End of the Year Activities

I still have quite a few school days left, but I know that many of you are starting your final countdown. Last year, I put together some fun end of the year activities and it was one of my top sellers. Here is my post from last year. Recently, I updated the pack and I thought I'd share it with you today, in case you need some fun activities for the final weeks of school.

Here's what you'll find in this pack...

If you purchased this pack last year, please download it again so you can get the updates.

If not, please click here to see it in my store!

I'm linking this post to Mrs. Wheeler's linky!

Orange 'ya glad it's a Blog Hop?

I am so excited to be part of a Florida Bloggers blog hop!

I am the...

First, I have a fun product to show off today.

Break the Code is an exciting way for children to practice sentence writing, grammar, conventions, and answering questions properly. Students decode sentences and respond to them. They are all questions that need to be answered. Teaching children to include part of the question in their answer is always a challenge, and these fun sheets will give your students plenty of practice, all the while being as creative as they want. In addition to my Spring themed Break the Code, I also have an End of the Year version, and Fall and Winter versions. All versions come with an answer key.

Here is a completed Break the Code from my

 End of the Year pack.

For today's blog hop, I made an ocean themed Break the Code for you to enjoy.

Just click here to get your copy!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoy your gift!

If you do, please comment here or at my store. 

I love to read ALL comments!

Your next stop is Leslie, from First Grade Flip Flops. 

Just click on her button below to see what goodies she has for you!

If you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop, you can head over to Tamera's blog by clicking on the button below.

Five for Friday {Linky Party.. April 26}

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs!

Here's my week in pictures...

One of the most important things going on this week is a fundraiser to help raise money for a sweet man who is fighting bone cancer. He is a dad to one of Reagan Tunstall's little first graders. If you would like to help out, you can read all about it here.

I spent a small fortune on a ton of baskets for my new Daily 5 classroom next year. I can't believe I'm already thinking about next year! How many of you are already planning ahead? Please tell me I'm not the only one! By the way, my yorkie, Max, is really way cuter than he appears in this picture. He was a tad scared and intimidated by the tall tower I made him sit next to!

My other yorkie, Buddy, got jealous that Max was in my blog post, so I snapped this picture of him with a great book I read to my classes this week.

It was recommended by my good blogging buddy, Kristen. The book is about a little dog who really loves books and wants to make one of his own, but he can't think of a story. So, he takes the advice of a little yellow bird and looks closely at the world around him for inspiration. Buddy and I highly recommend this book for all teachers! Click here to check out this book!

This week, my students thoroughly enjoyed this original story by another blogging buddy of mine, Lyndsey, from A Year of Many Firsts.

It's such a cute story about a Litter Monster who changes his careless ways. 

My first and second graders wrote the cutest letters to the Litter Monster, thanking him for taking care of our planet. My kindergartners wrote about what the Litter Monster learned and made their own Litter Monsters. They came out so cute.

*Please note that the litter monsters and sentence starter are not part of Lyndsey's pack.

The last picture I have for you today, are two images of thank you letters my first graders wrote to me. Today, I assessed them to see if they remember the 5 parts of a letter. They were told to write a thank you letter to anyone they wanted. They came out precious and I had tears in my eyes as they shared their heartfelt letters. We all decided that we don't thank those we love nearly as often as we should.

And there's my week in pictures!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Issy Books Review

I am so excited to write this review for a brand new book series, called Issy Books.

The Issy Books are for emergent readers and were written by educational consultant and teacher Pat Calfee, and illustrated by her five-year-old granddaughter, Issy. My students were so surprised and excited to read books illustrated by a child the same age as them!

The Issy Books contain sight words, controlled vocabulary, and beautiful illustrations that support the beginning-level stories. The picture clues and predictable text are perfect for early readers.

I reviewed the first ten Issy Books, which tell stories of different animals, such as Snappy the crab and Oscar the octopus. This set also includes a Meet Issy book, which tells about Issy.

These books have been read over and over again since I put them in my classroom library. My students are very attracted to them and incredibly inspired by Issy.

Here is a picture of the author and illustrator...

Can Issy possibly be any cuter?

You can check out the Issy Books by clicking here. 

Make sure to click on the free sample book!

I'm certain that you and your students will love them as much as we do. 

CVCe Word Search Freebie

My students LOVE word searches 

and I love to make them!

Here is a free CVCe word search for you.

If you like it, please check out the full product here.

My students also LOVE scrambled sentences 

and I LOVE making those, too!

I made some Pre-Primer and Primer Sight Word Scrambled Sentences. 

There are 37 different sentences! 

They cover all of the Dolch Words that

I teach my students. The more they can practice learning those words, the better!

Since we all love scrambled sentences, I also made some Color Word Scrambled Sentences, too.

In other news, I just wanted to let you know about an awesome fundraiser going on to help raise money for teachers who lost everything in the Texas Tragedy. It can easily happen to anyone in the blink of an eye. It's comforting to know that there are people out there who are willing to come to the aid of those in need. This fundraiser is being run by Crystal, from Kreative in Kinder. You can find out more about it here or by clicking on the image below.

Interventions ~ Fly on My Wall Linky

I am linking up with Jodi, over at Fun in First, and discussing my intervention time. I meet with my RTI (Response to Intervention) Tier 2 and Tier 3 students several times a week. Since I teach K-2, I do different activities with my students, depending on their grade and needs. Today, I am going to discuss my Kindergarten Common Core Language Review Sheets.

Here is how I use them...

 (Just click on each photo to make them larger.)

Here are the common core standards these

 assessments cover:

I store them in a binder.

Here is what's included:

These sheets have been very helpful during my small groups and for my RTI students.

If you click here, and download the preview, you will find a free sample from the pack. I hope you check it out and come back and let me know what you think.

Below is a picture I took of one of the CVC activity sheets. This student is in one of my RTI groups. She is practicing how to read and write CVC words. I have the pages in sheet protectors to save paper. After she finished writing her answers on the recording sheet and checking them, using the included answer key, she erased her recording sheet and completed another activity. I love how we aren't wasting paper. Please note that I took this picture before I updated the title on the recording sheet. Each sheet now says Language Review and is labeled with the activity number. If you want to check out this pack, please click here.