Organizing Patterns for Crafts

Do you do lots of crafts and craftivities in your classroom? Do the children trace patterns? Do you get frustrated when the patterns mysteriously disappear? If you answered yes to any of  the above questions, then, this blog post may be the answer to your dreams!

Here's what I've been doing this year to help keep track of all the patterns to my projects. I put them all in a separate baggie, along with the paper the children need to use for that pattern. I also label each pattern with what it is and the color it needs to be. I've taught the children to put the pattern back into the baggie once they are done using it. I am happy to say that they haven't lost any pattern (yet) this year. Try it! You won't be sorry!

Does this craftivity look familiar? I'm sure it does! It's from Caitlin's Apple Unit!

Fire Prevention Week Activities

I just wanted to pop in to show you some of the activities my students are working on for Fire Prevention Week.

My kindergartners are making fire trucks. Later in the week, they'll attach these trucks to a fire safety rules poster. They are having so much fun putting their trucks together. This activity is part of the fire safety pack from Primary Reading Party.

Although this isn't fire safety related, I wanted to share with you how hard my kinder's are working on learning all about descriptive attributes. 

First, they went on a hunt around the room to find objects. Then, they wrote descriptive words to describe the objects.

Next, they had to tell me their favorite color and why it was their favorite color.

Then, I put lots of objects in a bag and they closed their eyes and chose one. They had to write a sentence describing their object.

Finally, they drew self portraits and chose one detail of their picture to describe, using a descriptive attribute. While they were waiting for me to conference with them, I challenged them to write an additional sentence. That's why some of them have a sentence that is not related to their self-portrait.

Okay, back to fire safety week! In first and second grade, we brainstormed words to describe firefighters. 

Then, the children made their own webs.

Now, they are using their webs to write a descriptive paragraph about firefighters. I'll share those with you later in the week.

They are also working to unscramble sentences. I love this activity because I find it really helps them develop good sentence writing skills.

Another fun station for them, is the complete/incomplete sentence sort. 

After they sort the sentences on the sorting mat, they must choose 5 of the incomplete sentences and make them complete. Here's a finished one from a first grader.

All of these activities can be found in my two fire safety packs.

I'll be back later in the week to share some of the finished products.

Happy Fire Prevention Week!

Introducing...Freebielicious!

I am so excited about a new adventure that has been in the works since this Summer....and I think we are finally ready to GO LIVE! I am teaming up with some pretty fantabulous bloggers to create a new blog for YOU! We would love to introduce our new blog to you....FREEBIELICIOUS! Don't you love the name?! It will contain ALL FREEBIES for YOU! Wait...wait for it....you haven't heard the best part yet....it's only for PK-1st!! So, no more sorting through materials that aren't quite right for our young'uns! :-)

Here is our new blog! Please go follow us. You won't want to miss any FREEBIES!

Here are the SWEET authors that will be contributing!

 

We are super excited about this. We will be adding new authors in the next few days! Make sure you visit us often.

Now, for your first FREEBIE!! Head on over to FREEBIELICIOUS to grab your FREE "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid Of Anything-Number Sense" It includes:number cards, ten frames, and tally marks!

I'd like to thank you all for entering my giveaway for the Creative Teaching Press Science Book. 

The lucky winner is...Jen, from Jen's Kinder Kids! Congratulations to you!

I'll be emailing you today!

Product Swap

This beautiful button was made by the very talented
Michelle from the 3AM Teacher 

I am so happy to, once again, be a part of the Product Swap. This time around, I had the pleasure of reviewing a wonderful product from the very talented Lyndsey Kuster, author of A Year of Many Firsts Blog. And, a close blogging buddy of mine.

I reviewed Lyndsey's All Aboard "The Friendship", which contains tons of fun, meaningful, friendship building activities.

As a writing teacher, I am very excited to complete these activities with my students. I missed out on doing these activities at the beginning of the year, but, I will definitely find the right time to do them during this school year.

To begin the unit, there is a really cute, original, friendship story to read. It teaches our students what it means to be a good friend. I know this will be a favorite read all year long.

Then, there are several friendship activities, which can be done as a whole class, with a partner, or independently. 

There's a friend self-assessment, acrostic poem, Venn diagram, writing web, tree map, and some different books the children can make. All fun activities that will, not only help the children realize how important it is to be a good friend, but, will also help strengthen their writing, reading, grammar, and critical thinking skills. 

I have tons of visual displays in my classroom because I feel it's important for the children to be able to refer to them whenever necessary. This pack includes the cutest How Can I Be a Good Friend? poster. It's hanging in my classroom and when my students encounter a problem, they refer to this poster. Inevitably, it always helps them work things out.

It comes with a step-by-step guide on what to do if you encounter a problem with a friend. The visuals are incredibly helpful to my students.

Lyndsey also includes the titles to many great books on friendship that complement this unit perfectly. There are many marvelous graphic organizers to go along with the stories, as well.

The last activity I would like to highlight, is the exciting board game, that gets students thinking about real-life friendship situations. The game board is brilliant and the questions are very thought-provoking.

In conclusion, these activities will surely help my students build strong friendships, as well as, provide the support they need to learn how to face and solve problems in a peaceful and positive manner. The writing activities are meaningful and full of rigor. Everything in this unit is pleasing to the eye and will complement any classroom. It's definitely a must have for every teacher who wants a peaceful learning environment, filled with children who know how to face difficult and uncomfortable situations appropriately. I believe I can say, with 100% certainty, that this is something we all want.

Here's more great news! Lyndey's Friendship pack is on sale right now! It's going to be 20% off until 7:00 PM EST, Sunday, October 7. Yay!

Thanks so much, Lyndsey, for creating these exciting and thought-provoking writing activities! Please stop by Lyndsey's blog and store, to check out more of her creative ideas and teaching products. Be sure to tell her I sent you! I hope you all enjoy the Product Swap posts today. I know I will!

By the way, Lyndsey is reviewing one of my products, too. Which one? Click her button below to find out...