Grin and Grab These Friday Freebies!

Grin and Grab it Freebie Day

What is Grin and Grab it Freebie Day? Today only, several TpT sellers are offering one priced product for free. Please see the product cover pictures and links, below, to Teachers Pay Teachers to get your freebies. This promotion ends tonight, but please leave feedback while the products are still free as it can't be added after the products are priced again.

We are having a give away of a $25 dollar gift certificate for Teachers Pay Teacher for our first Grin and Grab it Day! See the Rafflecopter information, below.

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th,7th, 8th, 9th, 10th	Tiny World of Insects Magnified by a Scanning Electron Microscope This Powerpoint slide show and PDF printable file includes images of insects and insect parts.
7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, Homeschool	Persuasive Speech & Visual Aid Project with Rubric Argumentative Oral Presentation Project, Rubric for Grading, Argumentative Speech
Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, Student PDFs includedThis product is updated each year with more calendar years, so check back and re-download each fall.	Calendar Math, Birthdays 2013-2016 and Printable Student PDFs For 2013 thru December 2016 SMART Board, Power Point, and PDFs
	Breakfast, Lunch, Desayuno, Almuerzo Vocabulary Practice Cloze“Cloze” sentences give clues to breakfast and lunch vocabulary words in Spanish.
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th,Adult Education, Homeschool	Three Ways Authors Reveal Characters Authors reveal the physical descriptions and the personality traits of the characters they create by using either direct or indirect characterization.

Thank you for reading!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Christmas Stocking Freebie and Teacher to the Core Giveaway Galore!

I just wanted to share the news of an amazing "Teacher to the Core Giveaway Galore" going on at Katie Knight's blog Teacher Core! (OR REMIND THOSE THAT ALREADY KNOW)
12 Days of Giveaways!!!

Be sure to swing by and see if you can snag some cool teaching resources!! Tell her I sent you! ;)

(Oh, I'm participating in her giveaway too (along w/ many amazing bloggers, so be on the lookout!)She's got TONS of items lined up to dish out to YOU! Congrats to Teacher to the Core on the "200 Followers" milestone!


AND FOR AN ADDITIONAL FREEBIE FROM ME...
In case you've missed my primary freebie in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, I wanted to share it with you (being perfect timing and all...)--It's a quick little activity you can do with your kiddos to instill the magic of "GIVING" during the Christmas Season! I call it "Fill Someone's Stocking with Cheer..."
We all know it's more important to give rather than receive, so without any further rambling, check it out:

Borders/Backgrounds-- Freebie for You!

Hey all! Hope your October is lovely!

I meant to load these a long while back and forgot I had them.. HELLOOO! ;) Anyway, these are just a few backgrounds I drummed up one evening when creating my own agenda books for the week. I thought I may as well load them on Google docs and share with you guys!

Download these swirly corners frames/backgrounds for FREE--either from pic or google docs link above!

They work great for backgrounds in power points, smart notebooks, promethean flipcharts, pdfs, and all sorts of documents/files! 

Hope you enjoy!

A. Smith

KinderKay of Love Those Kinders, Innovative Teacher-Author and Back to School Freebie!

Learn a little bit about this fabulous teacher-author-blogger!! 

Welcome, KinderKay!

Classroom Experience:

I have been teaching for 24 years! Wow! It is hard to believe that many years have gone by! I taught second grade for 7 years and thought that was the perfect grade for me. Then my children came along and I became a stay at home Mom which I thought I would be doing for the rest of my life. But this was not to be the case! One evening as I was finishing up the dishes, I received a phone call from our priest. He told me that he wanted to start a kindergarten and that he wanted ME to be the first teacher. Now get this.... It was June and he wanted it going by August! There was nothing - no books, no table, no chairs, not even a classroom! He had ordered a portable classroom that hadn't even arrived yet! Yikes! Only a crazy person would take this job, right?? Well, I took it and here I am.... 18 years later and LOVING it! Since then, we have built a new wing for our kindergarten and I now reside in what the rest of the school calls "the palace!"

Valuable info learned...beneficial to teachers/teacher-authors, bloggers: Oh gosh, since joining TPT in June of 2011, my whole teaching life has been transformed! Before becoming a part of TPT, I thought I was a good teacher, but I didn't realize how sheltered I had become. Some of it, of course, was from teaching in a private school. But much of it was from the fact that the only teachers in which I shared experiences with were from our local area. I am not saying that I did not grow as a teacher, but being able to bounce ideas off of other teachers from around the country (and other countries) has enabled me to become more focused on the changing needs of my students. When I started a blog in January of 2012, I found even more of an opportunity to improve myself as a professional. For example, I participated in a book study this summer with other kindergarten teachers as we explored how to implement the Daily 5 into our literacy curriculum. My blog gave me the opportunity to learn this new skill and now my students will benefit from the knowledge that I have gained!

Advice for a beginning or veteran teacher?
Be flexible and accept the fact that your students may know more than you know! Instead of getting upset about this, rejoice in it! As teachers it is our job to inspire and guide, but after we have done that, we have to let our students turn our lesson into something that becomes their own!


Great ideas, lessons, or pieces of advice learned from other blog(s): I have learned so much from SO MANY blogs! There are so many really, really GOOD teaching blogs around! I guess the thing that I have learned the most from all of them is how to organize my classroom. Being able to find materials when needed has always been a weakness of mine, so reading blogs that show how to organize a classroom have been so helpful. The biggest help I have received, I think, are the classroom library bin labels. I am presently re-designing my library and these labels will come in SO handy!

A Freebie KinderKay Has Chosen to Share! 
I have quite a few freebies to offer! I really believe in sharing and also love FREE things myself!Here is one for Back to School...

KinderKay's Online store---Check it Out!
Teachers Pay Teachers

Helpful Hints for Classroom:

Hmmm... This is hard, but I think the thing that makes me unique is how I try to bring Art into our everyday curriculum. I truly believe that children learn by doing and with all the curriculum changes that are occurring in our nation, the arts have slowly been replaced. So in order to give my students a taste of the world around them, I encourage them to use pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, and paint in their daily activities. For example, instead of giving them a printed worksheet of a plant to color and label, I show them how to DRAW the flower and then label its parts. Instead of giving them a pattern to trace and color, I show them how to create their picture using simple shapes and step-by-step illustrations. When children create their own illustrations, learning becomes real for them and they feel some ownership in their school journey.

Something cool, weird, funny about you, OUTSIDE the classroom: Let's see...My husband thinks I am weird because I like to eat sweet pickles wrapped in cheese and I put ketchup on my scrambled eggs! I take water aerobics classes and love lakes and boating even though I am petrified of water! I am afraid of cows even though my husband is a farmer and has a herd of them! I can sit hours watching the birds in my bird feeder! I love to use drawing and cutting in many of my lessons. I would so much rather sew, paint, draw, cut, or work in my garden than do household chores - yuck! :) My favorite vacation is spending a few days enjoying Lake Michigan!

Connect with KinderKay...

I just started a Facebook page in June and have no idea how to use it yet! But, This is what keeps our brain active, correct? Learning new things!

Visit KinderKay on Facebook! 

Here is my Pinterest link! 

I love Pinterest! 

_________________

I would like to say THANKS to Cindy, for sharing her ideas and freebie with us!  Be sure to swing by her blog, Love Those Kinders, and/or her store to see all of the other teaching resources she has! Please leave a comment below to let her know you stopped by and picked up some helpful info and her awesome free download! Show some love! 
Oh, I must also admit, I love Pinterest TOO, just like KinderKay!!!

Do you have a favorite idea, tip, or activity that you've found on another blog? Share it below!! We love to find and share new ideas, so give us one--maybe the blog name if you remember too!

Writing Prompt Printable Inspired by "Take Your Dog to Work" Day!

I'm a little late getting this posted....Trust me, I was getting it all ready in time, but, one thing leads to another around here, and I ended up working in the yard all day yesterday and spent day on the lake today--and broken down in the boat!!! Experiences!! Next I know, it's Saturday night! 
Anyway, Friday, June 22, 2012, was designated as "Take Your Dog to Work Day!" How cool is that? I guess not very if you don't have dogs or if you are not an animal person, but I am! That's actually the understatement of the century. I have too many pets! Yes, I could tell dog tales and cat tales all day long. 
How about getting your kiddos to write a cat tale or dog tale? Or, any other animal tale for that matter always makes for a good impromptu writing assignment! The designated day inspired me to create a quick printable that can be used whenever! 
Tells n' Tails n' Tales: "The Time My ______ and I....."  AND Let them do the rest. I included a little section for them to illustrate the main event of the "tale" they are "telling"--- :) Here's a free printable to download if you'd like it!

And, why not go ahead and have a quick "homophone" mini-lesson?

TELL 

TAIL 

TALE

                              What's your favorite writing prompt you've ever assigned????

Anticipation Guides in Kindergarten?

I'm thrilled to welcome Heather of Krazy About Kindy as a Guest Blogger today!
_______________________________________________________________


Hi, Everyone!
This is Heather from Krazy about Kindy. I am so happy to be guest blogging today at Innovative Connections. A little background: I am currently working on my Master's Degree. In one of my courses they discussed anticipation guides. Being a kindergarten teacher, I had never heard of an anticipation guide.

An anticipation guide is an activity that is done at the beginning of a unit. You present students with four to six statements. Some statements are true and some are false. The students will guess which statements are true and which are false. Then, at the end of the unit, you revisit the anticipation guide and discuss whether the students were correct.

I could also see this being used as a form of assessment.

If I were using an anticipation guide, I would introduce it on chart paper. We would go over it whole group. Let's pretend it is the first day of school, and I am beginning my welcome to school unit. It would look something like this:
We would discuss each statement and the class would decide if the statements were true or false. If they think the statement is true, color in the smiling face. If they think the statement is false, color in the sad face. After reading books and doing other fun learning activities, I would give each student a copy of the anticipation guide. I would read the statements and the students would color in the faces. I could take them up to use as an assessment. Then, we would go over the first anticipation guide and students could compare their answers.

I love the idea of using anticipation guides in Kindergarten! They activate prior knowledge at the beginning of a unit, as well as, are a great assessment tool at the end of a unit.

Now for a FREEBIE! I have made a blank anticipation guide for you to use. Enjoy!

Have a great day!

____________________________________________

Thanks to Heather for sharing this great info and freebie with us! Please leave Heather a little note below letting her know you stopped by, and feel free to tell us about incorporating anticipation guides into your lessons! We'd love to hear from you!

Easily Manage Your Classroom Library with a Simple System!

Download from Google Docs Here! 

If you have a set of bookshelves in your classroom, designated as the "Classroom Library" for the students to use, you may like this chart I have loaded in a pdf format. Instead of having to remember to write down a book title and student name when someone wants to check out one of my personal novels in the classroom, I keep a 1/2" binder with multiple copies of this chart inside. Of course, my students always know to ask before borrowing a book, but if they want to read one of my books at home, more power to them! They just get my approval and fill out the chart with the student name, book title/author (book # if you are that organized!) and the check out date. When the books are returned, students fill in return date and have me initial beside the return date before the book is returned to the shelf! Easy to manage and less for me to remember is what I'm all about these days!

I've uploaded this FREEBIE  in Google Docs, so you don't even have to go to my store to get it! I created a cover page to slip in the clear pocket on the cover of a binder you may use or it can be taped on front of a folder! Hope you can use it!

Please let us know if you have a tip to share for keeping up with those "tedious" things that eat up time, but still need to get done! I'd love to hear new ideas as I'm sure others would like to know too! Have a great day!