All I can say is “Awwwww!” ...and that’s exactly the reaction I hear when someone sees our Chickapig writing display. It is so stinkin’ cute to hear about what a six year old dreams of doing someday! 🖤🖤🖤 Check these out...
Hey Brian Calhoun...this little guy ⬆️ might be in the market for one of your cool guitars before long!!
...such big dreams these kiddos have!! Can’t wait to see them follow those dreams!
Hey y'all I'm back with more LITTLE JOE CHICKAPIG talk! If you read my blog post last week then you know about this "treasure" that I stumbled upon at Target. If you missed that post, then just sit back, watch this quick little video introduction and then let me tell you a little bit about it...
Last week I found the most amazing resource for teaching young children the importance of following your dreams... LITTLE JOE CHICKAPIG: A Story About Following Your Dreams! It was released earlier this month & is sold exclusively at Target right now. It is so stinkin' cute!! ...and that plush CHICKAPIG toy...irrisistable!!! Omigoodness!
Soooo...just what is aCHICKAPIG??? Hmmm...CHICK---A---PIG?? That's exactly what I was thinking when I spotted this thing perched up on that shelf in Target the other night. Then I opened up the book and... Ta Da!!!...my question was answered.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! What a cute and unique little dude! ...the perfect character for this story. This adorable rhyming book is written by Brian Calhoun and illustrated by Pat Bradley and Brian Calhoun. In addition to being the author of this book, Brian Calhoun is also a well-respected custom guitar maker. He has apparently made guitar for famous stars, including Keith Urban, Jason Mraz & Dave Matthews just to name a few! WOW!!! He sure knows how to follow his dreams-from guitar maker to children's book author! Rock on Brian!!!
LITTLE JOE CHICKAPIG has a very clear message that ALL children need to hear: Follow your dreams, whatever they may be. (And, as adults, I think its important for us to be reminded of this from time to time also.) As C.S. Lewis said, You are never too old to set a new goal, or to dream a new dream. Some days I'm still trying to decided what I want to be when I grow up! lol ;) As a teacher, I believe that instilling courage & confidence in my students gives them the power to accomplish anything that they set their mind to in this big 'ole world.
What message can kiddos get from this book?
1. Follow your dreams.
2. Have courage to try new things.
3. Listen to advice from your parents, teachers & other grown ups in your life.
4. Work hard.
5. Never give up.
I am so in love with this book & the message that it sends! I really wanted to find a way to extend my students' learning so I decided to create a few extension resources to compliment the story of LITTLE JOE CHICKAPIG. I made several versions of "Follow Your Dreams" writing prompt to match your students' writing levels. This writing craftivity can be easily differentiated for kinders, firsties or 2nd graders.
I used the beginning writer version with my kinders. Here is the finished work from one of my littles...
Just in case you're wondering, this kinder wrote: I want to drive a big monster truck and go to the Monster Jam. This sweet little guy has come so far with his writing this year and all he ever talks about OR writes about OR draws about is monster trucks! I was definitely not surprised to see this was his dream! So darn cute!!
This book is truly one of my favs! I highly recommend that y'all get out and make that Target run & grab yourself a copy! And don't forget to always FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!
P.S. Be sure to look for the little cow on each page of the book!
Happy Spring y'all! I don't know about you guys BUT I am so ready to kiss winter goodbye! My kiddos are absolutely the best but... they have been a little stir crazy lately because of all of the indoor recesses that we have had. {By the way, I am still mad at that groundhog! He was WRONG! LOL} Anyway the reason for my post today is to let you know that I've posted a little sentence writing FREEBIE for y'all to celebrate the beginning of springtime! Woohoo!! Just hop on over to my little TpT shop & download! Check it out...
Happy January y'all! This midwest ice storm has got me a little stir crazy! Finally after 3 days of being trapped inside, things are beginning to melt. The good part of that is that all of my laundry is done and I had lots of time to bake cookies and brownies with my kiddos....the bad part is that I also had time to eat all of those yummy treats too! Ooops!
I also had time to finish up a little FREEBIE pack for inauguration day! Yay!! On Friday, January 20th, Donald Trump will become the 45th President of the United States. If you would like a copy of my FREEBIE pack to use with your kinders or firsties, just click on the pic below to head over to my TpT shop! Hope you love it!
It's official. Winter break is over. I have truly enjoyed the past two and a half weeks at home with my own kiddos. in my PJs til noon (sometimes all day). naps. using the bathroom whenever I want. watching movies. Ahhhh I loved it! Well, its a good thing that it has ended cuz those sort of days can be pretty addictive! And as much as I fantasize about a break that never ends...IT'S OVER Y'ALL! Time to set the alarms & put away the yoga pants. I've actually spent a little bit of my break working on some school stuff (I know, I know but I just can't help it!) I get to spend the next 2 days logging a few professional development hours and then on Wednesday I will be greeted by my 20 smiling kinders! I loved my break but I also missed those cuties! I've been trying to tweek some of my center activities a little bit & I just finished up these playdough mats to practice sight words.
You can download the entire set of sight word mats from my TpT shop for FREE this week! Check it out by clicking on the pic!
I hope you love it! Happy January-let the countdown to summer begin!
Omiword! That tiny lil elf sure does cause a ruckus in the classroom! The kiddos were really excited but....my oh my did that inspire some awesome writing! I made these cute little journals for the students to keep track of our elf activity for the next couple weeks.
If you would like to download a FREEBIE copy of My Elf on the Shelf Journal, just click {here} or on the pic above. Feel free to PIN and share a lil love! I can't wait to see where our little elf friend is tomorrow! Happy elf-hunting!
Well it's the week before Thanksgiving and I finally finished revising my Turkey Time Fun unit. Woo-Hoo! So...if you had previously purchased this, please download the new update!
It's packed full of 68 pages of learning fun for your kiddos plus I have included a lil freebie in the preview. "I See A Turkey" is an emergent reader that reinforces color word recognition. I've got mine all copied and ready for this week!
Click here to see a previous post about activities in this unit that I have done with my class.
Hey all! It's March and time to celebrate someone's birthday by reading, reading, READING! I have been soooo excited about Read Across America Week! There are so many silly-filled learning activities that take place! It's just a hoot of a week!!! Well....guess what??? SNOWDAY!!! Yep that's right...all that snow dancin' that I've been doing is really working....BUT...tomorrow??? Oh well, like I always say, you can't complain about a snowday! I believe that for teachers they are truly a gift from God!! Well this snowday just gave me permission to stay up late and put together some of the activities that I've made for this week. This little NO PREP packet has oodles of print-n-go activities...close reading passages, poem, word search and lots of math & literacy activities that can be used independently or with a partner. Head on over to my lil TpT shop to check it out....AND....don't forget to grab this FREEBIE in the preview!
Grab your cat! Grab your hat! Maybe a fox and his socks, too and let's celebrate!!!
Woohoo for the 100th day of school! Just another 70 to go until summer vacation! ....Oh, is it too early to be counting down yet?!? :) The 100th day is such a hoot! I always dress up (of course, I love LOVE to dress up!) I told my class that they were going to have a sub that day & pretended to be "Ms. Berlener's grandma"! Oh my, did I have fun!! Here's a pic of me on my way to school when I realized that I had forgotten to get gas the night before & had to stop to fill up! Oh wowsie! I sure did get some funny looks! Haha!!
This year I decided to make a little 100th day journal so that the kiddos could keep all of our activities together. (I have to admit...a desk full of crunched up, scattered papers makes me a lil bit crazy!!!) I took some of my printables & stapled them all together to make "My 100th Day Journal". (I also added some of the other 100th day activities that I had from other teachers who were so very sweet to share with me!) It was super easy peasy & organized for the kiddos to use throughout the day. (NO loose papers flying around!!! YAY!) If you would like a copy, just click on the pic below.
Here's a pic of me & my "old" friend-she's sooo awesome! We definitely had a blast with our kiddos!
I have to admit my back was killing me by the end of the day...(Remember when your mom used to tell you to sit up straight??? I believe her now-good posture makes a big difference!) And to top things off...I had to make a quick stop at Wal-Mart on my way home...YES I went into Wal-Mart dressed like this!!! I had no choice...just imagine what my real hair looked like after being trapped under that beautiful wig all day!?! YIKES! So....here I am....in Wal-Mart!
And.. can you believe that no one even looked at me funny!?!? :)
Hope you love the freebies! I would love to hear about your 100th day adventures!
I am finally finished with my new Groundhog Day Ready-to-Go Printables!! Whew!! Good thing too because its almost time for that cute lil rodent to be making his yearly appearance! This packet has everything that you need to make a little Groundhog Day Research Journal for your students and also oodle of no-prep printables that are perfect for assessment or extra practice. Click on the pic below to check it out! Don't forget to download the preview for your Groundhog Day FREEBIES! Yep that's right...2 FREEBIES!
Click the pic to check it out! Download Preview for your FREEBIES!
I know its not quite February yet but I am really REALLY ready for spring!! So any of my blogging teacher friends from Pennsylvania...please, oh please pass that on to Punxsutawney Phil for me!! :)
Have a great week everyone! I've gotta squeeze in a lil cuddle time with my kiddos before bedtime!!
Hope y'all love my groundhog goodies!
Happy August y'all! Quick question....Why does it take soooooo much longer for February and March to pass by than it does for June and July??? Wow! Hello August!!! Even though I would really love for summer to last just a little bit longer, I am getting a bad case of those "Back-to-School Jitters"! Oh yay...you know what I mean....every waking moment {& sleeping moment} is spent thinking about all the things that you need to do before that big first day of school! Does anyone else find themselves awake at 4am trying to make a list in your head of things you forgot to do the day before??? And after spending 30 minutes trying to convince yourself that you CAN remember these things, you just decide it would be easier to get up and start working on them instead of trying to remember them!?! Yep! That's my sleep routine! lol
....and trying to remember what day it is!!! Oh boy...this is soooo me! I have actually had a couple PD days this week and it is a miracle I showed up on the right days!
My classroom is almost done getting there...I would share some half-done pics with y'all but I don't want you to see how much junk I still have piled around...moving to a new classroom makes a HUGE mess!!! {And I don't understand how I have lost misplaced so many things?? ughh...} I am really REALLY luvin' how it is all coming together & promise oodles of pics soon!!!!
This year we have a building sports theme so I have tried to coordinate sports with my bright dots classroom theme. Here's my nameplates....a lil FREEBIE I'm sharing with ya today!
Thank you! THANK YOU!!! A huge thank you goes out to y'all for all of your support! I am super excited to be featured as one of the TpT Milestone Teachers this month! Since tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, I thought that I'd share my Lil Leprechaun Cuties Writing Craftivity....for a few days, it will be a FREEBIE in my Tpt shop. Just click the pic to head over & grab it!
Be on the lookout for those sneaky lil leprechauns!! And don't forget to wear green! :)
Omiword! I am soooo ready to say goodbye to winter! We have had 12 snow days so far...YES! I said 12!!! And don't get me wrong, I LUV snow days, but now I'm ready for some flip flop weather y'all!!! :) This week we are closing out the month of February with some dental health fun and this is one of my favorite writing craftivities:
What does the tooth fairy do with all those teeth? Well, if you're lookin' for some super cute responses to this question, just ask a first grader! They come up with some of the cutest darn things!!! This lil tooth fairy pattern & writing reproducibles {plus oodles more} are all included in my Dental Health Fun unit. Just click on the pic to check it out!
And don't forget to click on the "preview" button at my TpT shop to download this lil emergent reader FREEBIE!
