Teaching is as Easy as ABC, 123 {B2S Linky & Giveaway for NEW Teachers}

Happy Back-to-School season, friends! Don't you just *LOVE* it?! Even though I am not going back to the classroom this year (I'm staying at home with my almost 1 year old), I still get the same butterflies and excitement when August rolls around. There's nothing like a bin full of glue sticks for .10, am I right?!

I've linked up with some of my favorite bloggy friends to bring you a super fun linky for all of those new teachers out there! Together with Kady from The Teacher Trap, Alyssa from Teaching in the Fast Lane, and Kirsten from Kirsten's Kaboodle we have some fun BTS tips and tricks for new teachers, along with a GIVEAWAY of prizes that will be helpful as you start your very first school year!

I very much remember what my first year of teaching was like. It was full of excitement and nerves all wrapped up into one giant ball of joy. My mom was a teacher, my grandmother was a teacher, and countless other family members spent their days in a classroom. It was in my blood. {For kicks and giggles, here is my very first yearbook picture as a teacher. I look 12. And no, I don't keep this for my own sake; my grandmother has it at her house.}

So, let's get to it! Don't forget to link up below if you have some cool tips and tricks of your own to share. If you are a new teacher, don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Don't compare yourself to any other teacher. As educators, we tend to be perfectionists. We know what we want and how we want it. There are so many wonderful teacher role models out there, that sometimes, we tend to compare ourselves to someone else. Don't do it. Teach how you teach. Praise like you praise. Explain how you explain. Interact like you interact. If you go into the classroom trying to be someone you aren't, it won't work. You are GREAT just how you are. You are blessed with the students who are placed with you for a reason; they need you, not anyone else. Breathe in and out. You got this. Be you. 

A good cup. I am a Tervis nut. These are great for hot stuff and cold stuff. I actually had a smaller one for coffee and a large one for my water. You can't go wrong with a Tervis tumbler. After a while, I collected quite a few from the kids as gifts for Christmas or the end of the school year.

Velcro. I used Velcro for everything in my classroom (I'll explain a little more below). It's versatile, it's easy to add and remove quickly to items around your classroom. (Notice how I have my name written twice on this particular box. Hey - don't you be takin' my Velcro, woman!)

FREE number printable - Click {HERE}

FREE "I'm Here" & "Absent" headers - Click {HERE}

Now...for the good stuff! We have 8 AH-mazing products from our stores that we'd love for one of ya'll to WIN, plus a $60 Target Giftcard! Check out what you'd win below:

NEW TEACHERS ENTER to WIN all this awesomeness here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ALL TEACHERS ENTER to WIN all this awesomeness here:



a Rafflecopter giveaway If you'd like to see other B2S Tips & Tricks or have your own to share, link up below! 
{Simply add the first image (the one at the top of my blog post) to your blog post. Also, include your 1, 2, 3 Tips, Tricks & Advice for new teachers and add the direct link to your Tips & Tricks post here:}

I like KIDS' BOOKS & I can not LIE {LINKY PARTY}

Oh. my. word. Becky, look at her library.

Yes. it's true. Teachers obsess and drool over trade books.

Several years ago for Christmas, I just asked for Amazon gift cards to order the rest of the Chris Van Allsburg books so I could complete my collection. Yes. This is my life.

After sharing a Periscope the other night with this same title, I thought it would be fun to create a linky that features everyone's "favorites" when it comes to the children's literature that we use day in and day out.

Brace yourself for this awesomeness. And for the fact that you could be a couple hundred bucks shorter after reading everyone's link ups. Hey - you gotta buy whatcha gotta buy!

It's almost impossible to narrow down my favorite children's book of all time. 

I thought long and hard about this, but I've finally narrowed it down. 

When I think about books from my childhood, this one book stands out. I remember my mom reading me Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber. 

                     

I don't know why I loved this book so much, other than I loved the simple illustrations. Also, I loved how fun it looked when Ira and Reggie (his friend's house he went to sleep over at) would play and work on their stamp collection.

I've read this book several times to my class. It's great for making text connections with themselves. Also, it's great for discussing point of view and perspective. We see how Ira's sister makes fun of him because he heads to Reggie's house to sleep, but is scared to take his teddy bear because Ira's sister said Reggie will make fun of him. I love the mom and dad's perspective, being protective of Ira's innocence and encouraging him to be himself, and not worry what Reggie thinks. Poor little Ira has such internal conflict over whether or not to show Reggie his teddy bear that he sleeps with as he tells the story from his point of view. In the end, Ira decides to sleep with his bear and to his surprise, Reggie too has a special teddy bear he sleeps with. 

         

       

There is nothing by Chris VanAllsburg that I don't love. He. is. da. man.

Not only does he write extremely creative and thought provoking books, he illustrates them as well.

If you are looking for children's literature that inspires true rigor in your lessons, look no farther than Chris Van Allsburg. I use his books nonstop in mini lessons and in small group.

Here are skills that I teach using a few of his books:

• The Stranger - Making Inferences & Drawing Conclusions
• The Polar Express - Figurative Language & Plot
• The Wreck of the Zephyr - Drawing Conclusions & Making Predictions
• Two Bad Ants  - Point of View/Perspective
• Zathura & Jumanji - Compare and Contrast Story Elements
• The Mysteries of Harris Burdick - Great for story starters in a writing center

Ok. I'm not going to lie. Chris Van Allsburg is my all-time-favorite illustrator, but since I've referenced him far too many times in this blog post already, I thought I'd break it up with a little Ezra Jack Keats action. (Also, it was starting to get a little creepy.)

I do love all of Ezra Jack Keats' books. They are so cute and the kids love them. But nothing beats his illustrations. The colors are so vibrant and the illustrations of the children are so cute, you just want to put them in your pocket and call it a day. I mean, do you see that little snow angel from The Snowy Day? I mean. There are no words with that little orange outfit on. I kinda wish they made one in my size, but the cuteness factor would be out the window...sooo....

Here are a few of my favorite Ezra Jack Keats' books that the illustrations are to die for:

 

 

Point of view is one of those skills that kids have a hard time wrapping their little brains around. However, if you have the perfect mentor text when you introduce this skill, your kids will get it immediately.

I love, love, love using The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka to introduce point of view. It's great because it tells the story that we know and love of the three little pigs, but from the Wolf's viewpoint. He gives reasons and examples of why he is so innocent. He gives reasons for why things happened the way they happened with the pigs. 

The illustrations are phenomenial and the story is just too cute. 

The kids totally get the idea of point of view using this book because they are so familiar with the turmoil and horror the pigs faced in "reality" that they are able to see the twists and lies that the Wolf presents to the reader. 

I've created a mini-unit using this book that I've used several times in class. It's my number one, best seller on TpT. Check it out...you may find it handy to use when teaching point of view this school year! {Click on the images to head to the product in my store!}

Link up with your favorite KIDS' BOOKS! I can't wait to see what you have to say!

Tell Me Something Good {Linky}

It's SATURDAY! 

{that's something good, right?!}

I really wanted to stop by today and add a little diddy because I so don't feel like starting lesson plans, I'm feeling lazy and I love my little bloggy friends and this linky was just too good not to join! My friend Jennifer from Rowdy in First is hosting "Tell Me Something Good". So, here goes!

Something Good at School: I had two days worth of Parent Teacher Conferences and my Formal Observation this past week and I MADE IT through! Praise the Lord! Also, I finally was able to figure out a new way to rearrange my desks other than long pods which I hated because my room is so teeny-tiny.

Something Good at Home: It's Saturday and it finally stopped raining! And even though I have tons of laundry, nothing ready for next week, and my husband is working, I am thankful to be sitting on my hiney, onto my second cup of coffee, and in my comfy pj's.

Have a great weekend, friends! :) Stop by Jen's blog and link up for some fun! It's always easier to focus on the yucky in our lives, but it's nice to stop and think about the good, too!

Until then,

My very FIRST Linky Party...Clipart CRAZIES Linky!

So, I feel so official now. I've created my very first official linky. I must say, I stayed up wwwwwaaaaaayyyy past my bed time on a school night thinking about this. {Don't judge me!} I had fun, so if you'd like to join in, please do!

Yes. You read it right. A therapeutic linky for clipart obsessed teachers. So if you are a self proclaimed clipart/borders/font junky, you have hit the jackpot!

Wasn't that fun!? I KNOW, right?! Now it's your turn! If you want to join in, here's what you do:

1) Right click and save each image below to a file on your computer.

2) Insert these images into a Powerpoint file
3) Save the Powerpoint file as "JPEG" or "PNG" images {*PNG images tend to be clearer}
**PLEASE NOTE: Do not simply add non-compressed images on your website for others to steal! NOT cool! This isn't meant to be a clipart steal/"share" fest. It's meant to showcase our addiction some of the cutest images around! NO ONE will receive royalties or shout out fees from these clipart artists. This is for FUN ONLY!**
4) Add my linked button to your blogspot so people know where to go to join this par-tay!

5) Link back up here so we can all revel in clipart joy!

Have fun!

Until then,

{Best Books for Boys} LiNkY

Hi friends! I love a good linky and this one is so fun! Courtney from Swimming into Second is hosting this par-tay and it's such a great idea!

The majority of my boys love nonfiction books! Bugs, rocks, gross things, cars. If it's a typical boy topic, they are reading about it and letting everyone around them know how boyishly-boy of a topic it is! Of course, with the new CCSS coming down the pike, it's important that their reading is balanced in genre. At 3rd grade, 50% of what they're reading should be fiction and the other 50% should be nonfiction. So, the struggle is getting them hooked on those fiction books! Most of the time, they get bored with the fiction chapter books because there are no pictures and their attention span is cut short {imagine that! haha}. But, thanks to some AWESOME authors, there are some GREAT fiction books and authors that will scoop them up and have them engaged instantly! Below are some of the most PoPuLaR fiction and nonfiction books that my boys are reading from my classroom library and school library.

FICTION

Here are some great, highly engaging fiction books for your little studly muffins in your classroom! {Click on each book so that it links you back to Amazon!}

Chris Van Allsburg is ah-mazing, #1. #2, I read this book to my kids in October during a lesson on asking "Deep Questions" and how the illustrations connect to the details in the story. Since that time, this book has not been in my library at all. It's been circulating between my boys (and girls, but mostly boys). The suspense and element of mystery is so exciting to them! Love it!

Geronimo Stilto is a super popular {short} chapter book series with my boys! It's a series of adventure and mystery written from the point of view of a mouse named Geronimo. He writes for a newspaper, but his true passion is writing adventure stories for all the mouse citizens of Mouse Island! There are cute black and white illustrations scattered throughout the book that keeps them engaged and chuckling the entire time! 

The ever classic Box Car Children gets 'em every time! I usually do the first book as a read-aloud at the beginning of the year, and that gets them hooked. However, this year, my read-alouds have been cut short {sadly...} and I just introduced the series, showing them some of my favorites from the series, and building them up! The favorite now is The Blue Bay Mystery. 

Every little boy I've ever known likes Legos, Star Wars, or both. What a brilliant idea when an author combined the two into this captivating series that flies off our school library shelves!! There are chapter books {which are for more advanced readers} and picture books. Both are precious...errrr manly and adventurous and great reads for boys!

Another highly engaging fiction book I must recommend is yet another Chris Van Allsburg book. My kids love this one! It's a clever spin on Jumanji, but with outerspace characters and elements. It's a funny tale of two brothers who get sucked into outerspace and their adventures in their floating house! It's quite hysterical!

This book is HYSTERICAL! Boys, and girls alike, L-O-V-E this book! It's one of the top 5 in my library FOR sure! If you don't own it, you should! It's so funny, and a great trade book to prompt writing ideas for your kiddos!

                            NONFICTION

Here are some great, highly engaging nonfiction books for your little studly muffins in your classroom! {Click on each book so that it links you back to Amazon!}

There's something about the Titanic that intrigues every boy I've ever had in class! I have abut 4 different books in my classroom library about the Titanic. However, Eyewitness Book's version is the H-O-T-T hottest to read! Literally, the pages are falling out! haha Pretty much any Eyewitness Book is an awesome read!

We have a copy of this book in the library and in my classroom. It's a great read that's been passed around from one little boy to the next...and periodically during silent reading you'll hear truck sounds. Just saying.

Finally, this book is SUPER popular with the boys! Their favorite thing to do is go around the room and ask everyone their birthday so they can tell them their birth stone! They get a huge kick out of it! It's so cute!

Check out one of my most popular products on TpT that uses the books Zathura and Jumanji by Mr. Van Allsburg. It's a CCSS aligned mini unit with everything you need to properly teach your students how to compare and contrast key story elements, and SURE to keep your little boys engaged! :)

Until then,