Thinking in Primary

A while back I blogged about how I create my own alphabet line in my classroom. I wanted to easily explain the process to some new teachers at my school, so I went back and revisited the post.  This is a great way for students to have ownership of the classroom, and in my opinion, student drawn alphabets are always better than anything I could make with clip art or purchase at a teacher store. Here are my directions!  I hope you can find it useful! Create Your Own Alphabet Introduce a new letter each day, in the order of your choice or your school's program (I prefer McCracken’s). How you introduce the letter is really up to you.  I usually start with an alphabet song, have students say the letter and the sound and show them how to write the letter.  Each day create a circle map for the letter. The students brainstorm words that begin with that letter and the teacher draws the pictures and writes the words on the circle map. Sometimes I ask students to come up and

When I first started teaching, Spelling through Phonics by The McCrackens was absolutely one of the most valuable resources that I've come across.  I'm on my second book because mine was falling apart.  Now you might say that it's a bit outdated, but as a kindergarten teacher I simply follow the first grade lessons and adapt as needed.  I follow their instructions for introducing and teaching letters and sounds.  This book offers an extremely effective method for teaching phonics and there are no worksheets!  I was looking it up for something else and was just shocked to find that it was available. Here it is!  It might change your life, for real- Pin It

I know that I've said things like this before, but.... I really am going to try to blog more.  I don't know if it's old age or what but I've really been struggling with time management lately.  Then, when I come home start working on things for my classroom and get sidetracked!  The problem is that the work never ends!!!!!!  Anyway, tonight I have sort of been forced.  Today I was preparing my math tubs for November and found a mistake in one of my products!  Ugh!!!  I hate when that happens! So, I want everyone to know that the mistake has been fixed.  If you have previously purchased my Thanksgiving Math Tubs, please go to TPT and re-download the product.  If you haven't, then you should definitely check it out!!  Also...everything is on sale in my TPT store!  I hope you can find something! Pin It

Hi there!  I hope you have all been finding lots of great deals on TPT!  I've got a free one for you!  My   behavior calendars are updated for the 2015-2016 school year!  There are three different versions of the behavior calendars to suit your needs.  You will need to download some free fonts (listed in the description) from Hello Literacy.   You will be glad you did because they are awesome! While you're there I hope you check out some of my back to school products! Take advantage of this amazing sale! Be sure to use the BTS15 code to take full advantage! Here are a couple of my favorites!   Thanks for stopping by! Pin It

OMG!  I see so many people posting about getting ready to go back to school!  I've been teaching summer school for the month of July!  One more week.  I am having so much trouble even wrapping my head around going back to school for real!  Honestly, it's been a very interesting summer and I've learned so much, I just haven't had much time for anything else! I've recently had a request for an update for my Beach Buck Behavior Plan.  The plan now includes an option for students to clip up to purple.  If you are going to use a clip chart, I do agree that giving students a chance to move up can be very motivating. I personally no longer use any kind of behavior monitoring chart, but this is still the behavior plan I use in my classroom.  I only use the beach bucks to "catch students being good".  It has worked beautifully and I don't miss my behavior chart one bit.  I only use the coupons to reward good behavior.  Sad choices are dealt with dependin

Summer Sale on Camp Kindergarten!  Hope you can find something you can use.  I'm working on vamping up some of my original products so if there is something you need just let me know and I'll do my best to get it taken care of for you! Here are a few of my favorites! Thanks for stopping by! Pin It