Two for Tuesday

Today I'm joining up with Chalk One Up for the Teacher and many other sellers to bring you #2forTuesday.  I have put two of my items on sale for 50% off today only.  One is my Short Vowel Stories companion pack.  It goes along with the free item Short Vowel Stories that you can find in my store here.

                                      

As I review each vowel sound with my students, I use the games, interactive notebook pages, and printables in this resource to reinforce and practice the vowel sounds.  

You can find this resource by clicking the picture below.

Sight words are essential to reading success. I pretest my students on the weekly sight word and send a note home to parents letting them know where their child stands for the week.The resource also includes a week's worth of intervention activities to use with children who need extra help. I give a post test and record results on my class tracking sheet to  keep track of my class' progress in mastering the sight words -- very handy to have on hand during conference time for a quick reference!

The activities are consistent through out the series, so your children, after the first time going through the activities with you, will know exactly what to do in subsequent lessons. Because these activities are so low prep, they also are good activities to send home with the child who needs extra help for parents to use.  Today, this resource is also 50% off.  Click the  cover below to find this resource in my store.

Be sure to visit the InLinkz to see more great deals!

An InLinkz Link-up

Educents Homeschool Resources Sale

Educents, a trusted leader in homeschool resources deals, is having a sale starting June 20 and ending June 24.  If you click on the picture above, you can visit and see all the great resources Educents offers.

While you're there, you can take a look at my store.  I have several free items perfect for the homeschool environment.

Click on the picture above for a free sample to my morning work series.  It is a growing bundle that will include 30 weeks work of first grade geared work.  It's a great way to start off the learning day.  I've used these in my classroom for the past year, and I saw a huge improvement in writing, phonics, and math skills because of the reinforcement of skills these provided.

Here's another free resource in my store.  It's a really cute card and craft to celebrate Grandparents' Day.  The card is actually a book where the children write about their special relationship with their grandparent(s). 

Take a minute to look through my store for the other free samples of my resources.  I think you'll find resources to meet many of your homeschooling and classroom needs!

Choices, Choices, Choices

Sometimes having too many choices isn't actually the most helpful. We were shopping for a new dress for my 12-year-old daughter yesterday, and she just couldn't make up her mind.  She tried on one dress after another and found so many she liked.  But I had to make her choose just 1.  If there were less choices, that choice might have been a bit easier for her.  Luckily, I was there to give her some recommendations on what fit her best and looked best on her. With help, she was able to finally pick a pretty blue summery dress.

When it comes to picking your homeschool curriculum, you want recommendations from someone who knows. Cathy Duffy is the know-all when it comes to homeschool curriculum. She has reviewed hundreds of homeschool curricula to help educators like me make an educated decision when shopping for homeschool curriculum. So as soon as I see a product has been approved by Cathy Duffy, I am more likely to trust it. Here’s a handful of Cathy-approved educational picks available at Educents.com. I hope these double-recommended educational resources will relieve you from endless hours of shopping around for the best (and most cost-effective) homeschool resources.

Elementary Math & Science

Life of Fred Elementary Math

If you haven't heard of Life of Fred, you're in for a real treat. Dr. Stanley F Schmitt is a math teacher who developed story-based math learning series that has taken homeschooling by storm! Forget rote learning that doesn't resonate: learners follow the Fred and his pals through life and learn math concepts along the way. Kids sometimes don't even know they're learning math until they're told! Each book has a topic, like Apples, Butterflies, and Cats. I recommend supplementing math learning with science of social studies of the same topic!  

Giant Butterly Garden

This ties in with the second Life of Fred book so well! With the set little ones can learn about (and experience!) the miracles of metamorphosis. Available at Educents for $35.99.

Theme for a Day - Johnny Appleseed

Here's a great little theme for a day unit that would go along well with the apples topic.  It includes language arts, math, social studies, and science!  Perfect to use on Johnny Appleseed day to being thematic fun to your homeschool.

Happy shoppping!

Learning about Homes through The Three Little Pigs

Hey,everyone!  I hope your summer is off to a great start, or if you're not on break yet, hang in there!  I'm back today with a post explaining how I use one of my resources in my own classroom.  

Today, I'm going to highlight my Homes featuring The Three Little Pigs Resource.

  It is resource that incorporates using both fiction and nonfiction stories to learn about different types of homes.

I start with the story of The Three Little Pigs.  After reading the story, we take time to practice summarizing the story using the S/W/B/W model, somebody/wanted/but/so.  Using that framework, I will provide an example summarizing of the story, then let the children have a chance to summarize the story, using the S/W/B/S stepping stones. 

Next, we will  focus on comparing the three types of houses that the pigs built and brainstorm the pros and cons of each kind of house writing our ideas on a chart that is included in the pack.  Finally, I will ask the children to write about which type of house they would like to live in and why.  

In the next lesson, I introduce the nonfiction book I have about different kinds of houses. First, we discuss the different parts of a nonfiction book, looking for examples of those features in our book.  After reading the story, we look at 8 different types of houses from around the world.  I have included a map of the world, and children will cut and paste the pictures of the houses to the map.

They use Venn diagrams to compare two or three different types of houses.  Finally, they work collaboratively to complete a class book entitled, Where Would You Like to Live?  

In the format of the story, they are asked to think about where they would like to live, tell something that would be fun about living there, and then think of something that might be a problem with living there.  I encourage my children to really think out of the box on this one!

So that's how I use that!  

As part of Two for Tuesday, this resource is on sale for 50% off today.  In addition, in keeping with the fairy tale theme, my newly revamped Retelling and Sequencing with Goldilocks and the Three Bear is also on sale for 50% off today.  I've included a tabbed booklet to retell the story by telling what happens at the beginning, middle, and the end, and a fun game of opposites!

Click on the pictures of the covers of the resources to see the resources in my TpT store.

Be sure to check out the InLinkz for other great 2 for Tuesday deals!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Return of Two for Tuesday!

Hi Friends!  Throughout the summer, I am going to be joining up with my sweet friend, Chalk One Up for the Teacher, for a Two for Tuesday linky party.  I (and many other sellers) will be offering two resources for that Tuesday only at a discounted price.

Here are the two items I am offering at 50% off today.

                        Read on to find out more and see how  you can get a free sample!

This week, I am offering my newest resource, Nouns, for 50% off.

This is a great, comprehensive resource for teaching everything about nouns to first graders.  It would also make a good review for second grade.  It covers the definition of a noun, singular and plural nouns, common and proper nouns, and possessive nouns.  There are 27 interactive activities, review sheets, centers, games, and assessments to use in this unit, including a put-it-together anchor chart.  (You can learn more about that anchor chart here, and also get a free download of the pieces to make the anchor chart yourself.)

My second offering, at 50% off, is my Father's Day booklet and coupon booklet.  It makes an endearing keepsake for Dad, one that he will look back on and laugh.

Two great resources at 50% off!  Now that's a Two for Tuesday!  

If you want to see the other great resources included, just click the picture above! 

Happy Leap Day!

How exciting!  Another Leap Day is upon us!  How will you celebrate Leap Day with your students?  I have to be honest here and say I haven't given it much thought.  I've seen a few cute ideas on Pinterest, and I will probably incorporate several of these ideas into my day.    I will save you the work and share the freebies I found with you.

Here's a cute science lesson about why we need a Leap Day, along with a writing activity and craftivity to go with it.  It also includes some calendar work.

I found a fun math lesson as well as various other activities at this blog post by First Grade Parade.

Here's another packet of quick, printable activites that you can use as seat work or center activities that tie in to a Leap Day theme.

And just for fun, here's a Leap Day crown you can make with your students. Who doesn't love a crown?!

While you're here, let me tell you about our fabulous Leap Year sale.  About 30 fabulous sellers have grouped together to bring you three full days of leapfully exciting sales.  All stores will be on sale for up to 20% for the full three days.

Then each day, we will all offer a special deal, starting with $4 deals on Sunday, 2/28.

On Monday, 2/29, we all will be offering a bundle at 50% off!  What a deal that will be!

And on Tuesday, we will be offering the ever-popular $1 deals. 

You can find all these deals by clicking on each picture above on the day it is on sale.

And finally, be sure to enter our rafflecopters for a chance to win a $50 TpT giftcard at The Primary Pals.  We have 4 giftcards to give away!! 

click here to visit The Primary Pals and enter the rafflecopters.

Have a happy Leap Day, everyone!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Love Me True (or False)

I'm excited to share my resource with you today.  It's called "Love Me True," and the idea is to read an addition or subtraction problem and decide if it is true or false. If answered correctly, you get to move your marker the number of spaces written on the owl on the math fact card.   I played it with my math group on Friday, and they loved it!

The first time we played, we did it as a whole group with the girls against the boys and I was coach/judge/moderator so that I could make sure they understood how to play the game.

We gathered as a group with the board in the middle and the cards in one pile,  face down.

Pick a card and read the math problem.  Decide if it is true or false.  If it is false, tell why.

Use the number line to check and see if the person has given the correct answer.

If answered correctly, move your game piece the number of spaces on the owl on your card.  Follow any directions that are on the game board.

The game I played with my children is in black and white because I printed it out on the copier.  But the download is in full color as shown above!

The girls won the group game, and we ran out of time before we could partner up and play the game, so we are going to do that today.

I hope you enjoy this freebie, and please do come back and let me know how it worked out in your classroom!   Click on the picture below to download "Love Me True" from my TPT store.

Be sure to check the link up for other great ideas and/or freebies from the other first grade iTeach bloggers!

An InLinkz Link-up