Spring Break

I am on Spring Break but I'm not at the beach!  Instead, I am propped up on the couch recovering from surgery.  I am having melancholy feelings about my children being grown up and out of the nest.  I miss them!  I don't often have long periods of time alone and when do I make more TpT stuff.  My husband won't let me do any work around the house until I am fully recovered.  My lesson plans are reaping the rewards of this!!  I am, as you can imagine, making more stuff for my classroom.

I am sure my second graders will come back from spring break raring to go.  We were working on money before I went off to the hospital.  Of course story problems aka word problems are always difficult for students to master.  I've made a packet that includes 40 problems.  Half of them are for addition and the other half are, of course, subtraction problems.  All of them are about money!

Click HERE to download now.

There are 20 Addition Problems

There are 20 Subtraction Problems

Of Course this packet is completely NO PREP!  

To download click here.

I have another week of my recovery time so I may be posting more than usual! Thank you for your time.  I hope that you are having or have had or will have a wonderful Spring Break 2015!  I am

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

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Time is Relative

Sometimes a week at school feels like three.  Do you know that feeling?  And then at other times, a week at school flies by because you are so busy teaching and doing paperwork and conferencing and making lesson plans and grading papers and decorating bulletin boards and logging students onto computers and relogging students onto computers and dealing with lost teeth and broken shoelaces and principal's visits to your room and DRA and DSA and Dibels and Common Core and AR goals and Pajama Day and more paperwork and interims and report cards and more conferencing and RTI and character education and bus duty and copy machine issues and and and and.

However, this week has flown by for me.  First of all, our son, Saul, is home from Florida for his Spring Break.  I have missed him so much that it seems like he has just arrived when he is about to leave.  This has been the fastest week that I can remember.  I rush home everyday just to be in the same house with him!

In addition, I am having surgery on Monday and will be out of school for three weeks.  Preparing four weeks worth of lesson plans is not a walk in the park.  I'm planning for four weeks because you never know and because I don't want to arrive back at school with no plans.  I also had to put in grades and prepare report cards because I won't be there when they go out.

Our daughter's car was hit from behind during all of the ice and snow and I have had to deal with the insurance company.  I also had two root canals!  So far this week, I haven't had a lot of sleep.
.
However, I did manage to finish a couple of school things!  Yes, I know, that is not a surprise to anyone.

I tutor several students after school three days a week.  Although they are in the second grade, they aren't on second grade level for some things.  Hence, the need for tutoring.  The largest obstacle my little pupils have is reading.  In math, word problems are of course an issue.

I have made a set of word or story problems with a cute Spring theme.  The problems are considered first grade level.  However, we all know that children learn and develop at different stages so the grade level is pretty arbitrary.

We've been working on story problems in my classroom and with my tutoring group using my Word Problems for March packet.  You can see it HERE.

Anyway, here is the new math packet I put together for my classroom as well as my extra kiddos.
Although the theme is April, it is relevant for all of the spring months.

We have moved on to Two-Step Word Problems.  Of course, the entire packet is NO PREP!

There are 20 addition Two step word problems featuring all of the a key words for addition.

There are also 20 subtraction two step word problems containing all of the subtraction key words.

You can head on over to my TpT store to download this 40 page packet.  

The link is HERE!

Thank you for giving my blog a bit of your time.  I appreciate it.  I am

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

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Snow Days in March

Hi Friends,
     I can't believe the number of snow days we have had here in Arkansas.  We usually have one or two.  This year, however, we are on our sixth in my district.  I'm in one of the largest districts in central Arkansas and I know that the rural districts have had even more snow days.  The legislature
has passed a bill that we can go an extra hour each day for a week to make up one snow day.  I don't know if my district will choose to do that and I'm sort of  'on the fence' about it.  I don't want to
go to school until June 5 either.  My feeling about snow days has always been a positive one.

When I was a little girl, if there was even a hint of snow (really we mostly get ice) my brothers and
I would be awake watching the news just waiting to see "Arkadelphia" fly across the bottom of the screen beside the stationery title "School Closings".  Our bedtime was 8:30 pm but we could still barely get our eyes open at 6:30 am the next morning.  But on a possible snow day, our eyes were wide open staring at the tv screen praying that we were going to be out of school.  My mother made snow days fun (she made everything fun).  We would play in the snow and break off icicles to munch on.  When we came in, she might have homemade cookies or cake or some other delicacy.  We might play board games, watch game shows, or play other things, or read.  Anytime we wanted to go back outside, my mother was good with it.  It was just a cozy day.  For my own two children, I copied many of my mother's ideas.  We would spend the day doing basically whatever they wanted.  They would play outside in the snow.  They especially liked jumping on the trampoline when it was covered with snow.

Now that my children are both in college and not living at home, I am not so excited about snow days.  That is not to be confused with 'I don't like snow days".  I still like them, I just liked them more when I got to spend them with my children.

Now, back to my original idea about when we should have the make-up days.  I don't like going to school into the summer, but the students can have outdoor recess then!  They are tired of being trapped inside and they need to run and play.  On the other hand, staying an hour later has its own set of issues.  For the upper grade teachers the extra hour would be helpful in preparing for testing. A colleague asked me this question. "If we all stay an hour late, what will the specialty teachers do?" My idea on that is that they can have extra classes.  They won't want to hear that!  Ha.  I don't blame them, either.  But I guess if we all are having an extra hour of work, that means ALL of us.

Well, whatever the district decides is what  I will do. And as with anything, I'll do my best to make it work!

We moved into a new house recently.  I have spent my snow days this year unpacking and organizing.  Our son is coming home for his spring break so I want it to look like 'home' for him.

I did however find some time to make some new resources for my classroom.  The one that is most relevant for now is a March pack.  It is a set of  word problems.  There are 20 pages for addition and 20 pages for subtraction.  It is absolutely NO PREP!  Take a look at it and please let me know what you think. If you like it, even if it isn't right for your class, please post it on Pinterest or some other social media to share with other teachers.

Click HERE to go straight to the source

Although these word problems are on a Commom Core Standard for first grade, we, as educators know that it is appropriate for some second graders and some kindergarteners.  It is also appropriate for RTI or enrichment.  It is NO PREP!  You just PRINT and GO!

20 pages of addition problems

20 pages of subtraction problems

Click HERE to head to my TpT store and download this No Prep resource.

Thank you so much!  I am

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

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Clipping Along

I can't believe how January clipped along and moved right into February.  We have spent the time packing and moving to a new house.  For the past few weeks, I have gone to the old house after school to move small stuff and/or clean.  Today is our first day to come straight home to our new house after work.  It was funny to be home for the evening before dark.  I told Stan that I hadn't realized how much light the transom window over the front door allowed inside.  I have been in the living room much during the daylight hours.
My plan, besides unpacking, it to try to write more blog posts.  There has just been little to no time to do anything other than move.  I have to admit that I had way more school stuff at home than I had realized.  I kept asking my daughter to, "Go put this box in my trunk before your Daddy sees it."  It isn't that my husband isn't understanding about all of the things I need to teach, in fact, he 'gets it'. But, he has moved my things so many times that it does become overwhelming.  I 'found' a couple of boxes of books that I had forgotten.  Several of them happened to be ones that I am able to use this month.

These are photos from Amazon, but they are the titles of books I 'found' during my move.  My books have HAYDEN written on them in various Sharpie colors.  They also have the Accelerated Reader information on them and are gently loved.  

My students love to make crafts and projects.  Yours do, too, I bet.  We are working on timelines this year and I wanted to make a fun craft to go with it.  This is what I came up with:

Click HERE to get it!

I think it is ADORABLE!  We are going to start on it tomorrow.  My students watched me put together the one above the other day and they were more than excited!  They haven't stopped asking me when we can start.  This week, we have been reading books about Abraham Lincoln, We have also done some background research online. My second graders are chocked full of information and ready to write their timelines!

I have several students that will complete the timeline with the information they have discovered. However, there are some that are going to need help deciding which information is important.  I created a timeline and will help those students pick the events that they will write.

There are twenty-seven events in all.  In my class, each student will choose six event to hide in Lincoln's hat.  If you have older students, you might want them to add more.  Each page has a place to write the year and draw a picture.  In addition, there is room at the bottom to actually write the information.

If you are interested in this cute, fun, innovative timeline, please click HERE to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

I hope this is something that you will use in your classroom.  Click HERE to get it now!

Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate it.  I am

Cordially yours,

  Jan’etta

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New Year's Resolution Craft

In our classroom, we have been talking all week about resolutions. We discussed how resolutions and goals are similar.  We also talked about how when you set goals, you also have to make steps to complete them.  To go along with that, we made this craft.  

New Year's Resolution and Craft

Students wrote their resolution on the writing page and then drew a picture to illustrate it.

They recieved two sheets of white copy paper.  You could also use construction paper or cardstock.  I gave them tracers to trace the circle for the face and the triangle for the hat.  You could just print the circle and triangles using a copy machine.  I like to use tracers in my class because I believe it is a good skill and I think it gives them ownership of their craft.

 I keep crafts pretty controlled in my classroom.  After students did their writing and traced their face and hat and completed their coloring, I gave them the rectangle to make their fringe.
This page contains enough for nine students.  I printed this on colored paper.

After their fringe is cut, I let them choose their straw color.  I keep neon colored straws in my classroom so that is what we used.  I taped the fringe around the straw.  You could let the students tape it, but I was under a time constraint so it was easier for me to do it.  

The students taped it all together and ended up with the cutest project.  I hung them on the wall outside of our classroom and they were an immediate hit with students from other classrooms.

I gave the templates to my colleagues so that their students could make them as well.  And, I decided to share them with you!  You may click HERE to download this for FREE in my Teachers pay Teachers store.

I hope your students enjoy making these as much as mine did.  I am

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

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* The writing page on the example is from Sara Rucker's Happy New Year Pack. Click HERE to download this great pack.

Winter Literacy Bundle

Tomorrow is supposed to be our coldest day this week.  The perfect time to bring out my newest classroom bundle.  It has 77 pages of literacy center games and worksheets.  All of the worksheets are Print and Go!  The games can be printed on cardstock and laminated which doesn't take a lot of time.  I hope you decide to check it out!

Winter Literacy Bundle

Are you looking for a low prep bundle to practice

literacy skills? This is for you! Winter Literacy 

Bundle contains 9 learning center games and 16 

worksheets. Each is designed to work

on a specific literacy skill. Including ABC Order,

syllabication, synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech,

capitalization, mixed up sentences, and more.

Click HERE to download this fun and educational resource.

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I am 

Cordially yours,

 Jan’etta

.

Calendar

So, with only one day left of this glorious vacation, I've been thinking about things I need for my classroom.  My students need extra help on calendar information.  I was trying to remember when and how I learned to read a calendar.  Honestly, it seems that I always knew how.  My mom probably taught me by example.  She was a good mom like that.  Anyway, my classroom kiddos aren't all faring so well.  The thing is, I don't want to make a new calendar activity every month.  Frankly, I don't have time.  I need something that I can keep bulk copies of.  They need to be in a place where my second graders can get them for themselves.  We do some calendar activities everyday.  Yet, when I ask questions I invariably have some students who can't answer.  When I ask, "How many Sundays are in December?' I still get a few blank stares.
To help with all of that, I made a new calendar set.

Click HERE to download.

                                     

It has calendar pages with the months already on them.  At the beginning of the school year, and for my late-bloomers, I'll use this one. But, for my on the ball students, I've made a page with a blank calendar.

I've included all of the months and days printed with seperate borders for students to use as a learning center.  There is also a cut and paste activity for months and days to go with these two centers.

Lastly, and possibly the best part is a printable page with generic questions that can be used for each month.  As I said earlier, I will print this page in bulk and have them available.  This is one less thing I will have to worry about each month.

Click HERE to go to my TpT store and download this year-long, monthly use Calendar.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you find my Calendar as useful as I.  I am

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

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Looking Forward

I realize that many people use the new year as a milestone to reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the new one.  Although I love history and feel that it's very important, I spend most of my energy looking forward.  There are things I would like to accomplish in 2015 and some things that can't be completed, but can be worked on.  These are the things I want to work on for education.

School: Continue my Guided Reading Groups plan.
             Continue to increase the level of expectations for my students.
              Rearrange my student desks.
              Organize my Parent Communication log.
              Upload Bloomboard information.

TpT:  Continue to create quality products that I can use in my classroom.
           Make my two-digit subtraction centers.
           Make a no prep math and literacy pack for each of the major holidays.

Blog/Facebook/tsu:  Host a monthy Linky Party and weekly Flash Freebies.

Okay, so now my goals are out there!  No taking them back!

I hope that you are having a wonderful start to 2015!  I am...

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

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Disney World and Winter

     We had a wonderful time at Disney World.  Four adults going to Disney was just amazing!  I even stayed out with Saul until 3am at Epcot for Extra Magic Hours!! We went to every park and rode every ride and saw everything we wanted.

Cinderella's Castle

Here we are on Christmas Day at Epcot.  My husband, Stan, is the guy in back.  That's our son with the beard.  Our daughter is on the left in front.  It's difficult to take selfies and insure you get the ball at Epcot!

     When we left Melbourne, Florida, it was 80 degrees.  As we came north west to Arkansas, every stop was colder than the last.  It is cold and rainy today.  We are not happy to be away from our boy.  But we love Arkansas!

     I can't believe it is the new year already.  I am certain that 2015 will be an incredible year for our family!  We have overcome a lot of adversities but are still together!  In addition to my husband and children, I am blessed to have both of my parents and both of my in-laws still doing well.  My grandmother turned 94 in December.  I am so fortunate to get to go to work and spend my day with second graders.  My Lupus isn't causing as many problems as it could. All in all, I am one lucky duck!

     To celebrate I have made the following FOLLOWER FREEBIE:

Winter Holiday Flip Book

It is as cute as pie and can be downloaded FREE by CLICKING RIGHT HERE!

I hope the beginning of your year is off to a firecracker start!  I am

Cordially Yours,

Jan’etta

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January Plans

Can you believe I've only been out of school for three days and I'm already planning for January?  What's wrong with me?  The answer is 'nothing'.  I'm a teacher.  Planning is my middle name.  I actually started planning on Friday afternoon after school.
Here are two of the centers we will be using beginning January 5, 2015.  One is a math center and the other literacy.  Both of these are a review for my kiddos.  However, they may be used for practice when these skills are initially taught.

Literacy and Math Centers

Contraction Literacy Center is alligned for the second and the third grades.

CCSS ELA.L.2.2C

CCSS ELA.L.3.2D

Three Digit Expanded Form Center is alligned for the second and the third grades.

CCSS.2.NBT.A.1B

CCSS.2.NBT.A.3

CCSS 3.NBT.A.2

Both are absolutely adorable with winter cupcakes and are very low prep.  Just print, laminate, and cut.  Easy!!

This pack is on SALE!

You may click HERE to be routed to my TpT store to download this and other learning tools.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend and getting excited about Christmas.  Our family is alive with anticipation!  We haven't seen our son since August since he goes to college in another state.  We are all so ready to see him.  I am beside myself, because after all, I am his momma!  I am

Cordially yours,

Jan’etta

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One More Day

It was a big day for my second graders.  We began the day with a field trip.  We were lucky enought to get to watch "The Velveteen Rabbit" at the Arkansas Arts Center Childrens Theatre.  The production was delightful and the children were well-behaved.
We arrived back at school just in time for lunch and recess.  It was cold and wet outside, but they needed that fifteen minutes of playtime!
We had our Christmas Party this afternoon.  Excitement was the order of the day. The children cleaned their desks and played 'Scoot' until it was time for the party.  The following is the game they played-I had to fit in a little bit of work!

CCSS 2.NBT.A.2

Included are 36 Task Cards which are color coded. Blue snowflakes are for counting by 2’s. Purple snowflakes are for counting by 5’s. Green snowflakes are for counting by 10’s. There are three worksheets for each. Also included is a task card recording page.

Click HERE to preview on TpT.

There are 36  task cards included.

The task cards are differentiated.

 

10 worksheets are on three levels.

The 36 task cards and 10 worksheets are for counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's, respectively.

We have only one day to go before our two week break.  I am hoping to work on some more winter activities for my students and perhaps yours.  I am

Cordially yours,

Janetta

Word Work with Winter Words

Are your students on the ceiling this week as mine are?  This is such a busy week.  It is our last week before Christmas break and we have a lot going on.  This week we we have our 9 week testing, a field trip, a Christmas Party, a sing-a-long, Polar Express Day, and probably more that I am too tired to recall.

At our school, we gave our second grade students a homework pass for this week.  I decided that I still wanted my students to do word work.  We began by making an anchor chart of winter and holiday seasonal words.

I then gave my students this page.  It has two sets of the alphabet as well as an extra set of vowels.

Click HERE to purchase.

The first thing my students do is highlight all of the vowels.  Then they cut the letters apart and put them on their desk in alphabetical order.

Students use the Word Work Mat to build the words on our anchor chart.  We do this as a whole group and I give them clues as to which word I want them to build.  Usually, we do this as a center but today I wanted to work on the meanings as well as the spelling of the words.

This Word Work packet has a lot of other activities that can be used with any word list.  In my classroom, we use it for our spelling words each week.  Sometimes I choose which activities the students will do.  But, at other times, I allow students to choose.

Here are some examples of the other activities.

My students enjoy these activities and I never have to coax to get them to complete these assignments.  You can download this set of Word Work activities by clicking HERE.  You will be directed to my TpT store.

I hope your students enjoy these activities as much as my second graders do.  It is much easier for my students to remain school-minded when they are engaged in worthwhile work that they enjoy.  Good luck to all of us on this fun week.  I am

Cordially yours,

Janetta

Long 'i' Center Games

Today was a typical Monday.   Wouldn't you know we would have a fire drill and a tornado drill at the same time that my students were going to Activity?  Needless to say, my planning period was shortened to about 10 minutes.

On a better note, one of my students bought 'Lunch with the Teacher' with his reward tickets.  He had me in stitches with a million kid jokes.

During word work today, my students had a new set of games.  Our spelling words this week feature long i.  I made this fun set of games to reinforce the concept.

http://mcdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Long-I-Digraph-Literacy-Center-Games-1520680-1417631458/original-1520680-1.jpg

Click HERE!

The great thing about this center is that it has three different games.  Eight to ten students may  play at once.  Although I usually have only four to five students at a center at a time.  With this set of games, students will be kept engaged all week.  Also, on cold days, when we have inside recess, several students will be able to play.  

The games included in are 
'Go-Fish'.  
'Concentration' 
'Alphabetical Order'

All come with directions, differentiation directions, answer keys.

Click HERE to purchase this fun set of games from my store on TpT.

I hope you have a good evening!  Winter break is just around the corner so hang in there.  I am

Cordially yours,

Janetta