Whew! I Think I Can See Some Light...and Spring Break is Getting Nearer!!!

I haven't posted recently because I have just been swamped! I think I told you that our other kindergarten teacher retired, my principal hired someone from the admin building. We were all so happy!!! She has a teaching degree but had never taught. She came in and had 2 days to try to get the room in order. She took the kids on Wednesday and then on Wednesday evening...she resigned.  ):   ):   ):   That is for that poor group of kinders that just keeps getting split up between classes because most of the time we can't find a sub. After that incident my principal has been teaching the class except on days that she had principal duties that can't be ignored. She thinks she may have another person, but after the last experience....

The main reason I have been swamped is Boxtops. Our PTA was in charge of boxtops the last two years. At the beginning of the year, our PTA sort of just went bye bye, not sure what happened. I asked the principal if I could take over collecting the boxtops. So when I got online to register as coordinator, our school account was empty. No boxtops sent in ever. I talked to the principal about it and ton Valentines Day blue the PTA president dropped off a BIG bag of boxtops that were already on collection pages. As you can imagine a lot of them were out of date. Most of them were two years old (names and teachers were on the collection sheets). So I started the task of tearing and cutting them off. The next deadline was March 1 so I was under the gun. I seriously must have spent at least 30 hours messing with those things, but on Thursday, I put all $432 worth of boxtops in the mail and threw probably another $200 worth of out of date ones in  the trash. Since I am doing this by myself, I decided to make it as easy as I could. We have a big plastic jar in the office that the kids drop their boxtops. They write their name on the back and we draw 5 or 6 names every week for a small prize (pencil, fancy eraser, etc....). I got the idea from Delaney's school and I like how it kind of helps motivate the kids to bring in the boxtops. I told my kids if they saw a box in trash with one on it, bring it to school and I would cut it off for them...well I did say as long as the box didn't have food on it. ;P

Despite having four kinders in my room everyday, we are still learning. We are just finishing up with fractions. I had to squeeze them in before our final benchmark test that was on Feb 20. Yes you read right our final benchmark on Feb 20. You can probably guess why they moved the date up...state testing. grrrrr  Anyway, we did some fun stuff with fractions. We did marshmallow fractions using the colored marshmallows, of course the kids liked that since they got to eat them when we finished.. We also did name fractions. I found it here.

I wanted to do the Fraction Pillars from Cara Carroll and I probably will still do it, but while we were working one day I decided to try "Fraction Cream Cones".   The kids talked so much about ice cream while they were making them, I decided to go ahead and have them write about ice cream.

They all wanted to add sprinkles, I was going to get something for them to glue on, but they drew them on before I got a chance. ;P.

I also introduced compound words last week. We used my Funny Fish pack from TPT

I showed the kids a few examples and then I gave them a page with four fish on it. they were pumped up and ready to go. the next day I passed them back out and had them pick out their favorite.They put that one on a 81/2 x 11 piece of paper that will go into a  class book.

Here I thought we were on the downhill slide to Spring and Old Man Winter is rearing his ugly head one more time this weekend. As much I as I like being out of school, I really hope we don't have another snow day. We, teachers are making up 6 days at the end of the year which means my last day is June 10. I think I may use a sick day at least for the 10th if we can.

Have a restful weekend!

Freebie and a Pumpkin Books on TPT

I have a little freebie for you tonight. Last year, I made a b & d Letter Reversal poster. I really liked it, but this year I have more students than ever that are reversing the letters. So I decided it would help to make a sticker that my students could place on their work folder so it would be easier to access. Finally, instead of talking about it, I got it done. If you would like it free, click here 

It prints on Avery Labels 5160.

I also uploaded a new product on TPT. It is two different pumpkin books. One is called "Where is Pumpkin?". It is a book with position words

One is called "Where is Pumpkin?". It is a book with position words. I have always used foamies from Dollar Tree or Target for the pumpkin that is attached to the book or you can use the one that are in the pack.

There is a full-size Teacher's edition in color and a student version in black and white.

My kids have always loved this book. I also have included a "Pumpkin, Pumpkin Who Do You See? book. There is a pumpkin sight word game, a patterning page, a position word cut and paste. Check it out if you are needing a pumpkin reader to go along with other pumpkin activities.

Have a nice evening!

Smarter than a Box of Rocks - A Sight Word Game with a Freebie

I wanted to share a little sight word game at I came up last week with it while I was cleaning and packing up my classroom for the movers. I haven't tried it with my kids, but I am going to use it this week when I start tutoring. 

While I was going through my "stuff" I found some polished black stones I got from Dollar Tree. I had written a sight word on each rock with a silver Sharpie.

I had seen the idea to play a sight word game using the rocks. I always have the kids turn them over so they can't see the words. If they can read it, it goes in their pile. I came up with a slight variation that I think the kids will love. If they can read the sight word, they put it on their side of a balance scale. who ever has the heaviest words wins. Just a new twist to an old game. NOTE: After looking at the rocks, I am going to go back and spray the rocks with polyurethane to keep the letters from rubbing off.

I made up a little recording sheet for the kids to write down the words they read. Grab a copy if you want.

Smarter Than a Box of Rocks!

Sight Words on Saturday

I just put some FREE sight word mini books in my TpT store. I would have loved to put them all together as one item, but the program I made them on doesn't let me make documents with multiple pages. I look and I could not figure out how to get them all together on TpT, so there are 7 different listings. Here is the link to one of them.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Mini-Book-was

I got the idea for the books from the FANTASTIC Jessica Meacham (http://www.jmeacham.com/emergent.readers.htm). The little books focus on one sight word at a time. The children trace the sight word, cut it apart and staple. They end up with a mini book with 12 pages including the cover. I was teaching kindergarten when I made them, but I plan on starting the year using them as a review. The books I made were the ones the Jessica didn't have that we were supposed to be teaching (has, here, was, look, little, said, where). Anyway I hope that they're something that others can use in their classes.

What are your favorite activities to teach sight words? 
Some of my favorites I found on teacher blogs this year. : )
1.I love all of the great cards games. I downloaded free ones and purchased some and then made my own. My class this past year loved playing them too.
2. One of their favorite games we called "Trash or Treasure". My coworker found it on pinterest so I'm not sure what it was called. I wrote sight words on pieces of CLEAN trash and mixed it up with trash that had nothing on it. They loved opening their trash it to see if they picked out a word. If they did and they could read it, they kept. The one with the most trash was the winner.
3. Another favorite, was sight word tic tac toe. It was another TpT find. I am in the process of making a set to go with our Treasures reading.
4. They also loved Around the World. I was surprised by the competitiveness that came out in some of the students.

This last year was tough, I had 10 kids who came to me knowing less than 10 sight words (several didn't know any). They were supposed to learn at least 32 in kindergarten so you can see they started 1st grade in the hole. Our reading series moves fast, it gives a 3 week review but our district changed it to 1 week. some of the kids started picking them up, but I had some that struggled all year. It was really frustrating.

So I ask again, what are your favorite activities to teach sight words?

Kelly

Made it on Sunday for Monday and a Freebie

I guess technically, I didn't make anything, but I sure have been working hard.  I'm finished with my painting. I think trying to get everything back in place and rehung was the worst part. I do have a freebie for you if you keep reading. ; )

 Here are the before and after pictures. This is my dining room. I kept the color pretty much the same except for this wall.

Now it's a light yellow.

Here's a picture of my onery sweet daughter's greasy handprints.

 The new color is a little lighter, but it covered the handprints. ;P

These are pictures of Delaney's room. I didn't take any before pics. It is sort of an explotion  of color. I added the blue stripes to the shelf. I got the bins from Family Dollar, 3 solid pink  for $5.00, the decorated ones were 2 for $5.00. At Walmart they had 1 for $6.45.

 The curtains look a little odd because I didn't attached the tiebacks to the wall yet. Oops!

 As you can see she has a loft bed, I had bought some hot pink sheers to go on the windows, then I ound the pink and green ones at Big Lots. I hated to waste the sheers so I hung them on the backside under her bed. The bead things were some things I had gotten when Walmart closed out their fabric dept. I thought they looked pretty good. She likes it and so far has been keeping it clean. :D

Here's the before picture of my bedroom. I did a total impulse buy and bought this comforter that is much fancier than my style, plus I didn't really like the color much.

This is much more me! These colors make me happy! I realized the paint looks darker than it is, probably because I didn't turn on the light. The walls really are lighter blue. I just love the owl I found at Kirklands!

 Delaney gave me the painting with the pink fringe around it, it is a Delaney original.

 I am still debating whether or not to paint this vanity. I'm thinking the darker red color that is in the quilt, but I can't decide. I really want to, it may be a project for Fall break. I have glass drawer pulls to add to it and I also need to recover the bench.

I have listed two new items on my TpT store. the first is a freebie. It is a Sight Word Tic Tac Toe. I used the kindergarten sight words from Treasures plus a few color words. There are four games on the page. I plan to make more as time allows. Pick up your freebie here.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Treasures-Sight-Word-Tic-Tac-Toe
I'm sorry there isn't a picture, I created this in Word and I couldn't figure out how to post a picture.

Last night I posted my first item that is for sale. It is a group of letter sorts which I am going to use at the beginning of the year. There are 7 sorts including two with a twist of math. I have a Vertical Letter Symmetry and a Horizontal Letter Symmetry sort. I included letter cards with the vertical and horizontal lines drawn through them. I'd love for you to check it out. Here is the link for this one.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/ABC-Letter-Sorts-Capital-Lowercase-Consonant-Vowel-Symmetry

Kelly

Wow, I just took the plunge!

I am now an Official TPT seller. Wait, I don't think I'm an official seller yet.
2 Reasons:
1. I haven't sold anything.
2. My first item is free.

Oh well, I am on the road to being an Official TPT Seller. I'm a little nervous and I can tell you this I still have sooo much I still need to learn. I have read tutorials on different things about blogging, some of them I have gotten to work, others, not so much.

You will have to tell me, I followed the instructions (I think), did I get rid of the crazy words and numbers to prove you aren't a robot?

I've been trying to put a Permission to Pin on my blog, I found the instructions, but it hasn't worked....yet I haven't given up. I tell my kids all the time when we go to the computer lab if their login isn't working that it is operator error. Sure enough when I check it out, they have changed the spelling of their name (again ;p). Anyway, I'll try again or I may ask some unsuspecting blogger for help.

Well, I've got a busy day of painting ahead. I post before and after pictures when I'm done.

BTW you can find my first product here.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Addition-Subtraction-Elevator

So sorry it is a repeat from my blog, but I had to start simple.

Hope you have a productive day like I am hoping to have.

Kelly

Teaching Doubles

Last year was my first year teaching first grade and I had very little success in getting my kids to learn their math facts. I changed up what I was doing and it doesn't seem to be working. Since I got a 2 week Fall Break this year (which I have LOVED!), I have spent a lot of time searching blogs.

After looking around I came up with a couple of things that I think will really help the kids and as a bonus I think they will really like it too!

I saw a couple of versions of a Doubles Song that I liked. I changed a few of the words because I wanted it to flow a little smoother.  Plus the one I saw stopped at 8 + 8, I went to 10 + 10.  Here it is:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4viYvUGzTgqeGdXUlhLajhsdWc/edit

I'm thinking about having the kids make posters to go with the song.
I also found the little chant 1 + 1 = 2 eyes, 2 + 2 = 4 tires on a car, etc... I made a classroom poster and then a cut and paste activity for the kids. I would post it on this blog, but I don't know how to do it, maybe I can get someone to teach me. I feel so far behind the times!