Winners of the Huge Give Away

Hi Everyone! Thank you sooo much for all the wonderful ideas for books and movies to read and watch! I rented War Horse and loved it!! I also started reading "I Love Letters" by Jean Feldman and Holly Karapetkova, and "No More Letter of the Week" by Pat Lusche! 

Both of these books are wonderful resources for the beginning of the year and for teaching letter names and sounds. I love the the Sounds in Actions page in No More Letter of the Week. If you have ever used Jolly Phonics (popular in the U.K.) it is almost identical. It provides a hand action for each letter sound. I have used Jolly Phonics in my classroom for several years to teach the sounds of the alphabet and my students learn them and retain the sound much better than just associating the letter sound with a picture.

For example, the sound /r/ is made by putting your hands up like claws by your mouth and growling like a dog, or the sound /n/ is made by putting your arms out straight to the side like an airplane. After the initial sounds are taught, the we practice spelling basic cvc words with the actions, and so on. For the entire list of sound symbol actions from Jolly Phonics click here.


Thanks so much for all the well wishes for my recovery from neck surgery. It has been a "pain in the neck" but I am recovering well. I think I sleep about 3/4 of the day away, but I guess that's a good thing! I am still in a lot of pain from neck surgery and wearing my lovely neck brace 24/7. Can I just say how crazy it is to sleep in this thing!! 


But, it is Saturday and I am so excited to announce  the big winners of my give away!! 


Congratulations to Winner #1 Nicole Shelby!! She wins $25 worth of packets from my TpT store!

Congratulations to Winner # 2  Sally from Elementary Matters!! She wins $15 worth of packets from my TpT store!

and

Congratulations to Winner #3  Rachel from rachel.turnage14@gmail.com!! Rachel wins $10 worth of packets from my TpT Store!

Thank you to everyone for playing! I sure appreciate your support! 

Love and hugs, 

Rebecca

"Just Because" TpT 20% Sale and HUGE TpT Product Give Away

Hi everyone! I am spending most of my days sleeping and on pain-killers since my neck surgery last Thursday. This has given me a little bit of much needed time to catch up on my blog hopping and I realized how three weeks of going M.I.A has taken a toll on me! I miss everyone!! 


So, I want to do a little give away while I am recovering just to jazz my time up and reconnect with everyone. Nothing like a give away to make me happy! Since I'm still not quite firing on all cylinders, this will also help me to pass the time away! ;) 


To start things rolling, I am having a 20% SALE on everything in my TPT store through Thursday. And, I am also having a HUGE TpT Give Away from my store! I hope you will join in the fun!


First Place Prize - $25 worth of products from my TpT store
Second Place Prize- $15 worth of products from my TpT store
Third Place Prize- $10 worth of products from my TpT store


That's a HUGE giveaway! You get 4, no make that 5 entries to win! 
1. Follow my blog and leave a comment
2. Follow my TpT store and leave a comment
3. Blog about it and leave a comment
4. Post about it on your facebook page and leave a comment
5. Heck, I'll even give ya a bonus entry if you leave me a title of a good book or movie I can watch while on bed rest the next two weeks! So, hmmm...that equals 5 different entries you can have!! 


All entries are due by midnight this Friday (Mountain Time) and I'll post the winners Saturday morning! 


Sorry, no cute advertisement on this one, I'm too wiped out from neck surgery! But, I hope you'll still join in the fun and spread the word! Thanks for your love and support!
Hugs and loads of love,
Rebecca

I'm back from MIA

Oh my gosh, it has been forever since I last posted! I enjoyed a week off over Easter for Spring Break. Then this last week I had neck surgery. I had to have a couple of discs fused together...Yah, not so fun! I am on bed rest for two weeks and I get to spend my days and nights wearing a lovely neck brace. The best thing about my surgery was that the anesthesiologist looked like Ashton Kutcher! He even told me I would have Ashton Kutcher dreams as they were putting me under! All things considered, the surgery went well and recovery is progressing (thanks to some very lovely pain killers!!)   Many thanks to the nurses and doctors at American Fork Hospital in Utah! Everyone was soooo kind and wonderful!!


I just wanted to drop in tonight and let everyone know I'm alive and well and hope to be back on blogging this week during some of my best rest time. ;) I've missed you guys!!


Hugs and love,
Rebecca

Cute Postcard Idea and New Packets for Sale!

As some of you remember, I taught a few years in 3rd grade, sandwiched between all my years of teaching 1st. It was a blast teaching 3rd and some days I really miss it. One of the teachers I mentored in 3rd became one of my best friends. I love it when she bursts into my room excitedly showing me a new book she read to her kids, or a new project they did.


This past week, she showed me an awesome writing project that her kiddos did. It can easily be adapted to any grade!


She read aloud the book La Rue Across America: Postcards From the Vacation.

It's a hilarious tale of  how Ike, the dog, and Mrs. LaRue take the neighbor's cats and head out on a road trip across America. Ike sends postcards detailing his woes.


She gave each of her students a postcard-sized piece of paper and had them write a postcard to one of their classmates from somewhere in America. Here are some of her student's awesome work! I loved their drawings as much as their writing! Remember, these kiddos live in Utah! Not to shabby!

Speaking of 3rd grade, I have some products in my TpT store geared for 3rd and 4th graders. I have my one minute timed tests for division and for multiplication. And I have my multiplication ice cream incentive program that includes songs to memorize their facts and a multiplication journal that I had my students make when I taught 3rd. (I have timed tests for addition and subtraction, as well.)

You can get them by clicking on the images below:

I also uploaded some cute calendar pieces for Spring! They fit my calendar chart perfectly.

Can you tell I couldn't decide if I liked the green or the blue background better on the flower calendars, so I did both!! I got my cute ice cream sundae graphics and my ladybug graphics from Melonheaz Illustrating! I just love her work!! She has cute freebie items on her blog, too! 

You can check our her blog here:

And here's one more packet I finished last week, just in time for my money unit! This packet introduces coins to the children and has them add like coins together. 

It was a beautiful, warm 80 degrees here today, but snow (or rain) is supposed to be blowing in Sunday! (It's late Saturday night as I am writing this....) I hope you have had a peaceful weekend!

Love and hugs,

Rebecca