The A, B, C's of teaching

I got to thinking today....it's nearly March and, boy, has the year flown by already!
My kinders are doing such a great job reading, writing simple messages using sight words and "inventive spelling" and learning numbers to 100.

But what about those kids, and there are a few of them, that are still struggling to identify some letters and sounds?
Or those that are having a little difficulty building CVC words?
I made this a while ago and I use it at my Magnetic Letters centre.  Students can match the letter, match uppercase to lowercase, use it to order the letters, etc.
I have even added simple CVC words.
Whenever the students go to this centre, they can choose to complete one of these abc strips.  I change them every couple of weeks.

I thought I would try sending some of these strips home this week for those students that need a little more letter/sound practice.  I'm going to put a couple of abc strips in a baggie with magentic letters.
Click the link below for your free copy of these strips.
Hope you will be able to use them at your centre or with your students that just need a little boost!
Be sure to check out my sale tomorrow only on TpT.
All of my products are 20% off and if you use code L2P9Y you can save an additional 10% off!
It's tomorrow only!
So hurry over and start filling up your cart!
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Let's Eat! - a nutrition freebie!


If you have been following my blog for a while now, you will know how much I enjoy eating a sweet treat (or two!).
That's why when I teach our Nutrition Unit, I have to control myself from bringing in such treats for myself as I want to set an example for my kiddies (this is VERY difficult!).
(Pssst....I do keep a small stash of those tiny Smarties boxes in my desk...just in case of emergencies!).
I created this Teacher Big Book and Student Emergent Reader as part of my Nutrition Unit. 
You can download your copy here for free.

If you do download it, please leave me feedback either here or on TpT.  I appreciate it!

Here are a few things we did while we are learning about healthy and unhealthy foods.

This is our Chit Chat message from one morning.  I took Deanna Jump's idea and have been using it since the first day of school - the kids love it!
Here the students are sorting foods into healthy and unhealthy categories.  We had to stop and talk about certain ones (like pizza and ice cream) as some kids agreed those foods were healthy and others said they were not.
I love it when kids discuss their rationale - "Ice cream is made from milk so it is healthy!"
*I agree!* HA!
We read the book "It Looked Like Split Milk" and created our own spilt milk pictures.  This student is still blowing the paint around and when it's dry we will write about what it could be.

You can find these activities and LOTS more in my

Enjoy the weekend!
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The Love Bug!

Happy Valentine's Day!
I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful day (I did but I am super beat so I'm off to bed!).
I ate W.A.Y. too much chocolate in one day and I think now I am feeling it.  That chocolate high wore off about an hour ago!

Here's our cute little card that we made to take home to our families.

*You've caught the LOVE bug! Ahh-choo!*

I promise to be back later this week with a post about our nutrition unit.
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Valentine's Day, Nutrition and a *freebie*!

Can you believe it's already Sunday afternoon?
Where did the weekend go?!?!
This week is sure to be fun, though, with Valentine's Day just around the corner. 
We are also going to be starting our Nutrition Unit.

Last week in our class we worked on a few Valentine's Day activities.

The kids opened up "mail" and had to identify the beginning sound on each picture.  They then coloured in the envelope to match and wrote the letter in the box.  They *loved* it!

Sorry - can't seem to turn this picture!
We had fun choosing a "Secret Friend" (by pulling a name out of a hat) and writing that person a message.  We have been brainstorming positive words to say about one another all week.  The students had to come up with their own words to fill in the blank on this tag (which we will use on Valentine's Day):
You are ___ and ___.
They did such a great job!
I love how this little girl wrote "great" and "kind".
Everyone was smiling all day - they loved hearing what their friends had to say!
These activities are from my Valentine's Day Literacy and Math Activities on TpT.  If you are looking for a few more last minute Valentine ideas, go check it out!  It's packed with LOTS of stuff!

I wish I had taken more pictures this week - but I found each day went by super quickly (we had lots to do and an assembly fundraiser kickoff on Friday afternoon).  I promise to take more pics this week. 
I will be sure to post our "Love Bug" card tomorrow.
Can you say cute, cute, cute!!!

I just finished my Nutrition Unit and posted it on TpT.
We are starting this unit tomorrow.  I plan on reading Gregory, the Terrible Eater and having the students sort out plastic food items into healthy and unhealthy groups.  Have you ever read that book?  It's really sweet - a goat likes eating healthy foods (instead of what goats are supposed to eat like tires and bags!).  
A favourite book in my class year after year!
Here is a little *freebie* for you!
It's from my Nutrition Unit.
This will be out at my Writing Centre this week for students to complete.  Hope you will be able to use it too!
Just click on the picture to download.
Happy & healthy eating, oh I mean teaching! 

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Going shopping....a fun little game!

I love food...not cooking it...eating it!
(I have a weakness for anything sweet!)

As I was grocery shopping after work yesterday (and snacking away on a Twix bar), I had an idea for our nutrition unit we are starting next week.
I must say that I am probably the worst person to teach nutrition...I mean I love the unit we have created for our students but I have the W.O.R.S.T. eating habits!
Twix bar...really?  Yup, just before dinner too!
(Don't tell my 3 year old!!!)
I created this cute little game for my kiddies to play teaching them about healthy and unhealthy foods.
It's a simple matching game (like memory) but the idea is to collect the items on your shopping list and place them in your grocery cart.  The first person to collect all the food items wins!
I also included a couple of different worksheets students can do afterwards.

I just uploaded it to TpT and it's only $2!
(Thought I would give you all a break since I know Valentine's Day is coming up....saving up for all that chocolate! YUM!)

I'm just finishing up my Nutrition Unit this weekend and it should be uploaded to TpT this weekend or early next week.
I'm also working on a
Community Helpers Write the Room Package
by special request.  If there is a Write the Room package you would like me to create please let me know.

The first 3 people to leave me a comment below telling me what their favourite food is will win this little game for free!
Enjoy!


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Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day everyone!
I was hoping to post this last night but I fell asleep in front of the TV (no joke) at 8:30!  Next thing you know, my husband is waking me up at 10:30 to go to bed!  Sorry!

This is such a simple and easy craft to assemble and have your students do independently for Groundhog Day.
If you read this post early enough and would like to do it, I have included everything below.

To make this cute little pop-up Groundhog, simply trace a large circle onto brown construction paper and draw a radius.  The students will cut out the circle and the radius.  Fold the circle into a cone shape and glue.
Colour the groundhog and tape him to a straw.
Attach poem to the brown "ground".
Mr. Groundhog simply pokes his head up from the ground while you are singing the song.
(I didn't write the song by the way! I have had it for years so I'm not sure who to give credit to!)

Click on the pictures to download.
(Graphics are From The Pond)
I have even created a poem for you to use as a whole class of this song.


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