Stamp Your Paper Not Your Clothes!

So lots of my blogging friends have suggested going to Michaels' for number and letter stamps but they might be a bit pricey so don't forget that coupon. Also ask someone at Target if they have any in stock and they can tell you if a nearby store has them! Great tip. I need to stop making these little worksheets and move on with other things but I can't resist! Click here to get these worksheet.

Stamp Your Paper- Not Your Feet

Okay... I am finished making an activity packet for TpT so I decided to celebrate with freebies. If you cannot find these stamps don't tell me. It makes me feel guilty. However, your kids could easily just write the missing letters and you won't have to deal with stamped body parts or blue fingers until dismissal time. If you decide to download this, leave me a comment and please follow me... Can I hit 1,000? Woohoo! Wait a minute. That is not a real word. Download these pages here!

Pete the Cat Is Ready to Rock and Roll!

I have been at my computer for days now but I am finally DONE. I made a huge packet for this adorable book and I hope every single person I know or have ever met buys this. Just kidding. How do you people crank out this amount of curriculum? I am exhausted and I still have to create an account at TpT and figure all that stuff out! I salute you guys who are selling materials all the time. I am way too old for this pace ladies. However stay posted (no pun intended) and here I go...

Remember: This is a primary packet for the beginning of the year and Special Education teachers will be able to use it too! I have a lot of material that supports English language learners and encourages students to speak in sentences.  First grade teachers can use many parts of this packer for review.

We are all told that kindergarten children can journal from the moment they come to school. We do not tend to start this for a few weeks but once we do this is a great piece to add on to your homework and send back and forth once a week (Friday) to visit and celebrate. The cover allows for a child's photo but obviously they could draw a picture of themselves too. I like to focus on a sight word that I want the kids to work on and practice in context. This is a great way to provide more practice with writing and get a bit of help from parents too. I run off 10-12 copies of the second page and use a strip at the top to staple it together. Just though you might like this idea so grab it here and add it to your stash of ideas.  Leave a comment if you like this .

I Cannot Live Without Jake... best book ever!

Is this book in your read aloud stash? I bet it isn't! This is the best story I have ever seen on school anxiety.
I presented the entire story when I did a training with kindergarten teachers and they all bought it the next day (I wish Amazon would offer me a kickback!) Trust me on this one. It is hilarious and adorable. So in a nutshell Jake refuses to let go of his parents once he gets to school and he is utterly overwhelmed by the environment
(sounds like my students). He refuses to let go of them the entire day but quickly discovers that he can't do much clinging to them. Finally it is story time and he ends up holding the book, letting go of Mom and Dad and falling in love with school.


Kindergarten Teachers: Buy this book and read it the first day! I promise you the kids will adore it. The obvious conversation can be about how each of us feels a bit like Jake, even the teacher. 

Happy 4th of July Present!

Happy 4th of July blogger friends. I have been busy this morning making cupcakes and frosting them for a pool party I am going to. They came out pretty cute with me going a little crazy on the frostings. Anyhow I made my own cupcake toppers but I can't put them on until I serve them... too hot here. So I thought you might like these as a present. The big topper is for a special birthday boy who was born on this day! Shush, it's a surprise. I printed the toppers on photo paper, laminated them, and used a plastic toothpick to place them in the cupcakes.
Easy, right? Download them here and leave a comment if you want.

Pete Must Love Converse Sneakers!

So I have been working hard to create my first TpT  unit of study for the beginning of kindergarten. This is really designed for those early weeks of school when our kids are still crying and come with very little academic experience. Oh my... I need to brace myself. When I created this strip book I put a color clue next to each shoe to help those students who need more work on recognizing these words. I am making big cards to be used in your pocket chart. My little book is made and I am moving on to some other simple activities. Maybe they won't cry once they become engaged in learning... okay, maybe not. Any other suggestions you wish I would make?  I know I need some writing activities too. Hummm. Right now I am making 4th of July cupcakes. 

I might post this and give it as a freebie because I love how it turned out. I make headbands for everything. I cannot resist seeing a five year old wearing one of my silly creations. I even have a headband that they make on the very first day of school. Do you like headbands too?

Pete the Cat is Back

Are you a kindergarten teacher? Do you know about this book? If not, check my old post and listen to the song you can download by Mr. Eric, the author. It is adorable. The story is wonderful and great for the beginning of the year when you want to introduce color words. Amazon has the second book on pre-order since it is not due out until late July! I can't wait. This is one of those books the kids will learn quickly and read with you after a few times. The stuffed animal is a bit expensive unless you have a little one at home and then I say go for it. Trust me on this one.

I am working on a guided reading book right now that is a very simple version of this story. My kids could not get enough of this song and story. They begged me to write one they could read  and take home to practice. Load the song on your school ipod.  It has a super positive message for all of us to remember about being positive. Remind me to read this story after I get my class list of 31 students!  Keep walking along, singing your song...

What do you think ? I am thinking of putting this on TpT as a unit of study for the beginning of the year.I would
address the standards, scaffolding our ELL's.These need to be simple and useful to any population of kids.

Remember to vote each day to support the work on this blog.

Happy 4th!

The Time Has Come to Say Thanks

Do you stalk this blog for freebies? Do you use these materials in your classroom? Do you like to check out new ideas? Today the voting starts and if you like what I have offered I would love for you to vote for Kindergarten Crayons. However, there are so many exceptional blogs. I am sending a big shout-out to all of you rock star bloggers who work so hard to support classroom teachers. 

   

Meet A Math Wizard at Four

April from  primarylearninglogs.blogspot.com  was generous enough to let me share these adorable pictures of her son building numbers using my bean sticks and mat. He is attending kindergarten in the fall but loves "BIG" numbers so he requested a more difficult mat. So, a big shout-out to my friend April in Vermont for allowing me to post this. I love how Grandpa gets involved in this too! I will post a new mat for my Vermont buddies and if you have any pictures using my materials please let me know. I would love to see them.