Throwback Thursday Style!

I'm linking up with Cara at The First Grade Parade today to bring back a short & sweet little post from last September.  It includes a freebie that you can go ahead and download and get ready for your new babies this year!

I looooved my Weekend News journal!  It was so easy to look back and see/document growth in writing.  My kids and parents also loved having all of the little snapshots of their entire year.  I will most definitely be doing Weekend News again this coming year!  It makes for the easiest Monday morning work EVER...and who doesn't need a little something easy on a Monday morning?!?!

*The only thing I did differently than what I posted is that I went ahead and copied, hole-punched, and  put together all 36 weeks worth of sheets at the beginning of the year.  I'm so glad I did that so I never had to go back and put them in....like that would have happened!  Let's get real...those folders would have been a hot mess if I had just put them in the pockets! Ha!

Click here to see the post and grab your FREE weekend news cover and writing pages!

Happy Summer to you!

Snowmen in Bikinis?!?!

Happy Monday! 

Do those two words go together?  

They do when you come home to this little package on the front porch.

My new camera arrived and I'm so ridiculously excited! 

I forced myself grade some papers and enter some test scores before I opened it tonight.  Now...I shall open it and take approximately 2000 pictures of the dog while I watch The Bachelor.

Before that fun commences, I did want to drop in and share a cute little freebie with you.  This was a totally spur of the moment little writing activity that I put together last week to go with this fabulous book and review some science information on seasons.

After we read the book, we discussed what we would do with our snowmen if they stayed all year long.  My babies came up with some fun ideas for their "snow people".  They wanted to lounge at the pool with them, go trick or treating, carve pumpkins, and watch 4th of July fireworks!  It was a great review of the seasons and holidays associated with them.

Here is a your copy of the cover if you'd like to do this activity in your classroom, too! I just stapled this to a couple pages of writing paper (one side for each of the four seasons) and let them go to town!

Here are some fun examples! :)

They crack me up!

Happy teaching to you!

Fa-la-la-la Freebie!

Two posts is two days? Who am I?  :)

 

 I just couldn't pass up a chance to link up with the sweet gals from Freebielicious. All freebies...all the time.  Plus, some of THE sweetest chicks in the "blogosphere"  contributing to that site. Seriously.

 

 

 

 What's not to love? 

 

I posted a five senses poem about FALL a couple months ago and since then, I've had lots of requests for more of them.

 

 

 

 

I've done a Christmas one in the past that always turns out soooo stinkin' cute.  They always usually make my heart happy!

 

 

Some examples of ideas my first graders have come up with in the past...

 

Christmas sounds like...jingle bells, Christmas carols, laughing, Ho Ho Ho

 

Christmas tastes like...candy canes, hot chocolate, pancakes, sugar cookies

 

Christmas looks like...snow, red and green, bright lights, fun, family, presents, ornaments

 

Christmas smells like...a fire burning, pine trees, peppermint, cookies baking

 

Christmas feels like...slippery wrapping paper, love, fun, happiness

 

and my all time favorite...

 

"Christmas feels like hugs."

 

Amen!

 

The "feels like" one is often the hardest for them to come up with...I tell them it can be a feeling on the inside or the outside. In other words, something you actually touch with your hands OR something you feel in your heart. 

 

I hope you enjoy doing this with your kids as much as I do. :)

 

 

I also whipped up a "Winter" one in case you don't do Christmas activities at your school...or if you're like me and are trying desperately to fit everything in before break and just run out of time!

 

 

 

Happy teaching to you!

 

Thanksgiving Recipe Book: A FUN seasonal writing activity

Happy November!

 

I follow the fabulous Erica Bohrer on facebook and I saw this pop up today and thought it was the most fantastic idea...I wanted to share it with you in case you hadn't seen it. 

 

Erica lives in New York and created this packet both to answer students' questions and inform. She is donating the proceeds from this pack to help the victims in her hometown of Lindenhurst.

 

 I grabbed it from her TPT store and it is a fantastic resource.  I am saving it for a weather unit this spring.  If you haven't checked it out...click on the picture below!

 

    If you haven't already checked out her blog...it's a fantastic teacher resource...but right now she also has some inspiring pictures of her hometown after the storm.  It's worth looking at for a little bit of hope! 

 

Erica inspired me! I was getting ready to post a new Thanksgiving mini-pack to my TPT store tonight and I decided it would be a great opportunity to do the same. 

 

I wish I had something bigger, but this is all I had ready.  It is only $2 in my TPT store, but the proceeds will go towards the Hurricane Sandy relief fun via a donation to the Red Cross.

 

I know I sure am THANKFUL to be in my warm home with my favorite boys...and I am praying hard that my friends up north have some safety, warmth, and peace very soon, too.

 

If you are looking for a QUICK, FUN writing activity to do with your kids one of these days leading up to Thanksgiving...check out my Thanksgiving Recipe Book writing activity.

 

Students select a dish that they *think* they know how to make and write a recipe for it. 

 

Y'all don't even know how funny these turn out.

 

Here is a little example from our cookbook from last year:

 

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

-two boxes of noodles

-one slice of cheese

-1 cup of salt

-1 spoonful of sugar

-3 pieces of garlic

-8 sticks of butter

 

Directions:

Put the noodles in the water and turn it on real hot. Put the cheese on it and stir it up.  Pour in the salt and sugar and garlic.  Put the butter on.  Put it in the oven for 3 hours on 700 degrees.

 

YUM!

 

Too darn cute. 

 

This "cookbook"  also makes an awesome gift for parents and office staff at your school 

(and a fabulous conversation piece at your Thanksgiving table)!

 

Directions, templates, covers for the class cookbook (color and black & white) are included.

 

 

Happy teaching to you!

 

 

Fall Linky!

The super duper cute Mrs. Wheeler over at Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits invited me to link up for her fall sale! 

Then...I realized TONS of bloggers were celebrating the first day of fall with sales!
 

Ahh! I'm not quite finished with the fall activities I was planning to share (being sick this week has been rrrrrough!)  but I don't like to miss out on good sales!

(Plus, if you haven't checked out her cute blog...head on over.  I love her blog, you will too!)

 

So...for now, here is a little fall freebie for ya!

 

My firsties are shying away from taking chances with their writing.  They are stuck in a

 

"I like ________."

"I see a ________."

 

writing rut.

 

I'm ridiculously happy if they just write a sentence with finger spaces and a capital letter and period right now, so I'm not complaining....but I made these silly fall sentences to encourage them to take a risk and write some new things.

 

These are fall sentences...with a twist. 

 

 

 

A scarecrow having a birthday party with a squirrel?

check.

 

A ghost eating a lollipop?

yep.

 

A cat with a bumblebee on it's tail?

of course.

 

I think they will have fun with these. :) 

 

I sure had fun making them...but maybe that was the cold medicine taking over...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In any case, help yourself if you think your kiddos would enjoy writing some silly sentences to go with these crazy pictures!

 

 

 

And, yes....everything in my TPT store is on sale tomorrow (20% off). 

Check out these linky parties to find TONS of bloggers with good sales going on! :)

 

Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits

 

 

 

 

Second Grade Math Maniac  <---just found her blog and am lovin' it!

 

 

 

But if there's anything I love more than a good sale...it's FREE stuff. 

And...pssssst.... almost everything in my store is free. :)

 

So head on over and stock up!

 

I'll be back soon with tons more FALL activites.  Be sure to follow my blog and TPT store so you'll be able to check it out when I get it all posted....lots of freebies!

Here is my current best seller.  An entire year's worth of Dolch sight word curriculum with word cards, daily assignments, homework, assessments, weekly oral reading checks, etc.

 

 

I'm getting close(ish) to 100 followers and I'd love to start planning a fabulous giveaway.

 

Just sayin'.  ;)

 

Happy Weekend to you...and Happy Fall!

 

Monday Freebie: Weekend News!

One of the awesome teachers that I get to work with introduced me to "weekend news." I have loved incorporating it into my Mondays ever since!

 

Since today was our first Monday back to school, it is time for the first "weekend news" of the year! Very simply, for morning work on Mondays, my kiddos write about whatever they did over the weekend.

 

 Last year, they wrote on regular writing paper or in their journals. We would illustrate and share them and then they just took them home. This year, I designated a three-prong folder just for weekend news so we can save them throughout the year. 

 

It is such an awesome way to watch their writing grow and develop throughout the year and it also provides a lot of insight into their lives outside of school.

 

As a parent, I think it would be a neat thing to save at the end of the year, too!

 

I will probably collect several weeks in the pockets of the folders, date them, and then three-hole punch them and put them in a few at a time or ask a volunteer to do the same.

 

If you'd like to do "weekend news" in your classroom, here is a free template and a cover for your weekend news journal or folder. These can be printed front and back so that they have extra space as they start to write more and more!

 

 

Happy Monday!