Noooo! Spring Break...come back!

ZZZZZZZZ! That's what I wanted to do all day today! It was SO tough getting up this morning after a week of spring break! My alarm literally went off 3 times before I comprehended what it was or what I was supposed to do (I'm thankful my hubby didn't push me out of the bed!). Regardless, I think this break will give me the stamina I need to make it the next six weeks of school. Six weeks...that's it! WOW this year has flown by!

In celebration of spring and Easter, here's a free product that I hope makes your Monday a little brighter  =)  It includes a spring write the room, a spring writing template, an Easter egg CVC word and picture match, and a Easter egg short vowel sort.

Click Here to Download

I hope you can use this. Happy Monday!

It's that tricky, silent, sneaky e!

The Sneaky E crazE has hit our class this week! We've been spelling Sneaky E words with magnet letters,

using letter tiles to spell short vowel words and their sneaky e counterparts (ie, man/mane, tap/tape, not/note),

matching Sneaky E picture cards and word cards,

and spelling short vowel words and sneaky e words with these super fancy homemade letter vests (made of luxurious yarn and the best quality construction paper).

Of course we've also been looking for Sneaky E in all the books we've read.

 

 

Youtube has some great sneaky videos that my kids LOVED (because who doesn't love The Electric Company!?!). This song is so catchy...I definitely find myself humming it while I'm walking down the hallway....



This video not only talks about e changing vowels, but also changing c to /s/ and g to /j/.



In full disclosure, this one my kids' least favorite video. It's kinda slow and lulls you into a sleepy trance, but it does a good job showing how e changes the vowel sound in words.



I've been working on a Sneaky E TPT product which has been tested (and revised a bit) and kid-approved. I hope you can use it. Click below to hop on over to my TPT store  =)




Click here to go to TPT

Five for Friday (October 25)

When I started my blog, I looked up some tips for being a good blogger. One tip said don't apologize when you don't blog for a while. I've always been one for good etiquette, so I'm not going to mention my month of blogging silence   =)  I'm just gonna move on to Five for Friday hosted by Doodle Bugs!

 

 

"But I'm not done!" Does anyone else hear this when it's time to clean up from stations?? I was going crazy trying to keep straight who was finished with an assignment and who wasn't. And the solution was just sitting there...it would have been staring me right in the face if only it had eyes. CUBBIES!

 

If a child doesn't finish something, they put it in their cubby. It doesn't get shoved into the abyss of their desk bag. It doesn't clutter up my desk. It's the one-stop shop of where students go to make sure they've finished everything. LOVE IT!

 

Another thing they keep in their cubby is their poetry journal for our brand new poetry station! One of my main objectives in a poetry station is to practice handwriting. Students write part of the poem (because the whole poem plus kindergarten handwriting does NOT equal fitting onto one page!).  After they write the poem, they order it in a pocket chart.

 

 

This is our first week, and I'm proud of their work! BTW, their poetry journals are definitely long pieces of handwriting paper stapled together. Fancy, huh??   =)

 

 

One of my goals this year was to provide some station activities to go along with Saxon Phonics. I think Saxon is good at what it does, but...well...let's face it. It's boring! I'm trying to put a little pizzazz into it by making station games to review letters in the same order Saxon introduces them. My newest packet includes the letters P, N, M, and S. Here's one activity that the kiddos really liked! It's a file folder game where students sort pictures based on beginning sounds. This is in my TPT store and is a flash freebie until I go back and change the price. I hope you can use it!

Click the Pic for P, M, N, and S letter activities!

Speaking of Saxon, we learned about the letter P a few weeks ago. For homework, students had to draw and label 4 words that began with P. This one just cracked me up!

 

 

 

In other random news, this is what greeted me when I got home. A happy hubby and a happy puppy! It's the dream!

 

 

Have a GREAT weekend!!!!!!

Freebie with a smidge of open house and a sprinkle of "haha, that's funny"

It's here! It's finally here! Tomorrow is OPEN HOUSE! I can't believe the first day of school is just around the bend (Monday). My room is basically ready...just need to print out a few more things. However, my ink cartridge is DYING, so I'm going to need a trip to the office supply place first. That's the only bad thing about all of the cute things at TPT...they sure do kill ink cartridges quickly!

Speaking of TPT, I was so super excited to hear that my new school used Saxon Phonics. I know that doesn't sound like I'm "speaking of TPT," but it will, I promise. Anyway, I really think Saxon does a superb job of teaching kids to read. The only problem is that it's kind of boring. SO with my new bloggy-PPT-tech-savvy skills, I made a TPT product to spice up my Saxon. It's literacy station activities containing 3 differentiated activities that correspond to the first 4 consonants taught using Saxon (L, G, H, T). I couldn't wait to show this to my team! THEN DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!!!!??? I found out that we weren't using Saxon!!!! Color me sad  =(  But alas, I'm giving my phonics activities away as a freebie for an undisclosed amount of time in hopes that it will help out someone who is using kindergarten Saxon. Enjoy! BTW...I sure would appreciate some feedback on it! Thanks!

Click the Pic for the link!

In other blogging news, I achieved a lifelong dream this week. I FINALLY went to The Container Store!!!!! It's so close to where I work and I didn't even realize it until I was driving around town with a co-worker. This place has containers for everything in every size and color imaginable! AND they're not expensive! They aren't exactly cheap, but they aren't outrageously overpriced like I thought they'd be. Even my hubby is a Container Convert! He grumbled the whole time we drove there, but on the way home he was talking about the NEXT time we go there. YAY!!!!!!

Click the Pic for a link to the store

To all those teachers starting back this week and next week, GOOD LUCK! To those still on summer break, ENJOY! Let me leave on these words of wisdom...

Five for Friday (June 28)

It's that time of the week again...Linky party with Doodle Bugs!!!

1. The most exciting teacher-y thing I've done this week is start my very own TPT store! If you have any advice about running a TPT store, please let me know! Also, positive feedback is always appreciated  =)  My Digraph Sort will be free for the rest of the day, so please drop by and pick it up!

Click the picture to download

 2. My husband and I just bought a car! Is It's a Mazda 3 hatchback...zoom, zoom, zoom! I have to admit that I've never had the pleasure of buying a car before, and it was quite an experience. Even though we knew exactly which car we wanted and how much it was going to cost, it still took 3 hours to buy it! And I thought teaching had a lot of paperwork.  =)

The newest member of our family!

 3. Last year was the first year I used Daily 5 in my classroom and I LOVED it! This summer, I'm reading through the CAFE book and love it as well! The two sisters have great ideas for helping students, and they deliver their ideas in such a teacher-friendly format. I'm super excited about trying this out next year!!

4. SUMMER PROJECT: Seat Crates! Some of my co-workers tried these last year, and they were SO cute and SO practical! The kids loved sitting on these special seats, and the teacher could store extra supplies or center activities in the crate.

Click HERE if you're interested in making these super cute seats!

 5. I took this picture of my dog and her "yogurt face." Anytime someone eats a cup of yogurt, she just sits and stares at you because she wants to lick the cup when you're done. It's a little creepy in that adorable kind of way  =)