Counting On Freebie

A critical math skill for first graders to learn is the ability to count on. My sweet friend Deb over on Oh My Little Classity Class had a fun Scoot game this summer. You can check it out on her blog by clicking HERE. She has tons of cute games! Deb was my inspiration for my newest packet. It's called "Counting On with Finger FUN!"

There are 64 different counting on flashcards with 4 fun games/activities to do with the cards. There are 3 practice sheets as well. You can check it out over at my shops. Just click the word below for a link.

TpT or Teacher Notebook

And I'm giving you a sneak peek at one of the practice sheets. If you click the picture below you can download the sheet FREE.

Also, the first 3 to comment here on my blog will get it FREE! Be sure to leave your email so I can send it to you.
I hope everyone has a super day!

Washi Tape

Whoa! It's been over a week since my last post. So sorry but I've been on vacation. It's our fall break and we decided to go to beautiful Zion's National Park here in Utah. It was gorgeous!

We did some hiking and my kids did some canyoneering. I learned that is hiking, repelling, swimming through rivers in slot canyons etc. Nothing a mother needs to worry about. Yeah right! But everything went well and they had a blast!

 Even my little grandson Keagan had fun with his hiking stick.

I have today off too. So I need to do some catching up on my blog stalking, laundry, and school work. First though, I want to blog about a really cool tape I found. Back in the summer Lori over on Fun For First blogged about a new tape called Washi Tape. You'll want to check out her blog. She has great ideas!

Anyhow, I've been looking for Washi Tape everywhere. It's a Japanese decorative paper tape. It's not too sticky and you can take it off easily if you mess up. Only place I could find it was on-line and I wasn't sure what I would get and it was kind-of expensive. Finally, I found some on my favorite place- Amazon.com. There is some by Martha Stewart, Elmers, and other name brands I didn't know. So I went with Elmers and Martha. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

You can click on the pictures above to go to Amazon.com to check it out.

So I ordered some, found a cute bucket and made my Box Top bucket.

There are lots of ideas on Pinterest for washi tape uses so I'm probably the only one not familiar with it. I'm a card maker and I'm going to use it making cards. It comes in different widths and patterns. I'm sure teachers have found lots of cute ways to use it. I'd love to hear your comments.
Have a great week!
And thanks for stopping by.

Sentence Freebie, Digraphs, & Currently

What a C.R.A.Z.Y looooong week. I had a sub on Tuesday for district math assessments. Wednesday and Thursday were Parent Conferences after school for 3 1/2 hours. Lost my voice from so much talking on Wednesday night. Tried to teach and finish my conferences on Thursday. Absolutely NO VOICE on Friday so I got another sub. Stayed home and didn't talk for about 36 hours. I think my hubby was loving it. Feeling a little better today. Voice is back but shaky.
What will this next week bring- FALL BREAK! We only have to go 3 days and then we get Thursday, Friday, and Monday off. I'm excited!!!

Last week when I didn't have a sub and a voice, I taught asking and telling sentences. Here are some of the charts I used and a few practice sheet. You can download a copy by clicking on the picture.

I finished a new packet and uploaded it to my shops. It's Fishing for Digraphs. There are games, activities, charts, and practice sheets for all 5 digraphs. Here are a few pictures from the packet.

You can link over and check it out by clicking the words below.

TpT or Teacher Notebook.

It's hard to believe it's already October and time for Farley's Currently. Check out her site at Oh Boy 4th Grade.

Yes, my all time favorite Halloween book is Shake Dem Halloween Bones. Your favorite fairy tale characters are having a Halloween Party and dancing up a storm!

Once I've read it, that's all I hear. My kiddos LOVE it and sing it over and over and over again. If you've never read it, YOU NEED TOO!
Well, I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something you can use in your classroom.

Tic Tac Toe

My kiddos LOVE the game of tic-tac-toe. So I decided to make it educational. I previously made a Tic-Tac-Toe math packet which has been a BIG hit with my kids.

Here are some pictures from the Number, Addition and Subtraction packet.

So I decided to make one for reading.

There are 21 pages of Tic-Tac-Toe game sheets practicing sight words, long and short word families, days of the week, months, ordinal numbers, blends, digraphs, contractions and more. I also included a blank game board so you can write in whatever words your little ones need to work on (like their spelling words for the week) Here are a few pictures for the reading packet.

Here is a sample for anyone who would like to download. This is the color word game board from the reading packet and the number word game board from the math packet. Just click on the pictures to download it FREE.

You can check out both packets at my shops by clicking on the words below.

TpT or Teacher Notebook

I don't know how many of you are still reading this long post but here's the fun part.

If you would like one for the packets for FREE, just be one of the first 3 to comment here on my blog and I will send you the entire packet of your choice for FREE. Just be sure to leave me your email address and which packet you'd like.

Now who doesn't like FREE?

Have a GREAT day!

Postcards and Letter Writing

I am teaching postcards and letter writing in the next few weeks. I like to start off by reading lots of books. Here are some of my favorites:

LOVE this book. A little girl writes letters to the Tooth Fairy and she write back. Very high interest for first graders.

Great book with fun pictures. Polar Bear writes to his friends which are bears living in other parts of the world. Goes great with a geography unit too.

A fun book with lots for familiar characters.

After lots of exposure to letters, we do some interactive writing together and write letters to other classes in our school. I also introduce postcards and we do a few postcards together. Then I set up a basket full of stuff animals. (I have tons of beanie babies) During writing time the kiddos can write a postcard to a stuffed animal. They LOVE it. I'm excited to participate in the postcard exchange this year. I heard about it this summer over on Mrs. Saoud's blog called Primary Graffiti. We will write a postcard to 49 states and get a postcard from all 49 states. I know my kiddos will LOVE it. After awhile, we start to write letters to each other as well as family and friends outside of the classroom. I have to give a little reminder speech each year about NO mushy-gushy writing and to only write NICE things. Those boys just DON'T like getting those love letters :)

Here are some of the forms I use for the letters and postcards. I hope someone can use them. Click on the picture to download. Graphics are from Melonheadz, Scrappin Doodles, and KPM Doodles.

I LOVE your comments!
Have a great rest of the week.

Math Station Labels and Charts

I've had a lot of requests for my Math Station Labels and Charts. When I first made them I was still very new to the blogging world and wasn't sure how it all worked. I've later learned a lot about copyright laws and such. One of graphics I used on my first set of labels I've learned I can't share. So I've created them again with graphics I CAN share! Here is what they look like now.

Click on the picture above for a FREE download.

I made the little picture cards so you can laminate them and write your kiddo's names with an erasable marker. Then you can reuse them next year. The 'Looks Like, Sounds Like' anchor chart can be printed on your printer's poster setting to make it really big. I hope this helps some of you get your math stations up and running. I sure LOVE math stations and so do my kiddos. If you are new to math stations you'll want to check out this book by Debbie Diller.

Kids need TIME and PRACTICE to process the things they are learning especially in math. Math Stations are a great way to let them get the time and practice they need.

I survived the zoo on Friday. It was soooo much fun. I ended up taking one of my groups around and it was a joy to see how excited they got to see the polar bears swim right up to their faces behind the glass. They wore me out though. I had 5 VERY ACTIVE boys that can really move through the zoo quickly.

This week is Apple Day on Wednesday. I love to make 1st grade Applesauce with the secret ingredient of cinnamon candy hearts! You can check out last years post HERE.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!