Monday Made It

I am using the above "briefcases" from when my boys attended Vacation Bible School this summer as an inspiration for a Sight Word Reader Box for this Monday Made It.

All you need is a cereal box, a pair of scissors and a hot glue gun. (Velcro optional)

First, unfold the ends of the cereal box.  Be careful, the bottom end of the box is glued.  Be sure not to tear the cardboard in half.  Just pull it back slowly.  Next, cut one of the ends off of the box.  Do not throw away this piece.  It will be used later for the handles.

Then, fold the box open.  Be sure to make creases on each fold.  This will make it easier when it is time to glue.  Use your hot glue gun to glue the ends back together.  (Be careful...  If you are like me, it never fails that I burn myself.  I should know better by now.)

Cut the scrap piece that you cut off earlier in half.  Cut right down the center.  (I did not measure.  I just estimated the center and cut it in half.)  Then, fold each piece as seen in the photographs below.  Add a "dab" of glue to each fold.  This will help hold the handles securely.  Glue the handles inside the box.  Try to make them even and in the center of the box.

 
Next, I found a "scrap" piece of cardboard from an empty Coca-Cola box to make the keyboard.  I folded the end slightly and glued it to the cereal box.  (This next step is optional.)  If you want, you can add Velcro to help secure the keyboard to the cereal box.  It only takes a small piece.  (See picture below.)

Finally, you can print the free keyboard by clicking the picture below.  There are two keyboards on each printable page.  Glue the keyboard directly on the scrap piece of cardboard.  Add the second piece of Velcro and Viola!!  You now have a Sight Word Reader Box.

I have been working on Emergent Reader Texts for sight words.  These readers fit perfectly in the Sight Word Reader Boxes.  If you are interested in the Sight Word Readers, click here.

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie

Winners and Another Giveaway

Be sure to read all the way to the end of this post...

We are excited to announce the winners of some of our previous posts.  The winners of Stephany's Bad Kitty Sub Pack are...

Melissa from See Bean Teach
Sarah from Hoots N' Hollers in Second Grade
Sherri from Second Thoughts With Mrs C.
Carol from Teachers Are Terrific
Jessica from Literacy Spark

These ladies all have some pretty amazing blogs.  Go check them out for ideas and resources.

The winner my Daily Math Journals Bundle is...
Melissa.

She also wins Stephany's Word Wall Cheer Cards.  Thank you Melissa for pinning these products.

The winner of my Watermelon Math Stations is...
Brittani from Mrs. Black's Bees.

Now for a giveaway.  This is going to be HUGE!!  Check out our Facebook page tomorrow for an all day event.  Tell your friends.  You won't want to miss this!!

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie

Five for Friday (June 27)

We are linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday.  This linky is where we share 5 random things from this past week.  I promise you this...  what you are about to read is definitely "random"!  Since I am on summer break, I have been a bit "lazy" and have very little to share this week.  However, the following randomness you are about the read is from my week.

 

A couple of summers ago we called Schwan's to have a truck stop by our home.  When I was a little girl, the Schwan's truck came to our house once a week.  They have the most delicious food, especially the chicken.  I have been trying to eat more healthy this summer.  I have been eating chicken breasts from Schwan's nearly every day.  They are individually wrapped.  (see picture below)  This makes it super easy to throw on the grill and toss onto a salad or just eat plain.  I have also been using some online recipes from their website.  My boys love their orange sherbet push-ups...  yum!

Indiana approved the adoption of new standards for English Language Arts and Math.  This means our state will no longer be using Common Core standards.  The adoption of the new standards means that our kindergarten team will be meeting this fall to make adjustments to our curriculum maps for ELA and Math.  I have spent a lot of time on the DOE website this week looking over the standards.  Hopefully it will be an easy transition to the new standards.

Here is a free font to make your Friday even better!  Grab it up by clicking on the image below!  Stephany has even more fonts HERE.  

Head on over to Teaching Tribune for more free fonts!

I finally have all months included in the Daily Math Journal Bundle.  It is one of the top "wishlisted" items in my store.  The Daily Math Journals Bundle is Common Core aligned to kindergarten curriculum.

The bundle includes a total of 288 pages.  Each month includes 21 days of spiral review over Common Core standards.   Each sheet includes two on a page for easy copying and assembly.  Pages are numbered with CCSS at the top right-hand corner.  Fonts are kid-friendly and all pages include black and white images.  Each journal can be used whole group, independent work, or as daily homework for kindergarten students.  I have August Daily Math Journals for free in my store. This provides an example of this product.  If purchased separately, this bundle would be $33.00.  This bundle saves you over 25%.  Today I am offering you a chance to win this bundle.

All you have to do is one of the following...

1. "Pin" the above image, then comment with the URL of the pin.

2. Share this on your FB page and comment below.

3. Blog about this bundle, then comment below with the URL of the post.

Good Luck!!

One of my favorite things to teach is word wall words!!  I love teaching sight words to kindergarteners.  They get so excited and you can just see their little minds light up when they realize that they are reading.  It is such a rewarding part of teaching kindergarten.  One resource that I use to help teach the memorization of sight words is Stephany's Word Wall Cheer Cards.

32 Word Wall Cards are included in the file.  All you have to do is print, cut, laminate and keep these cards on a ring for word wall practice activities.  They are a great motivation for students.  I use them in my kindergarten classroom but, you can use them in first and second grade classes too.  These cards help to get those little bodies up and moving.  Just like the above bundle, Stephany is offering you a chance to win these Word Wall Cheer Cards.

All you have to do is one of the following...

1. "Pin" the above image, then comment with the URL of the pin.

2. Share this on your FB page and comment below.

3. Blog about this resource, then comment below with the URL of the post.

Good Luck!!

Endless Possibilities,

Stephanie

Guided Math Book Study: Chapter 5

 Flexible grouping is so important during math small group instruction.  Math groups are so different from reading groups.  Your reading groupings tend to stay the same with a few kids moving up or down throughout the year.  Math groupings are constantly changing depending on the skills you are teaching or reteaching.  You are constantly changing your teaching strategies and methods and evaluating your groups.

Data is such an important part of my math instruction.   I give the students short quick assessments and keep informal data charts to track what they are learning.  I have posted about my data tracking before HERE and linked up my math data tracking.  The form below is what I use to track informal information.  I use it to track information for the whole week.  If I notice a student is struggling during a station as I walk by, I might jot down a note that I need to make a point to reinforce that skill.  It may even be a note that certain students shouldn't be working together, that a student seems disinterested in a certain type of station, or that a student needs to be more challenged during the next round of stations.  I simply jot down the student's initials and then a quick note about what I observed.  Very informal!!  Click below to grab it up.

Make sure you enter the Rafflecopter below and head on over the The Primary Gal to check out the other link-ups!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Worksheet Wednesday (with a chance to win)

Today's post is short and sweet!!  We are linking up with The Teaching Tribune for Worksheet Wednesday.  Today's worksheet has to be a one page "summer feel" worksheet.  I hope you enjoy this one.
Everyone loves watermelon...  I mean it is healthy, tasty, and if you're from the Midwest... easy to find!!

This worksheet is part of my Watermelon Math Station packet that is available on TpT.  The following worksheet is a free download for you.  Just click the picture below to grab your copy.  Then, leave me a comment for your chance to win the entire Watermelon Math Station Unit.  Don't forget to leave your email address.

The entire unit has 28 pages of Common Core aligned math stations focus on the following Common Core math standards:

Quarter 1: (This packet focuses on numbers 0-10 for the first quarter of kindergarten.)
K.CC.3- Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).
K.CC.4- Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality. When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object.
K.CC.5- Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1–20, count out that many objects.
(watermelon clipart by Dandy Doodle)

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie

Let's Talk About Books!

This is the cutest book and it is perfect for the end of school year when summer is approaching (and those poor souls who are in school during the summer!).  It's all about a little boy who builds a sandcastle and then a dragon moves in!  Of course no one believes him...he can't be imagining it right? 

The illustrations are bright and vivid and the characters are super cute.  

Here is a little freebie that you can use with the book!  The dragon causes so much trouble there is always an effect!  Grab up this cause and effect freebie by clicking below!

Go check out the other great books at Mrs. Jump's Class!

Stephany

The Creative Teacher Giveaway! 1 for Me & 1 for You

Teachers can be a crafty bunch and this blog hop is a great way to find some great crafts for your classroom... you could even win a few of these crafts for yourself!

I have always used pencil buckets for sharpened and unsharpened pencils in my classroom.  I figured this summer I would spruce them up by using vinyl lettering and adding some cute ribbon.  These are what I used before... they were always falling over and the pencils were always spilling out.  So I picked up some of these tin pails from Wal-Mart... but you can get them at so many different craft stores!

I used a cricut to cut out the letters and the pencils and added some cute matching ribbon.  

 I also made another bucket for "missing pieces".  This was for those pesky dice, game cards, center cards, and other small pieces that students find.  They just place them in this little bucket and once a week I make sure to get them put back where they belong!

You can pick up the versions of this craft pictured below!  I went with primary colors for the giveaway so that they can match almost any classroom! Just enter the rafflecopter for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Head on over to Looney's Lit Blog to check out her creative teacher giveaway.  Click on the button below!