Pencil Sharpener Giveaway!

I know you've all seen this cute little pencil sharpener all over blog land. Well, I am here to tell you that everything that has been said about this gem is 100% true! Say goodbye to your annoying, noisy, crank style pencil sharpener. And, say goodbye to expensive electric sharpeners that break after a VERY short period of time. This pencil sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies, truly is a teacher's best friend! No exaggeration!

It's fun and easy to use and quite attractive, too. My students love to sharpen pencils so much, that I actually use it as a reward for good behavior. Not that they're not always perfect! But, they try even harder now to be wonderful, knowing that they'll be able to sharpen the pencils at their table.

Look how easy it is to use:

Squeeze and push in the pencil.

Turn the handle until it's sharp, which is easy to know, since the handle loosens up once the pencil is sharp.

Squeeze and pull out.

Look at how sharp it is! Since I've been using this pencil sharpener, I've noticed my pencils stay sharper longer. And, my students are always super eager to use them.

Look how excited these cuties are to sharpen their pencils. I think they went to other classrooms and collected their pencils, too!

So, have I convinced you yet that this pencil sharpener is a must have? Well, Troy, from Classroom Friendly Supplies, is allowing me to offer a FREE sharpener to one of my followers. Just use the rafflecopter to enter. This contest will run for one week. Good luck to everyone! Once I announce the winner, that lucky person will have 3 days to get back to me with their email address. If I don't hear from you within that time frame, I'll go ahead and choose another winner. Thanks for understanding!

Keeping with the spirit of giving, I am proud to say that the Teachers Pay Teachers annual winter holiday EBook has been published. For primary teachers, there are actually two separate books. One for Pre-K/K and one for First and Second Grade. These books are filled to the brim with holiday tips, holiday freebies, and warm holiday wishes from tons of amazingly talented bloggers. Grab your copy by clicking on the images below.

I'm sure you'll enjoy and appreciate all the goodies as much as I do!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gingerbread Week, Freebie, and a Proposition

This week, my students have been enjoying completing gingerbread activities. This is always a favorite topic! There are so many wonderful books to read, and all of them are chock full of teaching opportunities. For example, The Gingerbread Girl,

written by Lisa Campbell Ernst, has tons and tons of alliteration examples. You can also use this book to teach onomatopoeia. My students love to compare and contrast this book with the Gingerbread Boy,

written by Paul Galdone.

Writing about their favorite gingerbread book is always fun, too! My first graders also illustrate their favorite part of the story.

Just click on either image above to download.

Here are pictures of some of my
 station activities this week:

This is a fun contraction activity from my buddy
  Alisha, aka The Bubbly Blonde.

This is from my gingerbread scrambled sentences pack.

These cuties are writing about their favorite
 gingerbread book.

This is a kindergarten activity I did. It can be found in my Gingerbread Fun for Little Learners pack. It actually goes with a scrambled sentences activity. However, what I did was, read The Gingerbread Boy, brainstorm words to describe him, and have the children write two sentences, using a describing word in each sentence.

The scrambled sentences and rhyming activities 

are also from my 

Gingerbread Fun for Little Learners pack.

In other news, I am an author over at Freebielicious.

Well, I have an offer for all you talented primary teachers! We are adding a feature called Fabulicious Freebies on the First. It's a linky where you can link up a blog post that offers a forever freebie on your blog. What a wonderful opportunity for you to showcase your talent AND pick up some nice, new freebies.
For more information, click on the image below.
 I hope to see you all over there on December 1!

Cyber Monday Sale Started Early!

Thanks, Ashley, for the REALLY cute graphic!

I hope you are all ready to shop because the TpT cyber Monday and Tuesday sale is a great opportunity to do so! As a matter of fact, I've decided to start my sale today just in case anyone wants to purchase anything to use this week.

Everything in my store is marked down 20% as we speak! And, on Monday and Tuesday, TpT is giving an additional 10% off. You just need to add the code: CMT12 at checkout. These sales don't happen often, but, when they do, you can save a lot of money. Here are some items from my store that may interest you...

I have a great blog post about how I use these here!

I have a bundled scrambled sentences pack that includes 7 different winter themes. 

You can find it here.

Don't forget to leave feedback after you purchase something from TpT because then you can use the credits you earn to pay for additional items.

At the bottom of this post, you'll find the links to more TpT stores that will be on sale, as well. These talented teachers have wonderful products that you'll definitely want to check out! Feel free to add the link to your store, too!

Happy Shopping!

To all my followers...

I  hope this Thanksgiving brings you a generous helping

 of lasting joy and happiness.

I am happy to announce that I have a lucky winner for the Talk Bar! Her name is Lauren Ayers.

Congratulations, Lauren!

Writing Menu Display

The other day, Lory, from Fun For First, made my day when she blogged about my writing menu display. This visual display contains 18 different writing activities for my students to choose from when they are done with their station work. Sometimes, I use it as an actual station.

Lory had an amazing idea to number the posters and then number the baskets where the templates are kept. I immediately sprung into action and did the same thing in my classroom. Here is the final result:

Sorry about the restroom sign! Going to the restroom is NOT one of my writing choices!

Here is where I keep the writing templates.

Posters 16 and 17 are not included in my writing menu product. However, you can purchase the message books separately here. If you have the message books and the writing menu and would like the poster, just send me an email, and I'll send it to you.

If you have my writing menu posters and want to number them, too, you can grab mine by clicking on the image below. I printed them landscape to get the larger numbers on the wall and I printed them portrait to get the smaller numbers for the mailbox slots. I used binder clips to secure them. You can read more about that here.

The children are really enjoying this new system. Thanks for the great idea, Lory!

I have another mailbox system in my classroom. This one has a dual function. My first graders use them as mailboxes and I also use them to hold the writing activities for my kindergartners. When they are done with their station work, there are tons of exciting writing activities waiting for them in the mailbox. You can check them out here:

I loved Lory's idea so much and saw how organized it kept the templates and how easy it was for the children to find what they wanted, that I decided to do the number system for these activity sheets, as well. For these, though, I have no posters. So, I put an example of each sheet in a binder and numbered the sheets and the corresponding mailbox slot. Now, my students look through the binder, find what they want to do, note the number, and grab their sheet out of the mailbox.

No more searching and searching. No more taking out the wrong sheet and putting it back in the wrong slot. The binder also serves as an example of how each sheet should be completed.

I am really loving this! And, so are my students!

Okay! One more thing! Wednesday is the last day to enter to win the Talk Bar from Learning Resources. Today, I left the Talk Bar at home, and my students couldn't stop asking for it. At one point, I pretended to give them my car keys and told them that they could just drive to my house to go get it! It really is a great tool to have around. I have an ABC order station this week and I programmed the Talk Bar to be the answer key. They loved it!

You can enter by clicking on the image below.

I'll announce the winner Wednesday night. Good luck!