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Friday, May 20, 2016

3, no 4 Ways to Make Your End-of-the-Year Celebration Xtra-Special!

Are you planning a little Pre-K or K Graduation?

Click the image.
Check out these fun end-of-the-year certificates. These CUTE graduation certificates are Ready-to-Print for Pre-school, Pre-Kindergarten, Transitional Kindergarten (TK), and Kindergarten.

You even get a blank copy so you can fill in any special program you might have. 
Click the image.

You can grab your copy by

Next up: A cute song-
CLICK THE IMAGE

Just print and glue to construction paper (12" X 18") to create a big book that you can use to teach your Littles this cute song
Click the image.

It is sung to the tune of "It's A Small World" which you can download (an instrumental version) from iTunes.  
Click the image.

I like to bind my big books at the bottom (landscape style) so all I have to do is push the current page down with my thumb and let gravity allow the page to drop, exposing the next page. Then, I'm not fiddling with turning pages while the children are singing. :)
Click the image.

You can grab this song by

A "Good-bye" Gift: (And a FREEBIE poem!)
My Crayon Candle & poem project is an awesome gift your students can easily make to give to their parents.  There is even a version of the poem for any children who might not be graduating. And the best part is that this is a FREE download!
Click the image above.https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/End-of-Kindergarten-Crayon-Candle-490903

All you have to do is let the children break and unwrap their fat primary crayons and drop them into a glass baby food jar. Remember to label the bottoms of the jars with their names. I like to do this with masking tape because it is sometimes hard to read the names when this project is done, even if you use a dark colored Sharpie. 
Click the image above. 

After the kids fill their jar with crayons, slide a birthday candle into the center of each jar. This is a lot less expensive than buying candle wicks. It might take a little wiggling, but you can get the candles in. 

Last, after school, melt some paraffin wax and pour some into each jar. I like to use my home-hand wax machine. It melts the wax and I can easily ladle it into each jar. Let them sit overnight to cool.

I like to roll up this poem and tie it to each candle. My students gave these to their parents at the end of their graduation ceremony.

You can grab this FREE poem by 

AND HERE IS A FUN HEALTHY TREAT:
Perfect to serve at your celebration!

Just cut bananas in half, cut a slit for the grape, add grapes and you're done!

I hope you like these fun ideas. Share your graduation ideas below for our readers! 

Monday, May 16, 2016

Multi-Tasking Made Easy!

What A GREAT Idea!

Our days are so busy and it's so hard to fit everything in, but this is one GREAT way to get inspire and expand our minds and our teaching. 

http://www.kindergartenkiosk.com/podcast/5/10/hdkfn6n6jqbyi8t1abtvjquba7z4u8
Less stress by using your time more efficiently! :)
So the next time you find yourself driving to work, 

getting dressed, 
 








or even cooking dinner, 
tune in and get ready to expand your mind, develop professionally, and learn a thing or two.


I'm Talking About Podcasts:
Kindergarten Kiosk has a series of educational podcasts that are perfect to listen to while driving to work, getting dressed in the morning, or even while cooking dinner. Whenever you have an extra moment, tune in!
http://www.kindergartenkiosk.com/podcast/5/10/hdkfn6n6jqbyi8t1abtvjquba7z4u8

My Podcast:
I was so excited to be featured on a podcast about GUIDED READING last week. And I was so nervous that you will have to excuse all of my ummmms! 

Lyndsey Jarman hosts wonderful podcasts on all kinds of topics that K-2nd grade teachers would be interested in. And now they are part of the Education Podcast Network!

You can catch my cast by CLICKING HERE.

In this podcast, I talk about 
-a simple 5-day plan for teaching Guided Reading
-logistics of meeting with small groups
-classroom management
-assessments
-my favorite teaching tools & techniques

http://www.kindergartenkiosk.com/podcast/5/10/hdkfn6n6jqbyi8t1abtvjquba7z4u8

Here are the links to my original blogpost about Guided Reading AND
to the products & FREEBIES mentioned in the podcast. 

Guided Reading post:  http://bit.ly/guidedreadingpost

Alphabet Pin Cards:   http://bit.ly/pinletters

Letter & Number Formation Cards:  http://bit.ly/numbertrace

Sight Word Pocket Lockets:  http://bit.ly/pocketlockets

iPhone templates from Dragonflies in First:  http://bit.ly/TextiPhone

Reading Strategy posters from Mrs. Ricca’s Kindergarten:  http://bit.ly/readposters

Writing Prompts on TpT:  http://bit.ly/wrprompts

American Flag Writing template:  http://bit.ly/flagwriting

Career Writing template:  http://bit.ly/careerwr

Instant Writing set:  http://bit.ly/instantwriting

Post on how to get EVERY student writing:  http://bit.ly/3CardWriting

ESGI:  esgisoftware.com   (use discount code: KFUN )

The best thing about these podcasts is that they are short, casual, and the topics are current. It's a great way to get inspired, motivated, and encouraged! Professional development without taking time from yourself or your family. It's the best way I have found to multi-task without burn-out! So enjoy!

You can find more of Lyndsey's podcasts by visiting Kindergarten Kiosk and clicking on the PODCAST tab or just CLICK HERE

Monday, May 9, 2016

The Cutest Kindergarten Graduation Song EVER! (Great for pre-school or TK graduation too!)

Turn these colorful pages into a Big Book...

... and easily teach your students this fun, upbeat song!

CLICK THE IMAGE.

Just print the pages, glue them to colored construction paper, bind at the bottom (this helps you turn the pages quickly as it allows gravity to assist you as you just drop each page), and start singing!
Click the image.


Click the image
I downloaded an instrumental version of "It's a Small World" from iTunes to go along with this song. 
Click the image.
By changing the sentence "We will soon be in 1st grade!" to "We will soon be in kindergarten!" you can use this for your pre-school or transitional kindergarten graduation song!

My students loved singing this song and their parents told me how often they sang it at home too. I even had one new student who entered my classroom on the first day of kindergarten singing this song because he heard his brother singing it all summer long!

You can download the words on cute framed pages 
Enjoy!

Monday, May 2, 2016

Just For YOU! It's Teacher Appreciation Week!

Get 28% off of your TpT purchase! 

Click the image to see my TpT Store.

My ENTIRE store is 20% PLUS, use the promo code
CELEBRATE
during check-out and get an additional 10% off!

Your total savings will be 28% off!

to see all of the savings in my TpT Store!


Now is the time to grab my amazing 
that will turn EVERY child into a writer!

Click the image to grab this set.



Or save BIG on my Math Bundle 
that includes lots of activities for every number 
from 1-10.

Click the image to grab this set.
Have FUN shopping, and
HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK!

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Making Guided Reading Work: A Simple Plan

Here is my Simple Guide to Guided Reading:

First, you have to set up your Guided Reading Table:


Children love routines. It makes them feel safe and comfortable. But they also seek novelty and their motivation to learn is peeked when we present information in different ways. That said, I like to keep my Guided Reading routine the same each week, but each day I toss in some fun, new ideas.

Since Guided Reading is taught through small group instruction, and is designed to provide differentiated teaching that supports students in developing reading proficiency, I begin by assessing my students (see more on assessment below)and meeting with them in small, homogeneous groups. These groups are flexible and change as often as needed.

So what does a typical Guided Routine look like?

Basically, I like to plan my small group lessons around these concepts:

Monday: Alphabet Work: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and letter recognition.

Tuesday: Sight Word Work: Reading and spelling sight words (I limit my lessons to one or two sight words.)

Wednesday: Reading Strategy Work:  Discussing and practice reading strategies such as blending, segmenting, stretching out words, etc.

Thursday: Comprehension Work: Practicing comprehension strategies such as digging deeper, looking for evidence, and re-telling stories.

Friday: Writing Work: Practicing writing by completing the writing prompt that relates to the story or topic that week. 

How to bring novelty into your weekly Guided Reading routine?


Monday: Alphabet Work: (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and letter recognition)


We might focus on initial sounds by placing a cube on each image that begins with a particular letter. 
We might use clear and colored spoons to practice word families or onset rimes. This cute idea came from Heidi's blog:  http://blog.heidisongs.com
And we reinforce letter recognition by using alphabet pin cards, laminated letter tracing cards, and bingo markers that help us practice letter formation . 

Tuesday: Sight Word Work: (1 or 2 Sight Words) 
Click the image to grab the set of Pocket-Lockets. 

We create Sight Word charts where students use the sight word in a sentence, the teacher writes the sentence, and the student gets to sign their sentence.
We use my Pocket-Lockets set to create a pocket watch or a locket by spelling a particular sight word with letter squares. Students get to wear their pocket watch or locket home. 
And we use choral reading to read our Sight Word Mini Books together.
We use laminated Dragonflies in First's cute  iPhone templates to copy sight words or write a sentence using a sight word with dry-erase pens.

Wednesday: Reading Strategy Work: (Reading Strategies) 

Click the image to grab this cute, FREE set of posters. 
We use multiple copies of small trade books, phonetic books, or familiar literature books to practice reading decoding strategies together. We discuss the strategies found on these FREE posters from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten and share how we used them to read. 
Students also practice partner reading their book during this time. 

Thursday: Comprehension Work: (Comprehension Strategies)

Students use their trade books, phonetic books, or familiar literature books to discuss new vocabulary, look for evidence in the illustrations or text, and re-tell parts of the story. Concepts of print, such as identifying characters, the setting, the problem, the solution, or sequencing parts of the story are also addressed. 

Friday: Writing Work: (Writing Component)
Click the image to grab the American Symbol Flag Writing Template. 

Students respond to a writing prompt that relates to that week's story or a concept of print, such as the characters, the setting, etc. I use my Writing Prompts every Friday. We also used my Career Writing templates after reading about community helpers and my American Symbol Flag template after reading about our national symbols. 

A Word About Assessments:

I have used ESGI for the past 8 years and it has saved me hundreds of hours assessing my students and using the amazing data to drive my instruction and RTI. It's easy, provides you with so much useful information about your students, and you students will LOVE it so much they will actually beg you to test them! Really!
Click the image above to grab your FREE trial!
Remember to enter your code: KFUN.
You can learn more by grabbing your FREE 60 day trial (no credit card necessary) by CLICKING HERE. Add the promo code KFUN when you grab this FREE trial and you will automatically qualify for a $40 discount off of your 1st year! This is a GREAT company. They won't try to trick you into enrolling for a year. Use their built-in tests or create your own to meet your own school's assessments. After you try it, you will love it.


There you have it! I keep the routine the same, but I change out the way I teach each lesson or the materials I use. Sometimes I dress the part wearing a wig and windshield wiper sunglasses if we are discussing the letter W. And sometimes we will play an Onset Rime Hopscotch game. Keep it fresh and new!
Leave a comment and let us know about some great ideas YOU have for making Guided Reading fun!




Friday, April 29, 2016

It's Here! Teacher Appreciation Week!



Grab your FREEBIE
RIGHT NOW 
& take a look at what you can win !

Click the image above to grab this
"Kinds All Year" set.

comes with tons of graphics 
for every month of the year 
plus a brand new font!








to grab the 
or enter my give-away 
to win this awesome set
below!

And don't forget to grab this FREEBIE:
I made it using graphics and 
the bonus font from the 

Click the image to grab this FREEBIE!

This FREEBIE
 comes with 5 cute flowers 
that create "onset rimes"
(not rhymes) 
that will help your students 
decode and read CVC words.

This is what each template looks like:




to grab this FREEBIE.


I made this set  
with graphics, boarders, 
and even the font, 
from 
DJ Inker's "Kids All Year" set.

You can grab the 
ENTIRE SET OF 21 COLORFUL FLOWERS
and
21 BLACK & WHITE FLOWERS
plus
2 BLANK FLOWERS
(1 in color & 1 in black & white)
by 
CLICKING HERE!

Don't miss the awesome 
store-wide SALES
April 29 - May 2, 
fun NEW products,
and exclusive FREEBIES

And... 
remember to 
sign up for their 
FREE newsletter by 



Here is your chance 

to enter the contest for 
a Free "Kids All Year" set 
of hundreds of graphics 
& a brand new font 
all from DJ Inker's


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner will be announced on May 3, 2016.
Good luck!  :)

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Hooray! It's almost time... (enter NOW!)



Grab your FREEBIE
RIGHT NOW 
& take a look at what you can win !

Click the image above to grab this
"Kids All Year" set.

comes with tons of graphics 
for every month of the year 
plus a brand new font!








to grab the 
or enter my give-away 
to win this awesome set
below!

And don't forget to grab this FREEBIE:
I made it using graphics and 
the bonus font from the 

Click the image to grab this FREEBIE!

This FREEBIE
 comes with 5 cute flowers 
that create "onset rimes"
(not rhymes) 
that will help your students 
decode and read CVC words.

This is what each template looks like:




to grab this FREEBIE.


I made this set  
with graphics, boarders, 
and even the font, 
from 
DJ Inker's "Kids All Year" set.

You can grab the 
ENTIRE SET OF 21 COLORFUL FLOWERS
and
21 BLACK & WHITE FLOWERS
plus
2 BLANK FLOWERS
(1 in color & 1 in black & white)
by 
CLICKING HERE!

Don't miss the awesome 
store-wide SALES
April 29 - May 2, 
fun NEW products,
and exclusive FREEBIES

And... 
remember to 
sign up for their 
FREE newsletter by 



Here is your chance 

to enter the contest for 
a Free "Kids All Year" set 
of hundreds of graphics 
& a brand new font 
all from DJ Inker's


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winner will be announced on May 3, 2016.
Good luck!  :)

We have a winner!!!
Emily Levine
You won DJ Inker's "Kids All Year" 
clipart collection!
Look for your email from DJ Inkers.
:)