My Favorite Easter Read-A-Louds

hApPy SpRiNg!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Some of you are off this week or next week for Spring Break. I had mine last week with a three-day weekend for Easter this week. State testing is next week, BUT let's not focus on that.... Let's focus on happy thoughts, like spring and the Easter Bunny! I've picked out a few of my favorite books to read this time of year. I've also included (as usual) free activities with links to go along with them. :)

Happy Easter, Mouse!" is a cute story about our old friend Mouse. He leaves Easter eggs ALL OVER!!! It is a great story to read to your students before they go out to hunt their Easter eggs. You could also leave eggs hidden in the classroom for them to find as a special treat. The treat could be a coupon for a pencil or an eraser, or put a piece of candy inside it. I'm not a big candy-treat-kind-of-teacher, but each to his/her own. Here is a list by delicateconstruction.com that is useful to help you decide what to put in the eggs.

Pete the Cat books are everyone's favorites! In this book, Big Easter Adventure, Pete helps out the Easter Bunny. Making bunny crafts and directed drawing are great to accompany this book. This bunny craft is from Michaele Sommerville's blog Kindergarten's 3 R's. It combines an egg and a bunny! Directed drawings are very popular right now. There are several teacher/bloggers who have them but I especially like Jennifer's from First Grade Blue Skies.

Pinkalicious is a very cute story about an Easter egg scavenger hunt. There are sooooo many activities to do with this story. Coloring Easter eggs, Easter egg hunts and, of course, making an Easter egg craft. I especially like this one from School Time Snippets. The tissue eggs look 3-D!

I hope you enjoyed your Easter. I will be back in April to share about some spring books and activities I do with my class. Until then, enjoy!

March Read-A-Louds

March is my favorite month! I love St. Patrick's Day! Spring is on its way! ANNNNNNDDDDD, it's my birthday month! Very special! I'm lucky enough to have my birthday off every year from school because it falls during Spring Break! Yipppppeeeee! Happy birthday to meeeeee! I wanted to share some of my favorite books for the month of March. All of them are St. Patrick's Day themed, of course.

I love this book. I've been reading it for years. The little ones can really relate to "not being big enough" to get to do things. They also get to learn about a traditional St. Patrick's Day parade in Ireland. There's always lots of questions and oooohhhhh's and aaaaahhhhh's. Love it!

The "Old Lady Who Swallowed Everything!" LOL! I remember waaaayyyy back when she'd only swallowed a fly (and some other animals)! The kids really enjoy reading books about the Old Lady and making a craft to go along with it. There are several on Pinterest and TPT, so go take a look! Here's a link to a craft from Make Learning Fun .com. Super Cute!

Green Shamrocks is a great book to read before making lucky shamrocks with your class. You could also have a class parade and decorate headbands, bracelets, etc. to wear during the parade. :) Here is a list of 50 Shamrock Crafts from Penny at Meet Penny Save, Serve, Love.

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day is a great book! It's a great comparison to The Night Before Christmas. Kids really see the connection and love to point it out if you read both! Here is a really cute rainbow and pot of gold craft from Crafty Morning.

This is a super-funny book about Leprechauns and their antics! Here is a craft from Housing a Forest to do after reading. You can also can "trap" a leprechaun for your class. Cheryl from moms & munchkins has a whole blog post loaded with ideas to bait and trap a leprechaun.

This book is great for great for the little ones who are still learning their numbers one to ten. There are several number game options to use with this one. Here are some great ideas from Vanessa over at Pre-K Pages for counting and number recognition using play dough mats.

Last, but not least, The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever! This is such an awesome book! You can really do some great activities with it. Here is a great writing assignment and craft from Cara over at The First Grade Parade.

I hope these are useful for you! Have a great rest of February! (Don't forget about Leap Day!) I'll probably post some fun activities about it this weekend. See you soon! Enjoy!

February Read-A-Louds

February is halfway over and I'm just now catching up with my blog posts! Yikes! That's okay because I've crammed put all of my favorites into this one post. :) Trying to be efficient here! Anyway... Here they are! Enjoy!

For 100 Day, I've always read these three books. I realize there are more out there now but since I've been doing 100 day since 1998, I stick with what I like, no matter how old - 100th Day Worries, Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100 Day and the 100th Day of School. All of them are available through Amazon in case you can't find them through Scholastic Books. I've blogged about 100 day before and all of the activities I do. I'll try to upload some more with pictures this weekend. (No promises! LOL)

Next are my picks for Valentine's Day. I LOVE all of the crafts and goodies associated with Valentine's!!! Yummy!!!! Okay, anyway... Here is the link to my Pinterest Boards to find TONS of ideas for Valentine's Day (or any holiday, for that matter!). I really love all of these but The Day It Rained Hearts has to be my favorite. I like to have 'raining hearts' in the room! So much fun!

And finally, my picks for Presidents' Day. Students really get a kick out of My Teacher for President! They've always told me that I should run for president, especially my kinders, LOL! My personal favorite is Abe Lincoln's Hat. It gives a different perspective into the life of our most famous president. Kid's love making his hat and filling it with 'important things'!

Have a Fabulous February! See you soon! Enjoy!

A Weekly Planner Freebie!

We all have so many "to do's" that it's hard to keep up with them, especially this time of year. I made a little calendar to keep up with what I have on my lists personally and professionally. I just print it out on card stock, laminate it and use a dry-erase marker to write down what I need to remember. I made one in black and white too so you can print it on white card stock, or use a fun color card stock. You can add a piece of magnetic tape to the back and put it on your refrigerator at home, or a filing cabinet in your classroom. And best of all, it's FREE! Just click HERE to get your copy. Enjoy!

January Read-A-Louds

As we're all trying to get through the last week before Winter Break, we (as teachers), are already thinking about January. I've compiled a picture of my all-time favorite read-a-louds. Some are fairly new, but some are what I consider 'classics'. There are so many activities to be done with each of these books from making snow like this activity from Momma's Fun World, to drawing a picture of Martin Luther King like this one from Kindergarten Monkey Business (and they're FREE)! You know I'm all about sharing with other teachers to help each other! "My Brother Martin" and "Back of the Bus" are super for teaching perspective too! "Snowflake Bentley" was a wonderful read-a-loud for my Kinders and 4th graders. I used it as a part of a fiction/non-fiction close-read at both levels which can spill over into science. I hope you have a restful and relaxing holiday break! Enjoy!

FREE Thank You Notes!

Hi everyone! I've been making things again.... (I'm not going to mention all of the things I've made and haven't even had time to prep and upload for TPT!) I've made some cute thank you cards in winter/Christmas theme ready to be downloaded, printed on card stock, cut, signed and sent home!

Just click HERE to get yours now! Enjoy!

Holiday Teacher Gifts and a FREEBIE!

Hello everyone! Just five more days until break! Yippppeeeeeeee! We have two half-days Thursday and Friday too! I just finished making my teacher-friend gifts. I made my own tags because I don't think teachers should have to pay for everything. ;) Just click below the pictures to get your freebies from me and Easy Teaching Tools.

Click here to download a copy of my gift tags

I print out these weekly planners from Kristen in color on card stock. I then laminate them with my Black and Decker personal laminator that I got for free from Amazon with my points :). I buy my pockets from SAMs in bulk (200 per box).

I use TAPE trendz from the Dollar General to attach the gift tags. I bought the glitter kind for more of a Christmas feel. I give each teacher a bag with Hershey kisses and mini candy canes. And there you have it! Inexpensive Christmas/Holiday gifts for all of my friends, principal and colleagues!

Enjoy!