Everybody needs a voice.....

We live in a world where children are being bullied more often than I think we would like to admit. We live in a world where bullies get power and feel good about making other people feel poorly. We live in a world where kids witness bullying fear what would happen if they say something. We live in a world where kids who are being bullied don’t say anything for fear that it will only get worse. This might be the world that we live in today, but it doesn’t have to be the world of tomorrow. We can all work together to make sure the bullies get their emotional needs met in ways that don’t harm others. We can work to make sure that those witnessing bullying feel empowered to stand up for themselves and others. We can work to make a world where those kids being bullied find their voice to stand up and say STOP! Where those kids feel safe and supported to tell the adults around them.

A friend’s daughter recently told her mom that she had been being bullied all year at school…..she finally found her voice. She made this video to help other kids find their voice. Please watch it and share it so that Hannah can help others find their voice.

Let’s work together to make this world a better place.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

~Erica

New write the room unit and a freebie!

So I have decided that posting new unit on Teacherspayteachers before I go to bed is a bad idea. Last week I posted my first big unit and was up during the night wondering if anyone would buy it. So far only one person has but, one is better than none. So tonight I uploaded a writing the room unit and I am sitting here getting ready to go to bed thinking…hmmm I wonder if anyone will buy it. It’s not like I have to sell any and the real reason that I am making stuff is that I like to make stuff. Well I am still being positive and thinking that there will be people out there who will find the things that I have created useful. Here is a preview of my new unit. Click the picture to go to my TPT store to see this and the rest of my items.

Here is a winter color by sight word and color by letter freebie. Hope you enjoy it!

~Erica

Just a little excited and nervous!

So I just posted my first “big unit” (more than a just a couple pages) on Teacherspayteachers. It is a unit designed to be used for independent work during literacy center time. It includes the following things:
Beginning letter sounds,
Vowels/consonant sort, 
Nouns and verbs sort, 
-at words, 
-ing words, 
writing the room, 
letter/word sort, 
cvc words, 
color by letters, 
color by sight words, 
roll a word, and 
syllable practice. 

Here are a few pics of what is in the unit.

I am excited about this, as I really want to get my TPT store going. If this is not something you would be interested in please consider passing the link along to anyone who you think might like it. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literacy-Centers-1057830

Thanks and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this unit will be something that people will find helpful in their classroom.

~Erica

Vowel/consonant sort and a freebie.

Yesterday we started to learn about vowels. We did a whole group sort of magnetic letters. Then I introduced my students to the “Vowel Bat” song by Shari Sloane and video by Harry Kindergarten. If you have never heard of Harry Kindergarten you should certainly look him up on Youtube. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/user/HarryKindergarten. My kids loved the fact that the song used the Batman symbol. It certainly got their attention. 

So today we worked in small groups to sort the vowels and consonants. I had four groups. Two of the groups work very effectively together and quickly worked to sort the letters. One group did a pretty good job, but I noticed that they needed help forming a strategy about how to do it. The other group might have been a bad combination. I think there was too many strong personalities as they did not get much accomplished and seemed to have trouble deciding who would do what so no one was sure what to do. Here are some pictures of the students working and what some of them accomplished.

Tomorrow the students will be completing a vowel/consonant sort on their own (with a sub as I will be observing another teacher). I have included this sort as a freebie. 

  Enjoy!

~Erica

Teacherspayteachers :)

Well I am pleased to announce that I sold my first item on Teacherspayteachers today. Several of my free items have been downloaded in the past, but today was the first day someone actually paid for something I created. The funny part is that the item cost $.50, there was a TPT fee of $.20 and a transaction fee of $.30 so I made $.00, but I am still thrilled I sold something. Oh and the buyer gave me a 4 star out of 4 star rating for the item. Here is the link to my store. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Erica-Gower

I love to create things, but find that creating new things that haven’t already been created is my biggest challenge. I do like a challenge though. If there are items that you could use for your classroom let me know and I will do my best to create something that will work for you.

~Erica