?  Addition and Subtraction

*Sentence Building for Growing Writers

*Spring Spin

*Shapes All Around!

*Spring Math Centers for Kindergarten

a Rafflecopter giveaway

1st & 2nd Grade Resources Pack and $25 TPT Gift Card Giveaway

In the third giveaway, 

*1 lucky winner will receive a $25 gift card for Teachers Pay Teachers

*1 lucky winner will receive a First & Second Grade Resource Pack with 18 items (worth approx. $65)

Click on each of the items to see what is included in this Resource Pack:

* Zoo Math and Literacy MEGA Unit

* Becoming a Butterfly--A Place Value Game

* Butterfly Observation Journal

* April Word Problems for 1st

* My Seasons Flip Flap Book

* Spring Ahead Addition and Spring Subtraction Task Cards with QR Codes

* Springing into More and Less

* My First Research Report:  Frogs and Toads

* Spring Riddles

* Adjectives in Bloom

* Spring Cupcake Compound Words

* Beginning Blends and Digraphs Picture Scoot

* Catching Compound Words

* Opinion Writing Posters

* Parts of a Plant Vocabulary Cards and Word Wall

* R-Controlled Vowel Word Sorts

* Vowel Digraphs EE and EA

* Leprechaun Inference Unit

* Skip Counting With my Peeps

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2nd & 3rd Grade Resources Pack and $25 TN Gift Card Giveaway

In the fourth giveaway, 

*1 lucky winner will receive a $25 gift card for Teachers Notebook

*1 lucky winner will receive a Second & Third Grade Resource Pack with 15 items (worth approx. $58)

Click on each of the items to see what is included in this Resource Pack:

* The Great Egg Drop Extravaganza!
* Hippity Hoppity Bunny Literacy and Math

* My Plant Journal

* Task Cards:  Parts of Speech

* Baseball Math and Literacy Fun

* Big Money!  

* Spring Frog Poem Craftivity

* Second Grade Geometry Concept Posters

* Grammar Task Cards

* Spring Math Riddles

* Spot That Word

* Spring Simile Poems

* Magic Tree House Dinosaurs Before Dark Common Core Reading Unit

* Author’s Purpose Task Cards

* Second Grade Math Common Core Cut-and-Glue Workbook 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Thank you so much for participating!  Good luck and enjoy that warm weather!

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Sight Word Flip Books and a FREEBIE!

Scroll down to take a look at my Sight Word Flip Books for Spring and Summer.

Scroll to the bottom to grab a FREE set of flip books!  

My oldest son is learning to read!  He has been able to sound out CVC words for a while now.  Yet, he only knew a few sight words until I made the set of spring sight word flip books for him.  They have really helped his reading just take off!  He wants to read EVERYTHING now!  He has discovered that, using his newly gained sight word skills, he can read Dr. Seuss books like "Green Eggs and Ham."  He read it to me, to his dad, to  grandma--even to his great uncle!  Increasing his sight word reading ability has made it possible for my son to read many things that were not possible before.  Even if some words are too difficult for him, he will still attempt to read the sight words and ask about others!  

The sight word books are really working!  What I like best about them is the REPETITION.  Each flip book comes with 5 pictures.  The child has to read each sentence 5 times, once for each picture.  STUDENTS FEEL SUCCESSFUL when, even though they might have needed help the first time through, they can read the sentence on their own with subsequent readings.  These will work well for beginning readers, those struggling to learn sight words, students who need fluency practice, AND reluctant readers.  

Each set (spring and summer) covers ALL of the Dolch pre-primer and primer sight words, as well as some from the other lists and several Dolch nouns.  That's more than 100 sight words in each full set!  Plus, the books come in both color and blackline versions.  The full-color set would work well if you plan to laminate them or if your student (read:  my son) does not like to color!   Please click on the pictures below to take a look at the 2 sets I have available so far.  

Click on the picture to view this set on Teachers Notebook.

Click HERE to view this set on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Click on the picture to view this set on Teachers Notebook.

Click HERE to view this set on Teachers Pay Teachers.

I want you to be able to try them out at home or in your classroom.  So please download the set below for FREE!  It includes 6 sight word flip books in color and blackline.  I hope your students enjoy reading them!  

Click on the picture to view this set on Teachers Notebook.

Click HERE to view this set on Teachers Pay Teachers.

As always, thanks for reading!

Spring Has Sprung Blog Hop! Featuring a Freebie AND a Giveaway!

You have NO idea how happy I am that SPRING HAS ARRIVED!!!   I live in Chicago and winter was rough this year, to say the least!  So, I am very happy to announce that I've joined forces with 19 other teacher-bloggers to bring you some awesome FREEBIES and GIVEAWAYS!   Just hop on through, grabbing some fabulous free items and entering some great giveaways!

GAMES ARE FUN!  

If you follow my blog regularly, you know how much I LOVE using games in the classroom!  I keep a huge basket full of various reading, math, and science games to pull from for use in centers, small groups, or as homework.  Some of them have been in circulation for more than 10 years, but they are still going strong!  I think there is no better way for my littles to get the repetition they need to learn basic math facts and sight words than to play a game.  I also think games are a great way for students to develop reading fluency.  You can see my recent post about games and reading fluency by clicking HERE.   

FIRST, THE FREEBIE!  

Click on the picture to find it on Teachers Notebook.

Click HERE to find it on Teachers Pay Teachers.

This FREE set includes 3 types of games (K-2):  a full color Bump game, two add and read sight word sentences games, and one addition color by sum game.  It also includes an emergent reader and more pages, but games are the focus of our hop!   I hope your class has fun practicing with these!  

NOW, THE GAME GIVEAWAY!*  

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below to win a READING FLUENCY GAMES BUNDLE (not yet available in my stores) worth $30!   It includes 10 games to use throughout the year!  Plus, just to give you a better chance of winning, I'll pick 1 winner for every 50 entries.  We'll let the numbers decide how many winners I pick!  

The READING FLUENCY GAMES BUNDLE includes the following list of games.  You can click on each title to take a look at it in one of my stores.  

Fall Fluency Phrases Board Game (K-1)

Halloween Train Reading Game:  CVC Words and Sentences (K-2)

Gingerbread Man Game:  Sight Words, Sentences, Blends and Digraphs (PreK-1)

Snowman Soup Sight Word Sentence Game for K Through Third

Reading in the Rain:  Blends, Digraphs, Long Vowels, and Sight Word Phrases (PreK-2)

Pool Party Sight Word Sentence Game for K-3

Soda Shop Sight Word Sentences Game (PreK-3)

Race to Reading Fluency Board Game (K-1)

Fairy Tales Fluency Reading Board Game (PreK-1)

Pirate Reading Party (PreK-K)

*CLICK HERE to see the general terms and conditions of the giveaway.  Remember, you must be a resident of the U.S. and at least 18 years of age to enter.  Also, all entries will be verified.  Unverified entries will not count.  Good luck!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please click on the blog button below to visit Cherry Workshop, 

the next stop on the hop!  

Spring Has Sprung Linky Party! Free and Priced Resources for Spring!

Yea!  It's FINALLY the first day of spring!  Let's celebrate the (hopefully!) end of cold and snow in Chicago with some link party fun!  

Scroll to the bottom to take a look at some great, spring-themed, free and priced resources for grades K-3.  Who couldn't use something NEW for spring?!  

Teacher-Authors:  Feel free to add your links below.  Please add only 1 free item and 1 priced item (or 2 free items) for grades K-3.  Also, to help visitors to the site, please add "FREE" to the title if your resource is free and a $ if it is a priced item.  If you have room, please add the grade level of the resource.  Please make sure your link goes directly to the resource and not to a blog post.  Thanks!  

An InLinkz Link-up

Thank you for reading!  I hope you found some great spring resources for your classroom!  

GIVEAWAY! Secret Word Write the Room COMBO PACK!

What do you do when your class has grown tired of the usual "Write the Room" activities?  Switch it up with some "secret words" of course!  

This COMBO pack includes all 7 of my "Secret Word Write the Room" products (for K & 1st).  I have sets for back to school, fall, Thanksgiving, winter, spring, and summer, as well as a gingerbread set!  Each individual write the room set includes:

*2 levels of write the room sight word cards with 18 cards each

*Most sets include 1 EDITABLE set of cards!  I'm busy adding editable cards to ALL of the sets!

*5 write the room lists with separate secret words (in color and blackline)

*1 write the WHOLE room recording sheet (in color and blackline)

*1 write the room & make sentences sheet (in color and blackline)

I tried to make these sets so that there is something for every child in the class.  I have some students who simply like to write the words, reading them with me or a friend.  Some like to figure out the "secret words."  My high flyers either write all of the words or use some words in sentences.  It doesn't matter which activity they choose, everyone is enjoying Write the Room once again!  

So, to WIN your own Secret Word Write the Room COMBO SET (a $15 value), just enter the Giveaway below!  There will be 3 winners.  Remember:  The giveaway is only open to U.S. residents 18 and over.  Good luck!  

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