Erin Condren Giveaway!!

Hi Everyone! How was your 4th of July?  Sleepy from all the fireworks, parades, and fun?  

Well WAKE UP!!

I'm celebrating my...

What is that you say?  Well... I just recently celebrated 800 blog followers and now I have 800 Bloglovin followers! :)

PLUS- I'm doing this again....

This time the LOVELY Erin Condren staff are generously donating this amazing prize!!!

Let me take a minute to tell you about the product I just purchased from EC~

The Teacher Planner 

(ahhhhhh!!)

I actually was unaware of the EC greatness until just about 2 months ago when there was a great sale for teachers during the month of May.  I did some research and was pleasantly surprised at how personal the planners could be.  I decided to take the plunge and get one.

It took about 2 weeks to get this....

Anything that comes in a box like that HAS to be good!

Here is my planner!  You have so many options when choosing your cover.  You can even pick the colors/patterns!

It is unbelievably sturdy!  I was surprised at the durability of the cover and the coils.  The pages are thick paper too.

I splurged a bit and put a pic on the inside cover- there are many options for you when creating the planner- none of which you have to do!

I'm loving these tabs!  According to the video on erincondren.com these are new this year.

What teacher doesn't love to know when there is a holiday!

The inside pages are ALL so pretty and colorful!
I didn't get a picture of this but there are 2 page spreads of EVERY MONTH!!  I'm filling these in already!

Here are some more pages...

birthdays

attendance

grid paper

Here is what I love!  A year at a glance!  Long term planning here I come!

Here are the actual planning pages.  I have made my own pages for the past few years so we will see how I like the layout of this.  I do like the colors separating the days of the week and being able to see the whole day while the book is open.  

I love the idea of having stickers at the end- this will save some time when adding things like assemblies or birthdays {plus SUPER cute!}

I am excited to fill these pages with data!  There are perforated pages so you don't have to write your student's names over and over each time!

You can pay a bit extra to add more of these pages.

There is a heavy duty folder and a ruler you can put in and out of the spiral easily (you can also use this as a bookmark).

Finally, there is a fun pouch, plastic protective sheets, and a two year calendar at the end.  I also splurged again and added a pen holder- which I know I will love this year (when I'm in a hurry and don't have time to look for a pen!!).

So, I know you didn't need any convincing on how great this is, but I hope you got a little glimpse into why teachers are all in a tizzy over these things!

I would not tell you something is great if I didn't think it was!  And I am pretty much attached to my planner- and school has NOT even started yet!!! :)

{don't tell anyone but I am carrying it around like it is my blanket}

Not a teacher?  There are SO many more products to purchase including the Life Planner (I'm dying to get my hands on!).  And so much more!!

Check out...

erincondren.com

and pick some things out!  :)

I leave you with a chance to win $50 to spend- on EC products!! Good luck and be honest!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy 4th and a SALE!

Happy 4th Friends!

I CAN'T believe that it is the fourth already!  I know I have a lot more of summer but I feel like the summer just flies by after the fourth.  Boo!

But here's some good news!

My store is on SALE!

click cutie button to get there!

Thanks to Flying into First Grade for hosting a great linky!

My store will actually be on sale through the 5th! Yippee! :)

Don't forget to check out:

AND Grade 1

AND Grade 2

and MANY more! :)

Head on over to the linky and see all the stores on sale!

***Make sure you stop back tomorrow for a GREAT giveaway you won't want to miss... it's my 800 follower re-do (on Bloglovin' that is!)***

I will then resume my Daily 5 "tour" continuing with Read to Self. 

Have a fun filled fourth!

Daily 5~ Listening to Reading

Hey everyone!

I am really sorry for my absence.

I wanted to blog about 400 different times but 

1. I had a house guest and I didn't think it would be polite.

2. I honestly had no motivation to get started.

I feel like summer starts and my brain just turns to mush.

Today I was rejuvenated!   I met with a new to second grade teacher and I talked her ear off about all the snazzy things we do in second (...and that it is the BESTEST grade ever ;)

Yes I just said that word!

Then we talked a lot about Daily 5.  At that point I realized that I haven't really addressed it here.

Let me get this clear.

I. L.O.V.E. Daily. 5! ----> !!!

If you don't do it, have no idea about it, haven't read the book... get out from under a ROCK!

It will change your life.  period.

Anyway... I've decided to address each of the five areas separately and then add a "management" piece as well.  I hope you stick around for them all!

Today I will start with...

As a side note... I don't start with this one when I am building stamina.  Typically my order is:

Read to Self

Read to Someone

Work on Writing

Word Work

Listening to Reading

I have 4 ways for the kids to listen to reading:

Books on tape (YES I still have tapes!)

Underneath the table are the headphones, tapes, and response to reading sheets).

Computers- see below about what I have the kids do on the computers.

Laptops and an iPad(far right on table). I will be sharing my FAVORITE app below.

On the computer and the laptops I have the kids log onto TumbleBooks

Typically this is a paid site and if I remember correctly it is around $300 per classroom.  However, most libraries have it for free on their website.  Just Google 'Tumblebooks' and I will bet you can find it that way.  I actually use TumbleBooks from a library about 30 miles from my school because they have it for free.

Here is just a little bit more about it:

I usually have the kids click story books during listening to reading.  There are however, read alouds, non-fiction books, and videos too!

You can search for books- I just noticed that they now have books by Common Core Standard!

Everything you need to know about the book is listed below.  You can even have the children do a "quiz" after the reading to check their comprehension.  It gives instant feedback.  OR you can print a copy of the quiz too!

The stories are very captivating!  I actually show some of these to the whole group on my projector every now and then because the kids love them so much!

Now, on to my favorite iPad app for listening to reading:

This is FREE if you have a scholastic account.  You don't have to have an iPad to use this.  It will work on your computer too!  If you do want it for your iPad- you will need to download the app and then log on from there.  Once you sign up they give you 10 books for free right off the bat!  These are AMAZING!  

This is what the bookshelf looks like.  There are SO many popular titles!  If you look next to the book, the speech bubble means that it can be read to the child.  If you see a lightning bolt that means there are interactive components to the book- like comprehension questions, sequencing, phonics skills, and even short video clips.  You can also see there are a wide variety of reading levels too.

Here you can see the lightning bolt pops up every so often with things for the child to do- the kids love this!

Here is one with a video clip:

This became so popular in my classroom that I  found out I can add more books by using the scholastic book club points!

Phew!  Sorry this was a LONG one!  

Please be on the lookout for the next post about Read to Self!

3 more quick things...

My store will be on sale from 7/3 - 7/5!

20% off EVERYTHING!

Make sure you check out the HUGE amount of bloggers who linked up to the Bloglovin' linky HERE.

I will be having another giveaway when I reach 800 Bloglovin' followers (I'm 6 away!).  It will be my 800 follower re-do!

(you will see why when it is up and running!)

Have a GREAT day!