Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

Well, since my last post I have been super busy with some changes going on. What changes you might ask? Well, this week is my last week at my school. I was offered a position as a Curriculum Coach for Kindergarten, First and Second Grade Teachers at another charter school within our charter school company in our area. I am very excited, but also super nervous for the change. This new position means that I will not be working with students all day, instead I will be working with teachers and in their classrooms throughout the day along with pulling students for intervention groups. On top of that, I will also be helping the teachers implement Common Core more in their classrooms and writing material. So this week, I have to pack up my room and haul all of my stuff to my new school. (Man, I feel like such a hoarder. I'm planning on giving several things away to the teachers at my school. This way I don't have to haul it all with me.) I will miss my kids deeply! : (

Besides this big change, this past weekend we went to Disney World. Originally, it was just a short trip to get away, but it turned into a celebration trip for me as well. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge with a Savanna view room thanks to my parents who are Disney Vacation Club owners. (Sort of like a time share.) We watched giraffes, zebras, and other animals from our balcony. These are just a few of the animals we got to see.

Well, I am off to get ready for school. I will check back in with pictures later this week of my old room being packed up and my new room.

Columbus Day Flash Freebie

So, I am trying something new. I will be giving away my Columbus Day Making Words Freebie today until 11pm (Eastern time). Here's how it works:

1. You must follow my blog.
2. Email me at: carabrett04@yahoo.com with name that you use to follow my blog. (I will be checking to make sure that you are a follower.)

After you have done the above, I will email you the product tonight. See it's simple!

 

The activity includes a cover page, letter cards, making words mat, and worksheet.

 

Please come back and leave a comment about the product!

October Currently

This is my first time doing the Currently and I avery excited to participa te. I can't wait to learn more about everyone.

 

If you want to join, link up with Farley.

 

Smelly Scents and Dollar Section Finds

So, I have been asked many times by my colleagues about a little positive reinforcement that I do with my students. They often ask me one of the following: Why are you always carrying a chap stick around in your hand? Why are your kids smelling their hands like that? What is a smelly scent?

Well, it a little thing I started to do in my classroom a few years ago. I would often use stickers to reward my students and with my little ones I would often see them on my floor, in the hallway, on my tables, etc. throughout the day. My students especially LOVED the smelly stickers that I had, but those can get expensive. This got me to thinking about what I could use to replace the stickers, but also give them the smelly sensation that they liked. Hmmm...that's when I came across my idea in the Dollar Section at Target. I saw those chap sticks that come in the fun, funky flavors. That's where the idea emerged! I would use these as rewards. No, they don't use them on their lips. I simply take a chap stick and put a dot on the back of their hands. I LOVE it and so do my kids. It's easy for me to carry in my pocket when we are walking in the hall. I even allow them to pick their smelly scent. I don't have to worry about the stickers being all over my room. At first when teachers see my kids smelling their hands, I get the crazy looks, but once I explain it they laugh.

Here is a picture of my smelly scent collection:

 

Here are some of my students picking out their smelly scents:

 

 

Of course, you have to smell each one to see which one is the best!

 

 

Picking the right one is some serious business!

 

 

He finally found the one he wanted.

 

I also, wanted to share with you some of the things that I picked up in the Dollar Section tonight at Target. I LOVE that section! Don't you?

Here are three new smelly scents to be added to my collection.

I found these and thought I could make some sort of craft project with them.

 

 

Items for my prize box and treat bags for our Fall Party.

 

 

 

Some Fall decorations, a glittery leaf garland and glittery turkey garland.

 

Then, I came across these things that I could use for manipulatives, game pieces, etc.

(They are actually Table Scatter.)

 

Here are a close up of them:

 

Bats

 

Acorns

 

Leaves

 

They also had pumpkins, but only had one left and the box was opened and missing quite a lot of pieces.

 

I'm SUPER excited about my finds. Just thought I would share with you. Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

 

There Was An Old Lady...

This week seemed to have flown by. Did it feel like that for anyone else? Wednesday we had off, Thursday was an Early Release day for our students (they get out of school at 12:15, while we have meetings or trainings), and Friday I took off because the person that watches my daughter during the week took her kids to Disney World. Oh, how I wish I was there! Wait, I will be at the end of the month.


Well during my day off, I worked on some things for my classroom and thought I would share them with you. I will be taking pictures of my students using the activities and posting them here for you all. I created a few activities to use with these books:

 

 

I love these books! My students find everything that she does really funny. I use the books to review events in a story with them. We sequence what she swallows. Here are the pocket chart activities that I made to go along with the books. My students have to put the picture cards in order and match the word cards to the pictures. They love getting a chance to do this at my pocket chart.

 

 

In addition to the pocket chart activities, I created a "There Was An Old Lady" Retelling Craftivity. The craftivity includes templates and directions, along with the retelling cards that the students color.

Here is my example for my students:

I used a ziploc bag taped to the back to hold the cards. My students are going to FLIP when they see that they get to make their very own Old Lady to take home and share the story with their family.

 

I also, created 2 readers to go along with the story and practice theme words. They are very easy for students to assemble and the students trace the theme words on each page.

 

Check out the unit at my TPT store below clicking on the item below:

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Feel free to comment and share what you are doing in your rooms.

 

 

 

Colors and the Giveaway Winner Is....

Colors, Colors, Everywhere! I know many of you do colors with Kindergarten in the beginning of the year. We read many books that have to do with colors, but my favorites are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle and "Pete the Cat" by Eric Litwin. I just LOVE the song and book. How about you?

Well, here are a few pictures of some of the activities that my class completed with my Colors Unit.

This is my example of the sequencing activity worksheet. After reading the story and using my pocket chart activity, my students had to place the characters in order from beginning to end. Here are close up pictures.

 

 

We also made my Brown Bear Book Craftivity. My students made a brown bear out of construction paper and then we glued the book onto it's tummy so they could take it home and read it.

 

Later in the week, we read "Pete the Cat". We made a class big book of what color shoes we like. Here is my example and a few of my students work. I love how cute theirs came out!

Mine

Aren't they adorable!?!

 

We also did several other activities from the unit, but camera battery died and I didn't get pictures of them. I have now remembered to bring my camera charger with me everyday to school.

 

Here is a preview of my Colors Unit. Click on the picture to go to my TPT store:

 



 

The unit contains the following activities:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Pocket Chart Activity

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Sequencing Worksheet
Brown Bear, Brown Bear Class Book
"I See" Emergent Reader
Colors Write the Room
Color Match Up Game
Brown Bear, Brown Bear Book and Craftivity
"Color Shoes" Emergent Reader
"Colors" Color It, Write It, and Make It Book
"I like my ___________ shoes." Class Book Craftivity
Color Shoes Pocket Chart Sentence Match Up

 

 

Now for the all important winner of my "Leaping for Sight Words" Bundle Pack. And the winner is.......

 

 

 

 

Brenda O.

 

Woohoo! I will be emailing it to you shortly.

 

Coming this week: Apples Galore!



 

Apple Man Craftivity

Is it just me or did this weekend fly by? I feel like I just left work on Friday and now it is Monday evening and I am getting ready for the week.

I wanted to share with you the Apple Man Craftivity that we made last week with our Apple Unit. First is the examples that I made for my students.

 

 

I made it in Red and Yellow. I gave my students a choice between the 2 colors. I was out of the lighter green color to make a Granny Smith type apple. I provided my students with tracers and the construction paper already cut down to size. Here are some examples of their completed work. I still have to hang them up this week.



 

 

Aren't they cute? One of my students didn't want to use the eye tracers and said that they wanted to draw on the eyes and use different colored arms and legs for more personality. Love it! You can purchase the directions and pattern at my TPT store. Click on the picture below to go there:

 

 

Also don't forget there are 2 days left for my "Leaping for Sight Words" Giveaway. Leave a comment, follow my blog, follow my TPT store, and/or post about the giveaway on your blog for chances to win. Check out my previous post to enter.

 

 



Leaping for Sight Words

 

It has been awhile since I have last posted. Life has gotten very hectic around here. I'm sure it has been for you too. We went away for Labor Day Weekend to Disney World and had a blast. My little girl absolutely LOVES the Dumbo ride. When we returned from our getaway, I quickly found out that my cousin who had Brain Cancer lost her battle after a year and a half. My heartaches for her 2 teenage child that she left behind.

Besides those few things I have been working on several projects over the last few weeks. The first one I have to share with you all is a Sight Word Game. I always LOVE to create new things for my students to use instead of just your average worksheet. I created this Sight Word game while watching my students in the classroom. I have some very active students and watched them hop around my room. Do you have some of those students?

I created this fun sight word game called "Leaping for Sight Words". I created 5 different Dolch Sight Word sets or a bundle pack of all the sets. To play is simple, the students take out the colorful lily pads and lilies and place them on the floor. They then choose a caller who gets the frog calling cards. The caller then reads one of the sight words from the frog cards and the other players must LEAP to either the lily pad or thte lily with the matching sight word. The player who gets there first gets the frog calling card to hold. After all of the calling cards have been called the player with the must frog cards wins and becomes the new caller. I have my new caller mix up the lily pads and lilies on the floor before beginning the game again. Here are some action shots from my First Graders playing:

 

My students LOVED the game and didn't want to stop playing. I LOVED watching their excitement for the new activity. It made practicing their sight words a lot more fun. I even caught one of my students telling another that he was going home to practice them some more so that he can beat everyone.

I have created several different options on how to purchase this item. You can either purchase each set individually or as a bundle from my TPT store. Click below to check my store out.

 

One lucky winner will receive this product for free. Good Luck to Everyone!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway