December On/Off Game - {Flash Givewaway}

Hello!  I wanted to let you know that I have uploaded my newest product.  It is my newest on/off game with a December/winter theme.  Since some kids don't celebrate Christmas and other schools don't allow holiday themes, I was sure to include a "winter" playing board, I can chart and recording paper.  If you  purchased my November On/Off game, this would be a great extension!  Practicing addition is always a pro with our little ones!!

Here is the preview:

The pack includes black and white game boards or color game boards.  It includes a page for directions, 2 different I can charts and 2 different recording pages.  Enter the Rafflecopter below to win this product!  There will be 3 lucky winners!!

While you are at my store, be sure to pick up your holiday freebie from me!  I made this stamping center to use with my kiddos the next three weeks!  I hope you enjoy it! My store is already on 20% off if you wanted to purchase early.  Otherwise, you can wait til Monday and Tuesday to get the additional 10% off with the code: CYBER!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Happy Shopping!!

Teachers Notebook 3-Day Sale {Build a Bundle}

It's here!  The event you have been waiting for!  Teachers Notebook is having an amazing deal from Nov. 30-Dec. 2.  You can make your own bundle and get 50 % off each product in the bundle!  Everyone is talking about it so don't miss out!  Click the button above to head to my store and load your cart!

If you are on Teachers Pay Teachers, I'll be having a sale there too.  Click the sale button to load your shopping cart.  Be sure to come back on Dec. 2nd and 3rd to check out with the promo code CYBER!!!

Happy shopping!!!!

What We've Been Up to and {Product Updates}!

So, here's a few things we have done the last couple of days.

Here is my practicum student giving a lesson on then/now with venn diagram sorting.

This is a sorting page with letters p and j.  The students sort pictures and then write the letter with Fundations lines. 

This child is working on some of my Sight Word Practice pages. 

Here the kiddos are making numbers with their base ten blocks. It was our first experience with them. 

And finally, this is a whole group math lesson I did during my enrichment time on Tuesday. We learned what base ten blocks were and what they are used for. I gave them about 5 minutes on the timer to "play" with them and then we would work with them to help learn our math concepts. Overall, this worked very well. They loved making numbers. I showed them on the brightlinks and they made the number with their manipulatives. I then used manipulatives on the brightlinks to show the "answer." It was a lot of fun!!

I also just wanted to let you know that I have made a few updates to the following products. Please go back and re-download if you have already purchased. More sight word practice will be coming over the weekend (I hope!).

I have updated the recording page for the pumpkin puzzles 1-10.  And I also added a recording page for the pumpkin puzzles 11-20 (in case you wanted to use only have of the set at at a time).

And for this pack, I have added 18 more words which means 18 more pages!!!!  If you haven't gotten it yet, go get it now for half off (originally $3.00).  If you have gotten it, be sure to re-download for the updates!!  

Hope you are having a nice week!!

Peek at my Week {Pilgrims} 11-18

I'm here to link up with Deedee and Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for a Peek at My Week! 

 Here are my plans.  They are kind of small, so you can click on my plans to open the PDF in Google Docs.

This week will be all about pilgrims.  We will talk about a pilgrim girl (Sarah Morton) and pilgrim boy (Samuel Eaton).  The students will compare and contrast the time of pilgrims and the time of our lives today.  

I have a practicum student who will be teaching a math mini lesson and my introduction lesson to pilgrims.  Both lessons are on Monday.  She is only in college, but is doing an amazing job!   Everyday she comes to work with my students, she immediately engages with what they are working on.  I love not having to tell someone what to do every 2 seconds.  She takes initiative and seems very comfortable working with the kids.  I am very excited to see her teach on Monday!!

We will be making our pilgrim costumes this week.  Every child gets to make both the indian and pilgrim costumes.  Then we will draw characters from a hat to see which they will be in our thanksgiving production next week.  More on that will be coming!!!

In math, we will continue to work on numbers 11-20 and simple addition.  Since using this fundations program, my students have an amazing grasp of letters and letter sounds.   I am now challenging them to put the sounds/letters together to make words.  They have impressed me this past week with their writing.  I made each of them a special journal to use during our small group reading time so they could practice their writing.  I got this idea from a colleague and LOVE it!  My kids did such a nice job last week writing about their friends and family.  I let them pick what they want to write about and their ideas are wonderful!!!  

So I hope you are finishing up your turkey/thanksgiving plans this week.  We have 2 days next week too.  But for now, hop on over and check out these great linky parties to see what others are doing this week.  

   Have a wonderful week!!

More Sight Word Practice

My kiddos need a lot of practice with sight words.  We have been using my Sight Word Practice sheets this week.  I was talking to a colleague the other day and we thought about how we could use the sight words in sentences too.  Thus, my new product is born.  I plan to use these in a center but will do a few of them whole group first.  

I included the cover, one example and then a view of all the sentences in the pack (thus far).    Click the title page to head to my store.  It's only $1.50 right now.  As I add more pages I will increase the price.  If you get it now, you can download the updates for FREE!!!
I discussed with a different colleague about our "routine" day.  My thoughts are...in order to be better readers and writers....we just need to practice reading and writing.  Yes, in kindergarten they need a lot of modeling and some work with activities like you see above.  However, for the most part, the kids just need time to work on their writing and practice reading books (both familiar and unfamiliar).  
Well, I did this today.  We still had "centers" but the kids practiced their writing (like a mini writer's workshop) at one center, practiced reading at one center, did a phonics game on the computer and worked on sight words at the last center.  One of my sweet students (who came to me knowing 0 letters and letter sounds), was able to write the sentence he wanted to during his writing center.  He drew his detailed picture and then asked for help to stretch out the words.  As I guided him, he was able to recognize each letter (based on the sounds I was making) and was able to write them correctly.  
I give a lot of credit to Fundations!!!  This is a program that our county has purchased from Wilson.  We are teaching to fidelity.  And I truly believe that the everyday repetition of this program has helped my little guy be able to actually write a (legible) sentence about his picture only after 10 weeks of school.  
I don't know about your thoughts, but I think that is really impressive!!!!  

A Peek at my Week {Native Americans} 11-11-13

I'm here to link up with Deedee and Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for a Peek at My Week! 
 Here are my plans.  They are kind of small, so you can click on my plans to open the PDF in Google Docs.

This week will feel more like a normal week for me and my kiddos.  Tuesday morning I am out for about 2 hours to participate in training for the Fundations Program (by Wilson) that my county has adopted K-2.  This is my first year teaching it and so I'm excited to see a lesson modeled by the instructor from Wilson.   I attended a training this past summer and really liked being able to see her model some of the lessons.  I'm a very visual learner so I love to watch someone else first! :)  Do you like that too??

We are moving in to addition with composing and decomposing numbers in math.  For the most part, my kiddos have a really good grasp of numbers 1-10.  So I'm ready to start showing them combinations of the numbers.  We started this last week when I modeled how to play On/Off with my November On/Off Pack.  They loved being able to roll the beans and orally say "2 + 3 = 5."  I really stressed the math talk with them when I was modeling this game with a partner.  The first 2 groups to play the game did an amazing job with the math talk.  There is just something about hearing a 5 year old talk about addition!! 

Our Math series has a consumable "text" book that we have to use.  So my kiddos will do some of the activities for numbers 11-20 and working with a calendar, days of the week, months of the year.  Usually, this is just a "review" for my kids since we talk about this everyday during our calendar time.  

Our "theme" next week is Native Americans.  We will spend a day talking about Squanto, one day talking about Pocahontas, and a few days working on our Native American costumes.  Stay tuned for some pictures.  It is my huge promise this week to get some pictures out to you.  My family is finally healthy so my week will run pretty smoothly.  

During my reading centers, I'm trying to focus on sight words and writing simple sentences.  My kids are able to sound words out so I just need to keep pushing them to write a simple sentence with the sight words we have learned as well.  

This time of year is my overall favorite!!!  My kiddos have an amazing grasp of expectations and are really beginning to learn to write, read and "do" math.  Thanksgiving and Christmas activities are a lot of fun too!  

Well, stay tuned for some other posts this week.  Now hop over and check out these great linky parties to see what others are doing this week.  

   Have a wonderful week!!

Sight Word Practice - {Flash Freebie}

Well I failed this week to get any pictures of my kiddos.  

So here I am to share with you my newest product.  I have only made 6 of the sight word pages, but I wanted to offer it as a flash freebie and hopefully hear some feedback of what you think.  I do plan to add MANY more sight words to the pack!  My kiddos will be learning 3 sight words a week from now to the end of the year.  I plan to use this basic activity with them each week.  It's fun but also engages them in handwriting practice, spelling, and sight word identification.  
So here are some pictures from the pack.  Right now it has sight words: the, a, my, we, I, like.  I hope you will be able to use these.  I will let you know when I have updated it with new pages.  

Click {HERE} or any of the pictures to get it from TpT!    It will remain a flash freebie until sometime on Sunday.  Enjoy!!!

A Few New Products - Check them Out!

Hey guys!  I have been hard at work so that my kiddos can be engaged in their learning.  I'd love for you to check out a few of my new products I've posted.  Leave me a comment and let me know how you would use them and you might get a surprise!! Just don't forget your email address.

This is a very fun games that the kids love to play with a partner.  They are learning how to quickly and easily recognize a number by looking at 2 different parts (on the picture and off the picture).  Check out the preview for a special treat too! :)

I made this pack for my kids to practice reading/recognizing sight words, spelling sight words, and also practice their handwriting skills.  Our county is putting a lot of emphasis on handwriting and spelling with a program called Fundations by Wilson. I am in the process of writing a post about it and the influence it has had on my students this year.  
Well, I hope you will visit my store to check out these 2 new packs.  I am planning to add more to the Write the Room Pack as my students need it this year.  Stay tuned for updates!!
Happy Monday!