Bears in a Cave

Hi everyone! I wanted to share with you one of mine and my kinders favorite math activites! It is called Bears in a Cave!!! Right now I am so happy with my November math work stations in my classroom and so are my kiddos, so I just had to share!

Bears in a Cave is a interactive and fun math activity! Students must "hide" bears in the cave and their partner must guess how many are inside and how many are outside of the cave. There are recording sheets for students to show their work. You may use counting bears or the bears that I have provided. Also, you may use a plastic bowl for the cave or the "cave mat" provided

Here is a picture of one of my kinders playing!

You can find this activity and lots others at my TPT store. Click here!

Sight Words Book

Hi everyone! I hope y'all are enjoying this exciting back to school time! I love this time of year because my Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest feeds are all a buzz with exciting new ideas.

I don't know about y'all but I'm always searching for ways to make learning sight words fun, and I am always in search of new ideas to get the kids to want to learn their words! The best thing that has worked for my kinders and their parents are my sight words mini books.

Our entire school year's worth of words are in this mini book. It measures 4X6 inches and has a card stock cover bound by a binder ring. The kids love checking off each word as they master it. I even included a note to parents explaining what sight words are and why they are important for kids to know them in a "snap."  I've gotten a great response from my parents from these books each year. They like the ease and functionality of the little book and being able to move ahead with the words if their kiddos are ready.

This year, I might try placing stickers on the checked off boxes to add even more of an incentive for my kinders. Why do you think?

Find these useful mini books along with the parent letter and assessment form at my store here.

Monthly Resources

Hi everyone! It has been a while- I am truly going to start trying to blog more! Now that I've gotten my guilty confession out of the way let's get started! I don't know about y'all but I have a love-hate relationship with my filing cabinet. I love how all of my files are organized by theme/subject and everything can be packed away to save space, but hate how jam packed full the thing is! I can barely reach my hand in there and I most definitely can't see any of my papers!

Luckily, I stumbled across We Heart First's brilliant idea of Monthly Resource Binders find them here. I decided I needed a change! I made it my summer goal to transfer all of my files from my filing cabinet into Monthly Resource Binders. Here's how it turned out...

I decided it would be best to store these cute and useful binders in a crate in my room along with other resource binders. I used 1 1/2 inch binders from Walmart. These crates are also a space saver!

Here's what the printable covers look like. Are they adorable or what?!?! You can download the covers and spines from WeHeart1st!

I put in sight words, assessments, print outs, and activities for that month. I punched holes in Ziploc bags to keep activities organized.  

I even put a copy of books that I know I will use during that month. Here is a copy of The Kissing Hand- I always read it on the first day of school. I also made these signs for Meet the Teacher Day so the parents will easily know what to do. Visit my TPT store to get your copy of these adorable signs to put out for Meet The Teacher Day 

Here is a checklist of procedures to teach the kids during the first week that I stuck in there! A must!

Well, I hope getting a look inside my monthly binders gives you some helpful organizational tips! Please visit WeHeart1st here for the binder covers/spines