This is how I manage my literacy centers. The pirates ship was made using styrofoam sheets and paint. You can buy the sheets at most craft stores. You draw your shape onto the sheet and then cut it out with a hot wand. Super easy! The little pirates are birthday party invitations that I bought at Target. Each child is placed in a group...pirates, anchors, pirates ships, jolly rogers or maps. So you can see that today the pirate ships will complete the activities at the abc center and then ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/Pete the cat updates
The First Week of School! Pirate sheet added per request!
Shoo-Wee! I always forget how exhausting (but fun) the first week of Kindergarten is! Here are some of the things we did the first week. Mercy! Please excuse the spelling error above (listening)... Hello?! There's a big red line to call my attention to the error but I didn't see it until I had already saved the slide. So my error will just have to live on forever! :) Free Downloads To School Emergent Reader Handprint Puzzle Poem The Rainbow Names and ... continue reading...
Apple Unit UPDATES
I just revised my Apple unit and it doubled in size. If you purchased this unit previously please go TPT and get the revisions at no additional charge. To get the updates sign into to TPT. Then, click on the green MY PURCHASES tab at the top of the page. Then find the link to the Apple unit and download the revisions. I will be updating and adding to my FARM UNIT & SPIDER unit next. *If you don't own my Apple unit you can check it out by clicking on the cover image ... continue reading...
Valentine’s Day Unit UPDATES
Hey Everyone, I just updated my Valentine's Day unit and added the Emergent Reader to it. If you have already purchased this unit please go to TPT and download the revisions. Here's a link to the post about Valentine's Day unit. This Valentine's Day unit will be the perfect addition to your Valentine's Day fun. It includes an original story for Shared Reading picture cards. Also, If you don't have this little packet.... go get it. It is FREE! ... continue reading...
Polar Express Updates
I just updated my Polar Express unit on TPT. I added several fun math games, some sequencing cards and an Off the Tracks! sight word game. If you've already purchased the unit go to your My Purchases folder to get the new goodies. You can view the unit by clicking on the picture above. P.S. If you haven't already visited my Facebook page you can do so by clicking on the picture below. ... continue reading...
Phoneme Segmentation! Make and Take Freebie and Book Talk Tuesday
Segmenting words is an important skill that we work on throughout the year. Kids need a variety of hands on ways to work on this skill in order to make it more concrete. We use a variety of manipulatives to work on phoneme segmentation. Building words with unifix cubes as we say each sound, stretching the words with a slinky, sliding a pony bead for each sound and using our stretchy the word stretcher (as seen above). To make the word stretchers you need the template (below) ... continue reading...
More Back to School Fun!
You can download the survey sheet for free by clicking here. You can download my Free book, What Do Scientists Do? by clicking here. Okay, Friends... I know y'all are losing your patience with me. When are the updates to Pete the Cat going to be ready? I promise I am working on them. If they aren't ready by Wednesday I will ground myself from Sonic coke (which I must have every day) for a solid week! If that isn't motivation I don't know what is! Have a ... continue reading...
How to Start Teaching Writer’s Workshop in Kindergarten & First Grade
Do you struggle with how to get started? Writer's Workshop in kindergarten and first grade classrooms is one of the most powerful components. In Writing Workshop in kindergarten and first grade, students are encoding words that come from their thoughts and feelings, which is a much easier skill than decoding. Successful writers become successful readers! So, how do you get started? The answer is simple. Just jump right in!! I usually start at the beginning of the ... continue reading...
Activities for Thanksgiving (Free File)
Kindergarten Activities for Thanksgiving FREE files are included in this blog post. This is going to be a LONG post because November is one of my favorite months so I have lots of things to share. Pilgrims and Thanksgiving I just love how these adorable Pilgrims turned out! Each one is unique just like the child who created it. :) They are big... but I'm from Texas y'all! For the writing, they wrote about what they would take with them if they sailed on the ... continue reading...
Leonardo the Terrible Monster Reading Lesson Plans for K-1
Leonardo the Terrible Monster reading comprehension lesson plans with student response activities. Print and teach lessons to engage your students in reading! Leonardo the Terrible Monster This story by Mo Willems is one of my favorite stories to read, especially in October around Halloween. If you are not familiar with this book, it is about a monster named Leonardo. Leonardo is not a scary monster, no matter how hard he tries! He does some research and thinks he finds the perfect little ... continue reading...
Engaging Readers: Getting it ORGANIZED!
Hey There! Happy Hump day! We've had a few questions about how we organize our new Engaging Readers units so I thought I'd do a quick blog post to show you! These are the supplies I used to organize mine. I used a 1" binder sheet protectors Binder pocket (one pocket holds all four books) ziploc baggies Clear packing tape Printables for the spine and fronts of sheet protectors click HERE to get yours. First, I put our cutie patootie cover (thanks to ... continue reading...
FREE Spine Labels for Binders: Getting Organized!
This is a throwback post that I did awhile back about getting our Guiding Readers units organized. Since this post, I've had quite a few requests to make matching spine labels for the Writing and Math units. So HERE YOU GO! Sorry, it took me so long! We also have a Free Year-Long Curriculum Map for Kindergarten and First Grade. (Scroll to the bottom of this post to grab the map and spines) If you want to read the throw back post carry on! If not, Happy Organizing. ... continue reading...
Common Core Standards Organization and Wishy Washy!
I've had a lot of questions about how I organize my Common Core Standards and Essential Questions. I display them on posters which are hot glued to ribbon. The standards are attached with velcro so that they are easy to change in and out. (Please excuse the bad picture above. The standards shown are from the 1st grade set. Notice that the clipart images match the standard and that the essential question clipart also matches. This helps the little ones who can't read understand the ... continue reading...
Oceans of Fun!
I got up bright and early this morning and drove 2 hrs. in search of the perfect wedding dress for my daughter Taylor. SUCCESS! But, I'm one tired mamma so this is going to be a super quick post! We just started our ocean unit. Nothing gets boys excited more than sharks! (okay...maybe dinosaurs...but they still LOVE sharks too). We used interactive writing to label the parts of a shark. Comparing sharks and whales. Schema Chart Writing ... continue reading...
Inferring with Primary Students: The Case of the Missing Toy Sack
Inferring with Primary Students: Christmas Inference Detectives Activities for Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring with Primary Students: Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring is an important comprehension skill for young readers to have and I love giving them lots of practice with this skill. We infer each week with the story we are reading, but I also like to give them opportunities to infer outside of the text. Inferring is just putting clues together and using that voice inside ... continue reading...