Printable Name Tags

I feel like all the teacher supply stores are going out of business.   Anyone else?  I feel like in some way that is good, because it means teacher are becoming more creative and innovative, but sometimes it would be nice to run down to the store and get a pack of name tags.  I am also one of those people who can stand in the store for an hour and not buy a thing, because I can't find the exact idea I have in my brain.

This is a pack of printable name tags.  I have included 15 different options, and all you need to do is print, write, laminate, and cut.  I am a fan of different colors.  You can use them to split up your reading groups, or arrange them by table.  You can even print these and use them to label all of your bins and drawers.  Everyone has bins and drawers in the classroom!

Here are a few examples of the tags I made.

I hope you like them as much as I do.  I think I may actually end up making even more!  You can go HERE to download these.

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee

Halloween Math Worksheets

I love holidays.  If I could constantly live in October-December, I would.  I have always loved holiday themed activities and worksheets in the classroom, too.  It somehow makes teaching more fun, and don't we all love it when teaching is fun?  Less testing, less stress, and more fun.  That is just how I like things in the classroom.

This pack includes 13 worksheets that can be easily printed and thrown into your math lessons for the month of October (or anytime in the Autumn--they are not super Halloween-ish).  This sheets will go over tally marks, making patterns, labeling patterns, counting, number writing, missing numbers, counting on, and a few other things.  Most worksheets are aligned to the core, and provide great practice for those little learning kiddos.  Go HERE to get the pack.

These pictures just show a few of the sheets that are included in the pack.  Are you excited?  I hope you are excited.  We are entering the most magical time of the year!  You can go HERE to get your pack.

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee

Super Cute Classroom Posters

Do you love to have reminders for yourself?  I can't survive if I don't have daily reminders, and teaching is no exception.  When I am teaching, I need a timer to go off, a sticky note on my desk, or an IM to pop up on my computer to keep me on track.  Am I alone in this, or do I hear an amen?

I remember my first year of teaching.  I had all these stellar ideas that I wanted to try with my new little class.  The problem was, I forgot to use half of them, because I don't remember a darn thing!  Then I realized that I wasn't alone in this.  No, no.  My dear students "forgot" how to do things all the time.  For instance, do you have that one kid in your class that can't remember to write his name on his paper?  Ever?  Me, too.  Do you have that little girl in your class that can't seem to remember how to line up at the door?  I mean, you've practiced it daily for months, but kids forget things, right?  How about the kid who slops things together in two seconds so he can get to that Fast Finisher bin? How about that one in your class that can't remember to take a deep breath when they don't understand something right away?  Sound familiar?  I figured it did.

To help with all of these little issues that pop up in every regular classroom, I made some posters.  As much as I like to pretend that this kind of thing is for the students, I must admit that it is just as helpful for me.  I need to remember that some kids just can't remember to write their frigging name on the top of a paper, and that it isn't the end of the world.  I need to remember that some kids just need a constant reminder for how we line up.  I also really need to remember that sometimes I need to take a deep breath when I've taught the same concept a bajillion times, and that one cute little squish just doesn't seem to get it--yet.

You can check out these posters HERE.

If you think you also need these little reminders, and more, check out my super cute classroom poster set.  It is officially one of my favorites.  It comes with 5 different posters.  Use one, or use them all, but you can't go wrong.

Again, check these out at my store HERE.

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!
~Leslee

Easy Kindergarten Homework

I am going to be honest, I don't like homework.  I don't like doing it with my kids as a mom, and I don't like sending it home as a teacher.  I feel like kids need to be KIDS.  They spend as much time at school as adults do at work for crying out loud!  Do you want to keep working when you get home from work?  Me either!

I was looking at my class DIBELS scores, and I felt they were a little lower than I would like.  Then it hit me: less homework AND better test scores.  How do I do that, you wonder?  Well, wonder no more!  I create a homework packet that covers the E-N-T-I-R-E year.  Yep, that's right.  All you have to do is print out this beauty, and your homework is covered for the entire year.  Want me to sugar coat that for you?  Sure thing!  The homework goes over the specific skills used in the DIBELS reading test.  Parents can do homework in ONE MINUTE with their little guys.  Ah, the children can be allowed to be children when they return home.  What a concept!

 We start out with Letter Naming Fluency--very important for the beginning-of-year skill set.

 Next, we move into Letter Sound Fluency.  This is such a foundational skill.  Our next month works on First Sound Fluency.

 Now we move into Segmenting.  This skill is great for reading and spelling.  I have found that when my students have figured out how to segment, their reading and writing takes off.  The next month also uses segmenting skills for CVC words.

 Want more practice on those High Frequency Words?  Yep, it's covered.

 Once students have figured our High Frequency Words and the Phoneme Segmentation, they can begin to read.  I mean to really read.  So, we naturally introduce reading simple words to make a sentence.

Now we go into Timed Reading Fluency.  I am not a huge fan of timing kids, but in the testing world, timing kids is the big thing.  (Insert barf here!)  This gives kids the practice of fluency, and helps them to get used to being timed.  I don't focus too much on how quickly they read, but look at this month as practice for the kids.

Does this packet make you want to scream and dance?  Me, too!  You can go HERE to get your copy.  Happy home-working!

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee

Reading Posters FREEBIE

Ah, don't you just love freebies?  I love freebies, and I love a bright and colorful classroom.  If you love all those things, then this is a post for you!  Do you have a reading corner, or a class library?  Do you want that area of your room to be inviting and enticing for the kids?  Me, too!  These reading posters are perfect for labeling that special area in your room.

This kit comes with 3 different options for the posters which all say "READ".  Sometimes the best messages are the most simple messages.  Here are some examples of what the posters look like.  Simply print, laminate, and hang.  Easy peasy, right?

I think this first set would be darling with a Dr. Seuss theme.  

You can go here to download this product for FREE!  Let me know if you have any other classroom poster ideas, and I will create!

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee

Reading Centers--September

Do you love using centers in your classroom?  Do you hate using centers in your classroom?  I tend to be in love with the idea of them, but I hate getting them ready.  It takes buckets of time to get things ready for centers.  It can be a huge headache.  Especially when you are trying to stick with cute monthly themes, and build on concepts already learned.  Are you tired just from reading about the headache of centers?  I feel like I am wearing myself out just writing about it.

Fear no more, my friends.  Fear. No. More.  I am in the process of creating monthly reading centers for you to use in your classroom!  I want to make things that are fun for kids to do, and use concepts directly from the core.  I just completed the set for September.  I am going to release these monthly, and then I will provide a Mega Reading Centers Pack that will include an entire year of centers!  Happy dance!

This is just a sneak peek of the activities included in this pack.  The set focuses on these concepts:
*upper case/lower case letter matching
*first sound fluency
*vowel identification
*letter/sound matching

Are you as excited as I am?  Okay, okay....probably not.  I get it, but this is the kind of thing I LOVE to use with students.  It keeps them engaged, and they feel like they are playing instead of learning.  Keep those kiddos busy while you work with small groups.  You can go here to get this pack.

Thanks for reading!  Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!

~Leslee

My Dr. Seuss Classroom

Don't you just love Dr. Seuss?  I have read plenty of books for children over the years, and Dr. Seuss still seems to be a favorite.  A few years ago, Mrs. Rounds and I were trying to decide what we wanted to do in our classroom.  She came up with Dr. Seuss as a theme, and I went CRAZY with it.  I spent hours on Pinterest looking for some cute ideas, and I found a few, but I decided I couldn't find anything that was good enough, big enough, or exciting enough.  I wanted our students to walk into the room and be blown away.  I didn't want anyone to wonder what our classroom theme might be.  It needed to be known the moment people walked into the room.

So how did I solve this little problem?  Well, first of all, I went and got some poster board.  Lots of bright and cheerful poster board.  I would look up a Dr. Seuss character online or in a book, and I would do my best to draw that same character onto the poster board.  Some characters were drawn on two or three poster boards that I later taped together.  For real, who doesn't love a six-foot Cat in the Hat in the classroom?  Here are some pictures of the things I made for our room.

Horton was a bit tricky.  Most of the Dr. Seuss characters were simple to do with poster board, because they are each mainly on color.  Horton is gray.  Did you know that gray is not a readily available color in poster board?  I had to do this guy on white poster board, and then I found some oil pastels in the closet that I used for his body and outline.  I used a giant pom-pom for the speck.

Lora teacher desk!  This was so flipping simple.  Anyone could make this.  If I could make it, you can make it.  I recommend running your poster board through the laminator before you use them.  Kids are gross, and they can make things in the room super gross.  If you laminate, you can just use a cleaning wipe to clear off any goodies the kids leave behind.

This is my daughter (3rd grade) next to our Cat in the Hat.  He is a pretty tall guy.  The kids loved standing next to him.  We had one in the hall with a welcome sign, and this one in the room.  So fun for the kidlets.

I made about 12 of these fish, and we hung them from the ceiling using fish line.  It was great to create that 'suspended in air' feeling.  Again, the kids thought it was grand having the fish "swimming" above them.

Do you love Target?  Do you LOVE the dollar bins?  I frigging love those sweet little bins.  Guess what?  They had weeks and weeks of Dr. Seuss stuff.  I was able to get some bags for a dollar each.  I cut them up and stapled them to some canvas I had lying around.  This is how it turned out.  

This is our birthday board.  Each balloon has a month, and the corresponding birthdays written on it.

This is our reading corner.  I could type all day long about reading.  I have a serious passion for reading.  I love to read.  I read a few books a week.  You can usually find me in my bed reading until the wee hours of the morning.  I just can't help myself.  Reading is magical.  I desperately want kids everywhere to know that reading can be magical for them, too.  But you know what?  Reading is hard for lots of kids.  I wanted to make reading as much fun as I possibly could for those kinds of students.  I wanted them to still have a positive relationship with literature, even if reading is frustrating and difficult.  

This is our reading corner.  Mrs. Rounds came up with the idea to make the trees from the Lorax.  We used pool noodles (um, go to the Dollar Store.  The Dollar Store is a palace filled with things like cheap pool noodles!) and tissue paper to make these.  They turned out so cute.  We have them all over the room.

This is where I have my writing station.  The Sneetches were featured in this part of the room.  I did this to remind the kids to be kind to one another while working at the stations.  No one wants a star-bellied Sneetch sitting next to them!

The Grinch was stuck up in the highest corner of the room.  He looked down on the kids.  I used to tell them that he was hoping to catch them doing something naughty, so he could ruin their Christmas.  The kids got a huge kick out of that.

Some of my projects required a bit more than poster paper and a laminator.  These next two items required the thrift store and some paint.  I got this small table for 3 bucks, and I already had a ton of paint at home.  I printed the quote on the table onto a piece of paper that I used ModPodge to attach to the table.  Just make sure you use some kind of sealant over the top if you do this.

I love sitting in this chair.  How can you not smile at polka dots and stripes?  And I'll tell you what, my students will do just about anything if it means they get to sit in this chair for a moment.  They love it.  I painted the chair with a bunch of colors and patterns, and when I was all done I used a black sharpie to go around the circles and stripes.  It added some dimension, and made the colors pop.


Mrs. Rounds and I have enjoyed having this creative classroom.  It has made it fun for the kids, and parents are always impressed with our mad skills.  I hope you found a few ideas that you like.  Thanks for reading!

Teach a kid, give someone a hug, and have a wonderful day!
~Leslee