Search results matching tags 'freebie' and 'centers'

Center Plans for This Week plus a POPPIN' FREEBIE

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 14:59:00 GMT

People often ask me where on earth I come up with some of my ideas and I have to tell you I ask myself the same thing sometimes, but any "original" (and I use that term loosely because, let's be real, are there really any original ideas in teaching??) idea I come up with is almost always inspired by my students. My students are progressing on a daily basis with their mechanical writing skill and they are staying on topic (as much as these babies can anyway!), so I knew we were ready to start making our writing sound better by using better word choices....but how, oh how to do it is the question. I have used the Fancy Nancy series for this endeavor before, but my current class is not a Fancy Nancy class at all and I am a firm believer in letting the children take the lead.

So on DAY 1 of discussing word choice, I simply talked up the boring topic and made it sound super fun to just use better words...you know you can convince them. But, as I was explaining it to them and giving examples and non-examples, one of my students said,

"Those words are poppin'!" and so that is how we were going to describe all BETTER word choices for the rest of the year.

Before I post ideas that I think are my own "original" ideas, I always do a google search and up popped a writing descriptive writing activity on Pop Rocks from one of my faves, Babbling Abby. She has students use the candy and describe it and, of course, provides many other ideas and printables to help you easily implement this activity in your classroom. This would be a great way to introduce Poppin' Words in your classroom and then generalize it afterwards with my anchor chart idea. If you are on the fence whether this will work or not, please let me share a piece of writing from an average writer in my classroom after our discussions of poppin' writing vs. boring writing:

"Cotton candy is so tasty. It tastes like nothing I have ever tasted before. It feels so good when it is popping in your mouth."

-Written by a kindergartner in Mrs. Miner's classroom

Click above pictures if you are interested in having poppin' writing in your classroom and want to use my anchor chart to assist you. It is provided in google docs FREE!

So, in addition to creating amazing writing in the classroom, my student will also be involved with new centers as you can see below. Actually they are old centers that are renewed. If you know about how I have implemented centers in my classroom, you know I have "staple" centers that my students are professionals at and I just "nudge" their learning a little higher each week, so they are completely independent (and I can pull my soaring readers into groups!).

Click below to get a closer look at my center plans for this week and know that the centers that are shown are for my mid range students and they are modified and adapted (differentiated if you will) according to my students' levels.

I linked up to Mrs. Willis' Peek at my Week Linky Party! Check out what others are doing this week and you are likely to be inspired!

Don't ever miss another freebie or idea from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business...have my posts automatically sent to your email the day I post them by signing up your email address on the sidebar!

Friday Freebie - Sentence Sort/St. Patty's Day Banner

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 22:30:00 GMT

Woohoo, y'all! We made it to another Friday!

I wanted to share another St. Patty's Day freebie and a Rdg/LA center!

Click this picture to snag this banner for your St. Patty's Day celebration!

There's even a page included for you to make your own banner. :)

And here's my Sentence Sort center!

The kids will distinguish between complete and incomplete sentences.

Click here to check out the details!

This center is also in my TpT and TN stores.

I'm working on sentence sorts for the rest of the school year,

so stay tuned! Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!

Snap Cube and Lego Centers!

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:08:00 GMT

It's so hard to find good, engaging centers to keep the kids moving and working! So I wanted to share with you some fun centers I created that involve developmentally appropriate practice and the academic rigor your administrators require!

Snap Cube Centers

These are fun centers using those snap cubes that sit in a bin in the corner of your room! You know... those blocks that every time they get brought out get turned into snap cube guns.. I HATE that sound - kids playing guns!

So how it works is the kids get a card with an image on it. They have to count how many blocks it took to make the pieces to those images to recreate it. You are given several recording options for the kids to be held accountable! I have them in all sorts of topics - sight words, letters, numbers, and even a monthly set with themes to make what's going on!

Here is a little freebie for you to try them out!

Lego Centers

Now that we have those snap cubes working let's get the Lego's out! These fun and engaging centers get kids creating sight words with Legos and counting how many it took to make them. They can even record the colors they used if you give them their own print out of the word.

These are done to scale and you have two options to differentiate for the time of year or for students.

These are currently only available in PrePrimer and Primer lists! So not as many options but SUPER fun! I get lots of comments that the boys will love them BUT my entire class really loves going to the Lego center!

What centers do you love? I have found that I put the MOST work into prepping and planning my centers each week! Am I alone here?

Teaching Children to Draw and Write

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:40:00 GMT

I started using my newest creation of step by step directed drawings in my classroom this week and it's a hit! I wanted to share how I've introduced them, as well as how successful my students are with this project. We did a few together as a class to get the students ready to do it independently and they are drawing machines now!

My student teacher reminded me how one of our kiddos could barely hold a pencil at the beginning of the year, let alone draw and now she drew the monkey above all the way to the left and that was her "practice" one! (I have suggested to the children that they should do a practice drawing on the back of their paper before they move to the template to do their final).

Another teacher shared a story with me after she had used this creation in her room that made me so happy! She said she has an autistic child who never draws anything but a smiley face, but with the step by step drawings in this kit, he drew a penguin. He was so proud of himself and just think of the possibilities once this ability that all children have inside them is unlocked!

If you want to try it out FREE, you can grab this snowman freebie I made:

Or find out more information about drawing with your students as another easy to prepare and implement literacy center here:

Be sure to follow Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business or LIKE it on Facebook (both available in left sidebar) so you never miss another FREEBIE or informative article.

Ideas and Fun in Mrs. Miner's Room {and a Monster-ous Freebie!}

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 13:06:00 GMT

Wow, the beginning of the year has been a huge whirlwind for me (and, from the sounds of things, everyone else as well!). I haven't forgotten to post, I am just SO busy that I haven't had time. By the time I can (hmmm...let's see...8:30, when the boys are finally asleep), I am so exhausted that I need to get my school work done and fuel up for the next day.

We have been having so much fun in our classroom, I just couldn't let another day go by without letting you in to take a peek:

Sometimes do you just want to skip snack time because it is eating up the time you need to do everything else? My students solved that for me this week, when they started sorting and patterning their snacks. It takes 2 seconds to get them to name the pattern, find the pattern unit or replicate a neighbor's pattern. What a great time to reinforce math skills and to use snack time for their learning! I can't take credit for this...they did it all on their own. Gotta love kinders!

Speaking of playing with food: We really started to look at what letters are made up of (lines and curves-easy schmeasy!). This really hit home with many of my friends who need help with making their names. Now, they are ready to sort letters that have lines, curves and both (that will be in the stamping center next week).

Math centers are rolling right along. I loved watching how independent my students were walking around and surveying/graphing How Many People Live in Your House? They will be more than ready for their next survey now that we have done it whole group and independently now! Of course, we are Pokey Pinning 2 times a week (once during Literacy Centers and once during Math Centers) and the kiddos are really getting good at it which correlates with how their fine motor is improving on a daily basis.

Mrs. S (my bff kinder neighbor!) do this project every year with our classes combined on a Friday morning. I just love how all of the monsters look the same, but different and all of them replicate the monster from Go Away Big, Green Monster by Ed Emberly in some way.

Click here to get the freebies that go along with this fun, festive project!

Feel free to Pin any of these pictures to Pinterest.

I know that this post has a lot of information that you won't be able to use right away, but that's why I represented a lot of it in pictures.

Last, but not least, if you are having any fine motor issues in your class, you won't want to miss this upcoming Pokey Pin Freebie. We learned the /oo/ chunk (compliments of HeidiSongs, thank you! ;) this week and what better way is there to show it in use during one of their favorite holidays? This will be an exclusive freebie for Freebie-licious followers, so make sure you are one of those! Think how cool these ghosts will look on black paper in the windows. Great way to decorate for the occasion while benefitting your students academically AND motorically!

Be sure to follow Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business or LIKE it on Facebook (both available in left sidebar) so you never miss another FREEBIE or informative article.

Wild About Words

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:50:00 GMT

So yesterday, I was at Target....LOVE ME SOME dollar bins, don't you? I mean I'm a teacher on a budget...and y'all know my new motto is cheap fast and easy, right? ;)

So....I found these:

and I was thinking of one of my son's favorite games.

He just had to have this game for Christmas too.....

Yep, it's Scrabble Scoop.

Now believe me this is an AWESOME game, but when things get lost, or misplaced at home, they generally turn up. At school.....Lord only knows where things wind up. So I took the idea, and created something for my first graders.

I knew what I wanted to do the minute I picked these up at Target. Letters on the other hand I wasn't sure about. I saw these

but they were $10-$11 a piece. I thought I'd hold out....even make some with cardstock and laminate.
Okay, tried that....it works, but not the greatest. I used the ones in my son's Scrabble Scoop game and they were perfect, foam worked okay too. I knew I needed something heavier, so sent hubby to my school to see if he could find my letter tiles. No luck, instead he told me, "Do you know you have A LOT of stuff?" What can I say? I'm a teacher hoarder. So since he couldn't find them, I thought I'd do some more shopping...just in case I can't find them either ;)

I found these on Amazon:

So cute. So colorful...so perfect! ;) (Yeah I know...about the same price too, but they are all lowercase letters, AND they are so colorful!) ;)
Okay, now I can tell ya about the game!

With Scrabble Scoop, you read the word you're creating, and then spell it over top of the letters provided. I wanted my students to spell simple words using their letter sounds so I used CvC pictures for the game boards.

The object is to be the first one to spell the word on your card to win the round.
My son likes this idea, hopefully my other first graders will too.
You can get your freebie by clicking on the picture below.

In other news, you know that teacher's toolkit I was making? The one I said was just perfect the way it was....the one that looks JUST LIKE THIS?

Guess what????

Notice one is labeled CHOCOLATE--it's a necessity! Whatcha think?

Thank you to Mrs. Rojas blog for this great idea!! See original post here!

Getting Reflective & TpT Advice

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:44:00 GMT

My reflective post yesterday on TBA about my blog birthday has got me reminiscing about the last year. One of the many big leaps I made was joining Teachers Pay Teachers as a seller. That was a huge one for me, it was a very difficult decision, but one I'm glad I made. One of the best parts of being a tpt seller is getting some free materials into the hands of teachers across the globe. I know it's appreciated from the crazy awesome, totally heartfelt emails and feedback on tpt. My friend Angela Watson recently wrote a great post on this very subject. I've gotten to know Angela a bit over the past year and she always impresses me with her clear-headed, straightforward thinking. She speaks her mind freely without being swayed by others, which is a trait that I admire more than I can say. So, yeah. I'm a big fan of Angela...Fangela, maybe? Maybe not...click here to read her article.

As I was thinking back, I was trying to remember the first item I ever posted when I realized It's actually still my featured item. I'm not sure how many of you may have seen it. TpT did a site redesign a while ago, and while I love it for the most part, one of the things I don't like is that the featured free download kind of blends in and is easily overlooked because there are not thumbnail images, see? It's a little lost down there. It just says "free download".

So I thought I'd take a minute today to share it because (if I do say so myself) it's a pretty good one! I think having such a unique, useful freebie as my very first item was one of the keys to my relatively quick start on TpT. I really had no contacts, no help, no idea what the heck I was doing but I submitted this freebie to be featured in the newsletter and it was featured the first week I was a seller! It also got noticed by some other bigger sellers who promoted it as I was welcomed into the fold. I distinctly remember Rachel Lynette sharing it on Facebook and almost passing out from excitement! So, to those of you thinking about venturing into tpt, there's my little nugget of advice - have a fantastic freebie to get the ball rolling. I've received several emails from readers asking me how to get started. I know I've answered some and not others. The reason is that it's not an easy question to answer. It's a lot of work, a lot of hours, a little talent and a little luck. I spend at least 4 hours a day (usually more) beyond my full-time school day working on TpT products - both free and paid, blogging and networking every single day. But the one thing I know for sure, is that it's totally worth it. Be prepared to face others who disagree with your decision as well because you will face at least a little bit of that from time to time.

So, on to that first activity. It's a set of task cards that can be used with any book club order form. If your kids are anything like mine, they freak over those forms! Even though a lot of the kids don't actually order, they love looking through it. I decided to capitalize on that excitement with these cards. It's a favorite center for sure. It also gets them excited about books and introduces them to new series and authors they might not see in the classroom or school library.

Lots of different literacy skills are represented even a few math skills as well.

So, if you haven't yet, you can click {HERE} to get to my tpt store, then just click on that Free Download button to get your copy. So, thanks bunches and bunches for being here with me through this first year of my journey. It's been an incredible experience venturing outside the walls of my own school and into the limitless arena of the internet. It's a journey I hope to continue for many, many years to come and I hope you'll all be along with me for the ride!

FREEBIE! Stress-Free Center Signs!

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:03:00 GMT

Do you use centers?! If so, hop over to my blog to snag these new center signs! I'm hoping they'll be stress-free and time efficient for you and your students!

FREEBIE! Stress-Free Center Signs

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:59:00 GMT

I saw the cutest center signs while visiting a colleague's classroom the other day! They were so easy to use and time efficient! Here are some I created to use in my own room:

They are double-sided and laminated...so you can write the names of the students and rewrite them when the groups change. The clip art on the Math set represent geometric solids. The clip art on the Reading set are general school pictures. I placed magnets on both sides so I could flip them one direction for Math centers, and then flip them the other way when it's time for Reading centers! And when it's time for groups to change, you just slide the cards to the left or right and the kids know exactly which center to go to! It's SOOOO much better than the other method I was using:

Click the picture below to download the centers signs! Hopefully they will make center time easier and stress-free for both you and your students!

Classroom Freebies Celebration!!!

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:46:00 GMT

I don't normally post twice in one day, but y'all CANNOT miss this!!! If you haven't heard, Classroom Freebies has hit 1,000,000 views and we're celebrating!!! Click the picture below to snag my freebie I contributed! But that's not it! There are TONS of other freebies before and after mine!!! And keep checking back for more tomorrow!