2 days in a row, RACK reminder, and another give away

 WOWZERS...
I have two days in a row post posting going on over here...
yep yep
check my temp... am I ok???
yeppers I am ... I have to get all of my reviews in because
I am having a little procedure
next Friday and well
I won't be able to blog
(insert sad face)
for a few days...
will tell you more about that later
FOR RIGHT NOW....
I have got some fun things to tell you about
before Bub wakes up... here ya go...
if you didn't see my post yesterday...
please go check it out.. you will NOT be disappointed and
you just might WIN something :)

 ok back to business before Bub gets up...

RACK is officially underway and going strong... If you want to get your hands on these tags... You can they are FREE in my TpT store... FREE I TELL YA...

look for this pic or go to this link.... http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/RACK-Random-Acts-of-Christmas-Kindness

 OK NOW I know if you read my blog you have seen this pic...

 and this one.....

 and then there was this one....

 and this one....

If you didn't see these pics before I will recap for you...
a wonderful company... BARKER CREEK PUBLISHING
contacted me and wanted me to review their DRAW*WRITE*NOW books
and of course I said YES thank you...
(if you want more details... go here and then here)

 WELL we are done with our poems...
they took forever and a day to get done ....BUT that is OK because they
turned our WONDERFULLY
and with the help of Barker Creek and their
DRAW*WRITE*NOW books they are even more FABULOUS...
check these out...

 remember she found this pic
by using the index that shows all of the choices...

I would say she did GREAT...
and her poem is cute too...

 the top poem is by one of my ESL students...
her drawing is adorbs and the poem is cute (ignore the wrong their)
anywho she did AWESOME!!!
and the polar bear one... adorable

remember they had to research their animals first
then make a poem then draw
check out some more...

 turkey and jerky nation and creation... LOL
my girls LOVED drawing different animals and it took them several drafts to be happy with their final art...
I loved how they would choose to draw and write during inside recess or in their free choice time...
it was nice to see they chose art and poetry :)
YAY for DRAW*WRITE*NOW

now my boys on the other hand... tried to out do one another....
BOYS
and so they would practice drawing and then
would change the perspective and use their knowlede of the lesson to create
something new
or zoomed in

 my FAVE by far is this one...(below)
he is a little boy that LOVES drawing so these books were like precious jewels to him...
he decided to draw a picture that was just an accent in the book...
and since one of the other little boys copied his cardinal (above)... he decided to research a female cardinal because her coloring was different...
the outcome was bee-u-TEE-full

 yeppers my fourthie did this... isn't it magnificent???
I love it :)
his poem is wonky
but it fits his personality and it is just PERFECT in my eyes

 so not only did Barker Creek Publishing send me a copy BUT
they are going to send a set to one of my readers too
YAY for one of you!!!
and all you have to do is....
 Head on over to their website...
www.barkercreek.com 
and look around.... they've created a wide-variety of wonderful products including books and manipulatives that help children learn essential skills. They also offer posters, punch-out letters,and bulletin board trimmers. 

and then enter here....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

and if you don't win....they have created a special blogger discount code!  With the code “BARKER12,” anyone can receive 20% off the total cost of an order.  This discount can be combined with any other discounts..  That means the Draw Write Now Boxed Set, already a great deal for all eight Draw Write Now books, can be purchased for only $80! Well worth it!!! discount only good through the 31st of Dec.

thanks so much to Barker Creek Publishing
for picking my blog to showcase their DRAW*WRITE* NOW boxed set
my kiddos loved it and still do
and thanks too
for also providing a boxed set for a give away!!!
YAY!!!

toodles

Thankful, teaser table, & toodles twice

found this chalkboard at a local antique / junk / craft store seriously it was like $5 ok maybe $10 in my opinion               WAY UNDER PRICED anywho I like to write quotes on it and it hangs right in my family / TV room

THANKFUL FOR YOU

man that just about covers it doesn't it???

thankful for my life, my boys, my family, my job, my health, my friends, my everything....

and of course...

I am very thankful for YOU!!!

I started this blog not too too long ago and in my wildest dreams never would have 

THUNK IT

would be where it is now...

wowzers

you guys have wrapped me in a bundle of warm tortilla LOVE

you like my snarkisms, truthisms, and Farleyisms

you don't care if I am a teacher and  don't use proper sentence structure

you don't care if I post family things on my teacher blog

you let me be me and well

*tear*

I have been inspired, complimented, encouraged, loved, hugged, kissed, blessed, and so much more because of this little ol blog...

I have gained great BLOGGY friends

that support my endeavors and accomplishments.

So in the spirit of the season

I just wanted to say 

THANKS!!!

My life and heart are blessed because of the joy you bring to my blog!!!

*******squirrel*****

 ok
wow that was so hard to write in the middle
my blog was like
what in the world
so now we are breathing a sigh of relief that we are once again left margin writing...
###sigh###
ok I had to share with you my PILE IT ON activity we did this week
my kids LOVED it!!!
L*O*V*E
LOVE

 first I teased them by setting the table with all the necessities for our Thanksgiving FEAST...
I set this up the day before and let them just baste a little in their curiosity
this class is a slight challenge... most of my boys are BOYS
and teasing them with things like this gets me through the day...
tee hee hee

 here is a looky lou at what it contains... 

6 plates with double digit multiplication and 10 different items to PILE ON

I cut out all of the food items and put them into their own conatiner

 

it also contains a recording sheet

the recording sheet has a front and back 

this is just the front

in the plate they write what plate NUMBER they are working on

then they use this key to guide them to find what items they need to PILE ON

 first they have to solve their plate problem and find their TURKEY

 next they move on according to the key...
they solve the problems on their recording sheet and then go and find their matching food item

 when they get to the back side of the recording sheet they really have to turn their brains on high...
they now need an organization sheet....
they have to find sums and differences that are equal to their product
so they have to go and get a sweet potato or pumpkin pie and solve...
if it matches they PILE IT ON
if not they put it back and go try another one
until they find the one that is equal to their product...

 

 not gonna lie this took a while (30 minutes for the fast fast finishers (super smart math guru)  and over 45 minutes for the rest)
and it required some thinking
they COULD NOT rush through this and be successfull
it was interesting to watch them try to rush through and try to be the first one done
even though it is self checking because the answers are on a food slip
some smartie pants would argue that the answer was not there
after explaining the answers are there and if it isn't
they are wrong
they would go back
reluctantly and try again
OH to their AMAZEMENT they were wrong
imagine that?!?!?

complete PILE IT ONS

in the end they were ALL successful and

AND

 they begged to do it again

and I really wanted them to do it again

REALLY I DID

but I had district testing I had to get done

SOOOO we will do it again when we get back from break!!!

If you are interested in this 

click on the link

 below the pic 

and it will take you there....

it is easy to prep and SO MUCH FUN

pinky promise

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pile-It-On-a-Math-Station-for-Older-Kids

****Squirrel****

I promised some DRAW* WRITE * NOW goodies
I did I did
and let me tell you my kiddos LOVE those books...

 I like how each book has over 20 drawings to choose from
and they are all indexed in the very front of the book for easy decision making and page finding...
my fourthie couldn't decide between the elephant

 and the skunk

 we took a look at both...
see how they show you step by step how to draw the animals
and the RED line shows you the NEW lines to draw

she decided on the skunk...
she began her research and well
that is where we all left off...
researching!!!
so there is going to have to be a part 3 to this...
they were so so so so so so excited to make their own poems
after researching
it was really heart-warming to see all of their little brains working on this simple organizer...

you can click and save this  and use it if you want

 they could use the computer
non fiction texts
or encyclopedias to get their information
here is an example

can't remember what else she had but these were great... RIGHT???

they spent so much time gathering facts and writing their poems we didn't get done publishing
BUT they are going to be super CUTE
I am really proud of the kiddos on the amount of time they have spent researching four simple facts...
they are taking this assignment to heart...
YAY
I know some of them have gotten to rough draft status and some have started drawing...
I will sneak some pics when I go up to school with my teacher BUDS to clean and organize...
be on the look out for PART THREE and a give away :)

alrighty tighty whitey
I am done...
I now have to go and organize Bub's clothes
he probably has more clothes than I do ((((gasp)))
BUT that is only because I have a hard time packing up the clothes he has outgrown...
wish me luck here I go
TOODLES

oh and if you head on over to my TpT Store there is a FREEBIE there for ya... only til the end of November... lots of backgrounds to choose from :)

click the link below to go get your freebie...only up for November :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thankful-for-You-posters

toodles again

Pre-Review, Owls, & Head Start

I just wanted to give you guys a heads up...
I have a few reviews in the making and some of them have also donated the items for a give away...
HOLLA

that is awesome!!!
I know...

One of these FANTABULOUS reviews has to do with these...

image is borrowed from Barker Creek

I am going to be real here...
when I first got these in the mail... I got SKURD
(that is SCARED for those of you not familiar with Farley lingo)
I pulled it out and laid it on my kitchen table...

I thought it was a little young for my 4th grade kiddos
I was trying to think
how in the world am I going to blog about this....
nail biting began
liver stress pain
hair loss
I mean this super sweet company contacted me
It is a WOMAN OWNED company and I am all for girl power
PLUS I love their pop out letters... 
seriously I think I own them all...
LOVE as in {puffy} heart love!!!!
and now they sent me this box set of DRAW * WRITE * NOW
and I was skeptical....

Drew on the other hand wanted to DIVE right into them...

anywho I took the box set to school and put it on my desk...

within minutes into the day...

WHAT IS THAT MRS. FARLEY?
CAN I READ THAT MRS. FARLEY?
ARE WE GOING TO USE THAT TODAY?
DO WE GET TO DRAW?
WHAT IS IT?
WHAT DO WE GET TO DRAW?
IS IT FOR US?
DO WE GET TO DRAW?
WHERE DID YOU GET IT?
WHY IS IT ON YOUR DESK IF WE DON'T GET TO USE IT?
DO WE GET TO DRAW?
WRITE IS A HOMOPHONE RIGHT?
SO WHEN ARE WE USING THIS?

a lot of these questions are from the same kid BUT he sparked the others to
WoNdEr too...
OOOOH AHHHHH they were teased

I decided to leave it on my desk for a few weeks while my gears started to turn and squeak and think
THINK FARLEY THINK

Finally I let them look inside the box... BUT they couldn't DRAW YET...
tease... anticipation... tease


AND they could only check it out IF they had all of their SQUIRT (Sustained Quiet Uninterrupted Independent Reading Time) activities done...
they were so excited...
and when they opened it up they were even more excited...
my stress was diminishing...
they gathered around each other...
I felt more at ease....
it was like the BESTEST thing I had ever given them...
I was immediately relieved
I then decided...
we will use these to help us during our POETRY PUBLISHING...

we just finished our Rhyming Poetry Practice
see...

 These turned out pretty OWL-some...
my kiddos did these when I had a sub...
They did I chart about what they knew about owls
then read a quick non fiction about owls...added to the chart what new information they learned...then they watched a short video about owls... added more info to their charts....
then they went through their chart and circled some important words that they could think of rhyming words for... like flight and night
weather and feather
rat and fat
mice and nice
and so on....

then they had to go and make a poem with a pattern...
( we have been studying rhyming patterns so this wasn't new to them)
they went through a quick editing process with a peer and the sub...
the sub (Mrs T) is a retired teacher (from my school) and a FABULOUS sub!!!
anywho after a rough draft and approval from Mrs. T... they took it to publishing (see above)
I was a little nervous about what I might get BUT... I was nicely surprised with these... YAY kiddos.

SOOOOOOOO back to this

these books offer tons of different animals, plants, places, and people to draw....
so I am going to have my kiddos pick something out of
DRAW * WRITE * NOW
and do research on it
JUST LIKE they did for the owls
and then make a list of important words... match them up with rhyming words...
and write a poem...
these are going to be AWESOME...
because then they get to illustrate their own poems like a real illustrator... 
I already kind of sort of... OK
I TOLD them what we are going to do and some of them are already practicing during their recess....
WHAT DURING RECESS.... YES
that is how much they LOVE LOVE LOVE these books... what was I ever worried about...

OK here is a link for you to go and check out...
DRAW* WRITE * NOW
and I will have a FULL BLOWN POST and GIVE AWAY next weekend... be on the look out... BUT right now you can go to Barker Creek's FB page and tell them I sent you :)
FB PAGE RIGHT HERE

get a head start on your entries... LOL

toodles