Confession

So just wanted to make a confession about my experience so far with Teacher Notebook versus TPT.  If you are trying to decide which one to use, I will tell you, I really like the lay out and look of TPT better.  I feel like it gets more traffic than Teacher Notebook as well.  It has an easier platform to upload your materials.  Teacher notebook wants you to upload your digital file and then you have an annoying box you must wait for and press ok before you can move any further.  Then you must upload a preview of the file.  Again, you have to wait for the upload to complete and press ok to the annoying box before you move on.  The annoying box is the one that says your file was uploaded successfully.  Once you have uploaded those files, then you must add an image file?  Yes, and wait for the box to pop up before you continue.  With Teacher Pay Teacher, you upload one file and it generates preview pics for you.  You do have the option to upload a preview image, but I LOVE the quick upload.  TPT also ask you to put one descriptive message about your product where TN wants Item Description and Social Network Description.  Ugghh.  So in short, at this time, I just feel like TPT is the better option over all.  The look and layout is easier to navigate and not as busy.  Well, there are my two cents, hope it help.  What are your experiences?

Freebie!

Made this real quick to assess my 2nd grade students on searching skills.  I needed something to see whether they really understand how to search for books or not.  We will see how it goes.  There are five different printables so that all the students are not searching in the same place.  Hope you can use this as well!

Click HERE to Link to the printable!

Sale Sale Sale

Check my TPT store.  I'm throwing a sale, so hurry up before it ends!

It's been too long!

So with the holiday season approaching and last minute shopping, preparing, celebrating and closing up things at school, I have been soooo bad about blogging!  I did want to share some Christmas cheer though.  We had a closing staff meeting before Christmas break.  It was an early release day so many classrooms had pajama day.  Well to lighten things up, little did our principal and staff know, a few of use were planning a "Flashmob" for the meeting.  It was sooooo fun and now I want to do it over and over again.  The videographer did not catch the beginning, where our music teacher raised her hand and said, "I have a question about last Christmas".  Then que the music.  Check us out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSGzWgtNXWU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

LINKY PARTY

I'm throwing a linky party!  Here are the rules:
I'm looking for your favorite IPAD app that you use and how you use it.  Maybe you use one in your daily 5 rotation or during math?  Let me know the app you use and how you use it!  This will be FUN!
Make sure you copy my linky button onto your blog and and link it back to me so that we can spread the word.
I will also feature the apps on my blogs weekly.
Also, please follow me and I will follow you :)

Martin Luther King

I've been working on trying to find appropriate books that my teachers can use to help teach the common core and integrate ALL subjects.  Therefore, I am going ahead and throwing out this "Follow the Common Core".  This unit pulls language, writing, and social studies all together in a bundled mini lesson.  Hope you enjoy!  Check it out here at TEACHERSPAYTEACHERS.

Snowmen at Night

The specialist at my school, art, pe, music, science, and me (media) are doing a "Snowmen at Night" theme this month.  The children are loving it so far.  PE is doing "Snowmen games" based on the book, Science is talking about snow and it's components, Art is working on symmetry with snowflakes, and Music is working on snowmen songs.  Looking at Common Core, first grade and second grade are working on Opionion writing.  Therefore, in Media we are going to look at the different "Snowmen" books and tell our opinion of which is our favorite.  I also love the ideas on Scholastic's website.  Here is a circle map from there that I am using to make predictions about the book.

Scholastic Website on Snowmen at Night

Don't forget to check out my Snowmen Literacy Stations on TEACHERSPAYTEACHERS