Updates All Around

Thanks to the wonderful ladies who set up the TPT Sellers Challenge earlier this month, I have been super busy revamping and refreshing many of my old products.  They gave me the motivation I needed to just get it done already!! 
I've also been busy trying to get into some sort of 'routine' with this whole health venture. Stay tuned.

The first product I updated was My ABC Book - Foldable Emergent Readers.

These are great for reinforcing letters and letter sounds while building self-confidence amongst your youngest readers. The text is repetitive, there are pictures to match each vocabulary word, and traceable text on every page.

I introduce each book as we work on each specific letter. We spend time participating in echo and shared reading.  The kiddos then head to their table groups to read, trace, and color their books.  As they finish, they pair up and buddy read or spend time at read-to-self. 

 The books remain in the students 'book luggage' for the next week until it is sent home to be read with family. 
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I also updated a sound-spelling product that I have renamed Building Words!

This little guy went from 32 to 80 pages!! I completely made over every single page of this product and provided three versions of each letter page for easy differentiating.  I provided a FREE sample in the 'Preview' section in my TPT store! Just click {{HERE}} to check it out!
 This packet was created when I was teaching first grade for the first time. I had several students who needed practice with sound-spelling and I wanted to provide them with an opportunity to be successful.  Even though there are harder words, the success comes when they sound them out phonetically! 

My students always ask me to help them spell out harder words and my response is always the same "sound out and write what you hear." How else are they suppose to learn? Trying is half the battle. 

When making over this product, I took into consideration several key factors that it was lacking. Differentiation, extension, and an alphabet line to provide for letter/letter sound support.  Through the years, my students have come into my classroom more prepared for multi-level style centers/worksheets and I wanted to provide them with just that. 

**Suggestions for use:  -staple or bind into a book for each student to use and work on independently {book cover provided below}
-print on cardstock (for durability), laminate each page, and bind together. students use expo markers to complete pages
-use pages in small group 
-used in a center rotation

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Now for #teacherskeepinitreal

Here it goes....the truth. Ugh! I have not started this health journey off well.  It's not that I'm not trying either. Don't get me wrong. It's just life. It's so busy and ever changing that getting into the routine of things is a little more challenging than expected. 
Let's see. I made my declaration of change SIX days ago and out of those six days I have only worked out twice. BUT here's where my mindset is changing. I'm proud of those 2 times. They were hard workouts and I pushed myself.
I will continue to increase how many workouts I do, as I can.

Eating is going better. 
Listen...if I could live off of chocolate chip cookies alone, I would. I seriously bake and eat dozens of cookies in a setting.  It's gross and it's a problem.
I'm happy to report that in the last 6 days, I have only consumed two cookies.
I can't even believe that! THAT is an accomplishment!! 

 I've been eating a lot of fruits/veggies and drinking a lot of infused water.  I like to drink a detox water. It's lemon, cucumber, and mint. Chop 'em up, let them sit in water overnight and enjoy! SO good! Warning: you pee a lot!!

A few recipes I've tried {click image for recipe}:

                                 

I'd love to try some more delicious recipes! If you've got a really good one, send it my way! :)

 

Super Sentence Giveaway!

It's time for a giveaway and I am so excited!

During a faculty meeting a couple weeks ago, we (my kindergarten team) got together with the first grade team to discuss their expectations of our kindergartners moving on next year.  One of their main concerns was writing.  More specifically, understanding sentence structure and being able to write at least one sentence using all of those components (capitals, punctuation, spaces between our words, and using their best handwriting). Thus, my Super Sentences pack was born.

This past week my students and I began really working on writing sentences using proper sentence structure.  We kicked off our unit of study by reviewing what a sentence is and what makes up a sentence. We also practiced identifying capital letters and adding punctuation to our sentences.

My iPhone has horrible picture quality…sorry

We practiced identifying nouns and verbs, finding capital letters, adding proper punctuation, and using our space man.  

(of course I left my camera at school, so this pic will have to do…for now)

We also started using our My Book of Super Sentences and are practicing writing one sentence a day, editing our sentence, and then assessing ourselves on how we did.  I must say, I've seen some of the best writing this week! Makes for one happy teacher!

We also practice putting sentences in order and then reading them!

Next week, we will record our sentences now that we've had time to practice.

I also love use Michelle's Learning to Write Sentences packs and so do my kiddos.  Remember I left my good camera at school, so I will add pictures later. Ugh! 

These no prep printables are perfect for Kinders and give them an opportunity to practice reading, tracing, writing, drawing, and manipulating a sentence. When I say they are amazing I mean it.

I started using her Winter Sentences pack and will be using her Spring Sentences pack starting this week. I use them in my writing station, along with DeeDee's Monthly Writing Center packs. I love them because my students know exactly what to do and are READING. Michelle uses simple sentences, along with picture clues (for the sentence topic) which allows even my 'lower' kiddos to confidently read and write each sentence with accuracy.  

I'm so excited about the growth of my students writing. So much so, Michelle and I would like to offer you a chance to win our packets! Enter below!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't want to wait? No problem! Both of our products are currently on sale.

Check them out below:

Super Sentences

Spring Learning to Write Sentences

A HUGE thank you to the amazing Michelle Griffo from Apples and ABC's for joining me in this great giveaway.  Find more amazing ideas and products on her blog.

Five for Friday {April 5th}

This is a sad Friday for me.  It was the last day of my intern teaching full-time. I must admit, it was quite nice being able to pull small groups and work with kiddos one-on-one {uninterrupted} for 6 weeks.  Not to mention not having to do my own lesson plans!  Oh, how I love my intern.  She was amazing!

Here's some fun things we did this week:

We started one of my favorite units....the ocean!  Yes, I realize it's spring and I should've saved the ocean theme for May, however, this is how it began to flow in my room and when the kiddos started talking about ocean animals it was time to rearrange.  All about flexibility over here! :)

This adorable seahorses were inspired from Pinterest {of course} and were made after we spent a lot of time learning lots of facts about the tiny creatures!

I love these sharks!  We made these guys yesterday and wrote facts about sharks this morning to go with our craft!  I think they turned out so stinking cute! :)  I will post again this weekend with craft templates and writing freebie!

I had to share.  In my classroom we do "share time" a little differently.  I created a 'take-home-bag' called the "Mystery Bag" that my kiddos take turns taking home.  It's a black drawstring bag {so nobody can peak}.  The kids take it home and are allowed to put ONE toy {or whatever they choose} inside.  But that's not all, they also have to write 3 clues for their item.  The next day they read one clue at a time and the rest of the kiddos take turns guessing what it could be.  We guess until we get it right and/or we're all just way off! :)  

This sweet friend brought in his camera and insisted on taking a picture of the class.  He was very 'professional' about it too!

Marvelous Monday folders.  These babies are the brainchild of THE Kim Adsit.  After attending her DI for the Little Guy conference last spring {read about it HERE} I knew I HAD to begin doing this in my class.

How is works:

Kiddos write in this journal every single Monday.  They are allowed to write about anything they want.  I keep all their papers in these binders.  These binders are great for showing growth to parents and to the kiddos.  My kinder babies love looking back at their first couple entries and comparing them to how they write now.  They are always so impressed with themselves.

The first picture shows a students "writing" the first day of school and the second shows her writing from this past Monday.  Thank you, Kim for the wonderful idea!!!

Wednesday, me and the rest of my kindergarten teammates enjoyed a delicious breakfast during our half-day planning day {we call them "wacky Wednesdays}.  I will admit...I ate every last bit of that deliciousness! YUMMO! Do you get half-day planning days?

Leave some love if you wish...it makes my day! :)

Hoppin' around the room {FREEBIE}

Just stopping by quickly to share a freebie I just uploaded onto TPT.

I created this little cutie to use with my kinders next week as a writing center activity.  Before we left for spring break we were working on identifying words with short vowel sounds in them.  I also wanted to give my higher-leveled kiddos a more challenging task, so I included blends as well.

There are three short vowel sounds, they all end with the /p/ sound, and I included at least two blends with each word family.

I also created four sets of recording sheets.  I will differentiate in my classroom with these.  Some of my kiddos are struggling with the short /i/ and /a/ sound, so I will give them that recording sheet and they will walk around the room sounding out and sorting just those words.  I have several students who are in need of a challenge, so I will give them the recording sheet for all three sets of words. 

In my classroom, I do not require them to write every.single.word, however I do require them to write the words they know how to read.  If they can't read it to me, then they can not write the word.  For my lower babies, I pair them with a buddy and they only write and sort two word families.  If they are able to write two words for each type of word then they have completed their task.  That doesn't mean that they get to go to the fun writing center, however.  That means they get to write and read some more with me! :)

Just a little tid-bit in case you were wondering...not that you were! :)

Well ladies {and gents} I'm off to go to a jewelry party and spend money I don't have! hehe! Don't tell the hubby!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Grab more freebies below:

Lately and SHOUT OUTS!

Is anyone else feeling super BUSY?! Fall is just a crazy busy time for me!

Between meetings, getting back in the swing of things, conferences, and all the fun holiday stuff to do I just don't feel like there is enough time in the day!

 I'm trying to keep working on new units and freebies.  I'm currently working on a "The Greatest Pumpkin Ever" mini-unit and a Anti-bullying unit.  Stay tuned!

For now, here's what we've been up to {with some SHOUT OUTS to some amazing teachers}.

Bear week was last week.  SO MUCH FUN! This is a picture of one of our "craftivities" we completed after learning about polar bears.  This wonderful idea {among SO many} came from Rachelle's {you know her...one of the amazing author's of What the Teacher Wants} Bear Unit. Click the picture below to check out the goodies.

Friday was Teddy Bear Day and one of our activities was to write about the teddy bear {or other animal} we brought in! 

 {of course it won't turn the right way...rrrrr}

I must attribute the amazing writing skills of my kiddos to our mini-lessons that are taught daily.  I struggled with teaching kiddos how to write BUT THEN, no other than, Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills created one AMAZING resource!!!!

Click the picture above to check out the newest writing series you need to begin implementing IMMEDIATELY! This is just the first packet in their writing series.  Can't wait to get the next one!

 {Don't you love how this sweet friend glued on his sentence?!}

We spent Monday learning about Christopher Columbus.  BrainPop Jr. has a fantastic video teaching the little ones all about this historic figure.  We completed the above craftivity after learning and reading all about him!

Fire Safety is this week {of course you already knew that though..duh}!  Above is a chart we created to help us learn about cause and effect.  {I know, I know...how am I not a paid artist??!?!?} :)  

Another GREAT addition to our writing station {and Daily 5} came from Deedee Wills!  Her writing station packet is PHENOMINAL! seriously.  The above picture shows our "writing wall."  When you run out of wall space you have to improvise.  It's still a work in progress but that's what I've come up with so far!  Still needs labeling and such.

Here's a peek at what my kiddos are working on this weekend...labeling!

 

 {another awesome view of our writing...I don't like it when the computer won't let me rotate an image...ggrrrr again!}

You MUST check out her packet by clicking the image below!  It's worth EVERY.SINGLE.CENT. 

PHEW! We have been busy!

How's Fall going for you?

Sentence Scrambler FREEBIE!

I can't believe I actually did it!  I created a FREEBIE! :)  

Accomplishment one of the new year... check! Hehe, the simple joys in life.

On my final day of the holiday break I decided to create a winter facts sentence scrambler! My firsties absolutely LOVE doing these together during Word Study {Daily Five}.  It helps with sentence structure, reading, writing, penmanship, etc... Since I will be doing a mesh of multiple "themes" in these first few weeks back I thought it would be fun to throw this little center in to kind of 'tie' it all together!

 Click HERE! To snag the freebie!!
I'm butting heads with Scribd and Google Docs so I attempted for the bazillionth time below to have a preview and link but you can just click the link above to check it out too!  Let me know what you think! I'm so excited.... should I do more? :)   

Winter Sentence Scramble

Book Publishing

Another amazing teacher is Mrs. Carroll! I have spent countless hours browsing her teacher blog jotting down TONS of ideas. One idea that I have "borrowed" from her is the idea of having a Publishing Mom. This is a great opportunity to have parents become involved in the classroom and to have students really get excited about their writing. My first graders love to write stories and during any "free" time they always choose to write and create stories! I love reading what their imagination has to offer! Over the Christmas break I got to work and created the perfect little book publishing area.

This is my publishing mom basket. Everything my publishing parent needs is located in this basket, equipped with detailed instructions.

This is a look at my student's book baskets. Each basket has been labeled with their name and inside is where they will keep all of their 'work in progress.' They also have Book Luggage that has been created for The Daily Five. They have an option to place their 'published' book in their Book Luggage or return it to their book basket. We began publishing this week and my kiddos are already obsessed. Mrs. Carroll has generously given us fellow teachers a link to download a copy of the publishing parent letter. You can receive her letter and a look at her blog HERE!

Happy Publishing!