Mrs. Wishy-Washy

I was so excited to be contacted by the people at Hameray Publishing to review 2 of their Mrs. Wishy-Washy books!  The two books are from their new book collections of leveled readers for Kindergarten to 2nd grade classrooms.  They are from The Joy Cowley Collection and The Joy Cowley Early Birds Collection from author Joy Cowley!  The books can be purchased as a set or individually.  Read the review and then check out a huge contest, and a mini-giveaway!

The first book I had the opportunity to review was "Wishy-Washy Clothes" by Joy Cowley.

This book comes from The Joy Cowley Early Birds Collection.  The book has the repetitive phrase "The ____ put on the _______.  Children can easily figure out what goes in the blanks by using the pictures.  It's a silly book as it has animals putting on the clothes.  The back of the book includes great questions for Before, During, and After reading.  It also tells you the comprehension skill that the questions focus on, features of text in the story, and the high frequency (sight) words.  Excellent book for guided reading groups or independent readers for middle of the year first graders.  The guided reading level is F or intervention level 9.

The 2nd book, I had the opportuity to review comes from The Joy Cowley Collection and is called "Mrs. Wishy-Washy and the Big Wash" by Joy Cowley.

This book tells the story of Mrs. Wishy-Washy not having any water to do the wash so she gathers the animals in the back of her truck and heads to town to find water.  They go to different places in town.  Will they find the water for the wash?  You will have to read this great book to find out!  This book is excellent for guided reading or independent reader toward the end of 1st grade or beginning of 2nd grade.  It is a guided reading level I or intervention level 15.  It would also make a great read aloud.  It also has the features of text (onomatopoeia is one), before, during, and after questions and activities, and the comprehension skills.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review.  All opinions are my own and this is not a compensated post.

How would you like to win or help a teacher win 90 new titles from The Joy Cowley Collection and The Joy Cowley Early Birds Collection by Joy Cowley?  You will also get finger puppets and 3 audio CDs valued at over $400!  Click the picture to check out the contest!

I am also thrilled to host a mini giveaway for a Mrs. Wishy-Washy Big Book!  The big book will be for Mrs. Wishy-Washy and The Big Wash.  See the review of the smaller version that I reviewed above.  Fill out the Rafflecopter Form to enter the giveaway!  The giveaway will go live at midnight eastern on the 9th and it will end at 11:59pm Eastern on the 14th of April 2013.  Be sure to also visit Hameray Publishing on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/hameray/ and facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Hameray  Remember you get entries on Rafflecopter for the giveaway by following them on Pinterest and liking them on facebook!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Share with us in the comments what Mrs. Wishy-Washy activities you do with your students.

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!

Scavenger Hunt

*** Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern update! Only 2 winners  so far!  3 more of you can win, enter today to win!!!

I just met another big milestone, well actually two!  My dedicted fans have bought $200 of my teaching materials this quarter and counting!  2nd of all I have reached 500 fans on FB.  Thank you so much for your dedicated support!!!

Everyone will win something for playing, but 5 of you will win your choice of a Draw and Write pack.  The huge bundle is not a choice, but any of the others are up for grabs.  How do you win?  You must be one of the first 5 to complete my scavenger hunt and e-mail me at tigermagic@bellsouth.net to claim your prize!  You must have all correct answers to win and anyone in any country may play!!!

1. What is the name and date of my first ever blog post?
2. What is the name of the first ever product that I made?
3. What is the name of the Friday posts that I did for much of the 2nd semester of school and give me the date of the one where I gave my top 10 favorite things from the school year.
4. What is the name of the book I reviewed about Farm Animals?
5. What is the name of the book that I reviewed that was made into a song and video by The Learning Station?
6. I recently had my first guest author.  What is her name and what activity did she share?
7. I took part in a special teacher appreciation freebie event.  What was the name of it?
8. What is the name of the post I made about a widget that has become my most viewed blog post?
9. What is the name of my favorite singer?
10. Name the 3 grade levels that I have taught?  Be sure to go to the page that has this information to pick up your freebie!  You have one week to get it free and then it will disappear!

Good luck and I look forward to your answers!

Let's Go Down On The Farm

We hit 10,000 views on my blog.  Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!  Thank you so much fans!  Contest will be coming soon to celebrate.  My first celebration though is to give away a free product!

Spring is right around the corner.  This is the perfect time to learn about Farm Animals!  I made a great activity to go with the book "Country Morning" by Christine Lynn.  This is a Rhyming Center or Small Group game where students can match rhyming words by playing Go Farm (version of Go Fish or you can just call it Go Fish, up to you!) or Concentration Match.  There is an activity and answer key included.  I used words from the actual story, but the game will work without the book.  This is free so click the picture to get it.

Also in case you missed it check out the book review on "Country Morning."  Country Morning Book Review

As always thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!

Brian :-)

Country Morning!

I hope everyone is having an amazing Leap Day and had a great day with the children doing fun activities!  Today, I want to take a trip back down memory lane.  I started my teaching career in 2003 when I took over for a popular teacher teaching Kindergarten.  It surprisingly to me, took me no time at all to win the hearts of those children and their families!  Many families from my first year of teaching have stayed in contact with me.  The children I taught from that year are now in 7th or 8th grade!

One of those amazing parents wrote a children's book a few years ago called "Country Morning."  It is written by Christine Lynn and the publishing company is Tate Publishing.  Nobody asked me to do a book review on it.  All opinions are of my own.  Clicking the book will take you to the site on Amazon, where you can see inside of it!

Country Morning is a story about life on a farm in the early mornings!  Those of you, like my Grandma, who grew up on a farm get up bright and early and know all about those wonderful farm animals get ready for the day.  The sun is rising while the animals come out to start their day.  This book is also a perfect book to teach rhyming words.  It has such beautiful and crisp illustrations that make the pictures come alive!  I can literally imagine myself waking up at a farm and going to see the animals as they are just getting up for the day!

I was blessed to have Christine come read to my 2nd graders many years later even after transferring schools.  The children had a blast listening to her read this wonderful story and asking her questions about the writing process!

I would love to see this book in every classroom library.  Most young children love farm animals and this book is so perfect for grades Pre-K through 3rd.  I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have!

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!

Brian :-)