Bakery Classroom Flip: Part TWO!

So we'll pick back up from Part One!   Here's where we left off....the CONTENT!
Here are the standards that we chose as the focus for the flip! *With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. *Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. *With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.  *With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. *With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

When the kiddos entered the room, the Italian music was playing, the room had been transformed, and their teachers had been replaced by chefs for the day!  (That would still be us, just decked out in wigs, chef coats, and strange new accents that were supposed to be Italian...but somehow migrated towards "Southern", "Jamaican", and "Irish" throughout the day! :)  For the record, the kids didn't care!  They were HOOKED!

Next up, we began the day with the actual baking.  We were, of course, in a bakery for Pete's sake!  We chose a simple recipe that could be made on a hot plate and did not require baking just to speed up the process.  We made Oatmeal Chocolate Bars (similar to these) but with ONE.SUPER.HUGE recipe adjustment.  I told them I didn't like things that were too sweet, but more recipes that were salty-sweet.  So I changed the recipe and left out 1/2 of the chocolate that was called for and used 1/2 CUP of SALT (you read that right) instead of BROWN SUGAR!  I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you what THAT did to the recipe.  I'll just let their faces tell you instead!

It was NOT good people.  It was AWFUL.  It was INSANE.  We had to SPIT.IT.OUT!

That was how we began the lesson!  Now you KNOW these people were ALL in.  So we talked about how that did not work AT ALL and maybe we should try it again and FOLLOW THE RECIPE with out leaving out any ingredients and without changing the recipe.

We decided to wait until later in the day.  We had WORK to do.  But this baking fiasco got our CONTENT kick-started.  We talked about WHY the recipe was a disaster...left ingredients out, changed ingredients that didn't fit...  Then I tied that all in to how BOOKS are a lot like RECIPES.  They have certain ingredients (story elements) and they follow a recipe (beginning, middle, ending).

Next up I read a story.  But being the busy chef that I was, I only read the beginning and the ending.  They were like "Well, that didn't make sense.  What the heck happened in the middle?"  Again we talked about stories needing to "follow the recipe" to make sense.

Next up we read When Will It Be Spring?  The WHOLE book this time!

We used story sequencing cards from Heather Cacak.  To make it fit our bakery flip, the kids used pie pans to order the "ingredients" into the pans using plastic tongs.  The whole table had to work together with each person taking turns to add "ingredients". 

 When all groups were finished, we got to play the PIE FACE GAME!  (It's a tradition in Chef Valenti's Bakery, don't you know!!!)  We just let each kiddo come up and have 1 click so as to speed the game along AND make sure everyone got to have a turn.  We were CRACKING up I tell you!!!

Next up, we came back together and made our own RECIPE for a GREAT STORY on the Activboard.  Now we are really tying in the FUN with the CONTENT!

Next up, the kiddos worked with a partner to complete a story elements interactive notebook page from Deanna Jump's Reading Interactive Notebook K-2 pack on TpT.  The kiddos did an outstanding job looking for all of the elements and details in our book.

Whew!  That's enough for tonight.  We'll finish up the day in Part Three!  Check back soon!

Bakery Classroom FLIP! Part One!

Oh...my...word!  We LOVE what happened in our room today!  I will be forever grateful to Hope King, Kim Bearden, and Chris Pombanyo for their CLASSROOM FLIPS inspiration!  If you don't follow these fantastic teachers...DO....IT...NOW!  :) If you are not familiar with a classroom flip, it's basically when you totally change your room into a new environment to build student engagement with a specific content area in mind. For our BAKERY FLIP, we were focused on Language Arts and specifically how stories are much like "recipes".  They must follow a particular order (beginning, middle, and ending) and have certain ingredients (characters, setting, problem, and solution).  We spent quality time on 5 standards throughout the day in reading literature, not too mention some additional math standards! We'll highlight each standard that matches each activity! So...we began with the invitation to the kiddos.  We sent this on the Friday before the flip on Monday.  That gave them all weekend to wonder what they heck was going on in their classroom!!!

Next up, we had to FLIP the classroom and turn that sucker into a bakery!!!

Now of course before we planned all of this decorating, we began the WHOLE FLIP with our content as the real FOCUS!  That's truly the most important part of any flip!
We'll end this post for now.  We plan on blogging again soon with the CONTENT for this flip. For now, here are the standards we taught during the flip!
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story. Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.  With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
Check back soon for more great photos and information about this amazing day! 

Back to School GALORE for Kinders! I'm in LOVE!

Woo-hoo!  We FINALLY finished up our newest unit JUST for KINDERS!

And I have to say I have a little crush!  You know when you have a picture in your head of something you want to create, and well...it turns out all CRAY-CRAY and you are like, "That was NOT what it looked like in my head!"  Yeah...been there, done that!

So this project ACTUALLY turned out like what was in my head...can I get an "AMEN!"

I can't wait to get back to school and start working on these writing, math, and emergent readers with my kiddos!  I think they will love them, but more so I think they will be great for keeping kiddos engaged with meaningful and appropriate activities AND we'll be building our class community all the while!

Here are a couple of my favorite things!

PROJECTS that BUILD COMMUNITY

This project may also be purchased separate from the pack!

This flap book project has kiddos drawing and writing about themselves, their classmates, teachers, and a little about their 1st week in kindergarten.  These make great hall displays and a nice keepsake for families!

EMERGENT READERS

and

GETTING TO KNOW ME

 WRITING, GETTING TO KNOW MY
CLASSMATES, and MORE!

Grab these 2 CUTIES for FREE!

This pack is ON SALE TODAY for only $4.00...that's 50% off...woot! woot!

Be sure and come back tomorrow!  We have a BIG giveaway with products from some of your favorite sellers up for grabs!  Have an awesome Tuesday!

Language POP! Comment to Win!

FINALLY!  We just posted our newest pack in the

 "POP! series"...Language POP! 

You get 92 fun and active task cards for daily common core kindergarten language practice and review!   These cards are meant to be used in WHOLE GROUP with the teacher leading the fun!

There are 8 FREE task cards included in the preview download on TPT! 

50% off in our store TODAY only!
 (Maybe early morning too!)

Multiple Ways to Use the LANGUAGE POP! Task Cards!

FUN and ACTIVE Brain Breaks - Although kiddos will still be working on language concepts, these task cards have them engaged, up and moving, and are tons of fun! They give them a little break from seat work or more focused tasks.

Language Journal Prompts - Read a card aloud to the students and have them respond in their journals using words and pictures. 

Time Fillers for Daily Language Review - Use a card when you have a few spare minutes to fill throughout the day.

EVERY SINGLE kindergarten language standard is included in this pack!

Each standard has multiple task cards included with most standards having 4 or more task cards.

So leave us a comment on how you might use these in your room. 

 We'll choose a winner to get the pack for FREE in a day or 2!

Cinco de Mayo!!!

WHAT??? It's almost May...not even sure how that happened!  This year has flown by especially with all of the crazy snow days that are FINALLY over!

So it's almost May, which means it's time to dance, listen to a mariachi band, and sit on the deck of my favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!  Woo-hoo!

Now I am pretty sure that's not exactly how my kiddos will celebrate, but this is a great time of year to focus on the importance of remembering the heritage and traditions of Mexico as we have many Mexican-American kiddos in our school!  So many of them love sharing their language or unique foods with the class. This is the perfect time of year to focus on the things that make each of us unique and share it with others.

So we created a simple packet that's both FUN and touches on why we celebrate this day in America.  It also has some printables that let all of the kiddos think about what Mexican traditions, music, and foods that they might have experienced.  Hopefully this will be a great way to get your kiddos talking and sharing all about who THEY are!

So here's a peek at what we included...

 Click on any of the pictures to head to our store!

So please leave us a comment and let us know what you think! 

 We'll pick 2 of you to get the pack for FREE!  

The pack will also be 1/2 price ALL day today so you can scoop it up for a BUCK FIFTY!!! :)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Author Study Projects

We just wrapped up one of our VERY favorite units of study....our Author Studies Bonanza!  We LOVE this unit for a million reasons.  We get to pick great books by some of our favorite authors, our kiddos will sit completely still and silent for ANY story time we do, they get to be extremely creative and crafty when creating their culminating learning celebration projects, and the parents LOVE to see the plays and puppet shows!

So here's how it works in our rooms.  We choose 2 or 3 authors to study.  Sometimes we pick ones we love, or we may pick ones that we can tell have quickly become the kiddos' favorite.  This year we chose Robert Munsch and Mo Willems.  I personally am in LOVE with both of these authors and the books crack me up!

We read TONS of books both out loud and on Tumblebooks.  We complete all kinds of great literacy activities like story maps, Venn diagrams, character trait studies, text to self activity sheets, and more.  We mix it up to keep the kiddos interested.

Then after several weeks of studying these books, we do a Mini-Project on The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.  The kiddos work in groups of 3 and they choose to either present the story in a Puppet Show or Play.  We spend some time completing a story map for the book and then they have 2 days to create their puppets or costumes.  We let them go crazy in the art center and use WHATEVER materials they want.  The room looks like something blew up in there for a day or two...but it's all in the name of learning!

We then present our "trial run"plays and puppet shows to each other.  Once they get how this whole thing works, we move on to the REAL projects!  Again they may work in groups to perform one of the author study books as either a PUPPET SHOW or a PLAY.  They work with this group over the course of 1 week to complete the story map, design costumes/puppets, practice the performance, and tie up any loose ends.

Then we have the families in and CELEBRATE!

And the best part is, while we are having so stinkin' much fun working on all of these projects...we have covered a TON of language arts standards and had FUN doing it!!!  You can't beat that people...you can't beat that!!!

Part 3: Interactive Sight Word Packs - Choose 1 FREE!

Part III: Interactive Sight Word Resources:
"everything but the kitchen sink" Activity Page!

This FREE pack is for the sight word COME!  We have been using these packs for about 2 months now and we are TOTALLY loving them!  They are really helping our kiddos remember how to read and write these tricky sight words!

So here is part 3!  You can check out Part I: Flap Books or Part II: Emergent Readers if you missed those posts!

Here's the 3rd activity we included... 
Sight Word Activity Page!

Click either image to grab the pack for FREE in our TpT store!

This sheet is great for giving your kids some REAL time working with the word.  This will help the word “stick” in their brains and works on MANY kindergarten standards such as letters, words, tracking, writing sentences, handwriting, syllables, and more. (LOVE hitting LOTS of standards in 1 go!) 

We have created individual packs for each sight word (We are up to about 40 words so far!).  Then if your kiddos are having a hard time with any particular word, you can get the pack that works on that word.

Many folks have requested we offer them at a HUGE savings in a bundle, and we've done that now too!

Please tell us what you think of this pack. Can you see it working for your kiddos?  Is there a standard/skill you would like to see included?  We would LOVE any feedback you can give us!

We hope you enjoy the freebie!  And if you have made it this far...you can also leave a comment with your name, email address, and 1 more sight word you would like to try out for FREE!  We will email you that Interactive Sight Word Pack over the next few days!  We hope you enjoy!!!

Interactive Sight Word Flap Book, Reader, and More! Part 1

We have just finished posting a FREEBIE that we hope you will love as much as we do!

This first pack is for the sight word COME!  Our littles are having SUCH a hard time remembering this word for some reason.  And I swear, this word is in EVERY stinkin' book that we use to test them on fluency and comprehension.  And if they don't know it....boom!!!  It doesn't matter how well they do on everything else...this one word kills them.

So we were really thinking of ways we can spend more time on a sight word to really help it STICK.  But you know our littles...it's got to keep their attention, be engaging, and FUN!

So we came up with 3 activities that really give the kiddos time to explore the new word and to manipulative it in a TON of ways.  We think these activities are fun and they keep the kiddos focused.

Here's the first activity we included... Sight Word Flap Books

Click either image to grab the pack for FREE in our TpT store!

Each flap book is copied front to back.  Students cut along the dashed lines and they are able to lift the flaps for some sight word FUN!  You can see by the examples exactly what the kiddos will be doing.  Each flap book works on several standards such as handwriting, word identification, reading, tracking left to right, writing, and more.

We are thinking that we will create individual packs for each sight word.  Then if your kiddos are having a hard time with any particular word, you can get the pack that works on that word.

If these work well for folks, we will bundle ALL of the sets and sell the set at a BIG discount.

Please tell us what you think of this pack. Can you see it working for your kiddos?  Is there a standard/skill you would like to see included?  We would LOVE any feedback you can give us!

We hope you enjoy the freebie!  We'll post about the other 2 parts over the next couple of days!

100th Day Galore: Photo Booth, Games, and More! 50% off TODAY only!

Where the heck did the time go?  I promise we meant to blog over our break...but dang it...I blame it on my jammies!  It's been so nice to step away for a bit, snuggle with my peeps, spend time with family and friends, and just soak in the amazing gift of Christ's birth.

But...back we are...finally!

We have been working on our latest pack to help celebrate the 100th Day in a FUN yet meaningful way! With so many standards to teach---there really is no time for FUN without purpose!!!

So...we created a 100th Day pack filled with FUN photo booth props, tons of games, writing activities, and more that are ALL standards based!  No wasted time here, but still a very GOOD time to be had by all!

It's 50% off for TODAY only and you can snag it for just $2.50!  Now---that's a steal!

Click on any image to head to our TPT store!

We promise to get back on the BLOGGIN' bandwagon and check in more often.

We hope you each had a very blessed Christmas, and we wish many good things for you in 2014!

Happy New Year!

Emergent Readers - Individual Packs for Fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving

Hey guys!  Just a quick post to let you know we separated our BIG Fallin' for Fall Emergent Readers Bundle into smaller packs.

We know you may only need 1 particular set to fit into your classroom plans.  Hope this makes it easier on your wallet and your planning!

Happy Columbus Day!  

Let's READ! Getting books into your kiddos' hands!

It's so important to get GOOD FIT books into your kiddos' hands!  We have a TON of great guided reading book sets at school that work really well for our CAFE strategy groups.  BUT...what about getting these books into our kiddos' homes??  NOT SO MUCH!

Our librarian loves us, but not THAT much!  We can't let the littles take these perfectly suited books home since they are library sets.  Our kiddos DO, of course, get to check out library books, but these are not always "Good Fit" books where they can apply all of their new strategies to help them read.

SO...we came up with some EMERGENT READERS that are PERFECT for getting books into our kiddos' hands that they can TAKE home and actually READ!!!  It can be so frustrating for our guys to know all these new strategies and then when they open their library book...it's just FRUSTRATION-VILLE because the strategies aren't working...not a GOOD FIT!

These readers use almost all of the PRIMER and PRE-PRIMDER Dolch words, making them perfect books for most of our readers at this point in the year.  We included an easier version and a more challenging version for 5 of the readers, since we do have some kiddos who are already in the 100 word club.  (Read more about our word clubs here!)

These readers are great for working in guided reading strategy groups

on standards such as tracking left to right/top to bottom,

reading sight words, blending unknown words, using picture clues,

reading for meaning, and much more!

Use the You Be the Author version to work on writing standards such as spacing, capitalization, punctuation, blending, sentences, and more!

So we hope these might be helpful to you too!  We love watching our kiddos discover the JOY of reading and finding out just how powerful words can be!

Please visit our TpT store and download the preview of this pack.  We included the emergent reader, LEAVES (all 4 versions), for FREE as a thanks for your awesome support of our blog and store. 

Download the Preview at our TpT store to grab all 4 versions free!

And as always, we will give away this pack to one winner chosen randomly from ALL the comments left below!

 Now...off to the front porch to drink coffee with the hubs, pooch, kitty, and kiddos and enjoy this GORGEOUS fall day!

Sight Words made EASY! - and a FREEBIE!

Sight words!  They are a BIG deal---a really BIG deal---a HUGE we gotta learn these words to read kinda deal.

We jump right in and begin introducing sight words from the get go.  We usually start with SEE.  They can easily write a MILLION sentences if they know this word.  Most all of them know I and a so throw in SEE and what do ya' got???  "I see a ...(choose about 1/2 the words in the English language and you are good to go)"  Endless possibilities for writing!!!  Granted...it ain't the most creative writing, but once the kiddos see the POWER of words, they get hooked pretty fast!

So to make it really meaningful for the littles and FUN too, here's what it looks like in our room.

We use Orton-Gillingham Phonics.  If you don't use it...BEG, PLEAD, and otherwise promise to give your first born to your administrators if they will send someone to the OGP training!  It is the GREATEST thing E--VAH!  (It's basically a multi-sensory approach to phonics instruction!)

Not a paid advertisement...just love those people!...

Now onto what it looks like in our room!  We show them the new sight word printed on card stock.  We let them look at it, think it over, and ask if anyone thinks they have a guess.  Then we "tap it out".  Basically that means we hold out the arm we DO NOT write with and we use the other arm to "tap out the letters".  We say "s-e-e spells see".  We touch our shoulder for the first letter, our elbow bendy spot for the second letter, and our wrist for the last letter.  Then we sweep from shoulder to wrist when we say "spells see".  This is great for your auditory and kinesthetic learners.

Then we do cheer cards for each word.  There are a MILLION places to find cheer cards.  Here are a few we made up on our own.  Grab this FREEBIE at our TpT store!

We usually draw about 3 or 4 cards to practice the word.  So if we pulled Karate Chop, then we would all stand up, get into our best karate stance, and then chop as we say each letter.  When we say "spells see (or whatever sight word you are working on) we karate kick, then finish it off by yelling HY-AH!  We repeat each chant 3 times before we pick a new card.  THEY LOVE THESE STINKIN' CARDS!

Seriously...they BEG to do these!  These are great for auditory and kinesthetic learners too!

After that we practice thinking up some sentences using the new sight word.  I'll write the sentences on the dry erase board or Activboard.  I write any sight word in RED and all other words in BLACK!  This helps them quickly see the POWER in knowing their sight words!

For our last activity, we use these word sheets we created for Fry words 1-100 and 101-200.  First we have them back write the word on their neighbor.  Then they finger trace it on the paper.  Next we let them pick their colors and rainbow write the word.  (3 or 4 colors works perfectly).  Then they use a pencil to trace the words.  Next they will try it out on their own.  Then we circle the new sight word in the sentence together.  We let them try to read it on their own first, then we'll look for sight words together and blend other words until we have the sentence figured out.  We work on tracking left to write and counting the words in the sentence.  We used a mixture of punctuation marks throughout the pages so we could hit that standard too!  Next they will illustrate the sentence.  And finally, they will use their new sight word to write their own sentence.

Fry Word 1-100 Pack on TpT!           Fry Word 101-200 Pack on TpT!

These sheets are the BOMB DIGGITY, because we teach like 100 standards all in one big sha-bang!  OK so maybe not a hundred, but A BUNCH!

They cover a TON of Common Core ELA standards like sight words, tracking left to right, writing simple sentences, handwriting, blending and using sight words to read, punctuation and capitalization, illustrations, spacing...you name it!

Our kiddos are learning their words super fast.  And no they are not ALL jumping on the sight word bandwagon just yet.  It will take time for some of them, but many of them have hit the ground running and they are on FIRE for sight words!

Hope these cheer cards can help you get your babies excited about sight words!  Let us know what great things YOU do to help your littles learn these words!

Disclaimer---Please DO NOT beat us after you have tried this with your kiddos for the first time!  You will WANT to beat us, you may want to pull our hair, or kick us in the shins, but please resist!  The first couple of sheets you do with them will be SLAP TORTURE!  To make it a bit easier, we do the first several together.  I show it on the Activboard and annotate over it and we complete the sheet together.   But then all the sudden by the 4th sheet or so, the clouds part, the sun shines, birds sing...and they will GET IT!  Then it's smmmmooootth sailing from there!  You will LOVE us again and you will feel bad if you kicked us!  :)