Substitute Survival

Have you ever realized you need a sub at the last minute and had a full blown panic attack because you knew getting your act together was going to be IMPOSSIBLE??? Have you ever gone to work SICK because you were too SICK to do all the prepping for a sub? We have all been there. Wellllllllll PROBLEM SOLVED! We created and used this pack last year to see if it was helpful, and OMGoodness was it ever. Once we put in all the information we were set for an entire year. In this pack you will get everything you need to create a binder with all the pertinent information a sub would need to run your class smoothly, as well as activities for each day of the week. You will put in all of your information for the binder first, then take your time making the copies and filling the file folders with everything a sub would need for the day. We included reading, math, and writing that would work on any day of the week. In no time you have a Substitute Survival Kit- which will include an info binder with procedures and tub of activities, one for each day of the week - and suddenly being out of the classroom will be stress free. We included everything we could think of that a sub might need. The activities are geared toward K-3, but many parts of this could be used in any grade. All you will need to add will be 5 ANYTIME read aloud books that are not tied to a holiday or season. Pop them in the folder with the student sheets and you are ready. We hope you find it as helpful as we have. We ♥ hearing from you, so please let us know how it works for you in your tpt comments. I can honestly say this was a LIFE CHANGER!

Once you have it set up, you are ready for the entire year!!!

The Lesson Plans are easy to set up and super easy to follow.  Each day of the week is different.

Your classroom procedures take a little time to fill out, BUT once you have it in there, they are a life saver!  And they won't change much from year-to-year.  That'll make next year even easier!

                           You can get this must-have resource here!

If you have any questions about how we set ours up, please e-mail us at iheartbeingfirstgmail.com.

Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark

Can  your kids relate to being afraid of coming to school after summer break? Of course they can!  Do you totally get into ocean animals as part of your science study of animals? Well, The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark book extension activities for K-2 is a pack you could use at the beginning of the year to address fears, like going back to school, or used anytime during the year. It could also make a great addition to any unit of study on ocean animals. Your kids will be making those Text To Self and Text to World connections as they read about Pout-Pout and his fears. Use this fictional book to teach fictional characters, word order, word work with rhyming words and vocabulary, as well as some plain old fun stuff. This packet is filled with fun activities that will keep your children engaged and thinking in a fun way as you use these activities to help get the conversation going about our fears and how this is NORMAL for us all.

Click here to get this.

Wemberly Worried - Book Extension

Wemberly is a real worrier. She especially worries about the first day of school and what will happen there. This story is perfect for the first days of school. It lets the children see that their worries are shared by others around them. We all have worries, don't we?!?!
We put together some of our favorite fun and engaging activities to get your students thinking. We included writing activities, comprehension activities, and some just for fun activities too.

Check it out here!

Chrysanthemum - Book Extension

Are you looking for a quick, engaging activity to celebrate back to school and all those wonderful new names in your class? This book extension is short and sweet and gets the job done. We have loved this book for years!!! (You can get it from Amazon in two days with PRIME, maybe even one day if you time it right.) We had to do a book extension to go with it. We knew the kids would love it. There is a graphic organizer to do whole group, with a partner or individually, writing activities, comprehension activities, vocabulary words, a sheet for home and a craftivity to make Chrysanthemum.We also included some graphing for math that makes counting letters in your name fun.

Check it out here!

Harold and The Purple Crayon - Book Extension

This book has been a K-1 favorite for as long as we have been teaching, and that's pretty much FOREVER!  We love Harold and his UNBELIEVABLE  imagination.  Just where could a purple crayon take YOU! When he is supposed to be sleeping, Harold decides to create a whole world of experiences by drawing them IN his world with a purple crayon, until at last he draws his bed, and draws the covers up over himself and goes to sleep.  Most young children will relate to Harold, because they see the world through crayon purple colored glasses all the time.  After reading, try some of our favorite things to do with this book from our book extension in our TPT store.   

Get it here.

One of our favorite activities is getting to use all those odd colored purple crayons!  They get to color the picture using ONLY purple. Have you ever noticed how many shades of purple there are? 

Reducing pages on the printer / copier to 85% will make them fit into your Reading Journals! 

In this extension, you will find many engaging activities to promote comprehension, and much more. 

My Crayons Talk - Book Extension

Another fun back to school book we love is 

My Crayons Talk  

by Patricia Hubbard.

If you want to get a great conversation started with a first grader just ask one what  their favorite color is, and why.  They love talking about colors.  That converstaion makes a great intro to this book that goes through the colors in a crayon box, relates them to something that symbolizes that color, in a rhythmic silly way. If crayons could talk, what would they say??? Then you can follow up with activites from our book extension like the ones below.  Also the writing possibilities are endless.  What colors should dragons be? If you could change the color of the sky, what would you make it? Why DOES red mean stop and green mean go? Hmmm.

Click here to get this extension.

Franklin Goes To School - Book Extension

We love reading Franklin Goes To School 

by Paulette Bourgeois. 

 
Let's face it. First days of school can be scary for everyone, including teachers! This book is perfect for the first week of school because Franklin has all the same fears and anxiety we all can relate to when doing something for the first time. Once he gets to school his teacher sees that he is a good artist and he suddenly doesn't feel so scared anymore. It teaches us how the smallest amount of kindness can change a child's world.  We put together some fun activities to go along with this book to get them to dig a little deeper into the story to work on comprehension skills. Here is our book extension in our TPT store. Your kids will love it! 

Click here to get this extension.

Sequencing / Retelling

Sorting

Flip Book

These are just a few of the activities in the extension.

Cookie's Week - Book Extension

We love reading Cookie's Week by Cindy Ward. This is a story about a cat that has a very eventful week.  It's a very simple book that is perfect for learning the days of the week.  It's also a perfect book for a re-write!

We created a book extension to share some of our favorite activities to do with this book. It is filled with engaging and entertaining activities  that will keep your children thinking about the details of the story, and having fun while they learn.  We use this book to teach vocabulary, cause and effect, story sequence, ordering the days of the week, characters, setting, labeling, retelling,

and much more! 

Click here to get this extension.

This School Year Will Be The Best - Book Extension

Are you looking for ways to get your children excited about books and reading? This School Year Will Be The Best by Kary Winters will have your children making those Text To Self connections as they read about starting school. This book is perfect for discussing those universal feelings about the beginning of the year or as an example of the Genre Realistic Fiction anytime during the year.  

We created a book extension to go with this book to help us dig for meaning and comprehension.  It is filled with fun activities to that will keep your children engaged and thinking in a fun way as you use the book to teach vocabulary, characters, setting, events, labeling, sorting, making comparisons, and more! Below we have a couple of examples, but click the link to take you our TPT store where you can see a preview of what all is included in this book extension.   

Click here to get it!

Monthly Math

We have compiled some of our favorite math activities into Monthly Math Packs!  Inside each pack you will find a variety of activities.  You do not have to use everything!  You probably won't have time!  There are several activities that you might want to use every week…not just one day.  The skill levels are varied so that you can differentiate as needed. We have been using most of these activities for 25+ years. We have been through Math Their Way, Marilyn Burns, Math Investigations, Calendar Math and 7 or 8 different textbook adoptions.  We would love to give credit where credit is due, but we honestly don’t remember where all the different ideas came from!  Most ideas were tweaked a little to fit our style or theme, but most ideas did originate from somebody!  If it was YOU and you want credit, let us know.  We will gladly give it to you.

Here is the link to January!

Here is the link to December!

 

Here is the link to November!

 

Here is the link to October!

 

Here is the link to September!

 

Here is the link to August!