Let's Talk Turkey!

It's time for all those turkeys out there to run and hide! My firsties just LOVE helping these poor lil turkey birds out. I like to send home a Thanksgiving family project-the kiddos get a construction paper turkey & have to disguise their turkey so that it does not end up as Thanksgiving dinner! These always turn out so darn cute. {Ours are due back on Monday & I will be sure to sure their creativity with you!} You can find the patterns, directions & parent letter for this fun project in my Turkey Time Fun unit.

We are also looking forward to working on our 1st grade super writing skills with this fun Turkey Writing Craftivity. Click on the pic to check it out!

 

And all this turkey time fun just wouldn't be complete without reading this hilarious story! I just luv LOVE this fun book-Hope your kiddos do too!!!

 

 

 

 

Word Ladders-Pocket Chart Style!

Check out this awesome Word Ladder Pocket Chart from Smilemakers!

In my classroom, word ladder  activities are part of our daily word work routine. We use magnetic letters, dry erase boards and the SmartBoard and.....now we are using this awesome pocket chart also! It is soooo easy to use & having the pictures for the words is a huge plus! Each word ladder sheet has 7 pictures and lists the letters that you need down at the bottom. It comes with 20 double sided picture cards and oodles of letter cards AND it has a dry-erase surface so its super easy for the kids to clean up! Just slide the picture card in, grab the letters and you're set for a super-fun word work activity! This pocket chart also makes a perfect center or Daily 5 activity! My firsties absolutely love it! Head on over to Smilemakers to check it out for yourself!

The BACK-to-SCHOOL SALE!

Hurry! TpT's big back-to-school sale is August 18th & 19th! Everything in my shop is on sale PLUS TpT is offering an additional 20% off. Just enter the code BTS13 at checkout. Click the pic below to get your shop on!!!

Tutorial: How to Print a PDF in a Different Size {and a FREEBIE!}

Hey all! Have you ever found a super cute sign or poster, but wished that it was a different size? Me too!!! As a matter of fact, I am redoing a small bulletin board in my room {& yes, I promised myself that I was not going to redo any of my boards this year.....but wanted to move my job chart to a more convenient spot} So....time to redo that board! If you've read some of my Whole Braining Teaching posts, you know that I am absolutely in LUV with their technique for classroom management. I made some WBT Callback Posters last year but never found the perfect place to display them....until now!

 My small bulletin board will be perfect except the posters are 8 1/2 X 11 size and I really would like to shrink them down to about half that size. So here's how to print a PDF file in a different size:

First, open up your PDF file & choose the pages that you want to print. Then look for the "Page Scaling" tab-click "Multiple pages per sheet"

Next you need to decide how many of those pages you would like to fit onto one page. You will need to change the numbers next to "Pages per sheet". I want to change it so I have 2 posters on each page.

So I changed the numbers to "1 x 2" but this still isn't the size I want. I need for the posters to rotate on the page so that 2 posters fill the entire page.

To do this just check the "Auto-Rotate" box and TA-DA!!! Just the size I was needing! Now just click OK to print!

 

Hope this lil tutorial is helpful to you all!

 

 If you would like to download my WBT Callback Posters FREEBIE-just click HERE or on the poster pics. Good luck printing!!!

 

 

 

Quick-n-Easy Storage Bin Makeover

It's that time of year when we all start reliving that nightmare.... you know.... the end of July is drawing near & you decide to take a lil peek at your classroom.....OMIword! I really want to just run away from that scary sight! Do you ever try to convince yourself that its not gonna be so bad??? I do! "I was such a better packer-upper this year so I'll have the room put back together in no time at all!" {Ha! Ha!} It just doesn't happen! I've decided this year that I'm getting rid of lots of stuff. My motto is: "If I haven't used it-LOSE IT!" So after working in my classroom for just a few hours, the trash pile is HUGE! I also want to color coordinate all of my storage and I have oodles of storage bins but they don't all match my color scheme...sooo.... I picked up some bright fun-colored spray paint at Lowes {be sure to get the kind made for plastic otherwise it peels off} and transformed some ugly REALLY UGLY storage bins into like-new cute ones!

 

Yellowing plastic....ughhhh....super UgLy right?!?

 

Just work a little magic with that pink spray paint....

 

....and that fun blue and green spray paint...

 

...and Wowza! They're like new!!!

 

Now I just need to make a few more labels for the rest of those bins! I'll be posting more pics as soon as my classroom is a little more put together! :)

 

 

Fun with Short Vowels!

Hey everyone! It won't be long until that new batch of firsties will be diving right into short vowel sounds. I will admit that I'm really not ready to give up summer just yet {although I find myself thinking about school stuff a little bit more each day!} This year our school will be making the complete transition over to the Common Core Standards. Last year I started putting together some short & long vowel activities that are aligned to 1st grade CCS. Well...I finally got the short vowel activities finished up with some cutie-patootie graphics! I'm soooo excited to have these extra reproducible activities organized & ready to use with my firsties. Some of them we do as independent practice and some are used as center activities...AND...they work great with Daily 5! I have an activity pack for each vowel...

 

 

 

 

 

I have also bundled all of these packs together at a super discounted price! Check out the previews at my lil TpT shop!!!

 

And just in case you're wondering, I am currently working on my "Fun with LONG Vowels" packs! Now if my kiddos would stop begging me to go swimming everyday, I might be able to get those finished up a lil quicker! Hope you're enjoying your summer days also!  :)

 

 

 

 

Fun Bright Chalkboard Reading Strategy Posters {& a FREEBIE!}

Hey! Hope everyone is enjoying lots of summertime fun! Between trips to the pool, mowing the grass & tackling projects on my "summer to-do list", I have also been sneaking in a lil computer time {even tho I promised my kiddos that I wouldn't be working on my computer as much this summer! Sshhh.....I've been fitting in my techy time after they are in bed!} There have been soooo many things that I have wanted to do OR redo for my classroom. These reading strategy posters have been on my list for an entire year! Yep! you heard it...a YEAR! I got the ADORBS clipart from Melonheadz & combined it with my newest obsession-CHALKBOARD-mixed in a some bright colors and Voila'!

This set also includes an "I Can.." poster with the common core standard for kindergarten, first & second grade. I have started including Common Core "I can..." posters in all of my products {& I'm getting close to finishing up an entire set of "I Can.." Mini Posters {first grade edition}that can be easily displayed/posted in the classroom.

I also created lil matching bookmarks for my firsties to keep at their desks. If you would like to grab this FREEBIE, just click on the pic below to download from my lil TpT shop! Hope you love it!