...And a Happy New Year!! {SALE!}

We sure hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!! 

Today is New Years Eve and that means 2014 is almost here. To celebrate, we are teaming up with the gals from Blog Hoppin' and are having a SALE!!


That means, you can stock up on some of the items you will need to be prepared and ready to start the year off right! 

Here are some of our goodies that you should take a look at:

Martin Luther King, Jr:
    


Guided Reading:


Literature Circles: 
 


President's Day and Government:
    


Math: 


And don't forget about our tools for Common Core:
{available for grades K-6}

   



 Stop by our stores and see what else we have available!
    



Hope you all have Happy New Year and a fabulous 2014!!

Play-Doh Books

Last week, Natalie and I got some special surprises in the mail! We each got three Play-Doh Let's Create books!  I gave the Shapes and Christmas Creations as gifts to my niece and nephew. They were occupied for a good 3 hours playing with them! My sister said my niece pulls it out each night to "create" more pictures!
 I kept this book for my classroom and I love it! Each page has pictures of  Play-Doh items that start with each letter of the alphabet.  It shows my students how to create each animal/item.

But what I love most are the Play-Doh letter stamps in the back of the book! I love that they are small, but not too small! They are easy to use and the little canisters of Play-Doh that comes with them are perfect for Daily 5 Word Work!

Are you interested in learning more about these fun activity packs and other great books?


{Or follow via Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest}


*  *  *

Want to sponsor What the Teacher Wants or are you interested in having us do a product review for you? Please email sponsorwttw@gmail.com for more information. 

My Trip to Utah's Capitol Hill

Yesterday I had the opportunity to travel up to Salt Lake City and meet with our governor, Gary Herbert. It was an awesome experience and I felt very privileged to have this chance to meet with him and talk about education!

When I first arrived, I got to meet with Mike Mower (Deputy for Community Outreach) and Marty Carpenter (Deputy for Communications). They both had some questions for me. I explained a little about our blog and how we try to share our teaching ideas and tips with readers from all over the world. I emphasized how amazing it is to collaborate with teachers from different parts of the country, and we discussed a little bit about the future of education in Utah. 
Mike and I had some fun posing with Abe Lincoln while we waited for the governor.

I even got to sit in the governor's desk! I loved it!! Maybe I should think about running for office someday... haha!

 
I thought this was pretty cool. The official Obama family Christmas card. 

When Governor Herbert entered the room, we shook hands, smiled for some pictures, and then he started asking me some questions about the blog. He seemed very interested to hear about the world of teacher blogging and had some very encouraging words for teachers.

I prepared a few documents to share with him containing some examples of a few of our most popular blog posts, some stats from our Facebook page, and information about how teacher bloggers are impacting the world of education. He was very interested to hear how teachers from all over are sharing ideas and resources!

Before it was time to go, I had an important question for him. I asked him what advice he had for teachers. He said,

"Number one. 
Know that you are appreciated.
Number 2.  Know that what you do every day in your classrooms has a significantly great influence on each of your students."

Great words for our Utah governor. I hope you all will follow his advice and know how important you are and know that every day you are changing lives and making a difference. Thank you, Governor, for recognizing us and appreciating our work as educators!!

It was a great day at the capitol and I am very grateful that I was able to have this experience!


P.S. Rachelle was very sad to miss out on this trip. She couldn't sneak away from her classroom, but she was there in spirit. :)

Christmas Traditions!

I'm linking up with Michelle from Fabulous in First for a fun Christmas Linky Party about Christmas!! {Warning - this is not teaching related, just a way to get to know a little bit more about me, my family, and a few of our favorite Christmas traditions!}
- Natalie -


To get started, I want to share this cute Christmas pic of my little girl!
Last year for Christmas, my husband Santa got me some photography equipment which included a set of studio lights. It's taken me about a year to figure out how to use them correctly, but with the help of Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop Elements, I managed to get this beautiful picture of my little daughter!


Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog?

Hot chocolate is one of my favorite things about the cold winter months! We have a cute little bakery in Utah called Kneaders that has the BEST truffle hot chocolate, and I love having my Cocomotion at home!

Does Santa Wrap Presents or Put Them Under the Tree?

We definitely wrap presents at our house. In fact, I have a little tradition of my own of watching The Holiday while wrapping all of my Christmas presents. Of course, if there's anything too big or too awkward to wrap, Santa just places it under the tree. (Sometimes my parents would hide large presents around the house and we had to find them, kind of like an Easter egg hunt.)

Colored Lights or White?

I actually don't like multi-colored lights at Christmas. I prefer white, although I also like red and green colored lights too.

When do you decorate?

I always like to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. This year we were out of town so we decorated two days after Thanksgiving. I think decorating for Christmas is magical and I love to blast Christmas music, drink hot chocolate, and watch a fun Christmas movie with my kids.

Real or Fake Tree?

I had a real tree once or twice while growing up, but ever since I've been married and had my own family, we've always done a fake, pre-lit tree. I actually do prefer real trees because I love the smell... maybe next year we will do a real tree!

What Tops Your Tree?

This year we have a great big white sparkly bow.

Favorite Christmas Memory or Tradition?

My current favorite tradition is going to a special Breakfast with Santa event in my hometown. They have a huge breakfast buffet and activities for the kids like face painting and cookie decorating. Then, each family gets to go to the private santa room to sit on Santa's lap and take pictures. My favorite thing about it is that there is no waiting in line to see Santa. It makes it really personalized and it's perfect for little kids.
My 3 year old LOVED Santa this year! He was even willing to give him a little kiss on the cheek.

And how about this one? I'm not sure whose face is better - Allie's or Santa's... haha! Needless to say, Allie was not a fan of St. Nick. 

Favorite Gift as a Child?

This will probably sound silly, but the most memorable gift I remember is getting my first CD player. I took it straight to my bedroom with my new CDs, pulled out the music sleeve, opened up to the lyrics, and sang every single song over and over. Kind of funny, but it's the present I remember most.

Do You Prefer Giving or Receiving?

I love buying Christmas presents for other people - especially my kids! This year, I couldn't even think of anything I really wanted. Everything I seem to want is either cute clothes for my kids, more hair bows for my daughter, and fun girlie gifts for my sisters.

Favorite Christmas Song?

Hum... this is a tough one! In church my favorite is Angles We Have Heard on High, and my favorite fun Christmas song is probably Santa Baby.

Candy Canes - Yuck or Yum?

I actually do like candy canes, but I'm not sure I would really buy them for myself as a treat. I do, however, love peppermint flavored candy and treats. On Sunday, I made this really yummy chocolate peppermint budnt cake. It was yummy!

Favorite Christmas Movie?

I already mentioned, I love watching The Holiday. It's the perfect Christmas chick-flick!

Do You Shop Online or In Store?

This year I did most of my Christmas shopping online. I love being an Amazon Prime member and ordered lots of my gifts from there. I also ordered from Jane.com, Pick Your Plum, and Valshi Boutique. I did do some in store shopping on Black Friday too. I hit up Carter's, Gap, Old Navy, and Target.


Please head on over to Fabulous in First to link up! 
Don't have a blog? 
Answer one (or more) of these questions in a comment -
I'd love to hear about some of your favorite Christmas traditions!!

Random Acts of Kindness

I was inspired by that AMAZING Cara Carroll and her family Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar she did with her family. 

 Since I have no children of my own, I decided I wanted to do RACKing it in my classroom!  
Now you can RACK, too!  





Here's our first RACK that is for our principal.  My students were so excited and they loved that this whole thing is secretive.  ;)





Click {here} to check it out!


************************

Can't do Christmasy things in your classroom or just want to do random acts of kindness all year?  Check out this Random Acts of Classroom Kindness pack that you can do all year round!


Click {here} to check it out!


Here are some books suggestions:



*******************************


I'm also using Natalie's countdown freebie and I made a little poem to go along with it!




Click {here} for the poem!

Love this clipart from Krista, fonts from Cara and KG Fonts, and frame from Mr. Magician



Holidays Around the World Plans 2013


I've made it a tradition each year to show you an outline of my plans for Holidays Around the World in my classroom. EEK! I'm excited! I know to always give myself more time than I think I need because we somehow fall behind.  That's why I don't do any countries on Fridays (except when we do Gingerbread Houses for Germany).  That way, I can catch up on anything I want on Friday. 



This lesson plan template is also available in my pack!







Something I wanted to add in my unit was a complete EXPERIENCE that the students get! Play the sound of an airplane taking off, dress like a flight attendant, pass out the in-flight snack, and fasten your seat-belts!  The WORLD AIRLINES will take off in 3, 2, 1.







These informational reading passages are EVERYTHING! It's nice to have all of the key points right there on one sheet of paper. 





Remember, in my pack, there is such a variety that each year you can change it up! You don't have to do all of the countries each year. The wonderful part about being the boss of applesauce is that you decided. With my new update of my pack this year, I've included more writing components and supplementals. It's JAM PACKED! Each country also has a reading passage to go with it so you can stop googling each country right before you "teach" it to your students (I'm talking to you Carly, hahah).  I've also included links to websites and books.... so I have pretty much done all the work for you. You're welcome. Kidding!!! ;) Kind of.

Here's a picture of just some of the extensions included:


Ok, ready to take a look? The best deal is the BUNDLED pack (which includes 13 countries). Or you can break it up and buy JUST Part 1 or JUST Part 2




LOOK WHAT WE GOT!

We are linking up with Blog Hoppin':


Here are a few of the things that Rachelle picked up from the sale today:


Love this pack by The Moffatt Girls to help my kiddos with their sight words (who doesn't love coloring?):



Oh my word...LOVE this notebook from Abby. She's a creative genius and I can't wait to start using it with my kiddos.





I can't wait to print and laminate this pack!  Math facts will be memorized soon! Thanks, Doodle Bugs!




This one I bought a little while back from The Teacher Wife, but I just used it last week again when we talked about true/false equations. This is a perfect introduction to missing addends. Love it!




Natalie went shopping today too. Here's a few of the teaching goodies she picked up:

Hope King has this adorable Ultimate Writing Bundle which has some super cute craftivities!



I grabbed this cute Wild Ones Wax Museum pack from Amanda at One Extra Degree. I think it will complement my Wild About Animals Research Writing pack and will be a fun way for students to demonstrate their learning about animals!



Lastly, I picked up this Make It Neat pack from the fabulous Deedee from Mrs. Wills Kinder. My 3 year old son LOVES letters and loves learning so I bought this to help me teach him about handwriting at home!



YAY! So excited for the Cyber Monday (tonight) and Tuesday sale at TeachersPayTeachers. Our stores are 20% off PLUS if you use the discount code CYBER, you can get an additional 10% off. 


Love this cute button from Traci!





Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...