Gingerbread fun!

Hi friends!
I'm hopping in really quick to share with you a few little pages we used this week with The Gingerbread Man. We did a LOT of fun activities..but I have been off my game this week...there's a stomach bug that seems to be going around and it has slowly been working on my family... I'll just say there has been plenty of Lysol spraying this week!

We have been comparing Gingerbread stories and working on text to text connections. My kiddos are getting SO good with this but The Gingerbread Man just really lends itself to text to text connections! We started the week by making a chart. There are several on Pinterest and I have no idea where the original idea came from. It took us all week to fill up this baby! Are your kids as mesmerized by watching you draw as mine?  (do not look at that coyote!! It's hideous! lol!!)

We compared several stories and evaluated which story was the best (my kids are partial to The Jalapeno Man...it's a Texas version and my book is signed by the author ;)

After reading several versions, I had my kids create their OWN Gingerbread story. This idea totally goes to my teammate (shout out D'Andra!!) I didn't worry about my kids writing too much with these, we shared our stories orally and it is SO much fun to hear them share! I had one little boy who really got into it and told a very elaborate story about his gingerbread man going into a cave but he didn't have a flashlight so the gingerbread man got away. So creative! 

I like this one- She baked the gingerbread man, her friends in our classroom were chasing him and I was the one who tricked the gingerbread man and ate him!

Click on the page below or HERE to snag up the freebie pages from me!

I hope you have a great week!

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December?!

Oh my goodness! It has been a fast week! We had a great Thanksgiving and I think we're all still recovering from all the fun things we did together as a family! I'm thankful for these turkeys:

{photo by Caroline Grace Photography our family is on her home page from last year!}

Now that Thanksgiving is over, Christmas will quickly approach!! ahhh!!! I love love LOVE this time of the year, but man is it BUSY! I finished up my December {Straight Up! for December} packet and I might just use every single page this month! Here are a few pages to sneak a peek!

 AND the best news... I bundled up these printable packets and made one big huge download if you want to snag them ALL at one time! The whole-year bundle includes 40 printable pages for each month from September through May! The bundle saves you 20% off of buying each one separately!

I also plan to make this a growing bundle and add more to it each month. It will only get bigger and bigger! The packet is $30 but...have you heard? Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing their annual Cyber Monday sale tomorrow and Tuesday. This will give you an EXTRA 28% off of the already discounted bundle...so snag it up before the sale is over! Click on the button below to go take a look at my store.

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Turkey phonics freebie!

Happy Sunday, friends!

I'm looking at my week a little today and we will be reading Turkey Trouble, A Plump and Perky Turkey, Who Will Carve the Turkey, and an expository text on Thanksgiving. I *love* teaching about Thanksgiving! It is fun to teach about the holidays and there are SO many fun books to use!

I just wanted to share a few little freebies with you to use since time is running out of November. Do you have all of Thanksgiving week out?! I do not! 

I'm using this in intervention this week for my kiddos who are ready for it!

Click over HERE to snag it up!

We are also working on beginning, middle, and end a LOT. Click on the picture to grab this page!

This one is a little alternate ending book for your kids to get a little creative! I love hearing what they write! Click on the pictures below to snag up the freebie!

I hope you can use some of this with your kids! Have a great week!!

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Word problems FREEBIE!

Happy Sunday, y'all!

I went to the grocery store just a little bit ago {my least favorite weekend chore!} and it was cuh-razy! I'm sure you've heard about this "polar vortex" that is about to hit the U.S. by Tuesday..well, when it is going to get crazy cold or snow here (which happens probably 5-6 times a year) people go nuts at the grocery store. Like, you have to wait in a line to be able to get a cart. Water, milk, and bread starts disappearing from the shelves. I'm glad I decided to go today..because tomorrow will be bananas! Does this happen where you live?! Or is it just crazy Texans?!

So...I asked you guys on my Facebook page if you would be interested in thematic addition and subtraction story problems and the answer was overwhelmingly...YES! I whipped up this little packet that will be perfect for the next few weeks. When I asked, many of you requested missing addend questions and story problems with a little more rigor. This packet covers all the bases...for K babies just beginning and 1st graders already solving story problems independently!

To snag up a little freebie so you can try these out with your kiddos, click HERE or on the picture below.

I hope you enjoy!

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Verbs! {Interactive Freebie}

Happy Wednesday!

We've been working on verbs a lot the past week...and I REALLY wish I had taken more pictures of what we have done...but...fail! We have sung songs {from YouTube} about verbs, acted verbs out, made sentences with verbs and sorted them. 

I just wanted to share really quick with you guys this little interactive page that I had my kids put in their interactive notebooks today! I made this easy-peasy for my kids...today was a half day and we were already a little short on time so we added the definition to our notebooks and illustrated {and labeled what we could} 2 different verbs.

 

Click on the pictures to snag this little freebie up! After the thought...I decided that it would be fun to add a little bit to the interactive page and brainstorm verbs that we can do in different places at school so I added the second page. Hopefully I can get around to it with my kids! To use it, Your students will fold on the dotted line and glue the little strip to their notebook. Then, they will draw underneath the flap (much like a sticky note).

I hope you enjoy! I love to hear from you if you snagged it up!

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November...already?!

You guys... I swear school just started! How can it already be November?!

As I was working on my November pack I was trying to think what my kids really need to be working on at this time. I feel like we have so far to go and we're already 50 days in! There are so many things to cover! 

I think every month that I make these packets the new one becomes my favorite...I am loving those cute little Melonheadz graphics! We are beginning learning about Thanksgiving starting next week!! I can't wait to incorporate those little guys into a little reader.

I'm thinking about making a packet with just these fall themed addition and subtraction stories...what do you think?! Is it something you'd like to see? Click HERE to see this packet on Teachers Pay Teachers.

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Phonemic Awareness FREEBIE!

Hi friends!

We have been working HARD on listening to the beginning sounds of picture cards and discriminating between sounds that are the same and sounds that are different lately. Some of my students are SO good at this and others still struggle. It takes a lot of practice!

We usually warm up with this activity at teacher table using the picture cards that are provided with our Treasures curriculum. I have been trying to figure out a way to put this into a station without getting all my cards mixed up so I came up with this little freebie!

 I usually will say the words as we point to them and say "which one does not sound the same?"
{for example... "fish, foot, taco"} and my students will point and say the word that does not belong. I made these little task cards so that my students can practice more independently and self-check with a partner!

Click HERE to snag up the freebie!! I hope you can use these in your class!

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Field trip organization

Hi friends! We just went on our annual field trip to the Corn Maze this week. I think I'm still picking hay out of my hair! ;)

When it comes to taking 20 kindergarteners to a place where they can EASILY be lost...it takes a lot of organization on the teacher's part to ensure that no student gets left behind! This year I think I've got my routine down pat..

When we go on field trips we always ask for parent volunteers to work/monitor a group of kids. There is NO way I could do it all myself! Once parents have graciously volunteered, I put my students into groups of 3-4 depending on the amount of volunteers. Then I whip out my garage sale dots and name tags!

I put *my* name on the name tags...we have 5 other classes plus all the other schools and general public that are out there at the same time. That way...if a kid gets separated from the group it's easy to see who they belong to. Each kid gets a colored dot that places them into their group. Each volunteer is in charge of one color group.

Then...I make a little care kit for each volunteer. I pack things a parent might need without having to come to me to ask for bandaids, kleenex, sanitizer, etc. from my field trip kit. The little tag also has the list of students in each group.

This has been the BEST way to organize groups and volunteers for me and it works every time! Parents appreciate that I am prepared and aren't just throwing kids at them left and right. If you'd like the {EDITABLE} tags click HERE to snag them up!

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DIY Burlap Bunting - great teacher gift!

Happy Monday, y'all!

I posted a few pictures on my Instagram account over the weekend of a little bunting that I made to decorate for fall in my house. I had so many requests for a tutorial that of course I obliged! :)

Seriously...this is the EASIEST thing ever and it looks fabulous with little effort! This would be perfect as a teacher gift with the teacher's name painted on it. Now...my OCD friends who have to have everything just so...beware when you're using burlap. It is a little difficult to cut perfectly so just let it go...take a deep breath...it will look great in the end!

You will need: 
-burlap in 2 different colors or burlap ribbon {I had scraps...I didn't even use 1/8th of a yard}
(this ribbon was from Hobby Lobby- I used it for another project a while back so I had it in my closet but I got it 1/2 off when I bought it)
-twine
-plastic needle
-hot glue, scissors, paint of your choice.

Now...to the fun part..cutting your burlap!!! I taught you a trick to cut burlap in this tutorial but I don't use it when I cut small pieces...so take a deep breath, sister. You've got this. Repeat after me. It does not have to be perfect! I didn't use a pattern because I'm not the measuring type...but if you need one, click HERE to snag mine up.

I cut out the rectangles first and then went back and trimmed the edges that were super far off. {just eyeball it!} eh hemm.. I had a few that were far from perfect.

Next, cut out the triangle shape for the bunting.

Follow the same process for the coordinating burlap....if you use the burlap ribbon it is much easier to work with. It's more stiff and cuts WAY easier!

If you are using the template, you don't need to follow this step. I didn't, so I had to fold my burlap in half to cut the triangles out at about the right size.  If you are going to paint anything on the top layer, this is the time to do it! Just place it on top of a piece of paper to be sure it doesn't bleed through.

Use a thin line of hot glue to tack the top bunting to the bottom bunting.

Line your bunting pieces up the way you want to string them. Thread your needle with the twine.

Thread the twine in and out of the bunting. Leave as much or as little space between each piece.

Hang up and enjoy!

Now head over to Tara's linky party and see all the other fun crafts this week!!

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