Best Vocab-Building Book: Fancy Nancy

I’m obsessed with kids books… especially picture books. I have heard about Fancy Nancy (by Jane O’Connor) for a few years now, but I recently “tested them out” and read through a few of them.

OH. MY. WORD.

They’re awesome! Not only are the illustrations adorable, but the voice in them is full of fun personality, AAAAAND she uses awesome vocabulary!  So, now my toddler has been going around calling purple “fuchsia” and cupcakes “delectable”. (Yeah, what kid under 3 has THAT kind of vocabulary?! Thank you, Fancy Nancy!) Here’s an example:

Most of the beginning reader books have a page of “fancy words” in them. My toddler insists on reading this page too (because it has a cute illustration?) so we get a vocab review at the end of the story and I don’t even have to ask for it! WIN WIN!

Click here to grab a copy for your classroom (and get started expanding your students’ vocabulary without even trying!):


(This is the one I took pictures of above!)


(This is the original Fancy Nancy book.)

Giveaway Winners!

I’m pleased to announce the winners of my most recent giveaway for the hit science book, Candy Experiments 2! The winners are:

Trina F.
Lauralee W.
Angel F.

Check back later for another giveaway! Thanks again for supporting my blog!

Giveaway Ends Today!

If you haven’t entered by Candy Experiments 2 giveaway, you’d better hurry! It ends today at midnight PST! Click here to check it out!

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Science Book Giveaway: Candy Experiments 2!

**This giveaway has ended. Check back later for more giveaways!**

Happy Halloween! (It’s October now, so I can start thinking about Halloween, right?!) How about doing some science with all of that trick-or-treating candy?! Perfect timing for this fun science book giveaway!

Candy Experiments Giveaway 1

Yup, I’ve scored 3 more copies of the hit science book, Candy Experiments 2, by Loralee Leavitt, and I’m giving them away to 3 lucky readers! If you haven’t checked it out, it’s a must! Click here to read my last post about doing one of the candy experiments! I also suggest asking your school librarian to purchase a copy for your school’s library collection.

The Prize: A copy of Candy Experiments 2 by Loralee Leavitt

Participating is simple! Tell me your favorite candy by leaving a comment below. (Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of this post to see the comments section. No sign in required to comment, but if you’re not a WordPress member, please leave your first name and a way to get a hold of you so I can contact you if you win!)

 This giveaway ends at midnight (PST) on Thursday, October 8, 2015. Don’t wait! **This giveaway has ended. Check back later for more giveaways!**

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The Fine Print: Participation is optional. Only one entry per person. No purchase is necessary to participate. Available to US participants only. There will be three winners. The winner will be randomly selected. I will email the winner between Friday, October 9 – Sunday, October 11, 2015. The winners will have 72 hours to respond and provide me with contact information so I can get their prize to them.  If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the winner forfeits the prize and another winner will randomly be selected (in which case the new winner will be notified and the same terms apply).  The winners will be announced on this blog once eligibility has been confirmed. This giveaway is solely sponsored by Squarehead Teachers and Loralee Leavitt. It is not affiliated with WordPress or any other sponsor(s). Void where prohibited. If you have additional questions, please contact me!

**This giveaway has ended. Check back later for more giveaways!**

Download Free Art Books from Famous Museums

Art Museum Books STICKERAs teachers, we love finding free resources. So naturally, my heart leaped when I found two articles about hundreds of free art books you can download from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Click here to read the article about the Getty’s books and click here to read about the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s books.

The article also contained links to articles about images being put into the public domain for free use. Hooray for open educational resources! Looking for more openly licensed (free to use!) K-12 content? Click here to check out Open Culture’s section on K-12.

Giveaway Winner

I’m pleased to announce the winner of my Candy Experiments 2 book giveaway:

Denise M.

Thanks to everyone who participated! If you still want the book, you can buy it on Amazon. Be sure to check back for future giveaways and freebies!

Book Giveaway: Candy Experiments 2!

 **This giveaway has ended. Please check back again soon for more giveaways!**

Candy 2 GiveawayIf you loved the awesome post about experimenting with candy or the giveaway for the crazy fun kids book, Candy Experiments, by Loralee Leavitt, you’re in luck! She wrote a second book about candy science and Squarehead Teachers is giving away a brand new copy!!

I flipped through the book, trying to decide which experiment to try first. Tough decision! Should I try the Ghost Lollipop or the Easter Grass Spaghetti?  Or maybe the Shattering Peeps experiment? Or the Marshmallow Bottle Launcher?P1070860

After promising myself we’d do them all eventually, I decided to try the Puffy Pop Rocks experiment first to see what would happen when you bake them.

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As soon as I put them into the oven, I instantly heard popping sounds! Whaaat? They pop when you add heat? I thought it was something to do with contact to spit? Guess not! And then, when I pulled them out, they were smooth like pearls!  Want to know why? You’ll have to read the book! 🙂

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I’ll definitely have to pull this out again and try some more of them. That means I’ll finally have a legitimate excuse for buying classroom candy! Yesss!

So, now to the book giveaway…

The Prize: A copy of Candy Experiments 2 (which will definitely lead to hours of SWEET science!)

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Participating is simple! All you have to do is answer the following question by leaving a comment below. (Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of this post to see the comments section. No sign in required to comment, but if you’re not a WordPress member, please leave your first name and a way to get a hold of you so I can contact you if you win!)

If your class was doing a science fair, which of the following questions would you be most interested to see answered and why:

  1. How can you float a sunken Snickers bar?
  2. Can You turn a red gummy bear blue?
  3. If chocolate doesn’t melt in water, why does it turn pale?
  4. Can you fry a Cadbury Egg?

Psst! All of the above questions are experiments in Candy Experiments 2!

This giveaway ends at midnight (PST) on Saturday, March 14, 2015. Don’t wait!

**This giveaway has ended. Please check back again soon for more giveaways!**

P1070894

The Fine Print: Participation is optional. Only one entry per person. No purchase is necessary to participate. Available to US participants only. There will be one winner. The winner will be randomly selected. I will email the winner between Sunday, March, 15 -Tuesday, March 16. The winner will have 72 hours to respond and provide me with contact information so I can get their prize to them.  If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, the winner forfeits the prize and another winner will randomly be selected (in which case the new winner will be notified and the same terms apply).  The winner will be announced on this blog once eligibility has been confirmed. This giveaway is solely sponsored by Squarehead Teachers and Loralee Leavitt. It is not affiliated with WordPress or any other sponsor(s). Void where prohibited. If you have additional questions, please contact me!

 

Journal Tabs

There are many ways to organize subject journal. Here’s one way to separate a spiral notebook into sections, or a single notebook into two different subjects.

Journal Tab 3

Journal Tab 2  Journal Tab 1

Here’s a sample of how you can format your page: anchor chart tab for math journal. You can type whatever you want on the tab. Print and cut into strips.  Glue anchor chart/show my work tab in middle of spiral notebook math journal.  When you are making an anchor chart with the class, have each student copy what you are doing into their journal.  Or when you pass out math definitions, examples,  charts, or whatever that you want students to glue in their journal for future reference, have them start writing and gluing at the beginning of the book.  When the student is just showing work or writing different ways to write a number or story problems, etc., have them go to tab and then start that sort of work there.  That way, your student has the more pertinent information in the front of the journal and it will be easier for students to use their journals as a reference.