PERSUASIVE WRITING: Tooth Fairy vs. Santa Claus

I knew I wanted to come up with something creative that would really get my kids excited about their final persuasive writing piece to culminate the end of our persuasive writing unit. One of my team members mentioned seeing an idea online where students had to argue who had a tougher job: the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. A-dorable. We couldn't find any actual printables for this, so of course, I made some myself!

First, we brainstormed some reasons why the Tooth Fairy works harder {my opinion: this girl wins, hands down. She touches nasty teeth and never gets a night off. Come on.} and then why Santa Claus works harder. They came up with some HILARIOUS reasons! One of my favorite reasons was in favor of the Tooth Fairy working harder: "The Tooth Fairy must spend a LOT of money on babysitters taking care of her kids every single night!" Hahaha! Who thinks of that?! Second graders do. They were SO passionate about their opinion and we had to have a chat about how to respectfully disagree with someone else's opinion. ;)

After brainstorming some of reasons for both sides of our argument on this graphic organizer, students used this graphic organizer to plan their Opinion, Reasons, Explanations, and Conclusion/Opinion Restated {OREO}.

Once they had their graphic organizers filled-in, it was time to write their "sloppy copy" persuasive essay. We conferenced and discussed how to make some reasons and explanations stronger, to really make sure our point was being made!

The final step in their persuasive writing project was to write their final copy on this final writing paper. These turned out SUPER adorable and made a great hallway addition to our clipboard displays. {Side note: These clipboard displays have been a LIFESAVER and mega timesaver for hanging up work in the hallway. Since it's SO easy, it forces me to actually rotate their work frequently, instead of just leaving things out there for months at a time. Not that I would have ever done that or anything ....}

Our hallway clipboard displays. Each student's name is mounted to a clothespin, making it SUPER easy to rotate work in the hallway.

Here are some of their final copies! I just love 'em.

This one absolutely CRACKED ME UP. 

"Then, she needs wings to go around. Last, Santa needs a sleigh. Ridiculous!"

The picture on this one was too cute. The Tooth Fairy is saying, "I like this girl's style!" talking about the little girl's room decor. Haha!

Look at that concluding sentence! :)

All of the products mentioned are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, right here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Crafting-In-Cardigans

Some other great persuasive writing activities I used in my unit, all from Teachers Pay Teachers, are listed below!

Hey, Little Ant: Squish or Save 

*LOVED this. Will definitely use again.

Hey, Little Ant Persuasive Writing Rubric

Hey, Little Ant Reasons Organizer

I Wanna Iguana Persuasive Pet Letter

OREO Graphic Organizer

Persuasive Writing Organizer

Persuasive Letter Checklist

*I also had my students write to persuade me that they deserved the night off from homework. Of course, if they gave GREAT support, I gave them the night off! Talk about motivation! ;)

Happy Crafting!
- Kristen

ELA RAMBLE: Snowmen at Night

I cannot believe six months have gone by since I last posted ... this year has slipped away in front of my eyes! Now that we are well on our way in the last half of the school year, I figured I was MORE than ready to get back into the swing of things on the blog!

At my school, my grade-level is currently writing our own ELA Curriculum. Although this is time-consuming, exhausting, treacherous, a lot of work, I know it will pay off to have a curriculum filled with meaningful texts and lessons that we are actually excited about teaching. We just have to get through this year of writing it all. ;)

We decided to assign a monthly theme so that we could stay focused on a topic that correlated to either science or social studies standards, and could also lend itself towards some high-quality mentor texts for writing.

This month, we decided to do a Snow/Winter Unit to tie-in some of the science standards (types of matter, water cycle, etc). It makes sense to do a winter unit in upstate New York, where there is PLENTY of real-life snow examples! ;) Our central mentor texts for the month include: Brave Irene by William Steig (also available online at: www.storylineonline.net), Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler, and It's Snowing! by Gail Gibbons.

After focusing heavily on sequencing and transition words in our writing {first, then, next, last}, we read the story Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. These snowmen books are a-dorable, and my kiddos totally eat them up! They love trying to find the pickle on every page. Leave it to seven year olds ... :)

After reading the story, I had my students brainstorm what THEY would do if they were snowmen at night. What wild adventures would they go on?! They were encouraged to be as creative as they wanted. This original idea was from Cara at The First Grade Parade aka: My inspiration in life.

They came out super cute and have made an awesome hallway display! Plus, you've gotta love a snowy display in New York. This can stay out until April, if I'm really feeling lazy!!!

I just love the way the torn-paper snowmen came out! SO stinkin' cute. Will definitely repeat this one next year!

We are working on wrapping up a couple of our Persuasive Writing Pieces + Projects now, so stay tuned for a post on that SOON! :) 

Happy Crafting!

- Kristen

Operation Organization #3: Monthly Bin/Library Bin Labels

Ahhhh organization, one of my absolute FAVORITE things in this world. {Is that sad?} Anyways, after screaming, crying, & dancing around the house for a few days following news that I was hired {Insert crazy dance moves again!}, I decided I should start tackling the build-up of boxes that had slowly conquered the basement over the past 3 years. I knew I wanted some sort of monthly organizational system, somewhere I could file away seasonal projects, books, decor, etc.

My classroom has something unique, at least unique to me, that takes up a bit of space, but allows for some storage as well. My room has lockers. Yep, second grade classroom with lockers INSIDE the room. These will obviously be used as my kiddos' cubbies, but there are extras that I can also use for my own storage purposes. All along the top of the lockers is a large shelf, perfect for some tote-sized bins. ;)

Here is my little locker nook of my classroom. 

{This was taken the first day I was able to get in, I just randomly took pics of everything, so please ignore the open locker & stuff on top. My OCD self is trying my hardest to do the same ;)}

Here are the bins/bin labels I came up with to store on top of my lockers. 

I will update with a picture of the bins on the lockers, once I get into my classroom in a couple of weeks.

Remember, I'm trying to stay out until closer to August! :D 

My bins fit PERFECTLY on the left-hand side of the shelf, leaving the whole right-hand side available for further storage. Yay!

To create my monthly bin labels, I simply created 5 different slides in MS Powerpoint.

I uploaded a turquoise chevron background {to match my color scheme} and added a text box labeling each bin with 2 different months. I also added some cute theme-based clipart according to each month, from My Cute Graphics. 

Ps. Can we talk about how OBSESSED I am with My Cute Graphics? FREE page borders, clip art frames, and the most adorable clipart on the planet. Ugh. Love.

The font I used for my labels is: Wish I Were Taller.

I simply printed my monthly bin labels on cardstock, ran them through my laminator, and attached them to my bins using Duct tape. 

You can find my Monthly Bin Labels in my NEW Teachers Pay Teachers Store! :)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Crafting-In-Cardigans

Also available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store are these Library Bin Labels with coordinating individual book labels.

For my book bins, I printed my labels on cardstock, ran them through my laminator, cut them, and hole-punched them onto binder rings. During my student teaching experience in kindergarten, my mentor teacher had her books organized by season/holidays, etc. so that she didn't need to have a MILLION book bins, but could rotate her stock of books instead. I place all of my book labels on binder rings and rotate through according to the month/season/holiday.

By placing the individual book labels on the backs of my books, students are able to match up their clipart on their book with the clipart on the book bin labels, making for a MUCH more organized classroom! 

Head over to my TPT Store to see what else I have uploaded! :)

Happy Crafting!

- Kristen

Operation Organization #2: Teacher Toolbox

I have been SO obsessed with getting everything done for my classroom sidetracked by school lately, that I feel like summer is slipping out of my hands so quickly. :( I can't help myself from working on little projects here & there {ALL OF THE TIME}. I've tried to stay out of my actual classroom until closer to August, but it certainly doesn't stop me from tackling projects at home.

One project I've seen ALL over Pinterest is the "Teacher Toolbox" in all of the many designs and styles that are possible. I knew I wanted to create my own version as soon as I saw this organizational dream, because I am not going to have a teacher desk in my classroom this year. My classroom currently does not have a desk in it, because the teacher prior to my arrival did not have one, and I decided I wanted to keep it that way, instead of hauling one in from the storage room. It will really help to keep my {kind of small} classroom opened up & create more room for the kiddos!

To start: I found a few different toolbox ideas on Pinterest that I really liked. 

This toolbox is from Ms. Lilypad's Primary Pond and she has her labels for FREE. 

I was going to use her labels {they match my color scheme}, but decided I wanted to use my drawers for different purposes.

This is the toolbox I purchased from Lowe's. 

It is the Stack-On-22-Drawer Storage Cabinet. 

This toolbox is SUPER affordable: $16.97, but super difficult to locate in the store!

I searched "Tool World" for a good 10 minutes before finally giving up and asking someone. 

For future reference: they're located in the organizational/storage aisles. 

{At least in my store}

I knew I wanted my toolbox to be brighter than the dark blue shade it comes in, so I also purchased some spray paint while at Lowe's. 

{I honestly don't remember what shade, and can't find where I put the can ... I'll update once I locate it!}

I also created my own labels for my toolbox, based on what supplies I knew I would be using most frequently and wanted organized. 

Create, Teach, Share is an AMAZING blog that started the whole Teacher Toolbox craze. This is where I found the dimensions for the toolbox labels.

Dimensions for the toolbox are:

{14 Labels} H: 1.38" x W 2.00"

{8 Labels} H: 2.12" x W 4.25"

Just create text boxes in MS Word or PPT and edit the dimensions up on the toolbar. Fill-in whatever you want to label your drawers and voila! 

I added some multi-colored chevron backgrounds to mine, just by searching "multi-colored chevron" in Google Images.

Here is my Teacher Toolbox! :)

{I am lovin' her}

Some of the boxes are hard to read in this picture, but the labels include:

{Large Labels}

- Glue

- Post-its

- Markers

- Highlighters

- Pens

- Pencils

- Stickers

- Stickers {Seasonal}

{Small Labels}

- Staples

- Tape 

- Rubber Bands

- White-Out

- Push Pins

- Stamps

- Ribbon

- Binder Rings

- Small Paper Clips

- Large Paper Clips

- Eraser Toppers

- Small Binder Clips

- Large Binder Clips 

- Band-Aids

If you are interested in making your OWN Teacher Toolbox, head over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store for a FREE download! :) http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teacher-Toolbox-Labels-1337320

The font used for my labels is: KG Second Chances Solid. {Free download at DaFont}

I just printed my labels, cut them out, and attached them to the inside of each drawer using a small piece of tape on either side. You could also use double-sided tape, but I didn't have any, so I used what I had on hand. :)

Happy Crafting! :)

- Kristen

Operation Organization #1: Joann's/Dollar Tree Haul

I am BEYOND thrilled to announce that I have accepted my first full-time teaching position as a Second Grade Teacher! :) This is truly a dream come true and I am still waiting for someone to tell me they were just kidding and it's not really mine. Ha! 

Of course, one of the first things that popped into my head, when starting to brainstorm for next year, was my classroom theme. What color(s) did I want the room to be? What color(s) were already in the room that I would need to coordinate with? What am I drawn to? What would my kids be drawn to? What colors are calming? What do I already own that will help me to not go 100% broke before starting my job, but only 99% broke instead? 

My answer: Blues & Greens! I used a lot of blues and greens in my fourth grade classroom, so I already had a few different things I knew I could repurpose for my second grade room. I also happen to L.O.V.E. these colors together, AND it is proven that these are calming colors. 

Calmness = less behavior probs? Maybe? Hopefully? Alright. 

Anyways. I started going through all of my loot in my basement, I still have 2 other rooms filled with stuff. Ahhhh. I realized before I could really tackle anything else, I NEEDED bins and containers to help me organize all of my materials, books, games, etc, to see what I really had and what I would need to buy this summer. 

Here are some of the things I picked up at Joann's and Dollar Tree.

I also grabbed two of the items from Big Lots and Wal-Mart.

I was SUPER excited about this find!

I have been wanting a 10-drawer cart like this from Really Good Stuff forever, but at $95, I could never justify the purchase. Joann's does sell one of these, as well, but it is still $90 {right now, marked down to $49.99}. 

I found my cart at Big Lots for $28! Such a steal. The quality of the drawers is not AS great as the RGS cart, but for the price, I'm sure it'll work just fine. I plan to use the first 5 drawers for my M-F bins, and the last 5 for guided reading group materials or projects, etc.

Next up, I went to Dollar Tree to see what different storage solutions they had. While they have a large selection out right now with blue and green bins of all sizes, my particular store was running low on the sizes I was looking for, but I was able to find a few things.

I found these ADORABLE polka-dot paper lanterns that I plan on hanging in my reading nook. I have a few solid colored poms in blue and green that I will hang along with them in varying heights. 

Adorbs.

 These are a few of the different sized bins I was able to grab at Dollar Tree in my colors. 

I see these working well for centers/project organization, as well as Daily 5 storage.

Second Grade sight word cards from DT! 

I will laminate these so that they can be used {at least} throughout the whole year. 

I plan to store these in one of the smaller containers for students to use during Word Work.

*Containers for above-mentioned sight words. ;) 

These will also be used for math manipulatives and other supplies.

I was having a hard time finding the right size bin for my picture books, but came across the perfect size at Joann's! AND to make it better, all storage solutions were 50% knocking the price down on these. The original price for these bins was $5.99/bin, I got them for $2.99/bin. Yay! 

I plan to have a few bins out year-round with our "favorite picture books" or "favorite authors", but I will also have rotating seasonal bins that will contain different books for holidays, seasons, events, etc.

Unfortunately, these bins only came in white ... I'm debating using a spray paint made for plastic to change the color of the bins, but I haven't decided yet. 

I suppose I could have a couple of things that aren't blue or green, but it might drive me insane. :)

I found these two math items at Joann's in the teaching supplies section. There were a TON of items marked down on clearance, so I decided to browse and see if there were any second grade materials.

Money is a topic covered in second grade, so I picked up a Money BINGO game {on clearance for $2.97} and a money bulletin board set, that I will probably not put on a BB, but may use as a math center {on clearance for $0.97}.

{This is what happens when I try to get anything done around here ... such big helpers ...}

This isn't the cutest item in the world, but for $0.50, I grabbed this tooth chart, incase I don't end up making or finding something along the way this summer.

 I found these ADORABLE craft sticks at Joann's {$2.99/18 pc set, I used a coupon bringing them down to $2.00/set}. I plan to have my students decorate their person as one of our first day activities! These will be used throughout the year when we are not able to choose things fairly or friends are not participating. ;)

I also picked up this set of word tiles for $1.97. I thought these would make a cute Word Work center for Daily 5, tossing them in a little bin with directions on how to build sentences, etc.

This is the calendar set I ended up buying for my classroom this year. It's the "Dots on Turquoise Calendar Set" {available online here} I actually got my calendar set off of Amazon, I didn't know Joann's sold this, but I recommend grabbing it at Joann's where you can use a coupon! It's still pretty affordable at $11.99, even without a coupon. 

I'm bummed I paid $16 on Amazon!

I also grabbed 2 sets of bulletin board borders that were on clearance for $0.97/each. 

We will be doing 'Star Student' in second grade, so I thought these would be cute for the BB that will feature our special kiddo each week!

I picked up this deep turquoise rug at Wal-Mart for $29.99. I'm not positive if I'm keeping it or not, it's not very big and I'm not sure if I have a spot for it. I was thinking of putting it in my reading nook, but I'm not sure if the size is right for that either ... I guess we will see!

 Finally, I have these bins {from Dollar Tree like 2 years ago, given to me by a friend who updated her book boxes} that I plan to use for my Daily 5 book boxes. I am going to spray paint these with the Krylon Fusion plastic spray paint {unsure what color yet} and add a label to the front with my students' numbers, so they can be used year after year.

 I will keep you updated as I organize, decorate, and create lots of different things for my second grade classroom! :)

Happy Shopping! :)

- Kristen

June: Favorite Picture Books!

Can you believe it's almost the END of June?! (Can you also believe I'm still in school for 2 more days ... never-ending month!) As always, I have selected a few favorite picture books/nonfiction texts to share with all of you! Many of these books make great read-alouds, as well as being great recommendations for your kiddos to pick up during summer from their local library! :) 

Let's get started!

1. "Bad Kitty" by: Nick Bruel

Available on Amazon here.

This book is HILARIOUS, plain & simple. 

The kitty in this story starts getting angry at his owners for the types of food they are trying to feed him. He goes on a rampage through the house destroying everything in his path (listing the items in A-Z order), until his owners come home with something delicious. He quickly tries to make-up for what he's done so that he can get a treat.

Super cute read-aloud and a great book for kindergarteners on up. 

There are also mini chapter spin-off "Bad Kitty" books that are great for 2nd graders +. 

2. "National Geographic Readers" {Multiple Authors}

Available on Amazon here.

I cannot say enough great things about these "National Geographic Readers" for kids. 

They are AMAZING! 

As I've mentioned before, I'm not someone who is drawn to non-fiction, I would pick a fictional story any day, but these books are awesome. They are filled with great nonfiction text features in an accessible format for kids of all ages. Even for our youngest kiddos, they can browse and explore the different photographs throughout each book. These are filled with facts and would be a great addition to any age classroom. 

Imagine all of the FANTASTIC nonfiction projects you could do with these! The opportunities are endless. Highly, HIGHLY, recommend this series.

3. "Elephant and Piggie" Series by: Mo Willems

Available on Amazon here.

Can we just talk about how much I LOVE Mo Willems for one second? 

A LOT.

You may know him from one of my previously talked about favs, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" {mentioned here in my May Favorites post}.

These books are absolutely adorable and filled with simple, but effective illustrations to pair along with the text. "A Big Guy Took My Ball!" is one of my personal favs of the series, but I love them all. These are great for grades 1-3, but could be used as quick read-alouds for Pre-K/K students, as well. 

A co-worker of mine {1st grade teacher} had a student create her own Elephant & Piggie book after reading multiple books from the series at school, and using Mo Willems as a mentor author. 

How cool is that?! 

Definitely check this series out. Another hilarious set of books by my man, Mo.

4. "Scaredy Squirrel" by: Melanie Watt

Available on Amazon here.

My final favorite for the month of June has to be "Scaredy Squirrel" by Melanie Watts.

This book is hilarious for a number of reasons, the main one being that this squirrel is super paranoid about something bad happening to him if he leaves his tree. He goes through a number of 'plans' he has incase these different things happen to him, but finally decides to make a move one day.

Not only is this book an AWESOME read-aloud, it is also available on Tumble Books to watch! 

{So is one of the "Scaredy Squirrel" sequels}

There are a TON of "Scaredy Squirrel" picture books, if you find your students LOVE these books, you can fill-up a good section of your classroom library with them. 

If you have any books you think I should take a look at, please leave a comment below! :)

Happy Summer to all of my teacher friends out there!

Happy Reading!

- Kristen

May: Favorite Picture Books!

May is already quickly turning into June, it seems! My picks for "May: Favorite Picture Books" are books that are tried and true with kids of all ages. One factor that consistently comes into play when I am selecting children's books, is the quality of the illustrations. I love, love, love BEAUTIFUL hand-drawn illustrations in a book. They really help bring the words to life, as well as helping out struggling readers with some of the words through use of pictures and context clues.

That being said, here are my picks for this month's favorite picture books!

1. "A Story for Bear" by: Dennis Haseley

Available on Amazon here.

This has to be one of my all-time FAVORITE picture books. Not only are the illustrations beyond beautiful {created with acrylic paint and colored pencil}, but the message is just as beautiful. The book tells the story of a woman and a bear who are drawn together as friends over the love of a good story. 

I may or may not tear up while reading this one, but I absolutely love it.

Here's another illustration from the book: 

{Could you just die over the cuteness of this sweet guy?!}

2. "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by: Mo Willems

Available on Amazon here.

 The "Pigeon" series by Mo Willems absolutely cracks me up. No lie, I die laughing every time I read one, especially aloud. These books have limited amounts of text, which is why I find them so fascinating. Through simple illustrations and speech bubbles, the author is able to convey the feelings of the pigeon and other characters, all while incorporating the reader into the story.

Other books in this series include: "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late", "The Pigeon Needs a Bath!", "The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog", "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy", along with a few other 'spin-off' versions. All are equally hilarious, but I love the original. 

3. "Roxaboxen" by: Alic McLerran

Available on Amazon here.

 This book is another tried and true all-time favorites. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful by the talented Barbara Cooney {illustrator of "Miss Rumphius", another great book}. 

The blurb on the back of the book really tells all you need to know about this amazing story:

"Marian called it Roxaboxen. There across the road, it looked like any rocky hill - nothing but sand and rocks, some old wooden boxes, cactus and greasewood and thorny ocotillo - but it was really a sparkling world of jeweled homes, streets edged with the whitest stones, and two ice cream shops. And all children needed to go there were a long stick and a soaring imagination."

The vivid imagery and description of this book, coupled with the amazing illustrations, makes for a fantastic read-aloud for any age. The events in this book are based on true events from the author's mother's life. 

This is a great book to use for any writing lesson to show how students can describe a place in a way that makes the reader feel like they are actually there.

4. "Bedhead" by: Margie Palatini

 Available on Amazon here.

If you're looking for a book to help teach word choice, imagery, small moments, or just a book filled with humor, this is a fabulous choice. The language in this story is brilliant, and perfectly paints a picture of a kid having a terrible hair day. When students claim they have nothing to write about, pull this book out and show that even having a bad hair day can turn into a picture book! The smallest moments make for the best stories, filled with lots & lots of detail. 

This book can be used with all ages!

That concludes the list of a few of my favorite picture books this month. 

Stay tuned for June's list, coming up in just a few short weeks! :)

As always, if you have any favorites you think I would enjoy 

{especially with BEAUTIFUL illustrations} 

please leave titles in the comments below!

Happy Reading!

- Kristen