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If you didn't read my April post about the problem of the day, you can get all of the information about how I do the routine by clicking the picture below! This is one of my favorite routines because it's quick, easy, and tons of fun! In April, I focused on subtraction, but this month's set of questions includes both addition and subtraction word problems.  This will help the students work on whether they need to add or subtract when they hear a math story.  We focus on whether the story gets bigger or smaller, and on the key words in the story! I'm going to keep this post short to give you time to read up on the original post with the details about the routine! Download the new questions for the problem of the day by clicking the picture below! This freebie is linked up with Manic Monday! Head over there to check out some other wonderful freebies!

As I was self-publishing, I was always very transparent about what was happening, and I've tried to maintain that even with going with traditional publishing. I don't want to talk about more industry stuff all the time, because I think it can get boring and redundant and readers don't necessarily care about sales. But it's been awhile since I talked about things, and I've had time to work with my publisher and see how things are and get an idea of how things are going. So I thought I'd give you an update. Before I say that, I want to clarify one thing that some people still get confused on: I have two separate deals with St. Martin's. The one that happened first was for a brand new four-book deal (the Watersong series), and the deal that came a little bit later was a three-book deal to re-publish the previously self-published Trylle Trilogy. (To read older blogs about the Watersong deal: read here , and the Trylle deal, please read: here and here .) As part

I tried so many different tutorials online to number my blog comments, but none of them were working and I was not about to count through all of the 146 comments on my 100 follower giveaway to find the winner! It ends up that in addition to inserting the HTML from this tutorial , you also have to change one of your settings in Blogger! Once you change the HTML based on that tutorial Go into "Settings" on your main blogger. Click "Posts and Comments." Where it says "Comment Location," change it to "Full Page." Save it and check out your numbered comments!  I hope that helps some of you who are getting frustrated playing with HTML without any progress! Now.... drumroll please, it's time to announce the winners! You two can expect your items via email in just a few moments!  Congrats and thanks for entering!

Do you remember my post about my library organization system from the other week?  Well, one of the coolest parts of the library system is you can email me at aturntolearn@gmail.com with any labels you want me to add.  Some people already emailed me their lists and here is the first update of the product! This update added the following 30 labels, bringing the file total up to 112 labels!  (To see the original list or 82 labels, click here ).  For only $8, you can get labels for you books and your bins to organize your classroom library forever!  Click either of the pictures above to bring you to the TPT page! Authors and Series Fancy Nancy Patricia Polacco Magic Tree House Henry and Mudge Pinkalicious Flat Stanley Book of the Month Caldecott Ready Freddy Froggy Black Lagoon Judy Moody I Can Read Books Robert Munsch Chapter Book Series Bailey School Kids ELA Fantasy Chapter Books Biography Folk Tales/Fables   Social Studies Friends and Family Our Country Science Living Things Matter

Oh, oh, fun stuff! Remember the other day when I was talking about Wake a whole bunch and about how the Watersong series is so much fun to write and I love it so much and I want to marry it and have little baby bookmarks with it but I can't because I would get paper cuts? (Okay, I didn't use those exact words, but I thought some of them). Anyway - an excerpt for Wake is up now! For you to read ! Just click: here and scroll down to the bottom and then click on the part that says " Read an Excerpt ." (I believe in the UK, they are frequently called an "extract," which for some reason really tickles my fancy.) For those of you unfamiliar with Watersong , here's the deal: It's a brand-new never-before-published four book series coming out with my publisher (St. Martin's in the US, Pan Macmillion abroad). Wake - the first book - will be out August 7, 2012 in the US (I believe August 9 elsewhere), and it will be in ebook, audio, and hardcover. This

All over the blog world, everyone is talking about the end of the year!  I'm not even close to it!  I still have about 50 days left and two more report cards to write!  My school does start a bit late though... it starts after Labor Day, so it evens out. Anyhow, I've come across two linky parties with some end of year gift ideas, and I figure I'd do a quick blog post about the gift I gave my kids last year! Their gift included: -a beach bucket and shovel -7 books (see my previous post here to find out how to get books for dirt cheap) -a wiffle ball -bubbles -a toy car -a necklace for the girls (the boys got two toy cars) The kids loved it because it was simple and fun!  And it was pretty inexpensive thanks to dollar store deals.  But.. this gift had a catch!  Their end of year gift may look fun (and it was!) but it also was academic!  Check out my letter below to see how this gift helped them practice key skills over the summer!  Click the picture to download it via Google

How annoying is it when you're designing a worksheet or a poster and the background of the image gets in the way?  Based on the poll in my sidebar, most people wanted to learn how to get rid of that pesky background and make it totally transparent!  And today... I'm going to teach to how to do it, for free! First things first, download Gimpshop so you can practice along with the following directions!  Gimpshop is like photoshop, but for free!  And... it works on Macs and PCs! If Gimpshop doesn't install properly on your computer, download Gimp .  It's literally the exact same program, but Gimpshop looks more like Photoshop when it's open.  Either will work! I kept the same format as last week with the step by step directions with images... let me know how you like the format! A common issue that I run into is images that are light/white in color... so here's a troubleshooting tip!  If you run into any other problems doing this, leave me a comment and I'll wa

If you live North America, you'll notice that Ascend has arrived today! (For UK, Australia, South Africa, India, and Asia - it'll be out on the 26th, sorry for the wait, but it'll be there soon!) The trilogy is wrapped up. So far, the early reviews I've gotten from the St. Martin's edition of Ascend have been really positive. And I am so stoked that you guys finally get to read it. Ever since Switched came out, I've really been like, "I can't wait for people to read this. Hurry up, April!" And here it is! So it's an awesome sandwich all around. It's early yet, so the good people at St. Martin's who unroll stuff aren't at work unrolling things yet, but I believe they do have some things lined up at the Facebook pages today. From what I understand, there should be new trailers, and also some talk about Wake . I don't know. I don't currently have that much that's exciting to say. Other than, you know, yay! I've been

Are you looking for instant student engagement?  Well, if you are, Prezi is one of the ways that you can easily get all of your students focused and excited about anything... even a simple word family!  Click the picture below to see how much Prezi can be!  I just completed another fun Prezi on the -ell word family!  If you want to check out the Prezis that I've made previously, click the collage below! Also, if you haven't entered yet, be sure to enter my mega 100 follower giveaway!  The contest ends this Saturday, April 28, 2012 so there's still plenty of time to win $50 worth of prizes ! Click the picture below to see how to enter!

Ascend is coming out on Tuesday, and I should probably be talking about that. But I'll talk about it more on Tuesday, because that makes sense. I should also have some other fun news regarding Wake on Tuesday. Instead I am going to talk about the fact that I have the most awesome dreams ever. And I know, people always think they're dreams are awesome, but they're wrong, because my dreams hold that title. They can be annoying, too. Like a few weeks ago I had this really bizarre, really vivid dream that I was riding on a train with Ryan Gosling (I'm pretty sure it was in Chicago), and we got in a really big fight because I wouldn't stop talking about Drive , and now every time I see Ryan Gosling I feel vaguely afraid of him, like I'm a battered spouse and he actually beat the crap out of me. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between my dreams and real life, which is obnoxious. This is also amplified by the fact that I sleep a lot . So if you added it all

Hey everyone!  For those of you who saw the Teachers Pay Teachers newsletter this morning, they're having a contest to redesign their TPT Banner and they're offering 3,000 worth of prizes!  I designed three banners for the contest, please, please, please vote for them!  All you have to do is click the picture below and click "Like!" on facebook! If you enter the contest, please leave me a link in the comments section so I can vote for you!  Also, please note that the poems/phrases written above were written by me.  Please DON'T use them in your own submissions! Also, if you haven't done so yet, head over to my 100 Follower Giveaway for your chance to win $50 worth of items!!!

Hey Everyone! While I was posting about my new update to my writing anchor chart, it happened!  I got to 100 followers!!!! I'm so excited!  Obviously, this is a reason for celebration!  It's time for my 100 follower mega giveaway! That's right... now is your chance to win $44 worth of AMAZING products!  I have teamed up with 5 other teachers to offer you some amazing prizes!   Here is what you can win!  (Click each picture to bring you to the TPT product page for more info!) My new writing anchor chart and writing goals set!  My complete library organization kit! ALL of my Sight Words Uno Games! Word Explorer - Daily Word Study from Mrs. Will's Kindergarten! Inchworm Measuring Center Activity from First Grade is Fantabulous In a Garden - A Literacy-Rich Science Common Core Unit from First Grade is Fantabulous Spring Fever - 11 Math and Literacy Stations from Rowdy in Room 300! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! - Seven Activities for Number Skills from Pocket Full of Kinders Mother'

Hey everyone!  As promised, I've added some really exciting updates to my "Writing a Winning Sentence" anchor chart!  I am so excited about all of these additions!  There is now: a coordinating writing goals chart, where you can post your students' names next to their individual goals ( Pinterest inspired) a self-check skills card, to help students check that they've addressed each skill two writing conferences charts - for if you have one teacher or two teachers in your classroom a SECOND writing anchor chart and set that is better suited for 1st grade and 2nd grade a THIRD writing anchor chart and set that is suitable for 3rd and 4th All of this is only $2 in my TPT store!  Click the picture to head over there and purchase it! I started using this set with my kids and they just love it!   And for all of you blog hoppers, I'm offering part of this set for free!  Check it out below... I printed out copies of this page for each of my students.  During writing

In case you haven't done so yet, be sure to download my free Dolch Pre-Primer Sight Word Uno game!  It's one of my students' favorite games to play! The game has a full color version, and a version that uses less color ink!  Click any of the pictures above to take you to my TPT store to download it! The cards for the other Dolch words are also available, for $2 each.  Check them out here . I also just updated my writing set, below... click the picture to check it out! This post is linked up with Mrs. H's Resource Room and Manic Monday! If you're coming here from Classroom Freebies, welcome!  Find my other freebies here!