May Literacy and Calendar Journals

Seriously?! Tomorrow is  May?!? Did we do lesson plans for this week?  Geeze! To count down to summer or not?!?  Does it get us excited?! Or nervous on how much we still have left to do in such a CrAzY short amount of time?!?  Regardless, we are going to stay positive and focus on May.  So.... for all you CrAzY teachers that love, love, love these great journals- here's May!

2 new packets you will go CrAzY over!

I have this student that has been lost all year.  Poor baby!  Parents seemed to think it was lack of exposure.... so I gave her that but December rolled around and she had barely made any progress and I was really worried.  One of the big things I have worked all year with her is her fine motor skills.  These activities I work on with all my students at the beginning of the year, but she needed more time and more patience.  She got bored, so I had to create more.  She has come a long way and it got me thinking.  I use fine motor skill activities at the beginning of the year but there are needs all year long.  Some students take longer than others, or we may get a kid mid year that needs the help- so having this on hand is really important.  So here is the fine motor skills packet that really helped grow the skills she needed and help her not get bored with the activities that she has needed to do all year.

Along with this post we want you to see the monthly homework we came up with to help conserve paper.  It is one page a month- front and back- and still has all the writing and family involvement that our old homework had but saves us from copying on so much paper! WE LOVE it like CrAzY!  So check both of these out- they are on sale the first 24 hours!

Latest

Are you on Facebook? Are you following us? If not, you should! Sometimes we post things on Facebook that aren't on our blog. Sometimes posting on Facebook is quicker and easier than the blog! Click on the pic above to go to our Facebook page.

As I sit here browsing Pinterest on a Saturday night (exciting, huh?) I decided to share some of my favs that I just pinned.  Here we go!

Here is my thought on this one. We are studying the chick life cycle and currently have eggs in our incubator. Last week we made nests out of paper bags and we added easter eggs to them. The kids have had fun taking care of their eggs and writing about them all week. So my thought was when our chicks hatch (fingers crossed) then we will change out the egg for a chick in the nest! Aren't these super cute???

Her graphics are so stinky cute! This is one of her latest freebies!

We very rarely use glue bottles. We are a glue stick kinda class. This might convince me to use real glue more often!

Love this! What is it about cups that the kids love?? It is also an inexpensive center!

Free borders! 'nuff said.

I started using this a couple of months ago and we all LOVE it! I worried at first that it would be another thing that I would forget to use consistently. This is not the case! I use it consistently a couple of times a day and as a bribe at other times, as needed. It is super easy, and free, to start and maintain. Below is the reward chart I use. They earn a new reward with every 5 points. Best thing is all rewards are free!

Hundreds of Freebies!!

Teaching Blog Addict is having an AMAZING celebration! There are thousands of freebies broken down by grade. Last time I looked there were over 400 freebies just in the Prek-K category. The link below will take you straight to that page. Have fun and I hope you have lots of room in your Dropbox! (Don't use Dropbox? Click here to check it out. It is CrAzY awesome.)

End Of The Year- It's Survival Mode!

It's April!  That means June will be here READY OR NOT! We are taking Field Trips, have Mother's Day around the corner, Graduation, End of the Year memory books and say it loud: SUMMER!!!!! You are CrAzY if you are not already thinking of SUMMER! So don't forget that with the end of the year comes making sure our kids are ready for the next school year.  That means when they leave us for SUMMER they will forget everything unless you have them working all summer long.  Who's going to do that?!? A little one who is bribed by CAKE!  That's right- we are NOT above bribes.  Tell them if they do the summer homework packet daily over the summer they get a treat when brought back.  We are not talking about a measly ol' calendar you send home for each month.  We are talking about a packet that is the best review packet of everything they need going into 1st grade: reviewing sight words, reading, math and writing every day and bring it back to you the first week of school next year then they get a big HUG from their old teacher and a hostess cupcake. WIN WIN WIN!  THEY win 'cause da' so smart, you win 'cause the 1st grade teachers will see what a CrAzY, awesome teacher you are that your kids retained everything you taught them.  Booya!  So get your hands on everything you need to make your end of the year a success and a blast!