We may all be different fish, but in this school we swim together!

It's a beautiful day in upstate NY.... BUT I'm glued to my computer working on the literacy workshop I'll be presenting this week. Maybe I'll move my work station to the balcony :)

I don't know about your students, but mine have been obsessed with tattling and getting each other in trouble. I have done mini lesson after mini lesson modeling and discussing this and we even have a tattle box! Any tips?

Going along with the issue of tattling, we talked about how we are a family and a team. We made this cute bulletin board to go along with our recent conversations about sticking together and loving one another.

And if you haven't heard yet, Love to Teach is having a super great giveaway. Who wouldn't want an Amazon and Scrappin' Doodles gift certificate??

Spelling City!

I've been busy preparing a literacy workshop that I will be presenting next week so I haven't been doing much blog stalking this month. I hope I didn't miss anything super spectacular! 

Anyways, I was given a membership to Spelling City in exchange for writing a review. I'm sure many of you have heard of it. I admittedly knew it existed but never gave it a try until recently and boy were my students missing out! 

Spelling City gives you the option of uploading your spelling lists so that your students can practice their words by playing fun games. The teacher can create a username and password for each child and a report keeps track of what the students are doing and their scores. I have 3 different spelling groups and it only takes me about 5 minutes each Friday to upload the new lists. 

Recently my school was given laptops so I sign out 3 laptops each day for my students to use during daily 5. Students who choose "word work" have the option of using the laptops for Spelling City. Inevitably, this has been a popular choice. Even with Spelling City's popularity, I have had NO interruptions to explain or help my students navigate the site. It's 100% user friendly for my second grade students. They even like it so much they sign into Spelling City from their home computers too!

My only con to Spelling City is that I wish I could designate my lists to specific students without "creating assignments." What I have done instead is I group my spelling lists and my students know what group they are in and where to find their current list. I just didn't like the idea of students and parents being able to look at the other lists, but thus far it has not been an issue. 

Spelling City can be utilized for free, however, for the great benefits and student tracking I would highly recommend purchasing an annual subscription. It's well worth it! 

Feel free to comment with questions or ways that you use Spelling City in your classroom :)

Sale on TpT tomorrow!!

You all know by now that TpT has a Leap Day sale going on tomorrow. I too will be participating. So, for tomorrow only, you can save 28% in my store. I will be offering 20% and you can use the TpT code for the additional 8%. 

So get your shopping carts ready!! It's a great time to get my St. Patrick's Day unit if you haven't yet. I'll be changing out my math centers tomorrow to my Patty's Day unit games! 

*Giveaway Winner*

Yes, I said I was going to announce a winner this morning, HOWEVER, I was busy at school getting ready to end break and go back tomorrow. 

Anyways..... The winner of the giveaway is....

Valerie! So check your email :)

If you did not win, but you're still interested in the packet, please head on over to my store and get it! Thanks for your support!!

Book Recommendation Bookmark Freebie

Well I was hoping I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel, but I did some Googling and just couldn't find what I was looking for! I got one of those nifty book turning gadgets (don't know what to call it!) from a Borders closeout sale (best 20.00 ever spent!). Anyways, each Friday we do book recommendations which both encourages oral presentation and book discussion. We're now midyear and I wanted to add a written piece to this so I made book recommendation bookmarks. So now the students must fill out a bookmark prior to Friday. I require at least one share a month and I keep track via a checklist. Hope this is helpful to someone! 

P.S. Don't forget I'm announcing my "What's the Matter?" giveaway tomorrow morning after spin class ;) Check out my previous post to get the details. 

What's the Matter? Giveaway

Wow, break went by fast. Today I buckled down and got some work done. My "What's the Matter?" unit is up and running! I haven't done a giveaway in forever, so why not! The whole mini-unit is all hands-on and concludes with a unit test. So, how can you win it you may ask? Easy. Of course you must be one of my followers, but I also want you to head on over to my Colleague's  new blog. She teaches across from the hall from me and she is goooood. Follow me, Love to Teach, and my TpT and that's 3 chances to win. Don't forget to write 3 separate comments. I will choose a winner Sunday around 10 a.m. eastern time. Good luck :)

P.S. Don't forget to follow me on Facebook and stalk me on Pinterest (addicted? maybe!)

Cruise time!

This is a non-school related post :) Don't worry, I have tons of plans to update and create things later this week.

Well, it's Sunday and my break started Friday and I'm still stinkin' sick! I came down with a cold last Wednesday. My husband came home Friday and is flying back to DC on Tuesday. So much for having fun. 

Anyways, most of you know that I'm a newly-wed and my husband is living with my aunt and uncle in the DC area while he finishes up an LLM at Georgetown Law. To celebrate his graduation, him getting a job, and kind of a honeymoon we didn't get to have we booked a cruise! This is our first cruise ever. 

So anyways, I was hoping you all would be able to give me advice. Tell me what I should and shouldn't do.. maybe things to see or not see. We are going on an 8 day Carnival cruise at the end of May (89 days!) and will be going to St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, and Nassau. 

Any tips, stories, suggestions, or advice is greatly appreciated :)