Sunday Scoop + a GIVEAWAY!

I had some new things to share so I decided to link up with Teaching Trio for this week's Sunday Scoop and to give away a copy of my new TPT product!!

This week our school is participating in Renaissance Learning's Read Quest

Our school uses the STAR assessment and one great component of that is Accelerated Reader (AR). Students can independently take quizzes after reading any novel or story in our text book. The quizzes are quick (only 10 questions each) and provide a quick check of the student's comprehension.

On Friday, February 26th, the site is hosting Read Quest to see how many AR quizzes students can take in one day. My class participated last year and it was a lot of fun. They took quizzes on their own books that they recently finished and they also read to younger students, then helped them take their first quiz. My 5th and 6th graders will be doing the same thing this year, reading to students in 1st and 2nd grade.

I'm also using Read Quest to help kick off a month long reading celebration! Our 2nd Annual Battle of the Books will begin next week!
Here's a picture of last year's bracket:

Our new bracket (with all new books) will be going up this week. I'll post some pictures once it's finished. You can read more about last year's Read Quest and Battle of the Books {HERE}

Now, about that giveaway I mentioned... :)
This year I revamped my classroom library. I wanted to go for a more mature look since I would be teaching in the middle school for the first time. I teach reading and language arts and wanted to bring my love (more like passion) for books into the classroom.

So I started compiling a list of great quotes from Young Adult and Middle Grade novels. I've posted them on a wall in my classroom to pique student interest. I wanted them to see that a book is often more than it's cover.

Students LOVE the quote wall and it often leads to exploration of the featured books! Mission accomplished!

My gift, to the first person who comments on this post, it's a free copy of my Read Together Quote Display!

Here is one of my favorite quotes...

So, leave your comments below and I will contact the lucky one who comments first with their freebie!

THANKS :)

The Sunday Scoop is Back!

I haven't joined up with Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop in a little while, so I think it's time to get back in the game!

Tomorrow my class starts taking the SBAC (Smarter Balanced) Assessment....!!!!!!! I'm a little nervous for my kiddos. This test is INTENSE! I think they can handle it academically, but I'm worried about their stamina. The performance task asks them to read 3 pieces of text then answer questions and write an essay... all on the computer! Students have to scroll through the 3 pieces of text on one side of their screen while answering the questions on the other side. Hopefully I will find time today to make them some little care packages with encouraging notes.

I've started to work on creating a series of tech tips that I will post here and on my TpT store. Check out the first one below (click on the image to download the full tutorial FREE on TpT!)

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to join me for my new monthly linkup to share your Inspired Ideas! My inspired idea for the month is my new classroom Readbox display! Stop by the linkup to check it out!

Sunday Scoop!

I'm linking up once again with the Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop:

Report cards go out this Friday, so I've got some work to do!

Yes, we are THOSE people who still have a few Christmas decorations up... Those HAVE to be put away today!

Meal prep for the week has been getting easier since I've started planning things out on Sundays. Hopefully I can keep this up. Some weeks I feel like my boys are little Tazmanian Devils devouring everything in sight!

I hope to spend some snuggle time with my boys today!! Having 3 kiddos, I've always tried to make sure that we do special one-on-one things with each one of them. Last night was my date night at Disney on Ice with my middle man. It was MAGICAL! I mean, just look at this face:

The best part was the Lion King segment. The costumes were absolutely beautiful and, as always, the music makes those little hairs on the back of your neck stand up!

Last week Chris from the Scoop in Second Grade nominated me for the Liebster Award! It is such an honor and a great feeling to know that people are actually reading (and liking) what I put up on here. Thank you so much Chris! I hope to finish my acceptance post for it today, so check back later!

And lastly, to all you hockey fans out there.. tune in to NBC at 12:30 today to watch the Rangers CRUSH the Penguins (hopefully, fingers crossed!) I'm wearing all my Rangers gear today and so are the boys... Hey, it's only weird if it doesn't work!

Happy Sunday :)

Sunday Scoop

It's time once again to link up with The Teaching Trio for the Sunday Scoop! Here's a peek at some things I hope to accomplish this week:

So I just finished planning our meals for the week and I'm super excited to try a new recipe from the Skinnytaste cookbook (seriously, if you don't have this yet what are you waiting for!), Crispy Coconut Chicken Salad!! A beautiful bed of baby greens, veggies, and crispy chicken breaded in panko and coconut! YUM!

I also just put the final touches on a new iMovie home movie from our trip to Disney last February (yes the footage has been sitting on my iPod for almost a year!). The new version of iMovie is much more user friendly and looks great on my 27inch screen! Now to work on footage from the rest of last year...

I brought up the idea of a school-wide reading celebration with my principal last week and ever since my mind has been racing with ideas. I started working on a book bracket tournament (check out my earlier post here) and now I'm working on planning things out:

And I'm most excited about going to see my oldest son skate with his hockey team at the Providence Bruins game today!! (yes, we are hardcore Rangers fans, so we will be rooting for our second favorite team today... whoever is playing against the Bruins, lol!) I can't wait to see his cute little face on the jumbotron!

Hope you all have a great week!

Sunday Scoop and TpT SALE!

I'm linking up with Teaching Trio again for the Sunday Scoop! Hope everyone has had a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend :-)

Speaking of the big TpT sale:

I'm linking up with Ideas by Jivey to share the most wishlisted items on my TpT store and something from my wishlist that I will be purchasing during the sale tomorrow:

The number 1 most wishlisted item in my store is my City of Ember Novel Unit. The City of Ember Series by Jeanne DuPrau is one of my all time favorite young adult reads. I love teaching the novel and seeing the excitement on my student's faces as they start to make some inferences about what's going on  in the story.

Number 2 most wishlisted item in my store is my Giant iPad Classroom Job Chart. I made this for my classroom this year to fit our technology theme. It works great and student's love it.

My wishlist on TpT is ALWAYS full! On the top of my list is this Practice & Assess Reading Literature Printables set from Lovin' Lit. It doesn't get any better than NO PREP printables and answer keys to go along with her Interactive Notebooks that I am addicted to!

Happy Sunday Everyone! Don't forget to stop by the Teaching Trio to check out other Sunday Scoop's and Ideas by Jivey to see what's on everyones wishlist!