Monday, August 5, 2013

Musical Monday: Telling Time With a Little Rhyme

Hello! A new week is upon us, and thankfully I was able to spend some much needed time in my classroom over the weekend.  It's far from finished, but definitely in the ballpark of where I wanted to be by now.  Whew!   

So today, for Musical Monday, I was inspired by a Target Dollar Spot item.  Shout out to my sister for grabbing one of these Dr. Seuss "One Fish, Two Fish..." foam clocks for my classroom!  Ca-ute!  

So, I took a little chant I've done in the past with my classes, and added some "meat" to it.  I'm hoping this time-telling diddy will be fun as well as helpful!  Let me explain something really quick.  I hope it makes sense... when you see the (ticky ticky) in the chant, it's meant to be high pitched and your hands do a motion like a DJ pushing a record (see picture below).  Try to keep up with my hip-ness.  


So here it goes (clearing my throat)...

Tick-tock, tick-tock, what (ticky ticky) time is it?
Tick-tock, tick-tock, what (ticky ticky) time is it?
When you tell the time, there's things you gotta know.
And once you do them all, you're tellin' time fo sho!

The hour hand is short.  The minute hand is long.

Say the hour then the minutes and you can't go wrong!
Say the number for the hour.  For the minutes, count by fives.
Then you're tellin' time with swag and you can do a tick-tock jive...WHAT!


Well, now that I've thoroughly embarrassed myself, I'm going to close this post with a LINK to one of my posts from last year with another fun time-telling idea!  I hope you all have a MARVELOUS week!!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Fun Finds Friday: Find Your Center

So, I'm super pumped about a literacy center pin I found last week.  I'll be honest, I've become a bit of a Pinterest snob.  I've caught myself thinking, "Oh, that pin is SO 6 months ago," or "Been there, done that."  So when I find a good pin, especially when it's linked to something FREE, I geek out just a little. 

THIS link will take you to the blog I stumbled upon.  Not only does this teacher have literacy centers that are "outside the box," but she includes free printable recording sheets to go with them.  I love a teacher who shares!! I'm looking forward to making a few of those centers in the near (hopefully!!) future!

I also found a few pins for sight word popsicle stick puzzles.  I found some colored popsicle sticks at the dollar store a while back, so I decided that would be an easy project to work on while I veg out in front of the TV this summer!  Here they are:



Easy, right!?  A fun find, indeed.  I hope are all enjoying your last few days/weeks of freedom!  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Thrifty Thursday: The CASE of the Missing Creativity

Another short post on this Thrifty Thursday...

This week at Staples they have sliding pencil cases like the picture below for only a penny (limit of 4) with a $5 minimum purchase!  

I've been looking for creative ways to use mine, and I seem to have a creative block at the moment...my brain's probably still fried from the last three days of professional development.  I have 12 pencil cases (thanks to some I got on this sale last year plus my mom hooking me up with her 4!).  So far, I've seen some neat centers for sight words and phonics like THIS one and THIS one. I may go with those ideas, but I haven't committed to them, just in case one of YOU have a brilliant idea on how to use them, so share away!  (Seriously, please!?)


And my last thrifty find is genius, and I'm honestly quite disappointed in myself for not having thought of this before.  I found this picture on Pinterest.   Use bulletin board border (that we have SOO much of and don't know what to do with) as crowns!  Duh! The possibilities are endless...birthday, 100th day, behavior reward, etc. etc. ETC.!  I love it, and I can't wait to put my poor neglected border to good use!  

Isn't this a great idea!?
I hope you all are having a wonderful Thursday! And for those of you who are sitting through meetings, trainings, and conferences right now, this one's for you! 
You're welcome.