Come See My New Blog Design!

Hello, friends.  I have super-exciting news to share with you.  As many of you may know, due to my Facebook page, I have a brand new blog and new blog design, thanks to the fabulous work of Danielle Westvang, whom you might know as Crayonbox Learning.

I will not be posting on this blog any longer.   Danielle transferred all of my content to my new blog, but she was unable to transfer my followers.  So to entice you to come on over and check out and follow my new blog, I have created a special freebie for my blog.

Come on over to   to follow me and claim your Welcome to My New Blog Freebie!

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Teacher Appreciation Blog Hop Winners (and a Smartboard game for you)!

Thank you all for participating in our blog hop.

We had over 11,000 entries! Wow, that is truly an amazing number of entries. Our three lucky winners have been pulled, and I’m thrilled to announce them!

Number 1 Prize, winner of the gift card package, is . . .

Congratulations Linda K!

Number 2 Prize, the winner of the customized room theme plus great beginning of the year activities . . .

Congrats Emma!

Number 3 prize winner, the winner of their choice of an item from each blog hop sponsor’s store . . .

Congrats Karyn W.!

Congratulations to all three winners!  I hope you all feel like winners with all the fantastic free items you were able to collect while hopping through our blogs!

My current fan freebie is up on my Facebook page.  If you downloaded it, you know it is an end of the year game called “Hang Ten” where the children practice making tens.

I converted that game into a Smartboard game and played it on Friday with my kids.

It’s played the same, but instead of partners playing against each other, we play it as team one against team two.  It’s a great way to introduce the game and be sure that everybody understands the rules, and it gave me a chance to see who understood the concept of adding to or subtracting from to make 10.  My kids loved the game and begged me to play again, but we ran out of time, so we’ll play again this week.

If you have a Smartboard and would like this game, you can download it by clicking on the picture below.  Enjoy!

click here for free Smartboard Notebook file of this game.

Enjoy your week, everyone!  How many days do you have left?  We’re counting down now.  We have 13.5 school days left!

Teacher Appreciation Sale and a Special Deal for Blog and Facebook Friends!

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard about the BIG two-day Teachers Pay Teachers Teacher Appreciation sale going on May 7 and 8.  Everything will be on sale 20 percent off in my store, and if you use code TAD13 at check out, you will get an extra 10 percent off for a total of 28% off!

As a special thank you to my blog and Facebook followers, I have a special deal for you!  If you purchase two items from my store, I will send you the google docs link to download my newest item “Intonation –  Whoooo Can Read the Way They Talk?”  It’s a cute one or two day mini lesson about paying attention to punctuation when we read and reading the way we talk, which is not like robots!  Here’s the preview of the resource.

All you have to do to claim your special deal is purchase two items from my store, email me at practicemakesperfect1286@gmail.com with your TPT user name, and I will verify your purchase and send you the link to Google Docs to download your free item!

Remember, I will be at work tomorrow and Wednesday and won’t be able to send out the link until after 4:00 PM each day!

Happy shopping, everyone!

Welcome to the Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza Blog Hop — Stop 4!

Welcome, welcome, welcome, everyone, to the Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza Blog Hop!  What exactly is a Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza Blog Hop, you ask?  Well, it is a fantastic blog hop, which in and of itself is so much fun because each blog you visit is going to give you a FREEBIE to help ease you out of the school year or ease you into the next school year, or both!

But that’s not all!  There is going to be three — yes, three, different prize packages that you will be able to enter at one of the blogs.  Here’s the first prize package, the Grand Prize, so to speak…

Pamper yourself with $230.00 worth of gift cards to various retailers.

The second fabulous prize package is called “Spend Your Summer Worry-free.”  Who doesn’t want to have a worry-free summer??

Get ready for back to school with a custom made room theme of your choice, as well as one donation from each blogger to make your back-to-school worry-free with resources to start the school year.

And the last prize package is the “New Ideas for your Classroom” package.

You will get to choose one item of your choice from each participating blogger’s store.

How extravagant are those prizes??

This is stop 4 on the blog hop.

Thanks for bouncing into stop 4 on the Teacher Extravaganza blog hop!

For my freebie, I’m offering you this Summer Reading Journal.  At our school, each teacher posts links for recommended summer reading lists for their grade level.   I wanted to standardize the summer reading experience for my incoming students, so I created this log, which includes sheets for recording and rating the stories, and half-sheet book reports for the students to complete about the stories they read.  They can staple it all together and turn it in to me at the beginning of next year.

If you would like to download this freebie, you can get it from my TPT store by clicking on the picture below.

Click here to visit my TPT store and download your freebie.

While you’re there, neb around in my store and see what you would like to add to your wish list for the TPT Teacher Appreciation sale.  My whole store will be on sale at 20% off.  Add the code TAD13 and you will get 28% off everything!

Next up on the Teacher Appreciation Extravaganza Blog Hop is the fabulous Christi Fultz of Ms. Fultz’s Corner.  Just click the button below to see what Christi is offering you today.

Click here to visit Ms. Fultz’s Corner.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, everyone!

P.S.-If you’re a bit of an obsessive compulsive person (and what teacher isn’t, just a bit?) like me and need to start with #1, you  can click on the first picture above announcing the blog hop.

Do We Appreciate Teachers? You bet we do!

And to prove it, we’ve got the best, most awesomest, super fantabulous blog hop planned for teacher appreciation week, from freebies to help you end your school year to a grand prize of — well, put it this way, you won’t want to miss this hop! 

The hop starts May 5th, so be sure to check back then!   Oh, I’m so excited!!!

To make your waiting a bit easier, be sure to check my Facebook page for a little freebie I uploaded that may be useful to you for the end of the end of the year, and don’t forget, the Rafflecopter giveaway on my Facebook page ends tomorrow at midnight.  You still have time to enter that as well.

Click to visit my FB page. Look for the Free For Fans Only tab and the Giveaway tab on my page.

Facebook Rafflecopter Giveaway!

In a recent post, I was whining — err, commenting on the fact that I couldn’t run a rafflecopter on my blog, but then I found out the most wonderful thing . . . I can run a rafflecopter on my Facebook page!

So that’s what I’m doing.  If you go to my rafflecopter, you can have a chance to win a copy of my newest TPT unit, Activities to  End the School Year :  When Summer Comes.

If you would like a chance to win this fabulous resource, click on any of the pictures above to visit my Facebook page.  Click on the Giveaway Tab, and there you can enter for a chance to win this item.  The giveaway ends in 3 days.

That’s it for tonight.  I have a terrible headache because I stupidly slammed the van hatchback door on top of my head after putting groceries in the back. I’m going to take two aspirin and an ice pack to the couch.  Have a good night, everyone.

Geeking out!

I’ve never considered myself to be much of a techno-geek, but I’m geeking out here!  First, I wanted to remind you that I’m giving away Teresa’s awesome Fun in the Sun with Tic-Tac-Toe games.  You can win this by entering the Rafflecopter on the giveaway tab on my Facebook page.  I set this up last night, and I didn’t set it up so that you had to like my page to enter the Rafflecopter, but I think it requests it.  I did make following Teresa’s TPT store mandatory, and then following her Facebook page and blog optional.

Click here to enter the rafflecopter or Teresa’s awesome summer fun review games! Giveaway ends in 7 hours, so hurry!

So that was sort of techy-geeky, right?  But here’s where I’m geeking out!!  QR codes — not just visual, but auditory QR codes!  Oh.My. Gosh.  The possibilities are endless, right?  For my first product, I’m playing around with reading a sentence that does not have ending punctuation, and by my INTONATION, the kids have to sort the sentences into the proper ending punctuation.  Are you kidding me???   Of course, I will also make it self-checking by including a visual QR code to check their answers.  Keep an eye out for this product!

Happy Friday, all.  It’s going to be a busy weekend here, with my daughter’s birthday party tomorrow, and my son’s Senior Youth Ministry senior night on Sunday evening.  I had a good cry putting the pictures together for the slideshow.  How did my baby grow up so fast?  (Crying again)

S’more Product Swap number 2

Hi everyone!  I’m back again with a new wonderful product to review for you!  With spring fever hitting hard and heavy, this product from Teresa Williams at 2nd Grade Pig Pen is just the ticket to keep antsy children engaged in learning!

Click here to visit 2nd Grade Pig Pen’s blog for lots of great teaching ideas and resources.

Today’s product is called “Fun in the Sun Tic-Tac-Toe Games.”  With its bright yellow cover and beachy theme, it is sure to catch the attention of beach-dreaming little ones.  The beach/summer theme is carried out throughout the whole product, with flop flops, strawberries, beach balls, Popsicles, surfboards, sand buckets, and other fun summery objects.

The packet includes three language arts review games and three math review games.  I have not used the language arts games yet, but they include the following:

describing words

ABC Order

Correct Punctuation

I used the three math games during a Friday game day.  My kids really enjoyed playing the three different tic-tac-toe games included in the packet.  It was a great review of skills we had already practiced.  One of the games is Number Order – Before – always a more challenging skill.

No one won this game!

Another game is Number Order – After.

And the third game is telling time, which can be played two ways for differentiation — the children can either read the time correctly, or they can read the time, and tell the time an hour later.  Time is to the hour and half-hour.

My students really enjoyed these games, and each time they played, it came out a bit differently.  What I liked about these games was the fact that they are perfect for end of the year review, that they didn’t use a ton of ink, and that the directions are right on each page.  Now that my children know how to play the math games, I have put them into envelopes for early finishers and center time.  Thanks, Teresa, for creating this wonderful product that will be fantastic for end of the year review and beginning of the year review for the next grade level.

Unfortunately, my free WordPress blog site will not allow me to run a rafflecopter, but Teresa has offered one of her “Fun in the Sun” resources for a giveaway.  If you would like a chance to win this item, please leave a comment on my Facebook page under this post.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Practice-Makes-Perfect/319911501444232?ref=hl

I will have my random number generator, also know as whoever happens to be home at that time, pick a number on Saturday at 12:00 noon for the winner.

If you leave a comment, please consider also following Teresa’s blog

http://williams2ndgradepigpen.blogspot.com/

and/or Teachers Pay Teachers store

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teresa-Williams-8

and/or her Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/2ndGradePigPen?fref=ts

Be sure to click on the cute blue frog face to visit the other links in the collection and see the reviews on the other fantastic resources.

The Saturday Roundup!

Saturday again?!? Where is this month going?  Today it is cold, cloudy, and sometimes rainy in southwestern PA, so we are going to spend the afternoon at the museum.  For the first time in years, our son is going to accompany us on an outing.  Why, you ask?  It’s all due to the influence of a girl!  He has done more with us this year than ever since he began dating his girl.  Maybe they will let me get a picture today to share with you.  Can you tell I’m ridiculously excited that he is coming with us?

So let me start up the roundup by revisiting a product I already blogged about, the Autism Friendly Puzzle Token Charts.  I revamped them a bit by adding quarter-page size puzzles so they would fit better on the desks of the students you would need to use them with.

Click here to visit my store and download my FREE Autism-Friendly Token Charts!

Have a few kids with specific behavior issues that need to be addressed? Try one of my puzzle token charts. I’m currently using them with two of my kiddos, and it’s working quite well.

I recently finagled my son’s tablet from him — mentioned that I was thinking of buying one, and he said I could have his. I didn’t want to just take it, and he always needs money, so I gave $100.00 for it — and I plan on letting these two guys use some carefully selected apps as a reward when they fill their token chart. Both are currently on the 12-piece token chart, one to encourage finished work on time, and one to encourage in-seat, on-task time.

While you’re at my store, if you need some Earth Day activities, be sure to check out the Earth Day story and poetry activities.  I’m so excited to use them Monday with my kids

My Earth Day story, inspired by St. Therese and her Little Way ( but the story is totally secular).

Click here to see the Earth Day syllable lesson and poem writing activity, including two easy poetry forms, Haiku and acrostic poems.

Now, on to the rest of the roundup!  This Saturday, Mr. Hughes has his Share the Wealth freebie linky going on.  You’re sure to find something there for the next few weeks of lessons!

And Saturday also means Primary Paradise’s Top Five Freebies!

Teacher Mom of  3 has her Seasonal Saturday post up.  Meet some new sellers and see some fantastic products.

Next up is Pirate Girl and her Memory Verse Monday — a must for Sunday School, Christian, and Catholic School teachers.  I love how she makes them relevant to the season!

Do you like to make it and take it?  If so, you’ve got to visit 2nd Grade Pad and check out her Thursday linky party.  Great ideas!

Remember, you can add your take it and make it link to this as well!

Mrs.  Fultz keeps us up-to-date with all the apps in her weekly App of the Week post.  Now that I’ve got my  hands on a tablet, I can’t wait to dig into some of the apps she has posted about!

Crayonbox Learning has added a new fan freebie to her Facebook page.  You have to like her page to get the freebie.

I  hope you find some great free and paid items you can use to make  your weekly planning a little bit easier!

As always, if you have anything you’d like to add to this list, you can leave a link in the comments on my blog or my Facebook page.  Have a great week, everyone!

The Saturday Roundup – Helping You Plan for the Week Ahead

Happy Saturday, everyone! It’s time for the Saturday roundup, my treasures from the blogoshpere this week!  Most will include a freebie or a giveaway of some type, and all will be great adds to your teaching this week.

First up is my own creation, Common  Core Objectives and Focus Wall.  Born out of necessity because it is now part of our observation, I had to find a way to post my learning objectives and common core objectives for each subject in a minimal amount of space.  I had one piece of a chalkboard available to me, so I created this pocket chart version of the focus wall.  For each subject I teach, I post the objective and write the common core correlations for that lesson.  The chart allows for a great deal of flexibility since you can change your objectives as many times or as little times as you need to throughout the week.

Click here to download your free Objectives Focus Wall.

I have this available in my store for $1.50, but I am giving it to my followers as a thank you.  Just click on the above picture to download it.

Next up, did you see 2nd Grade Pad’s Take It and Make It linky party?  She does this every Thursday, and you are free to link up any take it and make it ideas you have.

Click here to visit 2nd Grade Pad’s Linky party.

And of course, you don’t want to forget to visit Primary Paradise’s weekly feature, Top Five Freebies.

Click here to visit Primary Paradise and see her top five freebies for the week!

Mondays is Pirate Girl’s Memory Verse, and you can find this Monday’s memory verse by clicking on the picture below.

Get your Memory Verse by clicking here.

Wednesdays, Ms. Fultz features an app review in her App of the Week.  This week it is an app to help with visual memory, concentration, and visual processing called Dyslexia Quest.

Click here to learn about the Dyslexia Quest app.

Sugar and Spice is running a giveaway as a thank you for making her store successful enough that she was able to buy 6 tablets for her children to use!  How awesome is that?  Her giveaway ends April 19, so head over for your chance to enter.

Click here to read Sugar and Spice’s inspirational use of some of her TPT earnings and enter her giveaway.

And finally, here’s an Earth Day freebie from Australia from Sea of Knowledge!

Click her to visit Sea of Knowledge and download the Earth Day freebie.

Well, that’s it for the Saturday Roundup!  I hope you find some great freebies.  Don’t forget to explore the stores for paid items you may need as well.  Happy Planning!