TpT Back to School Sale

It's back!  The annual Back to School Sale is Sunday, August 18th and Monday, August 19th.  Everything in my store with be 20%.  At checkout, use the promo code "bts13" to get an additional 10$ off your total purchase.  This will amount to 28% off!  Click the picture above to get to my store.

Check out the new products I made over summer vacation:

Have a successful and happy school year!!

Tuesday Tip: Corner Punch

If you don't have a corner hole punch, you are missing out!  I got one a few months ago and its PERFECT for making rounded corners.  If the  frame on the square or rectangle that you are working with has rounded corners, using this punch will make your stuff look SO much better.  I use it on large papers and small pieces too.  

 Here is is!

I purchased a Fiskar's brand corner punch from Michael's.  Using a coupon makes it not so much of a big purchase.  Look at the difference!

Before:

Punching:

After:

Doesn't it look so much better?!  It is quick to punch the corners, and so worth it!

The picture comes from my Count, Categorize, & Color: Syllables.  There are 5 sets of syllable counting centers.  

Counting Words in Sentences

After watching all of my kindergarteners take the STAR test on the computer all year long, one skill always came up - counting the number of words in a sentence.  This skill wasn't really taught through my curriculum.  There were a few occasions where there was a quick oral activity, where I said a sentence and the students had to clap the words in the sentence and then told me the number of words.  Thats it.  So, to practice counting the number of words in sentences, I made some quick PowerPoints.  Each slide had a sentence.  In their teams, the students had to work together to decide on an answer in about 15-20 seconds.  Then I would pick a stick and call a student to the board and use a pointer to tap and read each word and say the number of words.  Although I didn't make this into a point game, it could easily be done to add excitement.

Since I couldn't find many resources out there to practice the skill, I made Counting Words in Sentences.   It has six activities that are perfect for small group instruction or independent learning centers.   Click here to check it out.

Here are four activities included:

Spring Cleaning Sale

Clean up your wish list with a 2 day sale!  

My entire store is 20% off Saturday and Sunday.  

Here are some items you may be interested in:

Happy Spring everyone!!  

Click Here to See All the Others Participating in the Sale

Show Us What You Got Linky

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' to share the goodies purchased during the Super Sunday Sale.  I stocked on different clipart to make my new creations fantastic.  I went a little overboard with the frames.. but how can you not resist?!  I can't wait to put these graphics to good use!

Link up with Blog Hoppin' to show off your finds!

Morning Transition

I wanted to share how I transition from morning work (or whatever you may call it) to the first thing on the schedule.  I play a song called "Good Morning," that is a fast, cheerful, and upbeat song.   My expectation is that everyone is in their seat, cleaned up, and ready to learn.  The song is 1 minute and 47 seconds long, which is just enough time for the students to do everything they need to do.  I LOVE it because it signals the students to cleanup without me having to tell them to do so, and it eliminates me having to countdown or set a timer.  It is cute because most of the students sing along with the song too.  This transition has worked wonderfully for me.  I always got a kick out of it when I would walk over to the CD player and I would see the kids start to clean up because they knew the song was going to come on, or I would hear little whispers telling each other to start cleaning up - even before it came on!

I tried to search for this song everywhere, but couldn't find a sound clip.  The CD is called "Good Morning Exercises for Kids," by Kimbo (click the link to bring you its Amazon listing).  It is track #9, "Good Morning." I found the CD in my local library in the children's section.

Back to School Sale!

I wanted to share a few of my newest products with you!  Be sure to check them out!
Remember that on 8/12 & 8/13 you can get up to 28% off everything at Teachers Pay Teachers!

My Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Click Here 

Click Here

Click Here {Also in bright colors}

Click Here

Click Here

Click Here

Happy back to school!!