Happy Halloween Sale!

Halloween is probably one of my favorite holidays!  We can't exactly dress up and celebrate in the classroom so we celebrate Nocturnal Night instead!  I black out all the windows and we learn about nocturnal creatures by nightlight and flashlight all day.  I will definitely post more about it later this week but for now I'd like to announce a Happy Halloween Sale!  All items in my TpT Store are 20% off Tuesday and Wednesday ONLY!

Click here to check out my TpT Store!

What do you do with your students to make Halloween special??

Lottery Update

Lottery tickets are still the jam, (see my previous post about lottery here) this year they seem more popular then ever!  I've had to repaint my tickets several times.  So I decided to add a few more rewards!

I added the things I've noticed my students enjoy but they didn't fit into my previous rewards.

The prizes are:
Computer-30 minutes of computer time before class each morning
Treasure Chest-choose 1 item out of the treasure chest
Lunch in Class-1 lunch in class with a friend and the teacher
Share a Book-bring a book to school to read to the class
Pick a Job-choose a class job to take over for a week
Candy-choose 1 piece of candy out of the candy drawer
Pencil-choose 1 pencil out of the pencil drawer (& sharpen it in class..OMG! Why is that so exciting?)
Teeny Tiny Treat-you know all that junk you get like stickers, book marks, crayons, erasers, etc...

This is what my teeny tiny treat drawer looks like:

The tickets are still free but now there are a few more "prizes"!  Check them out and if they work for your class feel free to download them today!

Click here to get these lottery tickets!

Tomorrow's Alphabet

B is for wood, tomorrow's bridge!

Q is for princess, tomorrow's queen!

Have you ever read Tomorrow's Alphabet by George Shannon?

Click here to check it out on Amazon!

Do you struggle with enrichment idea's for your highly performing students?

My "go to" enrichment is usually reader's theatre but that gets stale and this book is a great break from all those plays.

Student books look like this.

After reading the book with your students you can discuss idea's for different letters.  I tell mine to start by writing the alphabet into the first space on each page.  Then to go back and think of idea's for each letter.   Here are a few books we've started this year:

At the top you can see Imani has "A is for egg, tomorrow's alligator!"

"P is for egg, tomorrow's penguin!"

"D is for puppy, tomorrow's dog!"

I love using this high order enrichment activity with my high performing students during MTSS (formerly RTI, formerly 30 minutes of the day where I got to teach an actual subject, formerly a gigantic headache...I lie, it still is a headache).  Pick it up for FREE from my TpT store today and let me know what you think!

Click here to get this activity from my TpT store!

Finally, I wanted to share a new video with you for Fun Friday.  One of my favorite teacher friends found this one after she did the Dino Stomp one day.  We're thinking Flash Mob?!  Enjoy the Sid Shuffle with your class this week!

Room on the Broom

So last weekend I was wandering through the children's books in Target looking for book for my friend Rachel's baby shower when I came across Room on the Broom (click here to check it out on Amazon).  As I stood in the aisle reading, idea's came steadily flowing into my head about ways I could use this book in my class.

If you know anything about my digital products you know I stick to games and activities that can easily be incorporated into centers.  I've never tried a book companion before.  I've also never purchased clipart.  I use whatever I can draw out myself.  So this is a whole new venture for me and I'm SO pleased with the way it turned out!

This companion is 46 pages with both literacy and math activities.  Common core standards are included in each section.

The literacy activities include:
-rhyming word game with a recording sheet
-readers theatre with puppets
-2 writing prompts about monsters and friendship
-2 worksheets that include word searches, ABC ordering, and a maze
-2 word building activities

The math activities include:
-place value matching game with recording sheet
-number puzzles students can practice counting by 1's, 2's, 5's, & 10's
-number word matching game with recording sheet

There are 9 separate activities in this packet with multiple versions of several activities to help provide differentiation.  If I were to price out each activity individually they would cost at least $14.00 but you can get them all in this packet for ONLY $8.00!  Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Click here to check out Room on the Broom Companion Activities!

I know I like to test before I invest sometimes so I'm providing you with this story map FOR FREE! Say what?!

Click here to download this story map for FREE!

Finally, I recently set up a Facebook fan page for The Curious Catfish, click here to follow me on Facebook!

Comprehension Freebie

So....this came walking down the hallway towards me this morning.

I just knew it was a snake.

I hate...HATE snakes.

I usually think everything is a snake though...it's a totally irrational fear.  Sometimes I freak out about taking the kayak down to the water because I start thinking about snakes it the grass.

Thankfully it turned out to be a snail!

One of my students found it this morning and brought it to school because he thinks we need a class pet.

I think we need a class pet like I need a hole in my head.  I tried a goldfish a couple of years ago and it was disgusting.  It just wouldn't die so I "donated" it to the front office.  It ate all the other fish in the fish tank so my Principal flushed it down the toilet.  She'd rather have no fish than a monster alpha goldfish.  That thing could have survived the apocalypse.

Any thoughts on hermit crabs?  I occasionally consider trying that one out, until I remember someone has to take care of it...that someone being myself.

The whole point of this post was to share with you a comprehension questioning freebie!  This year my test data is indicating a little trouble with comprehension so that it what I'm focusing on for my IPDP (Individual Professional Development Plan).  I started researching questions that parents could use at home and was getting mostly just basic recall, explicit questions.  I used a few of the resources I came across to develop something with a little more substance.

These comprehension questions are available in my TpT store for FREE!  Check them out and let me know what you think?!

International Walk to School Day

This year Safe Kids Northeast Florida, Wolfson Children's Hospital, and FedEx sponsored our Walk to School events and it was AWESOME!

International Walk to School Day (click on the link for more info) is an event that schools and communities from over 40 countries participate in.  Students are encouraged to walk and bike to school to raise awareness for childhood obesity and pedestrian safety.

Students, parents and teachers crossing the street!

Today volunteers from Safe Kids, Wolfson's, FedEx and the University of North Florida as well as parents and teachers helped students walk to school safely!  

Awesome volunteers!  They cheered the kids on and greeted them on their way to school!

Check out my sweet ride!  I live pretty close to the school I teach at and try to ride to school a few times a week, because, why not?

This was my view when I rounded the corner to head to school.  So amazing to see all the people who came out to help kids walk to school!

After all the students settled into their classrooms we were invited out to the playground to see a helicopter land!  

First we had to wait patiently!

It was finally time!  (The video I recorded is having trouble loading so I'll try again tomorrow.)

Big thumbs up!

After it landed we got to walk by, look inside, and snap some pictures.

Then I forced...yep, FORCED the Firefighter's and Police Officer's to take pictures with us!  Our school theme this year is Superhero's and I've wanted to get these people out this year to show my students REAL LIFE hero's so I was pretty excited when they showed up!

These are a couple of the officers that helped direct traffic and get our students safely across the street.

Fedex was another one of the sponsors and we were able to check out a Fedex van!

What an amazing experience!