And the WINNER is..................................

First of all, HUGE thank yous to everyone who entered and everyone who became new followers.

This is the conclusion to the

Can we get a drum roll, please?

 

CONGRATULATIONS!

300 Followers Celebration!

While we wait to hear who the winner of our HUGE Teacher Appreciation Giveaway is, I thought I'd whet your appetite with another contest! Sooo...

W-O-W!  We just flew right through the 200s and here were are just on the verge of 300 followers!  That is so exciting!  I am so lucky to be hanging out with all of you.

After a survey on my FB page, I have decided on these 3 magnificent prizes in celebration of the approaching 300 follower milestone.

Are you ready?  ;-)

 You asked for TPT Gift Certificates and here's your chance to win one!

 Are you ready for a new theme in your classroom?  You can win your choice of any theme in my store plus all of the matching accessories!
(If you click on the picture above, it will take you to your choices of themes.)

I thought this was so "teacherish", but also adorable.  This is what the bag looks like:

Isn't it cute?

Entering is SUPER easy!  Simply complete the Rafflecopter below and GOOD LUCK!

OH, and I almost forgot!  Now through Friday, one of my most popular games is FREE!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

SHOPPING and SALES!

Add chocolate in there and you've got pretty much 3 of my favorite topics, with a little George Clooney or Blake Shelton mixed in there for good measure!

So, if you haven't heard it's time for one of those AMAZING Teachers Pay Teachers sales!

(Clicking the picture will take you directly to my store.)

I, along with many other sellers will have everything marked down 20% in our stores.  Then, TPT adds another discount on top of that to make your savings, a WHOPPING 28%.  

(Don't you just love a bargain?!)

BUT, only for YOU and my Facebook followers, do I have a SPECIAL, AMAZING DEAL!

For every 2 products that you buy, you can get one FREE!

This is how it works:  You purchase two items from my store and then email me at chalkoneupfortheteacher@gmail.com.  Tell me the username you used to purchase your products and the name of the item (which will be the least expensive of the three) that you'd like for FREE!  

Yep!  It's that simple.  And best of all, there's NO LIMIT!

So, what to buy...what to buy?  

Well, I happen to have some suggestions for you below.

Are you into theme-ing out your room?  Well, I'll bet I have something for you.  

I have tons of room themes and if you don't see it, just ask!

How about book boxes?  I have tons of labels that you can personalize yourself to fit whatever categories you need.  All you do is open up the labels and Powerpoint and then add whatever text you'd 

like in your preferred font.

Each set comes with 8 different labels. 

These look so great when they are all done up!

Units?  Well, I've got some of those, too.  Many seasonal ones and many that focus on Common Core Standards.  Pop on over and check them out!

How about a game or two to reinforce basic concepts or Common Core Standards?  I love these, because they are easy to download, laminate, cut and use in a center or for early finishers.

What do you use for behavior management.  This clip chart system works fabulous in my classroom.  Pick one out in your favorite theme or in a basic school theme.  I also have a ton of token boards that work well with behavior management as well.

Ahhh!  These Common Core organizers are some of my very best sellers.  You can find them with or without the "I Can" statements and in a couple of different styles.  I use these and they make displaying what your students are working on a snap!

I hope you find what you're looking for and are able to take advantage of the wonderful TPT sales!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza!!!!!

Who loves teachers?

We do!!!

I have teamed up with 14 other bloggers to bring you the

This is the

Have you been collecting all of the amazing FREEBIES as you hopped along to each blog?  

If you missed one (or more) along the way, there is a button at the bottom to take you to 

my friend Christina over at Sugar and Spice to start the blog hop.

AND be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance to win one of these AMAZING prizes!

 Including  

$100 gift card for Spa Finder

$20 for Starbucks

$20 for Barnes & Noble

$15 for Bath and Body Works

$15 for iTunes

$10 for Old Navy

$10 for Target

$10 for Amazon

$10 for Kohl's

$10 for Teachers Pay Teachers

$10 for a Macaroni Grill/Chilli's/Maggiano's/On the Border combo card

AND

Tunes for Teachers by Susan Paul!

{$10 or less}

I SERIOUSLY wish I could enter!

Now, for the FREEBIE here on my blog.

I almost am afraid to mention it, but have you started thinking about next school year?

Here you can pick up a planning calendar for next school year.

(Click on the cover page to pick up your freebie.)

I hope that every day on your calendar is filled with happiness and success with your students! 

  

Here is the Rafflecopter to enter for a chance to win one of the amazing prizes listed above!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you've missed any stops or want to start at the beginning, start here:

Finally, I am happy to announce that I, along with many other Teachers Pay Teachers sellers will be participating in another one of those amazing sales, so get your shopping carts all revved up!

Click on the sign above to go to my store. 

I am going to leave you by signing out by one of my favorite quotes:

The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort.  The tough problem is not in identifying winners:  it is in making winners out of ordinary people.  ~K. Patricia Cross

Be Kind...

Be Kind.

Two simple words.  One simple message.

Founded from a tragic accident, but inspiring greatness and kind acts in all of us.

If you never read another one of my posts or have never read one before, I hope you will take the time to read this one.

Josh Stevens

 Josh was the kindest of kind, with a "heart as big as a lion".  Sadly, one month before he was to turn 13 years old, his life was cut all too short in a tragic accident.

You see, I didn't know Josh, but thankfully, through his parents, Josh's legacy of kindness lives on through the

 These two simple words are inspiring greatness and kind acts all around our school district and beyond.

Josh's family created this foundation not only for Josh's legacy to live on, but to inspire kind acts in others.

Their mission is

"To recognize and celebrate heartfelt kind acts."

Their belief is

"Genuine kindness born in the heart of a child 

deserves celebration."

What a better world we would all live in if everyone took just a few more minutes to

 Be Kind

More Often

You can learn about The Josh Stevens Foundation by watching this video.

At our school, a staff member who notices a student being kind fills out a form and submits it to our principal.  These students are recognized at our morning opening and are invited to spin the prize wheel in the office.  Prizes on the wheel range from a golden coupon redeemable for an item at the school snack shack to a Be Kind shirt, as well as a variety of other things.
Students are then photographed with their prize and then the form and their photo are hung on the Be Kind wall in our main hallway.

Your school can contact the foundation here and get your own Kindness Revolution started,

or you can start your own revolution.

The Josh Stevens Foundation has a large selection of "Be Kind" items that you 

can purchase at their online store.

 Their selection of shirts is always cycling through and they are constantly coming up with newer 

and cuter ones.  All of the shirts say "Be Kind" on the front (like these worn by some of my favorite peeps!)

 and on the back they have a creative and fun message, like these

Thanks to Allison for providing some of  these pics!  Allison works for the foundation and is a teacher, too!

If you are a school or organization, you can have your shirts personalized with your own message or slogan

on the back.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO... who wants to win their very own BE KIND shirt?

Enter the Rafflecopter below and if you are selected as the winner, you'll get to have your pick of any t-shirt from the Josh Stevens Foundation store!  How great is that?!?!?!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

And remember...

A little spark of kindness can put a colossal burst of sunshine into someone's day!

BE KIND! 

S'more Product Swap...Take 2

Hi there!  I feel like I've been MIA for a while...but now I'm back!

So today we're talking about Part 2 of the

This time I am reviewing

and her AMAZING

(Click on the picture to purchase Cynthia's Let's Learn About Poetry unit.)

I have to be honest, after I picked this product I began to wonder if my first graders would be able to do it.  I decided to use it with my top readers and boy, was I pleasantly surprised!

First though, let's talk about the unit itself.  It is divided in to several sections that are each very useful.  The first section is full of definitions of each type of poem used in this unit.  The graphics are adorable and the explanations are thorough and easy to understand.
A BIG PLUS for first graders.
Here are a couple of examples of the information pages:

Next there is a Research Book section.  This is where the students get to actually apply what they are learning.  It is chock full of pages written so that students can view the formats and create their own poems.  (I will show the examples of some of the pages in the photos later in this post, but for now, here is a
clip of the cute cover.)

 Then, there are actual lesson plans that you can use with your students, including links, anchor charts and so much more!  I also adore the cute tips on the side of each page.

Also included are links for books on poetry and links to actual examples of the various types of poems, which will save you a ton of time!

This unit concludes with a Wrapping it Up section.
This section has some very useful ideas as to what to do with the poems once the students have completed them.  There are also invitations for the "Poetry Cafe".  (How cute is that?!?!)

So, here are some examples of the amazing work that my students were able to churn out thanks to Cynthia's fabulous unit.

 First we started with an Acrostic Poem.  They LOVED using their names and did a pretty good job brainstorming various adjectives for their names.  This one, obviously is Emma's (I've called her Emma-Bo-Bemma long before she was a student in my classroom.  She opted out of doing that long version of her name though.)

Then we moved on to autobiographical poems, which is a perfect poem-type for first graders, because as much as we love them, the world pretty much does revolve around them...at least according to them.  :-)  I loved how easy this was to use!  You can't see it, but on the left, it takes you step-by-step with what the students should be writing on each line.

Next up were Cinquain Poems.  These were a little bit harder for them, but it didn't take them long to get the hang of it.  They actually had a great time cracking each other up writing silly lines for their friends' poems and their own.

We also tried our hand at some Diamante Poems, which I had never, in all my years of teaching, had kids try to write...but I will definitely try it again in the future, because they were really FUN!  (and terribly telling...there was one that gave me a lot of insight into one of my students...all good, but a it made a lightbulb go off in my head!)

The last type of poetry we learned about were Haikus.  I can remember writing these in HIGH SCHOOL, so I was pretty stinkin' impressed that my 6 and 7 year olds could churn these out!

Don't you love the Oh, oh, ah, oh, oh at the end of the Monkey poem?  Hahaha!

I really hope that you enjoyed reading all of their poems.  Next year I will definitely be using this fabulous unit when I move up to second grade.

I hope you'll stop by and check out Cynthia's unit.  It is very well thought out and is very user-friendly.  I love all of the examples that are already found for you and can be easily accessed by clicking on the hyperlinks.

Now, Cynthia at 2nd Grade Pad has kindly donated a copy of her Let's Learn About Poetry unit.  Don't miss out on your chance to win.  Simply enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And a BIG thank you to Samantha, aka
for organizing this Product Swap!