Thirty One Bag

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This week, I got my Thirty-One zipper pouch prize from Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies. I had never heard of this company before, until I entered her giveaway. I love my new bag. When I got it in the mail, my daughter took it and tried to put many different things in it to see how much would fit in it. She was surprised to see that my Webster’s Dictionary fit in there nicely.  She was fascinated by this bag. Good thing that I had ordered one for her during the giveaway. She looked at all the items in the catalog and finally decided on this same zipper pouch. She opted for the circle spirals and personalized it with purple lettering. Every day, she asked Is it here yet?  Is it here yet? It only took about a week or so.  Today, we came home and noticed a nice little package waiting for us in our porch. Daisy could not stop smiling and rushed to open the package. We are very happy with our Thirty-One bags:)

Here are some pics:)

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Christmas in July Sale

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Let’s celebrate Christmas in July! On July 25th, I am having some WONDERFUL JOLLY GOOD ole’ deals on my HOLIDAY items in my TPT store.  It will be a 20% discount for one day only:) Join me in this JOLLY fun! You can browse my sale items then hop on over to Blog Hoppin’ to see my bloggin’ buddies who have also joined in the fun. Just look for this Christmas button that was created by Abby from The Inspired Apple.

These are my holiday literacy centers that will be on sale tomorrow only.
Note: TPT will be down in the morning due to maintenance upgrades. So, you can probably place items in your cart today. Then, just go back tomorrow for checkout.

*Update: TPT is having technical issues. I will extend the sale one more day. It is scheduled to end July 26th at midnight central time.

I will be working on an English version this year.

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Back to School: Arrival Procedures

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First day arrival procedures differ from classroom to classroom. Many students do not go to Pre-K and are not familiar with classroom routines and procedures. Many are scared and do not know what to expect from their new teacher and friends.

We have to make our classrooms a pleasant and welcoming environment where our students can feel safe and eager to learn. I will list some simple ideas that you can use on the first day of school.

1. Have some nursery rhymes playing softly in the background. This will help children walk into a classroom with familiar songs and feel at ease.

2. Display the child’s name throughout the classroom before the first day arrival. Label a place for their backpacks, cubbies, and seating assignments. This will help them feel reassured that there is a place for them and their belongings at school. When the student arrives, you will say something like “This is where you will hang your backpack everyday.” Then, you can show the student the table with his name and say “This is where you will sit today.”

3. It’s always a good idea to have an activity ready for them. They can work on that while waiting for the rest of the students to arrive.  Some teachers like to have math manipulatives at each table. I prefer to have play-doh activities. I buy enough play-doh for each child in the classroom. You can place some cookie cutters and one can of play-doh on a tray for each student at a table. This will keep them engaged while classmates arrive.

*My giveaway is still on. Make sure to enter here.

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Back To School Giveaway

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update: Welcome, Kinder Alphabet Followers!! Thank you so much for entering the giveaway. Rafflecopter has selected the two winners listed below. I have already contacted the winners:)

Hello Friends!

Today is my Birthday! What better way to celebrate than with a Giveaway?  I have been quite a busy bee creating some nice things in preparation for Back To School. The best thing is that all of these items are in English and Spanish versions. So, everyone on your team can come enter! I will select two winners. One will receive the English resources. The other will receive Spanish resources.

I will keep this post short and simple. I hope that you like what I have to offer:)

3 ways to win:

1- Follow my TPT store here. (+5 points) 
2- Follow this blog (+3 points) and leave me a comment indicating if you prefer the English or Spanish versions. Don’t forget to leave me your email in the comment OR come back on Thursday to see if you won.
3- Share about this giveaway on Facebook here. (+10 points) Just click the share button of this giveaway picture on my facebook page:) I will know that you “shared” if I see your name come up under the “show shares” button:)*Hint: You will see that little number increase when you share from my facebook page. I must see your name there for the 10 points to count.

This giveaway will end July 25, 2012 at midnight central time. The winners will be announced on the next day.

Good Luck!

This is what you could win:)

Or the Spanish Newsletters here.
Or the Dual Language Classroom Labels here.

Or the Spanish Alphabet Signs here.

Or the Spanish Calendar Pack here.

Or the Spanish Classroom Rules here.

There is only an English version of this one.
How will winners be selected?
I will select winners using this rafflecopter widget. It will generate a winner on Thursday.
Make sure to click “DO IT”  on this widget to record your entry. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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232 Classroom Labels and a Freebie

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Environmental print is very important in Kindergarten. We have to label everything that we can think of. When you use classroom labels, students begin to take notice of print and associate it with the actual objects. You will see that they will start copying the words that they see around the room and maybe even draw a picture that corresponds with the words. It’s all part of their writing development.

I have made 232 classroom labels to get you started in labeling your classroom. This book will include 182 word labels, the numbers 1-50 for labeling book boxes, math tubs or cubbies plus one blank page for you to add your own words.

Many of us tend to label the classroom ourselves, but there is a much meaningful way of doing this. Get your students involved. You can focus on one area of the classroom at a time.

1-Give students some of the corresponding labels.
2-Give a tour of the center or area. Explain what things are found in that area.
3-Tell them that everything has a name and a home.
4-Have students name an object in that area.
5-The student with the corresponding label will tape it to the tub, shelf, etc

My classroom labels are in my store if you want to take a look.

And a freebie for you. This is a Reading Log that you might find useful.

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Freebies for Kindergarten

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Hello friends. I am so happy that you are here. Today, I want to feature some freebies to make sure that you have not missed out. Since I just changed the name of my blog, I am not sure if you are getting post notifications. My old blog name was Kids Reading Activities. Please make sure that you are following my blog and grab my new url for your blog roll so that you can stay up to date with Kinder Alphabet.

I am a TBA author and we are teaming up to celebrate International Blog Hoppin Day. Come on by to see what we have for you and make sure to link up your own posts:)

Follow The Famous Yellow Road

Here are some freebies that you might like:
1. Roll and Label for Back to School Vocabulary is a dice game to practice new thematic vocabulary. Students roll the dice, match the number to the picture and write the corresponding word. A word bank is provided for easy reference. (Roll it. Match it. Write it.)
2.  DIY Roll-a-Word is a fun activity that you can use in your literacy centers. I have added new word families per your request. If you are new to my blog, please go to this literacy center blog post to learn how you can create your own Roll-a-Word tube. 
3.  Common Core Checklists for Language Arts in English and Spanish

4.  A Back to School Activity to use with your study of letters.

5.  Activities for the 100 Days of School.

Ok. That’s it for today. I hope that you are able to enjoy them all!

If you like what you see, you can follow me here too:)

         Pre-K, Kindergarten, 2nd - Balanced Literacy, Spanish, English - TeachersPayTeachers.com

Follow for Freebies

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Using Fun Fonts in Kindergarten

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Welcome to our Blog Swap and Hop. We have many teachers guest blogging on each other’s blogs today. Hopefully you will find some new ideas and freebies along the way. 

My guest blogger is Michelle from Inspired By Kindergarten with a wonderful post about fonts. After you read her post, you can head to  Forever in First for my post about Back To School goodies. You will also find a linky for the blog hop at the bottom of this wonderful post:)


Hello!  I am Michelle from Inspired By Kindergarten and I am so excited to be guest blogging on Kinder Alphabet today! I’ve been teaching for 14 years (2 years Title Math teacher, 7 years First Grade and 6 years Kindergarten).  I “met” Lidia through Facebook and was so excited to get the chance to guest post for her!   I’ll be honest with you. . . when it’s someone else’s blog you put a LOT more effort into what you write.  🙂   It’s a little long today but FILLED with freebie!
Ok, onto our topic:  Funny Fonts
For me it’s a love/hate relationship.  Anyone out there use the old DIBELS assessment? If you did you’ll remember the horrible funky looking “g” they put on the first line.  WHY?  The kids would look at that “g” and just freeze up.  Even giving them the answer and encouraging them to keep going was fruitless.  Their confidence was gone and they were DONE.  Ugh.  And funky fonts are EVERYWHERE!  There’s no getting away from them.  So. . . instead of kicking, screaming and crying over it (me, not the kids) I decided to start teaching it.   WOW. . . the letter naming confidence level of my kids shot through the roof!  I saw huge improvement in my ELL students and all kids in general.  The best part was it’s really not that hard to do!  For the rest of this post I will stop rambling (promise) and give you 5 tips on how to get funky fonts into your classroom!

1.  When you label the students cubbies, mailboxes, notebooks, journals, etc. at the beginning of the year choose a different font for each spot.  
2.  Put several sets of alphabet flashcards, each with a different font, in your reading centers.  You’ll find these all over the web but to save you some time just click the pic for your free copy of these funky font flashcards (also includes a page with suggestions on how to use):

3.  Save old food boxes to cut letters out of.  This is a super cheap way to collect hundreds of funky fonts. Plus you get several sizes so they are great for all sorts of sorting!  : )
I recently reorganized  my stamps and kept the case the stamps came in.  I saved it for sorting the smaller letters. 
However, if you don’t have something like this you could have the kids sort the letters onto an alphabet poster:
Or a simple sorting sheet (click picture to download yours):
4.  For more independent practice check out some of these packets from TPT:
                                                                                                           
5.  Show a slide show of letters in different fonts.  This is a new activity for me so I’ve only created one file so far.  The first letters my class work on are M, S, R and T so I’ve created a PowerPoint that focuses on those 4 letters.  The first part of the presentation is “shout it out” time where the kids literally shout the letters out loud as they flick on the screen.  The next part of the presentation slows down so the kids can graph the letters they see.  I even put some “non examples” in this part and a sad face on the graph for kids to use when “non examples” appear.   
AND/OR
I’ve also included the jpg images of the letters from the Power Point.  I plan on getting my students used to the activity and then loading the images onto a digital frame for kids to use during reading centers.  
I found this awesome picture frame on Amazon.com last summer.  It’s also a dry erase board so I can write the focus letters on the frame.  Plus, it has a record feature so I can record a  message to the kids and they can press the green button to hear it.  Click on the picture to get one for yourself.  Sorry, the picture frame isn’t a freebie!  : (   : (    : (
However, I do have my MRST Power Point, jpg images and graph available if you are willing to be a guinea pig and try it out with me!   All you have to do to receive a copy is follow this blog, leave Lidia a comment and include your e-mail address.  
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this blog post!  
I hope you found something new and useful for you and your kinders!

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DIY: Roll A Word Activity

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Today, I want to share a Do-it-Yourself center activity. I will include a printable that can be used for making words with -at. This is so simple to make and you can use materials that you already have at home.

Best of all, this is a hands-on activity that your child or students will love to manipulate once you put it together.

Materials needed: colored paper, paper tube, ruler, scissors and tape.
First, you need to measure the width of the paper tube that you are using. Then, you will cut out a long strip according to the width. I did not measure the height for this one.
Next, you will roll the tube into the colored paper and cut out the excess paper. Now, tape it the paper to the tube. It should be a tight fit so that the paper will not come undone easily.
Download this free printable and cut out the letter strips. I have two consonant strips. Simply use one letter strip at a time on your paper tube or make two tubes.
Then, tape the -at strip directly to the paper tube so that it does not move. The letter strips will serve as the beginning sounds.  Assemble these according to the directions on the picture.
 Finally, slip the consonant strips into the tube. It should be loose enough so that children can roll the paper strip around the tube.

You are all set! Use it during guided reading groups or as a center activity. Watch the kids have fun reading!  Options: Students can write each word on a recording sheet or dry-erase board. 
They can even build the words with letter tiles or magnets.

UPDATE: I have included the word families that you requested plus much more. Click on the following picture to get it all.

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Alphabet Activities

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This is an activity to meet the Common Core Standards for Reading in Kindergarten. K.RFS.1 states that  students will recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet. You can use this resource as stated below to practice these skills.

It fits right in on the first week of school when you read Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom or year-round.

Get the English Chicka Chicka Boom Boom activities here.
Get the Spanish Chicka Chicka Boom Boom activities here.
How to use:
1-           
Students
can match uppercase letters to the corresponding lowercase letters. Use the
attached mat to place the cards in the boxes.
2-          
Students
can sequence the upper or lowercase letters in correct order. Use in the pocket
chart or on the carpet. This is also a good way to retell the story.
3-          
Use
one of the mats in the listening center and provide magnetic letters. Students
place the correct letters on the mat as they listen to the story.
4-          
Hide
the letter cards around the room. Students go for a letter hunt. They return to
the carpet and show and tell about the letter that they found. (Example: I
found the letter “A”- acorn and airplane start with “A”) OR (Abel’s name starts
with “A”)
5-          
Use
the letter cards to for a graph.  Teacher
lines the letter cards on a bulletin board or butcher paper. Students write
their names on an index card and place it under the first letter in their
names.
6-          
Each
student is given a letter card. As the teacher reads the story “Chicka Chicka
Boom Boom,” the student raises the corresponding card.
7-          
Students
use magnetic letters or letter tiles to find the letters in their names. They
mix up the letters on the given mat. Then, they will build their names under
the coconut tree.  
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Motivating Little Boys to Read

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Sometimes, it can be a little hard to get our little boys motivated to read. Boys are boys and they just want to do what they do best…play, play, play.

So, I was thinking of how to make reading engaging enough to hold their attention. My son thinks that the ABC chart is just plain BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…..boring.

Personalized Alphabet
I came up with a personalized Alphabet Chart designed especially for BOYS. First, I chose a theme that he loves. He has been obsessed with Super Heroes since forever so this seems like the best choice. Then, I made a list of the things that he and most little boys are interested in and came up with this alphabet chart. It includes words such as airplane, frog, kite, magnet, lion, pirate and robot.

Do you think that he is interested now?

 Oh, yes, yes, yes 🙂

Super Alphabet cards
I used the pictures from the alphabet chart to make individual alphabet cards for our pocket chart. 

Super Hero cape
I found this old t-shirt. I have no idea who it belongs to. Someone must have left it behind and never claimed it:) So, I cut the front part out and made it into a Super Hero learning cape to match the theme. The length is perfect. He runs around the house pretending to fly and uses his Super Powers to learn:)
Now, he is ready to learn!
Writing Skills
He started out by practicing his writing skills. He was so eager that he did not give me time to laminate and cut the cards out. Laminated cards are better so that  you can use them over and over again with a vis-a-vis marker. By the way, he is wearing his Super Hero cape while he “writes like a hero”
Dice Game
I made alphabet cards to fit in these dice with clear pockets. Angel had fun rolling the dice.  Not only is it fun, but it still keeps with the super hero theme.

Splat game
We used the dice game from above to play a roll the letter, splat the letter game. This is good to review letter names and letter sounds.  So, when he rolled out the letter “c”, he used a fly swatter that we found at Wal-Mart to “SPLAT” the letter. Wow, this fly swatter is perfect for this game. He loves anything with ACTION.

I also made word family cards for the dice. Angel played the “roll a word game.” We worked on making words with -at. 

Roll-a-Word, Color-the-Word
Every time that he rolled a word, he had to identify it on the -at word list and color the box with the word. Like this:

Roll-a-Word, Trace-a-Word
Angel had fun identifying the words. Now, he was ready to work with words. I made him a Read it, Trace it, Build it printable. He rolled the dice to make a word with -at. Then, he worked on that word.  Here, he is tracing the word bat.

Build-a-Word
Finally, he cut the letters out to build the word.

It was a very busy week, but a lot of fun 🙂 This personalized theme for little boys sure got him motivated. ( I am working on a personalized theme for little girls too.)

If you are interested in these activities, you can find them here:

Super Hero Alphabet

Super Hero Word Families: The cards can be used in the pocket chart. We just thought it was much more fun to use them in the Carson Dellosa cubes:)

These are the cubes that we used.

Make sure to download this 10 page freebie. 
These are the Word Family lists.
Enjoy!
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