Following Free Font Friday

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!  I hope you all get to spend time with friends and family today, doing all those awesome holiday activities.  Please remember to keep your furbabies safe during any firework events today.  They don't like the noise and it could make them run away, and I know if that happened to my baby Isis  I would be DEVASTATED!!  Luckily, I have her microchipped just in case anything awful happens.

On this, my most favorite day of the week, I shall be linking up with The Teaching Tribune for the AWESOME linky party they are hosting: FREE Font Friday.  I love fonts so much I do believe I have a problem...'Hello, my name is Erin and I'm addicted to fonts'.  Luckily I know I'm not the only educator with this problem!!!

Today their guest blogger is Karla from Life in Special Education.  She has so many cute fonts and clip art sets in her TPT store, you should go check them out!  She is offering up a FREE font today, called 'One Room Schoolhouse Fun'.  Click the picture below to go over to The Teaching Tribune and grab a copy for yourself!!

How cute is that font??!!  As an added bonus, the font won't take up that much ink when printing so it could be used to create large files or activities.  SCORE!!!

PLEASE don't forget to go back to The Teaching Tribune to get the rest of the AWESOME free fonts other bloggers are offering!!

I have never created a font, so I don't have anything to offer up for FREE Font Friday except my knowledge of some pretty great free fonts.  If you are a Font Addict like myself, you'll want to go snatch these up!!  If you snap up these freebies, please don't forget to leave some feedback for the creator!!  Everyone needs to hear how awesome they are every once in a while!!  :-)

First up I found a really great starter set of fonts at the Wizard of Boz TPT store.  If you like the FREE starter set, make sure to check out the rest of the fonts Abby has for sale!!  Just click on the images to go over to the creators TPT store and grab your freebie!!

There are 11 different handmade fonts in this FREE starter set, and they are an awesome addition to my Font Book!!

The second set I'd like to share with you was created by one of my newest favorite designers, Randi from Teaches Third in Georgia.  I share one of her AMAZING free fonts last Friday, and I have already used it in several new products.  Here is an entire set of FREE fonts that she created.

 This supreme packet contains 19 FREE fonts!!  All of them have a super cute breakfast themed name, and the packet is called 'Breakfast Buffet. So Cute!!  It makes it much easier to find in my font book to, because ALL of her fonts start of with 'TTG' so they are all grouped together.  One of my favorite fonts from this set is the 'Cheerios' font.  It's so scrappy and fun, I just love it!!

I hope you have been able to find a few new fonts to add to your collection!  I know that I look forward to this linky party all week, and my font book has seriously grown in size this summer!!

Have a great holiday weekend, and remember to keep your furry babies safe!!  :-)

This one's my fav, 'cause they're all pit bulls.  I LOVE my pit bull, and think the breed as a whole gets way too bad a rap.  Anywho, that's a post for another day!!  :-)

Throw Back Thursday

Happy Thursday everyone!!  Tomorrow is the 4th of July already!!  Why oh why does the summer go by so much faster than the school year??  I hope that all of you fabulous educators have had some time to rest and relax!!

Today I'm going to link up with The Teaching Tribune for their Throwback Thursday, and put my own little spin on it.

The idea is to share a post from a while back, which I will do at the very end of this post.  First, I want to 'throwback' to last Monday when I shared with you how I am trying to get 100 products up in my TPT store.  I wanted to share with you my progress!!

Slowly but surely I am working towards reaching my goal!  One of the newest products I added to my store is a FREEBIE that I will be using during the beginning of the year.  It is a booklet that they can work on independently during Word Work time of our Daily 5 rotations.

This takes a wee bit of prep work to get it ready for your littles.  Print out the pages and then slice them in half.  Staple the half pages together, either in ABC order or mix them up.  There are handwriting lines on each page where my kinders can practice writing their letters.  If you don't want to handwriting lines on there, just slice them off before you assemble the booklets.

Learners need to identify the uppercase letter at the top of each page and then find the matching lowercase letter buddy.  I'm going to have my kinders use BINGO dotters to put a dot under the correct letter, but if you don't have dotters just have your littles color in the circle.  I am working on a whole set of these booklets that my kinders can work on during Word Work time of Daily 5 while I meet with other students.  So far I have uploaded the uppercase version of this book (the set up is the same but the lowercase letters are at the top and learners have to find the matching uppercase letter at the bottom), and the beginning sound version. By the end of today I will have uploaded the CVC version, and by the end of the week I'll have added the number books. {click on the image of the cover page to go to my TPT store and snap it up.}

The uppercase book is a steal for $2.00 and is up in my TPT store now.

This is a sample page from the uppercase book.  Learners look at the lowercase picture at the top and find the matching uppercase letter at the bottom.  They can practice writing the letters, or you can slice off the handwriting lines before you set the books up.

The beginning sound book is in my TPT store for $3.00.

For each vowel, I included a picture for both the long and short sounds of the vowel.  The letters are all lowercase, and in the elkonian-box-style font used in the other books.  This may help my kinders recognize the formation of the letters.

Each consonant has one picture.  The handwriting lines can be used to practice writing the letters, or can be used for students to sound out the word and write down the sounds they hear.  If you don't need to handwriting lines, just slice them off before you staple the booklets together.

As my kinders finish each booklet, they are going to keep it inside their Daily 5 book box so that they can practice reading it during Read to Self or Read to Someone Else time.

Now, I'd like to throwback to a post I wrote back in October.  We were practicing identifying character and setting in stories, and I came up with a quick activity they could complete to demonstrate their understanding of that standard.  To learn more, click the picture to take you back to that October post!!

Check back with me tomorrow for Free Font Friday!!

I'd like to leave you with an awesome linky party I happened across earlier this week hosted by Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade, called 'Currently'.  She has provided a template to use for the month of July.  I've seen the 'Currently' templates on other blogs and always wondered about them, so I was super stoked when I stumbled across the blog where I could FINALLY join up with this!!  I'll make sure to include on at least once a week.  If you want to join up with this, click on Farley's blog link to go over and get a template for yourself!!

Be safe tomorrow, and don't forget that your four-legged babies tend to get scared when the fireworks go off.  Statistics say July 4th is the day when most dogs run away, so take care of your furbabies!!

Worksheet Wednesday AND Wish-List Wednesday

It's the middle of the week, so that means time for a post about my Wish-Lists.  Oh, and I also decided to link up with The Teaching Tribune for their linky party, 'Worksheet Wednesday'.  I'll start there today.

This is the first time I'm participating, so I thought I'd share one of my most downloaded worksheets.  This worksheet was designed to meet the Common Core Standard K.OA.3: Decompose numbers less than or equal to ten into pairs in more than one way.  The activity has kinders working on figuring out number partners for given numbers by drawing some marbles inside a jar and some out of a jar.  The worksheet gives them the number to create as well as the colors to use.  Best of all, it's FREE!!

Don't forget to go back to The Teaching Tribune and see what other bloggers have linked up to share their worksheets for this Wednesday!!

Last but not least, my Wish List Wednesday post.  Today I'd like to share with you some items I have checked off of my TPT list.  There have been so many awesome summer sales that it's been easy to grant some of my wishes!!  :-)  p.s. - Since 5 is my favorite number, that's how many wishes I granted myself.

ONE

I was able to scoop up this sweet creation from one of my very favorite clip art designers, Krista Wallden from Creative Clips.  Doesn't this set of clip art just make you want to high-tail it to the nearest cupcakery?!?!

TWO

I have been looking all over for a font like this, and there it was just chilling out on my TPT Wish List.  So, I made sure to buy it!!  It's from Mel at Graphics from the Pond, and is PERFECT for creating different activities to use during our Word Work time during Daily 5 rotations.  If you've ever worked with elkonian letter boxes, this is pretty much the same thing!!

THREE

Another purchase I have made off of my Wish List recently is a great set of candy store themed clip art that I got from Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah Designs.  This set of clip art is what I'll be using to completely revamp how I track sight word mastery in my classroom.  Make sure to keep checking back so I can share with you how I'm using this!

FOUR

I don't know about you all, but I simply LOVE adding to my Font Book!!  I have been actively searching out additions to my FB (Font Book) and came across this little gem.  It is only the first of many such packets created by Cara Carroll, so I made sure to add the other packs to my TPT Wish List!!

FIVE

Last, but CERTAINLY NOT least, of my Wishes Granted that I'll share today comes from Laura at Whimsy Clips.  I just LOVE how cutesy her clip art is!!  This set is DEFINITELY going to be helpful when I start creating Word Work activities my kinders can complete during Daily 5!!  I was so excited to find this packet that contains ALL 5 vowels and their long vowel sounds.

I hope that my sharing some of my Wishes has inspired you to go and make a few of your own!!  I am eagerly anticipating a new release from Krista Wallden and CAN'T WAIT to add it to my collection!!  Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Throw Back Thursday!!

Book Talk Tuesday AND Two for Tuesday Linky Parties

Happy Tuesday everyone!!  Is it just me, or is the summer FLYING by??  Why can't it slow down so we can enjoy it even more?!?!

So here's what I'm doing today.  TWO different linky parties.  Is that two too many, do you think??  Let's see how this works out!!  First, I want to start with Book Talk Tuesday hosted by Mrs. Jump's Class.  I just LOVE this linky, since so very many awesomely wonderful books are being shared.  Since I missed it last week, I'm going to share two books from my classroom library today.

First, this is a book that I like to use during the beginning of the year when my kinders are learning all about what it means to be a student in our school.  It is one you may have heard of before, and may even have in your classroom.  Like usual, I got mine from Scholastic.  If you want one of your own, click on the image below to take you over to Amazon to get a copy for yourself.

This is a cutesy little story with plenty of rhyming, as well as opportunities to stop and talk about places in the school.  I enjoy the style that this story is written in.  Almost a comic book/graphic novel type style with panels of action and text.  The story starts off with students in a classroom working together to make a gingerbread man.

While we're reading, we talk about how important it is to work together to complete a task.  I also try to get them to predict the rhyming words when they are encountered.  It's a neat way to get them thinking ahead in the text to try to predict the ending of the sentence as well as the rhyming word.  I also make sure to point out the various text features as we encounter them.  On this page alone we talk about different color and size texts (like the very first sentence in red), labels (on the ingredients), and captions/speech bubbles (like the little girl with red hair).

The first few pages go through the steps needed to make a gingerbread man, and we talk about why it is important to follow the steps when you're trying to make something.  I also have them look at the pages and see if they can find any text features.

The class finished making and baking their gingerbread man and left him out to cool while they all went out to recess.  Apparently no one told the gingerbread man they were leaving, because he gets so upset at being alone he peels himself off the tray and head out in the school to find his new friends.  I take this time to talk to them about what they should do if they were ever to get lost/separated from their group (it's a good prelude to field trip safety).  At the end of the page you notice the gingerbread man gets stuck to a volleyball and goes rolling off down the hall.  Here my littles predict what part of the school he is going to visit. Some say the playground, some say the gym.

Our adventurous cookie winds up in the gym and meets the gym teacher.  The ever-observant teacher notices the cookie has hurt his toe.  I ask my kinders where in the school they would go if they got hurt and then ask them where they think the cookie is going next.

He goes to see the school nurse, of course!  That lady fixes him up with some glue and a band aid.  We compare how she fixed him to how she might help us if we got hurt or sick.  My babies are quick to point out that our Nurse Day would NOT glue their toes back on if they fell off (how cute are they??)

This page has a really awesome text feature of a blue print, which we talk about how it's like a map of the school.  Another important topic I point out on this page is that the nurse told the gingerbread man to slide down the railing of the stairs since that will be the fastest way.  At our school, we have stairs inside and out and I like to take this time to talk about how to be safe on the stairs and if sliding down the railing is a good choice or not.

Our cookie visits the art room....

And the principal's office, where he finds out his class has been missing him!  They have been looking all over the school for him, and even made 'MISSING' signs to hang up around the building.

With the help of the principal, our adventurous cookie makes it back to his classroom.  We talk about how our principals are people we can go to when we're scared or need help with a problem.

His class is so very excited  to have him back and they tell him they have made him a gingerbread desk, chair, and house to make sure he has everything he needs to be happy with them.  I talk to them about what things I have in the room to make sure they are able to be happy and able to learn.

The second book is one that I found at a little book store near me called 'Atlantic Book Sellers'.  This is a Puffin Book, and is also a lift-the-flap story.

This book, Teachers Are for Reading Stories, is another one I read during the beginning of the year.  I ask my kinders to tell me what they think teacher's are for.  There are ALWAYS some truly interesting responses to what it is they think we do all day, and at home!

The books lists and illustrates different things teachers do.  On almost every page is a flap to lift that has something else teachers do underneath.  As we read through the story we make sure to make notice of any ideas in the book that were shared by students before we read it.  They love to hear their ideas are in the book.  There are also things the teachers in the book do that I do not do, like serve snacks and juice.  We talk about which ones happen in our classroom.

What I love the most about this book is the very ending.  It talks about how teachers are for reading stories, which I make sure to mention how true that is.  I tend to go on a bit about how much I love books and why...  My absolute favorite part of this book is what story the teacher is reading.  Can you read the title??  Big Red Dragon.  How PERFECT is that??!!

Lift the flap and it shows the big red dragon.  I just love that part!!  I take this time to point out how the students are sitting when they're listening to the story and how that shows they are being respectful.

Since you've read this far through my extra long make-up post, I wanted to make sure you got a FREEBIE for your efforts!!  (and my post isn't quite done yet...)  I know that the book above can be tricky to find.  I couldn't find it on Amazon, but I did not check anywhere else.  I wanted to create a freebie that could be used with this book or one similar to it.  It is a simple response sheet where littles can write and illustrate about what they think a teacher is for.

DON'T FORGET to go back to Mrs. Jump's Class to follow all of the other links from the rest of the Book Talk Tuesday bloggers!!

For the final part of my post today, I'll be linking up with The Teaching Tribune for their Two for Tuesday linky party.

This linky is all about sharing two products at 50% off all day on Tuesdays.  To kick off my participation in this linky, I chose activities that I plan on using in the first few weeks of school this year.  For TODAY ONLY, I am listing them at half-off their regular price.

First up, one of my newest creations.  This is an ABC packet of activities that I am going to use for homework packets in this upcoming year.  I will have my littles use these pages to create an ABC binder that they can keep in their book boxes and refer to during their Read to Self or Read to Someone Else time.

This packet is 50% off for TODAY ONLY, which makes the packet an amazing $1.75 today!!  Even more awesome, the additional licenses are only $0.88!!!  You can get a copy for your entire team for LESS THAN $5!!  That's an amazing deal!!

Second, I have one of my very newest creations.  It is a great Write the Room activity to use during the beginning of the year when students are learning how to work independently during Daily 5 (language arts) and Daily 4 (math) rotations.

For today only, this awesome Write the Room product is on sale for $1.50, which makes the additional license only 0.75!!!  This could be a GREAT beginning of the year gift for your team mates!!

Don't forget to link back to The Teaching Tribune to see what other products are being offered at 50% OFF today ONLY!!