Father's Day! Hurray, Pops!

June 16 is Father's Day! Use these great resources to make Dad's day extra special!

Hop on Pop App: Your youngest readers will giggle through this book during nightly reading time with Dad. Pop is just fun to say, don't ya think? This one will cost you $3.99.

Kid's Fingerpainting: Father's Day: This free app lets kids draw and create their own masterpieces for Pops. They can even make a puzzle out of their creation. Dad will love a framed copy of their work!

Tagxedo: Have kiddos make a special word cloud just for Dad using Tagxedo. Print and frame or have a great t-shirt or mouse pad created with the final product.

 Use Snapfish to make a Disney Themed photo book if Dad likes Cars or other Disney Characters. You can also make calendars and posters.

New Picture Book! For all the Dads, like my husband, who think they are just hilarious.. get this new little picture book My Dad Thinks He's Funny by Katrina Germein. Got one for Tim and I know he will love it!

Social Studies Resources

Newseum

Photo Peach

Padlet

PBS Videos

History Animated

Dipity Timeline Creator

iCivics

PBS Teachers Social Studies

ThingLink

Smore Online Flyers

Happy, Happy, Happy!

My favorite thing in the world is to teach! Today I had the most delightful day in West Virginia teaching the most adorable class of kindergarten kids! They just made my day! We spent our time together writing and spelling! Loved it! Thanks so much, WV Teachers for your hospitality!

Summer Fun Smart Board Templates

Are you ready for Summer? Are you ready for the good times? I know many folks are counting down the days until Summer Vacation. I thought you might like to add some fun to your Smart Board lessons this last month of school. I have 3 summer themed files created for you. I added activities from the Lesson Activity Toolkit and you can just add your own content. Add your information or directions to the empty pages. The graphics on the pages can be used as links to other pages, websites, sounds, etc. Take the framework and customize for your own lessons. Enjoy the Aloha, Fishing, and Surfing templates!

Click HERE for the Lesson Templates
 Download the Smart Board lessons and save to your computer.

Something to Consider: Sometimes I add a rectangle shape and fill it with a color if I need for the words or pictures to stand out on the page and the background is really detailed.  Please follow the Copyright policy posted at the end of the lessons. I appreciate it!

CIA Day in PA!

Whether the Weather...

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

This is a crazy Spring. We had snow just this week. Despite the cold, I'm pretty sure many of you will be starting a weather unit to celebrate Spring. Here are some resources to make the unit even better. 

Weather Wiz Kids: This site is created by a meteorologist just for kids. Lots of great information, videos, and graphics. 

The Weather Channel Kids: Yep, kids have their very own Weather Channel site. It has games, information, and videos.   

Discovery Kids Weather: This site is based on common questions students have about weather. Lots of great facts and explanations.  

Scholastic Weather Maker: This interactive lets students take control of the weather and watch changes happen as they make decisions. 

PBS KIDS: Sid the Science Kid leads students through weather fun.   

Easter Basket QR Hunt

We have a few days until Easter. I thought it might be fun to mix together several skills and tech tools to prepare a Reading Lesson you can use this week. Here's the deal, Lucille!

• You can use the FlipSnack Version of the lesson or look below and use my Dropbox link to download the PDF version.
• This lesson combines word clouds, QR codes, and informational text.
• If you are not able to use QR codes, see the Links I have below to go along with the clues.
• The idea of the lesson is to have students figure out what things are in the Easter basket. There are 5 goodies in the basket. For each item, a word cloud is provided. This can be used for students to make predictions and build their background knowledge.
• After evaluating the word cloud, the next step is to check their predictions by either using the QR code provided to visit the website selected, or use the links below.
• Once students are at the website, there is a simple set of questions or directions to go with each site. This provides them with the purpose for reading. Students will complete the task for each item and confirm their predictions.
• Students will continue for all 5 clues.
• The final page provides the answers for all the goodies that are in the basket.

So, why in the world would we do this? Well, with the focus on Informational Text in the Common Core this provides practice reading for specific purposes. Also, this is like an egg hunt because students are searching for new information. Finally, this lesson provides immediate feedback to students and you with some simple assessment results.

Any bumps in the road... Well, I need to let my iPad users know about 2 small things. When you get to clue #2, the Jelly Belly Virtual Tour, unfortunately on the iPad it won't work. Of course it is Flash, so project that site on your screen or interactive whiteboard for students to view. It is really neat because it shows the steps to making jelly beans in short video clips. The other thing is with clue #4. This is a virtual egg decorating site by Paas Egg Dye. There is a free app for the same activity, so you will want to load this on your iPads before the students begin the hunt. They will have fun decorating their digital eggs and making a basket full of colorful creations.

Last thing, this is totally up for changes. Take what you want and leave what is lame. You won't hurt my feelings at all. If you don't need or want any of the pages, throw them out or change it up to meet your needs. I just wanted to do some of the digging and preparing for you. Happy Easter!
Please share your results, pics, and fun with me. I would love to see and hear what you did with this simple framework.

Get the PDF copy of the Easter Basket Hunt Here! 

Links for the Lesson
#1: Peeps
#2: Jelly Beans
#3: Chocolate Bunny Facts
#4: Easter Eggs
#5: Peter Rabbit