My Latest Creations!

I realized the other day I haven't shared my latest TPT creations on this blog! You've probably seen them on Facebook or Instagram, but haven't really heard much about what's in them. I've been a busy, busy girl, especially this last week during Spring Break. I had these few small-ish projects to finish up because, due to so many requests, I am going to start working on Mighty Math for third grade and first grade. Can I get a WOO HOO?! Read on to see what's new in my store, and make sure you read all the way to the end for a little surprise :)

First up is a Summer Reading Craftivity and Program:

We work so hard with our babies all year long and watch them grow like weeds... and then they go home for the summer. We keep our fingers crossed that they read, read, READ (among other academic activities) over the summer, but are they actually reading? I started doing this summer reading program with my kiddos two years ago, and in conjunction with our local public library programs, I have had lots of success with students reading over the summer.  

 The product has 4 main parts: a beachy writing craft, summer reading calendars, various versions of parent letters explaining the product, and summer reading activities.

How I Use This: I ask my students to read 15 minutes a day for 5 days a week, equaling 75 minutes per week (I've also included a version of the calendar where students can set their own monthly reading goals). My students to bring the reading calendar packet back to me at Open House, which happens a few days before the new school year starts. I always love it when kids from the previous year come to visit me :) As a reward, I give them $5 to spend in the Scholastic book orders and a coupon to a local ice cream shop. Then I use my bonus points to pay for the books. Click here to check it out!

Up Next... Analyzing Themes with Traditional Literature.

Wait, did she say "theme?" I think I may have heard a collective groan from all of you! Please tell me I'm not the only one who Googles "theme" every single time I have to teach it... I created this product because I needed to teach theme and traditional literature together, but many of the texts I was finding were inappropriate for my second grade readers, too long, too high, too hard, too boring, or a combination of any of these. So I made my own!  

This product contains five traditional literature stories: The Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Little Red Hen, The Three Little Pigs, and The Snow Queen. The Snow Queen? What's that, you say? I was surprised to learn that the movie Frozen is actually loosely (very loosely!) based off of this Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale! And let me tell you, my kiddos were SO pumped to read this one!!! 

I wanted my students to be able to "prove" the theme, so in each text, students have to identify the theme, highlight the evidence that points to the theme, and write a sentence or two telling using words from the text to defend their answers. 

Click here to learn more about this themes product!

Lastly, we've been learning about prefixes and suffixes this last month. I had nothing to teach these important skills, and I couldn't think of a good theme... until I found these Lego guys! Words are like Legos, aren't they, the way the word parts snap together? And what kid doesn't love Legos?!

Here's the Prefix Edition...

And the Suffix Edition...

These products have three main components: anchor posters of the prefixes and suffixes, teaching tools (whole page booklet, half page booklet, and interactive notebook activities) and practice/skill printable pages. I really love how this all came together, and my kiddos were excited about it too!

Of course I had to Bundle the two together! 

If you buy the bundle, you'll get both the prefix and suffix editions, as well as two additional practice activities. Here's one of them: 30 affix task cards that can be used in any way!

So, what do you think? Want to win one of these?? Just leave a comment below with your email address telling me which one of these products you would like. Entries must be received by Wednesday April 30th at 11:59PM. I will randomly choose a winner on May 1st! GOOD LUCK!!