Just a little note...

A few years ago, one of my amazing colleagues gave me personalized little note cards as a gift! I fell in love with them, but found myself never wanting to use them because I knew once they were gone they were gone forever...or so I thought! I told her how much I love them and that I HAD to share them with the rest of my peeps (that’s you)! She loved the idea and told me to get to work! I listened...I made ‘a little note from’ cards for a few of my colleagues this year for Valentine’s Day to ‘share the love’! I gave each of them 10 cards and 10 envelopes, tied together with ribbon.

 

I got the envelopes at Michael’s for around $3.00 for a pack of 50 (with a 40% off coupon).

Of course I made some for myself, as well!! I use them to send home a quick note to parents about something special/funny their child did, encouraging them to continue working so diligently with their child, or to simply check in.

While creating the note cards, and after searching Target’s card isle for something that wouldn’t cost me my big toe (I have 60 kiddos), I realized that what I also REALLY needed were Thank You cards. So, back to the computer I went (I love me some ‘Mac’ time)!

Imagine never having to make another early morning or late night pit stop perfectly planned stop at the store to grab Thank You cards EVER AGAIN!

Now, I simply push that fancy schmancy little print button and BAM, Thank you cards are practically ready to go. All I have to do is cut them in half and fold. Seriously, could that be any easier?!? We're teachers...we’re pros at cutting and folding!

I’ve put the cards up on my TPT site to share with you all. I hope you fall in love with them just as I did! The Thank you cards and the note cards both come with many options. I have different race and gender clipart on the cards to meet a variety of needs. They can all be personalized with your name using Adobe Reader 11. I've included the directions for adding text in the note card and thank you card packs. Adobe Reader 11 can be downloaded for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html

The Thank You cards come with a bonus class size thank you card. Perfect for when those amazing guests and speakers come to the classroom and you find yourself lacking the time (I’m not implying we’d EVER be short on time for anything though, hehe) to create a whole group, classroom thank you...just print and have the kids sign!

The note cards come with a bonus ‘Welcome to __________‘ (insert grade level) that can be sent home as a welcome note before kids begin the year or as the children leave after the first day of school.

As to not break away from my amazing timeliness in posts this year (insert sarcasm font here), I’m giving away my ‘BIG Valentine’s thank you’ card for free in my TPT store. I know first hand that teachers are the KINGS and QUEENS of hoarding, so feel free to download this freebie, toss it into one of your files, and save it for Valentine’s day next year! Sharing is caring so head over to my TPT store, by clicking on the picture below, to download the freebie!

Until next time...Happy Teaching!

TAKE HOME ENVELOPE ACTIVITIES

It's no secret that teachers are amazing at multitasking! As we begin the race to the end of the year, we are also prepping materials for BACK TO SCHOOL time...sorry if reading that just made your <3 skip a beat! Typing it sure did mine!

Uh-hum, ok, moving on!  I want to share with you a simple set of materials that I start sending home at the beginning of the year. It is a perfect project to have your wonderful parents helpers start on now!

These are Take Home Activity Envelopes.  I send them home to give my students nightly, at-home, HANDS-ON practice with essential Kindergarten skills.   It provides parents with specific activities and materials that can be used to teach/reinforce these skills.

 

I give each student one storage envelope for the year!  I send it home along with a parent explanation letter and the first set of materials.  I start with letter cards and a few sets of picture cards.  I then send home the remainder of picture cards every few weeks as I teach the letters at school.  

If you like what you see so far, grab the envelope labels for FREE in my TPT store, just click HERE!  For the envelopes, I use manila letter size that the sweet office staff shares with me.  

As the year progresses, I continue to send home other material sets, including numeral/dot cards, CVC words/picture cards, and sight word cards for the students to add to the activity envelope.  Each set has a chart/list of activities to complete with the skill cards and a mini parent note suggesting how to organize the materials inside the envelope.  Sets could also be sent home with report cards to give parents specific activities to complete with their child in the area(s) in which he/she is demonstrating difficulty.  

I love the little activity charts because they give parents easy, specific ideas and activities for working with their child at home.  With the wide range of activities they suggest, it provides a level of differentiation that doesn't always occur with homework worksheets (though I do still send home weekly homework packets).  I ask the parents to choose at least one activity each night to complete with their child.

Perfect parent helper project, isn't it?!  I like to copy the cards on construction paper for durability...you know how those little five years old fingers can wrinkle and rip regular paper like nobody's business!

I'm giving away my sight word activity chart and lists FREE for you to try out in my TPT store!  Click on any picture above to link to my TPT store to start downloading. 

Time to get back to END OF THE YEAR planning now!