Snow Day!

Good Morning!  It's a lovely 5 degrees with about 9 inches of gorgeous snow this morning.  Needless to say, it was a snow day and I got to sleep in.  Pure bliss!  So my post is a little later than usual, but it will be worth it.

First of all, I finally get to mention a secret.  Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a sale this Wednesday! (NOTE:  IT HAS BEEN EXTENDED THROUGH THURSDAY!)  Many stores will be participating (me included), and you have a chance to save up to 28%!  It will be the full 28% at my little store.  Think about all of those bundles that have already been marked down, and you will be saving even more!  Simply enter the promo code HEROES at check out, and you will be thrilled!  Click on the banner below to start shopping wishlisting, then buy the products this Wednesday and Thursday!

I put a cute Counting Flies to Ten in my store.  It's a quick center that only costs $1.00.  I made a companion worksheet for it to put here.  It also works well as a stand alone practice sheet.  So here is this week's Monday Freebie!

 

 

 

 

Also on Mondays I like to collaborate with other sellers on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It allows me to share different Freebies with you!  Camp Kindergarten has a counting 11 - 20 freebie using ten frames.  So together we are a complete 1 - 20 skills practice set!  This has over 2,000 downloads with a 4.0 rating, so I know I will be trying it with my kids as well!  Click on the picture below for your Freebie!

 



When I Grow Up...

When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be a teacher.  My mom had a friend who was a teacher, and at the end of the school year she gave me her used attendance and gradebook that still had a few blank pages in the back.  That was one of the best gifts I ever received!  I dutifully lined up all of my dolls and stuffed animals and entered their names in the gradebook.  Pepper, Snuggles, Big Ben, and Sunshine all had their grades and tardies meticulously recorded, and I held school religiously throughout that summer.  I am one of the lucky ones.  I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up and my dream became my passionate reality. 

In that same spirit, I made a precious packet of "When I Grow Up" for my Teachers Pay Teacher store.  I do not want this blog to turn into one giant commercial of products, but I did want to make a companion product here for free.  That leads us into today's Monday Freebie...

 

A set of five coloring sheets!  They include photographer, artist, chef, singer, and of course, teacher!  Just click on the picture above to download your free copy.  Hope you enjoy!

I also like to include free quality work from my colleagues at Teachers Pay Teachers.  This week's gem is from Sunny and Bright in First Grade, and includes fun, highly engaging activities for teaching your students the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill.  Click on the picture below to get a free download!

That's Amore!

As it gets closer and closer to Valentine's Day, I get more excited about what my sweet hubby is going to do as a tribute of his love for me.  Flowers?  No.  Chocolate?  No.  Candy?  He knows better.  This year I am asking for silverware!  As a military family, we move all the time and I do not know why, but Christmas ornaments and silverware never make it unscathed.  We are down to mostly salad forks and even then I have to wash some by hand before dinnertime. 

On to today's Monday Freebie.  I have so much fun making holiday centers because it brings something new to the class.  Today I have a quick shape matching center.  Simply print, laminate, and cut and you are ready to go!  This is both in color as well as black and white.  Just click on the picture below to get your free download!  If you have time, please share your Valentine wishes in the comments below.  I'm looking for ideas for next year!

 



 

 Now on to my guest freebie!  Josie's Place gave me permission to post this Behavior Poster.  Once you click on the picture, it will take you to her store where she has a sweet lesson to go with it.  It's a great visual for little ones!  Enjoy.

 

 

Love Is In the Air!

It' getting closer to Valentine's Day, and I know this is a big holiday in the elementary school crowd.  If it's not puppy love, it's candy!  I know some kids haven't thought of a gift for their mom or dad, but I have.  This quick little mini book will allow students to have a gift to share with their parents or guardians.  Check it out below!

Here are the inside pages!

 

They also come in black and white.  If you would like a free download, simply click on any of the pictures and it will take you to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.  Enjoy!!!

 

I also have a new Monday Freebie from a Teachers Pay Teachers colleague.  This is a set of two 20-card memory matching games covering addition and subtraction vocabulary, geared for 1st - 3rd grade.   Click on the picture below to download this one!

 

 

Number Match to 50

Better late than never, I hope!  I try to get my Monday freebies out earlier in the day, but there was a terrible car wreck on our street.  A car slammed into a utility pole that, of course, disrupted internet service.  It's back on, and I can now present today's Monday Freebie!

 

Ta Da!  This one helps students practice numbers, number words, place value, and expanded notation through the number 50.

 



 

The actual PDF is much clearer.  Just print, laminate, and cut out the pieces.  The students will match the ice cream scoops to the cones.  Of course you can leave out certain scoops for certain students -- I love it when centers can be differentiated.  This is a skill the students really need to practice in order to internalize. The cherry is optional, of course, but that seems to be the favorite part!  If you would like a free download, simply click on the top picture and enjoy!

 

Now for my Monday Freebie from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Eugenia's Learning Tools has a cute Winter Freebie with 2 separate Graphic Organizers.  They are engaging and perfect to help students break down their thinking into manageable pieces.  I actually thought of taking the snowman to help organize some of my blogging ideas!  Be sure to click on the picture below to grab this freebie while it's cold!

 

 

Pre-Primer Sight Word List 1/8

I have had a pretty rough week.  I have struggled against, and WON, two different types of cancer.  This week I had a follow up test on thyroid cancer.  You never know how important a thyroid is until it's gone.  For this test I had to get two shots to make the medication that helps substitute my thyroid inactive.  This means I spent the week with extreme fatigue.  I went to work, somehow made it through, then came home and collapsed.  I will get the result tomorrow, but I already know it's going to be a good report.

During this down time, I worked on a new freebie I am really excited about.  I have made a set of activities to use with the Pre-Primer Sight Words.  There are 40 in the list, but I have separated them into 8 different sets.  The first set is free!  Each set will have 5 words and as the list of words grow, so will the activities.

Here are some fun things in Set 1:

 

Instead of watches I have seen that are difficult to cut out, I made "bracelets".

 

Love the bookmarks!

 

Color by Sight Word is a good way to reinforce reading skills.

 

These little flip books will be used over and over again.

 

Each word has a worksheet that covers a variety of skills.

 

 

This first set covers the words a, and, away, big, blue.

 

If you would like to download a free copy of this first set, just click on the picture below!

 

 

Does your school teach these words in a specific order?  Leave a comment below with your email address and I will happily change the order of some of the words. 

Because I want to make Monday a happy day, I started a series last week where I am featuring a free Teachers Pay Teachers product.  I love K's Kreations because her freebie is a quick center that is cute and a great review.  Simply print, laminate, cut and go.  It's a matching number word with the numbers to 20 with a tenframe. Please note it does not include every number between 1 - 20.  You should check out her store because she has other great things there as well!  Click on the picture below to grab this freebie!

My New Obsession

As you can tell by the fancy widget on the right, I have a Teachers Pay Teachers store.  I do not want this blog to become a giant advertisement, but I have to let you know the positive impact it is making.  But first, my Monday Freebie!

Ta da!  This is one of my favorite writing tools I used in my classroom.  It has a secret weapon I will explain in a minute.  The purpose of this template is to have students organize thoughts for a paragraph.  The students put their main idea in the "cloud" on top.  Then they write three supporting ideas in the boxes below.  Finally, they write their conclusion sentence in the cloud on the right.  The conclusion is meant to restate the main idea, so that is why they are basically the same shape.

 

Now for the secret weapon.  In standardized testing, students are given a blank page to prewrite their thoughts before drafting and the final draft.  Soooo, after a few weeks and the students are comfortable with the first page, I give them this...

 

And then this...

 

 Until we reach this...

 

The students visually remember the template and slowly I take away some of the support so they can have a clearly organized paragraph independently!  If you would like the free download, click on the first picture or click here.

 

On to my new obsession!  What has amazed me about Teachers Pay Teachers is the community of support.  There is no feel of competition between stores.  You can ask for feedback on the forums and receive well thought out responses that help make your products even better.  Teachers Pay Teachers requires each store to upload a free product in order for teachers to see the quality of their work.  Many teachers give much more than that.

 

I plan to link a Teachers Pay Teachers product I think might be helpful every Monday as well.  The first one is created by 180 Days of Reading.  This is a quick and easy game that can go into center time in a flash!  It has 6 templates covering all of the short vowel sounds as well as a page that mixes it up for a challenge.  Enjoy!