Ready to Teach About Dental Health

I really surprised myself when I finished my Dental Health Packet this weekend!  It turned out really cute.  This is what I created for my Dental Health Packet.

The first thing in the packet is a Dental Health Leveled Reader.  The reader is 7 pages long and talks about what you should do to take care of your teeth.  I also created a written response page that goes along with it.

Making Words Activities are one of my students favorite centers.  I created two of these activities using the letters in DENTIST and TOOTHBRUSH.  I choose these two words because of the amount of three and four letter words that can be made rather easily.

I also created three sentence scrambles.  For this activity, students have puzzle pieces with a word or punctuation mark on it.  They will arrange the words in order to make a complete sentence that makes sense.  If you would like to try this activity, here is a freebie that is in my TpT store: Winter Sentence Scramble

This packet also contains a syllable sorting or write the room activity.  Students will sort 1 or 2 syllable dental health themed words.  There are 12 picture cards, 6 for each syllable.

Okay, last activity in this packet are writing prompts.  There are two different writing prompts.  There is a sequencing/narrative writing prompt in which students will write about how to brush your teeth.  The last writing prompt is informative/explanatory where students will write about ways that they can take care of their teeth.  Hopefully, they will have lots of information to write about after reading the leveled reader.  You can check out this packet here.

I think that I am ready to start working on some math centers.  I was hoping to make a similar packet for Groundhog's Day but I don't know if I am ready to create something like this so soon.

I'll be back soon to hopefully share some clocks/telling time centers.

Amber

Dental Health

Greetings!  This has been a crazy week.  The weather here has made my allergies go all crazy and now I have been spending my weekend in bed with a nasty virus.  It is crazy to think that last week, temperatures here were in the -20s with the windchill and yesterday the high temperature was 40!

I finally was able to post my beach themed Dolch word wall, TeacherspayTeachers has been acting crazy when I've been trying to upload a product.  I didn't have too much trouble this morning when I tried!  Here is the link, if you would like to check it out.  Surfs Up! Word Wall

My focus for the rest of the weekend is my Dental Health pack.  I have some big ideas for this pack, now to see what I can accomplish.  So far, I have created a 7 page book on dental health and was to keep your teeth healthy.  Now to move on to what I have left to complete, I want to complete a comprehension questions page to go along with the story that I have created, Making Words Activities with the word dentist and maybe toothpaste, a Syllable Sort with 1 and 2 syllable words, Sentence Scramble, and a couple of writing prompts.  I might add more, but not sure what yet.  I have many of these ideas already written down, it is just a matter of creating them.  If everything works out, I hope to have this done by next weekend.

Dental Health!

I'm hoping to do the same thing with Groundhogs.  Last year, I created a similar pack for Valentine's Day, excluding a reader.  Maybe I can upgrade that packet a put in a reader, I'll have to see what I have time for.



Thanks for reading!

Amber

Word Wall, Beach Wall

After having three days off because of the cold last week, it seemed like Monday was our first day back from break.  It was nice having a 5-day weekend last week but it was very hard to get motivated for school this week.

This weekend, I spent many hours working on a beach themed word wall for all 220 Dolch words.  I am hoping to have this posted on TeacherspayTeachers before the end of the week, fingers crossed that it happens tonight.  Maybe it was the temps below zero last week, or maybe the fact that I could still be living and teaching in North Carolina, but the beach was on my mind.  The beach word wall packet will contain 26 word wall letters, with a cute flip flop theme.  I even colored coded vowels and consonants.  Each word wall word is on a blue surfboard.  These turned out really cute, I wish that I had a classroom right now to use these.  I have been having some difficulties with getting this packet to save as a PDF file.  Thankfully, I figured out a way to save what I was working on a different way and everything is fine!

Surfs Up!

I have also been busy writing a Groundhogs Day and a Dental Health Literacy Packets.  So far, I have the main ideas for my two stories written, and have a few comprehension questions to answer for each one.  I have also been trying to think of some other literacy center ideas and writing prompts.  With another long weekend coming up, I am going to motivate myself to get one of these done.  

Today, I was working with my students on character traits.  The fifth graders, are reading War With Grandpa.  We haven't gotten too far into the book yet, but they seem to be enjoying it.  When they came up with a character trait, they had to find proof in the book.  With the group that I have, we do a lot of our reading assignments together.  One thing that I have learned is that students need to have comprehension questions to answer at any age.  My group of students struggle with comprehension, this is something that is crazy for me to imagine because I always had my kindergarten and first graders working on comprehension pieces for their stories.  There have been times where I have reread things many times hoping that they will pick up on what I was asking.  

Stay warm, soon it will be spring!

Amber

New Year, New Job

I know that I have been absent for a while, can't believe that three months have gone by since the last time that I blogged.  I have been busy subbing daily and started a new job back in November.  The good news is that I no longer get woken up to phone calls asking me to sub.  I am now a fifth grade teacher assistant for a student who has behavioral issues.  Some days are more challenging than others.  It took me a while to figure out what my role in the classrooms were, at the school that I work for, fifth grade teachers block, so I move around with one class all day.  Some rooms, it seems that I just sit there because they don't do much in those classes.  Some rooms, I am a part of the lessons and have my own group that I will work with.

I have been busy trying to find time to create new items for my TeacherpayTeacher store.  This has been hard to find time to do since I my school hours are 8:00-3:30 so I don't get home until 4:00.  Sadly, I used part of my winter break to create some new items for my store.  I have been busy creating some beginning digraph sorting activities that could also be used as write the room activities.  So far I have created l digraphs, h digraphs, and I am trying to finish up r digraphs.

Also on my to do list is to work on a reader with comprehension questions for February.  I have to decide if I want to do a Valentine's Day theme, a Groundhog theme, or a President's Day theme.  Right now I'm thinking about the February holidays while creating new products.  My goal for this school year is to work on items that could be used during the upcoming month.  I've been looking at my lesson plans from last year for inspiration.

I have also decided since February will be my 1 year anniversary on TpT, that when I post a new, paid item, that it will be on sale when it gets posted.  I haven't decided if it will be for 1 or 2 days yet.

Stay warm, this is my second no school day because of the extremely cold temperatures, With the wind chill is in the -20s, I've been second guessing my decision to leave NC and move back home to Illinois.

Amber

More Pumpkins!

I don't know about you, but this has been a very exhausting week.  I guess it is a good thing that I subbed every day this week, and I am already booked for 4 days next week.  Friday, I witnessed the craziest dismissal ever.  I taught second grade today and all bus riders and after school daycare students just walk themselves from the room to where they are going.  The only difference with the car riders is that I walked them to the door and watched them leave.  It was crazy considering for the past 9 1/2 years, I had to personally see each one of my students leave.

Now to get back to all of my pumpkin creations.  On Wednesday, I posted 2 of my pumpkin creations, I have 1 more that I will highlight today.  All of these items, plus a few additional fall themed items, will be on sale in my shop throughout the weekend!  I have 8 items that are 20% off throughout the weekend, http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Amber-Ottman/Price-Range/On-Sale

I created another pumpkin themed reader titled, "We Like Pumpkins!".  This reader goes over the different things that you can do with a pumpkin, like carving it, painting it, counting the seeds inside of it, and more.  This reader is priced at $1.50 but is on sale through the weekend for $1.20.  To take a look at this reader, click here.

We Like Pumpkins! Reader

I'm going to try and enjoy this weekend, I already know that the next two weeks are going to be busy like this one.

Amber

Pumpkins

This has been and is going to be a very busy week for me.  I'm booked for subbing everyday this week.  It is really hard getting up in the morning since it has been a long time since I've had to wake up to an alarm clock three days in a row and counting.  The one thing that subbing has taught me is that every school district is completely different and I'm getting a feel for the districts that I would like to find a permanent position with and ones that I would not.  Tomorrow, I will be back with the sixth graders that I was with today and on Friday, I will be in second grade.

Last week, I mentioned that I finished a couple of pumpkin literacy activities.  I am going to share two things today, one free and one paid item.  I will share the others later this week, hopefully Friday.

I'm going to start with my freebie.  I created three sequencing writing prompts about pumpkins.  The writing prompts are: how to pick a pumpkin, how to carve a pumpkin, and how to make a pumpkin pie.  I made a version with and without transitional words.  I also made a cute blank writing page, what can I say, after spending so much time in K-1, I have to have a certain level of cuteness in my projects.  You can grab this freebie by clicking here.

The last thing that I am going to share is a reader that is titled: "How Does a Pumpkin Grow?".  This reader is 9 pages long, including cover and goes over how a pumpkin seed grows into a pumpkin. There are 2 copies of the reader, one in color and the other in black and white.   There is also a comprehension page that you can have your students work on after reading the book. This item is available in my teacherspayteachers store for $3.00, check it out by clicking here.

Here is a preview of "How Does a Pumpkin Grow?"

The good news is it is Wednesday and there are only two more days left for this week.  Come back on Friday/Saturday to see what else I have to share with my pumpkin theme, there may also be a sale on the items that I'm sharing over the weekend!

Amber

Apples and Subbing

I've started subbing last week, I will have to admit that it is so much more relaxing being the substitute teacher instead of the teacher who has to make the sub plans.  So far, I've been a high school math teacher, a high school ag teacher, and a elementary p.e. teacher.  Tomorrow, I will be in 5th grade.  After spending the past 9 years teaching K-1, this has been really easy.  I know that it is still early in the school year and that my days will start to pick up.

While I have been home, I have been working on some apple projects.  I have found that it is easier to have the clip art that I want to use then start working on my projects.  Sometimes I have this wonderful idea about what I want to do but have to make changes because I cannot find clip art that works with what I am creating.

Here is a peek at what I've made with my apple theme.

I've created a reader, that talks about how an apple grows.  I started with an apple seed that will grow into a tree.  Then about how the tree will get buds in the spring, the buds will open into blossoms, then will turn into apples.  I even included how a bee will visit the blossoms to collect pollen.  I also created a comprehension worksheet that can be used after the story. You can check this product out here.

I also created a few apple writing prompts.  This is a freebie in my teacherspayteachers store.  The prompts that are included are: "Write about your favorite food to eat that is made from apples.  What makes it your favorite?", " Write about the steps needed to pick the perfect apple." and " Write about the steps needed to make an apple pie.".  You can find this product here. 

I made another apple reader as well.  This reader talked about what you can make with an apple.  I ended this reader with the question, "What do you like to make with apples?" this question would be perfect to use as a writing prompt after your students have read and discussed the reader.  You can find this product here.

I've also been working on some pumpkin readers and writing prompts.  I'll be back next week to preview those for you.

I'm anxiously waiting for Saturday so I can go see my nieces and nephew!  Enjoy your weekend.

Amber