President's Day

Who doesn't get excited about President's Day and all the RED, WHITE, and BLUE!?!?  The kids love reading about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They also love learning about American symbols and especially the flag.  Many of you bought our 8 page Presidents' Day product a few years ago from Teachers Pay Teachers.  We wanted to let you know that it has been UPdated.  Go back to TPT and look through your purchases for a NEWLY REVISED DOWNLOAD. 

It is now 26 pages long and you will LOVE it.

If you didn't get it before, you need to click here. 

 

Need a FREEBIE?  Click here to get it! 

Clifford's First Valentine's Day - Book Extension

Clifford's First Valentine's Day takes us way back to when Clifford was a puppy.  He was trying to help Emily with her valentines, but you know Clifford. Your students will love following along with Emily and Clifford as they take the valentines to the post office.  I wonder what will happen there?

Our kids ♥ that big red dog.  Today we read this story to kick off the month of LOVE! They especially like listening when CLIFFORD himself is reading.  We took a red stuffed animal that looks like Clifford and cut it (ouch!) to make him a puppet that we can use with his books.  We created the following book extension to make the book even more fun.  We included anchor charts, and  many activities for reading  comprehension, rereading for details, and a matching activity for word work.  We also know the importance of lableing to get our kids ready for those nonfiction books and charts that they are exposed to, so we always include a  labeling activity. There are writing activites as well, because we know that writers are readers. There is also a heart craftivity to make your own Clifford out of hearts that we have been making for a hundred, well maybe 20 something years. Your students will be making connections and comparisons with their own Valentine's Day experiences after reading about Clifford's first one. Check it out below.

Click here to get this book extension!

Franklin's Valentines - Book Extension

Franklin's Valentines is a story that your students can surely relate to.  Franklin made valentines for all his friends.  He was in a hurry on the morning of the party.  He didn't close his backpack and his valentines fell out.  Franklin finds out that his friends care more about his friendship than getting a valentine.

Franklin the lovable turtle has been popular with kids for years.  Why not let him help us have some fun while we learn.  Like with Clifford, we have a turtle that we call Franklin. It's just a regular stuffed animal, that we put in our reading area inside a basket with other Franklin books.  The kids literally race to get the basket so they can be the one who has Franklin to read to.  Sometimes it's just nice to be alone with your turtle, reading a good book, about a turtle.  This is one reading buddy who is a no-fuss friend, and never complains if you get a word wrong.  Ha! 
We made a a book extension to go with all of our FAVES and this is one for sure.  Use it to dig a little deeper into the book as you reread for details and much, much more!!! Check it out below

Click here to get this book extension!

Valentine's FREEBIES!

I Love My Friends 

Booklet 

This little booklet, which looks NOTHING like the first one we used 20 years ago, is one of my favorite things about Valentine's Day.  I know some people love having the kids make cute boxes to hold their valentines cards, but really, WHAT are they going to do with it in 3 months? CHUNK IT! However, if they have a cute little collection inside of a book, which includes their child's precious handwriting from first grade, it will really take on a new meaning. It will be a treasured keepsake. I still have my son's and he is now 21 years old!  On Valentine's Day morning, the children distribute their cards to each other into lunch bags that I hand out and we all decorate the day before.  This year we will use the head from our LOVE MONSTER BOOK EXTENSION, and add accordion arms and legs to turn our bag into a monster.  So, it was only fitting that we use a book cover with a monster on the front.  Students take their valentines out one at a time, read them, glue them in the book, then write about it.  Why the bag?  Well, we DO need a place to hold our valentines until we read them, plus, after reading them, if they have candy attached, it goes in the bag until you give them permission to start eating.  The bag with leftovers goes home and gets chunked later.  We celebrate this holiday every hour, on the hour, to incorporated telling time.  Beginning at 9:00 we stop, and eat one thing from our bag, then back to scheduled activities. This helps prevent stomach aches from eating too much sugar at one time.  At 10:00, we eat one more.  I set an alarm that plays the Beetles song All You Need Is Love, which I'm thinking is giving them a little history too. Ha! Get the FREEBIE below, then decide which cover you want to be on the front, copy, staple, and you are good to go.  Also, some teachers have pairs of students share tape and put a strip across the top of each valentine to be able to see both sides.  That's up to you. 

Get your FREEBIE here.

Valentine's Day Bingo 
with Conversation Hearts 
FREEBIE

This is one of the games we keep out in a center for the month of February.  Calling cards included, just add conversation hearts to cover words that are called out,  or  you can buy the eraser kind from Oriental Trading that look like conversation hearts and use them year after year. Everybody loves BINGO!!!  This is fun to do during your party as well. 

Get your FREEBIE here.

Valentine's Day- Party to Go!

Valentine's  Day parties can be a smooth and pleasant experience with the right tools and the right plan. Does your stomach hurt at the thought of how BUSY the kids will be with surgar and the anticipation of getting tons of mail addressed to them?  HOLY TOLEDO BATMAN, you may need a superhero to rescue you if you don't have a good plan.   We created this  Valentine's Day Party To Go party package to share with other teachers some of the things we have learned after many years of trying to manage the unmanageable. In this packet you will have games to print and play, making YOUR day fun as well. After having no homeroom mom one year, we decided to put together a plan that would cut down on chaos and yet still make it a fun day, and one that we could pull out year after year with no prep (after the first year that is) for the teacher.  Just print and laminate the things you want to use and bag them up for next year when you are finished. It truly makes your life much easier. Check it out below.  

Ready to Party?  Click here!

Love Monster - Book Extension

This book is a must read for February!  Who wouldn't fall in love with this adorable, slightly hairy guy?!?!  It's the story of a monster that takes action to find love.  He looks high, he looks low, and he looks everywhere in between!  And just when he was about to give up...
 he discovered that sometimes, when you least expect it, love finds you! 

If you are looking for a way to get your children excited about reading, try this book extension for February . Love Monster is a monster on a mission to find the perfect match. We included anchor charts for the genre fiction-fantasy and purpose. There are also many engaging activities for reading comprehension such as graphic organizers for story mapping, sequencing, and labeling.  There are also some "just for fun activities" included as well. Your students will be making connections and comparisons with their own Valentine's Day inner monster.

Click here to get this book extension!

The kiddos had so much fun with this.  We made our Valentine bags into little Love Monsters too!!  They turned out really cute and the kids loved making them!  Every single one of them was different.  I think that is what I LOVE most about them.

We wanted to spread the love and give you a little FREEBIE from our extension!  Enjoy!