What the Teacher Wants!: May 2017

Father's Day Awards - Writing Template and Gift

Father's Day is coming up and if you're still in school right now, you may be starting to think about Father's Day projects that your students can do for their dads. I've been selling a Mother's Day writing activity (it also doubles as a gift!) for years, but I never had anything for Father's Day and a few of our Facebook followers mentioned that they'd love an option for Father's Day too. So here is my new resource: Father's Day Awards. It's part writing project, part gift!

A win-win!

This cute trophy and gold medal design is something your students' fathers will treasure! First students write about their dads, then they can color and personalize it.

I realize that not all children have fathers to recognize on Father’s Day, so I’ve included multiple pages that include Grandpa, Uncle, and Step Dad. I’ve also provided blank pages in case there are any other special circumstances to consider.

You can choose to use the trophy page or the gold medal page. I've provided both as fun options. (You could choose to let each student to do one for their dads and one for their grandfathers if you have extra time.)

You can see it in my TPT Store: HERE!

I hope this is helpful for those of you in year-round school, or those of you who get out later. Good luck as you finish out this school year!

We Appreciate YOU!!! {TPT Gift Card Giveaway!}

Hey teachers! We appreciate you!

Here's a little peek at what's been going on over here for Teacher Appreciation Week. Read until the end and enter to win some TPT gift cards!!

(This post contains affiliate links.)

I decorated the door for my son's teacher in this cute emoji theme. I gave all the kids a yellow circle cut out and had them decorate it like an emoji. It turned out super cute.

For my son's teacher gift I really wanted to give her something special to know how much I appreciate her and the help, patience, and love she's given my child all year. I filled this basket with things teachers love: 2 teacher tee's (from Jane.com), a Rae Dunn mug, flair pens, bath bomb, Godiva chocolate, and a cute notebook.

These little gifts were for all the specialty teachers. I wanted to remember them for teacher appreciation week too! (I was the computer specialty teacher for 3 years and I know that not a lot of people remember specialty teachers on occasions like this.)

Rachelle made these super cute bath bomb gifts to give to all her co-workers. Such a cute idea! Grab the free tags in this post.

Here's a picture of the cute breakfast the PTA did at Rachelle's school. Donuts and bagels - YUM!

TPT wants to celebrate teachers too and they are having a SALE Tuesday and Wednesday. Use code THANKYOU17 to save 28% off of all our products!

Here are some of our favorite end of year resources you might need to help you get through these next few weeks.

Also, if you have changed grade levels or are new to teaching, you will probably want to purchase your copy of our Common Core Checklists! They are a great way to stay organized and on top of the Common Core standards!

We are SUPER excited to be able to give away TWO gift certificates to TeachersPayTeachers. Entering is easy, just follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter below. We'll choose a winner Wednesday afternoon so you'll have time to spend your $$ before the sale ends.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Using Fancy Nancy to Teach Fancy Words

In the Language Standard of the Common Core (specifically the vocabulary and acquisition use), our students should be expanding their vocabulary!

My students this year just love Fancy Nancy and so I thought why not incorporate synonyms into it! They've been using their fancy words SO much lately. I'm almost sick of hearing the words humungous, spectacular, fantastic, and superb. :) Almost.

Of course, we start off reading Fancy Nancy to introduce Fancy Words (and we continue reading different Fancy Nancy books all week). I even have some princes in there to get the boys engaged. Here are some fun things we did all week to work on our vocabulary acquisition (that's a fancy word for learning big words).

We read Fancy Nancy and my students help me make an anchor chart with synonyms:

After the book, we did a little craftivity. We took the words that we learned and made wands with them (of course I called them wizard wands for the boys and princess wands for the boys). They wrote their favorite fancy word on the star and drew a picture of the meaning of the word.

This is our Fancy Word Wall (also included in the packet). My students came up with *most* of those fancy words up there!

To make sure my students are applying what they've learned, I challenge them to use fancy words in their journals. And when they come up to conference with me after journal, if I see any fancy words used correctly, they get to circle them with MY "magic marker". SO precious!!!

Check out my Fancy Word Activities pack {here}!

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