Read and Write the Room: Nativity Freebie!

I made a Nativity Vocabulary Freebie for you to download at my TpT Store!  It includes 10 different Nativity words and a read and write the room sheet!  I hope this will be useful to some of you!  I place the cards in my vocabulary pocket chart for the month of December, and then also use it at a Language Arts center to write down the vocabulary words.  This is a great way to review the characters of the Bible story and to incorporate the Bible curriculum with Language Arts. :)

Please leave feedback if you download the Nativity Freebie!

5

MPM School Supplies!

I want to share with you a great website for purchasing ANYTHING teaching from: MPM School Supplies!  The website is so user friendly and is extremely easy to navigate.  There are different ways to search the items by different categories, to find just what you are looking for.  I was able to search to look for popular items for Kindergarten, and then by specific subject.  Within minutes I found exactly what I had in mind to purchase.

 

My students really enjoy working with playdough during free time, and I realized that I don't own any playdough tools.  I purchased three differet playdough toys for them to explore with.  I also wanted a set of alphabet stamps to practice stamping out our sight words during center time.  I put my order in, and my package arrived within four days!  I was so excited to use these goodies with my kinders!

MPM School Supplies is so generous, to share a 10% off to the first 10 customers that purchase something throug this link.  I hope you take advantage of the discount! :)

3

Last day of the Cyber Sale!

Come by my TpT Store and get everything 20% off! If you use the code: {cmt2012} TpT is offering an extra 8% off for you!

 

Thank you Ashley for the button!

 

1

Nativity Language Arts and Math Unit

'Tis the season to celebrate Jesus' birth!  I work at a private school and we celebrate Jesus' birth all Christmas season.  If you do too, then you can check out my new unit that is themed on the Nativity!

Visit my TpT Store!

Here is what is included:
-Nativity Story Sequencing
-Writing response sheet to write and draw a picture of their favorite part of the nativity story
- Can, Is, Will sheet to describe Jesus
-3 describing maps to brainstorm about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
-Write the words in ABC order
-Cut and paste a sentence to say, "I see baby Jesus!" and a place to draw a picture
-2 roll the dice games to color a number higher and lower than what they rolled
-cut and paste sheet to match the letter with the beginning sound of the picture
-Labeling the nativity characters
-Tally mark cut and paste
-Cut and paste: match the upper and lower case letters
-Make a list: what would you give baby Jesus as a present?
-Nativity Emergent Reader

Language Arts Centers:
-Short Vowel Sorting: the kids sort the words according to the short vowel in the word, and recording sheet
-What letter comes next?  Students record what letter comes next according to the letter on the card.

Math Centers:
-What number comes next?  The students record what number comes next according to the card.
-Match number, with picture, and number word and counting assessment sheet
-Addition center: match the addition sentence with the sum, and a recording sheet

Also, I am participating in the Cyber Sale this Monday-Tuesday!

Come by my TpT Store and get everything 20% off!  If you use the code: {cmt2012} TpT is offering an extra 8% off for you!

Thank you Ashley for the button!

I can't wait to shop til I drop this Monday and Tuesday... :)

2

Gingerbread Unit

It is time to start preparing for the holiday season, and I love starting it out with a Gingerbread Unit.  I feel like it is a great transition between Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Here is my new Gingerbread Language Arts and Math Unit...

{Visit my TpT Store to pick one up}

Here is what is included:

Printables:

-Gingerbread Story Sequencing

-Writing response sheet to write and draw a picture of their favorite part of the story-3 "Can, Has, Is Sheet" to brainstorm about Gingerbread men, boy, and girl

-3 describing maps to brainstorm about Gingerbread men, boy, and girl-Compare and contrast sheet to use for the Gingerbread boy and girl story

-Write the words in ABC order-Cut and paste a sentence to say, "You can't catch me!" and a place to draw a picture

-2 roll the dice games to color a number higher and lower than what they rolled-2 cut and paste sheets to match the beginning sound with the picture

-2 cut and paste sheets to match the ending sound with the picture-Cut and paste sheet to match all upper and lower case letters

-Labeling the Gingerbread man: cut and paste

Language Arts Centers:

-Syllable Sorting: the kids sort the pictures according to amount of syllables in the picture, and response sheet

-Short Vowel Sorting: the kids sort the words according to the short vowel in the word, and recording sheet-What letter comes next?  Students record what letter comes next according to the letter on the card.

Math Centers:

-What number comes next?  The students record what number comes next according to the card.

-Match number, with picture, and number word and counting assessment sheet

Craft: Gingerbread boy or girl craft

I hope you love this Gingerbread Unit!

6

Thanksgiving Class Feast! and a linky...

I want to show you some Thanksgiving activities I did this week with my Kindergarten class!  But first, here are some photos of our class feast!  We had everyone bring a favorite dish, and then we sat in a long table and ate together.  Before we ate, we held hands in a circle and shared what we are thankful for and said a prayer (I work at a private school!).  It was sweet to hear what the kids and parents are thankful for, and the parents really enjoyed hearing from all of the students.  Here is our table set up for the feast...

 

Did I mention that I dressed up as a prairie girl "Pilgrim" and my aide was a "Native American?" 

 

We also made a class cook book, where the students drew a picture of the item that they brought to the feast, and the parents wrote down the recipe.  This was a hit, and I am going to do the same thing for Christmas!

 

 

We made the Mayflower using our hand print and little sails.  The students wrote their thoughts using the sentence prompt:  "If I was a Pilgrim on the Mayflower and could take one thing with me, it would be...."

 

One of our parents donated felt turkey stickers, so I used them for writing a sentence and drawing a picture.  The kids drew the background and then they used the turkey sticker on top.  Then they traced the sentence "I see a big turkey."  Under the traced sentence, they could write that sentence again or choose their own sentence to write.

 

 

I decided to use this post to link up with A Year of Many Firsts linky party to share what we are thankful for.  I am so thankful for my job.  I am thankful for the amazing staff I work with, and for the supportive parents and students.  I am thankful that I can work in a private school and teach the young minds about Jesus.  I am EXTREMELY thankful for this blogging world and the amazing friends that I have made.  This is going to be a good year!

 

What are you thankful for?

 

17

Reading and Writing Simple Sentences

I am excited to share a new pack with you that I designed after my Sight Word Pack (thank you Beth for your help on this one!)  This Simple Sentence Pack is designed to teach students to read and write simple sentences.  Each sheet contains a sentence to read, trace, write, draw, and cut and paste.

{Head to my TpT Store of a copy}

There are 25 sheets using predictable sentence stems.  For example: You can teach the sentence “I see the___,” and place different words at the end of the sentence.  This would be great to teach whole group using a pocket chart to frontload the students for reading and writing the sentences.   I would love to hear your feedback if you purchase the Simple Sentence Printable...the first three to leave a comment with their email address, will be sent a free copy! ;)

I have recently added (see blog post here) a second and third addition to this pack, each containing 25 more sentences. You can also purchase the three sets, 75 sentences in all, as a bundled pack at a discounted rate!

98

Teaching Tip Linky Party: Seasonal Manipulatives

It is time for a "Teaching Tip" linky party hosted by Miss Kindergarten!  Hop over to her blog and see all of the creative tips that teacher bloggers are sharing...

I am obsessed with using seasonal foam shapes and turning them into maniuplatives.  I have been using puffy paint the last couple of months to write letters, words, and numbers on foam shapes for the kids to  manipulate and play with.  For the month of November, I wrote our sight words onto foam turkeys (donated by a lovely parent in the class), as well as different CVC words for the students to build sentences.  Here is my puffy paint mess...

The students can arrange the foam pieces to build sentences.  I used the orange turkeys to write their sight words on, and I used the brow turkeys to write the CVC words.  For this activity I only wrote "at" and "an" words because those are the word families that we are studying right now.

I will be on the lookout for winter foam pieces for next month!

I also want to share with you some great seasonal products created by my dear blogger friends, for you to check out!  Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade has designed three great products that are perfect for first grade and absolutely adorable!   Click on the pictures to see her TpT Store..

Next, Jennifer from Best Practices 4 Teaching has some great packets for older students that I want to show you!  Click on the pictures to visit her TpT Store.

Last, but certainly not least I want to share two goodies from Nicole over at Teaching With Style!

She has a unit called "Turkey Talk" that contains graphic organizers for Thanksgiving themed books!

She also has an adorable unit all about Thanksgiving!

I hope you can show these ladies some love and check out their blogs! ;)

10

Fall Leaf Craft and Writing

Out here in Southern California, we are waiting patiently for the fall season to get here.  I am trying to teach about how it is fall and promising that the leaves will change color, and the students are staring at my like I am crazy! (it was 80 degrees earlier this week...)  One of our moms donated some foam leaf stickers to our class, and I found the perfect use for them!  

I pulled out a craft that I did last year, where we ripped little pieces of paper to make fall leaves.  This year, we used the leaf stickers.  First, I had the students trace and print the sentence, "We see fall leaves."

Their next task was to color the branches and trunk of the tree.

Each child was allowed to place 8 stickers on their tree to decorate it for the fall!

I loved how our writing and trees turned out.  Hopefully we are leading the way for the weather to hurry up and feel like fall!

6

My week in photos {instagram photos that is...}

I am on a HUGE Instagram kick.  I have one that I use daily for my friends and family, but I just recently started one for my blog and classroom!  Here are some photos that I posted this past week from fun things that were happening in my classroom...

Here are some turkeys that we made for Thanksgiving!

This is a collage of my turkey craftivity and writing: I am thankful for....

My room mom spoiled me with books from the book fair!

Thanks to Fran, I have now joined the Pete the Cat train!  My kids are obsessed!

We made some fall trees with some foam stickers that a lovely parent donated to our class.  The sentence reads, "We see fall leaves."

If you would like to see what we are doing daily in the classroom, some of good finds from the dollar bin, or "jumping pictures"...you can find me @applesandabcs on Instagram! I would love to follow you too! :)

8