Spring Cleaning Sale

After organizing and cleaning my closet today, I thought I would join in on the fun of more spring cleaning before my spring break ends.  Thank you to Krista at The Creative Chalkboard for the cute graphic.  My entire TPT and TN stores will be on sale Saturday and Sunday. 

If you have something on your wishlist or just need something to get back in the swing of things after spring break head on over and take advantage of this super sale. 

My newest unit Word Family Sentence Scramble is on sale as well as one of my top sellers  Space Adventures in Literacy and Math (it includes an adorable Space Shuttle craftivity).

 

 

 

You can find them both at my TPT and TN stores on sale. 

Have a very happy Easter. 

 

 

 

 

Informational Text

Happy Wednesday...it's spring break for me so of course I can say that.  I have been quietly enjoying this every morning.  This morning it was even better with the 30 degree temps outside...it is March in  Florida, right?

To quietly sit and have coffee in the morning is a blessing.  Usually I'm on the run heading to school and downing a cup before the littles knock on the door.  Don't you just love the mug.  A gift from a sweet little girl in my class.  I had her oldest sister in my class years ago (she is now in college).  I love it when I get siblings of sweet families. 

I also wanted to share these amazing posters from Primary Punch.  We are really reinforcing Informational Text at our school.  It is the topic of conversation at every faculty meeting.  So we have been talking A LOT about it in class.  These Non Fiction Text Features posters are perfect and are FREE.  You can find them here on TPT. I trimmed them down a touch  and added neon pink paper to the back.  I wanted them to fit through my laminator with the background paper. 

 

 

I love these and my kiddos are making such a connection with them hanging right behind me at teacher table.   Head on over to pick them up. 

 

Don't forget about First Grade A La Carte's daily giveaway this week.

 

Take Care

Tammy

 

 

 

More OT in the classroom and The Giveaway Begins

Hey friends.  Well I was so wrong about the 70 degree weather for spring break.  It has been in the 50's all day long.  Brrr for this Florida girl.    I guess I shouldn't complain most of you are dealing with snow. I am a little envious.  I love the snow but only in small doses.   

 Just wanted to share a few pics of how Occupational Therapy is incorporated into our weekly routine.  We now do PGP's (Professional Growth Plans) in our county.  They are a lot of work and very time consuming.  However, this year I have been so fortunate to work with our OT teacher.  One of the key elements of our PGP is collaboration with other teachers.  Two days a week our OT teacher comes into our classroom for 30 minutes and does amazing exercises with my little ones to build their core strength, gross motor and fine motor skills.  They love it when she walks through the door.

This is called the Superman.  They lay on their tummies with arms and lower legs off of the ground and hold the position for as long as possible.  As you can see by the little guy on the right this is tough for some of my kiddos.  The OT teacher is timing them to see how long they can hold it.  They did really well this time because they had a hershey kiss reward for doing their personal best.  They have really shown improvement.  I have noticed the difference in their writing and their postures when sitting in their seats. 

She sets up 4 stations and rotates the class.  We had just studied about migration and she incorporated it into the exercises.  Here the children had to pinch a clothes pin to match the birds underneath. 

 

 

Crab Walking balancing a bean bag.

 

Rolling from one end of the rug to the other on the scooter, then using tongs to pinch the "bird food" (pom poms) and putting them into the "nest" (container). 

 

Don't forget the Giveaway going on at First Grade A La Carte.  Several days of great units being given away.  Don't forget to sign up here. 

 

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

Spring Break, Leprechauns and a Giveaway

Spring Break has officially started for me.  The weather has been beautiful.  Cooler the next few days in the low 70's, just gorgeous.   This is a view of the little lake behind our house and the ducks enjoying spring time.  

 

 

I completely forgot to share the pictures of St. Patricks Day.  My little ones had such a great time.  The little sneaky green leprechaun decided to wash his feet in our toilet before leaving.  The kids enjoy this part the most.

 

 

 

We setup our trap near the window where the little green guy MUST have escaped.  They were so excited one of my kiddos jumped up on the counter to inspect.

 

 

Finally it was time to clean up the mess.  I have one sweet guy who loves cleaning the room.  He is the one who always ask to sweep,

organize the books, etc.  Love this kid.

 

 

Then finally a random picture.  This is our word family stamping center.  We did the IDE word family this week.  Check out this sweet little picture.  I swear it looks just like the little girl who drew it.  Her drawings are always so precious. 

 

 

Tomorrow I will be participating in a big giveaway with Kathy at First Grade A La Carte.  It's a big birthday bash with lots of amazing units you can win

through out the week. 

 

 

I'll be giving away my Word Family Sentence Scramble Unit. 

 

You can find it on TPT or Teacher's Notebook. 

 

 

Well in the words of Phil have a happy, happy, happy evening.

Gotta love Duck Dynasty.

 

 

 

 

Make A Ten Math Strategy

OK today I felt a little old,  well really a lot old.  Many years ago I saved these little guys after taking pictures the old fashioned way.  You remember these right?  The containers from film cartridges.  I asked my littles if they knew what film was...they looked at me like I was crazy.  I explained what film was and that YEARS ago you couldn't actually see a picture after you take it.  Cue the chirping crickets.  They can't even imagine it. 

 

 

 I use these to hold my red and yellow counters.  It holds about 20 which is perfect for the Make a Ten strategy we practice.  This math strategy is such a hard concept for the littles.  Just when you think they understand it, we are back to square one all over again.  They can use counters and move them around to make ten like nobody's business, but transfer it to a test and this teacher wants to scream.  HELP!!!

 

The Make a Ten strategy is shown below. 

 

We started out with 8 + 4.  Then the next step is to move counters from the bottom ten frame to MAKE TEN. 

Two counters are taken from the bottom and moved up to the top ten frame, making a ten.  This is shown as 10 + 2. 

 

 

How do you teach the Make A Ten strategy?  Would love to hear any ideas you can share.

 

Ginormous Giveaway

Hey everyone, I'm linking up for a Ginormous giveaway. Many TPT sellers are joining and you could win an item from each of their stores.  You can also link up by giving away something from your store.  All of the details are below.  Check out what I'm giving away at the end of this post.

 

 

Phase 1 - Link Up! (Our Sweet Success)

If you would like to join this giveaway by offering one of your products, then join us in the biggest linky party EVER!!! The deadline to enter will be Saturday, March 2. We have several of your FAVORITES that will be joining us!!

Phase 2 - Enter to WIN! (Mackey's Classroom)

Starting on Sunday, March 3...Sarah will begin the raffle for the winner! ONE lucky winner will win:

ALL of the products offered by the most amazing teacher/bloggers on TPT.

Phase 3 - Prizes Sent!

All teacher/bloggers who linked up will email their product to winner!!

(We are anticipating over $100 worth of products

 

 

I will be giving away my newest unit on TPT. 

 

 

 

Word Family Sentence Scramble

 

 

Good Luck!

 

Tammy

 

 

 

Literacy Centers

Well I'm a little late, but better late than never.  I have wanted to post how I do my literacy centers for a while now.  I finally have all of the pictures to share.  I do literacy centers and small reading groups 4 times a week.  We save Friday for Friday finish up.  I have 8 total centers and I use the rotations schedule below. 

 

 

Center Rotation Schedule

 

We start out on the first rotation going across.  It lasts 15 to 20 minutes.  Blue group comes to teacher table, Red group is at choices (teacher chooses an activity), Orange group is at a center and Green group is also at centers.  They can choose the center.  They can not repeat that center during the week.  They have Friday to finish it if needed.  After 15 to 20 minutes we go back to our seats then I call for rotation 2.  And the process starts over again.   Each day they will see me once in small group, complete two new centers and complete the choices activity. 

 

Below are the centers I set up every Friday so that I am ready for Monday morning.  We work on one word family a week. I use many of the items from Carls Corner.  A great site with so many amazing freebies.   At teacher table I work with groups based on their specific reading needs. 

 

 

This center is called Rhymes and Chimes. I type up a poem or rhyme that corresponds to that word family. The children write it and recite it with one another. After writing it they are to find the word family and highlight it.

 

Rhymes and Chimes

Finished Rhymes and Chimes
 

Stamping center. I fold a piece of newsprint hotdog, hamburger, hamburger to create 8 squares. I use the Lakeshore Word Family Stamp set to stamp out the word family. I place a list of words from that word family on the easel and each child can choose the words they like and illustrate. There is a picture of the Lakeshore Set below.  After checking they are now discontinued...sorry.

 

Stamping Center

 

 

Lakeshore Word Family Stamps

 

 

The next center is what we call Sliders.  This is also found on Carl's Corner.  The children slide the beginning letters through the slot to make new words.  We record the words, then the children pick two favorites and write 2 sentences. 

 



Sliders Center



The next two centers are Reading and Listening.  I use our District Reading Series for Listening Center.  For Reading Center I use our District Science, Social Studies and Reading small book packs. 
 

Pocket Chart Center is another one from Lakeshore that I love.  I purchased this several years ago along with the magnetic pocket chart......Love it. Not sure about its availability.   The children fill in each blank with a sight word.   They use the pointer to read aloud the sentences.  Then they write the sentences and illustrate.  I can differentiate this center by limiting the number of sentences written.

 

 

Word Work is next.  This is also from Carl's Corner.  The kiddos use letter tiles and mats to create new words for the word family.   They write the words they make and write two sentences using two words. You can also differentiate this center by using scrabble tiles and having the children add up each word using the numbers on the tile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally my Scrambled Sentences Center.  This is a unit I created and sell on TPT and Teachers Notebook.  It is $7 and includes 49 word families.  There are 5 sentences with 5 words.  4 sentences end with periods, one ends in a question mark.  The beginning capital letter, ending punctuation mark and the word family are highlighted on the cards.  It includes a recording sheet. 

 

Scrambled Sentences Center

 

Scrambled Sentences Center with mat.

Storage for Cards for Scrambled Sentences


I store my word families in folders.  They are labeled and ready to be pulled each week.  Also included on Carl's Corner are corresponding word searches, picture and word matching, mini books, What its Worth (add the word total) and Cloze the Gap (fill in the sentences).  They are filed in here.

I hope you find something useful. Thank you for sticking with the long post.

Tammy