Little Literacy Learners

Happy Birthday To...

2012-03-04T21:14:00.001-05:00

Guess who will be celebrating a birthday on March 7th?

Little, ole' ME!

And guess how old I will be?
1!
I will be 1!

March 7th marks the 1 year birthday for my blog!

Seems like it was just yesterday that I was sitting here stalking blogs and debating whether or not to start one of my own. I was so afraid that no one would want to read anything I had to share. I have learned so much and have met so many amazing people from around the world. I thank you all for following and sharing your ideas with me and look forward to what this next year has in store.

So let's CELEBRATE!!

What better way to celebrate with you, than to have a giveaway with some of my wonderful bloggy friends from

We have a collection of early literacy, math, and science activities to share with you! Here is a little preview:

What can you do to win?

Visit one or all of my bloggy friends (by clicking on the pictures above) and come back to leave me a comment about what you love about their blog! You will get one entry for each separate comment you leave. While you are visiting, make sure you become a follower so that you do not miss an amazing post from any of these amazing blogs.

I will choose a winner on Wednesday March 7, 2012.

Winners must be a USA resident, 18 years of older. I will choose a winner by using the Random Number Generator.

Thanks and good luck!

Are you a Stylish Teaching Mommy?

2012-03-03T20:10:00.000-05:00

Do you know Allison from

If you don't, I recommend you definitely hop on over to her blog! She is a wonderful kindergarten teacher who shares great resources, activities, and lessons used right in her classroom. Although we have never met in person, Allison is actually a teacher in a neighboring district.

(Hopefully we will be able to meet up soon Allison!)

Well, she has started another blog that I am sure will be amazing, called

Her tagline states, "Where Style and Fashion Meet Bake Sales and Play Dates." She plans to feature fashion finds, easy recipes, and other fun things! Sounds great to me! I love to hear about fashion finds and easy to make recipes to fit into a teacher's budget and schedule!!
Head on over to check her out. I think she plans to do a giveaway soon!!

Common Core Standards Flip Chart

2012-03-02T20:03:00.001-05:00

If you "Like" my Facebook page, you may remember a post I shared back on February 16th. Mentoring Minds was giving away FREE Common Core Standards Strategies Flip Charts to thank their Facebook fans for their continued support. They gave the flip chart to the first 50 people that signed up. And guess who just received one in the mail?

Yuppers...me!!

Here is a picture I snapped of it:

It includes all of the CCS for K-5 ELA and Math! This will be a great addition to my instructional resources toolbox and will come in handy since I am across multiple grade levels. I am very excited, as I hardly ever win anything!

And in case you happen to somehow read this,
THANK YOU Mentoring Minds!

Oh, I guess I also won something else today...the wonderful diagnosis of strep. (I knew my body was fighting something!)

Hey, do you think that I should get out and play the lottery??

(Please note, I am in no way affiliated with Mentoring Minds or am receiving any type of compensation for this post. I am just sharing my excitement with you all for actually winning something!)

A Snow Day and Donors Choose

2012-03-01T19:59:00.001-05:00

Today was our first snow day of the year! (Strange having our first snow day fall in March.) I was excited, thinking that it would give me some time to create something fantastic to share with you guys. Unfortunately, I found it hard to get off the couch today. I just couldn't get my body to get up, which is very unlike me (usually I can't sit still for very long)! So I think I am definitely fighting something off (yet again), and was happy to have the opportunity to stay home on the couch.

I did get outside with my honey to play in the snow. We built a snowman, a snow fort, and did some sledding! Here she is, a little wet but VERY happy nonetheless!

I thought I would share something that I started a few weeks ago. My first Donors Choose project for some

hands-on phonological awareness materials and CVC game boards! I did have a widget on the side, but it didn't look right so I took it down, but you can view it by clicking on the picture below.

I am hoping it will be successful and would love to start a project to acquire an iPad for my small groups!

Wish me luck!!

Did you hear?

2012-02-27T06:04:00.000-05:00

I am sure you have, but in case you haven't, Teachers Pay Teachers is having a Leap Year sale on February 29th! To join in the fun, I will be placing the items I have listed in my TPT shop on sale for 20%. You can then use their promo code L2P9Y during checkout to receive an additional 10% off!

So who else is returning to school this morning after having a week off? I tried my best not to think about school too much and just enjoyed the break.

It was a busy but wonderful week off!

My brother just had a beautiful baby boy, so I was able to go "home" to visit him, my family, and my BFF from childhood. Good, sweet times that I will cherish forever!

I had my hair cut. Not just a little, a LOT...I can't even put it up in a ponytail. I was definitely due for a change and welcome it!

We have another new addition to our household...my iPhone! Love it! Although I do have to admit that I am now completely addicted to Words With Friends...anyone else? I would love if you have any recommendations for good apps for my 4 year old.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sight Word Jump-Up (Kindergarten)

2012-02-22T19:00:00.000-05:00

My kindergarten students have really enjoyed the game ABC Jump Up that I posted about back in December. So I decided to create a sight word version to help them practice identifying 48 of the most common sight words and to get them up and moving!

Playing the Sight Word Jump Up game is very similar to ABC Jump Up. The cards of choice would be placed face down on the table. One at a time have students select a card. If they choose a word card, have them read the word, and/or use it in a sentence. If they choose a stick figure, that player has to return all of their cards and everyone has to jump up!

Click on the shop of your choice:

Teacher's Notebook or Teachers Pay Teachers

If you missed the ABC version, click on the picture below:

Main Idea and Details-More Ideas

2012-02-20T21:15:00.000-05:00

Last April I wrote about an activity I used with some of my 3rd and 4th grade students who were having difficulty identifying main idea and details. The activity included a bag, filled with different items that somehow went together.

As I slowly pulled the items out of the bag, we discussed how they went together and made predictions about what the main idea of the bag could be. Each time I pulled something out, I would reinforce how we didn't know for sure what the bag was for, because we had not yet seen all of the items. The last item was the one, key item that really tied everything together. It was the detail to best support the main idea.

I wanted to demonstrate to the students that even though they thought they knew what the bag was for after seeing one or two items, they needed to see all of the items in the bag before they could make a final conclusion. I tied it back to text explaining that it was just like reading a paragraph, they must read through the entire paragraph, not stopping after the first or second sentence.

If you click on the picture above, it will bring you to my original post to download the graphic organizer and the lesson plan for the lunch bag. Below are the items I used for two additional bags, using the same graphic organizer.

This activity could be used in so many different ways!

What other types of bags could we make?

From Upstate NY?

2012-02-18T21:07:00.001-05:00

How about you?

Earlier this week I came across a post written by Tara from

She was asking if anyone from the capital region was interested in getting together for a meet up!

I am definitely in and wanted to help spread the word to see if any of you are from upstate (or near the capital region) and if you would be interested in joining in?

Whether you are a blog author or a blog stalker, it will be lots of fun!!

Write the Missing Letter

2012-02-16T05:49:00.002-05:00

Some of my students need some additional practice reciting the alphabet and writing their letters fluently. So I just combined the two activities to have them practice doing both!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

We have vacation next week! What about you?

I have a question for you...

2012-02-14T05:48:00.002-05:00

Will you be my Valentine?

Even if you already have a LOVE of your own, I am still placing ALL of the items in my TPT shop on sale for 20% off To celebrate this day of LOVE!

I appreciate all your words of encouragement and want to show my LOVE for you!!

Click on the picture below to hop on over to my shop

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Goodies

2012-02-13T05:26:00.001-05:00

I thought it would be helpful if I combined all of my Valentine goodies into one post. A great thing is that, after combining them, I realized that most of these products are FREE!!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE feeling your LOVE, so if you LOVE any of these items and choose to download them, please be sure to leave me some LOVE!

Also, don't forget to continue with the LOVE and follow me so that you don't miss any future posts!

CVC Word Building with Pictures

2012-02-12T13:41:00.000-05:00

My students have been working hard to isolate the beginning and ending sounds in words. Although they are not quite yet in the stage of blending all of the sounds together to read the words, I created the following activity to help reinforce the beginning and ending sounds. They will select a picture, use letter tiles to build the word, and then write the word.

+ To be a little festive, I gave it a little Valentine's Day spin by going to the good old Dollar Tree where I bought the little heart boxes below and then numbered them 1-8.
+ I then placed one of the CVC picture cards in each box.
+ I will give the students the letter tiles, word building boxes, and a worksheet.
+ The students will select a box, use the letter tiles to build the word in thew Elkonin-like word building boxes, and then write the word in the corresponding numbered heart on the worksheet.
+ Once the words are written, together we will practice stretching out the sounds with our hands to read the words.

Because we are focusing mostly on identifying building and identifying words by confirming the beginning and ending sounds, I have separated the vowels "a" and "i" into two separate activities. If your students are ready, you could easily combine the materials for the two vowels.

Also, although I am doing this for Valentine's Day, this activity could be done at any point with any type of plastic box, small basket, bucket, etc... I also included a worksheet that has a rectangular border around the three boxes for the students to write in (instead of the heart border).

Click on the shop of choice below!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend!

Valentine Monster Love FREEBIE

2012-02-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Some of my students have made wonderful progress with identifying letters and producing their corresponding sounds, however there are still some who need continued practice with them.

Back in August I posted about a little monster I created from an empty container I had.

I made me think of Dr. Jean's Mr. Munch and I used it with my students around Halloween time with little monsters letter cards that I created.

Well, I am going to pull that little guy out again because I just realized the little monsters have hearts around them so I can use them for Valentine's Day!

I added the upper and lower case letter matching worksheets with hearts the document with the monster letters and you can download them for FREE by clicking on the picture below!

If you are interested in seeing how I made the little monster, check out my original post by clicking here.

Guess How Much I Love You?

2012-02-10T18:48:00.001-05:00

Do you think you could guess that?

I love you right up to the moon and back!!

I also wanted to let you know that

Sam McBratney

the author of Guess How Much I Love You?

is reading his book this month for

Barnes and Noble's Online Storytime.

Click on either picture to listen to him read his book!

~ Enjoy

Valentine Emergent Reader FREEBIE!

2012-02-08T06:00:00.000-05:00

I am sharing an Emergent Student Reader I created just in time for Valentine's Day!

To celebrate

hosted by Ana over at Ingles 360!

Included in the download is the student reader, sight word, and picture cards to go along with the reader.

In case you missed it, I also have a set of 5 Emergent Student Readers bundled together. Click on the picture below to learn more about them.

Make sure you head over to check out all 14 Days of Love!!

Beginning and Ending Blends

2012-02-05T13:53:00.000-05:00

Some of my first grade students are having a hard time segmenting all of the sounds in words with initial and final blends. So I created these activities to them develop their ability to hear the sounds and then connect those sounds to their corresponding letters.

Included are:

~ 27 picture cards of mostly CCVC and a few CVCC words.

~ 4 pictures pages (3CCVC and 1CVCC) with Elkonin-like boxes, with 4 on each page.

~ 1 page for students to write in the missing beginning or ending letters for the blends.

Click on the picture below for your shop of choice!

So are you watching the Super Bowl tonight?? I am! Not really for the football though. (Is that horrible?) I am excited to see the new M&M-Ms. Brown, the commercials, and the scores at the end of each quarter. =

I think I am IT!

2012-02-04T20:19:00.001-05:00

I've been tagged! Again, and again, and again!!

Thank you to the following for catching and tagging me:

(Some of these are new bloggers, so please go check them out and welcome them to our blog family!!)

I know this game of tag has lots of rules and I seem to have already broken them! Oops!!

Happy Weekend!

Love Birds FREEBIE to honor Pam

2012-02-03T06:34:00.000-05:00

In honor of our new angel,
Pamela Woods of the Vintage Teacher,
I am sharing a new Sight Word Find as a Freebie this Friday called

Love Birds!
This time I have hidden 27 teeny, tiny words in the full-paged picture. There are two versions, one for kindergarten and the other for 1st grade. Have your students use magnifying glasses to search and find the words and then write them on the recording sheet.
Click on the image below for the FREEBIE.

If you missed my Let It Snow! Sight Word Finds, click on the image below.

Pam originally created her blog as a place to share the materials and resources she found helpful. Each Friday she would highlight 5 Freebies from various authors.
Please visit her blog by clicking on the picture below to view the Freebies she has highlighted in her posts.

To honor her family's request, Teachers Notebook has listed all of Pam's products for FREE. Her family feels that this is what Pam would have wanted to leave for teachers everywhere. Please visit Pam's shop to view her products.

My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Pam's family at this time. Many teachers have left comments on her most current blog post. If you would like to leave a comment for her, please click on the picture below.

Don't forget to check out the other wonderful FREEBIES!

14 Days of Love

2012-02-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned!

On February 8th I will be sharing a FREEBIE with you to celebrate

hosted by

Ana from

Head over there now to join in the celebration of all 14 days of love!!

Snow? Bird? Both?

2012-01-30T18:13:00.001-05:00

I have gotten many emails asking me two things:
~ how did I add the cute little Twitter bird
~ how am I able to make it look like there is snow falling?

Did you see them? Aren't they neat?

If you are interested in adding some fun things like these to your own blog, then you must visit and become a follower of:

They have easy-to-follow tutorials to help personalize your blog!
If you click on the picture above, it will take you to the Twitter bird tutorial.
If you click on the picture below, it will take you to the snow tutorial.

(Picture courtesy of www.spiceupyourblog.com)

The tutorials are all written when viewing Blogger in the Old Blogger Interface. If you aren't sure how to switch back to it, all you need to do is go to your Dashboard and click on the little gear in the upper right corner, then select "Old Blogger Interface". (See the screenshot below)

Then follow the directions listed in each tutorial.

The Animated Twitter Bird requires you to edit your HTML. Editing your HTML can be scary. Just be sure you download and save your full template before changing it! That way you can just paste it back in if you make a mistake.

You also have the option to preview the changes before saving them, which is also something important to remember.

The Falling Snow Effect is not quite as scary. You are simply going into your layout and adding a gadget, just like adding somebody's button to your sidebar.

Hey, if I can do this, so can you! I have learned SO VERY MUCH since I started this little blog! It has been so fun!!

(By the way, I was in no way compensated for this post or am related to Spice Up Your Blog other than being a follower myself and sharing this great info with you!)

Sight Word Find (Search) Update

2012-01-29T20:42:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that I updated my

Let it Snow Sight Word Find

to include a kindergarten version as well as the first grade.

I kept the pictures the same and just changed the words.

I also changed the name from

Sight Word Search

Sight Word Find.

I thought Sight Word Search sounded too much like a word search...you know where they circle the words? It was bugging me and I needed to change it! LOL!

Click on the picture below!

~ Enjoy!

Best BEE-havior FREEBIE

2012-01-29T08:07:00.001-05:00

My overall behavior plan was just not working for everyone this year. I pull groups of 2-5 students into my space for 20-30 minutes. These are students who need to engage in as much reinforcement, reteaching, and practice as they can. I feel like I have so much to do with them, with so little time to do it, that we just cannot afford to have behaviors interfere!

I have the rules clearly posted and set clear expectations. My general reinforcement system is when the child receives two warnings or less, they are able to receive a sticker when our session is over. When they receive a third warning, they simply do not earn their sticker. I love stickers and so do the kids! The majority of my little ones really want to earn a sticker, so this is really motivating to them.

If they receive additional warnings after they have lost their sticker, I then inform them that their card will be changed in their classroom. I hate spilling over the behaviors from the small group to the classroom, but children generally do not want to move their cards in their classrooms and are motivated to do better so they do not receive additional warnings. But that isn't the case with a couple of my cherubs this year and it has happened a few times, which I just don't like.

So, I began implementing behavior punch cards with those individual students and created some new ones to share with you! They are perfect for Valentine's Day as you punch out the 10 hearts to reinforce the good behavior!

I still have the same general reinforcement system, and the students using the punch cards receive a punch if they do not receive more than 2 warnings.

I also wanted to share two posts that I found really helpful and have also shared some FREEBIES you may find useful!

Christie at First Grade Fever has shared cute punch cards that my students enjoyed. I have used both the boy and girl card where they receive up to 10 punches. Once the children have received all of their punches, they are then able to choose a reward from a catalog in her classroom. Click on her button to the left to see her post and to access her FREEBIE.

Rachelle over What the Teacher Wants also has a wonderful post about the behavior punch cards she uses in her classroom. Click on her button to the right to check it out. She also includes adorable girl and boy punch cards that can be punched up to 20 times.

What are your tricks to encourage good behavior in your classroom settings?

Sight Word Search-Let it Snow! FREEBIE

2012-01-26T19:30:00.000-05:00

How good is your eyesight?
Is it really good?
Well, do you think you can you read this?

I have hidden 18 teeny, tiny words in this picture to help provide some extra practice for my first grade students with their sight words. They will be using magnifying glasses to search and find the words and then write them on the recording sheet!
Click on the picture to download the FREEBIE!
Also, please let me know what you think!!
Thanks and enjoy!

Don't forget to check out some other wonderful Freebies!

Be My Valentine-Classroom Ideas

2012-01-25T12:01:00.000-05:00

Jacque over at

is celebrating Valentine's Day with a "Be My Valentine..." WEEK!

Today she is featuring Valentine games!

I linked up my Valentine ABC Path. Head on over to link up your game, check out the links and the linky parties from the past two days!

My Favorite Follower Award

2012-01-23T06:17:00.000-05:00

I was thrilled to receive a sweet comment from Cindy

awarding me the

Cindy is the author of an amazing kindergarten blog called:

Each time I visit her blog, I feel as though I am walking right through her classroom! I love how she shows her week in pictures! She shares amazing ideas and materials. If you haven't checked out her blog, I recommend you do so!

Thank you Cindy! It is such an honor to receive this from you!

I wanted to take the time to honor two specific authors who continue to make me smile almost every time I post something by leaving sweet, encouraging comments!

Thank you to

Jennifer at:

and

Annie at

All of the comments and feedback you provide are so important and I thank each of you!

I love checking my comments to find things from a simple "Thank You" to more detailed comments. They all mean so much.