Giveaway winner announced!

I'm sorry this isn't a cuter post. I'm posting from my iPad. If I could use my computer, there would be a cute sunflower graphic that said THANK YOU!

But...

I'm getting my first student teacher next week and wanted some ideas about what to do to help her. I got so many great ideas! Thank you so much!

I had my husband pick the winner by randomly picking a number. The winner is (drumroll, please)

Cindy

From grannygoestoschool.blogspot.com

You can check out her "I wish" lists for student teachers and master teachers here http://firstgradefoundme.blogspot.com/2013/01/help-im-getting-student-teacher-giveaway.html?m=1

Thanks to everyone who left a comment! I'm going to email Cindy right now and let her know she won the Starbucks gift card!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Help! I'm Getting a Student Teacher Giveaway

Today was my first day back with my kiddos. It was nice to see them again and hear about their holidays and special Christmas presents. They got to show off their new shoes, jackets, and shirts. It was a fun day.

The most exciting part for me was finding out that I am getting a student teacher! Not just any student teacher either, but a wonderful woman who has been my bilingual aide for the last few years. She's spent 30-45 minutes a day in my room during reading or math time so she knows some of the routine already. And she's just wonderful to work with and fabulous with the kids. I am so excited!

But on the way home I started to get a little nervous. I don't know what the requirements of her college are yet, but I'm trying to think of things I can help her learn and things I can have her do to make this as beneficial as possible for her.

So I'm asking for your help. If you've had a student teacher and have any words of wisdom to share, I'd really appreciate it! And if you haven't had a student teacher but have some suggestions, I'd love to hear those too.

To show my gratitude for sharing your ideas, I'll pick a winner from the comments left below and send that person either a $10 Starbucks gift card. Please leave your thoughts and email address so I can contact you and I'll choose a winner on Friday. 

Thank you so much!

* This giveaway is now closed, but if you have ideas to share, I would still love to hear them! Please leave a comment.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Booklet Freebie

Please don't hate me... I'm clinging to my last days of vacation. Tomorrow is my last day off. We go back to school Monday. I'm excited to get back to my kiddos and start on some fun units. But at the same time I'm enjoying staying up late and sleeping in. I really have to go to bed earlier tonight and Sunday.

It's been so much fun having this time to blogstalk! All the "first week back" pictures are so inspiring and motivating. Thanks for being there! I do love this blogging community!

My one little word for this year is CREATIVE. Since I chose that I figured that I better get started. So here is a Martin Luther King booklet for you. In the past I've had my students write about their "dream" hoping they'd come up with something insightful. Sometimes they did, but this time I'm going to start with a dream they have for themselves since they're still so self-centered ( I don't mean that in a bad way.), then move on to a dream for their family then the world hoping they'll better understand what a dream for the world means by that time. 

All you have to do is copy it, cut it down the middle, add in a few staples, and *presto!* you've got a booklet! Easy-peezy! Remember, though, that you only need to made half the number of copies as what you need since it's 2 per page. I'm mad at myself when I forget and copy 20 when I only need 10. But then again, you can also just file the extras for next year. Just click {HERE} and leave a sweet note if you grab them. You know how we all like those comments. Have a wonderful Sunday!

The clipart came from

The font came from

The round loopy frames came from

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Thank you!

I just want to say Thank You! to all of you who left good wishes for my little kitty Stevie when we didn't quite know what was wrong with him this week. And thanks to everyone else who read about him and thought good things for him. I'm so happy to say that he's fine now. Yippee!!! The vet guesses he got bit by a spider when we were gone for Christmas and had an allergic reaction. I worry about him because he has kidney problems in addition to his hearing and eyesight issues and he's only 2 1/2 years old. He's been through a lot but he's a tough little guy. So, once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your expressions of concern. One more reminder of how thankful I am for this wonderful blogging community!

All better now!

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Word Work Freebies

It's 2013! And since I chose "creative" as my one little word, here's the first step toward that goal. These are 5 short vowel word work sheets. I call them Write, Read, Draw. First students write the beginning sound, read the word, and then draw a picture of the word.

I first posted one of these last February for long e. You can get it {HERE}. In December I posted another one on long A and you can get that {HERE}. That one's actually my second most-viewed post. So it's probably about time I finish up some more of these.

This is the short vowel pack. Just click on the picture and leave a comment, please, if you download it.  I hope you find it useful. I used it as review for my students and they really enjoyed it. Some of the words are a little tricky to draw pictures of, but 13 of my 21 students are EL kiddos and with some thought, they figured out a picture they could draw. If I see a picture and I can't tell how it shows the word, I'll ask them. Usually they reach for the eraser immediately (and I try to ask questions of their correct answers too, really I do!). I have to assure them that I just want to hear how they think their picture shows the word. It's fun to listen to their reasons for some of the pictures! They almost always make sense with the word.

Before I go, here's a picture of our little Stevie. He went back to the vet for a steroid shot today to hopefully, hopefully, stop this allergic reaction he's having. He says "thanks" for wishing him well.

Have a wonderful day!

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