Teacher Love: Passion

You know those days when you feel unmotivated and knocked down? Teacher Love Wednesday hosted by Kinesthetic Classroom is the perfect way to lift your spirits back up! 

We all have our off days. Our students all have their off days. We all have those days where we think "OK WHY IS MY DAY SO C.R.A.Z.Y.?!?! WHAT AM I EVEN DOING?" (you know those hectic days when your day becomes just one big blur..) And then maybe you want to rip your hair out, drink a glass of wine (or 3), take a nice bath and sleep. sleep. sleep. Anyone else? Yes, we will have those days- that's a given. Are those difficult moments the only thing you think of when you reflect on your passion to teach? Nope! I surely hope not. 

 How about those days when you see all of their little miniature hands raise to answer a question? Or those days when that one child that has such a hard time focusing is eager to learn and stays engaged throughout the day? Or those days when a student tells you how much they liked yesterday's lesson and they told their family all about it? Or those endless hugs? Or those endless smiles? Or those endless laughs?  

Have you noticed that teachers talk about their jobs more than ANY other profession? The hilarious stories we have from our students, the motivational seminars we go to, the influential people we work with... how could we come home and have nothing to say??? As I was trying to put into words how I feel about teaching, I came across this quote: 

Passion. Amazing teachers all share this in common. A passion to educate. A passion to educate not only so their students can succeed on a test, but so their students can succeed in life! If this quote led  you to automatically think about the lives you have changed, including your own, you have found your passion. 

Informational Book Talk and 2 for Tuesday

Yay for Book Talk Tuesday with Mrs. Jump's class! Haven't done this link-up in a while and I've missed it! I tutored students in reading all summer, so I have a bunch of new books added to my classroom library. I tried to collect lots of non-fiction text. As elementary teachers, I think so many of us are naturally drawn to the fiction, but I have to remind myself how important it is for students to be exposed to a wide variety of genres! So, I hope this blog post is very informational. ;) 

In my much needed quest for non-fiction, I discovered the book Elephants of Africa by Gail Gibbons. The information is very interesting and easy to understand. Also, the illustrations are just beautiful. They are so colorful and realistic.. definitely a crowd pleaser. So, if you need to add some books to your library, this is a wonderful addition! My students took away so much useful information (OK.. some info that I didn't even know!) about elephants. 

 

While I was tutoring, we completed this Elephant Worksheet {FREEBIE}! Do you think you can use this in your classroom? Well, you're in luck! You can get this free download now from my store. This is a great quick assessment to make sure the comprehension is there. It is very beneficial  for many grade levels!

One student had a very difficult time comprehending, so I brought the "I know it!" assessment from my Check for Understanding product. I used this as a button to where she would tap it whenever she figured out a new interesting fact or elephant parts. Are you interested in the Check for Understanding Assessments?!?! (Keep reading....)

I am happy to link up with The Teaching Tribune for Two for Tuesday too! As many of you probably already know, this is a money saving linky party and you mark down 2 items in your store as HALF. OFF. 

1. Check for Understanding 

2. Reading Informational Text Graphic Organizers

Use these graphic organizers while studying informational text! 

Happy shopping and happy reading! 

Keep entering my Back to School BINGO giveaway! This is one of my favorite activities to do to take away those back to school jitters. I don't want you to miss out on your chance to win! :) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GIVEAWAY and Good Ol' Deals!

I am ecstatic to be giving away one of my favorite Back to School products- Back to School BINGO:

Enter the giveaway below through rafflecopter! This giveaway will end THURSDAY night, so enter while it lasts!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Why don't we just keep the good news and good sales coming? I am also very excited to link-up with Kelly and Kims Kindergarten Kreations for Markdown Monday! I am ALL ABOUT searching for deals right before the beginning of school, so this linky party is a great place for a bargain hunter, like myself. 

I am marking down my Student Reading Binder with Reading Log to $1.50! I tutored over the summer and found this method to work WONDERS. Students can keep their own binders to keep track of their progress, while you conference with them, check their reading logs, and determine their level of comprehension. 

The packet starts off with an Interest Inventory- About Me, Reading Questionairre, and (my personal favorite) What do you like to read about? 

This helps you understand where the child is coming from! You can help the student become an independent reader by choosing books of interest. 

A Reading Log is also included in this product! 

And it's not just any old reading log.. I don't know about all of you, but I don't like the parents simply signing a piece of paper saying their child has read that night (maybe because my mom would totally lie for me! Oops! sorry mom...) But the truth is, they are not the ones reading, it's the kid! So, I came up with a way to quickly assess. You can decide how much the students should be reading nightly, but whenever they finish the book, they flip the page over and fill out their thoughts and summary of the book.

Still interested? Click HERE and you will be brought right to the product. It will be marked down until Friday!

Save some money before the first day!

SO the first day back to school is quickly approaching.. AH! My mind is spinning as I think about everything that needs to be done before the first day. I have been searching TpT, gathering some awesome freebies, printing, laminating, cutting, organizing, ummm the list of verbs goes on and on. 

I want to start off my posting some FREEBIES from my store. 

What better way to start off the first day of school with some positivity? Download my Class Commitment Posters ! There are 6 posters included in this product. 

My last FREEBIE I want to share is the Important Dates Printable. This is such an easy way to see your year at-glance and note down anything that comes up! Stay organized from the start!

Want to save some $$$?? You're in luck!

I JUST added my Back to School BUNDLE. All of the BTS products in my store together in one zip file. So, save some money before school starts! Some best selling items included ALL for $4.50. Woop wooop!

And Last, but Not Least.... 

One more thing to add to this post... I am donating two of my items in an upcoming giveaway by Teaching with Hope! Who doesn't love a good GREAT giveaway?!! Head on over to her blog to see the amazing TpT and Etsy products up for grabs!

Very Pinteresting

I am linking up with Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten for Positively Pinspiring for the first time and I have a feeling I'm going to become obsessed with it! Pinterest AND Linky Parties?!!?? Recipe for success. This link-up is dedicated to favorite finds on Pinterest throughout the week. The links will lead you directly to the original site. 

Ok... where do I begin with my favorites....hmmm 

I am a sucker for quotes. I am an even bigger sucker for inspirational quotes. I am a HUGE sucker for inspirational quotes pertaining to children. This is a quote that quickly caught my attention because it is so incredibly true. We need to be their number one supporters and motivate them to succeed daily.  I made it my quote for my store! You can also purchase this quote on a postcard here on zazzle.com.

My major goal this year is to STAY ORGANIZED  (notice the bold, underline and caps lock to stress my need for this). I am sure hoping that many of you can relate to that! I wish I was blessed with the natural teacher gift of organization so many of you have but..nope. :) Anyway, this blog post by Ladybug's Teacher Files gives amazing advice on how to keep your running records organized AND links to a printable you can use!

Is anyone else highly considering purchasing this t-shirt? Or is it just me? Love it!

O.M.G. How adorable is this? Possibly for the first day of school? This Buzzfeed article has some awesome ideas. 

Last but CERTAINLY not least, I stumbled across this and nearly fell out of my chair. This photo came from Candiquik's Teacher Appreciation blog post. REAL SMART COOKIES!!! Although this post was intended to be presents to teachers, I may just have to reward myself with some smart cookies and milk. :) 

Thank you Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten for such a fun linky party. Everyone stop by her blog to see more pinteresting links. What have you found on Pinterest this week?

Linky Party #2 

I saw this link-up from a few days ago and could not resist. This linky is hosted by Sugar and Spice: What are your teaching ingredients?

GREAT NEWS!

I just hit 200 fans on my Facebook page! Woooohoooo! I am celebrating by offering a very wanted product completely FREE and can my found through the Facebook link in my status update. I'm trying to keep the suspense going, so I think you should take a look yourself. :) 

FANCY Worksheet Wednesday

Have you read the Fancy Nancy book series? One of my favorites in this series is Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique. It is such an adorable book with bright, engaging pictures. I created some worksheets to go with this wonderful book. If a child chose this book for independent reading, I would let the students to complete these worksheets as a quick (and entertaining) assessment.  Download the worksheets from my TpT store: CLICK HERE. 

How cute is this? "Because its fancy." You got that right, little miss thang. 

Giveaways Galore

Giveaways Giveaways Giveaways! Head on over to The Candy Class for her 500 Follower GIVEAWAY! There will be 2 giveaways per day and something for everyone. Look out for my item that will be in the giveaway on Tuesday. :) A huge THANK YOU goes out to Jolene for organizing this massive giveaway. Your hard work is not going unnoticed!

Countless Smart Cookies Giveaway

My giveaway is still happening! Head on over to my Facebook page and look for the GIVEAWAY post pinned to the top! Once I reach 150 followed at my TpT store: Countless Smart Cookies, I will choose a winner!

Wonderful Worksheet Wednesday

Doesn't everyone love to collect a bunch of freebies for your class? I think YES! I'm linking up with The Teaching Tribune for another Worksheet Wednesday! This week, I am posting a GOAL SETTING freebie. It is so important for children to make goals for the day, week, month, year, and life. This is one of my favorite activities to do in the classroom during the first week or so of school. Go to my store to collect this useful freebie HERE!: Goal Setting Freebie by Countless Smart Cookies. If you download, I would love your feedback! :) 

Goal Setting Freebie by Countless Smart Cookies:

With all the goal setting talk, it's time to announce that I am having... ANOTHER GIVEAWAY! I just reached my product goal for the month! (60 products in my store.. thank you very much, summer vacation) In hopes to reach one of my other monthly goals: 150 TpT followers.. I am hosting a giveaway on my Facebook page! To enter, CLICK HERE!

The winner will receive Student Motivator Labels: You are one SMART COOKIE and Motivational Quotes Posters.