Saturday, November 29, 2014

Cyber Monday Sale


I've been working long and hard on this Christmas bundle and I must say that I think you'll love it!! One of my favorite things to do is create activities that I can introduce whole group on the Smart board and then easily place in a center and the students can immediately perform the task independently because of our Smart board activity.  Well, this bundle includes 18 different activities that are paired together and include a Smart board version, along with a center version.  I have also included an additional 8 more activities, some Smart board and some center printables. 

Click on the pic above to preview the entire file!!!

Click on the pic above to get yours!


Friday, November 14, 2014

Freebie Friday!

Today's freebie are the cards that I've been using to get my students at my teacher table going while I get students settled in their centers for rotation. Print them on card stock and laminate to use with dry-erase markers. They're great practice for those who still struggle with letter formation, but also includes some higher level skills like beginning sounds and alphabetical sequence- filling in the missing letters. These are also great for fast finishers or a word work tub. Hope you can find some use for them. HAPPY FRIDAY!!!
Click on pic to get yours!


Thursday, November 13, 2014

Listening Center

So when I received MP3 players from a grant that I had written, I thought my listening center problems would all be solved- no more scratched CD's and books separated from their CD or students arguing over what song or book to listen to and having to share a book. Well, I was just a bit in fairy tale land.

Now, don't let me mislead you......having MP3 players is BY FAR the better choice for my listening center. I can load as many songs or books that I want on them and can easily change them out weekly or bi-weekly or whatever. I LOVE this aspect!!!! But when I got these players I thought it would be just wonderful if every student had their own pair of ear buds to use for the players when it was their turn. I collected over 20 ear buds and was ready to rock this new system for our listening center!!! Music and books were loaded on 6 different players, ear buds for each student and things were all in place. The first few students did great and then a few more and then I started getting THIS at the beginning of each center rotation............

"Mrs. Aguilar, I need help." "Mrs. Aguilar I can't get this undone." It went on and on each rotation. AAAHHH!!!! One tangled mess after another.  Now this may not be an issue if I had some way to hang them for each student but they just keep them in a pencil box in their cubby.  And even if this problem was solved, the size of the standard cheap ear bud is really not intended for a 5 or 6 year old.  I will say that I do have some headphones that are perfect and I LOVE THEM!! I received them in the same grant and are designed for youth and have been great!!! They are the made by KaZoo and are cute animal character designs. I have the frog ones.
 When comparing my old headphones and these new ones, it's no wonder why their ears always hurt with the old ones! The old ones were made for adults and their little ears don't even hit the soft padding part of the earphones; however, they do with the KaZoo earphones! 
I highly recommend these headphones and they are actually quite affordable. They are $12 at Kids R Us and around $16 at Amazon.


Friday, November 7, 2014

Freebie Friday!

This Friday's freebie are objective headers for your classroom. I'm sure most of you are required to post the week's objectives on your board or somewhere. I put magnets on the back of mine and displayed on my front white board. It's quick and easy to just write or draw a visual of our weekly objectives. I hope you have some use for these and have a fabulous Friday!
Click on pic to get yours!