Back to School Sale

YOO WHOO!

Big Summer Blow Out!

Join me for the annual TpT Back to School Sale for great discounts on everything you need to start your year off right!

Can't wait to see you there!!

Sweet Sales

What could be sweeter than saving money?

While you’re shopping for the perfect February resource, check out some of the new clip art that I’ve been working on!

Now those are some super sweet clips.

If you like those cuties, check out some of my other clipart sets…

Want something ready-made? I’ve got an eclectic collection of resources for you too! 

My newest resource is the 

Interactive Science Notebook: Human Body.

Follow my TpT Store for more dreamy deals! 

All of my new resources are ½ off for the first 24 hours. 

Thanks for stopping by my store,

Haunted Holidays

   If one spooky holiday isn’t enough for you, then you’re in luck! Halloween and Dia de los Muertos are perfectly timed to stir up all kinds of spooky spirits and lots of learning. Halloween is celebrated on October 31^st. On midnight of the same day, people in Central and Southern Mexico believe that the gates of heaven open. This allows the spirits of the dead to return between November 1^st and 2^nd to visit their relatives and friends. The first spirits to arrive are the angelitos, or the spirits of deceased children. Then on November 2^nd, the spirits of adults are allowed to return.

     All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, as it’s commonly known, is one the largest commercial holidays in the world. The only holiday that out spends Halloween is Christmas! Whether it’s attending costume parties, dressing up as crazy characters, or watching little faces light up as you ply them with sugary sweets, there are a lot of reasons why people love this haunted holiday. 
    Halloween originated as a Celtic festival called Samhain. The holiday was full of spooky specters roving around. Many of our current traditions stem from activities done during Samhain. For example, do you know why people originally dressed in costume? It wasn’t to get candy! Long ago, people dressed up to disguise themselves from evil spirits that may have been roaming around during the festival. Eventually the Christian church changed the name of the holiday to All Hallows Eve and dedicated it to the remembrance of the dead and saints of the church, in order to try to Christianize the pagan holiday. The name was shortened over time to Halloween, and is now one of the most popular holidays around!

   Dia de los Muertos is one of the most important celebrations in many towns and villages in Mexico. In fact, some people will spend about two months of what they earn preparing to welcome the dead. The families create ofrendas, or altars, to their dead relatives. Typically the ofrendas will be decorated with pictures of the deceased, candles, and orange marigolds. The family will also leave gifts for the dead such as: pan de muertos (bread of the dead), fruit, drinks, and other things that are associated with the person that’s passed away. In some areas the families will set places at their tables to welcome back the spirits of their loved ones. Local artisans prepare papel picado banners to be used in church services during the holiday, and to decorate for Dia de los Muertos. Candy makers also prepare in advance by making a huge number of Calaveras, decorated with icing. These spectacular little skulls can be made of chocolate, but are generally created from sugar. The holiday goers can smash the sugar skulls to symbolize victory over death, before they eat the sweet treat. They also make little sugar coffins to delight the younger patrons of the holiday. Where some people view death as an end, Dia de los Muertos celebrates the beauty of the cycle of life and the lives are loved ones. Due to its colorful and fun nature, it’s also attracting a following in countries all around the world.

  These holidays coincide so well that I love to take a little time to teach about both around Halloween time. It’s also the perfect time to include some global awareness for my munchkins! We generally spend a little more time on Dia de los Muertos as it’s a lesser known holiday. Then I let the kids compare and contrast the two holidays. They usually think it’s so cool how closely the two holidays parallel even though they originated in totally different areas of the world. It’s an open door to share how many similarities people have from so many different places.

If you’re interested in more info about either of these holidays, check out these great videos I found online…

If you’d like a quick, easy activity pack to coincide with either of these holidays, then check out these products at my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

          

Thanks for Stopping By!

I hope you have a SPOOKtacular weekend!

Veteran’s Day

Veteran’s Day

    I’ll admit it. I’ve been a little clipart crazy lately. The other night I found myself sitting alone, in the dark, in our living room. It was after eleven and my dear sweet hubby had turned off all the lights and gone off to bed. To say I was slightly lost in my clipart creations was a bit of an understatement. But, my (former) military family & friends inspired me to create these little cuties and I was on a mission to complete them! 
   My military kids were created with Veteran’s Day in mind, but they’d be adorable to use for anything military related. These have JUST been posted on my TpT store, so you can click on any of the images and pick up the whole set ½ price for the next 24 hours!

Check out my NEW You Tube Channel!

Bear with me as I get started... I'm so excited (and sort of intimidated) to journey into this new technology! At some point, I hope to be publishing original story read alouds. :) Stay tuned!!

PS. I’ve also made it my personal project to make a non-fiction printable for each holiday throughout the year. These will be titled “I Know (the holiday name)”. Follow me to get great deals as these are released… I may create my first “growing” bundle to give you even more savings! (I’m still trying to catch up with all my TpT marketing skills)! ;D

Do you have stacks of leveled readers sitting around from your Harcourt 3rd Grade Trophies Reading Series? Would you like to use them for something other than dust catchers? If so, download this mClass Written Response Resource for the Harcourt 3rd Grade Trophies Series (Leveled Readers). 

*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS RESOURCE DOES NOT INCLUDE THE LEVELED TEXTS.*

  
   This year we are using this resource in our 3rd Grade Intervention Block. Students will read the texts and answer the comprehension questions in the back cover of each book. Then, they will answer a corresponding mClass style question (included in this download) in their small groups. 
We made a large grade-level binder to organize this file, with each sheet in a page protector. Now we can copy the page we’d like to use (for students that have trouble transferring), or we can let the students complete the written response on a sheet of notebook paper. 

This download includes:
*Teacher Use Letter (suggestions for use)
*Binder Cover
*Binder Spine
*Leveled Book Lists
*mClass Comprehension Questions for more than 100 texts (NOT INCLUDED)
*Student Tracking Sheets
*Terms of Use

binder pieces

I hope this resource helps you re-energize an aging resource and makes your year a little less stressful!
Thanks for stopping by,

Volcano Trio

Create an explosion of learning excitement with the 199 page "I Survived Volcano Trio Pack"! The novel studies included in this download are written for a fourth grade reading level but could easily be used in grades 3-5, and with advanced 2nd grade readers. 

The "I Know Volcanoes" pack is the perfect compliment to any unit related to volcanoes! Use this product to enhance your students non-fiction reading comprehension skills; increase their knowledge of volcanoes and related science concepts; and build on their writing skills. 

This is also included in the Product Download:
*Volcanoes Picture of the Day (Cause & Effect) in Color and Black & White
*Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension Passages w/Short Answer Questions & Vocabulary 
*Volcano Top Ten
*Help Volcano Victims (Poster Templates)
*Daily News (Templates- 2 Versions)
*Historical Comparisons (research writing)
*Writing Prompts & Discussion Starters
*Volcano Fact or Opionion
*Volcano Color Pages (not included in the original download)

This product addresses the following Common Core Standards: (ELA) RI3.4, RI3.5, RI3.7, RI3.10

The "I Survived the Eruption of Mount St. Helens" product download includes:
Reading Comprehension Chapters 1-4 
Quiz Chapters 1-4 
Reading Comprehension Chapters 5-9 
Quiz Chapters 5-9 
Reading Comprehension Chapters 10-13
Quiz Chapters 10-13
Reading Comprehension Chapters 14-16 and Author Notes
Quiz Chapters 14-16 and Author Notes
Answer Keys for all questions and quizzes
K-W-L Charts 
All About Mount St. Helens (Research & Writing Extension) 
All About Volcanoes (Research & Writing Extension 
Who Is Jess (character traits) 
Character Comparisons (With Writing Extension) 
Making Connections (2 versions) 
Surviving the Eruption
Story Elements 
Story Cause & Effect 
Story Event Sequencing 
Story Summary Flipbook 
Book Report 
Vocabulary Puzzles
Mount St. Helens vs. Mt. Pele (comparitive research writing about similar historical events)
Resource Weblinks
Terms of Use 

This novel study addresses the following Common Core Standards: (ELA) R.CCR.1, R.CCR.2, R.CCR.10,RL.3.1, RL.3.3, RL.3.6, RL.3.10,RI.3.1, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.7, RI.3.10, RF.3.3, RF.3.3c, RF.3.4, W.CCR.4, W.CCR.5, W.CCR.6, W.CCR.7, W.CCR.8, W.CCR.9, W.3.2, W.3.4, W.3.7, W.3.8, L.3.2, L.3.4 

The "I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79" Mega Pack product download includes:

Reading Comprehension Chapters 1-4 
Quiz Chapters 1-4 
Reading Comprehension Chapters 5-7 
Quiz Chapters 5-7 
Reading Comprehension Chapters 8-10
Quiz Chapters 8-10
Reading Comprehension Chapters 11-16
Quiz Chapters 11-16 
Answer Keys for all questions and quizzes
K-W-L Chart 
All About Pompeii (Research & Writing Extension 
Who Is Marcus (character traits) 
Character Comparisons (With Writing Extension) 
Making Connections (2 versions) 
Surviving the Destruction
Story Elements 
Story Cause & Effect 
Story Event Sequencing 
Story Summary Flipbook 
Book Report 
Resource Weblinks
Terms of Use 

This novel study addresses the following Common Core Standards: (ELA) R.CCR.1, R.CCR.2, R.CCR.10,RL.3.1, RL.3.3, RL.3.6, RL.3.10,RI.3.1, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.7, RI.3.10, RF.3.3, RF.3.3c, RF.3.4, W.CCR.4, W.CCR.5, W.CCR.6, W.CCR.7, W.CCR.8, W.CCR.9, W.3.2, W.3.4, W.3.7, W.3.8, L.3.2, L.3.4 

This product download also includes 5 COMPARING ACROSS TEXTS activities to use with the "I Survived" novels (included in this download) RL3.9

MClass Question Stem Cards

mClass TRC Sentence Stem Cards

  You can use these mClass TRC Sentence Stem Cards in a lot of different ways! You can use them in literacy stations, whole group to write about various texts, leveled small groups, etc. 
  In my classroom, I have printed these in color on cardstock. Then I had my cards laminated. Afterwards, I hole-punched the corner of each card and placed them on a binder ring. These cards hang on a hook on the board in the front of my room.  Sometimes, I pull off a card and ask my students to create a written response to whichever text we’re working on at the time. Since they’re color-coded (and my students sit in leveled groups), they’re also very convenient to give out to my table groups as a quick, differentiated activity with a small group text. I’m also planning to integrate the cards into my small group literacy stations as a leveled reading activity. To do this, you can simply pull a text for the group reading level and pull a corresponding card. Place both the texts and the mClass card into a folder and place them in a station with a few pencils and notebook paper. Students can group/partner read the text and then answer the question in a written response.

Quick.

Easy.

Effective.

  If your students regularly practice using these sentence stems cards, you will see an increase in your students’ TRC reading comprehension. The cards help build fluency and understanding of the test format as well as the standards assessed through the mClass TRC assessments.
I hope these increase your students’ academic success and make your year a little less stressful! If you have any questions about this product, feel free to contact me at eclecticelementary@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by,