Dollar Deals, Gift Card Giveaway & Cyber Monday Sale!

It might just be 'the most wonderful time of the year'...

That's right...within the next few days there will be a dollar day, TpT Gift Card Giveaway and the TPT Cyber Monday (and Tuesday) sale!

Find all the details, links and how-to's below!

Today, Sunday November 27th, 

I am participating in a 'Deck Your Classroom' Dollar Deals promotion!

Find over 30 products discounted to just ONE DOLLAR for today only!

From me you will find my 'All Aboard! Early Emergent Readers Pack!'

I am a visual learner, so I like to see things 'in action,' so I made this video highlighting what is included:

Now that you've seen what is included, here is how I used it in my classroom!

I use it with my students after we read The Polar Express.  

We talk about the people/objects that were in the story using the word and picture cards:

We build sentences using the cards in a pocketchart

My students are working on reading with one to one correspondence, so the 'touch points' are key.  They really like that the ones in this story are bells!

There are 2 versions of the story so that you can differentiate for your different learners!

One version the text is complete and in the other version, they need to fill in the missing word to complete the sentence on each page:

I KNOW this time of year is SUPER busy and there is nothing more frustrating then spending time prepping materials!  These books are SUPER easy to put together...

*Simply download and print the pages you plan on using.

*Collate them in the order you want your students to read them.

*Put them through your copier in the 'Collate, 2 Staples Left' mode:

Once copied simply cut on the dotted lines using either a paper cutter or scissors and you have 2 books ready to read: 

My students keep their books in their book baggies all holiday season long.  It's great for working on pattern books, fluency, story recall/comprehension, 1:1 correspondence and building reading confidence and stamina!

I often have them pull out their books during small group instruction to work on some 'word work' such as sight word ID, letter ID, initial sounds, etc!

Grab it HERE for $1 TODAY ONLY:

And be sure to check out ALL the $1 Deals HERE:

Next way to save....WIN A $10 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card!

The lucky recipient of this gift card gets to spend $10 anyway s/he likes to!

Enter using the rafflecopter at the end of this post!

To get the best 'bang for your ($10) buck(s)' use it during the TpT Cyber Monday and Tuesday Site-Wide sale!

Monday November 28th and Tuesday November 29th my ENTIRE TpT Store will be 20% OFF...use TpT Promo Code CYBER2016 for an additional 10% off!

My store will remain on sale Wednesday November 30th in case you forget something, but the extra 10% promo code will not be active, so I suggest shopping early!

Here are a few things from my TPT Store that would make GREAT DEALS to snag up during the sale!

Sight Word Puzzles!

This video shows one of my winter puzzles in action:

I have sets for Fall, Halloween, Winter Holidays, Winter, Spring and a General 'All Year' set...

You can find all of them in this bundle:

Old Lady Retelling Bundle

The bundle is completely up to date and includes ALL of the Old Lady stories, including her newest story!  The bundle also includes retelling bags that you can only get by purchasing the bundle!

Valued at $52 you can grab it for $25.92 with the promo code during the sale...that is only $1.99 per story!

Sight Word Readers

These were the first thing I posted in my TPT shop and one of my best sellers!  It has been updated several times to make it even better!  I have been using them in my classroom, along with the sight word fill in the blank worksheets, for over 12 years!

This link will take you to the SUPER BUNDLE that contains ALL of the books (best value), but you can also purchase smaller sets and smaller bundles!

Elf Pack

If you are planning any elf fun in your classroom this holiday season, you don't want to miss out grabbing this pack!  It contains elf naming dice, elf hat craftivity, elf foldable reader and elf poems exclusive to the bundle...you can purchase each component separately but you save money and get these 'extras' by purchasing the bundle!

Hibernation and Animals In Winter Pack

This is one of my top sellers!

It includes poem, pocketchart pieces, books, picture sorts, interactive notebook pieces, how to make a class den, hibernating bear craft and more!

Here are a few of my other best sellers for this time of year:

Christmas Super Pack

Reindeer Super Pack

Winter Holidays Morning Work Pack

Hanukkah Super Pack

If you are looking for specific holiday resources you can click each of these links:

Ready to enter for that $10 TpT Gift Card?!

ENTER NOW...A winner will be selected and announced on Tuesday November 29th giving you a FULL DAY to shop the sales with your new found $10!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

DON'T FORGET TO GRAB YOUR DOLLAR DEAL- that expires TONIGHT at midnight!

Until next post,

Puzzles Are For More Than Just Play!

I am super excited to share this find with you...

I was recently at Target and they had these SUPER adorable gingerbread house puzzles.

I stared at them for a long time trying to decide HOW I could use them...

I bought 4 knowing that if I didn't get them an idea would come to me as soon as I got home!

As I drove home I started thinking of how to use them!

Here is what I came up with...

I used super adorable gingerbread house clip art I had mixed with spinner clip art I bought to make a gingerbread house spinner.  It has 5 sections because there are 5 pieces to the puzzle:

I thought of ways I could use it...

*sight word ID

*number ID

*counting

*capital/lowercase matching

and how it could be modified for enrichment:

*CVC words

*addition/subtraction

BUT...if I wrote on the pieces they could only be used for 1 specific skill....

So I grabbed my removable tape that I use during interactive writing and gave it a test run!

It stuck real well and then when it was time, it peeled right off!

I laminated my spinners and used a dry erase marker.

The marker stuck well enough to the laminate for 'use' and then came off with a little elbow grease so that the spinners could be re-purposed for a different skill!

I know I am a 'visual learner' so I made a video showing how to use the puzzles and/or different ways to use them for different skills:

I plan on using these for our morning tubs/stations and/or as early finisher basket activities the next few weeks!

Add a whiteboard and the kids can record what they worked with-

*Write the capital/lowercase letter matches

*write a number and show that many dots

*write a sight word and/or use it in a sentence

*write a CVC word and draw a picture to match

*write the number sentence and answer

ETC.!

You could even provide them with a paper of a gingerbread shape/outline to do their recordings if you wanted to check for accountability!

SO what happens when the holidays are OVER?!

NO WORRIES...

I found these 'generic' puzzles in the dollar spot too:

These have 8 pieces so require a different spinner- but can be used in the same way as described above!

You can grab the spinners for the gingerbread houses AND some blank '8 space' spinners for the generic puzzles for FREE here:

Be sure to stop by again tomorrow (Sunday 11/27) for...

Dollar Deals

AND...

the chance to win a $10 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card!

Happy Target Dollar Spot Puzzle Shopping!

Until next post,

Let's Talk Turkey...and Pie!

This year I have started incorporating morning explore tubs into my classroom.

It gives my students the extra practice they need- hands on practice- that we unfortunately don't have enough time to do during the day.

I have been trying to keep some of them 'seasonally' based because the kids really enjoy the added holiday/seasonal fun!

Here are two we started using this week!

This first one was inspired by a pin I saw where someone used a paint chip to make a slice of pumpkin pie.  I thought it was so cute- but wanted a way to make it more 'educational!'

So I headed to the hardware store and grabbed some paint chips

The pin I saw had you add burlap as the 'crust' but I opted for some of the brown chips!

Making the pie was- well- as easy as pie!

I cut/taped the brown chips to the orange ones.

I found the middle of the chip and drew a line from each side to the middle point and then cut:

I used a sharpie to add words we have been working on.

I also numbered each slice so that I could have different pies out the on table.  The number on the pie matched the number I put on the spinner!

You can grab the spinners for FREE HERE!

(I even included a blank spinner so you can write in the words you are working on- just don't forget a number in the 'dollop' if making different sets of pies/spinners!)

I found some real cute white pom-poms in the Target Dollar Spot (I originally bought them for a fun winter station I have yet to make, but realized they would work great for this too!)

If you don't have white pom-poms, cotton balls will work the same!

Here is how they will play:

They continue to spin, read, cover...

They then clear the pie and can play again, try another slice/spinner and/or record the words on a white board and/or use one of the words in a sentence!

But that wasn't the end of the paint chip fun!

I also found these color chip 'mini books'

I chose the 'pumpkin' colors

And then used a sharpie to write the numbers 0-5 on the squares (we are in our 0-5 unit)

I made these 'count' cards to go with them:

Print/laminate/cut the cards and then place them face down on the table (I like to print on patterned scrap book paper for things like this- you can read about it HERE).

Students draw a card, count the number of objects and then take a dollop of 'whipped cream' and cover that number on the board.

Continue until all the numbers are covered.

You can also use dice in place of the cards.

Give students 2 dice for addition practice!

You can program them with any numbers you are working on!

Grab the Counting Cards FREE HERE!

The next one was inspired by this pin:

I had purchased 'build a turkey' clip art and was itching to use it, so I made these:

Students roll the dice, count out that many beads and drop it into the bottle! 

If you're visual like me, this might help:

I originally thought the tweezers would be great to use for extra fine motor practice BUT they wound up being too hard so I just had the kids use their fingers (thumb/pointer so we were practicing that 'pinch' grip!) to put the beads in.

You could have a whiteboard there for them to practice writing the number and or use for addition and have them write the number sentence for what they added to the turkey!

The kids had SO much fun with this one!

They said to me 'Mrs. Drake can we use these even after Thanksgiving is over?!'

Now my wheels are turning....feed Santa maybe?! 

Must save more bottles!

You can find the turkey bodies/feathers to tape onto your water bottles for FREE HERE!

Here are a few of the other fine motor stations we worked with this week:

Ordering numbers 0-10

Although we have only covered 0-5, I left 6-10 in there and told them to reference the number line if they needed help.  This one was super popular (and quiet)...a lot of concentration to get those links on!

You can download the number cards HERE for FREE!

Number Ordering Puzzles from Melony White:

They really liked these!  You can find them HERE.  She has a fun Thanksgiving set too!

Build and Record A Turkey's Feathers:

I saw a cute FREE idea like this from Mrs. Plemons Kindergarten but I wanted something that had both the building and recording all on one paper, so I made these.

You can grab them for FREE HERE.

'Clothe' the Turkey:

This was super simple...just printed 'naked' turkeys on cardstock and laminated.

Put out a bucket of feathers and they had to 'read' the number, count out that many feathers and put them on the turkey.

They really liked that these were 'real' feathers!

You can grab that mat for FREE HERE!

Build A Turkey Tower:

This is from my Thanksgiving Super Centers Pack

Students look at the number and build a tower with that many blocks.

Then place the tower on the turkey.

Count and Slide Cards:

These are 2-sided...one side has the pumpkin with seeds and the other scarecrow with the number.  

If students can't recognize numbers yet, the pumpkin side supports them so they can count to ID the number of beads needed.

I simply printed both, glued them together, laminated and then put a hold punch in the side to attach a pipe cleaner.

You can grab the cards FREE HERE.

We will bring out this guy next week:

You can read all about him HERE!

I don't have any pictures of us using this fun pasta yet, but I made a few things to go with it for counting, sorting, same/more/less and number ID that I hope to post soon!

And while I was at The Christmas Tree Shoppe I grabbed the Hanukkah and Christmas versions of the pasta too!

Hope some of these ideas help you make your classroom exciting and fun over the next few weeks too!

You can grab each FREEBIE from the links above or find them all HERE!

If you need additional Thanksgiving Resources, be sure to check out what I have in my TpT Store:

Here are a few of my favorite things to do in my classroom this time of year:

Thankful Crown/Hat

We wear these at our Thanksgiving 'feast' on the day before Thanksgiving.

Pilgrim & Native American Readers

A lot of books about Pilgrims and Native Americans are WAY above my students' reading levels, so we make/read these and keep them in our book baggies all month.

Thankful Mat

We make these, I mount them to construction paper, add a handprint turkey to the back and then laminate.  We use them as our placemats for our class party and then they take them home to use as placemats for Thanksgiving dinner.  Parents LOVE them!

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Turkey 

The newest book in the series...I am so excited!  We have already read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat and There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves, so I know they are SURE to love this one!  I have always done There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Pie for Thanksgiving, but now get to add this one in too!

And FOLLOW THIS LINK to all my Thanksgiving themed posts on my blog:

There is a Thanksgiving Retelling bracelet 

that the kids LOVE to make for FREE 

and a

Stained glass turkey project that makes windows and doors festive to name a few!

Until next post,