1-2-3, Come Make a Letter Shape House With Me
This quick, easy & fun little craftivity, reviews a variety of standards; more value for your "time buck".
Do this sweet craft when you're working on the letter H, shapes (twelve, 2D shapes are included) or doing social studies and studying about families, communities & neighborhoods.
To review more standards, when students share completed projects, encourage them to name the shapes & colors they chose, describing where they are located spatially. i.e. "My green rectangle door is beside the yellow window..." etc.
For a quick review, I've included 12, colorful flashcards featuring the 2D shapes. If you're also working with fractions, have students draw windowpane lines, "cut" their windows in half and then in quarters.
If you have "knows their address" as a standard, have students write theirs in the middle of the letter.
I've also included two worksheets in the packet as well.
For that finishing touch, add a school photo. Completed projects make an adorable bulletin board too.
To celebrate 300 followers, this is a special FREEBIE in my TpT shop. Simply click on the link to grab your copy today.
Thanks for stopping by. It's a beautiful 70 degrees today; the sun is shining and I'm feeling especially blessed. Wishing you a wonderful day.
1-2-3 Come Make a "Write & Wipe" Alphabet Binder With Me
I just completed a real time-saving, stress-buster packet. It contains all the pages you need to make a handy Write & Wipe Alphabet Binder. Why a traceable binder?
- Kiddos LOVE using dry erase markers.
- They are highly motivated to practice.
- They are quietly engaged and learning.
- Tracing and writing their answers on worksheets that are inside a sheet protector, saves you lots of time, energy and money.
- Once you’ve made it, you can use it year-after-year.
Get out of the copy room, conserve paper & ink, all while helping to save the planet and your sanity. - Time saved planning center activities.
- Everything’s in a binder; it’s organized by letter so students can easily find what you want them to do.
- You’re freed up, and students can get right down to business.
- This independence also saves time explaining directions, as well as builds confidence and self-esteem. You are empowering your kiddos.
- A binder is quick, easy and fun to make and you’ll be thanking yourself and feeling a sense of accomplishment once it done.
- Traceable binders are perfect for centers, early finishers, children who are struggling and need more practice.
Emergency? Sick? The substitute can easily take out any worksheet and make copies.
Use them for finger tracing, word work worksheets, rainbow writing, Daily 5, table top lessons or whatever else you need.
Besides practicing lowercase letter formation, this binder also helps build vocabulary, aids in spelling, as well as beginning letter sounds that are associated with words.
Children follow the arrows and trace the words, trace the dotted line words, and end by writing the word. When they are done, they erase their work, so that the binder is ready for the next child.
I bought "dust mitts" at The Dollar Store for this. They are also great for your white boards. It's like a mitten that you put on. When they get dirty (and this will take months) simply take them home and toss them in the washer & dryer.
For more practice, have your students write the words on the bookmark-size recording sheets. If you want your kiddos to work on alphabetizing, have them write the words in alphabetical order.
I've included "How did you do?" answer keys, so that students can self-correct, circling any ones that they got out of order.
The packet also includes a section called "Box it up." Since some letters are tall and some are small and some have a tail; boxing up letters is helpful.
There are blank boxes for students to write the letters in, (much like an Elkonin box) as well as filled in boxes to use as answer keys. I purposely used a dashed font for these letters, so they can also double as trace and write worksheets too.
If filling in the blank templates is too difficulty for little ones who don't know how to spell yet, use the alphabet order answer keys as a word bank.
Most children find it fun to look at the bank and try to figure out which ones belong in the various boxes.
So that you can easily keep track of who has completed their letter work, children color in that particular letter on their ABC poster. Once completed, this will act like a certificate of praise. You can sign & date it and add a sticker for that finishing touch, then students can keep it in their writing journals.
It's like a puzzle. This latest creation is a whopping 184-pages, and on sale for just $4.95 in my TpT shop. Click on the link to pop on over. ABC Write & Wipe Binder
Another thing you can put in this binder, are individual trace & write the letter worksheets. 
This is a FREE packet in my shop.
The Write & Wipe binder also matches the very popular alphabet puzzles, which makes for a nice coordinated center/station.
As always, there's a FREEBIE. Just like the FREE letter Aa Alphabet Word Puzzles, I pulled all of the letter Aa activities from this packet, so you can try them out.
I've also included 2 upper & lowercase "write & wipe" worksheets, and the full-color alphabet poster, which matches the puzzles.
Click on the link to grab a copy. FREE Letter Aa "Write & Wipe" mini packet. I've included a preview with it so that you can see photographs of my completed binder.
That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by. It's my birthday today. Sixty-two used to sound so old, until you've hit that milestone!
I'm feeling pretty sassy for my age. It's time to get off the computer and go celebrate.
Wishing you a day filled with all that makes you happy.
"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate." -Oprah Winfrey
1-2-3 Come Make Open House Extra Special With Me
Do you have an Open House before school starts, or a Meet & Greet the Teacher Night, and are looking for ideas? Here's a super-simple & inexpensive one:
Each year for my Open House, as well as parent-teacher conferences, I put up a small table, covered it with a seasonal tablecloth and set a basket of mints on it, along with a sign that said: "Families Are Worth A Mint! Help yourself."
While doing research on the web, I came across a variety of similar ideas, including this adorable poem that was all over Pinterest in various forms.
There was no link to who the original writer was, so I decided to jazz this sweet sentiment up, with a bit of clip art and my original saying.
Add a bit more color by mounting the poster on construction paper, then laminate and file away in a folder to use each year. This is a really inexpensive way to express your appreciation, as The Dollar Store sells bags of mints year round and you can pick up all sorts of little baskets at garage sales.
For that finishing touch, and to draw attention to your basket, I've included some large mint patterns, so you can reproduce my entire display pictured in the photo.
Run the candy circles off on card stock and then tape them to long wooden skewers. I tacked on a red bow using glue dots and then stuck my "peppermint balloons" into the basket.
One of the nice things about using peppermint, is that it's definitely NOT a favorite of children, however, it is something that adults enjoy. (No worries about a few kids eating the entire basket.)
If you'd prefer a smaller "bite size" mint, Sam's Club and Cost-co sell the mini butter-mints (pink, yellow, white and green) in bulk. They have a long shelf life, so I always had plenty on hand.
Click on the link to view/download the Families Are Worth A Mint packet.
Thanks for visiting today, feel free to PIN away.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and starting to get excited for back to school. Here's to the best year yet!
"Some beach somewhere, there's a big umbrella casting shade over an empty chair. Palm trees are growing, a warm breeze is blowing. I picture myself there, on some beach somewhere." -Unknown
1-2-3 Come Make Some Letter Puzzles With Me
Woo hoo! I just finished another alphabet packet. I hope your little ones enjoy practicing letters with them, as much as I did designing the puzzles.
These letter puzzles are not only great as a center or word work activity, they make an inexpensive & fun gift for your kiddos for that special first day or week of school.
Print off each child's initial in color and laminate. Cut them apart, mix up the pieces and fasten with a paperclip. While you're doing all of those busy 1st-day activities, children can be putting their personal puzzle together.
Numbered strip-puzzles are a quick, easy & fun way to help your kiddos practice counting and sequencing numbers, as well as review lowercase letters and words that begin with that letter.
Each letter has a puzzle that counts by 1s to 10, counts backwards from 10 to 1 and skip counts by 10s to 100.
They are in color as well as black & white, so that on another day, they can color and create a different letter puzzle.
Make a laminated, full-color set, to use as an independent center, or do as a whole group activity.
For more word-work practice, older students cut their puzzle into strips, have them write the words that are featured in the picture.
After they have cut their puzzle into strips, they can write an additional word that begins with that letter, on the back of each strip.
For an interesting “craftivity” have students glue their puzzle to a sheet of brightly colored construction paper.
Remind them to leave a little bit of a gap between each section for an especially cool mosaic effect. Completed projects make an awesome bulletin board.
Another idea is to make a student-made classroom border, by assigning a different letter to each child. These could also be used for the letters above your word wall.
This jumbo letter puzzle packet is in my TpT shop. It's a whopping 163-pages long and just $3.95. Click on the link to pop on over. As always, there's a FREEBIE. I pulled the 6, lowercase letter "a" puzzles, so you can try them out. Click on the link to grab them.
That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Time to take a much-needed break and go kayacking with my hubby. Such a peaceful activity once you hit the water. Wishing you a lovely day.
"Summer: If you're not barefoot, you're over-dressed." -Unknown
1-2-3 Come Tell Time With Me
Do you have an apple theme going on in the fall? Is studying time to the hour or half hour one of your standards? If your answer is "Yes!" then I think you'll find these apple-themed time cards useful.
Use them to teach/review digital and analog time to the hour and half hour.
This FREE packet includes 2 assessments, plus a black and white template and cover, so children can make their own "Itty Bitty" booklet.
This is a special FREEBIE in my TpT shop. Click on the link to grab yours today and let the telling time fun begin.
Thanks for stopping by. Like yesterday, today is a hot "dog-day" in July. My grandchildren are coming, so it's time to get ready for the pool.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend, filled with lots of giggles, snuggles and love-filled moments.
