Community Helpers and a {freebie!}

This was such a busy week!

We came back from March Break so it felt much l-o-n-g-e-r (or maybe because we really did do so much fun stuff!)

Our Community Helpers unit wrapped up this week.  Many of the centre activities came from Julie Lee's At Your Service unit.  It is fantastic!  Some of the activities I supplemented with my own ideas.

It's so important for the kids to know their phone number so here we are writing it and practicing using the phone to "call home".

We coloured these strips with things that chefs/bakers make and then turned them into chef hats by attaching a plastic bag (forgot to take a picture of the finished hat!).  It was so cute!

The students sorted words into Trash or Treasure.  This is from Julie Lee's unit.

This is my favourite centre...the kids were "doctors".  They are making a Doctor's Bag.  We have been practicing our last names and how doctors refer to themselves by their last names.  The kiddies wrote that on the front of the bag

(Dr. ____'s Bag)

This month we have also been focusing on counting by 10's.  Here is a little freebie you can use as one of your math centers.  Click on the picture to download.

Clip art by DJ Inkers.

I have had many people e-mail me asking if I could create a Write the Room center for Sight Words that could be used year round.  I'm on it!  I'm hoping to have it ready in a couple of weeks!

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Bunnies, chicks and eggs...oh my! {freebie}

It all started 2 weeks ago...

I was grocery shopping with my three and a half year old  daughter which means that we must make our way to the Dollar Section in the middle of the store.

Good thing I did...I found the cutest little Easter egg tongs and small foam eggs!

That got me thinking....and creating....and I came up with this...

(Click on the picture for your free copy)

This is a *freebie* from my new unit,
Easter Literacy and Math Activities.
I kept on thinking and creating and it turned into a whole bunch of stuff!
I love putting fine motor activities out for my students to work with each week.  So I took those cute little multicoloured foam eggs and some plastic tweezers and created a centre.  Set the timer and see how many colored eggs your students can pick up.  Use this worksheet to record answers.  You can even have students pick up only a certain colour egg as well. I put the eggs in a shallow basket (another purchase from the Dollar Section that day!).

So much fun!

I'll be using this activity in my class in the next couple of weeks.

As for the rest of this week, my March Break has flown by!

I've convinced by husband to take tomorrow off so we will take the kiddies somewhere...not sure yet, but it'll be fun 'cause it's a day out!

So if you are thinking ahead and planning for Easter, you might want to check out my new unit,

Easter Literacy and Math Activities. 
It's only $5!

I'll be preparing everything in it for my students this weekend.  Before we know it, Easter will be here!

It's full of bunnies, chicks, eggs and more!

{There is nothing religious in this package}....

I do have lots of crafts and activities that we do reflective of the religious theme and I will post those as we get closer to Easter as a freebie.

I'd love to give this unit away to the first 3 people to comment below telling me what they love most about Easter (for me, it's all about the chocolate eggs! YUM!)

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More Writing Centre posters...freebies!

I have had a lot of requests to make more Writing Centre posters.  If you missed that earlier post you can click here to read all about it!

I love putting these posters up at my Writing Centre and having the students use them to write simple sentences, words or lists.  They love it too!

Here are a few new ones for you to grab for free.

Please leave me a comment if you do!

Click on the picture below to download (all of them in one Zip file!)

I'm also working hard to finish my "How Does Your Garden Grow?" new unit just in time for spring!  I have a few more activities and pictures to add but I must say, this is definitely my favourite unit I have created!  So much fun!

Stay tuned!

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Let's Eat! - a nutrition freebie!

If you have been following my blog for a while now, you will know how much I enjoy eating a sweet treat (or two!).

That's why when I teach our Nutrition Unit, I have to control myself from bringing in such treats for myself as I want to set an example for my kiddies (this is VERY difficult!).

(Pssst....I do keep a small stash of those tiny Smarties boxes in my desk...just in case of emergencies!).

I created this Teacher Big Book and Student Emergent Reader as part of my Nutrition Unit. 

You can download your copy here for free.

If you do download it, please leave me feedback either here or on TpT.  I appreciate it!

Here are a few things we did while we are learning about healthy and unhealthy foods.

This is our Chit Chat message from one morning.  I took Deanna Jump's idea and have been using it since the first day of school - the kids love it!

Here the students are sorting foods into healthy and unhealthy categories.  We had to stop and talk about certain ones (like pizza and ice cream) as some kids agreed those foods were healthy and others said they were not.

I love it when kids discuss their rationale - "Ice cream is made from milk so it is healthy!"

*I agree!* HA!

We read the book "It Looked Like Split Milk" and created our own spilt milk pictures.  This student is still blowing the paint around and when it's dry we will write about what it could be.

You can find these activities and LOTS more in my

Nutrition Unit.

Enjoy the weekend!

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Valentine's Day, Nutrition and a *freebie*!

Can you believe it's already Sunday afternoon?

Where did the weekend go?!?!

This week is sure to be fun, though, with Valentine's Day just around the corner. 

We are also going to be starting our Nutrition Unit.

Last week in our class we worked on a few Valentine's Day activities.

The kids opened up "mail" and had to identify the beginning sound on each picture.  They then coloured in the envelope to match and wrote the letter in the box.  They *loved* it!

Sorry - can't seem to turn this picture!

We had fun choosing a "Secret Friend" (by pulling a name out of a hat) and writing that person a message.  We have been brainstorming positive words to say about one another all week.  The students had to come up with their own words to fill in the blank on this tag (which we will use on Valentine's Day):

You are ___ and ___.

They did such a great job!

I love how this little girl wrote "great" and "kind".

Everyone was smiling all day - they loved hearing what their friends had to say!

These activities are from my Valentine's Day Literacy and Math Activities on TpT.  If you are looking for a few more last minute Valentine ideas, go check it out!  It's packed with LOTS of stuff!

I wish I had taken more pictures this week - but I found each day went by super quickly (we had lots to do and an assembly fundraiser kickoff on Friday afternoon).  I promise to take more pics this week. 

I will be sure to post our "Love Bug" card tomorrow.

Can you say cute, cute, cute!!!

I just finished my Nutrition Unit and posted it on TpT.

We are starting this unit tomorrow.  I plan on reading Gregory, the Terrible Eater and having the students sort out plastic food items into healthy and unhealthy groups.  Have you ever read that book?  It's really sweet - a goat likes eating healthy foods (instead of what goats are supposed to eat like tires and bags!).  

A favourite book in my class year after year!

Here is a little *freebie* for you!

It's from my Nutrition Unit.

This will be out at my Writing Centre this week for students to complete.  Hope you will be able to use it too!
Just click on the picture to download.

Happy & healthy eating, oh I mean teaching! 

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Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day everyone!

I was hoping to post this last night but I fell asleep in front of the TV (no joke) at 8:30!  Next thing you know, my husband is waking me up at 10:30 to go to bed!  Sorry!

This is such a simple and easy craft to assemble and have your students do independently for Groundhog Day.

If you read this post early enough and would like to do it, I have included everything below.



To make this cute little pop-up Groundhog, simply trace a large circle onto brown construction paper and draw a radius.  The students will cut out the circle and the radius.  Fold the circle into a cone shape and glue.

Colour the groundhog and tape him to a straw.

Attach poem to the brown "ground".

Mr. Groundhog simply pokes his head up from the ground while you are singing the song.

(I didn't write the song by the way! I have had it for years so I'm not sure who to give credit to!)

Click on the pictures to download.
(Graphics are From The Pond)

I have even created a poem for you to use as a whole class of this song.

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A penguin {freebie} and a SALE!

I had a wonderful weekend (yes, it flew by and I am a little sad to see it end) but I am ready for another fun-filled and VERY busy week with my kinders!

I made this cute little game because I felt that my students could use a little more practice on stretching out sounds and writing CVC words.  It's a really easy and fun game to play...staple or use a paper clip on each fish and place in a large container/box.  Students will use a magnetic fishing pole (mine are from the Dollar store but Lakeshore has great ones) and catch a fish.  They will look at the picture, say the beginning sound, and sort it onto the penguin mats.  I have included a follow-up worksheet to write the CVC words. 

Easy, huh?

Click on the picture to download your freebie!  And please leave me feedback if you do! 

I'm having a sale in my TpT store until this Tuesday midnight!
Everything is 15% off!
Now's your chance to stock up on my best-selling Winter Wonderland Literacy and Math Activities unit...and my new Valentine's Day Literacy and Math Activities!

Have a wonderful week!

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Winter Wonderland

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I woke up this morning to SO.MUCH.SNOW!  Yah!

I love it when it snows and I am at home!  Hence, I need to emphasize HOME!

I have been busy this past week finishing up my

Winter Wonderland unit, just in time for the snow!

You can check it out here.

I have jam-packed so much stuff into this unit...it's really cute!  I think you and your students will love it!

Inside you will find an original story (sung to Jingle Bells), lots of graphing activities, a booklet on the 5 Senses in the Winter, so many games for both literacy and math centres and lots more!

Click on the picture for your *freebie*.

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A Snowman Freebie!

I am so excited to be hosting TBA's 25 Days of Gifts today with

Ana from Ingles 360. 

I'm getting ready for a snowfall we are supposed to have early next week so I thought I would create a reader all about snowmen.  But first....

Oh my WORD!  Two more weeks of school!  We have sooo many things to do still!  Ahhh!

Half of the school (*including us, the Senior Kindergarten class*) is putting on a Christmas Play, Give, the last week of school.  It's to raise awareness of the poor living conditions in parts of Africa, specifically the Horn of Africa region.  We have been practising our song and dance each day, in addition to creating Christmas crafts and, oh yah, doing our work!  HA!  Let me tell you - it's a VERY busy time for us.  Did I mention it was craft day yesterday!  More to come on that later.

I thought I would share this little freebie for you.  I know many of you only have this last week of school before the break.  I love teaching about all things winter (including snowmen!) in the new year.

Here is a teacher big book and an emergent reader for your students all about snowmen. 
If you download it, please leave feedback! 
It's so important for me to hear from you and let me know what you think.

I love creating my own books to read to my students and then having each of them read and colour their own copy.

I hope you find this useful too!

Click on the picture to download.

Enjoy the rest of the week (or two) you have before the break!

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A freebie and a sale...who could ask for more?

It's SALE time in my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

You can stock up on some of my newest products just in time for the holidays. 

I have created a Christmas Literacy and Math Activities unit by popular demand as well as a new emergent reader,
The Winter.

Come by my store to save 20% off everything now through Monday at midnight. 

Oh, and don't forget about Cyber Monday - where you can save an additional 10% off

(yes, that would be a total of 30% off everything!) using code CMS28 at checkout.

Here's a little freebie for you...to get you in the Christmas mood...

(Just click on the picture to download)

Happy teaching!

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Halloween is coming...

Okay, okay, I know Halloween is only really ONE (long and tiring) day (well, more night) and it's still over a month away, but in my class I spend just about all of October getting ready for this magical day.

I just uploaded my Halloween Literacy and Math Activities Unit on TpT.  It's full of fantastic and fun stuff!  In fact, the first person to leave a comment on this post (with your e-mail too, of course!) will WIN this awesome unit!  I think you'll love it!

Since I'm in such a great mood tonight (I actually have some energy, yah!) the second and third comments will also win...my Halloween Write the Room Student Activities which is really popular on TpT.

Since October will be here before we know it - really - it's in a week - I decided to get out my Halloween is Coming song which I start singing the beginning of the month with my students.  I usually sing it every day and they LOVE it!  It gets them so excited for Halloween.  I wanted to share my song card with you.  I put this card out at my Poems Centre and have the students use Wikki Sticks to circle letters or words that they know.  It's such a hit!

Click on the picture to download.

Happy teaching ... and an early Happy Halloween too!

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Apple Fun!

We just started our Apple Unit this week and it is truly one of my favourites (the students love this unit too!).  I forgot to bring my camera to school today but I will take pictures later on this week and post them.

Here is a fun game called "Bobbing for Apples" that you can quickly make for your students.  It's a great way to review numbers to 20! 

Click on the picture to download.

You can find more fun games and activities in my

Apple Unit on TpT.

I've had lots of requests for my Telephone Log - you can click the picture below to download for free.

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