Sparkle

Happy Mother's Day!!! My boys made me my favorite fresh fruit crepes and hash browns. Yummmm!!!! They bought me jewelry and Yankee Candles that I love. But best of all they wouldn't let me do any chores! I snuck out to start the laundry and they insisted on folding and putting it away. My hubbie is making a yummy dinner too so I have been spoiled all day.

Today I thought I would blog about the game SPARKLE. Have you played it? My students beg to play and it takes no prep!
1. Students sit in a circle.
2. I say a spelling word, let's use AWAY as an example.
3. I point to the first student and they say the first letter, A. I then point to the next student and they say W. Third student says A and fourth student says Y. The fifth student is out and we all yell SPARKLE!  (I have my students go back to their desk so it is clear who is out.)
4. If a student says the wrong letter, they are out and play continues on to the next player.
5. Play continues with the next spelling words around the circle until everyone is eliminated leaving the winner!
6. Not only a great review before the spelling test but practices listening skills as well.

Off to go enjoy the last of my leisure time!

Teacher Appreciation SALE

I love Teacher Appreciation Week! Our school PTA is awesome and we get breakfast tomorrow, homemade cards from the kids on Tuesday, each student brings a flower on Wednesday and Friday they provide lunch! With 2 field trips and a big outdoor assembly this is going to be a CRAZY week!

 

Even with all of that though, I am going to find time to head over to Teachers Pay Teachers to shop! My shop will be 20% off on Tuesday and Wednesday if you want to visit. Here are some of my best sellers:

 I also have a ton of math games and book club packets! Hope you find something you like at a great price during the sale! Don't forget to enter the Promo code TAD13 to get the extra 10% off in addition to the 20% I'm offering.  I appreciate all of you!

A Student Funny

We made these adorable pirates from Abby's Learning /ar/  with Pirate Mark unit this week.

 Does anyone else think they look like they are doing the robot?

This pirate looks like she just got back from the beauty salon!

  I added hair templates to the pattern and overheard some students discussing which direction to glue the boys hair; pointy side up or down? I laughed out loud when the answer was, "Down in his face like her son." Not sure which son they were thinking of but either would be true.

Both my boys walk over to my classroom at the end of the day and my students have a serious case of hero worship. It is adorable to watch!

Speaking of watching, I need to get off this computer and head to the baseball field for 3 games today!!! Gotta love those double-headers!

Making an Editable File

Have you ever wanted to make something editable but your product included clip art that needed to be protected? I had this problem with my Common Core Assessment Checklists and I finally figured out a way to do it. I thought I'd share in case it helped anyone else out.

 My original file was already saved as a pdf so it was secured. To make it editable, I needed to get the PDF into PowerPoint but I could not see how to export or import it. Finally I realized that if I opened the PDF with Preview, then clicked View as thumbnails, I was able to drag each page into a new PowerPoint slide. Then I simply made a text box with sample names. Now my customers can simply edit the names for their class and copy and paste onto each page before printing!

If you already own this packet, you can go download the editable version for FREE! You do need to have PowerPoint. If you are not used to PowerPoint DO NOT BE SCARED. It is just as easy to print the PowerPoint slide as it is a PDF. 

If you don't have a tool for tracking your CCSS assessment data, come take a look (click on the picture.) I also have packs for K, 2 & 3 made. Grades 4 & 5 are on my To Do list.

I hope my quick tutorial may be of help to someone else who has wanted to make an editable product.

Happy Thursday!