Live, Love, Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten

Chapter 1 "Things To Think About" {Guided Reading Book Study}

2013-06-16T10:45:00.001-05:00

Summer Readings!

2013-06-04T09:32:00.002-05:00

It is Summer time for me! You know, I absolutely love my job, but the lazy days of Summer...I just love! Wait a minute..did I just say lazy days? Because there's not one thing about our Summer that is LAZY! I coach my daughter's 10U softball team. My two other daughters also play. We are basically at the ball field every night and on game days...there from about 4:00-10:00 :-)This Summer is also very special to our family because we are adopting a precious little boy! Our lives have been a tad bit crazy for the last 7 months...hence my lack of blogging and creating! I hope to get back on track this Summer.

As you may have read, some of my freebielicous buddies and I were planning on a book study for the Summer. A schedule will be coming out soon!! Do you have your book already?!

2012-2013 was the first year that my school text leveled all of Kindergarten. We did it 3 times and we used Fountas and Pinnell. It was such a great tool to assess my literacy instruction and create guided reading groups. I will be honest....my small groups were basically focused on specific skills (rhyming, beginning sounds, etc). This year I began guided reading groups. I loved it! Now, I need to learn more about it and how I can be a more effective guided reading guru! :-)

When I purchased the book for our book study...I also purchased a few other books! I wanted to get this one because we use FP to text level our kiddos.

I love how Amazon "suggests" books for you when you add one to your cart. This is one that came up too!

Not only did they suggest that one but this one also...

When will I have time to read all of these you ask?! LOL! I do have a little bit of down time. I know that these are NOT the books that we will be using for our book study, but I think these are what I need.

Are you ready for another book study?

2013-05-27T22:21:00.000-05:00

Ok...ok...ok...I know that I said that I was NOT going to do another study this Summer. Well, what do you know. I was discussing things with some bloggin buddies of mine. We all said that we wanted to focus on becoming guided reading gurus! Well...maybe not gurus...just better! :-) So, we talked about books that we had, books that we wanted and we came up with this one! You can order your book by clicking below.

I have heard great things about Jan Richardson! I can't wait to get my book...I ordered it yesterday!

Some of the bloggers that will be working on this book study this Summer are:

We will be posting a schedule soon!! So, don't delay and order your book today! :-)

Freebielicious T Shirt Give Away

2013-05-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

We at Freebielicious are so excited to announce teaming up with A+ Teacher Images (the greatest t-shirt company for teachers and more, in case you haven't heard of them!). We all received the fanciest custom designed t-shirt we've ever owned AND now we can give a t-shirt of the winner's choice from each of our individual blogs.

I just love my t-shirt because it is so much more than just a shirt. It represents friendships, fun, and business relations (oh wait and STYLE, of course!) all in one "blinging" design. Where else could you get all that from one t-shirt? A special thanks goes out to Doug from A+ Images. He worked with us to make just the right shirt to represent our company and is still giving us a shirt to give one lucky winner for each of our blogs!

We have made this giveaway super easy for you to have almost 50 chances to win one of 23 t-shirts. It is a blog hop, so you can enter as many or as few giveaways you would like! The contest begins Saturday, May 18th, at 8:00 a.m. EST and ends on Sunday, May 19th, at 12:00 a.m. EST. Winners will be announced on the following Monday. Easy peasy, lemon-squeezy! Start by entering my giveaway here: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Next, you will head over to my friend Jennifer's blog Simply Kinder and enter there and keep going until your fingers are too tired to hit click (that is how simple we made it for you!). All you need to do is click her button below!

Go to our Freebielicious Facebook page and like us so you never miss a freebie or giveaway like this one!

A New Look For An Old Favorite

2013-05-05T12:37:00.001-05:00

An update on one of my favorite packs! At the beginning of the year, I introduce one letter every day.This pack has a fun, fairy tale theme! You can download a preview to what is included in the pack by visiting my store. Simply click the cover page below.

The first round of the Letter Land Party! I introduce a new letter/sound each day. I have all of the kids' names written on a sentence strip. I always try to put the girls and boys on a different color. I place all of the names in a pocket chart. We then go through the names. Anyone that has the letter in their name, then they go to the top of the pocket chart. If they do not, then they go at the bottom. IF their name begins with that letter, then they are the King/Queen of the day.This picture is of my old version. I will try to update with new pics ASAP.

If they have the letter of the day in their name, then they take their name tag back to their desk and either trace it, circle it, or put a sticker under the letter. We then place it back in the pocket chart.

The first round of our letter party is simply an introduction to the letters and the sounds. After we put the names back in the pocket chart, then we complete a page in our Alphabet Book.

Tax Break Sale

2013-04-15T00:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Tax Day!! Well, might not be so "happy" for some...LIKE ME! OYYY! I have decided to put my entire TpT store on sale for 15% today only!

Here are a few of my latest items!

This packet is perfect for Kindergarten Round Up!

skills and items included in this packet:
letter recognition (UC and LC cards and recording sheet)
number recognition (cards 0-10 and recording sheet)
color recognition (10 color cards and recording sheet)
shape recognition (8 shape cards and recording sheet)
one to one correspondence (10 number set cards and recording sheet)
beginning sounds (26 BS cards and recording sheet)
fine motor (scissors skills)
name writing and self portrait
name tags
data sheet to keep track of all information collected.

This packet is perfect to get your through the last 26 days of school! Each of the 26 days you have a fun activity correlating to a letter of the alphabet...starting with A and ending with Z! The best thing is, you get to choose the activities that you do! This product is EDITABLE!

This packet is designed for Parent Nights, Back To School, or Open House. I teach Kindergarten and we have a Parent Night for the incoming Kinder parents in the Spring. I create on presentation using these slides that are pretty generic. I include some pictures and Information on what each area looks like. In the Fall, I make my Open House presentation more specific. I include expectations on each slide. The best thing is, you get to choose the activities that you do! This product is EDITABLE!

BBQ Literacy FREEBIE {Guest Post by Kindergarten At Heart}

2013-04-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I am Annie from over at kindergartenatheart.blogspot.com! Tammy was sweet enough to let me guest post today. Tammy and I taught kindergarten together for five years. We had so much fun! Hopefully someday we will be back teaching together again!

I have to admit that I have a Target problem. I LOVE Target! I especially love the dollar bin. You never know what little treasures you may find. Yesterday I came across their new BBQ line. My mind starting racing with ways to use them in the classroom. I came right home and created this BBQ Literacy freebie. Look at how cute this stuff is and all for cheep!

In this packet you will find three independent literacy activities. Each would be great to use in a literacy station. The activities work on word families, sight words and decodable sentences. For this packet I bought one package of the french fry containers, hamburger containers and hot dog containers. So a grand total of $3!

First is a hot dog word family activity. The students will sort the hot dog words into different word families. Once they have sorted all the words they will write them on an independent recording sheet.

Second is the hamburger sight word activity. The students will sort sight words into the hamburger containers. Each sight word is repeated six times. The students will then write each sight word several times on the independent recording sheet. I also included a blank set of hamburgers so you can change the words for your classroom needs.

Last is the french fry decodable sentence activity. For this activity the students will read the decodable sentence on the outside of the french fry container. Then they will find the words on the french fries and build the sentence. Once all the sentences are completed the students will record the six decodable sentences.

I hope that you enjoy this BBQ literacy packet! Along with these adorable containers Target also has a cute BBQ chefís hat and apron that could be cute to add to this station. Be sure to check it out!

Here is the BBQ Literacy freebie! You will find the directions for creating and playing each of the BBQ activities.

Also be sure to stop on over at kindergartenatheart.blogspot.com for more fun ideas! You can be sure I will be checking out the Target dollar bin for more kindergarten classroom ideas!

Fill Your Basket!

2013-03-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's a freebielicious blog hop!! I want to fill your basket with a Spring goodie! This dice game is a favorite in my room! I hope you enjoy it!

For your next FREEBIE click Mandy's button below

You do not want to miss any of the freebielicious gals' freebies. If you were here first, then you want to make sure you start at FREEBIELICIOUS! You can click the button below to start the hop from the beginning!

Parent Night Presentation

2013-03-15T20:52:00.001-05:00

I am on Spring Break! Woo Hoo!! It was so nice today. However, they are talking about another snow storm coming through on Monday. Welcome to Winter in Nebraska people!! LOL!

I was very productive today! We have our Kinder round up in early May, but we have Kindergarten Parent Night in late March. Parents can come and we give them a brief over view of what their child will be doing in K next year. They can tour our rooms and ask questions! I love it! It gives me time to figure out who the "I DO NOT WANT THOSE PARENTS" are! Wait, did I just say that?! Yes, yes I did. You are thinking it....just not saying it.

I created an editable power point presentation that can be used for Parent Night AND for an Open House! For the parent night, I keep information more generic and even include some pictures! The open house presentation is more specific. I include expectations, some specific units that I do and any other information that might be helpful!

You can purchase this packet by clicking on the title page below.

I am working on a Round Up packet! :-)

ABC Countdown to Summer!!

2013-03-11T14:03:00.000-05:00

As I sit at home...ON A SNOW DAY...can't help but think of SUMMER :-) Snowstorms in March/April are just one unfortunate thing that we deal with in Nebraska! It is no secret...Winter is NOT my favorite season! It is also no secret that I LOVE snow days! My Kinders are very good at our snow day ritual! Do you have snow day rituals? I tell my kids that they need to wear their PJs inside out, sleep with a spoon under their pillow, and flush the toilet (throw in an ice cube for extra luck)at 7:00 PM. They love it! I have to admit...me too!!

Anywho...all of this free time that I have today...actually, I am totally neglecting my laundry and floors right now! I created an "ABC Countdown To Summer" packet. The best part is...it is EDITABLE! You can decide which activities you do for each letter! Say what?! Yup! You heard me right! I have included some ideas for each letter. WAIT! There is more. I plan on creating a blog post containing more specific ideas, games, activities, snacks and even books for each letter!

You can get yours by clicking the title page below! :-)

You decide what's right for you and your students! You can have them dress up everyday, or none of the days. You can have them bring something to share everyday, or none of the days. It is COMPLETELY up to you!! :-)

Here is what you will find in the pack:

A calendar that you can add the dates and themes to! I send these home at the very beginning with a letter. This way they can hang on their refrigerator and remember what each day will be.

Next, I created a journal that your students can complete each day! They can draw and write about one of the activities that they did for the day.

I love these colors!! Here is a sign that you can hang on your door or meeting area! There is a sign for each letter.

I have also included a few parent letters for volunteers and donations.

Finally, I have given you a few ideas for each letter.

Make sure you follow my blog. You do NOT want to miss any of the activities that I post for each day. I will start the posts before I actually complete the days...most of the world gets out of school before I do...maybe I should quit having my kids vudoo us some snow days!? LOL! I will go back and add pictures to those posts after I actually do them. I know that some schools get out in the middle of May..you lucky ducks! If you have any suggestions for the days, then I would love to hear them! Please comment or feel free to email me!!

Here are some of my favorite products that are ABC related!!

St Patrick's Day Linky

2013-03-02T21:23:00.001-06:00

I am linking up with one of my best bloggin' buddies! Mary at Sharing Kindergarten It is a linky party for EVERYTHING St Patty's day! It will be here before you know it.

Here are a few things that I created last year!

Here is one of my new products! It is an ABC Literacy Work Station packet.

This new packet includes: Skills included:
Sorting letters
Naming letters
Matching letters
Forming letters
Put letters in ABC order

Literacy Small Groups (Debbie Diller)

2013-02-17T22:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Sunday friends! This Sunday is happier than most...why you ask?! NO SCHOOL TOMORROW! Woo Hoo! Yay me! Yay President's Day!

Thank you all so much for your emails and insight on D5 and LWS. It truly is...do what is best for you and your students. The reason I began thinking about this and wanted to hear from all of you is because of my small group instruction. I wish I could say that I am a small group expert. I am not. There are things that I need to work on. I am working on it! One bite at a time :-)

I did purchase the book by Debbie Diller, " Making the Most of Small Groups." I am ready to dive in and get going and become a small group guru! You can grab your copy of the book by clicking the picture below. Let's become gurus together! :-)

I have created a few FREEBIES for you!

First, everything you need to make your own flexible small groups folder. I will try to update this post with a picture of mine when I go back to school. I glued the cover page on the front of the folder. I cut out each colored/group # section and adhered to the inside of the file folder. My schedule I glue to the back of the folder. I then print a class list onto labels, adhere to the top side (with the sticky side directly behind) of a sticky note. This way...you have the capability of moving your groups as many times as you need without having to recreate or rewrite anything!

You can get your FREEBIE by clicking the first picture below :-)

1. Glue this to the front

2. Cut each of these apart and glue to the inside of the file folder

3. Figure out when you will meet with your groups and create your own schedule. This is what mine looks like. Group #5 is my lowest group (Pre level A FP text level) I meet with them every day.

Group #4 are my instructional A's, group #3 are my independent A's, group # 2 are my B's, and group #1 are my C's.

I am working on a Literacy Small Groups Notebook! I hope to have that posted tomorrow or Tuesday! Did I mention that I don't have school tomorrow...WOO HOOO!

Literacy Work Stations or Daily 5?!

2013-02-15T22:37:00.003-06:00

As most of you know, I organized a Daily 5 book study last Summer. I have been doing D5 this year. I am not sure how I feel about it. I keep finding myself wanting to bail on D5 and go back to Literacy Work Stations.

What do you do? I am considering doing a combination of both! Is that possible?! Oyyyy!! What am I doing?! :-) LOL! I just feel like my kids are not as engaged during D5 as they were in LWS. I know...I know...I KNOW...STAMINA!

I feel like my guided reading/small group instruction is not as effective because of my switch. I keep telling myself...stick it out! Don't bail! However, I just don't know that D5 is the best for my classroom. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Well, I was going through some of my old LWS items. I do have a couple of things to share with you!

I created a LWS folder cover and the share time questions. You can click on the picture below to download the whole set. I have included two options for LWS folder covers, share time questions, and finished work labels.

I would LOVE to hear what you do? What is working well for you?

It's A Blog Hop....Filling Your Hearts with Sweet Stuff from Freebielicious Authors

2013-02-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

I am teaming up with my favorite gals from Freebielicious to fill your hearts with some sweet stuff!!

The freebie that I am going to share with you is an even/odd number sort. You can click on the picture below to grab your freebie!!

Now you can HOP on over to my friend Laral and see what sweet freebie she has for you.

February...and a FREEBIE

2013-02-03T20:35:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! The Super Bowl...ehhh...not too exciting! So, I am blogging!

One of my Kinders favorite activities is the "Write The Room" Here is my February edition. It includes sheets for: Valentine's Day, President's Day, Groundhog's Day, and Dental Health.

The students use clip boards to roam the room and look for words that begin with the letter on each line. I do have one rule...they can NOT write the same word on one sheet. I also encourage them to look for words in different places! It has to be a word in the room though.

Here are some examples:

I don't know about you...but February really snuck up on me! I am working on my word work, work on writing, independent readers AND a new EDITABLE read the room packet!! If ya'll could see me "NEED TO FINISH" folder on my desktop...whoa! :-)

Here is a write the room freebie!

It's A Super Sale!!

2013-02-02T22:53:00.000-06:00

You can get 28% off of everything in my TpT store!! Here are a few of my favorite things! :-)

Making connections poster set with response sheets.

Comprehension poster set #1

Comprehension poster set #2

The Ultimate teacher binder

The ultimate sub binder

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom literacy unit

Brown Bear literacy unit

Phonemic Awareness Packs

February small group planning and activities

Winter literacy stations

Winter math stations

MLK Day 2 day sale at Teacher's Notebook

2013-01-20T11:59:00.000-06:00

In honor of MLK Day, I am having a 2 day sale at my Teacher's Notebook store. You can get everything in my TN store for 25% off!! You can get to my store by clicking on the image below.

I have been...and will continue to...working on getting my TN store up to date! :-) Here are a few items that are on sale today and tomorrow.

High Five Sight Words Practice. You can hang the high five hands around the room, by the door, on the water fountain, anywhere you would like! Every time your students leave the room, then they high five and read the word. My kids love it!!

Some fun Math and Literacy activities.

This is a packet geared toward small group instruction. There are no response sheets. Each activity is intended to be done with manipulatives. It also includes planning pages and a calendar.

These are some of my kids' favorites!!

You can also enter their "Tablet for Teachers" sweepstakes

I am providing a link up for other TN store owners! Go check out all of their shops and save some money! :-)

Small group planning and activities

2013-01-12T00:05:00.002-06:00

I love doing small groups with my students! I always find myself looking for new activities to do. I was also needing a cute way to plan my groups and student notes! :-) ENTER my new pack!

This packet does not include any response sheets. The students should use manipulatives to complete the activities. They can use letter tiles, foam letters, pocket charts, dry erase boards and markers, etc.

I have included planning pages

Here are some of the activities that are included

Win an ipad mini, a nook, or a kindle!!

2013-01-08T22:38:00.000-06:00

Teacher's Notebook is having a give away! You can enter daily for your chance to win an ipad mini, a nook, or a kindle!! Who doesn't want a new ipad mini!? I know that I do!! Head over and enter now!! You can enter by clicking on the picture above!

I just uploaded my "It's Cold Outside {Winter Literacy Stations}

Some of the activities include:

beginning sounds

Alphabet activities

Vowel sounds

Sight words

Syllables

Sentence scramble

I also have a fun FREEBIE for you!! It's a mini measuring packet! You can download your free copy by clicking on the title page below.

It's Cold Outside {Winter Math Stations}

2013-01-06T11:31:00.000-06:00

I just uploaded my Winter Math Stations! I hope to get my Winter Literacy Stations uploaded tonight or tomorrow. :-) Here are just a few images from the unit.

You can download the unit from my TpT store here:

It's Cold Outside {Winter Math Stations} Teachers Pay Teachers
You can also download it from my Teacher's Notebook store here: It's Cold Outside {Winter Math Stations} Teacher's Notebook

Winter fun and Happy New Year!!

2013-01-01T00:08:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year friends!! Wow, did that year go by fast...man, I sound like my MOM! YIKES! I am getting older and I am not liking it! :-)

I have a few fun games that I use with my kiddos. Sometimes I use these when I have parent volunteers come and sometimes I use them during small groups. These would also be great for when you are stuck inside at recess....which in Nebraska...happens often! I remember a few years ago, we basically were inside almost an entire quarter. I don't know who was bouncing off of the walls more...the kids or my head! LOL!

Here are some Roll, Say, Keep games!!

These next packets are great for fluency practice!

Here is a new version of my Roll A Snowman game :-)

Super Hero Time!

2012-12-30T19:59:00.002-06:00

Happy Sunday! Don't you love Sundays when we don't have to go to school tomorrow!!?? I know that I do!! Woo Hoo!! When I go back to school, we will be starting our unit on Time and Money for Math. I created a fun little packed to use with Time! It has a fun Super Hero Theme :-) You can get yours by clicking the cover page below.

It contains activities for days of the week. Here are some of the picture cards included. I gave each day of the week a picture clue that begins the same. Sunny Sunday, Money Monday, Two Tuesday, Windy Wednesday, Thirsty Thursday, French Fry Friday, Sat Saturday.

There are also activities for months of the year. Here are some of the cards included for this section: These are a few of the month scrambles. Your students can put the letters together to spell the months.

I have also included a few activities for time to the hour. I know that you common core peeps don't have to do time anymore, but it never hurts to introduce it :-)

Daily 5 in January {Read To Self}

2012-12-29T11:06:00.000-06:00

Brrr!! It's cold outside! I ask myself every year...why do I live in Nebraska?! I loathe Winter! I have bloggin buddies all of other South and they are telling me temps there and I am just so jealous! Ok, enough Winter complaining from me! :-)

I have a my Independent Readers done for January. I do not have the line art versions of this clip art :-( I usually still print them on our printer at school...which only prints in black and white...and make copies. I wish I could give all of my kiddos color versions, but that would cost a fortune. I usually do make 6 copies in color and laminate. I use these during small groups to introduce the readers.

You can grab your copy by clicking on the picture below :-)

I am working on a Read to Someone packet. As I mentioned in my last post...I really struggle with this one! I would love to hear what you do for Read to Someone? Which books do you use? Do you give them questions to ask each other when they are done?

Daily 5 In January {Work On Writing and Word Work}

2012-12-27T11:02:00.001-06:00

Hoping everyone is enjoying their time off and getting ready for 2013! How is Daily 5 going in your classroom? I will be honest...I feel like this year it is trial and error for me. I do know that I will begin D5 next year right at the beginning. I hope that I can give up some of the "control" too :-) I really think that is the hardest part for me!! What about you?

Here are the activities that my Kinders will be doing when we go back to school in January.

First up...work on writing! These packets are used strictly for D5 time. I do not use them during my Writer's Workshop. Those are completely separate times for me.

This work on writing packet includes several options for writing! You can get your packet by clicking on the title page below.

Journal writing: You can choose which writing form is best for your kiddos!

Themed Vocabulary Posters: You can use these for read or write the room. Sometimes I will choose one and that is the one that they need to write a sentence about (word of the day type of deal). I have included large and small versions of the posters. Themes included are: New Year's, Winter, and Chinese New Year.

There are several different writing forms included:

Drawing a detailed picture, draw a picture and label, list making, letter writing, and post cards.

This is my January Word Work packet! You can get your packet by clicking on the title page below. This packet contains:
24 themed word cards

5 different word work activities

Write The Word

Stamp A Word

Word Scramble

ABC Order

Rainbow Writing

I hope to post my Read To Self, Read To Someone, and Listen To Reading sometime this weekend!

Baby New Year Craftivities

2012-12-19T20:29:00.001-06:00

I am sitting here and waiting for the snow to begin! We are in a blizzard warning and expecting to get over 6 inches of snow...YIKES! No fear peeps! We have milk and bread (tee hee)! I have always wondered...why in the world do people rush out to get bread and milk when they are calling for snow?! Not much you can do with bread and milk. :-)

Anywho, I just finished a "Baby New Year Craftivities" pack!You can get your craftivities by clicking the cover page below.

I have included two different options for you and your students!