The Day That A Ran Away - Book Review and Giveaway

I was asked if I would like to review a new book called "The Day That A Ran Away" and after looking at the information about the book, I jumped at the chance!

"The Day That A Ran Away" by B. C. R. Fegan is a hilarious story where the teacher, Mrs. May ask a student Jet, why he didn't write down the alphabet? He goes on to tell her why each letter of the alphabet left his page while he was walking to school that day! You'll have to read on to see what happens to Jet after giving her his clever excuse!

The beautiful illustrations by Lenny Wen have things on each page that start with the letter. This is a great book to teach the order of the alphabet, letter identification, beginning sounds, rhyming words, and predicting.

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to give a book to one lucky reader thanks to Arielle at TaleBlade Press. This giveaway will start on Sunday and end at 11:59pm on Wednesday. Enter below using Rafflecopter. By sharing the giveaway you can come back and enter daily. Click on the above picture if you would like to purchase the book. You will have 48 hours to respond to my email with your mailing address so I can send it to the publisher or I will select another winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mr. Fegan is also the author of the book I gave away earlier this year called "Don't Ever Look Behind Door 32." 

Thank you for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings! Keep on smiling!

Freebie Fridays - December 2nd, 2016

Bye November, Hello December! I wish each of you a happy healthy December as we finish off 2016 this month. Enjoy the few weeks with your students before you are on break. Now on to what you are looking for FREEBIES!

I Have, Who Has games are very popular with students and help with listening skills! They have to listen and pay attention to see if their card is next. I made these 5 I Have, Who Has Christmas games to thank my amazing followers a couple of years ago. They include capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and two sight word games! Please leave positive feedback if you like the games to show your appreciation!

An InLinkz Link-up

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

Positive Fridays - September 16th, 2016

I wish each of you a fantastic Friday and a great weekend! Enjoy the freebies and don't forget to follow our stores!

Today's freebie is a blast from the past! Do your students know the difference between letters and numbers? This fun bat themed sort will make learning letters and numbers fun! Don't forget to leave positive feedback!

An InLinkz Link-up

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

 

I'm Back With Cooperative Learning Activities

Wow, it has been a full month since I last blogged.  I was really hoping to at least keep going with my Positive Fridays, but I have been so very busy.  The hour trip to work and back takes extra time from me especially when I have an inservice.  I am not complaining though as it is so worth it to work in an incredible school with amazing students, administrators, fellow teachers, office staff, custodians, etc.  Next Thursday night I will be staying for a parent after school thing, where I am in charge of helping out at child care until 7pm.

Anyway here are some cooperative learning ideas that I learned at inservices lately that will help keep your children engaged.  You can use them as formative assessments.  I will try to do another blog post with some more of these ideas in the future!

Inside Outside Circle - Divide up your class evenly.  Have half of your class get into a circle and then turn around.  The other children find a partner and face them in a circle so they are on the outside.  Call out a question from any subject or a get to know you question and have either the inside or outside give the answer.  The other side can either praise/coach their partner or add on to the answer.  Then give the other side a question.  Next call out a number and have everyone on the outside move that many partners over. For example move 3 partners.  So they would move over to the 3rd new partner!  Then do it again.  I gave mine each a lowercase letter and they had to give the name of the letter and the sound.  Share in the comments how this could be used in your classroom.

4 Corners - Put a different concept or answer on 4 different posters and put them on each corner of the wall.  Give a question that can be answered going to one of the 4 places on the wall and students move there.  I have done this by putting 4 letters on the wall and giving a word and they have to move to the correct place.  You could do it with Seasons of the Year, 4 numbers and give a math problem, cardinal directions, etc. Share in the comments your grade and how you could use this your classroom or have used it?

Commit and Toss - In this activity students write the answer to an open ended question on a piece of paper or draw it and crumble it without their name on it.  Then they toss it around at each other for a few minutes. When you tell them time is up they each pick up a paper.  Everybody stands up.  Call on one student. Anyone with that answer or close to it sits down.  Keep going until you have gone through everyone.  This is great to get background knowledge or find out if part of a lesson your students didn't quite get.  I'm trying to figure out a way to use it in Kindergarten as I have heard this is a one popular activity.  If you have an idea send it to me in the comments!

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

Turkey Craft and More Thanksgiving Business

I have been very hard at work on my first ever craft!  This is an adorable turkey.  Children read the color words on the feathers and color them before assembling the turkey.  I have included both a Pilgrim and Native American (Indian) turkey.  There are also blank templates of the feathers in case you want your students to be creative.  I also included a color by color code coloring picture and a regular coloring sheet as bonuses.  This is priced at just $1.50!  Wow!  Click the picture to go get it!

Next up, I have created some more Kindergarten fun!  This packet of Kindergarten Thanksgiving Letter and Number Fun includes a number match to 10: Numbers, Number Words, and Dots.  It also includes a capital and lowercase matching game!  I have included worksheets for both!  They fit the Common Core Stanards for Kindergarten!  Click the picture to check them out for just $2.00!

As always please leave feedback and a nice comment if you decide to purchase.  Need it fixed up in some way then please shoot me an e-mail tigermagic@bellsouth.net

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

Positive Fridays - Week of June 25th

I know, I know, I know I said no more Positive Fridays until school starts, BUT I have some wonderful positives that I just must share so Positive Fridays are back for this week anyway my friends.  Keep reading and I promise a freebie for you all as well!

- Last weekend, I got to babysit my nephew on Friday and Saturday will be doing the same this week and the rest of summer until school starts!  He is 7 years old and going into 2nd grade.  He kept me on my toes for 2 days.  This was my first time ever babysitting.  He had fun on the computer playing http://www.abcya.com and http://www.spellingcity.com  It is hot with no A/C in my house right now until the part comes in to fix it so we spent some time outside throwing water at each other using water bottles and his squirt gun.  We also played my Fishy Sight Word game (it's free!) along with some other games, read a bunch of Clifford books, made some snow, etc.

- Then on Thursday I received a call to interview for a tutoring position for the summer on Monday!  I can't wait as I am so excited to get to help children again.  I love making a difference in their lives.

- Also, on Thursday an amazing parent of a 3rd grader wrote me the nicest recommendation letter.  It brought tears to my eyes.

- Finally, on Thursday I found out from another parent and former collegue that her daughter had a book published on the web.  I taught her daughter in 2nd grade and she is going into I believe 8th grade!  Wow!  Where does time go?

- Almost forgot I also heard that a student of mine that I taught in Kindergarten my 2nd year just got straight A's on her last report card (4.0 average all year!) and scored 4's on FCAT in reading and math barely missing a 5.  I am so proud of her!

Now for your freebie.  Click the picture to get this letter matching freebie for Kindergarten.  I am working on a Kindergarten packet, Fraction packet, July Behavior freebie, and another behavior freebie!  Hope to have them all done this week!  We'll see!

Until next time thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings and keep smiling!

Sand Art - Letters, Numbers & Sight Words

I remember as a child getting sand art kits to make pictures with different colored sand.  It kept me busy for quite awhile.  During my first year of teaching I came up with another creative way to use colored sand.  My sand center was probably the most popular learning center that I had when I taught Kindergarten.

We used the sand to make our letters and sight words.  You could also do the same with numbers.  I generally used the medium sized index cards, but you could use the large ones or if your students have great small motor control the small cards would work too.  Card stock may also work if you cut it down into fourths or smaller.

First the student writes the letter, number or sight word largely with a pencil, pen, or a sharpie on the index card. 

 

Next the child outlines it with glue.

Next sprinkle some colored sand on the letter, number, or sight word.

Carefully, slide the sand onto the plate or tray (I used to use one of those foil tin trays and had newspaper undneathe it just in case).  Now you have the letter, number, or sight word in colored sand.  Once it drys it becomes a tactile sight word, letter, or number that the child can trace with their hand. 

I never thought to use it in 2nd grade, but it would have worked well with their sight words and I believe they also would have enjoyed it.  It is a wonderful way to learn letters, numbers, and sight words, which fits the common core standards!  How might you use colored sand for learning beyond 2nd grade?  Anyone have any ideas?  Have you tried this in your classroom?  If not try it out and it is sure to be a big hit!!!

As always thanks for making my day by hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!  Keep on smilin'!

Homemade Finger Paint

A wonderful friend of mine who is not a teacher sent me the recipe' for to make homemade finger paint!  I thought this might be a fun idea for those of you who teach Pre-K through 1st grade to add some fun in your classroom for the end of the year!  

Many of you I know teach in themes so you could use the finger paint as a center and have your students make pictures of dinosaurs, insects, the ocean life, plants, or anything else you are learning about.  It would also be fun to practice letters, sight words, and numbers!

It may also be fun to have 1st grade or even 2nd graders make the finger paint other than the warming it up, which you can do!  You could then have them write the step by step directions on how to make it!  Feel free to share your ideas on using finger paint below!