Religion Resources for Primary Teachers

 Hi friends!  Happy New Year!  I hope you've had some time to rest and recharge your tired selves during this break.  I know I've spend a whole lot of time with family and friends, catching up on my reading list, and watching some shows that I enjoy on television. 

But with one more day before break is over, my thoughts are returning to the classroom.  I'm excited to get back to my students and getting started on this second half of the year.  We've got a whole lot of learning to do between now and May!

I've got a great offer for you today.  Sign up for my montly (or so) newsletter and you can get this Creation lapbook for free!  I promise not to flood your inbox with tons of emails where I talk to you like we're besties.  But I will share ideas with you to keep your teaching fresh and your students engaged, offer you freebies, and keep you updated on new resources I create.

If you're interested, you can sign up here to receive my Creation Lapbook free.

I hope your first day back to teaching in 2022 is wonderful!  Stay safe and stay healthy out there!

In Defense of Morning Work

Funny how the educational pendulum swings, isn't it?  Years ago, I started my kindergarten mornings with what I called free choice time.  Students were able to come into the classroom and coose an activity that helped them ease their way into the day.

                          

Fast forward to a few years ago, and morning work, or bell ringers, were all the rage.  Students came in, got settled, and jumped right into work, reviewing and practicing previously taught skills.

Now, it's all about morning tubs.  Essentially free choice time again, but in a more controlled manner.  Instead of building with big blocks or building puzzles or choosing to free draw or free playing with smaller blocks and cars or legos, students can choose a tub that interests them and explore the materials in the tub.

                                                                               

Are you a morning work person or a morning tub person?  Does it have to be either / or?

Is it possible to be an "and," as in I'm a morning tub AND a morning work person?

Why yes, it is!

Here's how I schedule it:

7:30 -7:55  Morning Tubs

7:55-8:05  Morning Prayers and Announcements

8:05-8:20  Morning Work

I created my morning work to go with reading series I used at the time, which was the Journey's reading series.  Since then, our reading series has changed to Wonders, but the skills, although presented in a slightly different order, are still the same.  So my same morning work still supports my reading series.  Sometimes it's a review, sometimes it's an introduction, and sometimes it's a practice of skill we've covered.  It includes a sentence fix up section, a phonics fix up section, a math section, and basic facts practice section, and a writing section.  I really feel like practicing these skills every day helps my children master them.

                                                                                                                                                            
We begin by completing the sections together for the first few weeks we use them to provide scaffolding in how to complete the work.  Slowly, I pull back on the support.  For the next few months, I will put the sentence correction on the SMARTboard for the students to copy, and I provide a framework to answer the journal prompt on the SMARTboard.

By the beginning of the second semester, I am only providing them clues as to what needs corrected in the sentences by using proofreading marks in red and giving them the introductory sentence to the journal prompt.  At first, they have to write one more sentence.  Then two more sentences.  Then two sentences and conclusion by the end of the year.

This provides me with valuable time because as the children are completing their work independently, I pull a few kids back to me for progress monitoring.

Most importantly, we check the morning work together.  I feel that this is so important for learning.  If I check them and hand them back, the children look at the corrected work, but what does it really mean to them?  But if they have to make corrections as they check their own work, that helps them understand their mistakes!
                             

You can find a free sample of my morning work booklet by clicking the picture below.

Click the picture for a free sample of Morning Work Week 1

So don't give up on this valuable learning tool. Make it intentional to support the learning objectives in your classroom. Find ways to incorporate it into your learning day. Maybe as homework.  Maybe as seatwork during small group time.  Or maybe, like me, as part of your morning routine.

Classroom Decor - Llama and Succulent Room Theme Freebie

Moving to a new classroom often means choosing a new theme.   Since I am moving to a new classroom this year, I have been busy creating my new classroom decor llamas and succulents theme.  I almost -- ALMOST -- can't wait to get back into the building to set up and decorate my new classroom with this adorable room theme.

   

 This forever free resource includes editable label in both rectangle and circle shapes.  To edit them, all you have to do is open the PowerPoint file.  Then type in whatever label you need. You can also make more labels.  Right click on slide view in the PowerPoint view panel. Then click on "duplicate slide." In that way, you can create as many copies as you need to have enough labels!

I've used them to label my storage baskets for various classroom supplies.  I also plan on using the circle labels in my classroom library.

 I love the soft watercolors of this freebie.  As I've coordinated the various parts of this set, I've used many of the shades for accent colors.  I think it will make my classroom relaxing and peaceful.

There is a complete line of classroom decor llamas and succulents available.  You can see them by clicking on the picture below.

 But even if you don't want the complete set, I'm sure you'll find many uses for this freebie.

 Click on the big picture near the top of the post, or you can click here to download this forever freebie!  Enjoy what's left of your summer!

Grab your Back-to-School Freebie Idea! Cheap and Easy!

I've got the perfect back-to-school idea freebie for you if you like things that are cheap and easy!


Welcome your students back to school with this cute treat and welcome card

 It's an o"fish"al back to school freebie! (See what I did there?)  All you have to do is simply buy a bag of goldfish snacks or Swedish fish. Then separate the treats into the number of snack baggies you need.  After that, attach the bag topper label appropriate for you grade level.  Voila!  You've got an excellent back-to-school treat your students will love!

 In addition, you can print out the pre-printed card.  Add your students' names in the greeting and sign the card. Your students will have a great little keepsake for the first day of school.  As a special surprise, you can mail the cards out before school starts.  What kiddo wouldn't love to get a surprise note from their teacher?

 I hope you and your students enjoy this little back-to-school idea freebie!  It is perfect for that stressful few days before school starts.  After spending so much to get your classroom ready, as I know you do, this is quick, easy, and cheap.  I have put these little treats together the night before the first day of school some years!  I think the total cost is less than $6.00 if you buy the big bag of goldfish.  I usually get my snack bags at the dollar store to save a few bucks as well.

Click here or on the picture to download the freebie! If you're looking for another quick, easy, and cheap back-to-school idea freebie, check out this blog post! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Science Freebie Bald Eagle Mini-Research Project

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Click here to download this freebie

Hi friends!  I wanted to share with you a fun and easy research project you can do with  your class. It just a quick little research booklet that asks specific questions, and then the children can type those questions into Google to find the answers.

 I've actually done the research part of this in first grade by grouping up my students so the more able readers can help the less able readers.  They were so into researching and finding answers that they were reading far more than they realized! n After they write the answer to the question in a sentence, they can illustrate the answer in the blank space at the top of the page.

With all the eagle cams set up around the country, I find the children are fascinated by observing and keeping an eagle log.  At some point during the day, I will pull up the eagle cam, and we observe the eagles for five minutes or so, then record information into our log. I try to visit at least 3 times a week until at least the first egg hatches.

You can get this free resource in my store by clicking the cover above, or you can visit Teacher's Toolkit store for a round up of free resources for Teacher Treat Tuesday by clicking the picture below.

http://www.teacherstoolkitblog.com/2017/02/teacher-treat-tuesday_21.html

Click here to visit Teacher's Toolkit and score some great teacher treats!

Have a great week, everyone!

I'm done. What do I do now?

How many times have you heard that question?  It has been the bane of my existence in the classroom for going on 28 years now.  No matter how many times I tell the children what they can do when they finish their work, they just can't seem to do it.  I've seen these "fast finisher" boards and whatnot around for a while now, but when I look at them, they just seem to hard for first graders, especially at the beginning of the year.  Plus, a lot of them involve me checking work when it is finished, and I just don't want to make that extra work for myself.

Enter Dollar Tree.  Every few days I stop in and browse around just to see what they have.  Last time I stopped, I spotted these.

Those looked interesting.  And the little picture up in the corner got me thinking.  I bet I could make a fast finisher activity choice board to use with these.  So I got to work and came up with this.

I printed it out at 190% and carefully cut and lined up edges, glue pieces down, added some tape, and tried it out.

I love the way it works! I will make two more, laminate them, and use them on the side chalkboard every morning, spinning them to tell the kids each morning what they should do if they finish their work early.  I like the idea of switching it up a bit each day, but there will be lots of overlap of activities as well. 

I really hope this does away with the "I'm done.  What do I do now?" question!

If you'd like to print out the board, you can download it by clicking on the picture below.

Have a great weekend!

Easing into the New Year!

I hope your Christmas was filled with as much love and laughter as ours was.  We were blessed to have our son and his wife home with us again this Christmas from North Carolina, and we ate way too much, drank way too much, and spent a whole lot of time laughing at the antics of the two newest members of our family, this precious baby boy, my great nephew,

And this little bundle of furry energy, my first grand-doggy!

But, alas, all too soon, it will be time to think about going back to school after the New Year.  So my bloggy friends put their heads together and came up with a way to make it just a bit less painful for you all to head back to school.

What?  No or low-prep freebies to start January off right?  Sound great to me! Hop around to grab the no/low prep freebies, and then enter to win an Amazon gift card at the end of the hop!

I am stop 17!

Here's my NO prep freebie to use your first week back!

click the picture to download the crown

This fun crown is great addition to anything you are doing to celebrate the New Year in your classroom.  Writing about resolutions?  Wear the crown.  Doing New Year's Math?  Wear the crown.  Reading about New Year's celebrations around the world?  Wear the crown.  You get the idea. 

And, it just so happens, this crown is part of my much larger resource, 

If you click here, you can see a GIF that shows you the contents of this resource!

This awesome resource can easily take you through your first day back to school.  It includes reading and writing activities, a CVC and CVCe phonics scoot game, two math activities, a PDF or PowerPoint version of a short informational text about New Year's celebrations around the world, and a follow up staggered booklet to make based on the informational text.  Lots of good stuff in here, and it will be on sale for 20% off the regular $5.00 price for the duration of this blog hop!

Now hop on over to the next stop and enter the Rafflecopter on The Teaching Tribune for an $80 gift card to Amazon.com by clicking the button below!

Just click on me to go to The Teaching Tribune and enter the Rafflecopter.  If you need to continue the hop, you can continue from The Teaching Tribune!

Enjoy the hop, and I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!

And It's November!

I can't believe how the time is flying this year!  Halloween is done and gone, and it is November already.  Are you as amazed by this time flying as I am?

We've had an fun fall in our classroom.  We've learned about the communities, using this super new pack that I developed.

We also spent a good bit of time on our Skeleton unit in October since I only have science two days a week.

The kids are really enjoying these activities, and they love the idea of having a science interactive notebook!  

                                    

 We assembled and read our flipbook, then we underlined the important facts from the informational text.

We used our flipbook to pinpoint three major functions of the skeleton.

 

We learned the "kid friendly" names of the major bones in the body.  There are also cards for the proper names of bones.

There are still a few more sections that we need to complete with this unit, but I'm putting on the back burner for next week because I want to cover Veterans Day in social studies.  Speaking of, have you seen my fabulous Veterans Day resource?  

There are so many wonderful activities for learning about Veterans Day and activities you can do within your school community and as community outreach for local Veterans.  One user shared her idea on my feedback...

"My kinders always make something special for the vets in the hospital here. Your cards and wreath project are perfect!"

Another buyer had this to say about the differentiation within the unit...

"OH WOW! This is so awesome and wonderfully differentiated for different learners and their levels! Thank you!"

Now for the really great news!  This resource is currently on sale @ 33% off on Educents!  Click on the picture above to visit the listing and view this resource up close. 

As always, I like to leave you with a nice freebie for staying with me this long.  Right click on the picture below and "save image as" to your desktop to print and use this portion of my Veterans Day resource.

I developed these notes to use when my son left for boot camp almost two years ago.  I put them out at his graduation/going away party, and his friends and family all jotted notes to him on them.  Throughout his time at boot camp, I sent him a note a day.  When he is deployed, I plan to do the same.  I love the thought that teachers are using these same notes to send messages to other Veterans and service members!

Have a great weekend!

Getting into the Swing of Things

Hi, all.  Now, that back to school time is winding down, and we're starting to establish classroom routines, I feel like we're finally getting into the swing of things in my classroom.  We just finished our third week and starting to settle into the routines.  We're still limping along without our math books, although I do have the teacher's manual and online access to our new series, so that helps greatly.  Thank God for TpT.  I look at the objectives I need to teach, teach it on the first day, then search through my files or TpT for a supporting activity the second day.  I'm also creating a series of interactive notebook activities to go with each objective, but, as always, time to create is a problem.

Our first chapter is all about making sure children understand the concepts of addition.  So I developed these story mats to use with the kiddos while we practice manipulating objects to tell our stories.  You can use the included pictures, but I used two sided counters.  As we told our addition stories, I wrote the corresponding addition sentences on the board just to expose the children to the math vocabulary we would be using. 

One thing that really surprised me is that when we talked about what addition means, the children promptly answered, "We're putting them together."  Great!  We have the concept of addition means put together!  But when I asked, "What are we putting together when we add?", they answered, "The numbers."  Whoa!  Not quite, right?  So we started using these boards to tell our addition stories, and I asked them, "Are you putting numbers together on your boards?"  "No."  "Well, what are you putting together?"  "Things."  "And what do we call it when we put a bunch of things together?"  After several, shall we say, incomplete, answers, (all which led along the path to the answer I was looking for) one little girl finally said, "A set."  Bingo!  From there we talked about how when we add we are putting sets together, and the numerals are symbols of how many objects are in the set.  So we are not actually adding numbers, we are adding groups of things together.

It was sort of an a-ha moment for many of them, and for me as well.  In the past, it was not something that I stressed or even thought about whether or not they understood.  I mean, if they could answer 2+2=4, then obviously they understood the concept, right?  Obviously not.

From the blank boards, we moved into boards divided into part/part/whole boards and started writing the addition sentences on white boards to go along with those addition stories we make up.  The final step is to put each sum into our interactive math notebook, and use our part/part/whole boards and two-sided counters to discover and write the addition sentences to ten.  I think it will make a great resource for the children throughout the year.

If you would like to see my VERY incomplete resource that I have thus far, you can click on the picture above and download it for free.  If you look at the table of contents, you can see what I plan to include, but it is not all in there yet.  Hopefully, this weekend I will be able to add the missing pieces and get it posted.  If you do look at it, please let me know what you think and what I could add or change to make it more useful for you.

Today, I am joining up with Laura Graham, from Where the Magic Happens, for a Super Saturday Sale.  Today, all my featured items are on sale for 50% off.  What a deal!  I have items ranging from beginning of the year to Halloween in my featured items space, so take a look and see if there's anything you might like.

Click on either picture above to visit my TpT store!

Click the picture above to visit Laura's blog and see what other treasures you can find!

Have a great weekend!

Cooking Up a Great Year!

As back to school looms, I'm starting to think about how to eat healthy when 3 out of the 5 days, I'm running out the door 20 minutes after I get home to take my daughter off to one activity or another.  I know many of you are in the exact same boat.  It's so easy to drive through somewhere, but it's not the healthiest choice. So I'm going to make it a goal to USE MY CROCK POT!

I have been combing the Internet looking for crock pot recipes with 3 ingredients or less.  And I think I found some great ones.  Today, I'm going to share the one that I think will be the easiest and the tastiest!  

Doesn't that sound delicious?  I can see it over lettuce and taco chips as a chicken taco salad or, if your family is into walking tacos, it would taste great with nacho cheese Doritos and cheese and lettuce and tomatoes and sour cream and a dollop of guacamole.  YUM!

To help you cook up a great year, I'm going to gift you today with this Halloween-themed freebie.  I know, I know, HALLOWEEN?!?  Summer's not even over yet.  But, hey, we're teachers, and we're always planning a month ahead, and before you know it, it will be the beginning of October.

click here to download your Number Brew Freebie!

But that's not all! Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter below, and you will have the chance to win one of these great prizes!  Good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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