Happy Fall

Hi Everybody! I'm back! It feels so good to be back in the blogging world! I took a much needed break, and am back and ready to blog! I sure have been busy with back to school stuff, and having a teenager in Driver's Ed along with her busy dance schedule, doesn't really leave this mom with a lot of spare time! I hope you all had a wonderful summer! My family and I spent a lot of time outdoors. Here we are on a hiking trip in Bend, OR. We just LOVE Bend, OR!

I have a few things/sites I've found that I wanted to share with you all :) 

I know it's way past back to school, but I finally found the perfect book bins for my IKEA shelves in my classroom library! I looked everywhere all summer for ones that would fit perfectly, would be able to hold my tall or awkward sized books, and were a good price. These are perfect!

I found them at Walmart.com and they came in a 12 pack. After purchasing 2 sets I realized that I might want to have a few extra on hand, just in case they break. So I stopped by my local Home Depot and bought 2 more! I was also able to fine a few small sized ones for my mini leveled readers. I love the way they look and so far they are holding up nicely. 

 Here's the link if you'd like to check them out: 

Sterilite Medium Ultra Plastic Storage Bins

Another thing I was looking for this summer was a YouTube Channel that had letter/sound videos. Our reading program no longer supports the online version that we used last year and I was so sad :(. I use the videos to show our sound of the week. Well, after doing some searching on YouTube, I found Jack Hartmann's Kids Music Channel! It was just what I was looking for! My kids LOVE his videos, especially the sight word videos. If you haven's seen his videos, you've got to check him out!

Here's one of his sight word videos:

I also LOVE ViewPure which is a site that I show all YouTube videos in. I just copy and paste the link and I can display YouTube videos in my classroom without ads or comments!

Here's a link to ViewPure: ViewPure.

Another site that I'd like to share with you all I've been incorporating a lot of nonsense word activities in my small reading groups lately. At a meeting recently, I was given a nonsense word fluency intervention planning sheet with links to quite a few freebies. I found the sheet online and was able to click and check out the wonderful free resources. If you teach nonsense words and are looking for some new items, definitely check out this blog post from Make, Take & Teach. This is where you will find the planning sheet: 

What’s all the Nonsense about Teaching Nonsense Words?

Here's a new product that I've recently added to my store:

Here are a few worksheets that are included in this set:

This is my first of many worksheet sets that I will be adding to my store. I use these in my small reading groups. Instead of copying a worksheet for each student, I use Reusable Write and Wipe Pockets. These HERE are my absolute favorite! My kids also love writing on them with dry erase pens.  This set and my future sets all contain a variety of worksheets. You can check them out HERE, or click the picture above!

Finally, here are a few freebies that I wanted to also share. We learned about the five senses a few weeks ago and I created some popcorn freebies. 

After learning about our senses we described popcorn using our five senses. 

I used these headings on my whiteboard:

I made these smaller quarter sheet sized ones to be used on an anchor chart.

My kids each got a worksheet and 1 piece of popped popcorn. I purposely did not give them a bowl full yet, because I wanted them to focus on their descriptions and writing first :) Here's what their worksheet looked like:

I began by listing their words on the white board. Then they would choose words for their worksheets. Finally, after they wrote how popcorn tastes, they each received a bowl of popcorn. They had a blast! 

The second day I read this cute book that I checked out through my local library:

Then we came up with a list of toppings that would be good on popcorn. The kids had so much fun thinking of toppings they'd like. After we created a list, they completed this writing piece and added their toppings to the picture.

Here's a popcorn mini book I created as well:

You can find all of these freebies by clicking the titles below!

White Board/Anchor Chart Headings

Popcorn Writing

Popcorn Five Senses Mini Book

Thank you so much for stopping by! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

It's back to school for us this Tuesday,well actually we've been back since last week, but this week will be our first week with our new kiddos and we're so excited to meet them!  We've got lots of Pete the Cat activities scheduled for our first week back.  Pinterest has sooooo many wonderful ideas!  To go along with our Pete the Cat themed week, we created a little award that we're sending home with out kiddos on the first day of school.  It's an editable version too!  Just click the picture below to grab your copy!

Cat Award

This little award has been on our blog since we first started blogging.  It works well after reading The Kissing Hand books with Chester the Raccoon.  Since we added our cat version and made it editable, we updated our raccoon one as well!  You can click the picture below to download this recently updated freebie!

Raccoon Award

Our next resources tie in nicely with our First Grade Treasures reading program.  Leslie uses this program with her first graders and has mapped out the themes for the entire year!  If you use First Grade Treasures and would like a copy of our map, just email us!  She plans on sharing freebies and book titles that tie in nicely with the weekly themes!  So check back often for updates!

Smart Start will begin next week and will run for three weeks.  After that, Unit One Week One will begin.  

The themes that we've connected to Unit One Week One in our series are:

 My Home

My Senses

 School Rules

If you don't use Treasures, we're sure these freebies will still work for you at some point throughout the year!

Here are a few books that we've checked out through our local library network and plan on incorporating in our themed book display.

And here are two freebies that we'd love to share with you!

Five Senses Label

This simple book provides easy patterned text for your kiddos to read to someone,

and includes two printing options.

All About Me Book

We hope you all have a wonderful week!
We'll be back later this week with classroom pictures!