Today, I’m excited to share my new favorite Thanksgiving read-aloud, Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet, along with some ELA activities you can incorporate into your kindergarten, first grade, and second grade classrooms. (PS. I definitely think you could use them with your third graders, too!) I’ve talked a lot recently about the library of read-aloud activity sets that […]

Today, I’m sharing TWENTY of my favorite Thanksgiving books and activities that will fit right into your curriculum whether you teach kindergarten, first grade, or second grade. Each book shown below matches with a set of paired activities, so that your lesson plans are ready to roll and you can simply teach!  They’re Common Core […]

Eeeh! It’s one of my favorite times of year to be a teacher. I just eat up a good theme, particularly around Thanksgiving. #punintended This post is all about turkeys and includes FIVE free turkey activities! Just look for the pink text throughout this post to see what you can snag! First up is a toooooooon […]

Today’s treat is a fun freebie for all of my Pre-k, kindergarten, and 1st grade teachers! Happy Customer Appreciation Week! I love the book 10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston.  It’s funny and cute, perfect for the season, and likely a book you already have in your collection.  If not, snag a copy from Amazon for […]

I have a love-hate with the month of November when it comes to being a teacher. On the one hand: conferences.  I love getting the chance to tell parents how much I enjoy teaching their children, but dread the extended days and all the planning that goes into it.  Thank goodness they’re only once a […]

Last week I attended Becks’ parent-teacher conference and Celebration of Learning.  It was so much fun to meet with his teacher and to see all of the exciting things going on in his school.  Becks has always enjoyed his teachers and school, but he absolutely adores his teacher this year.  He hangs onto every word she […]

Happy Monday, friends! I’m so excited to share these turkey- and Thanksgiving-themed Interactive Literacy Notebook activities with you! And, it’s a new week, which means a new Deal of the Week! From now, through Sunday, November 8th, you can snag Interactive Literacy Notebook Thematic Supplements: Turkeys & Thanksgiving for 25% off! Inside, you’ll find print-and-cut pages […]

After spending the holidays in the hospital last year, I cannot tell you how much more I appreciate them this year. We have truly learned to rejoice in the ordinary!  November of 2013 is an absolute blur.  Faith ended up transferring hospitals shortly before Thanksgiving last year so she could have a life-saving surgery.  She […]

I’m convinced you can make a theme around anything, so this week Becks and I are doing a thematic study of CORN. This may sound completely uninteresting, if not flat out boring, but CORN IS COOL, y’all. Here’s a snapshot of our week. You can click the graphics to HERE to download. Cover graphics within […]

Today we read The Ugly Pumpkin today by Dave Horowitz.  It’s a great book to transition from October to November and can lead to a great discussion about kindness, differences, and how characters can change throughout the course of a book.  Because the story line is so simple, it’s easy for firsties to recognize the […]