So these past few weeks have been a busy one that was full of testing, parent conferences and trainings! We started off with our second grade writing benchmark test called the the Hillsborough Writes. Basically the kiddos are given a writing prompt and then are required to plan and write based on that prompt! I was a little nervous this year going into the test but I am so pleased with the stories they wrote! All in all they wrote great stories and tried their very best! What more can a teacher ask for?  The morning of the test I had a little treat waiting for them as they arrived to class! I wanted them to get feeling good about writing! Here is a little picture of my quick and easy writing encouragement.

This coming week my kiddos have a reading practice test as well as our chapter math and science tests! AHHHH! Lets just hope they stay focused and preform to the best of their abilities! For a little relaxing but learning fun we are going to do a mini Dr. Seuss author study throughout the week. I made a summary sheet for the students to use with one of the lessons. If you click on the picture below you can get yourself a copy of the Dr. Seuss summary sheet. I made a color and black and white copy.

This week I also started a book study with my school’s reading coach. The book is titled Reciprocal Teaching at work k-12! It is based on powerful strategies and lessons for improving reading comprehension. It focuses on something the author calls the Fab Four, which is the reading strategies predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. I am going to be learning how to implement these strategies into whole-class, guided reading as well as literature circles. I can’t wait to start reading and learning about  reciprocal teaching. If you want to take a look at the book you can click on the picture of it below.

I also found these great reciprocal teaching cards that are a free download. Just click on the picture below and it will take you to the website where you can download them for free! Hope you can find them helpful!

Besides all of this, I have been trying to work on creating my next product to post up on TpT! It is all about math manipulatives to help your students conceptualize the math content in the primary grades! I have learned some new ways to help kids gain number sense, how to expose children to multiple types of word problems, represent large numbers in quick pictures and how to get them discovering number connections. There are also thinking mats, math games and different ways to organizes your materials. Your students will also get to meet a little math character named Count who will help you introduce new math concepts to your students! Here is a little preview of the cover! I am going to TRYand have it posted by Sunday!

Last but not least I wanted to share a little hair trick I found on You Tube that has made getting ready in the morning quick and easy! You wont believe it when I tell you. So first here is what my hair looked like Wednesday morning, curly and smooth! It was so quick I even had time to take a few beauty shots…. Ha!

So  based on the pictures alone you are probably thinking that this hair style can not be fast to do in the morning. Let me just tell you that if you are like me (hate waking up early and very rarely curl/do anything to your hair) then you will love this. As you can see I  have TONS of hair so that would at least take me an hour to do with heat curlers or a curling iron! But in this look I did not  use heat curlers, or a curling iron! Nope! Can you believe that I used no heat at all? Zip. Zero. Just a little hair spray! So if you click here  it will take you to the video on You Tube that I used to get this look! I promise it is easy and quick!

So this leads me to my first little give away! All you have to do is be the first 3 people to post one comment with the following information! Tell me……

1. You follow my TpT store

2. a tip that you have to make getting ready quick and easy! It can be anything (not just style related)!

Don’t forget to leave your e-mail so that I can send the first three people to post my newest unit that I uploaded onto TpT! The unit that you will be gtting for free is called, I mustache you….got milk? Check  out this unit below by clicking on the picture! If you end up being the 3 lucky winners I will e-mail the unit to you. I also have a little favor if you win this unit can you please (pretty please)  give it a review on my TpT store! I will adore you forever if you do that!

Also here is a picture of the class book you can make in the unit! Last week I posted the cute cow craftivity to go along with this unit. So here is the Got Milk class book! Hope you love it as much as I do! This time I have a picture with the milk mustache and not a wedding photo! Ha!

Okay I think that is it for today! Sorry for the long post! I guess I had a lot to talk about…..

Don’t forget to check back on Sunday for my new Math Manipulatives Unit! I am really trying hard to get it done by Sunday! Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.