September Facebook Frenzy is Here!

Well it's time for another Facebook Frenzy!!!  Are you as excited as I am? The themes for this month are autumn and apples.

It begins Friday, Sept. 20 at 8 am EST and runs through Monday, Sept. 23.

**This Frenzy is over, but you can purchase Apple Teens 11-20 from my TpT store.**

I am participating in the K-1 loop.  You may also be interested in the 2-3 or the 4-5+clip art loops.

You can pick up my latest product for FREE!  I created an apple themed math product which reinforces the teen numbers 11-20.

It includes materials for 3 activities.

Head over to my Facebook page to get started.  Click on the FB Frenzy tab and enjoy all the great FREE STUFF!

Popcorn Pinspiration and Freebie!

Today I am sharing a center that I have adapted from a recent pin I saw. Here is the pin from Mrs. Jones's Kindergarten.  She uses this to reinforce reading and writing of popcorn words (sight words.)

At this point in the year, most of my Kinders are working on letter recognition, so I changed out the sight words for the alphabet.

**This center is so easy - no lamination needed!  I hardly ever say that!**

I printed the uppercase letters on yellow construction paper and the lowercase letters on white.  I cut around each piece of popcorn, crumpled up the papers, and put the pieces in the popcorn containers.

Students pull out a piece of paper, smooth it out, and say the letter.  You could also have them trace the letter, or use a crayon, dot marker, or highlighter to mark the letter.  I have included a few different recording options for you to use.

I teach my students how to figure out the name of an unknown letter by using an alphabet chart and the alphabet song.

When a student doesn't know the name of a letter, they find the matching letter on the alphabet chart and place a clear colored marker on it.  Then they sing the alphabet song as they point to each letter.  When they get to the letter with the marker on it, they stop singing.  The last letter they sang is the name of the unknown letter!

You can download the printables for this center HERE!

Five For Friday {8-30-13}

This is my first time linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching weekly linky party!

1.  BIC or Breakfast in the Classroom

I like that we provide breakfast for all the students in our school, but with 27 Kinders the whole process eats up at least 30 minutes of instructional time.

And it unfortunately brings...

2.  Cockroaches and Ants

Found this little friend in the corner of my classroom on Monday morning.  Luckily he was dead, which is why quite a few ants were investigating.  I quickly swept them all out the door.

3.  Favorite Part

We read Jazz Baby this week as part of our Treasures reading program.  I had the kids draw a picture of their favorite part.  Check out those instruments!!!

4.  Predictable Chart Writing

This is our first attempt at using a predictable chart to organize our thoughts.  We used the starter "I can" and then each student said one thing they could do related to music.  The kiddos will be illustrating their sentences next week.

5.  Yay for a 4 day Weekend!

I am desperately in need of a little R and R.  I have a dry tickle in my throat - must have got a bug from one of the Kinders.  I need to build up my immunity to the current Kinder germs!!!

Hope you are all surviving your first days at school!

Have a great year,

BEE Kind Puppet from Dollar Tree!

I had to drive over to Dollar Tree a few weeks ago.  One last time before school started!

I picked up a few items for some centers I am working on.  And I also spotted this adorable little bee puppet - it's really a bathmitt/washcloth.

I am really working on respectful behavior management in the classroom this year, so I thought I could use this guy for my BEE KIND basket.  I was just going to use the felt bee basket that I already had - it was my daughter's Easter basket from last year.  But the opportunity to use another puppet in the classroom just couldn't be passed up!

I printed up some labels with examples of kind behavior, attached them to jumbo craft sticks, and placed them in the basket.

Now each morning, Mr. Bee (puppet) visits the room and initiates a discussion about the KIND behavior the students have shown recently.  We also draw a new stick from the basket, read it, and act out the example.  I encourage them all to show kindness during the day by doing what it says on the stick.

You can find the labels {HERE}.

BEE Kind,

2 Thinking Maps and Chester Raccoon

I have 9 days under my belt!!!  The Kinder team has been busy teaching rules and procedures, assessing with DIBELS, and comforting little ones! Ahh, the beginning of the year...

I wanted to share with you some of the activities that we worked on last week.  So here we go!

I introduced the kiddos to 2 types of Thinking Maps this week.  We read a story from our reading program, Hands Can.  We brainstormed some things that our hands can do and I recorded them on a Circle Map.

The students also completed a drawing activity on one thing that their hands can do.

I showed them another Thinking Map - the Bridge Map.  We recorded information about what our nose, ears, eyes, and legs do.

And of course we read The Kissing Hand and discussed our feelings about going to school.  I saw a cute activity on Pinterest which was only linked to a photo.  So I created a similar sheet which had students draw a picture showing how they were feeling on the first day of school.

We then made our own little Chester Raccoon face!  The kids loved doing this, and I think they came out perfect!  They will look great displayed around the room for Back to School Night next week.

I have added the Chester Raccoon craftivity as a FREEBIE!

Click above to grab it!

Blending Snake {Part 2} and a FREEBIE!

It's Throwback Thursday, and I'm linking up with Greg from Kindergarten Smorgasboard for his Thrifty Thursday Linky!  Thanks for stopping by!

Last October I created blending snakes with old ties from the thrift store. You can check out that blog post here.

I have updated the blending snake for us busy teachers.  This version is much easier to create and my students enjoy it just as much as the original version.

You begin by getting your hands on some old ties.  I shopped at the local thrift store, or you could raid your guy's closet!

Then I cut a tongue out of red felt and glued it under the tie.  I also added some wiggle eyes with hot glue.  To shorten the snake, I simply tied some knots in the tail area of the snake.  I added 5 knots.

To use, students choose a blending snake card, lay the letters on the snake, and blend the word by moving a finger along the snake.  You can use any type of letters that you have on hand - magnetic letters, letter tiles, or letter cards.

The blending snake cards are self-checking.  Students can open up the card and see if they read the word correctly.

You can pick up the Blending Snake Cards in my TpT store for FREE!  I created them with color snake graphics, but they also print great in grayscale on colored cardstock.

Go Make a Snake, Or Two!,

August Facebook Frenzy!!!

Tomorrow at 8 am EST the August Facebook Frenzy will officially begin!  It is a great way to find FREE back to school resources for your classroom, including clip art!  The Frenzy runs from Friday 8/9 through Monday 8/12 and is being hosted by Creation Castle!

I am participating in the K-2 hop and there will also be a hop for grades 3-12 plus clip art.

Head over to my Facebook page and get started!  Click on the FB Frenzy tab to get your freebies!

Remember, all the fun starts August 9th at 8 am EST!