Book Boogie!

If my "happy dance" had a name, it would be the "Book Boogie!"  New books cause me sheer joy, especially when they come at a great bargain or meet a great need.  Today, I found one that did both! 

A few weeks ago I received a few coupons in the mail to Barnes & Noble.  They sat on my kitchen counter until yesterday, when I realized they were about to expire.  Recalling that I still had some money left on an old gift card in my purse, I stashed the coupons next to it. As soon as I dropped my oldest son off at band camp this morning, guess where I headed?  Home!  (The bookstore doesn't open quite that early!)  ; )  But come ten o'clock, I was there with bells on! 

I didn't have a particular book in mind; I just thought I would look for something that would go with one of the units I plan to do this year.  I'm venturing out of my comfort zone of units on Pumpkins, Penguins, and other Kindergarten and First Grade topics, and heading into the uncharted waters of Ancient Egypt, and Great Inventors.  I don't want to bore my now second grader with a rehash of the things we did last year and I feel that he's old enough for a little more of a challenge.  Having never taught most of these new units before, I have been collecting books like crazy at consignment sales, garage sales, etc.  But, after browsing around a while, I ended up bringing home something (for free, with my coupons and gift card!) I didn't even know I needed until I found it!  Behold my prized discovery: 

Click HERE to see a preview, and how you can order a copy!

This is a great little book with a page for each state.  Each page is written as if it were a report on that state by a student.  It includes the state's capital and nickname, as well as interesting facts about the state.  And it will be PERFECT for my Geography Center!  Each week, we focus on a new state and my son (or students, if I'm teaching in regular school) uses a U.S. map to try to locate the target state.  Previously, I have had a small, blank U.S. map form for him to color the state once he locates it.  However, this new book inspired me to create a fresh, updated form.  Below is a picture of my geography center, as well as a picture of my new form.  Would you like a free copy?  Just click on the text below the picture!  

And here is the form:

Click HERE for a copy!

I hope you enjoy today's freebie!  Take care!

Blessings,

Laurie

All About Me!

Another day, another freebie!  Just for my blog readers, I'm making my "Owl About Me" packet available for a free download!  This packet sells for $1.50 in my TPT store.  It is great for the beginning of the year when we are all trying to learn more about our students and help them learn more about themselves!  Many early childhood teachers like to do an "All About Me" unit, but I put a little twist by making this one owl-themed!  I add a photo of the student to the front cover.  Then there is a page for a self-portrait, one for a handprint, one that tells about the child's weight and measurements, a page to tell about the child's favorite things, as well as things he/she does NOT like, etc.  When I make this with students, I typically mount each completed page to construction paper, laminate all the pages, and bind them together for a wonderful keepsake book!  Moms and Dads will love you for this, and it's a great thing to have out on your students' desks if your PTA has an open house a few weeks after school begins!  I would use this for children in preschool through maybe 2nd grade!  Check it out!

Click HERE to download the packet!

I hope this is something that will be useful to you as you begin your new school year!  If you enjoy it, please drop me a comment and let me know!  If you like what you see, I'd love to have you as a follower here on my blog, as well as on TPT!  Thanks so much for visiting!

Blessings,

Laurie

Only Two Weeks?????

I don't know when school starts back where you live, but here in Alabama we are down to only two more weeks of summer!  Even though I homeschool my youngest, we still follow the city school calendar for the most part, since my older two are still in public school.  It's just easier if we're all on the same schedule!  I have a list a mile long of things I was supposed to accomplish this summer, but only about half of them have been checked off.  Where has the time gone?

When I was teaching in regular school, I always liked to start off my year with a reading of Kevin Henkes' book, Wemberly Worried.  It really doesn't matter what age you teach.....it's always safe to assume that your littles (or maybe not so littles) are all feeling a little anxious about a new classroom, new teacher, new friends, etc.  Heck, if we're honest, most of  US feel a little anxious / nervous at this time each year too, don't we?  So we can all relate to poor Wemberly, who worries about everything.....particularly starting kindergarten!

If, like me, you consider this book to be a MUST for the first day of school, you may be interested in a TPT product I offer to accompany this wonderful story!  It has several literature activities, as well as a pattern for this cute craftivity:

If you are interested in checking it out, please click HERE.

And just for visiting my blog, here's a freebie for you, from that packet:

Wemberly Worried Freebie  (Click Here to Access)

Hope you enjoy it!  Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Laurie

     

Sometimes Dreams Do Come True!

So after longing for a cute blog that was affordable, I did some research (As they say,  "Dreams don't work unless you do") and found a great website called Blogaholic Designs.  If you are in the market for a blog template, I highly recommend them!  They have some really cute FREE templates, and many others in the $10-30 range!  So, with support from my sweet husband (who manages our finances), I purchased one of their teacher blog templates, and that's what you're looking at!  How do you like it??  

It's still not quite as "adorable" as I'd like, but it's still quite cute, professional-looking, and even pink!  It came with explicit directions on how to install it, customize the fonts, font colors, and sizes, and insert social media icons.  Not having any idea what I was doing, the instructions were so perfect that I still managed to not screw anything up!  Pretty cool, huh?  

Now I can stop working on my blog design every day and get back to what I'm supposed to be doing...preparing for school!  Can't believe we only have two more weeks!  Aggggghhhh!  Best of luck with whatever YOU are working on today!

Blessings,
Laurie  

Blog Dreamin'

I've been dreaming again.  I keep visiting all these cute blogs from other teachers and wishing I could have a comparable one!  As you can clearly see, I don't.  $150-200 is simply out of my price range, and the type of blog I want costs about that much!  I'm a stay-home, homeschool mom and while I earn a lot of love and affection from my children and respect from my husband, I haven't been able to find a blog designer who will accept hugs as payment for their services!  : )  I try to make a little extra cash on TPT, but what little I do earn goes right back into TPT to purchase clip art, borders, frames, and curricular materials for my son.  I'm a bit of a TPT addict, I must confess!  So, I thought I would show you what I wasted my time on yesterday afternoon.  I SHOULD have been working on preparations for school to begin in just a few more weeks.  Instead, I decided to see what I could come up with if I had any idea how to design my own blog (which I do NOT!).  I used Microsoft Publisher and just had fun with it.  If I were actually creating a blog, I would certainly put a little more effort into it and more attention to details.  But I was just playing to see what I could get it to look like.  Here are the results:

Well, what do you think?  Too much pink?  I know it's a lot, but I LOVE pink and I especially love polka dots!!  If I had any artistic ability, I would create my own clip art of an actual "candy apple" to replace the polka dot apple at the top.  But, alas, the artistic talent in my family skipped a generation!  My father could draw / paint anything!!!  My oldest son can draw anything!  I do well to draw a smiley face!  ; )  

Well, for now I'll just keep dreaming about what my blog could look like......maybe one day I'll win the lottery!  (Of course, that is doubtful since Alabama doesn't have one and I don't buy lottery tickets!)

Blessings,
Laurie

Language Arts Charts

Welcome back, friends!

Today I'd like to talk a little about one of the things that makes my class a little different than most.  It is a teaching strategy I learned straight out of college from some award-winning teachers on my (then) first grade team.  

As I said in my last post, I teach thematically whenever possible.  I do use a basal reading series, though I supplement with chapter books for older or advanced students.  But my units do not usually go along with the basal.  They are selected based upon my interests, the interests of my students, their ages, and the science and social studies standards for whatever age group I'm working with.  

After the typical morning routines, we begin each day with our unit lesson.  I read at least one book (some fiction, some non-fiction, sometimes a mix) that goes along with our weekly theme, and then we discuss facts regarding that day's aspect of the theme.  Let's take, for example, my insect theme.  One day's unit lesson may consist of me reading Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar,  after which we might discuss the life cycle of a butterfly.  After we have covered the science or social studies material for the day, we complete a Language Arts Chart.  The purpose of this is to use the thematic unit to reinforce important language arts skills or concepts, which makes them more meaningful to the children.  

Here is what the Language Arts Chart time might look like, based upon the previously-mentioned Insect theme.  After reading and discussing the book(s) and facts, I point out a language arts skill that will be the focus of our chart that day.  Using the above example of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I might point out that "butterfly" is a compound word.  I would inform or remind students of what a compound word is, and then ask them to brainstorm to try to think of as many compound words as they can.  As they name them, I would write them on the chart.  Or , perhaps, I might choose to focus on the "fl" blend in the word "butterfly," and we would brainstorm other words that have that blend in them.  Those examples might be for a first or second grade class.  For a pre-K or Kindergarten class, I might focus on the beginning sound in the word "butterfly" and we would brainstorm other words that begin with the /b/ sound.  This not only provides practice in the specific skill you have chosen for the day, but in categorizing as well!

After we complete our chart, the children use a form I provide to either copy a select number of words from the chart or, for older/advanced students, to use some of the words to write sentences.  Below is a copy of what some of our charts have looked like, as well as a picture of the forms students use to copy the charts or write their sentences.  I always add pictures for visual appeal, but it's not absolutely necessary.  The forms always tell a little about what we've talked about that day so that when they are sent home, they allow the parents to keep up with what we are learning about! 

    

I hope these ideas are something you can use in your classroom or homeschool.  Recent units I have been developing for TPT include color pictures to use on the chart, as well as the forms for copying the charts, as you see above.  These two are included in my Pirate Unit.  You can get the Pirate Unit here:  TPT Pirate Unit

Blessings,
Laurie

The Beginning

Hi, teacher friends! 

This is my first foray into the blogging world! Let me begin by telling you a little about myself.

I am the wife of a wonderful husband and the mother of three beautiful children. In short, I am blessed way beyond what I deserve! My oldest is about to be a Junior in High School (sniff!), my middle child is going into eighth grade, and my baby is going into second grade. (Yes, they are pretty spread out, age-wise!) The oldest two attend public school, but we have pulled our youngest out to homeschool him for now. I have a degree in early childhood education, and have not been happy with the trend away from developmentally appropriate instruction in the early childhood years.  I am NOT a fan of Common Core, especially when it comes to the little ones! I decided I wanted to give him the benefit of an early childhood education that is developmentally appropriate instead, and I am loving every minute of it! (So is he, I might add!)

My professional experience has been a little of everything! I have taught kindergarten, first grade, and preschool (2's, 3's, and 4's). In addition, I have worked at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama (where I live) in the Education Department as a curriculum specialist. Finally, I have about 10 years of experience as a freelance writer for The Mailbox Magazine, though I have not been active with them in about two years. I have spent most of the past 17 years as a stay-home mom, however, with the magazine work providing a little extra income, and with a few years of preschool experience interspersed here and there.

My passion is teaching, specifically thematic teaching.  I don't know if it makes me old, or just old-fashioned, but I truly believe that is the best method of educating young children!  I try to integrate as many skills as possible into my themes.  It makes learning more fun for both me as a teacher, as well as for the children!

This blog is an attempt to share some fun ideas with other teachers and homeschool moms....anyone who is teaching young children! I hope, if you are reading this, you will enjoy the trip as I take you along on the journey of a homeschool mom! 

Blessings,
Laurie