If you're anything like me, and teaching a new grade this year, you probably find yourself spending lots of money on downloadable classroom resources.  Just in time for the Cyber-Monday Sale at TpT, I have joined together with fourteen other Canadian teacher authors to offer you an opportunity to win one of three $50 TpT gift cards! My store will (along with many other stores) will be on sale on Monday and Tuesday.  You can also post a comment on my Facebook post letting me know what'd you'd like from my TpT store. In addition to the three $50 gift cards, I will randomly sele ..read more

When I worked as a Teacher-Librarian, Deborah Ellis's The Breadwinner was one of those books I couldn't seem to keep on the shelves for long. Imagine my delight to learn it's been made into an animated film, opening in theatres on December 1.  I am even more excited to announce that two lucky blog readers will win passes to see The Breadwinner! These passes are admit two, and are valid at any Cineplex in Canada where the film is playing. Read to the bottom to find out how to win! If you're not yet familiar with The Breadwinner, it's the story of a young girl's journey as she gives u ..read more

I need to preface this by saying I despise round-robin (popcorn) reading from a basal! Instead, I like to put together a levelled duotang of readers' theatre plays that we can pull out to practice reading fluency. These are some of the free plays I've successfully used with second and third grade students. I will be on the hunt this week to add to my collection for this year's group of fourth graders. In the past, my students have been motivated by using Garage Band to record their plays. Some kids even download the .mp3 file onto their devices to listen at home! Fairy Tales & Other Fic ..read more

A couple of years ago, my third grade students were responsible for hosting a school-wide Remembrance Day Assembly. Of course, when I say my students were responsible for the assembly, what that really means is that my teaching partners and I did all of the planning. Now that I've done it once, it wouldn't be all that daunting to have to do it again.  Here are some ideas for hosting your own Remembrance Day assembly: Display a slide show of “Peace is…” drawings on the screen as everyone is being seated. Everyone enters quietly and sits down. Student: “Please rise for the nationa ..read more

This week's featured teacher, Shelley, is a fellow Canadian who sells digital teaching resources at the TpT store, Northern Light. Shelley doesn't have a blog, but I am featuring her store because I learned that Shelley, who I know through a Facebook group for teachers,  is one of the many displaced residents from Fort McMurray, Alberta. Shelley recently lost her home to a devastating wildfire, and I know she could use the support of the teaching community. Shelley's Story On May 3rd, just two weeks ago today, my husband and I lost our Fort McMurray home of 28 years, as well as ..read more

I'm linking up with Stephanie at Forever in Fifth Grade for the May edition of Show & Tell Tuesday. It's getting to that point in the school year where it's becoming harder and harder to find the motivation to change my bulletin board displays, let alone remember to take photos. I'm hoping to find some inspiration by looking at all of the gorgeous photos everyone else has posted! I joined up with some amazing TpT friends to raise money for those who lost their homes in a massive wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta. We each donated the proceeds from yesterday's sales to the Red Cross R ..read more

By now, you may have heard that a massive wildfire has devastated the community of Fort McMurray, Alberta. According to CBC, "the fire left 94,000 (people) displaced and destroyed over 2,000 structures."  My home in BC is located one province to the west of Alberta, and everyone I know seems to know someone who has been personally affected by this natural disaster. I am in absolute awe of the selfless acts of so many people who have stepped up to help. There is a long road ahead for the residents who have faced such losses. A group of Canadian TpT authors have started a fundraiser t ..read more

Last week my mom hosted a baby shower for my cousin who is due to have her first child - a boy - in mid June. I had fun preparing the games and decorations. Here are some photos of my handiwork (and some free printables for you)! As the guests arrived, I had them write their names on two "balloons" (circles cut out of card stock). One balloon was for a  "Welcome Baby" guestbook keepsake and the other balloon was for a baby shower book. You can download a free copy of the guestbook keepsake by clicking on the image. All you'll need are some pipe cleaners or string, small circles to ..read more

It's far from being Tuesday anymore, but I'm linking up with Stephanie at Forever in Fifth Grade to share some photos!  If you follow me on Facebook, you've already seen this image. We used dried macaroni to learn about quotation marks.  My students created "Triple Scoop" (synonym) word lists for overused words. I have a long bank of windows along the back of my classroom, and these posters have been serving double duty. Students are actually getting up out of their seats to refer to the word lists while writing, and the posters are doing a great job blocking out some of th ..read more

This week's featured teacher is Nikki from Teaching Autism. How long have you been working in education? 5 years What have you taught? I work within an ASD unit. I have worked with Middle School age: 11 - 15 and now I am based within the foundation phase: 3 - 7. What is your favourite part about teaching? I am actually a Level 3 Teaching Assistant. I support the Teacher and help lead/run the class. It's quite common here in UK but not so much overseas. I support planning, evidencing, making resources, target setting, day to day running of class, communication, spe ..read more