WINTER Break IS COMING...with a FREEBIE!

Yep...we are so close to the winter break...I can already see me waking up late, reading my Game of Thrones books (I'm on book #5!), and even creating new resources in between chapters.

However, as much as I enjoy the free time, I also worry about some of my students who can't afford missing so many days of instruction. If you are a teacher and you are reading this, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and I'm sure a few names came to your mind already!

Truthfully, the holiday break could be tan opportunity for kids who need to catch up to use some of their free time to practice/reinforce those skills, or to fall even more behind! This is why I think it is crucial to have parent-teacher conferences before the break.

During these conferences I explain parents how important it is to keep practicing, working and reinforcing those skills. I also provide any resource that I think can be helpful: little easy readers, flashcards, alphabet charts, student's login information so they can use the programs at home, etc.

With all this in mind, I am sharing this FREEBIE that I hope come in handy.

I hope these forms are as useful to you as they were for me! They are very easy to edit, and include versions for female and male teachers.
What strategies do you have to help your students during the winter break? Feel free to share by leaving your comment below! Enjoy the freebie!

BACK TO SCHOOL FREEBIE!

Who does not love Pete the Cat??? Every time I read aloud one of PTC books, it's guaranteed kids will be laughing and will be asking me to read it again. Even better, I let the author James Dean to read it for us by playing the audio book while I flip the pages. If you had already tried this, you know how much kids love to sing along the catchy songs....my reading aloud can't certainly compete with that, so I just let the CD do the job!
However, as much as we teachers enjoy this adorable character, and the super fun and engaging stories, we know that there is so much more you can do to extend the learning, and to make the most out of it. That is the reason why I created this unit, and today I am sharing it with you. All I ask is that you leave me a comment to tell me what you thought about it.

Hope you enjoy this FREEBIE! Have fun!

Back from Barcelona and ready!

Thank you Doodle Bugs for hosting the super fun Five for Friday! It took me a while to get back in action after spending 20 wonderful days in Barcelona, but I'm back!! (don't have a choice...school starts very soon!)
If you are new to "Five for Friday" and would like to be part of this fun weekly link, just click on this picture to learn more about it! It is a really wonderful way to see what everybody is up to! Can't wait to read your posts!!

HERE WE GO!

 This week I've been trying to go through all the 500 and something pictures we took in Barcelona to discard the ones that are not so good and keep the ones we like. That made me wish to go back! It was such a fantastic experience...everything was so perfect, the culture, the FOOD, the city, the people, even the weather! It really is a very unique place where you have the Mediterranean beach on one side,and the mountains on the other, yes....you get a little bit of everything.

Although these pics are not doing justice to what the place really is, at least you can have an idea.

The Sagrada Familia, one of the most visited monuments in the world. This neo-Gothic church was started in 1882, and they are still working on it. They say it will be finished by 2020.

One of my favorites, the Camp Nou,(FC Barcelona) one of the richest sport clubs in the world.

This is me inside Camp Nou!

It looks like paradise, but it's Costa Brava, this view its' from the boat.

This is Villa Vella, a fishing village from the 12th century in Costa Brava.

Tibidabo Amusement park at the very top of the mountain, at 2,000 feet!

At the top of Tibidabo mountain it is the Basilica Del Sagrat Cor De Jesus. We were actually able to climb the stairs all the way up to top were Jesus is.

Montserrat Sanctuary also, at the top of a mountain in Montserrat. Unbelievable views!

 I've been also trying to give a little face lift to some of my products in TpT, and this is one of my freebies that was asking badly for an update, with school starting soon. This is the new look, for the Jitter Glitter. Stop by my store to download this for free!

Another product that needed a little touch was my brochure for :Meet Your Teacher Night". So, while I was trying to make it a little prettier, I also added a version in black & white, so you can print it on color paper. This is how it looks now:

This week I added another FREEBIE to the collection, perfect for the first day of school. You are welcome to stop by my store to download your copy:

My cover for the communication folders needed a change as well...I wanted something to match the clouds and birds in my classroom, so this is what I came up with: If you would like to use it, it's editable and FREE and you can find it in my store, just click on the image.

I finally made my mind and decided to buy an HP Printer so I can sign up for the Instant Ink program. Thanks to one of my colleagues, I found out that there is a special promotion going on, and when you first sign up, they give you 3 months for free. TREE MONTHS OF FREE INK! This is the prefect time as ever, with all the printing we have to get done in preparation of the new school year: introductory packages, flyers, brochures, labels, center activities, etc...I ordered my printer through Amazon, and i should receive it tomorrow, so I will let you know how the process goes.

These were my five, and I thank you for stopping by and reading! Have a marvelous weekend!
Adios!

Five For Friday with a Formal Observation

Thank you Doodle Bugs for another week of Five for Friday! It's been a while, but I'm back!!
If you are new to "Five for Friday" and would like to be part of this fun weekly link, just click on this picture to learn more about it! It is a really wonderful way to see what everybody is up to! Can't wait to read your posts!!

These are my weekly Five:

I think the big highlight of my week is my Formal Observation. Thank goodness, I am done with it! I always turn into a bag of nerves! For this particular occasion, I planned a lesson on Verbs.
Just for information, I teach Kindergarten, so I thought that introducing verbs as actions was the most appropriate approach for their age.
I found a terrific book called: "If You Were a Verb" by Michael Dahl, and used it as the introduction piece. Then we played a quick game of "Simon Says", which worked perfectly after the book, providing students with the opportunity to move and jump around for a little while. Basically, I started naming verbs, and throwing some nouns in the mix. If I said a verb, they had to act it out, but if the word was not a verb, they would have to freeze. After the game, we worked on my interactive brochure:

Then we used the fun Kagan strategy: Number Heads Together, to sort some pictures:

After this four activities, it was time for the Exit Ticket:

 I must say that at first I wasn't sure I could fit all these in 45 minutes (that is how long our formal observations are going for these days), however, the activities fitted the time allowed perfectly. By the way all the activities along with a detailed formal lesson plan (editable) are included in my Verbs and Nouns unit.

 We finally finished our Arctic animals unit with polar bears, and I even had the time to hang them up! They really bring so much life to that bulletin board. I am so proud of my little ones! They wrote such great informational sentences!

 Another important event this week, of course, was Groundhog Day. We worked on our Daily Gazette, and this fun craft:

All our Kindergarten classes went to see "The Little Mermaid" presented at Port Saint Lucie High School, and we were all just amazed! We had such a wonderful time! These high schoolers were truly fantastic! Everything from the stage displays and backgrounds, actors, costumes, band musicians, to the singers, was absolutely fantastic! I wish I had pictures to post, but we were not allowed to record or take pictures of the show. Sorry! It is not a wonder that all the shows left for the season have been sold out!

Today  have a FREEBIE to share, just taken out of the oven! You can find it in my store, just click on the picture below. Every month I post a new freebie, and this is my free item for February. Have fun!

That's all for today, hope you enjoy your weekend! Thank you for reading!

Five for Friday and the 100th Day of School!!!

Thank you Doodle Bugs for another week of Five for Friday! It's been a while, but I'm back!!
If you are new to "Five for Friday" and would like to be part of this fun weekly link, just click on this picture to learn more about it! It is a really wonderful way to see what everybody is up to! Can't wait to read your posts!!

  Here we go with the highlights of the week:

 I finally got around to finish my unit on "The Little Mermaid", just in time for our field trip next week. We are going to see this wonderful musical, presented at a local high school!!! I am so excited! My class can't wait to see this show and sing along the songs! Hope my students enjoy these activities as well! By the way, this unite is in sale for $1 for a limited time!

 Another thing I've been working on was a unit based on the book "The Hat" by Jan Brett. We had read "The Mitten" and now was time to introduce my second favorite book.

This week was our 100th day of school! It's hard to believe that we have only 80 days left! Wow! Time really does fly when you are having fun!
We had to work on so many things, so many preparations for the big day! One of the big hits was making the 100th day necklace with 100 beads, of course! I got pony beads in 10 different colors, and it worked perfectly. We used tipped laces from Oriental Trading, which made it really easy to pass the beads through. These necklaces came out really cute!

We cut these vests our of bulletin board paper and sent home for students to decorate with 100 things. This was one of the best! The kids wore the vest for our 100th day parade. So much fun!

Finally this week I got around to hang up our penguins! They came out so cute, but I couldn't find the time to hang them up! Now they look so happy looking down at me!

The prompt was: "Penguins are great because..." students came out with really good sentences, but my favorite probably was: "Penguins are great because they huddle together to stay warm." By the way, you can find this craft and prompts in my store...just click on the picture.

It was really fun to work on this post for "Five for Friday" again. Hope it was fun for you to read it too! Thank you very much for your time! Have a wonderful weekend!