Using Prepositions- and a $1 flash sale!

 

 

I am so excited about this product. I made a book of prepositions that my kids use everyday when we write in our journal. We write using sentence patterns. I transferred that over to journal time in order to enhance their journals and give them more of an authentic writing time. We started with the pattern:

subject noun-verb

Then:

subject noun-verb-adverb

and now we are doing sentences like this:

subject pronoun- verb-adverb-preposition-article-object of the preposition

and:

article-adjective-subject noun-verb-adverb-preposition-article-object of the preposition

 

My students draw a line between the subject and predicate. They underline the subject once and the predicate twice. They label all the parts of speech. It's amazing. But when writing prepositions, their vocabulary can still be somewhat limited. So I made it easy- I made a list, of sorts, and I put it into this book. Now whenever they're writing and get stuck on prepositions, they go to the book and find one. I've noticed this has also helped them remember prepositions for the future, so they start to use the book less until they want a new and exciting one to try.

For the next 24 hours it is only $1 on Teachers Pay Teachers. So get it now because that price will not last!

 

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Uses for Dollar Store Gloves

Have you seen these cute gloves from the Dollar Store?

They have tons of really cute ones! I bought some thinking I could use them for something! So here's my first attempt. I wrote the 5 rules of capitalization (a Shirley English thing) on an address label and stuck them on the fingers. Then I held up the fingers (you have to get inventive with that middle finger!) and we learned the rules!
Just wearing the gloves is enough to make it exciting, but we played it as a game, with kids blurting out the answers as I held up the fingers, and kids working in partners to quiz each other. This little dollar glove cut down on my teaching time by DAYS! The rules of capitalization was something that took days and weeks of hounding for them to get into their little brains. With these bad boys, we had it in a day.

I also plan to use them for "who-what-when-where-how" questioning. And any other 5 pt. teaching lesson I can come up with. Maybe for clapping out syllables as well. A little quiet clapping is never a bad thing.
Enjoy your day off!


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The Crabby Eraser

Wow! October 27th. That was my last blog post. Haha. That's so...reality. Writing on a blog, trying to think of ideas that are valid, thinking I really don't do anything in my classroom that's worthy of others doing the same thing...that's just the way it is.

So here's something I do that's quirky and weird, but I think is valid.

 

Yes, it's on its side. But for some reason, after 15 precious minutes of trying to download it, I can't correct it. Technology is not my friend. Anyway, the one with the M&M sticker on it used to belong to a student of mine. He was (and is) a great kid. I found the eraser the summer after he left my room.  It had his little "Jackson" sticker on it and I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. Plus, pink erasers are like gold, aren't they??? So "The Crabby Eraser" was born. The Crabby Eraser comes out mainly during penmanship class, but also makes appearances whenever my kids start to get lazy in their handwriting prowess. He's crabby because he's hungry and he likes to eat messy handwriting. So when kids aren't writing neatly, instead of preaching at them and annoying all of us, I just get out TCE. I don't say anything, I just walk around erasing. The kids LOVE to HATE TCE. Try your own Crabby Eraser. It's quirky and weird and works wonders.

So this Christmas I created TCE's brother (the snowman eraser) "Professor McGonagall". I know...you know how sometimes you just say whatever pops into your head at the time? Well, that was the name for the new eraser that popped into my head. I think in spring I'll be finding a new Easter themed eraser.

So after a couple appearances of "Professor McGonagall", this SWEET little guy in my room who is Cutie McCuterson, just does NOT want to work. It's right before Christmas. He's going to Ohio to see Grandma and Grandpa. He is DONE. He's at the point of laying his head down on his desk and making whining noises. Well, one morning he's doing his work and has to erase something. So he gets out his new little end-cap eraser (hate those, don't you??) and says, "This is Bob the eraser." HAHAHAHAHAHHA! Talk about a mood-lifter. I felt validated. One of my students listened to something I said. I want a raise.

Happy New Year! Blessings to you on 2014. I have no real resolutions. I would like to read my Bible more. I'm 3 days into breaking that one.

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