Sunday 24 August 2014

Dollar Tree Ideas {with freebies...}

Every teacher loves a good ol' shopping trip at the Dollar Tree! Last time I was there, I found a few goodies that would make awesome math and literacy centres! First up, I found these cute spinners! There are four in a pack and they have numbers from 1-8.


I made a cute recording sheet to use as a quick and easy math centre. Super Spinners! The student spins the spinner and writes the number in the first circle. Then they spin the spinner again and write that number in the second circle. Then they solve the addition sentence and write the sum in the last circle. Super easy to prep and lots of fun!



I had seen this idea from Teacher Tipster before {watch video here}. Love him! He took a puzzle with a back, then on the back of the puzzle pieces he wrote addition or subtraction sentences. On the back board of the puzzle he wrote the answers. So I picked up some super simple puzzles.


I made some super simple puzzles that would be good for the beginning of the year. One is matching ten frames and numbers. The other one is matching dice patterns and numbers. An important number concept we practice lots at the beginning of the year! This can be made with any concept though... addition, subtraction, base ten blocks, number words, shape names... The possibilities are endless!


Here's a quick sight word game I whipped up to use in my guided reading groups. This makes a fun and easy warm up activity. I bought a couple sets of a match game. 


I printed out some sight words on little mailing labels and stuck them to the tiles. Simple sight word match game ready to go. I make the students read each word as they flip them over. You can adapt this to any word list and any level. You could also do compound words or contractions.


Another fun find was this Fruits & Numbers domino game. One side of the domino has a number and the other side has some fruit. Thought these would be perfect for some addition practice.


I made a recording sheet so that students could choose a domino, write the number in one circle and count the fruit and write that number in the second circle. Then they add the numbers together and write the sum in the last centre. Not only does this practice addition, but also counting/subitizing the fruit.



Lastly, I found some monster gift boxes that I knew would be awesome for something!! I didn't know what exacly, until I got home and a fun literacy centre idea hit me!


And so the Monster Munchies were born! My original idea is to use it as an activity in m guided lesson groups to practice letter sounds. I would take a few sounds that we are working on, spread out some of the picture cards on the table, and ask students to feed the monster something that starts with "s". They would have to find a picture of something that starts with that sound and feed it to the monster.


I created a recording sheet to go with it as well so it could be used as a literacy centre. Students would write the letter on the monster's tummy, draw a picture of something that starts with that letter, and write the word below it.


I made a few different packs of cards to target different skills in each guided reading group. Some of my lower level groups still work on alphabet sounds. Some groups need to focus on vowels (different vowel sounds and difference between short/long vowels), and some are ready to go onto digraphs.

If you don't have any monster boxes, each pack has provided you with some different options: use a gift bag, a paper bag, or a plastic container. There are four different monster pictures you can print out and attach to a container or bag of your choice.


There are three different options for each pack:

{1.} The teacher/leader calls a letter and the student must feed the monster something that starts with that letter.
{2.} Students sort all the picture cards by the letter monsters. (3 pictures for every letter.)
{3.} Students write a letter on the monster's tummy, draw a picture of something that starts with that letter, and write the word below it.


Here are the packs available. Alphabet Sounds: includes a letter monster and three picture cards for each letter sound. This focuses on beginning sounds (except x is ending sound). $3.00 on TpT. Click the picture to check it out!


Vowel Sounds: includes a letter monster and three picture cards for each short vowel sound (a,e,i,o,u) and long vowel sound (a,e,i,o,u). $3.00 on TpT. Click the picture to check it out!


The last pack is a freebie! Digraphs: includes a digraph monster and three picture cards for each digraph (ch, ph, sh, th, wh). Free on TpT. Click the picture to check it out!


That's it for my dollar store find. Let me know if you've found anything good lately!! :)

Sunday 17 August 2014

How Do We Get Home?

I don't know about you, but the end of the day {especially during the first week back to school} can be hectic! We have five different busses and one bus that comes back and does a second run. We have walkers and bikers, car pickups and daycares... I used to just write a list of who went where at the end of the day, but then what do you do when something changes? So and so is walking instead of going on the bus. So and so is getting picked up today. So and so is riding her bike. It can change day to day! How to organize it all? A clip chart! I put together this transportation clip chart to use in my classroom. It has colourful, circular, chevron posters. Glue the posters to a piece of ribbon and use clothespins with your students' names written on them.


I put together the clip chart in a little pack for you. There are ten pre-programmed posters (title, daycare, car, walk, boys & girls club, carpool, leaving early or appointment, bike, and bus). There are two bus cards you can edit with your own text (add bus names or numbers) and four blank posters you can add you own text and pictures to. Click any of the pictures below to check it out!




Happy Back to School everyone!! :)

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Meet the Teacher Blogger {Linky}

How fun is this?? I love reading about all the other bloggers. Hopefully you get a little more insight into me with this post! If you haven't checked it out, Stephanie over at Falling Into First is hosting this fun "Meet the Teacher Blogger". Go check it out!


Here's a little about me. I live in the country with my new hubby, our 4.5 month old baby girl Zoe, our two labs Bella and Molly, and our two cats, Oscar and Ashley. I am Canadian, so I try to make resources that appeal to Canadian teachers. I have been teaching for seven years; the last three years have been in first grade and it's where I want to stay! I am taking the next year off to stay home with my baby girl, but then will be going back to first grade next school year! I am excited to spend all this time at home, but I'm already starting to miss the classroom a bit! I get my school fix my following all my favourite bloggers and creating more resources to use next fall! :)



Q: These are a few of my favorite things...

A: my baby girl, my family, my friends, Tim Horton’s iced capps, Kawaii Crepe, picture books, puppies, camping, roller coasters, zoos, blogging, teaching, post-it notes, and ice cream

Q: If you weren't a teacher, what would you want to be?

A: Definitely a librarian. I love books. In high school I worked in our public library on weekends and I just loved it! I love the organization of the books and I always found some new titles to put on my reading list!

Q: Three little words that describe you.

A: loving, creative, organized 

Q: Finish the sentence, "________,  said no teacher ever!!"

A: “I love indoor recess!” said no teacher ever!! 

Q: It's your birthday and you can invite anyone {dead or alive} to the party. Who are you inviting?

A: My Uncle Devon. We’re actually the same age and grew up together. He went missing over five years ago and nobody has heard from him since. I wish I could send him an invite…


Q: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would be the title?

A: Happy To Be Me

Q: You get to pick one superpower. What is it?

Super speed! So much to do, so little time!!

Q: What's your favorite quote or saying?

A: That Dr. Seuss was one smart man.



Q: If you had to sing one song on American Idol, what would it be? 

A: The only songs I sing right now are nursery rhymes. Zoe likes “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” the best. :P

I’d probably sing “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane. One of my favourites!!
 
Q: Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Definite night owl. I hate mornings. I wish school started at noon.

Q: What's your favorite resource that you've created in your tpt shop?

A: Definitely my Christmas Around the World pack. It's my best seller and always such a hit at Christmas time! My students love learning about tradition around the world!


Q: Share something we might not know about you! 


A: I worked at Perkins for seven years while in University and my first two years of substitute teaching! Even after all that time, I still love their breakfast. But I only go there once in a while now! Pancakes anyone?


Alright, now it's your turn! Click the button below to check out Stephanie's fun linky party.



Sunday 3 August 2014

Blast Off Back to School Sale and New Products!

First up, if you haven't heard yet, it's the big TpT Back to School sale! 28% off everything in my store when you use the promo code BTS14. Click the picture to go check out my store!


If you follow me on Facebook, you got a sneak peak of some new products I added to my store this past week. All of these products will be included in the Back to School sale, even the two new mega bundle packs!! First up, three new math centre packs.

First Grade Halloween Math Centres practice skills such as number order, non-standard measurement, sorting patterns, ten frames, comparing numbers, one more, teen number formation, subtraction, and odd & even numbers. Click any of the pictures to check it out on TpT.




First Grade Fall Math Centres work on representing numbers (tally marks & dots), ordering numbers, estimation & area, skip counting by 20's, number order, comparing sets, making ten, tally marks, and creating repeating patterns. Click one of the pictures to check it out.




First Grade Camping Math Centres.... I love having a camp-themed week at the end of the year, so these are perfect review centres for the end of the year! The skills covered are balanced equations, counting on, addition, fact families, extending repeating patterns, subtraction, skip counting by 2's, doubles plus one, and number words. Click a picture to check it out.




If you are looking to get math stations set up for the entire year, I have all 11 of my seasonal math centre packs bundled together in one convenient pack. If you buy the mega bundle you get my Back 2 School, Halloween, Fall, Christmas, Winter, Valentine, March, Easter, Spring, Summer, and Camping packs! Each pack has 9 centres, so that's 99 centres in total! You also save 11 bucks when you buy them all together. (If you wait until the 4th or 5th you can get an extra 28% off that price as well!!)


I also bundled my matching word work centres. Save $10 when you buy the mega bundle! That's a total of 55 word work centres to go with your Daily 5 or literacy centre time for the entire year!


And last up, I created a fun rainbow polka dot classroom decor set. This set includes posters for the alphabet, numbers to 20, number words to 120, colours, 2D and 3D shapes, months, days of the week, and a set of calendar numbers. There are also polka dot pennant banners for each set of posters and welcome to __ grade banner! Most of the posters/pennants are full page (8.5x11") but you can scale your printing to make them whatever size you want... print two to a page to get half-sized posters! The months and days of the week are half page (4.25x11") and the calendar numbers are 2.5x2.5". This pack is 190 pages of polka dot fun!! Click any of the pictures to check it out on TpT.










This pack actually coordinates perfectly with my best-selling phonics cards. The alphabet line from the above pack uses the same pictures as the phonics cards for a cohesive look. The only difference is the above alphabet has proper lined letter formation and the consonants only have one picture and the vowel posters have two (short and long sounds).