CKLA Goodies to keep your kinder and first grade kiddos engaged! If you're a CKLA teacher I have literacy stations and BINGO games for you!  The bundles are here! BUNDLES are the way to go, I discount them 20% when I list them. Don't forget to use the TpT code BTSFRESH to save even more.   CKLA Kindergarten Units 3-10 BUNDLE CKLA 1st Grade Skills Units 1-7 BUNDLE CKLA Kindergarten BINGO BUNDLE CKLA First Grade BINGO BUNDLE ..read more

In my school we use CKLA Skills (Core Knowledge Language Arts) for ELA instruction.  I'm fortunate to have a forward thinking principal that allows the first and second grade teachers to compartmentalize for our reading instruction.  For our instructional purposes we assess the students in the beginning of the year.  Students are then placed in the curriculum at a level that meets their instructional needs.  For instance, I'm a first grade teacher, but in October I was teaching a mid-kindergarten reading group.  My reading group is comprised mostly of first graders, h ..read more

How much do we love bonuses?!  A LOT! Get ready for your chance to save more on your important back to school TpT purchases.  Tomorrow, Monday, August 22nd for one day only you can save 28% off in my TpT store.  Check it out now to load up your wishlist! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/First-Grade-Is-Fantabulous ..read more

If you use Second Step to teach social-emotional skills in your classroom, you've got to check out these cute printable posters.  Be quick though, this is a FLASH FREEBIE! Also, don't forget about the TpT sale!   ..read more

Hello Dear Teacher Friends! I'm super excited about TpT's Back to School Sale and I can't wait to tell you about a few of my favorite back to school goodies!   First, let me tell you about my Back to School Part 2! {MORE} Busy Work for First Graders: This is an amazing pack containing both math and phonics pages that are perfect for beginning of the year firsties.  Take a look, and don't forget to add it to your wishlist: I have to share with your my favorite bulletin board for Back to School time: This is my favorite photo prop!  I use this every year to get pict ..read more

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Here's your chance to score some nice SWAG just for you!  Visit me on Facebook to enter.  Two winners will be chosen on Friday, May 6th.  Each winner will win one $10.00 Teachers Pay Teachers gift card!  Good luck ..read more

So excited to have done  my first guest post with Emily at Education to the Core.  If you're looking for a great intervention for students who struggle with sight word recognition or math facts, you have to check out my post on Incremental Rehearsal!   ..read more

Today was day 3 of classroom set-up.  Today was a super short day though, so I didn't get a lot done.  Here's a peek!   I hauled all of my student chairs out of my big coat closet.  I store them in there over the summer.  Two years ago I had left them in the classroom with my desks over the summer and they DISAPPEARED! I freaked out and my sweet new principal (at the time) spent time combing the building looking for my chairs.  Thank goodness most of them were recovered.  It's still a mystery how they got to a whole different floor of the building.  Hm ..read more

So yesterday, Day 1 of classroom setup, started with an anxiety attack.  Today, not so bad.  Although I didn't get to cross everything off my to-do list, I did get a bunch of stuff done.  I have a bunch more pictures, and I'll apologize in advance for the blurriness, I must have had a smudge on the lens!  In the first picture you can see my whole calendar wall.  The yellow boards on the right and left sides are old magnetic chalkboards.  Last year I spent a crazy amount of time covering them with yellow contact paper.  I used to try to cover them with bullet ..read more

Ok, so I hope I'm not alone on this...but I always get an anxiety attack when I first walk into my room to start set-up.  This year is no different! I mean who could look at that wiry mess and not get anxiety??!  LOL I went in for a few hours today to just empty my closet, which I forgot to get a picture of, but I can tell you it was packed from top to bottom and wall to wall.  My building is old, I mean really, really old.  We've got those old fashioned coat closets that run along one whole wall of the room, I have a ton of stuff stored in there.   First loo ..read more