Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Happy Earth Day!  Renee here from Fantastic First Grade Froggies.   I'm here with a throwback from my blog, enjoy.

Do you subscribe to kids magazines?  I always like them, but they are pricy, especially if you want to have a few of them for a reading group.  Sometimes, I like the topics, but there are times when I wish I could tailor the topics to what is relevant in my classroom.

I decided to try out making my own on 11 x 17 "magazine readers."  I originally made them to fit onto 11 x 17 paper and then fold in half.  I am fortunate to have access to a colored copier that will work that size paper.

But if you don't have access to that, you could also print each page onto letter size paper and staple them, or mount them onto a 12 x 18 piece of construction paper.

I also made a practice page for each article.

I had the chocolate one laying around our house and my son picked it up and started reading it.  He was excited to tell me some new info about his favorite food group...chocolate!!

Would you like to try it out?  Click below to grab your In The News Chocolate Freebie

The great news is that you can copy the shrink the 11 x 17 down to letter size paper and that works too!  I discovered that by accident.  I didn't select the right paper on the copy machine.  There are four magazines included each month.  Here is a glimpse of what is in the April pack, which is perfect for today.

Click below to read learn more about the April pack.

Thanks for stopping by today!

April Showers Bring ...April News and Freebies!

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Well, it has been One Busy Month since I was last here at Teaching Blog Round-Up on March 5th! I'm not complaining, really, because I love to do all of this, but sometimes it all seems to happen at once!

* I'm part of a brand new blog,  iTeachFirst!

Every day of the week is a different treat at iTeachFirst::

   Sample Sunday: free samples of bloggers' favorite resources
   Make It Monday: engaging crafts and DIY projects for your classroom
   Tech Tuesday: innovative tech teaching ideas
   Win It Wednesday: current contests and giveaways
   Tipster Thursday: sharing tips and tricks from our own teaching experiences
   Freebie Friday: new freebies every week - interactive notebooks, close reading, centers, and more
   Show-and-Tell Saturday: techniques, resources, and other innovative ideas in action

Watch for my first post there on April 19th (hmmm... that's a Sunday, a.k.a. Sample Sunday. Watch for it!)

If you teach kindergarten or second grade, there's a blog for you, too! Visit iTeachK or iTeachSecond! You'll find the same weekly line-up there, but with posts geared to your grade level.

*  Even with all of this, of course I saved time to make a special little freebie for you, just for stopping by Teaching Blog Round-up today!  This subtraction activity works great as a partner game... roll two dice, subtract the numbers, color a space with that number. The first player to color all of his or her spaces wins the game.

A little extra encouragement in the coloring department will turn these math game pages into a spring "stained glass" window display for your classroom!

Enjoy, and whether you're back in school or on spring break, have a great week!

Happy Teaching!

5 of The BEST End of The Year Ideas

The Best Ideas: (And so many FREEBIES)

Tuesday night, I was featured on 

a Twitter Chat all about the End of The Year. 

Sooooo many ideas went flying by during the 1 hour chat. 

I have listed some of the best ones below.

Here Are The 5 Best Ideas:

1. Create A Memory Book:  I make the 10-page (12" X 12") book before school starts and then we just glue in a few items from each month. I try to include photos on each page too. 

Here is a blog post about our memory books bit.ly/1EVYosz and a few images of some of our memory book pages:

Click the image to see the directions.bit.ly/1EVYosz

Click the image.

Click the image.

2.  Plan Some FUN Projects/Activities For The Last Weeks:  Keep their attention with FUN projects like this egg carton school bus. You can grab the FREE template by clicking HERE.
Students glue their photo on first and then the photos of 5 friends. These look so cute pinned up in your classroom for Open House.

3.  Have a Last Day Celebration:  Whether you have a graduation ceremony or just some Last Day FUN, here are some great ideas to make your last day awesome:

Make a Last Day or Graduation frame.

  

Click the image for pre-k, Tk, or K certificates.

Candles made from their old, jumbo, kindergarten crayons:

Candles made from their old kindergarten crayons.
Click the image for a FREE poem to go with these.

 Clean the room AND practice skills:

Clean the tables, practice writing sight words and #s, and have FUN!

4.  Send Home An Individualized Summer Review: I use esgisoftware.com to print out a parent letter (comes in English AND Spanish) and flashcards so parents can help their child practice the skills they need over the summer.

I LOVE ESGI! They offer a FREE trial for 60 days and I have a code for you to receive $40 off of your 1st year. Just enter the code B2174 while grabbing your FREE 60 day trial. 

The parent letter shows them the specific skills they have mastered and the ones they have not.

The flashcards can be used to create games and to practice skills while in the car.
I suggest that parents place flashcards in zipper-plastic bags to float in the bathtub!

Your administrator will LOVE all of the data!
Check out the sidebar at the right for more data.

You can use the built-in assessments or you can even create your own! 

Are you looking for some great TK Assessments?

CLICK HERE

I made some great assessments for TK (or Pre-K) that 

combined the pre-school foundational skills with the CCSS for Kindergarten. 

You will save so much time and your students will actually BEG to be tested! 

Check our ESGI by clicking 

HERE.

REMEMBER to use your 

discount code:

B2174

5. Get Ready For The Next Year: Here are some ideas you can do now and store in the cupboard until the new school year:

Crayon Table Tray: (Fits 6 small or 4 jumbo crayons.)

Buy popsicle molds at the Dollar Store over the summer.
Great for use on table tops and it promotes sorting every day!

Crayon box organizers: FREE template for small or jumbo 8-count boxes.

click the image

Lined Dry-erase contact paper applied to laminated construction paper:

Click the image.

Remember to do something for yourself too. Attend a conference and get re-energized for the new school year.  Here are 3 conferences I'll be presenting at over the next few months. I hope to see you there:

The Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference

April 17-18

Denver, Colorado:

(Click the image.)

Click the image.

I Teach K!:

July 6-10

Las Vegas, Nevada:

(Click the image.)

Click the image.

Frog Street's Splash:

July 30-Aug. 1

Grapevine, Texas:

(Click the image.)

Click the image.

Two more things: 

I have a new Educents Store where there is ALWAYS a FREEBIE and something on SALE:

Click the image to get your FREEBIE and see my SALE.

Join us every Tuesday night on Twitter

#TeacherFriends

6PM Pacific Time

8PM Central Time

9PM Eastern Time

Use #TeacherFriends on Twitter

I suggest using Tweetdeck.com

(It's free and keeps the chat organized.)

I'll see you all on May 4th!

Palma :)