Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Thank you, Public Library!








This weekend I ran into the library with my kiddos to find a good movie (just didn't want to spend that $1.00 at Redbox!) and stumbled upon something great in the children's section! I can't believe I hadn't noticed this wonderful tool sooner- but I am grateful I found it when I did. Have you ever heard of a Playaway View (The All-in-one video player)?? I hadn't until just now.
It is this remarkable little gadget that houses preloaded videos. It is about the size of a cellphone, so your students can hold it in their hands while viewing.










It comes with a jack for headphones.
I was so happy to find this amazing piece of technology! Each of my little ones checked out one for themselves and I snatched one up for my classroom. I couldn't believe my luck when I was able to get the "Great Places and Faces" video. The very first video (it has over an hour of watchable video) was Thank You, Sarah. How perfect for Thanksgiving and for my Turkey Task Centers that I had planned for Monday and today. My listening center promptly changed into a video center!!
Let me tell you, my students were so excited about this new piece of technology. Of course, a couple of them who are frequent visitors of the library had already checked one out and knew all about it.
The icing on the cake was when I read a comment on one of my posts from Elizabeth over at Fun in Room 4B. She shared some great printables from another blogger for, you guessed it, the book Thank You, Sarah! Could things get any better!
I hope you have a great public library like mine that has wonderful resources! If they don't have these yet, maybe tell them about them! I can't wait to check more out for my Listening/Video Center!!





Monday, November 14, 2011

Making Time for Thanksgiving!

Whew!! What a busy time of year this is right now! I have parent- teacher conferences coming up and I am NOT ready! So, of course, here I am talking to you guys. Can you say, Procrastinator!!?? I am looking forward to my two day week that is coming up the week of Thanksgiving. Since we only have a two day week, it is really hard to introduce new concepts, so I spend Monday and Tuesdsay doing a lot of reviewing. I use my Turkey Tasks to keep my students busy and engaged. These are low prep activities or centers that your students can do independently. Take a look at my Thankgsving Making Words activity. Your students can do this in a center or you can assign it to the whole group. Grab it here by heading to my TPT store. If you are interested in more great Turkey Tasks, head on over to my TPT store! Gobble, gobble!!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons'




Have you ever thought that things are going just the way that you planned only to find out that everything was going wrong? Well, that is exactly what happens to the Tappletons in this sweet tale by Eileen Spinelli. This has always been one of my favorite Thanksgiving stories. My students always love it as well and I think it is because we all can relate to it.


If you haven't read this story now is the perfect time to introduce yourself and your students to it. This story has a great message at the end that really gets to the heart of the true meaning of "Thanksgiving" and the Holiday Season.


Check out my Story Pack by going to my TPT store http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thanksgiving-at-the-Tappletons-Story-Pack and in the spirit of ThanksGIVING, I will give a copy away to the first three followers who comment on this post. Make sure to include your email address!
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