We have a winner... and also a SNEAK PEEK at CTP's new product line!

We have a winner!

That's right, blogging friends!

A big congratulations goes out to Ellen C. for winning this amazing Creative Teaching Press prize package!

Thank you to all who participated in our CTP Exclusive Blogger product giveaway hop.

If you weren't one of the prize package winners, don't be filled with FOMO! (Fear Of Missing Out)

I've got another little nugget of goodness for ya!   Simply click HERE to go to CTP's secret landing page that give you a "sneak peek" at the new CTP products that will be released late in May!

These new products are THE BEST.... and since you are one of my blog followers, we are granting you special access to pre-order so you can get your products FIRST when they come off the presses! 

I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

Oh!  And when you are on the secret product landing page, be sure to enter to win a second giveaway for even more CTP prize packages!

So go! Get on it, right now!   Prizes are waiting for you!

It's the 2016 Creative Teaching Press Spring Give Away Linky Party!

Hello Blogging Friends!   

It's that time again...

Time for the AMAZING spring Creative Teaching Press product give away linky party!

I'm joining together with of a few of my blogging besties {who are also CTP fanatics like me!} to bring you some incredibly cute, trendy and functionally purposeful products!

  The second I laid my eyes on CTP's
"Painted Palette" collection...

I was IN LOVE!

{Insert SWOON here.} I mean... JUST LOOK AT THESE PRODUCTS!!! Y'all... It's confession time.  I think I own EVERY SINGLE "Painted Palette" product.  I puffy-heart-love them! Confession #2.... Sometimes when I go to put up a new bulletin board, it literally takes me five minutes to take these gorgeous products out of the plastic wrappers....Just because they are SO pretty, that in my heart, I just want to hoard them and somehow keep them forever and not use them up!  I know, right?! It's weird! Share them with the world, Holly. Share them with the World! LOL Confession #3... When you buy items from the "Painted Palette" collection yourself, you will need to buy 2 of everything.... at least!  This is because when your colleagues see the products in your room or in the hall, YOU will quickly become the "go to" place when THEY have to re-do bulletin boards or decorate!  #truestory  #nojoke #buymultiples #caniusesomeofthatborder Ok... So grab a tissue, wipe the drool off your lip... and take a peek at what YOU can enter to win! Yep!  That's right... All of the items above could be YOURS!  You simply must enter the Rafflecopter below! #easypeasy #CTProcks #iminlovewithpaintedpaletteandidontcarewhoknowsit a Rafflecopter giveaway Wanna' sneak peek at what new CTP products are coming soon??? Check these gems out....

I already have one set two sets on my wish list! LOL

Be sure to check back on May 4th to see who the BIG WINNER will be!

Until then.... Let's keep this "HOP" rolling....

Visit my amazing friend, Brenda, over at Primary Inspired to see what CTP prize bundle she's giving away!  

Oviparous Animal Research Reports

It's spring!  
{At least that's what they tell me!  Here in Indiana, we've still had snow covered lawns for the past several days! UGH!}

It's the time of year when many kinder-teachers begin their study of oviparous (egg-laying) animals.  I've had many teachers requesting more information about my TPT oviparous animal research project unit during the last week, so I thought that I would do a quick post about it!

Completing research reports on oviparous animals is one of my kiddos' favorite parts of our unit!

The BEST part...is that it is simple for you to prepare....
yet yields powerful results!
#teachsmart

Here's how it worked in my classroom last year...

After spending a week reading books and watching video clips about oviparous animals, we began our oviparous animal research projects.  Sound dull?  Well... it was NOT!  It truly was a blast!  

To introduce the project, I knew I needed a fun and engaging "hook," so I filled several dozen plastic (Easter-type) eggs with pictures of a wide variety of oviparous animals.   I took them outside during a short break and hid them around the playground.  I explained that we were going to start an awesome new research project, and that each child would be assigned a specific oviparous animal which to study.   In order to find out which animal they would be assigned, they had to go on an egg hunt....find an egg, open it...and see what type of animal was inside!  The animal inside their egg would be their assigned research animal.

Above are a few pics of from our "hunt!"

The kids had a blast and were SO excited to get started on their research!  

I knew I was "on to something" that other teachers might like to try with their classes, so at that moment I decided to make a TPT unit on this research project. {More info about that in a bit!}

Being straight up honest, it was quite a pain to look up pics for that many oviparous animals and copy and paste pics from the 'net.  The pics you see above are from my "original" attempt at the egg hunt. What I ended up creating resulted in being much better... and much more visually appealing! LOL

Next, when we went inside,  I recorded the animals that each kiddo found during the hunt and wrote them on research project send-home packets that I created.  

The cover page of the packet explains what the project is all about (to parents) and gives the directions for kiddos to complete some VERY simple research at home...which they will then return to school.  When the research is returned, we complete the research projects in class.  

Here are a few peeks at this project in action....

(Kindergartner working on project)

(Middle school student completing project)

Here are some of my kinders' finished projects...

Here are a few middle school student projects...

If you teach about oviparous animals in your class and want to know more about this project, you check it out by clicking on the image below! 

Grab this simple-to-prep, yet powerful resource and begin your research project tomorrow!

Join us this summer during the TPT conference for an awesome TEACHER MEET-UP!

Coming to the TPT conference this summer?  

(Or maybe you are just looking for a fun excuse to get away???)

Either way, YOU are invited to join us in sunny Orlando, Florida!  

#2016orlandomeetup

 You've worked hard all year...and you deserve a little fun, right?!

Well, we can guarantee lots of fun, lots of friends, and LOTS of giveaways! 

Thanks to our primary sponsor, TeachersPayTeachers, this will be a night to remember! 

Here's a peek at just a few of the 1000+ friends that attended last year!

{Check out more pictures from our 2012 and 2013 and 2014 meet ups!}

At last year's meet up we gave away hundreds of prizes and this year will be no exception! We have lots of surprises in store for this meet up, so PLEASE join us!

(A peek at last year's prizes. All donated by our awesome sponsors!)

We had so many other sponsors that helped donate over $55,000 worth of swag, prizes, and goodies!  Can you believe that?!  I don't know about you, but to us... that's a whole lotta love for teachers!  

What you need to know:

*All teachers are invited to this meet-up! You do NOT need to have a blog to attend this special event!

*You can RSVP on our official Facebook event page: HERE! If you do not have a Facebook account, you can RSVP by commenting on this post.

*Please don't be shy! Every year we have people who are worried about not knowing anyone. This is a great opportunity to say hi to some of your favorite teacher-bloggers, as well as meet new friends and connect with teachers from all over!

*Please download the nametag template HERE. (Add your name, print and wear it to the meet up!)

*The meet up will be held at The Swan and Dolphin Resort, but the actual conference room number will be posted closer to the meet up. Follow our Facebook event page to get updates on the exact location.

We are super excited to attend the TPT Conference this year and know that this Teacher Meet Up will be incredible!

Can't wait to see ya'll in sunny Orlando!

Teaching about Easter

Life has certainly been a whirlwind lately....but thankfully, I've had a few extra days to slow down and re-focus on what is really important.  I teach at a small, private Christian school in which we are given Good Friday and Easter Monday off.  This extra time has been such a blessing to me.  It has given me a little time to reflect on my priorities...and also appreciate how blessed I am to be able to share the love of Jesus in my classroom.  Although I know it may be a little late to be posting about Easter ideas....I personally will spend another week with that focus, so I thought I might as well do a post on some of my favorite Easter teaching resources! {Some of them are from "throw back" posts!}

Now, I understand that many of you will not be able to use the ideas I'm blogging about in this post in your classroom, as you may teach in a public school. (I spent my first 10 years teaching in public school myself.)  However,  I'm going to share them anyways...for my private teacher followers... and perhaps for you to use at home as "mom/dad/aunt/grandma" with your own kiddos!

Here are a few of the Christian Easter activities/resources I use in my classroom...

Easter "Write the Room" Activity

I just LOVE Alessia Albanese's "Write the Room" activities!  She is my go-to girl for these activity resources.  Check them out HERE!  (If you don't have this type of center in your classroom, I would highly suggest giving it a try!  The kids LOVE it!) Let me explain, in case you don't know how a"Write the Room" center works.   You place different "cards" around your classroom (can be theme words, like this one... or it can be math equations, or anything!)... and then the kiddos who are assigned to that center grab a clipboard and recording sheet and search around the room for the hidden cards.  When they find them, they write the words (or answer to the math equation or whatever) onto the recording sheet.  Here is a example of the recording sheet I use.  (I always use a two-sided recording sheet.  I always designate which side of the page the kids MUST start with... and then they flip to the second side if they finish the first.) 

  

   

OH!  Please note that Alessia's Easter Write-the-Room Set includes a FULL Easter, 

non-religious, set of cards/recording sheets too! 

Book Nook/Reading Center Activity

At my "Book Nook" center, my students typically work on making different types of interactive emergent readers, which they complete and then place in their familiar reading boxes.  This week, we used this little gem!  The students read the sentence on each page... then cut out and glue on the corresponding picture.   The set even comes with a pre-made "answer key" booklet which you can leave at the center too, if you choose.  You can find this awesome resource in "Let's Learn S'More's" TPT store!  Click HERE for more details!

Easter Art Activity

We also complete this little Easter art activity. The kiddos simply painted the background paper with liquid watercolors (bottled..not the trays), then cut out the black silhouette hill and crosses.  The liquid watercolors dry quickly.. and you can glue on the ground and crosses about ten minutes after you paint!   

    

Easter Story Video

We watched this very age-appropriate Easter video on YouTube.  It is VERY child friendly/developmentally appropriate in regard to Jesus' death on the cross.

Walking with Jesus... Palm Sunday Skit

Two years ago, I had a "grand" last-minute idea to create a Palm Sunday "walk-through" skit of the events of that special day.  You know,  "bring it to life" for my kiddos!  Ok. Ok.  If you know me, you know that any excuse to use costumes is just my "thing!"  Here are a few pictures of  one of our Palm Sunday walk-throughs.   

NOTE:  Be sure to check out my Easter posts from the past too... as past photos were pretty epic too!  CLICK HERE to view them! We used different costumes last year...but truly, you can pull this off with a few towels and bedsheets!

Do you celebrate Palm Sunday or Easter in your classroom?

If so, I'd love to hear what YOU do in your classroom to make Easter come alive!

And... I think one of my all time favorite video resources is this one!  It's a short and perfectly appropriate way to explain Easter to little ones!  If you can't use it in your classroom, perhaps you can use it with your own family!

Writer's workshop is an important part of our day EVERY DAY...and Easter is a perfect time to see what kiddos understand and are thinking about in regard to Jesus.  Take a peek.... These just MELT. MY.HEART. 

(Don't you love this pic?  The little dude is having fun collecting eggs...but "thinking" about what Jesus did for him!)  

Jesus had his "last dinner"... LOVE that one!

LOVE to see these little ones fall in love with Jesus!  

{Their independent writing skills are pretty good too!}

*   *   *   *

And that's not all... Just take a look at this writing piece that one of my "kinders" did the day after spring break last year.  {Talk about about a "text to self" connection, in terms of taking Bible lessons to heart!!}  This is what my sweet kinder-baby wrote after visiting her grandmother who had cancer.

Thank you God for what you did for ALL of us on Good Friday and Easter, so that we can have eternal life... 

and look forward our own Heavenly reunions!

That's it.  Just a little Easter Joy to share with ya' today!