Wordless Wednesday & Freebies!

Happy Hump Day!

Here's a picture that sums up our week so far:

Apparently, the above pictures are all me!

My students were total rockstars at their word work yesterday and earned ONE full minute of free time with the whiteboards ;)  

The top right gave me pause...why is my head not connected? The bottom right made me really question my teaching practices. I appreciate the bottom left and I think the top left nailed it - you can tell by my eyebrows and mouth that I'm more than a little concerned.

Here's a pic from my 3rd grade intervention group:

Bummer, it's sideways!

We are working on "do's & don'ts" for answering multiple choice questions. We did a quick sort (which we will definitely have to do again!) and they received matching bookmarks to refer to.

I'm eventually wrapping all of these into a bundle along with my Quiz-E quizzes aligned with NWEA (wait until you see these - they have flipped my teaching on its head...in a good way!):

 

These quizzes use the Quiz E template from Pink Cat Studio and 

I. CANNOT. RECOMMEND. THEM. ENOUGH!!! 

Sorry to shout, but my toughest, crankiest 3rd graders ♥ them! They are perfect for instruction and behavior management! 

I'm aligning questions by RIT Band...different questions than my NWEA packets - they "mesh" together, perfectly!

NWEA Primary Reading Quick Questions

NWEA Primary Math Quick Questions

If you don't use NWEA MAP Testing, the cards will still work - they are aligned with Common Core. No matter what test your school administers, this All-Star Testing Freebie pack will help keep you & your students together (in a positive way)!

This post is linked up with Miss Decarbo's Linky:

Please follow the link to see what everyone else is up to this week!

UPDATE: I'm also linking up with Luckeyfrog's Lilypad to share about our own special heroes:

LOVE that graphic :)
Thank you Jenny for hosting this special linky & my sincere apologies for totally missing the boat..I linked up after completing my post & missed a BIG detail:

My Own Teacher Hero

This is actually much tougher than it seems. We all have fave teachers from school, right? Not exactly. I actually went to fantastic schools and I'm sure so many of the teachers were doing their very best to help all of us learn.

 But it was all kind of a blur...I was often a bit bored and thought the work seemed "busy." I didn't fare too well on the daily schedule and only excelled when given a "challenge" (i.e.; speech contests, spelling bees,etc.). I'm quite sure my teachers weren't thrilled with me, but I was friendly and never caused trouble. This went on for most of my school years...

BUT, outside of school was a different story! I took piano lessons with one of the most amazing teachers. I loved everything about her and the lessons...she was funny, had a beautiful home, and I always felt like her favorite.

 In return, I practiced piano no less than 2 (maybe 3?) hours per day...for years. I even became a piano teacher (for 15 years) and loved it :)

The last five years of my piano teaching, two special things happened. My students were almost all receiving special education services at their school (they weren't able to find piano teachers who would take them...isn't that mind-boggling?) and I had the opportunity to return to school myself to become certified (Early Childhood Prek-3rd and Special Education K-12).

Fast forward, I'm now a special educator who uses music daily to reach my students. I always felt a little left out of school, but with my very special piano teacher, I learned how fun it was to learn and work hard. I hope my own students are learning the same thing!

Please visit Luckeyfrog's Lilypad's Linky to read more stories about teacher super-heroes.

And, you may have heard...

TPT is generously offering an extra 10% off EVERYTHING today! My store is also 20%...plus the 10% means everything in my store is 28% off, including the NWEA cards above!

Happy Shopping! 

Jen