Whether it’s a fun past-time or a way to enhance your writing career, starting a book blog is a great way to get the most out of your reading. Connect with like-minded readers, share your thoughts, improve your writing skills and indulge your love for all things bookish! Follow t
Check out these book review format ideas to mix-and-match to create your own book review templates for a blog, Goodreads, or Instagram!
Do you guys remember when I posted all the pictures of the quiet book I made ? It was a really long time ago, but it remains one of my mo...
It can be tricky to come up with Bookstagram post ideas when you're trying to juggle everything else in your life. We've had a Bookstagram account for three years and although the book world provides lots of inspiration, we sometimes still run out of ideas. To help with this, we've assembled useful bookstagram prompts and
A blog about quiet books, activity books, busy books, felt books. Free patterns, templates, and printables.
Teaching growth mindset can be done with read-alouds! Rosie's Glasses is a great book for this. Get ideas for using this book to teach being positive.
One of the fun and hands-on activities from my Seasons K-2 Unit Study is this 4 Seasons Flip Book. Actually, there are two seasons flip books included: one that’s more picture-based with simple language and one goes a little more in-depth. You can get both season flip books in one quick download today. Just click ... Read More about 4 Seasons Flip Book {2 FREE Levels}
ALL ABOUT EARTH Get ready for a month filled with so many fun activities to teach your kiddos all about our planet Earth . I teach this unit in April so it coincides with Earth Day. I’ve loaded up this blog post post with read aloud book ideas, free videos you can share with your students,
When reading the work of literary heroes like Jane Austen, or modern-day masters like Sally Rooney, it can be hard to imagine that they began with an empty page (or screen). It's strange to think that Victor Hugo turned a pen and parchment into the beautiful tale of The Hunback of Notre Dame. Or
"It was like herding cats!" That was my answer to my husband the other day when he asked how my day had gone. Seriously, the days I have first and second graders are just hard - fun, but exhausting. That is until I found the SECRET to STEM and the littles! Are you ready for
Jill of Homemade by Jill is sharing her templates for an appliqued “quiet book.” Run over to her blog and get them. This original post needed some expansion so we have added some…
Free Quiet Book Template, Free Quiet Book Pattern, Free Quiet Book Tutorial, Free Quiet Book Templates, Free Quiet Book Patterns, Free Quiet Book Tutorials, Quiet Book Pages
2 Adorable Printable Quiet Books for those looking for a No-Sew option. There is a Bible Quiet Book as well as a Farm Life Quiet Book. Magnets or velcro
These light experiments are great science lessons for 1st graders! Aligned with NGSS, the resource also includes books and related activities.
Are you wondering how to make a lap book? Then you're going to love the ideas, tips, and resources presented at this blog post. Plus a FREEBIE!
I’ve been slacking on remembering to bring my camera to school, so I keep forgetting to snap some pics of what we’ve been up to! We’ve been...
I've heard it from teacher after teacher: " I dread teaching measurement every year. " It's hard to blame them. There's nothing ground-shaking about measurement. There's nothing exciting about metric vs. customary. It's just one of those skills that our stud
The best Very Hungry Caterpillar prints for kids rooms - alphabet art, bold bright and colourful art for nurseries and babies rooms
I was thinking earlier this week, what time of the school year is busier?...the beginning of the year or the end of the year. I honestly don't know, but one thing I do know is that I enjoy the end of the year business a little more because it means summer break is right around the corner. There are so many extra details to consider at the end of the year. Grade cards, records (records and more records), special days, award ceremonies, class gifts, closing down your classroom, and more. It's really important to get an early start on all of these loose ends or you will find yourself staying up for some late nights trying get everything finished. One way you can help get yourself organized is by setting up some end of the year totes during the last couple of weeks. The totes I set up were complete, donate, put away, toss. In each tote I placed items or notes for myself to deal with as soon as possible. My goal was to take care of everything in the totes before going home that day (although some items stayed in the totes for a few days). But even if the tote wasn't cleaned out before I left for the day, having everything I needed to do together in one spot really helped me stay focused on getting my end of the year tasks complete. By the way, if there was something in the tote I needed to complete outside of school, like getting gifts for the students, I took a picture with my phone to reference when I was out running errands. This system really helped me get things accomplished before the last day of school. And while I was not able to walk out the door after our end of the year teacher luncheon, I had all my "have to's" finished and had a chance to work on some bigger organization projects. One item in my complete tote was a summer review packet for our rising first graders. I sent our new firsties (and a few of our rising second graders) a supply list and a review packet. If you would like a FREE copy of this summer review packet with your students, click on the picture below. Another to do before wrapping up for summer break was to get my students a fun little end of the year gift. In the past I've given books, candy, sidewalk chalk, and framed pictures of the class. Student gifts this year were bubble wands. I really love sending my sweet students out the door with a small treat. If you are thinking of sending bubbles with your students and need a label for them, click on the picture below. I've linked an editable (and FREE) version of the labels I used. Our sweet girl is totally ready for summer break too. She will be in second grade. Am I a bit choked up?...yes. It is just crazy how quickly she is growing up. D and I love seeing the person she is becoming, but that doesn't stop me from wanting slow down time. The last days of the school year are super busy. But, with a little organization, you can end the year with plenty of energy to enjoy the summer.
Jill of Homemade by Jill is sharing her templates for an appliqued “quiet book.” Run over to her blog and get them. This original post needed some expansion so we have added some…
Our guest today is a 30 Days or Less alumna and the author of a charming children's book. As you can imagine, writing a book for children is no easy feat, especially for a first timer. Carrie agreed to tell us about the process that took her from a simple idea she had while working
Bird Themed Classroom Beach Themed Room Pirate Themed Classroom Jungle Themed Classroom ...
I like using Gerald McDermott's Native American folktales to teach the Common Core literature standards. The trickster tales are always a delight!
A blog post sharing four basic tips of drawing illustrations for a children’s book. Video tutorial is included.
There's nothing quite as amazing as cooking with kids. Frustrating, yes. But amazing, too. I've always (mostly) enjoyed showing my kids how to cook decent food and take ownership of their own nutrition. But that's not always easy when they're first learning to read recipes. Especially for young kids still learning to read. Long recipes
Book clubs in first grade?! It may seem like a stretch, but the Spring is such a great time to get your students ready and used to reading, thinking about, and discussing books with their peers instead of me, the teacher! When done right, it can be such a fun learning experience for both […]
This blog post is full of ideas for the First Week of Kindergarten. Includes book suggestions, activities, and links to accompanying ideas.
Do you think writing an outline of your chapters will help you but don't know where to start creating one? Create the perfect chapters outline.
Here are 24 unconventional ways to make your first $100 on the side—no unique skills or experience needed.
Essentialism The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less can be applied to many settings especially homeschooling. See the book review.
Do your students love Directed Drawing activities? Aly from Just a Primary Girl and Erica from The Enthusiastic Class mentioned through the week using pages from my packets to create books for their students. Aly uses them in her 'work on writing' stations and Erica is making a gift for her students for Christmas. I thought it might be nice to offer a generic cover for a 'drawing book' in case this is something you might like to do for your little learners. Here is the book I made for Sam yesterday. I added a 'My First Directed Drawing' packet to the series this week with my little man in mind and used the pages from this packet. It has 10 super simple pictures that students are often asked to draw. I just printed the 'Big Draw' pages from the 4 project alternatives within my packets, as I wanted to give Sam plenty of room to draw. I also placed them side by side when I collated the pages so he can use the prompt page directly next to the drawing page. I've included 2 alternative covers for you and students can spend some time coloring and decorating them as well as writing their name as the 'artist'. Find these covers as my gift to you, in Google Drive: Drawing Book Covers The covers will work with any of the directed drawing titles in my store! Thanks so much for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend! - Mel x
This week has been a much easier week than last week, although I have to say I am tired. After packing up my room, knocking out our checklist, and trying to prep the craft room at home for summer, I have fallen into bed by 8:00 two nights this week. Now all I'm thinking is what in the world will I blog about for two months and what freebies will I create? For some reason, eating healthy, going to the gym, and pumping gas just don't sound like very entertaining blogs to me. So, this weekend I am going to try to come up with some sort of fun blogging ideas. I know a lot of people are doing book studies and blog link ups, so that will definitely help me out. Your job is let me know what info you want me to blog about. Leave me some comments. I may be horrible at responding at times, but I promise I do read them. Okay, time for Five for Friday :) I'm also linking up with Manic Monday. You will definitely want to check out both. Five for Friday lets you get to know other bloggers and Manic Monday is where you can find TONS of freebies. #1 - CLEAN UP TIME I thought this would make you guys smile. You see all the stuff on the left side of the hall? That's mine. The best investments I've ever made were buying the black storage cubes and all of my tubs. My black storage cubes slid right under the desks, so it was easy to put them in a safe place. Then, my tubs all stacked up perfectly. I also cleaned out the tubs before we got out of school, so when I go back it should be pretty easy to find everything I need. Oh, and you see my counter top? I took my white bookshelves from Target and slid those up there. I put one bookshelf at a time on the counter, filled it up, then added the next bookshelf. I hate packing, but after 11 years, I think I'm officially a pro. #2 - DINNER WITH MY TEAM So, I'm not sure I've mentioned this, but I started watching everything I eat around two weeks ago. I've been very careful to not drink sugary drinks, including diet drinks, to not eat much bread, and to only munch on fruit as snacks. Seriously guys! I haven't had a Coke in two weeks. Craziness! Anyway, Tuesday night was my night off from being healthy and dieting. My teammates, a few other friends and I went to eat at Longhorns. After eating very carefully, I swear this was one of the best meals I've had. My friends were amazed by the size of my steak. They said there was no way I could eat the whole thing, especially after a salad and sharing an appetizer. Well, I guess I was hungry because I ate every bite. It was incredible! The best part is I jumped right back into "healthy/diet" mode. #3 - TARGET Last night, my hubby and I went to Target. We were walking around and I saw this. I took the picture to show you guys what is out there. I have already been thinking a superhero unit could be fun, especially if I could integrate several things together. Now that I've seen this, I'm definitely going to have to make that happen. I figured if I liked it, you guys may like it, too. #4 - PENS, PENCILS, HIGHLIGHTERS, OH MY! So, I have this friend at school who is hilarious. Well, yesterday morning she was showing off her purse. She apparently has a thing for them. Here's the funny part. So, where do you buy purses? Well, she found hers in the garden area of a store. Yep! That's right! She has the SUPER purse because it is a garden bag. People, she could fit a small infant, a popcorn, Coke, candy, and probably all her clothes for the week in the bag. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. Anyway, as we are all discussing the fact that she could carry a 13 inch television in her purse, we start discussing what the rest of us carry in our purse. I grab my little purse and pop out 30+ pens. That cracked everyone up because according to my friend, my purse is only to carry pens. Well, then this morning a friend of mine was talking online about pens. All of this talk about pens made me think that you guys may be looking for the perfect pens for lesson plan books, writing letters (Do people still do that?), and for doodling in church (I'd never do that!). Here are my favorite pens, pencils, and highlighters. The pens are Sharpie fine tipped pens. They do not bleed through paper and they are incredible! My favorite pencils are Pentec Twist-Erase pencils with a .9 lead. The .9 lead is a little thicker, so sometimes I let my students write with them. They don't break easily and you can buy refill lead and erasers for them. My favorite highlighters right now are Scentos. I have Sharpie highlighters in my purse, but I use Scentos ones at home. They smell incredible and I don't know. They are just different. They can be hard to find, so to give you a head's up - check Michael's. #5 - FREEBIE Okay, I know I already posted these once, but I always like to mention my freebies a little closer to the time you will actually use them. Here are the summer book reports. If you like them, click on any of the pages below and it will take you to download them. Alright! Off to play Candy Crush clean!
Not long before I made the move from a local Club to BGCA, I started playing a game with my middle grades members that they LOVED. I adapted it from something I heard on a podcast and called it Dum…
