Gingerbread Fever FREEBIE!!

I love using the Gingerbread Man Stories at Christmas time to teach compare/contrast, sequencing, characters, settings, retelling, and really just about everything!  This year I am doing 6 different stories with my kiddos.  We use a graphic organizer to keep track of all of our thinking and then glue it into our reading journals.  Then we will practice a Reader's theater and perform it for other classmates and other classes in our school.  Here are the stories that I LOVE to use for this unit.

This is adaptation of the original version of the story.

This is another adaptation of the original version of the story.

 Meet the Gingerbread Man's sister!  The kiddos LOVE the twists and twirls in this story (especially at the end).

Meet The Gingerbread Baby! The kiddos love the surprise ending in this story.

Of course the Gingerbread baby needs some friends! This story tells about how he gets them.

Oh No! Santa is coming! How will the Gingerbread captain save his pirates and his ship? The kiddos love seeing how the day is saved in this adorable story!

These are just a few of my FAVORITE Gingerbread tales.  There are many more out there!

As a class we go through each story and chart the story elements on the following graphic organizer. I model and they copy at first, then we begin to share the pen, then they begin filling out the class chart alone, and finally by the 6th story they are able to complete the entire story row independently. If you would like to try this out, just click Gingerbread Organizer. 

(In the download, one chart has lines and one chart does not. You can choose which one you prefer to use with your class.)

And finally we put on a reader's theater.  This pack is not on my store just yet but will be soon so keep an eye out for it!  If you love the Gingerbread units as much as I do, you will want to see this Readers Theater and Retelling pack!

Here is a preview:

2 different styles of Reader's theater to save paper...........

1.

2.

Plus a retelling storyboard and characters activity!  So much fun!  Do you have any favorite Gingerbread stories? I would love to know if there are any good ones out there that I might be missing!

Have a FABULOUS Christmas break everyone!

Cyber Sale

Click Merry Christmas From Kindergarten Boom Boom to head to my store!

My shopping cart is FULL! I am so excited to finally be able to unload some of my wish listed items. Are you? (Alright that was a silly question!) Don't forget to add the Promo Code TPTCYBER at checkout for even more savings!! Happy Shopping!!

Florida Blogger Meet Up 2014

I had the wonderful privilege of meeting up with some VERY FABULOUS teacher bloggers on October 11th.  We met at Sea World and got to chat about our classrooms, learn new management techniques, and just plain ole have a good time.  It was so great to meet these lovely ladies.

Meet Eylse from A is for Apples and Dana from Teaching With Southern Style

Meet Meredith from Creativity To The Core

Some more great new friends!

These are the fabulous ladies that put this whole shin dig together! (Melissa, Bridget, Amy, Mary) Thanks so much ladies it was so great to finally meet you!

And I don't wanna forget all the fabulous prizes and sponsors of our FABULOUS get together. We were so excited to get all this FREE stuff! Teachers LOVE LOVE LOVE Free stuff!! :0)

These cupcakes were to die for!! YUM!

And the best card ever.............

And that about does it for my Quick trip down memory lane.  I hope that if you are a Florida Blogger and you didn't get a chance to join us this time that you will be able to next year!! Great fun ladies!

ABC Order

ABC Order is ALWAYS a difficult skill to teach little ones.  I have been doing it a little differently this year and I have found that they kiddos have caught on much faster.  I found this AWESOME little song on you tube. It is from SpellingCity.com. It is perfect for describing why it is important to put things in ABC Order.  First, we listen to, sing, and participate with the song using whiteboards and expo markers.  Then we take our words of the week and work with our partners to put the words in ABC Order. (The kiddos sit at tables so to make this lesson a little competitive and game like, I put dividers down the middle of the tables.) Once the partners have their words in order they remove the dividers to see if their word order matches the other set of partners.  After checking our word order, coaching and praising our partners, we write our words down.  Here are a few pictures of our fun:

This group decided they liked their privacy that the divider gave them so they put them back up to write their words! LOL!!

Have you found any other helpful, engaging, or fun ways to practice ABC order? Would love to hear about it!

First Grade Book Talks

Do you have your kiddos partner reading yet?  We start off the first week of school learning how to read independently in our book nooks. We are learning how to care for books and to protect our reading time by staying focused on our stories, not walking around the room, and being very quiet.  The second week of school I introduce partner reading.  We learn to EEKK (Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee, Book in the Middle so we BOTH can see) read with our partners.  Along with partner reading we spend another couple of weeks really learning how to talk about books with our partners and the different things we can share with our partners.  The kiddos learn how to use stickies to track their thinking. After about the third day of this practice, I begin calling partners to my table to show me how they have been talking with each other.

This year I decided to record a few of their book talks. If you listen closely in the videos there are some good examples and some good non examples (where the partner is talking but not listening to what his partner is saying and others). I used these videos with them whole class to see if they could figure out what was going good and not so good in their book discussions.

By critiquing themselves and offering advice to each other it brought a whole new personal meaning to their learning.  I thought I would share these videos with you guys in case you wanted to use them also.  (Of course the personal meaning won't be there for your class but the examples/nonexamples will be there for them to find!)

Here are the links:
http://youtu.be/sjzFqdHVCBI
http://youtu.be/Ls2d-3OLxVw
http://youtu.be/XNdjE6rjWNY
http://youtu.be/G78mU4peMPI

I'm So Excited (FREEBIE!!!)

Ya'll I made my first TpT Milestone!!! Whoop! Whoop! 

In order to celebrate I am having a Sale (Sept 14-17), a Giveaway (Sept 14-17), and a Flash Freebie (free for 7 days Sept 14-21)!

Here are the prizes for the giveaway:
Force, Motion, And Gravity Science Unit
Star Light, Star Bright Science Unit
Earth's Surface and Natural Resources Science Unit
Water is All Around Us Science Unit
PLUS......
A $25 Gift Certificate to TPT!!

Combined it is a total of over 8 weeks of Science plans done FOR YOU in detail!!! You can click on the links above to check them out!!

Enter to win in the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for entering!  Now for the FLASH FREEBIE!!

For 7 Days only ( September 14 at 12am - September 21 at 12am)

Here is a great way to preview how my Science Units work.  This one is all about......you guessed it, the SUN!!

Quick grab you freebie by clicking:

Sun Fun Science Unit

Thanks so much for celebrating with me and good luck in the giveaway!!!

P/S What other type of Science Units would you like to see??

Math Charts

So for years I did whole group lessons on the floor and continually wrote and rewrote word problems on chart paper.  Last year I figured out that I didn't have to continue to do all that writing.  My quick tip for writing your math charts is to STOP rewriting word problems (or any problems for that matter) and save paper!! Here's all you have to do:

1. Write a problem.

2. Work through the problem together/with partners/etc.

3. Use repositional glue sticks to glue bright color paper onto the chart in order to model how to show your thinking or draw a quick pic.

4. Use post it notes to cover only the numbers in the problem.

5. Write new numbers on the post its.

6. Viola! A whole new math problem in seconds!!

While I am on the subject of math, here is a great product from my store. It is a set of 24 task cards with a Scoot Game, Mess Game, and a Game show option.  There is a choice of task cards with picture clues or without included in the download. I have sets for 2 CCSS so far with more on the way!
Click Math Task Cards for 1.OA.1 to get a set!

OR
Click Math Task Cards for 1.OA.2 to get this set!

I hope my quick tip can save you some teaching time during your math lessons! I would love to hear any tips you may have for math charts. Leave em if ya' got em below!

Labor Day Flash FREEBIE

I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend.  Here is a little something to help you out when teaching CCSS 1.OA.2.  It is a set of task cards with 3 games to play and a game show option.  Snag it quick because it is only free for today!

Click HERE to grab this FREEBIE and don't forget to leave some feedback!

As of 09/02/14 This product was changed back to it's regular price.

Meet The Teacher Linky

I love to read up on my favorite blogs and it's always fun to find new teacher friends to follow, especially at the start of the school year when everyone is sharing all these big A-HA ideas left and right! So I am linking up with Falling Into First to do just that!!

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

My Kiddos. Reading books. Working out. Starbucks. Target. The Beach. Soccer. Football (Go Gators! Go Vols!). Blogging & blog stalking. Jeans. Traveling Anywhere. Outback. Amazon.com

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

A writer, a professional soccer player, a stay at home mom (but I probably couldn't sit still long enough for that.......

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Driven. Loyal. Fun. Loving (sorry that's 4) 

 

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

"I make too much money so I am going to LOVE spending my "extra" income on purchasing school supplies for my class...said no teacher EVER!!"
 

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

Hmmm.....Robin Williams, Pink, and Ellen 

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

 She Did What?????? 

 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

 

 I would be like the Green Lantern, the power to make anything I imagine happen!

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

"Criss Cross Applesauce." LOL!!! 
 

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

 "Bye Bye Bye" - Nsync

I can't remember what I did yesterday but certain pop music lyrics will stay with me forever. Also, many of the dance moves. HA! #confessionsofateenageteenybopper

 

 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

I am pretty much an all day person........but if I had to choose probably a night owl.  

 

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

 I really love my Science Units. I created these last year because I really needed to have a ton of awesome hands on science experiments all in one place without having to search for them.  

Q: SHARE SOMETHING WE MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU! 

I gave birth to my 4th child in the front seat of my minivan!!! We were on the way to the hospital and didn't quite make it. We left the house at 10:34 and she was born around 10:49! Thank goodness she was our fourth and we pretty much new what to do!! Still scary though......

 ************************************************************************

Your turn!! Here's what you need to join the party!!!

Head over to Falling Into First and Link Up!!

Back To School FREEBIES and a SALE!

Before we get to the FREEBIES, I just want to let you know about this:

NOW FOR THE FREEBIES!!!

Here are a few of my back to school gift ideas for my new kiddos and for my team.  They were all super easy!

First Mac and Cheese!  Just add a cute sticker label to the front of the box and you will have a ton of happy kiddos! You can get the labels for this gift here.

I also had Lei necklaces on their tables.  You can get these cute tags here.

And finally, what kid can resist bubbles???? You can get your own bubble tags here.

For my super AWESOME team, some caffeine!!! You can get your fabulous coffee tags here.

 So that's it for tonight!  Do you have any special treats that you like to give out on meet the teacher night?? I would love to hear about them!!