Did you hear the news?!?!?! TPT is having their Back to School sale on August 3rd and 4th. I am joining the linky party at Speech Room News  to share a few of my products and some things I want. First up our my Concepts of Print booklets. Each booklet contains a simple sentence and picture. There is a dot under each word to help the students practice work tracking skills. There are 5 booklets in this set. Simply Print, Cut, and Go!  The Ending Sound Sorts has everything you need to teach and practice ending sounds. There are large color cards for instruction and smaller color and black and white versions for independent practice. Help the kids sort picture by the ending sounds they hear.  My simple Bathroom Signs contain a sign with the bathroom rules: Remember to flush, Toilet paper in the toilet, and Wash your hands. Each sign is available in three different color options.  There are lots of things in my cart. Writing through the year is almost at the to...

I haven't been in my room since June. I haven't really thought much about my room since June. We are lucky to have a couple of days to work in our room guaranteed by our contract. But who am I kidding, I teach Kindergarten, I always need more.  I walked into a pretty organized room. The custodians put things back approximately where they were originally. Yeah, I don't have to move the rug or housekeeping center, it is very heavy. We are also allowed to leave things on the walls. That means less chair  climbing up the ladder for me.  My room is a large rectangle with built-ins on every wall. This is my third year in the room and I haven't found a set up I love yet. I am finally happy with the housekeeping center. It is just inside the door, see the 'microwave' in the photo above. I need the custodians to turn it around, but it won't move. My tables and bookshelves are another story.  As you see, I have trapezoid tables for my students. Above t...

There are several skills that must be in place before a child is ready to ready. They include the following:    Identifying the cover, back, & title page of a book    Identifying where to read    Identifying the pictures and the words    Pointing to where to begin reading and tracking the words across a page    Knowing the difference between a letter and a word    One-to-one word correspondence, touching each word as it is read All of these skills are taught during read alouds and often taught indirectly. But the last one, word tracking, needs a little more direct instruction. Big books and pointers are great for this. As I read the book I touch each word with a pointer. After rereading the book, I let a student be my helper; they point to the words as I read them. After spending a week with the same book, I put it into my reading center, with the pointers. Students will have learned the book and can practice reading and tracking the words themselves. Repeated reading...

I saw this on Bloglovin' tonight and it looked like fun. I am joining up with The Tattooed Teacher for her A Get to Know Me Linky. This week is a quick Yes/No questionnaire. 1. Last year my kiddos were asking me 'What are you saying?" Then they just started saying "She's doing it again." Yes, I talk to myself all the time.  2. Slightly superstitious 3. I used to crack them all the time, not so much as I got older. 4. No, it is bedtime.  5. No, it is at my back, so I listen to music while on the computer.  6. Nope, but I never had any to begin with. 7. Yes ma'am 8. To be fair, I was 18 the first time I went to Disney World. Now I live 2.5 hours from the parking lot at the Magic Kingdom, I've been a lot. I have also been to Disneyland and will go back one day.  9. Yes, I just gave up my contacts and went back to glasses for everyday use.  10. Nope, I only lived there for 6 months, never lived in that state...

When our house was built I was able to customize my office/studio/creative space. I looked at lots of photos of craft room, storage types, desks, etc... to come up with I hoped would work for me. Since it is all built in, there is no changing it now. I knew I wanted a large desk area. In fact I have two, there is a small desk across the room.  My large desk 8 feet long and I love it. I put my computer at the end, over the printer, which is on a pull out shelf! This has been my set up for 4 years, barring minor changes. The computer area has always bothered me. I have to pull the computer down the desk so my feet will fit. That left a lot of wasted space between the computer and the book shelf.  I can't make notes while I am on my computer. All the desk space is on the left and I am right handed. I needed to do something.  Why it took 4 years for me to think of this I am not sure. But while looking at the above view last night, I realized I could put my computer in th...

Today I am linking you with the new Kinder Tribe blog { HERE } to share a little bit about myself.  Name: That is pretty self explanatory!  Years teaching/Years in K: I have been teaching since 1996. I thought I wanted to teach 4th or 5th grade. My first job was teaching Pre-K and I loved it. I taught 1st grade in between my Pre-K and K years. I have been in K for 5 year now.  I can't live without: My Promethean Board; and that means I have to keep my computer. I love letting the kids 'be the teacher'. It also helps with behavior. If you are playing, you miss your turn. I teach a high poverty and high ELL population, at least 80% ELL. They don't have the background knowledge many kids come to school with. I find short videos on YouTube to show them things like snow (we live in Florida) and animals, instruments, even household items. It really gives them a better understanding of the word to see it  versus me just telling them.  Favorite school suppl...

Yes, I need one more social media outlet! Periscope is very addicting. Find me here... ...

I have been tinkering with my blog this summer. I updated my Social Media buttons on the right. I also added some pages and navigation bar links below the title.  Next I turned my attention to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I used the tutorial " How to Dress Up Your TpT Store! " Found on Mrs. Fultz's corner. I do not see any reason to reinvent the wheel and there are so many kind bloggers who share tutorials. I always start with a Google search.  I used Canva , the online platform for design, to create a new 'quote'. My quote doesn't link to products. This is where I diverged from Mrs. Fultz's tutorial.  After creating the image in Canva, I downloaded it to my computer. I then added it to my blog. I have an unpublished page of images so I can grab the HTML codes. I previously used Photobucket, but my account was having issues. After getting the HTML code I logged into my TPT account. Under the Seller's Dashboard, click on Edit Pr...

I am linking up with I Heart Grade 3 for her summer blog summer link up. This weeks topic: I had to pull out my old hard drive for this one. I keep all my photos on an external drive and replaced it 2 years ago. Then I couldn't find the cords. Off to Snapfish for my uploaded photos and here we go!  It was a busy summer with three trips. First was a quick trip to Disney World with my daughter and her best friend. After all, Disney is better with friends. It is only 2 hours from my house, so we used to go quite often.  Then a late planned trip to Atlanta for my family. All the siblings were able to be in the same place at the same time, and spouses (except mine) and children. It is a rare event indeed. In fact, it hasn't happened since then.  Finally, the our family vacation to Paradise Island Bahamas. I made it out of the US before I turned 40, it was close but I did it. The water is beautiful and almost beyond description. We spent time at Atlanti...

Here it is; my TpT challenge Masterpiece; hosted by Teach Create Motivate , Third in Hollywood , Peppy Zesty Teacher , and Sparkling in Second . I created this for reinforcing letters and sounds.  Many children come into Kindergarten knowing most or all of the letters and many of the sounds. They no longer need a week on each letter. Yet, they need to master the sounds and shapes of the letter. They need to recognize the letter in different fonts for reading. This set provides resources to practice the letter names, letter shape and beginning sounds.  What do you get?  Each letter has three options for font sorting. You get two pages of color or black and white letters, in a variety of fonts for sorting; mats are included. These are great for small group or center work. Each letter had a printable page for font sorting. This can be used as independent practice, homework, or just use it for the students who still need help, instant differentiation.  Each lette...

It is that time again; a new month, a new Currently from Oh' Boy 4th Grade.   I haven't turned on my music or TV yet, so the air conditioner is a constant sound in the background. It is hot in Florida, so it rarely shuts off.  I love the new FB groups I have joined this summer. One to help with blogging and a couple to help TPT.  I am thinking that I can put aside my TPT items next week and spend the time on personal projects. I have a basket of photos waiting to be scrapped.  I need to go put the towels in the dryer, but I don't want to move right now. All Star, really, you' have to ask my friends that.  Don't forget to check out all the other posts at Oh' Boy 4th Grade and link up yourself.  ...