Printable Spring Readers

My kindergartners are really enjoying the printable readers we use in class. I have begun creating sets for use with emergent readers. The books in my SPRING READER set have a "Spring Theme" and allow practice with basic sight words. There are 5 books in the set. The titles are:
" Little Bowed Sheep","What Is Green?" (color words)
Where Is The Bunny?" , "Under The Rainbow". (positional words),
 "Jellies In The Jar",(counting, adding,& color words)
I love printable books. I love giving kids books they can read and keep at home to practice. But, I am not a big fan of rearranging the pages in order to assemble the books and I don't always have a parent on hand to help. With that, I have designed my EZ-2 Assemble books to be taken to the copy machine and printed 1-sided to 2-sided, folded and stapled. No need to re-shuffle pages in order to make the books.
Click over to my Teachers Notebook Shop to get a set of EZ-2 Assemble Spring Readers for your young readers!

Images from KPM Doodles & LLS graphics

Tiny Photos Memory Game

Do you get a set of tiny photos from your school photographer? I never really know what to do with them. I am planning to make a "MEMORY" game using them. I've made a memory game before, but I had to print out the photos on the color printer (INK!!!). These photos from the photographer will come in very handy Each set has a minimum of 4 photos per child. I will use 2 photos of each child. I cut card stock into 2x2 inch squares. I love to color code my AM & PM classes, so I have yellow  card stock for the morning and blue for the afternoon class. The pictures will be mounted on the card stock, laminated and placed on the shelf with other games the kids play in class. I think they will really enjoy playing the classic memory game with the photos of their classmates.  How do you use those tiny photos?

Community Helpers Packet

Teaching young learners about Community Helpers is a staple among Early Childhood Educators. My Community Helpers packet is designed to help make the unit easy for the teacher and challenging and fun for students.
I am pleased to include 11 books that students can color/make and take home for sharing and reading. Five of them are my "EZ-2 Assemble Books" which are formatted and designed so you can copy them back-to-back, fold, staple and distribute to students. There is no need to re-arrange or shuffle the pages to assemble them for student use. This saves both time and paper!
There are activities to strengthen word work, sentence building, and writing skills. Math activities include; pattern work, skip counting, more/less (using the </> signs), place value and more.
Stop in my Teachers Notebook Shop to learn more:

graphics from KPM Doodles

Happy Birthday Fran

Happy Birthday Fran!

 I borrowed these two WILD and CRAZY guys to help me send a shout out to my good gal pal Fran of Kindergarten Crayons. Fran is with good company celebrating her birthday in February.... and I want to start the CELEBRATION a little early!

Fran loves Freebies and she also loves Chocolate so in recognition of her special day, I am offering my I LOVE CHOCOLATE  packet  as a freebie to you in honor of Fran and all the wonderful freebies and fabulous ideas she has shared with us over time!

There's no need to sign up and wait to see if you won, (although it would be nice for you to hop over and give the birthday girl a virtual hug! ;-) )

Her birthday is on Feb. 22, but I'm sure she'll take an early hug if you have one!

 This little packet has 3  books for emergent readers.
I am also introducing my first EZ-2 Assemble Books!  In my "EZ-2 Assemble" books the pages arranged so they come out of your copy machine ready to fold and staple. No need to rearrange pages after copying. Simply fold and staple....no hassle. You'll save time and save paper, that in itself is like another gift! ;-)

Look for more gifts in Fran's honor soon!

Enjoy this freebie....I would love your feedback on the EZ-2 Assemble books as I have several others in mind! ;-)

Don't forget to go to Kindergarten Crayons and wish Fran a Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRAN!!!!

Winter Freebie to Warm You

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted!!
I guess I hit the ground running this new year and haven't had time to stop to post. Progress Reports are done and I am in the mood to celebrate! You can join in with me and download my Winter Write the Walls! It's free for you and fun for kids! Click on the image to head over to my Teachers Notebook Shop to find this and other resources for Kindergarten & First!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Wow, this has been a year of changes and challenges, but as Pete the Cat would say...."it's all good!" ;-)
I have really enjoyed setting up this blog, giving a facelift to my classroom blog ,  joining TBA, setting up my Teachers Notebook Shop, visiting so many new blogs and meeting so many new teachers who inspire me. I love all the ideas that are shared at TBA and beyond! I hope that along the way, I have managed to do a bit of inspiring myself. I had fun sharing my ideas at the Virtual Teaching Expo back in the fall and am really looking forward to the next one...."Everything's Kindergarten Expo".  This is the first Virtual Teaching Expo of the new year! My good blog buddy Fran Kramer of Kindergarten Crayons will be presenting there. I love all her work and can't wait to see what she has to share at the expo. If you didn't get your ticket already, be sure to click to register.





One thing I love about these Expos is you can attend in your PJ's! ;-) And you can pause the presentation to get more coffee! You watch the presentations as many times as you like and from your favorite device....Computer, iPad, or iPhone.... Gotta love technology, right?

Hope you can make to the Kindergarten Expo on Jan. 28, 2012. (Even if you can't be there THAT day, you can view the presentations at ANY time!)

Teacher Discounts

I consider myself to be a good shopper and yet I was surprised to learn of some of the retailers that offer a Teacher Discount. In case you didn't know, these are a few of the retailers offering discounts to educators.
 If you know of more, please share! ;-)
(disclaimer: terms and conditions are subject to change. Be cautious and call first) 

The Container Store (offer ends soon)

Ann Taylor's Loft 15% off

up to 25% off see site for details

Who among us doesn't LOVE shoes? 15% for NEA members

15% off select services

Ask for pricing discounts

Apple

15% off (Call to verify)

15-19% off

25-75% off retail

10%off (Call to confirm)

15% off (with ID)

15% off (with ID)

book at Government Rate (call for best rate)

15% off

15% off

up to 50% off magazines

Check site for details

I'm sure there are more....let us know some of your favorites too!