Jo-Ann Fabrics Teacher Reward Program

Many of us are in the final throes of our beloved summer vacation, and although that's sad, it is exciting to start doing some back to school planning and shopping. I don't know about you, but I am always looking to save money because I spend hundreds to get my classroom ready every year.

One of my favorite stores, Jo-Ann Fabrics has a great Teacher Rewards program. Teachers and educators can save 15% every day on every purchase in the store or online by signing up or enrolling in the Teacher Rewards program.

To register, just click on the image below.

You can save on classroom crafts and decor, sewing projects, and more! When you enroll, you will also get a bonus coupon for 20% off any one total purchase. You'll also receive more money saving coupons and personal notice of upcoming sales.

Well, what are you waiting for? Enroll now and start saving!

Happy Shopping!

Learning Letter Sounds With Jack Hartman

This post was updated on August 29, 2017!

Do you love Jack Hartman as much as I do? I own a lot of his CDs and year after year, his song, Learning Letter Sounds, is always a crowd pleaser! If you don't already own "Shake, Rattle, and Read", and "I've Got Music in Me", then you must get one or both. 

Combining singing, movement, and learning is a sure fire way to help children retain information. After all, I can't remember what I ate for dinner yesterday, but you can bet I remember songs I was taught in elementary school!

I recently updated my Learning Letter Sounds pack, which is filled with so many fun activities. I changed the clip art and some fonts and I LOVE how it came out.

One of my favorite parts of this pack, is the BIG poster size letter sounds chart. All you do is print the pages, laminate them, and tape them together to make a poster. 

I use a pointer and point to each letter as we sing the song. The children love to use the pointer, as well, so I often have the leader of the day be in charge of the pointing.

The pack also includes personal sized letter sounds charts, in color and black and white. Each child has a black and white one in their writing notebook and I keep a stock of the colored ones at each station. They really come in handy!

Also included, are three different handwriting books. The one pictured below can be printed in color or black and white. I keep the colored version at a station. It's laminated, and the children use dry erase markers to practice writing the letters. When they are finished, they erase them. I have the pages held together with a large ring.

This handwriting book is lots of fun because it 

actually contains the words to the song.

I love this book because I know the children will have success reading the words to the song. They can also practice making a few capital and lower case letters, as well as, write 2 words that begin with the letter. Lots of skills being practiced here! Each student has a book and we fill out a page together each time we discuss a new letter.

Here's another book included in the pack. I photocopy the pages double sided and staple them. Each student has a book and they write in the first letters and color the pictures. This is great for when you have a few minutes to kill or when the students first arrive in the morning. 

I also included some flashcards and a fun memory game.

And finally, there are alphabet cards for you to hang in your classroom. They are nice and big!

UPDATED ONCE AGAIN: AUGUST 2017

I added alphabet desk strips!

If you already purchased this product, just download it again to get all the updates.

Click the image below to see it in my store.

Fun With Parts of Speech Updated

Tuesday was a complete washout, so I spent the day updating my Fun With Parts of Speech pack. I added 84 more nouns, 6 more verbs, and a bunch of noun recording sheets that will be perfect for kindergartners. I plan on using this pack with Journeys, for both kindergarten and first grade. Journeys starts off the year with the different parts of speech in both grades, so I feel good knowing I already have plenty of fun activities for my grammar station. 

If you already purchased this pack, just click here and download it again. I added all of the new cards at the end of each part of speech so you know where you need to start printing.

Don't forget to enter to win a $200 gift card to Staples! I have really enjoyed reading all the comments about what everyone would purchase if they won. I actually added more items to my wishlist! Just click on the image below to enter. Good luck!

Journeys Linky Party!

I am linking up with Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Klass, to share my Journeys resources. 

My school adopted 

It looks like a great series and I am very excited to use it.

I teach kindergarten and first grade and I am very prepared for this new Journey.

This is my Journeys Through the Year for Kindergarten.

You can read all about it here and see it in my store here.

This is my Journeys Through the Year for First Grade.

You can read all about it here and see it in my store here.

These packs contain everything you need to start the year off organized and ahead of the game and they will help you to stay organized and focused all year long.

I also made these...

Someone who purchased my kindergarten unit suggested I make these because her students need to learn how to spell colors and numbers and she wanted those word wall cards to match the ones in my Journeys pack. I added in months, just in case anyone wanted to hang them on the word wall. I am very grateful to this person because she noticed an error in the kindergarten pack. I typed the word "some" instead of "come" in lesson 11 (page 86). I have since fixed it, so please download the item again if you already purchased it. Sorry about that! If she reads this blog post, please contact me because I want to offer this product to you free of charge. After all, you did suggest it! And find a typo! :)

I also made sentence puzzles to go with the kindergarten HFW.

As you probably know, I have made a lot of sentence puzzles. My students love them, as do I. They help to reinforce so many skills. Plus, they can be used so many different ways. Morning work, station work, independent work, homework. And, they are differentiated to accommodate all learners. There are sentence puzzles for all 30 lessons and they are all labeled with the lesson number. To see it in my store, click on the image below.

Lastly, I created 3 different games, using the kindergarten HFW. I want to be sure to have plenty of fun games on hand to engage my students during literacy work stations. Last year, my students enjoyed lots of HFW games. I made them all over for the new school year, using the HFW from Journeys.

Bingo

Memory

Go Fish

All of these games contain the HFW from all 30 lessons. They are all labeled with the lesson number to help keep them organized, and all of them, except bingo, come in color and black and white. Bingo just comes in black and white. I usually print everything in black and white on colored paper. But I know there are people out there who love everything to be in color. To find these games in my store, just click on the links below.

Bingo

Memory

Go Fish

Or, purchase all 3 in a bundle and save 20%!

So, there you have it! Lots of different options to help those of us using Journeys stay organized. And lots of fun, engaging, and meaningful activities for the children.

Don't worry first grade teachers! I'll be making all of these games for first graders, too!

I'd love to give someone the opportunity to win one of these 3 games. All you have to do is comment below and tell me which one you would want if you won. And, please leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.

Congratulations Laura!

I just emailed it to you!

Kindergarten Journeys

The other day, I talked about my First Grade Journeys Unit. Well, Kindergarten is ready now too! For those who are using the 2014 Common Core aligned Journeys Reading Program, you may want to take a close look at these two products.

Here is what's included in the kindergarten pack...

Focus Wall Headers

Leave the focus wall headers in your pocket chart permanently and just change the skills for each lesson.

Essential Questions

Hang a new one at the beginning of each lesson. 

No more writing them on the board!

Target Skills/Strategies, Writing Genres, and Vocabulary Skills

The skills, strategies, and genre cards are all labeled with the lesson numbers so you can use them, store them, and then easily find them for the next lessons.

Grammar, Phonics, and 

Phonological Awareness Skills

Each color coded card is labeled with the lesson number and ready to hang on your Focus Board every week.

Scope and Sequence

These easy to read scope and sequences will help you know, at a glance, what is being taught in each lesson and what books you need to pull.

HFW for Word Wall

As the HFW are taught, you can hang them on your word wall. Each card is labeled with the lesson number.

This pack also comes with 7 separate scope and sequences that contain the weekly sight words, spelling words, reading target skills/strategies, grammar skills, spelling/phonics skills, vocabulary skills, and writing skills for each lesson. 

I plan on storing everything in a file crate or a file cabinet. Each lesson will be stored in its own file folder. When I am finished using the items for each lesson, I will file them back in the correct folder. Talk about organized!

If you are using Journeys and you teach kindergarten, I hope you check it out and let me know what you think. You can find it by clicking the image below.

Now, I have some REALLY good news for second and third grade teachers who are reading this post and wanting something like this for their grade. I have enlisted two amazingly talented teachers to tackle the second and third grade Journeys Through the Year packs!

The Bubbly Blonde 

and

Teaching in High Heels

Talk about talented!

I had my hands full creating the kindergarten and first grade packs and couldn't imagine doing one more. Thankfully, they are both so exited to tackle this project. Stay tuned...

Join Me on Facebook!

Just a quick post to give you all an opportunity to "like" me on facebook. Why...

I can't really say just yet. I've been sworn to secrecy!

Just click on the image above and stay tuned...

I'll be back!