Light a Fire with a Good Book - and a Huge Giveaway too!

So, as much as I hate to even try to wrap my brain around going back...especially because almost all of my brain is consumed with thinking about my newborn daughter, Amelia...the brutal truth is that it is time to start thinking about the new school year!

Several of us bloggers have come together to give you some awesome ideas for Back to School Books! These books can be used to set up your classroom community, begin a good lesson, or just as a fun read-aloud.

The book I'd like to share with you is The Year of Billy Miller. I read this book to my kids last year at the beginning of the year to help set up expectations during read-alouds for my reader's workshop.


It's a great book for talking about relationships, issues at school, change over time, goal setting, and is perfect for beginning of the year 3rd graders. Billy starts the year in 2nd grade and by the end of the book has finished 2nd grade, so early 3rd graders can relate to character well. Click on the image above to grab this book from Amazon for less than $4!

$2 in my TpT Store!

This is the first chapter book we will read this year, and I use it as the first time to introduce my kids to these Pre-Reading Task Cards I made. It is a great way to get kids thinking about a book before reading, and it gives kids something to connect with during the reading. I use the task cards to play SCOOT the day before I start reading the book. Kids may not travel to all of the cards, but enough to have meaningful conversations about the book with each other after we finish. After we scoot to a bunch of the cards I ask kids to pair up and discuss a card they have been to with a partner. We do this a few times, with different partners, and it serves as a great way to get the kids talking to each other at the beginning of the year as a community - about their learning even!

And have you heard? Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site-wide Back to School Sale August 3rd and 4th, so you will be able to get any product in my store at 28% off using the promo code BTS15!

We know what else really "lights a fire" in you, and that is fabulous technology! We are giving away a brand new Kindle Fire HD6 to one lucky winner! 

Enter the rafflecopter below by hopping through each of our blogs and entering the secret word that can be found on the tablet in each of our posts. Also make sure to follow our TPT stores because the winner will be announced through a message in your TPT inbox! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We are also giving away a $25 gift certificate to Creative Teaching Press!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! We hope you have a successful start to your school year!