Operation Smile... and a Smile-y Freebie!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

I was recently approached by Campus Book Rentals to do some promotion here at Primary Inspiration. Although  I haven't had the opportunity to rent books for college use, it sure sounds like a great idea! Textbook prices are through the roof, and any way to save here or there seems like a no-brainer to me. This company's plan has some distinct advantages... like being able to highlight in your rented books (I would be crazy frustrated by not being able to highlight!) and Rent Back, which always the company to rent your books again and again... with you getting paid each time (2-4 times the amount of outright selling!)! Take a look - this might be for you!

What particularly impressed me about Campus Book Rentals (and I admit that it's what actually prompted me to write this post!) is their ongoing association with and support for Operation Smile, an international children's medical charity which has provided over 200,000 free surgeries for children born with facial deformities. Campus Book Rentals will donate more than 1,000 cleft lip surgeries through Operation Smile this year! Click on the logo below to find out more about Operation Smile.

 

To help teachers introduce the needs of these children and the work of this compassionate organization to their students in an age-appropriate way, Operation Smile has four lessons are available online here. Although most of the content is for second grade and above, I thought some of you who teach younger grades might be interested in passing this along to your school counselors.


So, I thought I should come up with a smile-related freebie, right?
Here you go! Sorting cards and mats for words with short i / long i as silent e. There are thirty word cards, two sorting mats, and even an assessment piece. A bit contrived to fit the theme here, for sure, but we all know that there just can't be quite enough practice with silent e words! And when our kiddos finally get it, do we ever smile! :)  Just click on the image to download from Google Docs.

 



Happy Teaching!

Throwback Thursday: Doggy Day!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

I'm linking up with Cara Carroll today at her amazing blog, First Grade Parade. Cara is encouraging us to revisit favorite posts from the past. Stop by her blog and see what other bloggers are sharing as they take a look back! And just to be extra sweet, wish Cara and her husband  happy anniversary while you're there!



 *** Original Post Date: April 9, 2012 ***

Good Morning, Blog Friends!

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend! We were blessed to celebrate Easter Day with friends and family at our home, and had a great time watching the grandbabies race around the backyard gathering Easter eggs!

Did you happen to see the  news article on the internet this weekend about the comfort dog who is working in a school? That article brought back some sweet personal classroom remembrances for me. The article is here on vetstreet.com, and it's about Gracie the Comfort Dog, who's right in the middle of all the action at Trinity Lutheran School in Davenport, Iowa. There's a great clip of Gracie in action, trotting around the gym followed by hordes of adoring six year olds - kind of crazy, but adorable!

The article talks about how Gracie has a sense of knowing when her encouragement is needed (just like any doggie at home with his family!) , like for a little guy who's having  separation issues at the beginning of each day. Take a look at the link if you get a chance - at the very least, it will give you a smile to start out your week!


And now for the personal connection...

A few years ago, my daughter Andrea was able to bring her beloved St. Bernard mix Bama into my classroom to read with my little ones. Now Bama was HUGE (sort of along the line of a small cow, actually...), but  the sweetest and gentlest dog I've ever met. He had been through training and was a visitor to nursing homes with Andrea. Bama was just a big old mush of a guy, and a huge hit in our classroom!  Here are a few photos of Bama's visit.

Bedtime stories were apparently his favorites!
 

 

 



 

 

The kids just couldn't stop talking about Bama after his visit, so of course we wrote a class book about it. At our end-of-year book raffle (to send class books home as keepers), needless to say that it was the first book chosen!

The children adored reading to Bama and came back to me years later to ask about him. You may not personally know someone with a dog like this, but many public libraries are now having "Read to the Dog" programs. Maybe you can help parents connect their child with a listening, patient, and

non-judgemental friend to encourage them along their road to reading!

 

Sadly, we lost Bama to osteosarcoma a few years ago. It's sweet to think that his memory lives forever not only with us, but with a group of now-eleven year-old adoring readers.

Here's a great readaloud to accompany your own adventures into doggyland. Rosie: A Visiting Dog's Story  was written by children's author Stephanie Calmenson about her own dog. This book and its amazing photos are also a great way to also encourage empathy in your young students.

 

 

 

 

 

Have you had a visiting dog in your classroom? I'd love it if you'd leave a comment to tell us about it!

Happy Teaching!

                           

Thanks for sharing this walk down memory lane!

Freebie Game for Categories & Visual Memory

Hi, Teaching Friends!


Allow me to share with you...

The Evolution of a Freebie 

... this one, that is.

The other day, I was spending a ridiculous amount of time in a doctor's waiting room, but at least could pass the time by reading some magazines. I came across an interesting advertisement, and into my head popped an idea for a freebie for visual memory and categories. "I'll make some category cards," I thought to myself, "and just give everybody the info about where to find the ad. No copyright issues that way."

Noting that it was a July magazine,  I jotted a list of twenty categories as I waited. Actually, with all the time I waited to ee the doctor, I probably could have listed 40 or 60 categories!

When I got home, I looked for the advertisement on the same page of the same magazine that I coincidentally had at home. 

Well, the ad wasn't there. 

Long story short, after a bit of time spent pondering it, I found out that I had overlooked the fact that the doctor's issue was from July 2011!!

Lessons Learned: Look more carefully, and never expect to find a current magazine in a doctor's waiting room.

So, turning lemons into lemonade, I gathered a collection of doodads and, feeling kind of Walter Wick-ish, took my own photo, changed just a few category cards, and here it is!

Click on the image to download "I See Something" from Google Drive. Your download also includes category cards so you can make your activity into a game if you choose, and add in a bit of reading, too!

Happy Teaching!



Bump Freebie for R-Controlled Vowels

Hi, Teaching Friends!

I'm back. No excuses. Sorry. Would a freebie help you forgive me? :)

I've been mulling over the idea of using literacy concepts in Bump games, because, hey, who doesn't love a Bump game? So, now the "mulling" has progressed to obsessing. While I'm working on the whole set and the list is growing longer and longer, I finally finished this set and posted it at TPT!Here's a little taste for you to sample.

Click here to download from Google Drive.

Here's a closer look at the set of all seven games. Like the freebie above, each of the games includes a game board, cube, and student response page. You'll find CVC words, silent e words, long a words, words ending in -er, words with a final consonant/ -le syllable, words that begin with digraphs, and even (my favorite!!) a version for compound words.

This game set will serve well for Common Core practice throughout first grade, but will be especially helpful for some from-the-starting-gate easy assessment for your new second graders! Click here or on the picture to see it at my store.



I'd love to know what you think!  Please leave a comment!

Tally Marks Freebie - Fun in the Sun!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Do any of your kiddos struggle with tally marks? I'll bet that you've tried lots of gimmicks to get the idea across, like these great ideas...

Tally Chant anchor chart at Zeke's Zoo
Wind-up Toy Game from Marsha at A Differentiated Kindergarten 
Popsicle Stick Stories (so cute!) at First Grade Schoolbox

Or maybe you've read Tally O'Malley, by Stuart J. Murphy, or Tally Cat Keeps Track, by Trudy Harris.

Did you know that you can even find tally mark earrings on Etsy? You know how certain of your little ones are always admiring your shoes, or your shirt, or your jewelry? Well, now you can turn the compliments into a mini-lesson!  That desperate I will never be, thank you. I hope. But I guess if it could make a difference... who knows??

Maybe you'd like to try this activity before you resort to the earrings.  

With this set of sunshine cards, your students will practice subitizing with both dice dot patterns and ten frame arrays. Then they'll take the number that they named and make tally marks for it, playing to see who'll make 100 tally marks first.

Did I mention that it's a freebie? Click here or on the image and enjoy!

Please share your best ideas for teaching tally marks!

Potpourri of Freebies, Deals, Etc!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Just a quick post today, to send you off in three directions!

First, it's off to Teaching Blog Roundup, where in today's post you find three of my freebies!

One is a brand new set of character and setting cards, themed for summer. Click on the image below to see it at TBR!

Destination Two: At Educasong, there's a cool linky party where teacher authors share their bestsellers. Now, I'd be the first to say that I've come across many an undiscovered treasure buried waaaaay down on a store listing, but still - this linky party is a great way to see some super items from sellers you may not yet know.









And your final destination (heh, heh ...) is back to my post from yesterday, with just a quick reminder that the half price offer on my newest resource,Summer Math Send-Off, will end this evening at 9:00 EDST. Click here to find out more from yesterday's post, or here to see it at my TPT store.



Happy Teaching!



Giving Your Firsties the Best Summer Send-Off!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

I have finally finished an end-of-year math game set, and I'm so excited about it!

This set of seven games should be a big help in the last days of school. Each of the games is a single page, and comes in both full color and black and white versions. 

* Use the full color versions in school for partner and small group practice (and everybody will be very busy reviewing Common Core Standards!).

* Print and copy one of each of the games for every student (and everybody will be very busy coloring them and playing them again!).  Send all of the student games home in folders that they can decorate to their hearts' content (busy again!) and your students can play them all summer with friends and family (and they'll all be sharp-skilled and ready for second grade.. and the second grade teachers will be loving you!!) 

Looong description, but I think you get the idea .. productive "busy-ness" for the last days of school!
Guaranteed  that they will be okay, a better shot at the possibility that your students will be actively involved in math practice during their break!

Click here to see it at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

 

 

 

Happy Teaching! 



Fathers Day Books.. and a Writing Freebie!

Hello, Teaching Friends!



With Fathers Day coming up soon, I'd like to share some favorite books to get your little learners thinking and writing about the special men in their lives - dads, grandpas, uncles, maybe even an adult male they admire in your school community or their neighborhood.  I know that this can be a tough topic these days, with families changing as they are.  But let's face it ...  many of you will be addressing the holiday this week  - seems like the dads should be getting in on all that love and admiration the moms just received for Mothers Day, right?  :) And if not, maybe you'll have fun reading a few of these books and doing this writing project with your own children.

I love list books, because they're such good mentor texts for writing projects. Here are a few of my favorites for Fathers Day! Click on any of the pictures to see it at Amazon.

Me and My Dad! by Alison Ritchie is a picture of sweetness, with an adorable bear cub and the loving dad who comforts him when thunder crashes and then cavorts with him in the rain afterwards.

The animal dads in Laura Numeroff's What Daddies Do Best  are tender caretakers. As you read this one, you'll hear stories from your students about planting gardens with their own grandpas, and about the time that dad stayed home to take care of them when they were sick.





The Ten Best Things About My Dad  by Christine Loomis, features a dad who tells jokes and scares monsters away. As you see on the cover, he's also a good cuddler!





I haven't got a picture for Nick Butterworth's My Dad is Awesome, but it's actually my favorite of these list books. Which of your kiddos wouldn't love a line like, "My dad is as strong as a gorilla!"??

Since all of these are short books, you might want to read several at one sitting. They're a great way to start the shared writing of a chart list." What do you like to do with your dad, or your big brother, or your grandfather, or...?"  In kindergarten, a chart like this, especially if you use patterned text, has great value for your students, not just in the writing but also in repeated rereadings.

"I like to watch baseball with my brother."

"I like to ride bike with my dad."

"I like to play video games with my uncle."

On each rereading, your kindergarteners will be practicing directional behaviors, locating known and unknown words, and matching one-to-one. With your prompting, their fluent phrasing and expression will also improve.

In first grade, as the sentence structures have more variety, the readers will also be determining unfamiliar words through the use of context cues and decoding.

That's a whole lot of solid literacy practice from a little Fathers Day lesson, right?

The chart writing segues easily into an independent writing project, whether you make a Fathers Day book or an extended-card-and-gift-all-in-one.  Here's a simple pre-writing graphic organizer  about what your little guys enjoy doing with their dad, grandpa, uncle, big brother, etc. Just transfer the information from the organizer to a few stapled blank half pages and you're all set! Click to download it from Google Drive.



Click here to download your copy!



Do you have a favorite read-aloud for Fathers Day?