Classroom Rules and Procedures Handbook

During the first few days of school, my students and I spend ample time discussing and modeling the rules and procedures of our classroom. Once we have established our rules and procedures, I write them on a chart, which hangs in our classroom. In addition to writing them on a chart, I also have the children choose one rule or procedure to illustrate in our class book. Since I have more children than rules and procedures, I let the children decide what they would like to add to our book. I put the children's illustrations in page protectors and insert them into a 3 ring binder. I add a fancy cover and keep it out on display. The children love to read this book all year long. Substitute teachers appreciate it also! Here are some examples from years past:

I have made a cute template for you to use in your classroom. There is a cover and two versions of writing lines. I hope that you find it as useful in your classroom as I do in mine. Just click the image below to take you to the download.

Are you a no-reply blogger?

I absolutely love to receive comments on my blog. I always take the time to read every single one. I appreciate the kind words and I've learned some great new ideas. I love to respond to every single comment, too. And I do, but, only if you are not a no-reply blogger. Most people don't know whether or not they are a no-reply blogger. If this is the case for you, hopefully, my little tutorial will let you know. 

First, what is a no-reply blogger? Well, if you leave me a comment and I read it through my email and then I go to reply to your email, if your email address reads noreply-comment@blogger.com, you are a no-reply blogger and I cannot reply to your email. In this case, all you need to do is follow the 6 easy steps below and you will instantly begin receiving replies back to many of the comments that you leave on everyone's blogs. 

That's it! Most bloggers will agree that it is good blogging etiquette to have an email address associated with your blog. There are so many times that I want to email someone back and I can't. 

If you don't want your main email address flooded with emails from bloggers or if you don't want anyone to know your main email address, then you can create an email account just for blogging. The email in your profile can be different than the one you use to sign into your blog. 

Feel free to to share this information on your blog, too. The more people we reach, the less no-reply bloggers they'll be!

If you would like to use this post as a test to see whether or not you are a no-reply blogger or whether or not you added your email correctly, you can leave a comment and I will reply back to you...as long as you did it correctly. :) Good luck to you!

Noun Word Search Freebie

This blog post has been updated in October of 2017!

I created something that I know my students will absolutely love. They adore word searches, so I made some grammar related ones.  I made five common noun, five action verb, and five adjective word searches. These are no ordinary word searches! Students read 10 sentences, find and underline the correct part of speech, and then hunt for them in the word search.

I encourage you to teach the children about the different types of nouns and verbs so they understand why some words may look like the right answers, but aren't. For example, students will not be finding proper nouns, pronouns, or linking verbs.

Students can use the answer keys to check their own work.

I made a FREEBIE for all my loyal followers. If you download the preview, you'll find a FREE noun word search. I hope you and your students enjoy it. If you do, please come back here and let me know. 

Click here  and download the preview to get the FREE word search! 

Enjoy!

Environmental Print Information (freebie) and some new products

We are surrounded by environmental print. It is on store signs, billboards, boxes, wrappers, road signs, etc. Most children recognize logos of their favorite cereal, candy bars, stores, toys, and restaurants. I love to use environmental print in my classroom because it makes my students feel successful when they can easily read the logos. Years ago, I made two environmental print books for my students to use. One is all about foods they eat and the other one contains logos from places, toys, signs, etc. I put them at a station and the children love to copy the words or use them in sentences or stories.

I'm linking this post up to Classroom Freebies for Manic Monday!

Although I made the books many years ago, most of the logos are still popular today. If you would like the books I made, just click on both photos above. Each one will take you to a different book.

Another popular environmental print station is my cereal box puzzles. I just save the box, cut off the front cover, cut it into puzzle  pieces and store them in baggies. My students love helping each other put them back together. Some are easy and some are hard, but, they're always fun to do.

I have been working really hard on two new products this summer and I am happy to say that they are both done and ready to be purchased at my teaching store. The first one is all about learning letter sounds using Jack Hartman's song Learning Letter Sounds. If you haven't heard this song yet, you can find it on his "Shake, Rattle and Read" and I've Got Music In Me" CDs. Here is a little video of the song.

My students love to sing this song every single day. I have a poster hanging, and the leader of the day points to the pictures as the whole class sings the song. This is the poster I used to use:

This year, I made a cuter poster and some other activities for my students to complete at stations. Here is a preview of what's included in my Letter Sounds Activity Pack:

It contains a large poster, with the cutest clip art, an individual letter sounds chart for the children to use when writing and to take home to help them complete homework assignments, as well as, help them remember the words to the song so they can sing it at home, a letter sounds book, flashcards, and a memory game. I am really looking forward to using all these activities all year long. I'm even going to have my first graders start the year with the book and memory game. In kindergarten, we'll work our way up to that. If you are interested in purchasing these activities, just click on the image for more information.

My other creation, that I am very proud of, is my Introduction to Writer's Workshop Activity Pack. Here is what it looks like:

This unit was created to help us launch our Writer's Workshop program. I feel very strongly that the children should be introduced to the proper Writer's Workshop vocabulary from day 1. This unit contains every single vocabulary word you can possibly think of and more! 102 words, to be exact! I am going to have a Writer's Workshop vocabulary word wall because I think visual displays are incredibly helpful and my students will appreciate seeing these words hanging and I will be able to refer them to the word wall if they forget a word. The unit also contains activities to get our students to think about why they love to write. It has a large tree map display, an individual tree map for the students to fill out, differentiated writing webs about why they love Writer's Workshop, stationary, a trivia game, goal setting sheets, and more. I am so excited about these activities and can't wait to introduce them to my writers! Click on the preview if you are interested in purchasing this activity.

I'm linking up this post to Debbie Clement's Kindergarten Ideas Linky Party!

Sorry about the long post! I sure had a lot to say! Thanks for listening!

Sharing Wisdom

I have been teaching for almost 18 years and have definitely learned a thing or two (thousand) that could help new teachers just starting out. I knew I had to join the linky party at Fabulously First, so I could share one of the things I do every single year that always puts me ahead of the game.

Trust me - it works! You can link up, too, by clicking on the image above. I can't wait to read all the great advice!

Here's another fun linky party to check out! Tori, from Tori's Teacher Tips, is challenging everyone to do something really silly. You can check it out here:

The winner of her contest stands to win some really great prizes! I am looking forward to seeing all the pictures.

Publishing Books

I LOVE writer's workshop and my students spend 90 minutes a day in writing class. Many teachers follow the writing process, but get overwhelmed when it comes to having their students publish their original stories. Here is my suggestion to make this process feasible. Early on in the school year, solicit the help of parent volunteers to type your students' stories. After you conference with your students and help them revise and edit their stories, all you have to do is send the stories home to your volunteers to type. Then, they can email them back to you and you can print them on card-stock. Bind the books with inexpensive binding combs (hopefully, your school has a binding machine) or just staple them. Have your students add the title, illustrations, and publishing labels and that is it. Your students will feel like the true authors they are! Just look at these smiles! Trust me, under the yellow smiley, these children are beaming! 

Common Core Standards:

Text Types and Purposes

K.W.3   1.W.3   2.W.3

K.W.5   1.W.5   2.W.5

K.W.6   1.W.6   2.W.6

Thanks for entering my little FREEBIE contest! I decided to upload my Quality Compliments signs to my store because I wasn't sure how many of you wanted the signs. Just click on the image below.

Thanks, also, for browsing my store and letting me know which product you would like for free. I used the random generator and the winner of this contest is...Amber!

*Please note that the random generator says there were 77 comments and I actually only received 76. There was a deleted comment that I permanently deleted after I chose the winner. 

Amber, I will email you my First Grade Oceans of Fun Packet. Thanks for entering, everyone! Welcome to all my new followers! I'm so glad you found me!

One more thing! Teaching Blog Addict (which I am!) is celebrating International Blog Hopping Day. I'm linking this post up so you can easily find tons of other great freebies. Just click on the image below to take you there!

Compliment Sign Freebie for Blog Followers, and more...

I am so excited today because I am guest posting at one of my favorite blogs, Castles and Crayons. I love Kelli's blog and always look forward to her posts and products. She is celebrating her blog's first birthday by giving away lots of her products to lots of lucky people. My fingers are crossed that I am one of those lucky people! All you have to do is comment on her blog by July 4. You can do that here.

My guest post is about my favorite topic, which is, of course, writing. I talk about using the Author's Chair and teaching the children how to give specific compliments. If you are interested in reading my post, please join me over at Kelli's blog.




I have invited everyone who reads my post over at Castles and Crayons to come back over here to leave me a comment so they can get a FREEBIE from me. It's my Quality Compliments sign that I hang in my classroom by my compliments anchor chart. I am looking to get some new followers who are interested in my blog because I am already starting to think about a BIG 1,000 follower giveaway. I would love for it to coincide with the start of the new school year. So, make sure to follow my blog and leave me a comment below. Make sure to leave your email in your comment so I can email the signs to you. 
But, wait! That's not it! For sticking with me this long, I have one more deal to make with you! Look through my teaching store and choose one item you would like to receive for FREE. In your comment to me, let me know what item you would like. I will use the random generator to choose one person to get their favorite item for FREE! This deal ends the evening of July 4. I will announce the lucky winner on July 5. So, just as a reminder, this is what you need to do:

1. Click my blog button
2. Follow my blog.
3. Leave me a comment in this post, telling me that you are a new follower or you already follow my blog.
4. Look through my store here, and choose one item you would like to receive for FREE and tell me that item in your comment.
5. Make sure to leave your email address in the comment and I will email you the signs.
6. I will choose the winner and announce the results on July 5.

Currently, I am working on a Writer's Workshop product. It's all about how to introduce Writer's Workshop to your students and get them excited about writing. It should be done by the end of this week. I am really excited about it because it has activities that can be used all year long.

While I have you here, I would like to give you the link to enter one of the BIGGEST giveaways I have ever seen. Erin, over at Kleinspiration is celebrating 1,000 followers and is giving away an insane amount of prizes. This is definitely one to check out. It's really easy to enter, too. You can visit Erin by clicking on the image below.

Here's more great news! I'm so excited to be part of a brand new facebook page called Top Teacher Freebies.  It's a great place to get all the lastest freebies by a bunch of Top Teachers. Click on the image below to join!

Also, there are two new blogs on the block that are geared towards Common Core. Both are collaborative blogs, bringing you Common Core resources from some of the best teachers/bloggers. Please go visit and follow these great blogs and watch them grow from the ground up. Let's all take the Common Core journey together!

Thanks, again, for checking out my post over at Castles and Crayons. I look forward to hearing from you!