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I am linking up with a great linky party over at The Teacher Wife for the must have picture books teachers enjoy using in their classrooms.  It is no secret to anyone who knows me well how excited I get when it is book fair time or when the newest book club flyer from Scholastic comes out.  So I thought this would be a perfect time to share with you some of my favorite picture books.  Share with me some of your favorites I am always looking to expand my picture book collection.  : ) 
The Teacher Wife

Here are my top 5! 

1.  You think it is easy being the Tooth Fairy by Sheri Bell- Rehwoldt.  The younger children I taught loved this because losing teeth is a big deal.   I love the tooth fairies realistic attitude about how difficult her job is and how she struggles to get those teeth. 

2.  Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister.  Learning to share is a big deal with my age group and this is a wonderful and colorfully illustrated book that shows how important it is to share with others.  This book has so many activities you can create and use from it and if you look at my previous blog post you can see how I used it as a classroom management tool. 
3.  Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld .   This is my new favorite picture book.  It talks about a little cloud who is desperately trying to do things that the other big clouds can do but he realizes that it is o.k. to be small and he can do important things too! 
4.  The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf
For younger kids this is a good lesson on working together in the classroom. 

5.  And finally...a hilarious story that my kids love to hear. 
Giggle Giggle Quack by Doreen Cronin .  I love this book and so do my kiddos.  They love to see and hear what Duck will do to poor farmer Brown.  It is always a good read for a good laugh. 



Happy Reading,
  Julie

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Picture for a moment a classroom quietly working and it is time to move onto the next task.  Usually a teacher's voice commands the next step and the students then decide it is time to talk and get rowdy.  What if you had a way to quietly transition to the next activity?  I think I might have found one and a new job for my job chart and the signs were super cute.  Read on....

  As I was making my weekly trips to Wal-Mart I stumbled upon a great find.  They had a bin of clearance items tucked away and I noticed there was some teaching items in the bin.  As I am digging through the bin looking like a crazed sale searching teacher I found two items that I could not resist.  They were a pack of two signs for $0.50!!!!!!   Who could pass this up?  Here is what I was thinking.  I know as teachers we always get tired of saying the same thing OVER and OVER again.  I figured we could save our teaching voice and give a child the job of being sign holder.  When the teacher is ready to have the class line up or if she is working with a reading group she could quietly ask the sign holder to go and display the sign to the class that he or she needed at the time.  Therefore the teacher is saving her voice and students will automatically look to see what sign is being shown...instant attention...well that is the hope anyway.  :)  Let me know if you find this great tool at your Wal-Mart and share with me how you would use it in your classroom.  Happy Friday everyone. 
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Who doesn't love cupcakes....I know I sure do!  So with my newest product at my TpT store titled "It's sweet to meet" students can come together and meet one another in a sweet way.  Go check it out in my store  for $2.50 and I hope you like it! 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Cupcake-Sweet-to-Meet-activity
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The Teaching Bug classroom organization absentee foldersAs I was browsing Pinterest as we all seem to do at some point during the day...ha ha.  I noticed a collaborative board on classroom organization and thought about one way I organize myself for students who are absent.  This idea came to me after countless parents would come in and ask for makeup work to be sent home to be completed.  I did not like my current system which consisted of piling up the paper on my desk which never seemed to be the right place for make up work.  So it came to me one day.  Picture a lightbulb over my head for a moment.  :-)  I took a large 8x11 brown business envelope with a clasp and created a cute cover for it and then ran it through the laminating machine.  Well I took it further and wrote all my students names on the folder and gave each of them an absentee folder.  Then another thought came to my mind...where would I stick it.  We had desks in our classroom so I took a simple index card (laminated it of course) and attached a piece of velcro to the center of the laminated card and taped it to the front of the desk.   I love laminating things by the way!  :)  Then I took the other piece of the velcro and attached it to the flap of the folder.  The folders all hung from their desks.  It worked like a charm.  As we passed out papers during the day the students would be responsible for adding it to the students absentee folder.  So when parents came in to pick up make up work or the office asked for it to be sent down...guess what I was ready right away with the work for the parents.   PLEASE NOTE:  I used stronger velcro than this to hang my folders this was just for demo purposes only.  If you don't have desks in your room you could hang them on a wall or on a bulletin board for display. 

  FREEBIE ALERT!!!!  I am attaching a free copy of my absentee folder cover.  I thought you might like to try it on your own. 

                                                    Absentee Folder Cover
  How do you handle make up work in your classroom?  I would love to know what works for you.
 
Happy Teaching,
 Julie
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My choices for the One Lovely blog award goes to...
http://lanierlions.blogspot.com/ 

 http://pawsmath.blogspot.com/

http://kindergartennetwork.blogspot.com/

http://carriedawaykindergarten.blogspot.com/

http://fungames4learning.blogspot.com/

http://www.firstgradeschoolhouse.blogspot.com/

http://secondgradenest.blogspot.com/









After receiving the award you must:
1.  Follow the person who gave you the award.
2.   Link back to the person who sent it to you.
3.  Pass it along to 15 new bloggers. 








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Thanks to Charlotte at Charlottes clips and Kindergarten Kids for the award. It made my day! Be sure to visit her blog!

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I saw this on Facebook this morning and I had to share it!  It is a list of 21 signs that you are a teacher by Jeff Foxworthy.  All of these are so true aren't they?  :)  I will admit to number 2,4, 9, 11, 16,17, and 21.  :)  Enjoy!  Which ones are you?  :) 

You Know You're a Teacher When... by Jeff Foxworthy
You Know You're a Teacher When...
1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.
2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.
3. You walk into a store and hear the words "It's Ms/Mr._______" and know you have been spotted.
4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.
5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty minutes.
6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and planning period.
7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.
8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.
9. You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work 8 to 3 and have summers off."
10. You believe chocolate is a food group.
11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.
12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."
13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.
15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own needs.
17. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!
18. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a "good choice or a bad choice."
19. You find true beauty in a can of perfectly sharpened pencils
20. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer
21. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.
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Hi everyone,
  I thought I would share a freebie with you today for the 4th of July !  : )  Everyone loves a freebie!  I know I do!  I am sharing with you my Word Wall spinners.  Enjoy and have a happy and safe 4th!  If you like what you see please follow me and tell a friend.  :) 
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I wanted to share with you a new unit I just created for my new store on Teachers pay Teachers. The unit is titled Bubbles Bubbles! Who doesn't love bubbles? This unit is designed to create a theme for the start of the school year. I just started this new venture and I am looking forward to it. Go check it out and tell a friend. Thanks!
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In honor of Eric Carle's birthday, I wanted to share with you a Hungry Caterpillar game. I took green, red, and yellow construction paper and cut out the shape of the caterpillar. On one side you will see simply the numbers 1-6 and when you turn it over you see several numbers that are the sums of two dice. Here are the materials you will need. Materials: Caterpillar Several pieces of fruit and leaves cut out of construction paper numbered 2 dice and butterfly erasers.

Side 1 directions:  For number recognition
  Students roll one dice and take the fruit and match the corresponding number to the game board.  The person who rolls a six earns a leaf and collect one butterfly eraser.  The person who earns 5 butterfly erasers wins the game. 

Side 2 directions:  Adding
  Students on this side roll two dice and add the numbers together and use the butterflies cut out of construction paper to cover up the board.  Butterfly erasers on this side can be used as counters to help with addition.  Students who cover all the numbers on the board first wins. 

Notes:  Laminating pieces increases durability.  :)  Really simple to make and the kids enjoy it!
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