Daily Deal--Save 40% !

It is back to reality tomorrow and the end of my two week Spring Break. I always miss my kiddos, but it is so hard for me to get back in the groove of things after time off.

Why not end break with a bang?!

Today only you can get my No Prep Spring Math and Literacy Practice for 40% off! It is a daily deal on Teachers Notebook. That means you can snag it for $1.80! (It is usually $3.)

Here is a little sample I posted before so that you can see what it is like. Click the picture to download.

Weather Unit (with a FREEBIE)

We have been learning about weather for what seems like forever! It has been a fun unit and the kiddos have really enjoyed it. I had a great time teaching it because it is easy to incorporate across subject areas and EVERY student has background knowledge on it!  Here is an overview of our unit:

We started the first day just talking about the different types of weather. I made this anchor chart to help us remember the types of weather.

We also did the sheet below. You can get for free in my Weather Freebies on TpT. There are two differentiated versions included.

(I love this student's "windy" illustration!)

After the brief weather intro, we spend a couple of days talking about each type of weather. I usually started each day's discussion with a short video to get the kids thinking about the type of weather we were going to discuss for the day.

Here are the videos that I used (There are some great Sid the Science Kid videos.):

Cloud video        Wind video        Rain video        Storm video     

(Some of the ones I used are already removed from youtube--boo!)

After the intro and video, we read a book about the type of weather we are discussing. Then we add the important words to an anchor chart so that the kids can use them later in their writing. Here are the books I used to discuss each type of weather:

                                      

                                                         

                                        

Here is a picture of our stormy weather anchor chart. The kids supply all of the words that are under each type of storm.

After the anchor chart, the kids write about the type of weather. I have three differentiated levels for this. Level 1 draws and labels a picture, level 2 draws a picture and finishes a sentence starter, and level 3 draws a picture and writes a couple of sentences about it. (There are some examples later in this post.)

We did this for each type of weather.

Then we moved on to how weather affects us.

Please don't judge my not so cute anchor chart. Hey, they can't all be "pinterest-worthy"!

Here are some examples of the differentiated writing activities. We did this for each type of weather as well as how weather affects us.

I found a couple of fabulous free readers that we read together and then added to our book bags. Click the picture to grab the free readers.

(This came from Greg at Kindergarten Smorgasboard.)

(This came from Brittany Melzer's TpT store.)

We also started using "spelling sentences" to practice our spelling words, sight words, reading skills, and review our science concepts for the week.

Here were our spelling sentences for "how weather affects us":

I got the sentence strips here. Love them!

At the end of the week, I print the sentences with the word order mixed up on paper that matches the sentence strip (this makes it easy for kinders to keep straight). The kids cut and glue them in the correct order.

Thanks for sticking around to read this long post! click the picture above to grab your FREEBIE! You will get the writing pages and spelling sentences for the "how weather affects me" lesson. Enjoy!

Five for Friday--March 21

It is that time to link up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday! I am currently on Spring Break and have one more week left. Yes, I am lucky enough to have a two week Spring Break! Woohoo!

I am throwing a giveaway to celebrate my latest TpT milestone! There are two prize packs you could win! Click here to enter.

I finished my No-Prep Spring Practice this week! You can get two pages free if you go to this post!

I made this anchor chart to help my kiddos decide if a vowel is long or short. Hopefully they remember this after break! (Wishful thinking... I know.)

I sent this Spring Reading Challenge home for "Spring Break Homework". Basically it encourages kids to read for a certain amount of time each day over break. I asked mine to read 15 minutes a day. I told my kiddos that they would get a prize if they return it after break. It is a freebie from Jamie Sears that you can grab here.

We just finished our weather unit and are going to start our seasons unit after break. I will do a in-depth post of our weather unit soon!

(If you didn't grab my weather freebie yet, be sure to grab it here!)

400 TpT Follower Giveaway

I am throwing a giveaway to thank all my wonderful followers and celebrate reaching 400 followers on TpT! There are two prize packs you can win with prizes from six amazing bloggers as well as myself. Check out the awesome prizes you could win!

You can enter to win this prize pack below...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 You can enter to win this prize pack below...

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good Luck and thank you again for taking time out of your day to read my little blog!

NO PREP Spring FREEBIE

I have some sad, sad news to share. My school revoked our color printing privileges. BOOOOO! What is a girl to do? Create a zero prep, black and white, quick and easy packet of fun!

(Click the picture to check it out on TpT.)

I have a couple of pages to share with my amazing followers. Click the picture for this blog exclusive FREEBIE! (Also check out my facebook page for a chance to win this product!)

I am also throwing a giveaway for my most recent TpT milestone of 400 followers! Click here if you would like to help me out and donate.

400 TpT Followers!

I have just hit 400 followers on TpT! Woopwoop! I would love to hold a giveaway to celebrate. If you would like to donate something and get your name out to a new audience, fill out a quick form by clicking here. I really appreciate it and would be happy to donate to your future giveaways in return! =)

Look for a new freebie coming soon!

Random Updates!

Here are some random ideas and updates of what I have been doing since I have been MIA. (Sorry y'all... Grad school is KILLING me.)

Easy Hands-On Addition Practice

This is an easy way to make a simple addition worksheet a hands-on learning experience. Just add manipulatives! We drew two circles and used beans to solve the addition problems that came from this set of  free worksheets. Easy, no-prep practice!

International Day--Mexico

Every year, my school has "International Day" where each classroom researches a different country. We then make a banner and bring a food item from our country for all of the other classes to try. The kids LOVE it. I am always surprised with how willing they are to try all the different foods and how eager they are to learn about different cultures.

Our country this year was Mexico. We made Day of the Dead Masks and our food was Mexican Wedding Cookies. The cookies are pretty much all butter and sugar--but of course the kids loved them!

Long/Short Vowel Anchor Chart

My curriculum teaches long/short vowels by having the children mark the vowels in the word. I am curious to know how others teach it? It is a hard skill for my kiddos to grasp, but we are working on it! I made this anchor chart to help them.

St. Patrick's Day and Spring Centers

We have busted out the St. Patrick's Day and Spring Centers. Spring Break is next week (woopwoop!) so we are using some of them this week! 

(Don't judge me for the nasty glue desk. If you teach kindergarten, I KNOW you'd be lying if you said your desks don't look like this the majority of the time! At least I hope so.)

Need some more St. Patrick's Day ideas? Check out these posts from last year.