Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Teacher Appreciation Blog Hop Giveaway #2


Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  Let's celebrate with a gift card giveaway.  :)

A few of my closest blogging buddies and I have joined together to share a few of our favorite teaching things...


Do you have a few items that you just can't live without?  Of course, the obvious answer for me would be BOOKS...I'm a reading teacher.  :)  

But aside from books I have a few other teacher must-haves...


Black erase boards, neon wipe-off paddles,
and story map white boards

To keep lessons exciting and fresh, I like to use a variety of dry erase response boards and fun markers that students may not have an opportunity to use in their regular classrooms.  


Super fun sticky notes and Sharpies

I invest in tons of sticky notes.  Students use them to interact with the text they are reading.  The speech bubble stickies are great for inferring what a character might think or feel.  We use the iPhone stickies to 'text' a response about their book.  Sharpies are perfect for recording our thinking on chart paper.


Ahh, teacher love! 

This is my all-time favorite classroom purchase EVER.  It's a Literacy Teacher's Trolley.  I can't tell you how much I love this easel!  The magnetic white board is designed to sit high enough to use at the guided reading table. It has pockets and bins for supplies and large storage tubs for hanging file folders and/or white boards.  Did you notice the wheels?  It travels anywhere you need it.

Wanna know what else I love?  AMAZON!  Today we're giving away an Amazon gift certificate to celebrate you, our readers.  Enter the raffle below.  I have my fingers crossed for you! :)



a Rafflecopter giveaway

What are your teacher must-haves?  Please share your ideas in the comments below.  Then hop on over to visit Deniece.  She has a brand new blog design to show off, and she'll be sharing her teacher must-haves at This Little Piggy Reads.



The HTML for the Linky:

Monday, May 5, 2014

Teacher Appreciation Blog Hop Giveaway #1


It's Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to honor all those hardworking, dedicated teachers in our lives.


A few of my close blogging buddies and I have joined together to share our favorite school memories and celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week with a gift card giveaway.



One of my fondest memories is of my first grade teacher, Sister Barbara.  She was soft-spoken and nurturing.  I loved going to school because of her.

First Grade, St. Joseph's Academy, 1976
What is in my hair?

During our first handwriting lesson, we learned to print letter i.  I was so proud of my paper filled with perfectly formed letters.  

Sister Barbara collected and saved our first handwriting samples.  On the last day of school, she returned them to us.  I was so anxious to get my *perfectly printed* paper back... and super surprised to see that my letters actually looked more like lollipops.  :/




Now it's time to celebrate teachers everywhere.  And what would a teacher love more than a gift card to purchase more teacher-y things? Enter below to win a Teachers Pay Teachers gift card.  I have my fingers crossed for you! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to hop on over to Andrea's blog, where she will share her favorite teacher story.

Stop back on Wednesday to see my favorite teacher tools and enter for a chance to win an Amazon gift card.