Bloglovin...Claiming it!!

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I've had the button on my blog for a while, but I'm kinda freaking out after just hitting 400+ through Google Followers... It's my understanding this widget will be going away too! Boo!!! How will we ever keep up with our followers now?? I added the counter, but there's no way (as far as I know) to see who your followers are through Blog Lovin!

Google, I'm very mad at you right now. :-(

Must Have Monday and a Yummy Recipe!

Hi friends! I am here to share my Must-Have for my SUMMER to-do list on Sabra's linky. How many of you keep physical to-do lists for some things, but then you have all these mental lists in your head that you can never keep up with?? THAT would be me. It's totally dumb. I KNOW I can't remember it all, but I still don't write it all down because I think I WILL remember it this time. So my goal is to be better about getting my ideas and lists down on ACTUAL lists. So I created these cuties to help me, and I'm sharing them with you in hopes it might help you, too!

And aren't the backgrounds adorable? Credit to my cutest BBB Amanda at Collaboration Cuties for creating them!! :o) I couldn't make just one... some weeks I feel like polka dots, some weeks I feel like big chevron, some weeks just a little! :-P Thanks in advance for leaving feedback if you download!

I wanted to also link up with Christy to share a yummy recipe that I copied imitated from a local restaurant.

Hot Chicken Salad Sandwich with Red Pepper Jelly
2 chicken breasts
lemon pepper seasoning
mayonnaise
diced celery
sourdough bread
provolone cheese
red pepper jelly

I cube the chicken breast and saute it with some lemon pepper seasoning for taste. (Sorry, no real measurements here...) Once it's cooked and cooled, I shred the chicken and mix it with the diced celery, then add mayonnaise until all of the chicken is coated (again, sorry no measurements!). I scoop some of the chicken salad out on one slice of sourdough bread and put a slice of provolone cheese on top of the chicken salad, then heat both sides of the sandwich in the toaster oven until the cheese is melted. I add red pepper jelly to the other slice and.... YUM! It really is super good, and super easy!

Oh, and don't forget! One more day!!!!!! And if you've already entered, you can share about the giveaway EVERY day, so feel free to share again if you already have! :o)

Revisiting a Science Mentor Text

I have been going back and forth on whether to link up about this book because I previously blogged about it... but I just love it so much. I couldn't resist. Plus, I focused on the mentor sentence I used for the book in the last post (and there is a freebie in that post!!) so I'll talk more about how I use it in language arts and science now. :)

I guess I should tell you what book so you know what the heck I'm talking about (unless you clicked on that link up there)!

Arrowhawk is a book about a young red-tailed hawk that was shot in the leg/tail with a poacher's arrow and he survived! The story is written based on what the author learned about a hawk's behaviors because obviously, we don't know exactly what happened in his journey before they were able to rescue and rehabilitate him. I got to hear all about her research and writing process last summer at an author's visit! She even signed my book! :)

I love using Arrowhawk for an entire week because there is SO MUCH you can do with it. In fact, so much, I created a TPT unit for it! :) It will be a FLASH FREEBIE until 8 PM EST! If you download it, PLEASE leave feedback on TPT! Thank you! :)

This is a great book to use for synthesizing. Students have no idea that this story is TRUE until the end, but they are very concerned about the hawk throughout the book... so they often have many questions that change their thinking as we read. Lola Schaefer also writes with very vivid language through the entire book, so I like for the students to listen for the vivid verbs especially, and make a list to use in their own writing. There are some vocabulary words that the students may not be familiar with, so I created a context clue activity to go along with some of the words as well. And OF COURSE, it is perfect for our animal adaptations unit! Here's a freebie from the unit, answer key included! The activity includes sentences from the book- the students have to identify the type of adaptations/skills found in the sentence. My students loved to prove themselves with this activity- they had to tell me WHY they chose that word because for some, there are a few options!

            

Thanks for stopping by! :) Don't forget to enter my 400 Follower Giveaway! Only two days left!

Fabulous Feedback!

I LOVE this idea! I participated last time that Christina from Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge held this linky party, and I am super excited that it will be every month!

Before I share my feedback, I want to share Christina's Dos and Don'ts of leaving feedback. I think it's awesome! It's everything I've been wanting to say, she just said it first! :-P

Feedback is so important to sellers- it drives our creations! EVEN for freebies! I couldn't agree more with her "DO" for the freebies! :)

Now, onto the fun! If you see your comment posted, you can get an item for free from my store! Just email me with the name of an item of equal or lesser value!

This is one of my favorite units, and I appreciate Lori for pointing out why!! I am able to integrate so much using this book with my unit! Check it out!

My math units are really my babies. I spent soooo much time poring over the Common Core, reading, and creating activities that ACTUALLY WORKED with my class. These units were created to help walk our students from concrete activities to abstract activities. SaBru really made me feel good with what she said because that was absolutely the intention of creating these- it's not just worksheets... there are games and detailed lesson plans, among other activities!

You can check out the multiplication unit here, but don't forget, I bundled my units so you can save money on all the units if you get the Numbers and Operations Bundle (which includes the multiplication unit) or the Fractions and Decimals Bundle. This summer I plan on adding activities to the already-created units, and I will also be creating my Measurement and Geometry Units! (Well, all of this is on my to-do list anyhow!! I think we all know how fast summer goes!!)

Do you have Fabulous Feedback you want to show off? Link up with Christina and let us all see! :)

Also, don't forget to enter my 400 Follower Giveaway! :)

Friday Five!

These summer editions of Five For Friday almost seem harder- have I actually done FIVE things worth blogging about this week? Let's see!! LOL

 I finished up my beach trip- it is always sad to leave the sand and sun and water. My neighborhood pool is certainly not the same. :-P Before we left, we celebrated my "little" sister's birthday- not so little anymore! She is 14!

 I've been working a lot in my yard this summer! I was SUPER busy and productive this week! I put down newspaper under 10 bags of mulch around my gardenia and azaleas. Putting down newspaper is a cheap and organic way to keep weeds and grass from poking up through the mulch!

And I can show you these pictures because I also cleaned the mildew off the side of my house this week! LOL! It's been there since I moved in and I just never did anything about it, until this week when I spent so much time to make the beds pretty and then my house looked like CRAP. My original pictures I took before cleaning to post were embarrassing.

I also worked on planting some more flowers in pots to put around my middle bed- I still need to spruce this one up a bit with better mulch and the newspaper trick.

I shared with you in a previous post about my gazebo... I LOVE it. I've added some flowers in and around it. :)

I learned how to add a FAN FREEBIES tab to my Facebook page!

I will be featuring freebies there which will ONLY be shared with my Facebook Fans, so make sure you have liked my Facebook page to ensure you are in the know! :) I used ShortStack- an app that works with Facebook and enables the page to be hidden from non-fans!

I reached 400 Followers while I was at the beach! Make sure you check out my 400 Follower Giveaway if you haven't already!!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!! :)

Round 2 of Workshop Wednesday June Professional Development!

Good morning! Have you found anything "pinteresting" lately, school-related? Link it up here, and be sure to check out everyone else's finds, too! :o)

If this is your first time reading about June's Linky Party, be sure to check out this post for information about embedding pins (if you aren't already familiar with it)!

Please feel free to follow my Pinterest boards by clicking here or the button at the top right of my blog! Also, if you use the Pinterest button that shows up on my pictures to pin to your board, it will pin back to this post... if you just click on the picture (anywhere on the picture, but not the button), it will take you to the pin where you can repin, and check out the original source!

Source: nerdyteacherconfessions.edublogs.org via Jessica on Pinterest

This is genius. How have I never thought of it before??? Dollar Store Car Wash Mitts to wipe off dry erase marker from the kids' boards or desks!! I use boards quite a bit in math workshop... definitely going to invest in some mitts!

Source: timesmachine.nytimes.com via Jessica on Pinterest

This website is AWESOME. I see some great research opportunities in my kids' future! They have actual New York Times articles dating back to 1851!!

Source: wrsd.net via Jessica on Pinterest

The website this pin links to is WONDERFUL for starting Reading Workshop- it's even sorted by grade level! If you haven't used a traditional workshop model before or you want to get more ideas of how to START, this is a great place to check it out...
or if you just want to see you've been doing it right all along, check out the site! :-P

Don't forget to grab the button and link back to this post from your post! I'll repost the linky weekly in June with some new pins of my own... remember, you can link up as often as you'd like, on any day you want! Feel free to link up weekly with me if you'd like! :)

Don't forget to enter my 400 Follower Giveaway! :)

400 Follower Giveaway!

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack!! Did you miss me?? :o)

Feels good to have this laptop back in my lap, and blogger up on the screen! Although, the beach sure was fabulous!

I know you all must be so anxious to find out the details about my 400 Follower Giveaway! I must say, I am so thankful for all of my followers... you are why I keep posting, and reading! I love my BBBs!

I am really excited about this giveaway!! There will be one big winner and two runner-ups! Over $100 worth of prizes are being given away!

The big winner will win both of my ALREADY MADE Mentor Sentence Units AND will also receive the final THIRD unit once it's made! (Not sure what Mentor Sentences are? Check the Mastering Mentor Sentences link at the top of my blog, or just click here!) The big winner will also have their choice of a $25 gift card- either for Amazon.com (maybe to help buy some books that are in the units?) OR a TPT gift card (to help buy some back-to-school items)!

Two runner-ups will also receive all THREE Mentor Sentence Units! :)

So what are you waiting for?? Go enter! :) Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Don't forget, you can link up any day to June's Workshop Wednesday (not just Wednesdays) but I'll be posting some new pins of mine tomorrow! :)