Water Cycle

I love when our curriculum gives us a science-based unit. My kids LOVE science experiments! We did two today:

1. A "cloud" of shaving cream over a cup of water - making it "rain" by pouring food coloring onto the cloud. When a cloud gets too heavy with its contents, it rains! (We made too big of a cloud, and ran out of blue food coloring to compensate, so we added some red into the mix and eventually got a great rainstorm!)

2. As water in the air rises --> evaporation, it cools --> condensation, and falls --> precipitation. We put warm water in a glass jar and placed ice cubes on the cover. As the steam rose, it cooled and formed water droplets. This one was a little difficult to see as the condensation also formed on the walls of the glass - so we lifted the lid to see the rain!

We've been reading the following books to learn about the water cycle:

Mother's Day gifts

Happy Mother's Day! I spent the day yesterday with my absolutely wonderful mom. To illustrate how wonderful she is, when I arrived at her house yesterday, she gave me a care package for my classroom staff and me! She said she felt bad that she can't help with our student in crisis, so she figured we could at least use some chocolate. (Could we!) We are now in business with caramel brownies, cookie bars, etc. Love my mom.

For Mother's Day gifts in our classroom, we took our kids out to the lawn in front of school for a Mother's Day photoshoot, and made the photos into cards for moms. The kids each held a whiteboard with the text "I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!" in their pictures. They turned out so fabulously! I wish I could actually show you how great these photos turned out. I have a group of really photogenic kiddos! I'm sure moms will love the cards.

We also made Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub as gifts. This was something really simple that all my kids could do independently (measure, pour and mix) - and it was different than our usual crafty gift. Hopefully their moms enjoy a bit of pampering!

I neglected to take photos of the kids making the scrub (they each made an individual batch) - they were so proud!

The basic recipe for Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub was 2 parts sugar to 1 part oil (vegetable or olive) - and we added just enough lemon juice to add a refreshing scent. Super easy!

Teacher Appreciation, Sale, New Product, Literature Studies...

Happy Teacher Appreciation, everyone! I am so, so very appreciative of all the teachers in my life! Those who taught me as a child, those who taught me to be a teacher, those who have mentored me, my fabulous colleagues...and of course all of you wonderful teacher-bloggers! Thank you.

I'm so, so late in telling everyone I'm participating in TPT's Teacher Appreciation Sale -- but I am. My store is 20% off throughout TPT's sale (so, for the rest of today), and since I'm late in announcing this, my store will remain 20% off tomorrow, too. Happy shopping!

Also, I added a new Literature Study Packet - for The High-Rise Private Eyes #1: The Case of the Missing Monkey by Cynthia Rylant. It's the same format as my other packets for beginning chapter books (Henry & Mudge, Mercy Watson, Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa). Click the image below to see:

I added this packet to my Beginning Chapter Books Literature Study Packets Bundle, so you can also grab it and the others there. If you've already purchased the bundle, re-download it so you receive this new packet at no additional cost!

Also, if you've already purchased any of my other Literature Study Packets, each of them has been updated to include answer keys for the sequencing and comprehension sections. Check your "My Downloads" page on TPT and re-download to get the answer keys.

I think that's it - coming soon, posting about our Mother's Day gifts, as well as some of the activities we're doing for our water unit.

Survival Mode

I am writing tonight with a heavy heart, for two reasons (the second being the main reason I've been an absent blogger this past month)...

-A student I had in my special ed student teaching classroom, as well as my first year teaching classroom, is struggling with some very significant health issues (related to her disability and chronic, but much more serious now than it's ever been). She has been in the hospital for nearly a month now and the prognosis is not good.

-A current student is going through a mental health crisis which is manifesting itself in some pretty extreme violent actions, defiant/disturbing behavior, even threats to my/my classroom staff's lives. In my world of center-based special ed, these things are not usually viewed as mental health issues but related to the cognitive disability - but as I truly believe it's the former rather than the latter (and he is much higher functioning, cognitively, than any other student in our school), I don't think he's getting the help he needs - and by extension, our classroom is in chaos right now.

I'd love prayers for these two students, from those of you who pray. And for my classroom in chaos. We are in survival mode right now. Any advice from those who have dealt with a severe mental health crisis in the classroom would be welcome, too! (Though I'm well aware that's a vague description and while more information might garner me more helpful/specific advice, I can't share more than that for the student's privacy.)

On a happier note, I discovered today several of my students know and love The Beatles! I grew up listening to The Beatles courtesy of my dad, and I'm delighted my students know some of their songs. I went on iTunes to try to make a classroom mix; I was dismayed to find out songs are now $1.29 instead of the $0.99 I remember! I feel old ;) Still will probably make a mix, though. It's just too fun to pass up - I play music for the kids as they come into the room in the mornings (a half-hour time period as buses from various districts arrive at different times) and this would be great.

More happiness: I was at Target for the first time in a long time the other day. I scored on some books at the Dollar Spot!

I got 7 nonfiction easy-read books for social studies and science! Can't beat the dollar price, really!

I can't believe it's May tomorrow...our May unit is all about water so I'll hopefully be posting about some water cycle activities we'll be doing. Hoping to be a better blogger this month...

Book Series Reviews - Character/Citizenship

Our ULS unit this month is all about making good choices and being good citizens. I always like to supplement the unit stories (which are very dry and boring, usually) with other books related to the topic/theme, of course.

But I've blogged before about how difficult it is to select appropriate books for my students. I have a wide range of cognitive abilities in my class (my higher students can comprehend chapter books, while my lower students can only attend to simple preschool-level picture books) - but all are very aware of subjects, text and pictures that are way below their chronological/social age levels. They all, across the board, will reject something that is perceived as too "babyish" or for little kids. (They are all pre-teens and teens, in age.) This is, perhaps obviously, difficult when selecting picture books (which I use for whole-class lessons/activities, like the books I read in morning circle).

I put two book series on hold through my library and the first few books were available for me to pick up today. Because of the above issues, ordering books through the library, unseen, is sometimes quite hit and miss. These were quite an exception! I can definitely recommend both series and am excited to bring them to my classroom tomorrow!

The first series (and my favorite of the two) is the "Way to Be!" series published by Picture Window Books. Each book is titled "Being __________," such as "Being Fair," "Being Trustworthy," etc.

One of the books I got from this series is "Being Responsible: A Book About Responsibility" by Mary Small. Each two-page spread has a fun illustration and text about people doing specific things that are responsible, such as returning library books on time, wearing a helmet while riding a bike, getting ready so you can catch the bus in time, etc.

At the back of the book there is a list of other titles having to do with the particular characteristic.

The other series is the Acorn Citizenship series. Again, the titles are "Being ______________."

One of the books I got from this series is "Being Helpful" by Cassie Mayer. Each two-page spread has illustrations and simple text about different things you can do to be helpful (wash dishes, follow instructions, watch a younger sibling, etc.).

The second to last page asks the reader what they can do to be helpful. The last page shows an illustration, and asks the reader how the person is being helpful.

Books in both these series have simple, predictable, repetitive text that isn't too juvenile. The illustrations are likewise appropriate for younger and older children. My lower students will be able to attend to/comprehend the books and enjoy the pictures, and my higher students will be able to make observations, make text to self connections, answer questions, think of their own applications, etc. The books would definitely be appropriate for a wide age/grade/cognitive range.

(Disclaimer stuff: I didn't get anything for these reviews and I wasn't asked to do them; these are just some library books I picked up and thought were great, all on my own.)

Sale, Autism Month, Currently!

First of all, it's April 1 and - no fooling here - my sale has started on my TPT store...hop on over for 20% off today and tomorrow!

Second of all, April is Autism Awareness Month! I was hoping to find the ABA Flash Cards apps free today, as they were last April when I didn't have my iPad yet...they are not free yet but I remain hopeful that maybe they will be again. I did find this great app for free, though:

I don't know how to link to the app store, but just search "sequences for autism" in the app store and it should come up. There are pre-made sequences - kids drag and drop the steps into correct order, there is included audio and the steps can play uninterrupted in sequence when finished. You can also create your own sequences with your own pictures by using the admin character. I just played around with this app a little bit and I love it so far!

And finally, it's time for April's Currently!

Listening - one of my favorite things about Pandora is discovering music I'd probably have never found otherwise! I'm loving me some Bon Iver this morning.

Loving - I do love the sunshine...just wish it was a little warmer already...

Thinking/Needing - Happy Spring Break to me! I'm flying out this evening to visit my cousins and their new baby until Thursday. I'm excited! I do need to pack still, though.

Wanting - This month was nutso, and I didn't get as much of my basement teacher work area finished as I'd have liked. It is all painted, though! Hopefully soon I will get carpet in and then can finally start moving stuff in for real.

Advice - Remember it's about the kids first - obvious, probably, but sometimes I think we can get so worried about followers, views, sales, etc. that those things overshadow the reason we're all here in the first place! It's nice to remind myself of that from time to time :)

Go link up with Farley's Currently!

Back...with products...and a sale!

Oh man...it's been a while. I think I fell off the face of the blog-planet. This past month has been crazy in my school life; I have felt scattered and frustrated and burnt out (mostly for reasons I can't really post on a public forum). If you have emailed or commented over the past few weeks, I know I haven't responded. I'm sorry! I promise I am working on catching up and hopefully will do so in the next few days.

But...I'm officially on spring break now, and I'm feeling back! Isn't it funny how a little break helps the mindset so very much? (A really great IEP meeting the day before break helped a lot, too!)

I even spent yesterday and today working on school stuff and I didn't want to bang my head against the keyboard! Something I haven't felt in over a month! I also finished up my next two beginning chapter book packets to put on TPT:

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride by Kate DiCamillo - my students loved the first book in this series and I think they'll love this one even more! Mercy's antics are hilarious!

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa by Erica Silverman - my students are in the middle of studying this book now. They are loving it! (Thanks to Jennifer @ Herding Kats in Kindergarten for the recommendation on my facebook page a while back!)

You can click the images to go to the files on TPT. And since my Henry and Mudge and the first Mercy Watson packets have been so popular, I decided to bundle all the packets together and offer them at a discount. The bundle of all 4 (so far) packets is here on TPT. As I create other packets, I'll add them to this bundle and adjust the price accordingly - those that purchase early will receive updates (additional bundles) at no additional cost.

And...to celebrate my spring break and my return to blogging and creating, I'm throwing a sale! 20% off my store (except the new bundle, because it's already discounted) Monday and Tuesday!

Click the image to go to the sale starting Monday!

And don't you just love the cute summer graphics by Ashley Hughes? I'm not going anywhere warm for spring break (I'm going to the east coast to visit my cousin for a few days - where I hear it's not exactly beach weather these days!) but I'm definitely feeling spring-ish, anyway! Happy Spring Break!