All About the Desert Habitat!

Desert Giant is one of my favorites to use when teaching about habitats. 

I have a unit that goes with this book.  Bet you didn't guess that!  So, here is what the cover of the unit looks like:

The unit covers these skills:

*  Knowledge of desert animals

*Saguaro (plant) life cycle

*Uses of the Saguaro Cactus

*Desert Animal Habitats

*How plants and animals rely on each other

*How plants, animals, and people benefit from each other

*an illustrated booklet for students to write about the desert

*locating the Sonoran Desert on a map of the U.S.

Here is a freebie from the unit!  Enjoy!

I also use the book Cactus Hotel when teaching about deserts as well!  The kids love it because of all of the information it has in it!  Here is the link to my unit for it!

I also wanted to share this book with you!  These are some pictures from the book Creatures of the Desert World that I blogged about a bit ago.  I use this as part of my unit also.  Aren't the illustrations beautiful?  Makes you want to walk right in! The illustrator, which I guess is National Geographic, is unreal!!

Also, for those of you that have your own laminator, I found these sheets CHEAP and they work really well.  These are the ones I have started using.  Just click on the pic to go look at them.  I use the 5 MILs when doing cards for centers and the 3 MILs when laminating a whole sheet.

5 for Friday Favorites

Here are a few of my favorite things!! 

I wanted to highlight my friend Jen because we have the same name.  No, really, it is because I am totally in awe of her.  She is a working mom and has 3 beautiful little girls and she does EVERYTHING with them....takes them to the beach, to the park, and back to the beach, and over to see her parents, and then back to the beach!  You get the idea...they like the beach!  And, to beat it all, she has 2 blogs Teacher by the Beach  and A Splash of Life AND she is constantly making new things for TpT.   She even sells Mary Kay.  <See I told you I am in awe of her!> Here is to you, Jen!!

I have started using this big ole bundle with my kids and they are making progress....finally!

I could just go through her store and check off all of the things I use that she has created.  She is a top notch curriculum developer.  I'm proud to call her one of my friends!

I just bought these brown Ja-vies (I actually think these are Sugar Coats but I they are a sister store) and I love them!  You can wear them with slacks or jeans and they look great either way.  If you wear a half-size, I would size up if you decide to partake.  These are going to be a great 'dress up' shoe for the summer because you just slip your feet right in.  They are like Jellies on the outside but have a knit fabric on the inside.  

I am proud to say that these 2 units on TpT are pretty popular right now. Desert Giant is one of my favorite books because of all of the interesting info in it.   In fact, it inspired me to get a set of 6 copies of Cactus Hotel to do with one of my guided reading groups!!  We are having a blast and I am able to throw some of this in with it!  LOVE

Now....here is my little love!  Here is my great-nephew Keegan just 6 months or so ago.

And here he is now!  Look at that curly hair!  I just love him!  His favorite things to say on the phone with me are "WASSAT?"  <What's that?> and "WHOSIS?"  <Who is this?>  He makes me laugh!

And this was a highlight of my day....my teammate, Jen, (remember, the math fairy?), is so creative this is what she was wearing when she came in for Read Across America Day!  I just loved it.  She actually painted some of the fabric to make the trees! I told her she should sell these on Etsy!!