What the Teacher Wants!

Random Acts of Christmas Kindness

I know it's not even Thanksgiving, but this Random Acts of Christmas Kindness pack was one of my favorite projects that I've ever done with my kiddos! It's best to start it right in December...so that's why I'm posting about it today!

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 was our first RACK that was for our principal last year. My students were so excited and they loved that this whole thing is secretive. ;)

Click {here} to check it out!

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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:

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Rhyme to Read (App Review)

As the computer specialist at my school, I am always looking for great apps that will get students excited about learning. I was recently introduced to a fun reading app for beginning readers called Rhyme to Read.

Rhyme to Read is a fun reading app that helps teach students word families and sight words. It was developed by two teachers who both have advanced teaching degrees.

The app contains 20 books that each focus on a word family. The books build upon each other for a cumulative review of each word family.

One of the great things about this app is that all the word families are color-coded. This will help students learn to discriminate different word patterns.

Rhyme to Read is ideal for beginning readers and for any student who needs RTI in reading. I would recommend it for children ages 4-6 or anyone else who is struggling with reading.

Rhyme to Read is available in the app store by clicking HERE!

Want to try it first? Download the 1st book to try for FREE.

*Disclosure: This post was paid for by the creators of Rhyme to Read. All opinions expressed are my own.

Equal or Not Equal?

Can I just start by saying that I'm not quite sure I'm ready for winter weather? This week at school it has been FRIGID and we've already had an inside day because of it! WOW! How's the weather where you are? I feel like teachers are the only profession who check the weather right when they get up in the morning. HA!

Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and show you how I introduce equal and not equal to my students! I would not do it without these scales....for real... the BEST:

I actually love the Monkey Math scales so much that I bought 4 of them so my students could play this game in large groups:

On the left side of the monkey there are 7 bananas and on the right side there are 3+4 bananas. The monkey's arms are even and straight because the equation is equal. If it wasn't equal, the monkey's eyes go crazy and the arms aren't straight.

The students draw a card and place the bananas on the according sides. They find out if the equations are equal or not equal. Then, I have them check the equations by adding the numbers (if applicable).

Clipart and/or fonts copyright Dianne J. Hook (djinkers.com)

A Veterans Day Celebration

Veterans Day is coming up and I love finding great ways to integrate my curriculum with anything social studies related.

Last year I made this fun Internet-based activity called

'A Veterans Day Celebration' where students are led through the six steps of a webquest: introduction, task, process, resources, evaluation, and conclusion. In this activity, students will learn about the history of Veterans Day, conduct a research project, and they will get do a fun activity where they plan their own Veterans Day celebration.