#TSUitup and Blog Hop

It's time to #TSUitup! Have you heard of the new network, tsu? (Pronounced sue) This is a brand new social network that allows teachers to connect with one another by sharing ideas, quotes, products and more! 

I am taking part in a fun blog hop in order to spread the word about the wonderful new social network AND tell you about some of my favorite teaching strategies. OH and did I mention a big giveaway is also involved?! YEP- that's right! 

Would you like to be the newest member of tsu? I would love to connect with you! Here's my link to sign up below: 

http://www.tsu.co/SmartCookies

Here is the strategy I want to talk about: Cooperative Learning! The thing about cooperative learning is that the students are working TOGETHER to find answers. How can we teach students when they are arguing with each other constantly?! The answer: it's impossible. We have to make them realize that being ugly to one another will never work and they will never be able to learn in that environment. 

With that being said, let's throw out the golden rule: Treat others the way you would like to be treated.  

...And let's throw in the PLATINUM rule: 

Treat others better than you would like to be treated. 

Here's a FREEBIE for you! You can download this poster by clicking here!

If you need something to reinforce positive behavior with one another, here is a product to use with your class!

Friendship and Good Character Packet

View here: Friendship and Good Character Packet

Now time for the giveaway! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Falling in love with Fall giveaways!

Food for Taught and I teamed up for a FALL GIVEAWAY! This giveaway will end on Wednesday, October 29th. so make sure to enter before then through the rafflecopter below!

Want to know what you would win?!

1. FALL Writing Activities: Autumn, Thanksgiving and Halloween
2. Huge Halloween Math Packet

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Spotlight 10.26.14

Here's how SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT works: 

1. Pick a product to spotlight from your TpT store. Put the products on sale for at least 24 hours. The amount in which you discount is completely up to you. Write a description in your blog post about your product(s)! If you have multiple products you'd like to spotlight, go for it! If you want the product to stay on sale for a longer time, go for that too! 

2. Pick another TPT-er to spotlight! Post a description of their store, put the link of the store/Facebook/blog/any social media site they use to your post. Encourage your readers to follow the teachers you spotlight and leave feedback! We wouldn't be the great teachers we are if we didn't collaborate, right? ;) -RIGHT! What you share with your readers is up to you and the seller! 

3. Linkup below! Make sure to include the link to my blog and the linky logo so everyone can find our discounted products. 

* Click and save the images below, add your product image to the Product Spotlight and the logo of the teacher seller you are highlighting to the Teacher Spotlight (I use PowerPoint) and post! *

** Please do not link directly to a TpT product. It should be a BLOG POST HIGHLIGHTING ONE OF YOUR PRODUCTS AND ANOTHER SELLER! *** Have fun! :D 

Let the fun begin! 

My Energy Book

I created this flip book after seeing how confusing some text books made the concept of energy! I was even thinking.... ok WHAT?! Maybe I'm not so science-oriented, but still... 

SO, my solution was to simplify some concepts.. Still covering everything, but just not in such an extreme way. The kids loved the books with activities. This booklet will only be $1.75 until Wednesday!

My Energy Book is on sale NOW! Click here. :)  

Today I am spotlighting Celeste from The Education Highway! I want to start off by saying- this teacher has gone above and beyond to welcome me into the TPT community! She has taught me the ropes when I had lots of questions about linky parties, pinning parties, giveaways and added me to so many teaching groups. Show her some teacher love by checking out her store and becoming her newest follower!  

I hope everyone has a wonderful and positive week!

An InLinkz Link-up

Liebster award + a FALL SALE!

Thank you so much to Hannah from 21st Century Kindergarten and Karen from Applejacks Teacher for nominating me for this award! What's this award all about, you ask? Bloggers who have less than 200 followers, but have lots of great things to share are nominated! I definitely don't have 200 blog followers (workin' on it!) but I love connecting with other teachers around the country WORLD! 

Why and how long ago did you start blogging? 

I started my blog a month after I became a seller on TpT. I became a seller this past May and  I noticed how much TPT sellers were discussing blog posts, so I thought I'd give it a shot! I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I have. 

What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why? 

Connecting! Without the support through the teaching community, our blogs would not even have the potential to reach out to other educators. Maybe I'm cheating by picking such a broad word, but the connections I have made through TPTing and blogging have allowed ME to become a better teacher by gathering new ideas or tips!

 Is there something you learned late in your blog journey you wished you knew before?

I wish I started documenting student work earlier to post those onto my blog. I find the blogs with actual student work much more appealing!

What is your favorite past time other than blogging?

If I'm not TPT-ing, I am most likely spending time with close friends and family. 

How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog? 

Hmmmm... well that depends on my workload during the week, but I would say I spend about 3 hours per week on my blog. One post a week is what I aim for. 

What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy organization/ classroom reveal posts. This is my favorite category because I get SO many ideas from them. I am not an organized person at all... so these posts help A LOT! 

Where does your blog inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes from the classroom and my products! 

Which post that you've written are you most proud of?

My favorite post is How Should I Teach Matter? this was my first post where I included student work, lots of ideas AND a product included! 

Is there any post you have been planning to do, but have postponing it for a while now?

Of course! Next on my to-do list is a big Thanksgiving post. Starting my first linky was on my to-do list for a very long time, so now that the Sunday Spotlight is up and running, I feel better!

What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

I love having all of my ideas in one place. It's my own personal journal that helps me reflect on my teaching styles and connect with amazing educators! 

Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you be most likely to try yourself?

From Karen's blog, I loved her idea with celebrating birthdays in the classroom! Such a cute idea. On Hannah's blog, her post with 3 Ways to Read is so wonderful! 

To celebrate the nominations and motivation, I think it is time for a sale! I am FALLing in love with Fall sales! :D For this linky party, sellers put 2 of their products on sale for $2.00!

The first product I am putting on sale for $2 (usually $3) is my Goal Setting Packet: Motivating and Building Confidence. This is one of my *BEST SELLERS*!

Another best seller of mine will be on sale for only $2.00! My Motivational Quotes: Posters to Inspire are usually $3.00! 

Enjoy the sale and HAPPY FALL!

Sunday Spotlight 10.19.14

After joining many, many, many linky parties, I thought it was time to host my own! I came up with this idea as I was thinking of different ways to collaborate with all of the incredible teacher-sellers around the country. 

Teachers Pay(ing it forward to other) Teachers! :) 

Here's how SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT works: 

1. Pick a product to spotlight from your TpT store. Put the products on sale for at least 24 hours. The amount in which you discount is completely up to you. Write a description in your blog post about your product(s)! If you have multiple products you'd like to spotlight, go for it! If you want the product to stay on sale for a longer time, go for that too! 

2. Pick another TPT-er to spotlight! Post a description of their store, put the link of the store/Facebook/blog/any social media site they use to your post. Encourage your readers to follow the teachers you spotlight and leave feedback! We wouldn't be the great teachers we are if we didn't collaborate, right? ;) -RIGHT! What you share with your readers is up to you and the seller! 

3. Linkup below! Make sure to include the link to my blog and the linky logo so everyone can find our discounted products. 

* Click and save the images below, add your product image to the Product Spotlight and the logo of the teacher seller you are highlighting to the Teacher Spotlight (I use PowerPoint) and post! *

** Please do not link directly to a TpT product. It should be a BLOG POST HIGHLIGHTING ONE OF YOUR PRODUCTS AND ANOTHER SELLER! If you already linked with an actual product, no big deal because I didn't make that clear when I first posted the linky party. *** Have fun! :D 

So, let the spotlighting begin! 

 Cookie Monster Game: SIGHT WORDS!: 

This is such a fun game for your students to practice their sight words! Includes 300 high-frequency words. The cookies go in the jar, students grab a cookie from the jar and read the word. If they say the word correct, it goes on their cookie plate. If they are incorrect it goes back into the jar. 

The cookie monster card- If this card is picked, that student has to put all of their cookies back into the jar! The person with the most cookies on their plate when the timer goes off wins! *Great center/ partner activity!* It is currently HALF OFF for the next 24 hours!

Click here to get a better look at Cookie Monster Game: SIGHT WORDS!

The teacher I am spotlighting is my very good friend, Jenna from Food for Taught! We just so happened to be student teachers together! Now, after all of these years, we get to teach and TpT together! What more could I ask for?! She JUST opened her TpT store this week ('bout time!!) :) and already has so many awesome products up. She is currently a 3rd grade teacher and her products are geared towards 1st-7th grade students. Go show her some teaching love! Follow her store and give her feedback on her freebie! 

If you follow her and leave feedback, say you found her store through Sunday Spotlight and I will follow your store and leave you some feedback in return! Here's a sneak peak of her Halloween products: 

Linkup is right below! Feel free to linkup so we can collaborate and find other similar stores and products! All grade levels are welcome!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy for the Halloween Bash Blog Hop!

I am so excited about my first every blog hop! How does it work? I'll tell ya! I'm going to post a Halloween recipe, a Halloween craft, a Halloween freebie, and links to a HAPPY HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY!

I found this AWESOME recipe off Baker By Nature blog! It is a very delicious looking Halloween Candy Cookie Cake. Y.U.M. You take your left over Halloween candy and put it in the cookie cake mix! How genius is that?!?

Here's what the blog said for ingredients: 

How adorable is this?? Another Pinterest find..  This is perfect for the Pre-K and Kinder teachers. Who would think to give the parents a Halloween treat from their students? So cute!

I just whipped up a nice writing exercise for students of all ages! It includes a simple graphic organizer that students can brainstorm story structure ideas then write their final draft on the paper after! Click the link below to download! 

Halloween Adventure Writing Activity

GIVEAWAY TIME! I have donated my Halloween Writing and Math Activities

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enjoyed this post? Check out all of the other bloggers taking part in this Halloween Hop! 

An InLinkz Link-up

How Should I Teach MATTER? Hands-On Learning: Solids, Liquids and Gas

I was staring at my computer screen a few weeks ago thinking about ways I could teach MATTER. This was the kick start of Science for the year, so I needed it to be something good. 

What's an example that covers a solid, liquid and gas? Hmmm.... thinking.... thinking... COOKIES. DUH.  Solid- the cookie. Liquid- the milk. Gas- the hot air (heat) from the pan when you take the cookies out of the oven. Now we're onto something! This blog post is all about Matter! I just finished this with my students and it was a huge hit!

The FULL Matter Unit: 

INTRODUCTION: What is Matter? This unit starts by discussing what matter actually is- Anything that has mass and takes up space! The introduction ends with an exit ticket- 3 Things I Learned About Matter: 

Starting to get the hang of it..... 

*HOW DOES MATTER MOVE?*

After the basics are covered, the unit describes position, motion and force. Use volunteers! "Person 1 is next to/behind/beside Person 2". Have the students change position and discuss. 

TIP: Get students up and moving! Students are in their desks for way too long. The more (educational) movement, the easier your life will be! 

*MEASURING MATTER!* 

During my break, I whipped up a quick station activity for my students. They measured solids and liquids in 4 different stations. They LOVED collecting data like real scientists! 

Here's what it looked like before when I was on the school computer rushing to finish: BORRRRING! Don't worry.. I wasn't going to upload the boring version to TpT. ;)

After: The difference a font makes, right?? Regardless, the kids still liked the "boring font" version!

Here's one of my smart cookies measuring liquids! The Matter Unit includes a teaching guide that lists materials needed. 

Now, for the all time FAVORITE part of the unit... 

***CHANGES IN MATTER!*** 

That doesn't sound like fun... How can THAT be the best part? 

One word: CHOCOLATE. 

I found this AWESOME idea from Once Upon a First Grade Adventure's blog, but tweaked it just a bit. :) Here's what you need: 

1.  Chocolate Chips (not too many per person or this experiment could take a long time)  

2. Small plastic bags

Tip: Some students split their chocolate chips in half. They melted one side and kept the other side as a solid. This was a great comparison!

Simple enough! Put a little less than a handful of chocolate chips into each bag and give the solids (chocolate chips) out to each student. Tell them they they have to change the solid into another form of matter (liquid) by MELTING THE SOLID using HEAT. They can blow hot air on the chocolate and use their hands for heat. The students record their findings- (draw a picture and circle if it is a solid, liquid or gas.) There is an option to put in the freezer to show changing back into the original form of matter, but we had time for just the melting! 

I can't even begin to describe how much fun they had with this. Of course, leave it to the 8 year olds to say, "Hey.. that looks like doo-doo." :P Kids will be kids! 

I hope you enjoyed reading all about my Matter Unit. I wanted to offer a quick freebie just for reading and showing support! Save this image and print for easy matter visuals to kick start your matter unit. Huge thanks to Krista Wallden @Creative Clips for the cute animations!

To view the Matter Products, click on the links below: 

 1. The FULL Matter Unit- This includes EVERYTHING seen above! 

2. Matter Introduction: Solids, Liquids, Gas, Force and Motion

3. Measuring Matter- This just includes the Measuring Matter Section.