A Teacher's Bag of Tricks

ABC Order Dotty Pattern

2013-08-20T14:54:00.001-05:00

Get your year off to a great start with these ABC cards. Cute dotty patterns will brighten your class. On SALE now!!

St Patrick's Day Patterns

2013-02-26T19:58:00.000-06:00

Looking for pattern pages? Check out my FREE St. Patrick's Day Pattern Page

Kids create instructed patterns on the first two lines. On the third line, they have a chance to create their own pattern.

Enjoy!
- Lisa

Big Sale

2013-02-22T22:32:00.003-06:00

To help my Everything Farm packet get a stellar launch, I'm slashing its price. For a limited time, get the huge mega pack for $4.75. Its here on TpT.

Is everyone else still thinking winter? We're planning on sledding and ice skating tomorrow. But I know spring is around the corner, and I'm trying to plan my packets accordingly.

- Lisa

Spring Bunnies

2013-02-20T22:02:00.002-06:00

Do you have bunnies on your mind yet?

Reading, Writing, Rhyming, Bunnies
Adding, Subtracting, Multiplying Bunnies
Graphing, Glyphing, Counting Bunnies
Alphabetizing, Crafting, Creative Writing Bunnies

Everything Farm (cute animals, math, and reading)

2013-02-17T20:12:00.000-06:00

People who know me well know that I have a strange obsession with farms. I even made my family vacation on one a few years back - it was a wonderful, peaceful time in rural Wisconsin; a luxurious break from our day to day lives.
If I love farms so much, why has it taken me so long to come up with this....

Because a lot of people have farm packs and I wasn't going to create one until I was sure that I had solid ideas that would make mine stand out and be different from the crowded field. I think I got there (and I love the clip art I used). Check it out on TpT.

Dotty-Patterend ABC Cards

2013-02-16T15:38:00.002-06:00

Sometimes you need a happy lift in your classroom (now, when for many of us the weather has become impossibly dreary seems to me to be one of those times). Many I suggest my Dot Patterned ABC big set?!

Cards with letters and activities, cards with pictures that represent every letter sound, activity cards, and more - all with the cheery big dot theme.

I hope you can make use of this.

- Lisa

Mega Pack - Everything Zoo (ON SALE!)

2013-02-11T19:19:00.002-06:00

My most popular Mega Pack is on sale... Everything Zoo is a fun, zoo themed packet that includes full lesson plans and activities in math, literacy, and art.

- Zoo Facts
- Graphic Organizers
- Vocabulary
- Blends
- Rhymes
- Spelling
- ABC order
- Creative writing
- Tens
- Addition
- Subtraction
- Patterns
- Graphs
- Story problems

I hope you all enjoy it!
- Lisa

Mega Pack - Everything Winter

2013-02-10T12:53:00.000-06:00

So what is a mega pack? Well, in my store, they are big (upwards of 80 pages) packets jammed with tons of individual activities that revolve around a set theme. Everything Winter obviously contains winter themed activities including graphing, glyphs, art, creative writing, and others.

Winter Warm Up Vocabulary and Literacy

2013-02-10T12:38:00.002-06:00

Warm up your winter days with vocabulary exercises for your cuties. This is a packet of creative, fun activities for learning winter vocabulary. Activities include
- opposites
- categorizing words
- checklists about snowmen, sledding, skiing, and more
- creative writing
- labeling
- making word art, snowflake style

Snow Math and a Freebie

2013-02-09T15:10:00.002-06:00

Looking out at the blanket of snow, it is hard to imagine each tiny flake in its six sided uniqueness. But who wants to study a big blob of white - it is much more interesting to look at the magnified images of the crystallized flakes.
For a math unit, I used snow flakes as an anchor theme. For example, I put the number ten in the middle and one number in each arm of the snowflake, then watch my students breeze through six addition facts (10 + each of the numbers in the arms). This, and other innovative snow-themed addition activities are available in my Snow Math Addition packet.
Also available are Multiplication and Subtraction

How are you teaching with snow during this winter storm? Try this freebie... Its a Snowman ABAB patterning sheet - the kiddos will love the cute snowmen.

Even more for free... Click here for my Snowman Color by Word

Enjoy the snow!
- Lisa

Everything About Snowmen

2013-02-09T09:21:00.000-06:00

I live outside Chicago and after a cold winter with no snow, we are finally covered with white. The snow is thick and wet, dripping from houses and trees so that everything glistens white - even the sky looks white under a heavy cloud cover.

My kids have built two snowmen - excuse me, snow women - this week, and I'm sure more are on their way. Let's use snowmen as a theme for teaching winter concepts, math, and reading!

Everything Snowmen

In this fun winter packet, students
- learn about snow
- make new words from the letters in snowman related words
- put winter words in ABC order using cards suited for a bulletin board
- practice ABAB patterning
- complete addition and subtraction sentences using snowmen visual cues
- write a short story about a snowman
- practice winter rhyming words
- play a candyland-style board game
- label a snowman
- compare and contrast through a venn diagram

- Lisa

Teaching through Animals - Kangaroos and Koalas

2013-02-08T20:13:00.001-06:00

My favorite lessons are those that use animal concepts to teach broader skills. Students practice writing skills as they create a story about a kangaroo bouncing around the classroom, for example. Or students practice ten frames while learning about types of marsupials. I have loads of lessons of this type, but I picked 2 to share today: Everything Koalas and Everything Kangaroos. Enjoy!

Everything Koalas

Everything Kangaroos

Teaching Black History Month - People That Have Made a Difference

2013-02-08T18:57:00.000-06:00

February is Black History Month, and there are many approaches to dealing with the subject matter. For the primary grades, I like the approach of teaching about people who have made a difference - these individuals connect students to a specific history that they can understand.

PACKET

The packet is aimed at 1st and 2nd graders, but could be taken up to 5th with minor tweaking. It includes:
- writing activities
- sorting activities
- physical activities
- tallying activities
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New for Valentine's Day

2013-02-08T16:47:00.001-06:00

Sweet Valentine's Day! Kids love all that pink and red glitter (not to mention the candy!), so we teachers need to capitalize on all that sickeningly sweet cuteness and teach them something while they think they are just having fun.

This year to celebrate, my husband and I will be dining out at Pensiero in Evanston, IL. Not sure what I'll do to make the day special for the kiddos yet. School valentine's are done with two kids going the boxed, premade route, and one opting to make them herself.

Here are the links to 3 (THREE!) Valentine's Day Products in my TpT store. I have a few more, but these are the most fun, in my opinion.

Valentine's Day Candy Counting

Sweet Hearts Packet

Valentine's Day Sweet and Fun Packet