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!

This Post is Brought to You by Future Rockstars and the Letter N

Does it ever make you wonder what others would think if they came into your classroom and saw you singing and dancing to some of the most ridiculous ingenious songs? I guess it's like the saying 'fashion over comfort' (because the heels are just too cute NOT to wear to work and walk around in for 10 hours, right?!?), but in this case, it's learning over rhythm and tone...and I think it's safe to say that unless your colleague is Paul Leka, sing your heart out, and watch those 5 year olds join right in!

 Well, ok...maaaaybe I'll keep my singing reserved for 5 year old ears only, since I do want you to come back and check out my blog again sometime soon. ;) On that note, I'll let you fill in your own amazing singing voice here...

I decided this song can be modified perfectly for the letter N. This is how it goes in Room 2:

Instead of "Na na na na, na na na na, we sang the song with /n/. We then manipulated the beginning sound of each student's name, who gets to stand and sing with this mic,

so that it begins with /n/ (for example, Jessica becomes Nessica, Bill becomes Nill). Once students are comfortable singing orally, each student receives his/her own page for the class book. The students fill in the second set of /n/, by writing lowercase n four times, then his/her 'N' name on the bottom line. Bind the book together to make a Rock Star Nn book.

I can't believe that I almost forgot to mention the dancing that goes along with this. While singing, students put out their right arm and wave it to the right, then put out their left arm and wave it to the left, then repeat one more time on each side (here's to hoping that gave you a clear mental image).

If you are a true Rock Star, then head over to my TPT store, or click here, to download the book covers and page.

The Missing Pumpkin

Woo-wee...I had no idea that switching schools and moving from full day kindergarten to half day kindergarten would make me feel like a first year teacher all over again!  Wow!  I've been eating, sleeping, and running Kindergarten since before the school year started.  Lucky for me I LOVE every moment of it!

This poem innovation came to me on one of my evening runs (who needs an i-pod when you're a Kindergarten teacher?!) and I had to take a moment to share it with you.  It seems to get my kids giggling every time it is read.  Here's how it goes...I started the year reading this book

(which is one of the cutest stories to hear the kids ‘rereading’ independently using the voices I used while reading)
and reciting the poem, “Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar.”  I then decided to change it to apples, 

then pumpkins,  

and my kids love it! 

When we changed the poem, we discussed which words we would have to change and why.  It was a great way to discuss the similarities and differences between how/where apples and pumpkins grow.  We also discussed and highlighted the sight words.  

I created a book to go with the pumpkin poem for kids to read at stations.   Boogie on over to my TPT store, by clicking on the pumpkin poem or the TPT button on the side bar, to download the pumpkin poem, and book, for free!  

Math Madness

Oh-my-goodness…I’m already knee deep in school ‘work’ and the year hasn’t even started!  The awesome part about this is that I love it!  I have been working diligently the past few days to reorganize my binder files.  Not much has been purged since I switched from hanging files to binder files 4 years ago…I bet you know where this is headed!  This will definitely need to be a story for another day (I’ll be sure to take a picture of my recycle bin to show you how well I did).  In the midst of this process, I came across some materials I have from a great online math resource-K-5 Math Teaching Resource. The website is http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/

I NEED to tell you a little bit about the site.  This website has a plethora of math activities, all organized by grade level, as well as domain.  All of the activities are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  There are a couple reasons why I like this site as a math resource.  One, the activities are very straight forward so the children understand the directions quickly and can get right to work.  Two, most activities come with a directions sheet that can be hung during the activity, or at a center if you wish, to serve as a reminder for students as they are completing the activity (even though most students won't be able to read all of the directions).  They can also be used as a reference during your lesson closure.  Three, most of the materials you need are included with the directions.  The materials are typically quite generic and simple, but they serve the purpose. 

Since the activities are organized by standard, it’s very easy to jump on the website and grab the activities that align with the standard being taught.  Also, several of the activities are linked to great math literature, which is a double bonus in my book!  Click on the link to see an activity from K-5 Teaching Resources for this book.

It's a good one, isn't it!!

I have noticed that some activities are those that can be found in other resources, such as Fill a Hexagon, which I know is also a lesson in the Investigations math series.  I know not everyone has access to a variety of resources at their school so this could be a bonus!

I think I should be getting paid by this company right about now for the advertising!!  Oh well, I continue on anyway.  Last year, I purchased the Kindergarten journal they offer and really like it.  It’s 90 pages and full of journal topics.  The journal topics are great, open-ended, multiple response topics that allow children to problem solve, both independently and collaboratively.  They also hit the ever so important 8 mathematical practices that are a crucial part of the math CCSS.  As with the activities, the journal topics are labeled with the standard being addressed.  AND, I know all my fellow labeling, organizational junkies will like this one...they can be printed, one topic per page, on address labels and stuck directly on each student's journal page!  

You definitely need to check out this website if you haven’t already!  If you have, or just did now, let me what you think and how you plan to use some of the activities.  I have been playing Race to Trace with my kiddos for a few years now and they love it!

So maybe that was a lot about the website, oops!  Back to purging and organizing I go...

As Promised...

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on a song poster to go with the Five Silly Monsters song book.  Well, it's done!  I love using interactive song posters in my classroom and my kiddos typically wear them out at centers. Here is the final semi-final product (I need to 'cutsie' it up a bit with some type of border when I can get into my classroom and get all of my craft goodies)

If you read my last post, you know that I bought monster puppets to use with this song, but I know not everyone is a shop-a-holic retail investigator.  I scoured Teachers Pay Teachers to find free monster puppets to share with you all, but came back empty handed (imagine the sad look on my face).  So, off to Google I went.  Google has and knows everything, right?!?  I got SUPER excited when I found some HERE at NickJr for, drumroll,... freeee!  Here is my disclaimer about these masks/puppets...They are from the show Yo Gabba Gabba which I also researched to learn is targeted toward preschool age children.  You KNOW what that means!  If the kids recognize the monsters, they may turn up their noses.  My cartoon challenged self has learned by experience that kids are VERY particular about their cartoons, wink wink!  End disclaimer.  As I was saying,  I think they are cute and would work as an added manipulative for the song.  

In addition to a counting or subtracting lesson, this song can be used for those weird five to ten minute time slots that tend to pop up from time to time before lunch or specials.  If you're in like, or love, grab this poster by clicking on the picture or on the TPT button located in the left side bar. 

Monster Monday

Happy Monday! 

I spent part of my weekend doing what I do best…shopping!  I can’t pass up a good bargain, especially when the item is beyond CUTE, so these monster puppets were a must have!

I bought these for $1.49 each at Michaels craft store.  

Now that I have these adorable monster puppets, I had to have a song to go with them.  I created this song that can be sung to the tune of “Five Little Ducks.”

Visual, hands-on learning is so important for Kindergartners.  Some students can act out the song using the puppets while the others use math manipulatives, or create a visual representation in their journals or on dry erase boards.  This provides the perfect opportunity to discuss what is happening in the song and touch on the Common Core State Standard that requires students to represent and solve addition/subtraction word problems.
After singing and acting out the song numerous times, the song book and puppets can be placed at a center for students to continue to practice reading with fluency and prosody. 

Pop on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store, or click on the picture below, to grab the book for FREE!

I am currently working on poster size text, with numbers that can be manipulated, to make a song poster.  Check back in the next day or two to grab those, too!