Launching Off With Educents

The secret is out! I am so excited to announce the launch of the Educents Marketplace!! Educents has always focused on bringing you affordable, educational resources... Not only am I excited to announce their launch... but I am also excited to personally invite you over to check out MY store!!!

The Learning Center is now on EDUCENTS!!! YAAY!! 

I am jumping up and down, I am so excited!! Please head over to my store, check it out and grab a freebie!! I am featuring my Word Work Task Cards SAMPLE!! These task cards improve the way students practice their words! It provides them with fun, interactive activities can be completed independently. Check out this sample to get a feel for the product and what it includes!! 

Not only are their freebies and great deals... but Educents is giving away $50 in Edubucks!! SERIOUSLY!!! FIFTY DOLLARS!! 

Enter the Raffelcopter below!! Make sure you hop through the linky to check out other great stores that are opening, along with the FREEBIES that they have to offer!! 

Hop on to S.O.L Train Learning to check out their store and freebie!! 

Educents Marketplace $50 in Edubucks Giveaway #6 - First Grade Stores


Check out these other great stores!!

An InLinkz Link-up

One of Those Days...

So today I had "one of those days". The kind of day that you want to forget. The kind of day that makes you think about your job and why you do it every. single. day. I have been wondering this a lot this year. It has been a tough year with my caseload. Student behaviors that we NEVER expected (not that we ever expect anything), parents that can make things even more difficult, and little time to do anything past putting out fires. That has been my year.

Today I came home feeling defeated, in-effective and just plain tired. I try not to let my job and the experiences from the day affect my family life, but that is certainly easier said then done. I have been reflecting on my school life all evening. I've thought about the behaviors I have dealt with, the home lives of some of my kids and how on earth I am going to survive the last few months of this school year.

Tonight I am taking some time to myself and recharging my batteries with my favorite author, a comfy blanket and the fact that tomorrow is my Friday!

Teachers Are HEROES!!

Are you ready for the BIG TpT sale this week?! I. CAN. NOT. WAIT!! It is always easier to justify purchases to the hubby when the items are on sale!! Seriously! How can you turn down a great deal? Take a peek into my wishlist for the Teachers are Heroes SALE! 

Addition Games / Center Pack
Do you follow From The Pond?! She puts out easy to use, amazing resources! I love her stuff! I purchased Part 2 of this a few weeks ago when it was on sale and my kiddos LOVE it! I am excited to add Part 1 to the collection! 

Interactive Math Notebooks Bundle #4: Addition and Subtraction with Regrouping
If you are not following Lucky Little Learners... DO IT NOW! You will not regret it! Her interactive notebooks are incredible. I am so excited to add these to my collection. They are easy to use and the kids love using them! I credit her for how high my student engagement is during math time!

Theodor Seuss Geisel Biography Research Lapbook
Mrs.D's Corner has some great lapbooks! I used her Valentines Day one with my writing groups and they thought it was the bee's knees! =D This Seuss lapbook will be perfect for March 2nd to celebrate his birthday!

March and April B.A.T. Books
Lucky To Be in First has a whole line of these and I own every single one! I LOVE them! They are super easy to use and the skills progress nicely with what my kiddos are learning. They are perfect for my learning center, as the kiddos I work with are still working on Kindergarten and 1st grade skills! 

Teeth Themed Interactive Activities
I love how easy to use The Reading Mama's products are! The directions are clear and the activities are fun and engaging! I know my kids will love the egg experiment!!

Geometric Solids Bundle
This bundle from Diamond Mom Treasury contains several activities for working with geometric shapes! This is a skill that several of my math kiddos still need! They are still working on identifying properties! 

Interactive Emergent Reader BUNDLE
I am always looking for new reading materials for some of my lower readers! We are currently working on letter studies each week and these readers from Mrs. Plemon's will fit in perfectly with that! 

Those are just a few of the things I am looking forward to getting during the Heroes Sale! How about you?! What is on YOUR list? What are YOU most excited for?? Do share! I am always looking to add to my resources! 

Happy Shopping Friends!!

Check out some other great wishlists below!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Stop, Swap and Roll!

I am so excited to be a part of Jungle Learners Stop Drop and Roll link up and give away! I love having the opportunity to use an activity from other TpT authors! It's a great way to connect with other teacher-authors! 

This time around, I was linked up with Alex over at Kindergarten Connection!

I "ran" to her store as soon as I got the match, and then spent the next couple days trying to decide what item I wanted to use! She has sooooo many to choose from! I finally had to use inny minny miennny mow to decide! In the end I landed on her Word Family Wizard for the -AT Family! I have a student that I work one on one with for reading. He is in first grade and came into the year with minimal letter and sound knowledge. We started studying a letter and a basic sight word each week. I mean an intensive study! We drilled the letter and word in multiple ways, over and over and over... you get the idea! He has made HUGE gains in the last few months and I have been looking for an opportunity to move him into word families! When I saw her Word Wizards, I knew this was my chance! Alex was kind enough to send me the whole kit and caboodle for the Short A families!

This pack includes 8 different activities: -at book, trace and write, cut and paste, -at puzzles, roll and write, spin and read, spin and graph and a roll and go game. SERIOUSLY?! She has everything you need to practice these families! My favorite thing about this packet is that there are a variety of activities included. It is not just worksheet after worksheet. Students are writing, they are cutting and they are playing! This is especially important with kiddos in Special Education. We are continually looking for ways to engage students (like any classroom teacher is!). We often require multiple different activities to mix things up a bit! This pack did just that!

Take a look at some of the work he did!  Our regular routine is an activity page on the letter of the week and the word of the week. My kiddo has been in this routine since the year started, so I wanted to keep him in this same routine. I stapled the Trace and Write, Cut and Paste, Roll and Write, and Spin and Graph  into a packet, similar to what he typically sees. Each day we completed one page. We even had time to throw in the board game at the end.

We started with the -At book! We read through the book together and highlighted the ending sounds to show that they are the same. 

**Pictures are of completed activities, as parent permission was not received to use the student in pictures**

Trace and Write

Cut and Paste 

Roll and Write

Spin and Graph

We ended the week playing Roll and Go! Let's just say I got beat... every. single. time! =D

He LOVED it! I am excited to use the other packs with this kiddo as we continue this year! He has made HUGE gains and I know he will only continue to grow. His latest statement (which brings tears to my eyes) is "I'm going to be a reader Mrs. Nystrom. I AM going to read" I can't count the times he has said this in the last couple weeks. My response every time is "You ARE a reader... you are reading books right now"! Activities like this make that possible. He is so proud of the work he is doing and he is recognizing the gains that he is making! What more can a teacher ask for?!

Please make sure you check this pack out! She has a BUNDLE version as well as individual short a packs (-at family, -ad family, -ag family, -an family, -ap family and -am family!

I am also excited that I get to GIVE ONE AWAY!!! Woot! Woot! Enter the raffelcopter below for your chance to win your own bundle!!

Alex also discounted the Short A bundle, as well as other Word Family products! Make sure to grab these great deals!

Make sure you stop by The Kindergarten Connection to see Fun With Digraphs in action as well as enter her giveaway to WIN your very own copy!!

This pack is also discounted in my store... along with ALL of my Reading products!!

Don't forget to check out the other great products that were a part of this Stop, Swap and Roll event! Head over to the Jungle Learners for more link ups!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

All I Want For Christmas Is....

...A TpT Gift Certificate!!

Who doesn't want that?! Seriously!! As a teacher, there is nothing better then finding great resources and not having to spend a dime!! 

Some blogger friends and I have teamed up and are giving away $10 gift cards before Christmas! What a great gift for a teaching friend you may know...or YOURSELF!! =D

Enter the Rafflecopter below to win a $10 gift card from me... and then make sure to check out the rest of the links for more chances to win a gift card!! 

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!! 
~Danielle

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Black Friday DOLLAR Sale!!

I don;t think any other words are needed!! Check out all of these AWESOME products that are only $1 on Friday and Saturday!! I have linked up FOUR different items!

You can grab these items for $1 through Saturday night!

Branches of Government

/SH/ Digraph Activity Pack

Sound Mats

December Counting Mat

Have fun shopping!! Make sure to check out these other great DOLLAR Deals!

An InLinkz Link-up

I am Thankful For... A Linky Party!

It's that time of year again! Can you believe it?! I am thankful for so many things; too many to capture here! 

Teacher/Blogger: There are many that come to mind; Amanda The Primary Gal, Greta over at Learning With Leeby, and my coworkers at my school just to name a few. The biggest name that jumps to my mind is Mandy over at Mandy's Tips For Teachers. Seriously! I am so thankful that I have connected with her. My journey as a TpT author and blogger would not even exist with out her. Mandy and I connected last winter. She needed some advice and an editor and I was lucky enough to respond and get the job :) She is so innovative and creative. Every time I edit a product, I am blown away at her creativity. 

She took me under her wing and almost urged me to create! Seeing her work put many (toooo many to be exact) ideas in my head. I decided it was time to give it a whirl and see what happened! Worst case, I would still have the resources to use with my kiddos school. Best case... I would have a store with resources that people wanted and loved. Best case, people would come to know my store and my resources. (My coworker was out of town last weekend and ran into some friends... who were talking about MY store... seriously... #sograteful!)

My family and I are so grateful to her. I am still trying to find a way to say thank you! This is a start I suppose!

If you haven't already, please check out her store. I can vouch for her math centers and her interactive notebooks! They are amazing. She hits the skills right on the head! 

Three Things in my Non-School Life:

v
First up, my child's' giggles. Seriously. There is nothing better then listening to your baby (almost two! AHH!) giggle while you play with the dog! Seriously, it just about brings tears to my eyes. He is so happy and has no care in the world. His innocent laugh will stick in my mind forever. He is the light of our world. I can't imagine my life without him. He is full of joy and spunk! He can dance like no other and he LOVES playing with his kitty and puppy. He loves cheese and piiiiizzzza! 

Secondly, My hubby. I am so thankful for him and the life we have built together. We have been together over 10 years, and I wouldn't change a day of it (ok... maybe a few). We have fought through being young, college years, deaths, fights and all that falls in the middle. We have created a life that is perfect for us. We are perfectly fine spending the night at home watching Mickey Mouse Club, or trying to keep the munchkin from literately sitting ON the cat. He keeps me in check and grounded. He manages the finances (even if it drives me crazy, I know it's for the best!). He even does some (...fine, MOST) of the cooking. He is just all around wonderful. I'm still trying to figure out how I got so lucky! 

Our Principal went to Hawaii... So we had a Hawaiian Day!

Finally, I wanted to keep school out of this post, but I can't. My school family the last 2 years has be AMAZING. I have worked in several places, and this is by far the best! We celebrate out highs and we support those with lows. We support each other in every way possible. I love going to work each morning- even after a really tough day. I have created many lasting friendships. I feel comfortable sharing my thoughts and opinions. I have a team that backs me up when situations arise. Best of all... we have FUN! 

A Product That I Can't Live Without
Hands down my Word Work Task Cards. These bad boys make word work and spelling FUN! Seriously... My kiddos said that "This is FUN Mrs. Nystrom!" "I actually like this!" I will tape them next time and share it! They love being able to choose how they are going to practice their words. They love getting using sand, or legos, or pipe cleaners. They love getting out the highlighters and the scrabble tile. Best of all... I can listen to them read their words and then trust them to choose their activity, get their materials, and then practice them ON.THEIR.OWN! It has been a huge motivator for kiddos and a HUGE time-saver for me. Annnd... I've discounted them just for you guys!! 

These are just a few of the MANY, MANY things I am thankful for!! 

If you are interested in linking up with me... here is the image! I would LOVE to hear what you are thankful for this year! =) Simply grab the image and list the teacher/blogger your are thankful for as well as three other things! Don't forget to include an activity/product (your's or someone else's) that you are thankful for! Then... add your link below!!

If you stuck around this long... you are in luck! I am giving away ONE of Mandy's November Interactive Notebooks! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out these other Teachers who also have a lot to be thankful for!!

An InLinkz Link-up