Best Year Yet!! Blog Hop and Freebie!!

 So here we are looking 2014 right in the eye! Have you decided on a New Year's Resolution yet? Is it to get in better shape? To de-stress your life? To amp up your teaching game? Well, whatever it is, we're here to help you...although we all think you're perfect just the way you are!

I have teamed up with several fabulous teacher bloggers to bring you The Best Year Yet Blog Hop and Giveaway.

From New Year's Eve until January 2, you can hop around our blogs and grab a FREEBIE from each of us. Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter at The Teaching Tribune for your chance to win one of these fabulous prizes.

 Today I am offering the product below as my freebie. Simply click on the picture to take you to my store to download it.

While you're at my store you may also want to check out these products, just perfect for those first few weeks back to school.

 Be sure to continue the circle on the blog hop by clicking the button below.

We truly hope that 2014 is your best year yet and that it brings you good health, happiness, and many other good things.

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Cyber Sale and a Freebie!!

 Are you ready for a Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale!!?  Well it is here!! 

 My store will be 20% off and with the code: CYBER, TpT will give you an extra % off!!

Here are a few of my Christmas items you might like to have.

I also have lots of non-holiday items also! Click on one of the pics above and go to my store!

Now for the freebie!!

Thanks to Creative Clips for the elf clip art!!

 Hope you enjoy the Elf Clean Desk Award!! Don't forget the Cyber sale Monday and Tuesday!!

New Puppy and a Freebie!

 We have a new pet at our house!! It is a Blue Tick Hound puppy named Ruger. He belongs to my grandson and he is so happy to have him. He worked to make the money to buy him, so that makes him even more special!

                       

Look at this cute face!! He is a good dog and loves my grandson already. My husband was on dog duty Sunday night to make sure the little fellow was okay. I think he is as excited as my grandson to have this puppy!

I wanted to share a new product I have added to my TpT store. It has snowmen, which I love!! There are math station activities using manipulatives and some worksheets to check understanding of numbers and addition. Just click on the picture to go to my store.

Here are a few of the activities in the packet.

Students use manipulatives to add snowballs to the bucket that represent the number on the snowman's hat. I used cotton balls for the snowballs, but you could use pom-poms, paper snowflakes, small marshmallows, etc.

In this activity students must match the hat with the answer to the snowman with the addition problem.

This is one of the worksheets that is with the packet. This is 2 digit addition, but there is also a worksheet with addition facts 1 - 10.

Now for the Freebie!!

Hope you enjoy it!!  Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Miracles and A Thanksgiving Freebie!

 Do you believe in miracles? I do!! I feel like a miracle!! Last year at this time I was in a hospital on a ventilator and was not expected to live, but here I am today!! Through God's grace and mercy I made it through and live to give my testimony for his healing power! I am thankful for the the many, many prayers of my family and friends that helped me through. Although I am still recovering, I am doing a lot better that I was last year at this time. Dr. Miller has taken excellent care of me and continues to monitor my progress. He is a gift from God! So this Thanksgiving season I have so much to be thankful for in my life. Here is a pic of my favorite doctor in the whole wide world and me!!

Dr. Miller saved my life!!

Now for your Thanksgiving freebie!!

Just click on the picture and go to my TpT store!

Are you a follower? If not, be a follower to get updates for new products that I put in my store.

Hope you enjoy your freebie and have an awesome day!

 

Fall Fun and a Freebie!!

Hi! Here in the North Georgia mountains we are beginning to enjoy all the beautiful colors of fall. It is so beautiful!! I hope to post some pics later for you to enjoy!

Since it is fall many of us think of leaves changing colors and pumpkins. Many of the classes at my school took a field trip to a local church that had a story and pumpkins for the kids to choose and decorate. It was awesome!! And lucky for us, the church is just across the road from the school!! No buses to load up!! All we had to do was walk across the street! Here are pics of some of the classes enjoying their field trips.

 It was a beautiful day to pick a pumpkin to decorate!

 Now for a freebie!! I had so many people download the Clean Desk Goblin, that I made a Clean Desk Turkey!! I don't know about you, but I try to keep my students motivated to keep a clean desk.

 

Enjoy!

 

Trick or treat! This is Christina from Sugar and Spice! 

I'm "tricking" you by taking over this blog today, but keep reading to get your treat!!

All of us over at The Teaching Tribune have joined together to bring you an amazing Trick or Treat blog hop!! Along the way, you will find more tricks and plenty of awesome treats as you hop from blog to blog door to door!! Each blog is offering a fabulous fall freebie!  To make this trick-or-treating trip even better, there is a giveaway at the end of the hop filled with tons of great products for your classroom!

Do you need some last minute Halloween or fall activities for your students?  Grab my fall freebie: Pumpkin Printables: A Mini Pack!  Just head over to my TeachersPayTeachers store to download your freebie. :) 

Click the picture below to jump to my freebie 
and download your Pumpkin Printables Mini Pack!

Now it's time to go "next door" to discover the next trickster and collect another treat!

 Click on the picture below to go next door! 

Have fun "trick or treating!" :)

Visual Art in Education and a FREEBIE!!

 I heard on the news this morning about a school that was banning the use of crayons by students unless it was appropriate. They want to increase academic scores on tests that students take each year. I would like to address using visual arts to increase reading and math skills. I did my capstone(thesis) on this very topic when I received my Specialist Degree in Elementary Education. 

One use of art in education is to check students' comprehension of nonfiction or subject area text by asking them to draw a picture of what they have read. An example of this would be using a nonfiction book at a listening station and then have students draw a picture of what the book was about. Another example would be the teacher reading aloud a story without showing the pictures and then have students draw a scene they might have visualized while the story was being read. Using art with reading increases comprehension.

All subject areas have a specialized vocabulary which is often hard for children to learn because it requires comprehending the terms and remembering them. Memory can take place only when the left and right side of the brain are active so art is a good means to insure that children are learning the vocabulary. The teacher can assign a word or students can choose a word to draw a picture of to show they comprehend what the word means. Of course there are charts and graphs that are visual representations too.

 Art not only teaches creativity, it also teaches critical thinking. Research shows that art improves learning in all areas, fosters social skills, and is critical to full brain development. It increases problem-solving skills as well. Visual art lets children observe the differences in shapes and colors to create and replicate patterns.
Math skills of sorting and classifying are an important part of visual art. There is an important connection between the arts and better spatial intelligence which contributes to better abilities in math.

I could go on and on!!

Coloring in Kindergarten helps with spatial relationships, eye-hand coordination, learning color words, understanding that words have meaning, etc. When my school was a Reading First school we were encouraged NOT  to use coloring or cut and paste during reading time, not even in stations. That is one reason why I decided to do my Capstone Research on how visual arts can increase reading and math skills.

Well, I will get off of my soap box now(as you can see, I am very passionate about including art in the curriculum). I would like to show you a couple of art projects that you can use during Halloween that can be used to increase problem-solving skills, eye-hand coordination, patterns, etc.

Here are 2 different art projects I have used with my class in the past.

I am going to show you the process the students use to complete the ghost. These are torn paper projects which my students love to do.
First I start by giving the students a pattern to glue on the black construction paper. I find that a pattern is helpful when they have to cover it with torn pieces of white construction paper.

Here is the ghost pattern: (clic on pic to get a freebie)

Students cut out the ghost pattern and glue it to black or any color construction paper.

Next, give students a piece of white construction paper to tear into pieces to cover the ghost.

 Next, students glue the strips of construction paper to the ghost, covering the entire pattern.

Have students trace two black eyes and a black mouth from the pattern that is provided and glue to the ghost.

This is the finished product!! Isn't it cute and so simple to do!!

Another way this art project could be used is to let students choose which picture they want to make, the pumpkin or the ghost. When they have finished, make a graph showing how many students chose the pumpkin and how many chose the ghost!! Graphing!! Another math skill used with art!!

Sorry this has been such a long post, but I guess I had a lot to say!! LOL!