Synonym Rolls to Teach Synonyms

To teach synonyms I first made the synonym roll poster out of brown paper. Before laminating, draw the image on the paper. I laminated it before writing the synonyms so that I could reuse it with dry erase markers. After reviewing synonyms bring students to a spot where they can sit close to the poster as you read. I chose a Fancy Nancy book because of her comparison between "fancy" words and regular words. I had students raise their hands when they heard Nancy say a synonym. I would stop and write the words on the roll. For independent practice, I asked the kiddos to open their word work notebooks and divide a page into two sections. The first section was headed "word" and the second "synonym". They were then instructed to choose any book from the classroom library. They skimmed random pages looking for words that they could create synonyms for to write on the two columns.


Enjoy your delicious, yummy, tasty, and scrumptious "synonym" rolls!!!!!!

Acceptance Apples

Here is a sneak peak of my new bulletin board and very cute brand new word wall that is coming out shortly! It is green and red polka dot/apple themed. I can't wait to finish decorating my new classroom and post pictures. Here is a project I am doing with my students to teach the theme acceptance. I will post more as soon as the classroom is complete!!!'

Liebster Award!!

The Liebster Award! Wow, I can't believe it! I have been nominated THREE TIMES! This is so great. I have been nominated by Little Second Grade Somebodies, For the Love of First and 2 Brainy Apples.
   

You should check out their blogs!!!  I actually had to research what the award was on her blog. People who are nominated for the award must have less then 200 followers. It helps to recognize great blogs that are still trying to get their name out there. I am so happy that I was nominated!! So the rules are listed below.  Since I was nominated three times, I will be answering all 22 questions instead of 11.

Here are the rules:
1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.
4. Choose 11 other blogs with fewer than 200 followers to nominate and link them in your post.
5. You cannot “tag back” the other blog, but leave a comment on this post with the URL of your Liebster post so I can learn more about you & see who you nominate.

So here goes: 11 random things
1. I am actually a new teacher. This is my first year teaching and am holding a reading intervention position.
2. I recently joined a gym and love taking yoga on Saturday mornings with my teacher and college friend, Nicole.
3. I am dating someone who I absolutely adore. He is my high school sweetheart.
4. My favorite subject to teach is Language Arts and it absolutely thrills me. I love teaching other subjects also, but there is just something about Reading and Writing that amaze me.
5. As a child, I loved Art. I took many Art classes for fun.
6. I do love to decorate! and I am a constant pinner on Pinterest...
7. I am girly. And I spend too much money on clothes..
8. I am trying to build a classroom library..Any ideas where to get discounted books?
9. One of my goals is to help kids gain confidence. I want to be someone who encourages that.
10. I still am in contact with my teachers from Grant Elementary. I think they had a huge influence on who I am today and I admire them dearly. I visit them all the time.
11. Last but not least, I am very passionate and put a lot of effort into everything I do!!

Questions from Second Grade Somebodies
1. Is education the only career you've had? If not what else have you done? Yes, education is the only career I have had.
2. Have you or anyone in your family ever served in the military? If so, what branch? My Grandpa. I am not sure, I would need to ask.
3. What type of school district do you work in? (urban, suburban, rural) Suburban
4. Do you have a favorite celebrity? If so, who? Audrey Hepburn because she was a great actress and also did a lot to help people in her older years.
5. Are you a reader? What genre? To be honest, being a recent college graduate I was spending most of my time reading books to study for my classes. Mainly education books. Now that I am finished and getting settled with my new job, I want to become a person who reads for enjoyment. During college I was working almost 30 hours, doing my field work, and taking classes. It is rough to have extra time!
6. What is your favorite movie? The Notebook, I know..so typical.
7. What is the highest degree you hold? Bachelors with Reading Endorsement
8. What do you consider the most memorable event in your life? I would say probably memories from school as a child. And memories with my grandparents.
9. What is your favorite food? I love pizza! I know...silly. But I am not a picky eater. I love all foods.
10. Do you have pets? Sadly, no. But I want to get a wiener dog.
11. Do you intend to "Black Friday"? I never have. I want to someday.

Questions from 2 Brainy Apples

1. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? 

I would have to say my hometown, where I live now.  There is no place like where you grew up.

2. Name a favorite childhood TV show.

I would have to say Arthur.

3. If you could do any other job, what would you do?

I like styling hair..but I don't know if I would actually do that.

4. Where is your dream vacation spot?

Europe

5. What is your favorite food/dessert and drink?

I answered this one above ^^^

6. What is your fondest memory?

Probably school and my family

7. What is your secret talent?

Organization

8. What is your favorite current TV show or movie?

I love Mad Men, Desperate Housewives, and I started watching Nashville.

9. What do you want to do when you retire?

Not for a long time! I am 22.

10. What is the most impulsive thing you have ever done?

Hmm..

11. What do you do for fun for yourself?

Relax with my handsome boyfriend.

Here are my questions:
1. What grade do you teach?
2. What are your hobbies?
3. What advice would you give to a first year teacher?
4. Do you have a teachers pay teachers store? If so, what is your favorite product?
5. When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?
6. What TV series do you like?
7. What is something a student did to make you laugh?
8. What do you do for fun on the weekends?
9. Why did you decide to start a blog?
10. What is your favorite blog to check up on?
11. What is something on your gift wish list?

Blogs I am nominating:

1. Terry's Teaching Tidbits

2. First Grade Smiles

3. 2nd Grade Glance

4. Out of This World Literacy

5. Creation Castle

6. The Happy Teacher

7. Mindful Rambles

8. Surfing to Success

9.1st Grade Curtis

10. Easy Teaching Tools

11.K and C Love First Grade

<3 Anna

My First Linky Party! Happy Holidays!

You should also link up to www.terrysteachingtidbits.blogspot.com Her site is awesome!

Free Upper Case and Lower Case Letter Matching Activity

**FREEBIE**

Check out my newest item on my Teacher Pay Teachers store! This activity allows students to match the capital letter with the lowercase letter to form the full ice cream cone.  This activity could be perfect for literacy centers.  Just print the free activity, cut out the shapes, and laminate.  You could also turn this activity into an art project.  Print out the letters and have students match and glue them to a piece of paper!  This activity would be great when learning a new letter in preschool or Kindergarten!!!  If you are interested in a black and white version please let me know and I can add it to my store! 

Apple Consonant Blend Sort

This sort is perfect for first and second graders learning the consonant blends Sl, Sk, Sp, & St. There are 8 apples for each of the 8 blends. 32 apples to sort total! Students are able to sort the apple words into the bowls that contain the blend title. After sorting, there is a follow up writing activity where the students write the words on a graph under the particular blend title. This activity is perfect for centers!!




Please let me know what you think of this product! Any comments would be appreciated!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apple-Consonant-Blend-Sort-Sl-Sk-Sp-St

Persuasive and Review Writing

HERE IS A SNEAK PEAK.....
Last year I did a persuasive writing unit with my 3rd graders! I plan to add it to my store very soon!! Stay tuned...

The unit will include a lesson plan and two PowerPoints!!!  The PowerPoints are both "invitations" inviting students to participate in discovery learning about persuasive and review writing.  Students will be asked to notice characteristics of persuasive writing after reading a variety of reviews and persuasive essays.  The PowerPoints are interactive and will probe and ask students to do different things, rather than them just sitting and listening.

xoTS

Pinterest

Follow me on Pinterest! I am always pinning many things for teachers and have over 20 teaching boards!! I love finding new ideas on here and am constantly looking for ideas.

pinterest.com/ametrisin/

Teacher Spice xo

Apple Word Wall

I am just so enthusiastic about making these word walls.  I think it would make the classroom look so much more decorative.  I make sure that the words are still easy to read even though the cards contain pictures.  Currently, my word walls will be on sale on my TpT store.  The link on the side of my blog will take you there.  Happy word reading!

Teacher Spice xo

Diary of a Spider

This is such a cute book and it teaches students some things about spiders also.  I made some anchor charts with my students on Friday.  We made predictions, wrote down facts from the story, and verified our predictions.  Students used post it notes to add ideas to the anchor chart.  

I really like this book because it is from the spider's point of view.  It would be a great way to teach point of view.  There are other diary books that can be compared to this story, like Diary of a Fly and Diary of a Worm.  Worm and Fly are other characters in this book.  

Decoding Words with Paint Samples

I found this idea from pinterest.  The website I found it on was: http://satorismiles.com/2009/07/22/paint-chip-phonics/

I am always telling my students to look for word parts that they know to decode words.  This would be great practice for those students that struggle to find/ decode word families.  I plan on using this!!!!

TPT

I need to start making some FREE items for my TPT store.  Any suggestions? I will try to post them as soon as possible.

Creative Words for Writing

I really LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea for writing.  This word wall contains McDonald's fries containers filled with synonyms that could be used for common words in writing.  I found this idea on pinterest.  There was no blog connected to the picture for me to give credit to.  I just think this is an amazing way to get students to use more creative words during writing. Last year with third graders we did a persuasive writing unit.  I was able to help the students to come up with some interesting creative ideas.  The one thing that the students had trouble with was using descriptive and creative words.  This wall would have motivated students to use words.  It would be great to add words to the word wall as the teacher reads different read alouds throughout the school year.  This way the wall's words will grow larger and larger throughout the year and the students will be able to receive two doses of the vocabulary, once during the read aloud and another time during writing. Kudos to whoever thought of this idea!!!!!!

Beach Themed "Wavy" Word Wall

I just created my second word wall! It is beach themed and it is awesome to add near a classroom library. I want to put up this word wall with beach chairs nearby. I really think the kids will like it!!! Click the link to see my store! It is currently on sale and honestly I started it out really inexpensive for the amount of pages and words it includes. This would be a great time to purchase before the prices go up! Happy Teaching!!!!!!

I have some freebies on the way soon!!

xoTS