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! :)