The Rotten Apple Hunt: A CVC Reading Adventure

I LOVE creating engaging learning experiences for my kiddos. One of my favorite ways to do that is to have "special visitors" come by our classroom. Little kiddos have hearts that are so open to believing in magical people and animals. Whether it be Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, or Clifford the Big Red Dog, little kids believe in them.

In September, we get a visit from the Crazy Apple Bunch Friends. This is a group of apples that want to get children reading and thinking. They try and trick kiddos by seeing if they can find the Rotten Apple words...words that are non-sense and silly! After stopping by our classroom to leave us a letter explaining our mission, we head off to find this crazy bunch!

Their apple words have placed words all around our school AND the Crazy Apple Bunch Friends have words written on THEM!!!

Do you see those round, red balls by these Crazy guys??? That is APPLE POOP!!! 

And the kiddos get to eat the apple poop!

Shhhhh...It is really cherry sour candy.

After collecting all of the apples in a basket, we must sort those crazy guys by whether they are yummy apples (real words) or rotten apples (non-sense words).

The Crazy Apple Bunch also leave us several activities that we can use in our Daily 5 Word Work. These activities help us work on rhyming, sorting words by their short vowel sound, and more practice reading CVC words. Take a peek. :)

I think this activity might be one of my favorite adventures because it was so easy to set-up. All I had to do was hot glue some googly eyes on the apples and write CVC words on them with a Sharpie. The apple poop just added to the excitement and engagement. My kiddos just went crazy nuts over this adventure and I know your kiddos will too!

Happy September sweet friends.

From My Heart to Yours,

The Great Paw Print Hunt with Pete the Cat

Hi Sweet Friends. Since I never blogged about this last year, I knew I wanted to share it with y'all now. If you have ever read my blog, you know that we LOVE to have special visitors come to our classroom.

These special visitors are usually an animal like Stretchy Snake or something seasonal like The Pumpkin Snatchers and Lucky the Leprechaun...and those are just a few of the visitors that have stopped by our room. There are tons more.

These special visitors are a great way to engage the kiddos and get them excited about the lesson. The visitors usually have us "hunting" and looking for things around the school. I usually just put the things we are hunting for down the hall/path we will take to go to Music/PE. This way we can quickly gather them without spending class and learning time hunting for them. Plus, this helps the kiddos be quiet in the line because I'll call on quiet friends to hold the things we find. :)

These lessons usually start with a letter.

After receiving this letter, we start hunting for paw prints. Before starting the hunt, we talk about and make predictions about who the paw prints might belong to. You always hear some interesting predictions. :)

When we are hunting for things in the hall, the kiddos know to stop the line and quietly point to what we are hunting for. There is LOTS of very enthusiastic pointing!

I always set the hunt up before school and then pretend when the kiddos see the things in the morning that I have no idea how they got there. :)

When the kiddos see the paw prints, most still don't make the connection that these are Pete the Cats paw prints...and I don't tell them. :)

Beside each paw print is a clue. The clues tell the students about a favorite treat of the author of the letter. Remember, the letter is signed as a Groovy Friend. 

When we finish finding all 6 clues, we head back to the room. When we get back to the room (This will usually be AFTER PE/Music), there is a package and a cat food bowl full of letters on my table.

We talk about all 6 clues and read the letter on the bag that tells us we need to use our schema and infer what could be inside the bag. We practice using sentence stems to help us talk about our inference.

We open the package to check our inference. We find strawberries and our paw print letter hunt cards.

Along with the strawberries and word study activity, the Groovy Friend also left us one of his books.

The reason there were paw prints around the school was he lost his shoes because they were covered in strawberries! :)

My kiddos seriously loved this activity. I was able to use the cards in Word Work and in my reading/RtI groups. If you are interested in grabbing it, click on the link below.

Click on the picture to grab a *freebie*!

Have a groovy day!

From My Heart to Yours,

Snow Much Fun

Lots of my Texas friends have seen a white Christmas this year. I love snow but I am more of a beach kind of gal. Cold weather makes me want to hibernate inside with my mug of spiced tea, a book, and my boys...the furry ones. =)

My mom and I went to see Les Miserables this afternoon. The theater was **FREEZING***!!!! Even though I was turning into a human popsicle, I LOVED the movie.

Awesome movie...bring the Kleenex.

To help you welcome winter, here are some *freebies* to warm you up. =)

Click on the picture above to grab the snowy contractions *freebie*.

Click here to grab all of these activities and more!

Here are some of the skills included in this *freebie*:

short vowels

blends

adding and subtracting

tally marks

problem solving

I hope you and your kiddos enjoy these activities. If you grab these *freebies*, please leave me a heart note (comment).

I am working on some Conscious Discipline posts. Let me know what questions you might have so I can try and answer them the CD way. What classroom management areas/concerns do you have?

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas. I'll be back before the New Year...now saying that is cray cray!!! Where did the year of  2012 go??!!???

From My Heart to Yours,

Pop 'Til You Drop

Are you already enjoying your summer or are you still counting down the days as your kiddos' eyes spin in different directions as they hop down the hallway or twirl in circles on the rug?????

Way to go if you made it to the end....will you pray the rest of us do too???

Will you come take us out of the straight jacket on our last day???

What's your phone number because you might be the 1 phone call we are able to make to bail us out of jail because all of our teaching buddies are in the cell with us! =)

My kiddos actually have not lost their minds yet
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................that was me on my knees praying. =)

To survive this week, we have been having some popping fun.....I almost typed pooping and that is true too because some kiddo (not one of mine) seems to be missing the potty......or a large dog visited the bathroom. I won't share with you the conversations this brought about and of course the potty stories! =P

Okay, that was a squirrel moment!!!!!

Since my buddy Carla and I are the Queens of Brain Pops, this was very fitting!

Here is a quickie of what we have been up to:

*popsicles- you could  make your own as a science lesson but my brain didn't think of that until after I bought some

*popping bingo- the kiddos made their own compound word bingo boards that we are using popcorn for the markers.

*bubble party- different bubble wands and gadgets....each kiddo also has a thing of ice cream or soda bubbles to take home as part of their gift from me

*pop go the numbers- 100's chart clues and number hunt with bubblegum covering the numbers. When the number riddle is solved you get to chew the gum and pop some bubbles

*word pop hop- a race to pop the word wall bubbles (balloons)....kind of like musical chairs and this is a brain pop in the making....I will probably end up adding shaving cream so we can clean our tables as we practice spelling and taking the word wall words off the word wall.

Today, we did the Vowel Pop. I am sorry I have no pictures.

This was so much fun and hysterical!

We had bubbles (balloons) with the vowels written on them. Big blue bubbles (balloons) because I could not find clear balloons at 2 different party stores and the ones they did have were 4 balloons for $1....ummmm, no thank you.

The kiddos came and found a card and after sorting it they had to find the vowel bubble that popped out of the word. They then had to "pop" the bubble. Hilarious doesn't even begin to describe this. I guess since these were helium balloons they were extra thick...especially since I didn't blow them up all of the way so they would be more round like bubbles.

The kiddos were slamming their little booties onto the balloons and bouncing right off of them. Many bubbles had to be popped with scissors. =)

I couldn't even pop one! This was pretty funny too when I bounced off the bubble balloon! =)

You can grab your copy of the Vowel Pop and have tons of fun too!

If you have any questions about this post or game, please leave a comment or email me because my brain is thinking of the 1,000,000 things I need to be doing to wrap up the year and I am sure this post might make sense only to me. =)

Here is another *freebie* that I would love for you to go grab from my TpT store. If you grab it, please consider following my store.

It might be time for me to pop into a bubble bath now! =)

Blessings to you on this Hump Day!

Even though they might be acting like HUGE stinkers, remember that you might be the only one to love that kiddo for the day and many are about to be sent home to no structure and very little love.

We are making our helpful heart bracelets tomorrow and doing a bucket filler activity....my heart is already smiling about this and the sweet, sweet things we will share with each other. This is kind of my way to send off with my kiddos a reminder that they will always be part of a School Family where someone loves them...they just need to look at their bracelet to remember that. =)

Angel in the Classroom....and a small obsession

Each day our little ones come to us with smiles, hugs, burdens, and sometimes hurting hearts and hidden bruises. For many, we can tell right away what kind of morning they are having. Some are so excited to just be there. Some seem to be a little sleepy or grumpy. Some are hiding behind a facade.

To be honest, we may not always know what burdens each one of our kiddos carry with them to school. We often think that only our kiddos who are economically disadvantaged are the ones with broken homes and problems. Sadly, child abuse can touch any child or family...some families are just better at hiding it.

This may not be an appropriate topic for a blog post but it is too near and dear to my heart to not say anything or share my poem.

I never want to make excuses for a child's behavior but many times knowing what might be going on in their lives helps us to better understand them. Remember, our kiddos are either extending love or calling out for love. We might be the only one to really stop and listen to what their behavior is telling us.

I have taught kiddos that it was very obvious the abuse that was happening and some that left me shocked when I found out. I guess I think we just need to love each kiddo as if we are the only one who does.....and for some kiddos this is easy. Others, we will have a hard time doing so. I know God put each child in your life and my life for a reason.

You may not realize that each smile you give a child erases a frown someone else gave them. Each hug you give might erase the hands that caused bruises and hurt. Each I love you that you tell them might erase hurtful and ugly words. YOU are either seeing that child as a blessing to your life or a burden. Conscious Discipline shares how what children hear NOW becomes the inner speech for the rest of their lives.

I believe we all have the chance to be a guardian angel here on Earth and that through us, we can share of God's love. This is one of the very first poems I wrote because one of my teachers was an angel in the classroom to me.

You already are touching hearts in a way you may never fully understand.

Now, my obsession.....

I did not realize how bad it was until I pulled out my BOX of Easter eggs!

Aren't some of those the cutest Easter eggs ever?!!!???? The butterflies and flowers aren't eggs but are cute containers!

The fish ones I am going to use at the beginning of next year for all of the Lips the Fish activities we do. =)

The frogs and ladybugs are still waiting for me to have a brain pop on how to use them.

Most of the eggs came from Big Lots....we won't discuss how many I bought of each.

These eggs are not even including the small, regular or jumbo sized eggs I also have.

Since I have a small egg obsession, here is an egg *freebie*! =)

Now for a craft. We are going to have some sort of writing activity to go with these. The pictures do not capture how cute and amazing the effects look in person.

We traced an egg on tag. The kiddos then decorated their egg with squiggle lines or polka dots. They then painted the egg with corn syrup that I had dyed different colors with food coloring. They had green, yellow, blue, purple, and pink (a very, very light red). We painted these on Friday and they were dry by Monday. A few eggs that had a thick coat of corn syrup took until Tuesday to dry.

They are really cool looking in person. They are very shiny and swirly looking. =)

My kiddos are bonkers for them. They keep going by and stroking their egg! =)

I hope this post touches your heart and leaves you with something to bring to the classroom tomorrow.

Thank you for blessing me in so many ways! =)

We Care Bag...and a *freebie*

One of the things I love about Conscious Discipline is the building of the School Family. Many, many of my kiddos do not have the most nurturing home lives...some of my kiddos are never hugged or praised. We have had parents before that came to pick up their child from school and not only did they not know the teacher's name but they did not THEIR child's name. I have had Firsties before that did NOT know their name...and how can you learn to write your name if you don't know it!!!???!!!  But I know God brought these babies to my room and I have the joy of loving them unconditionally. Yes, at times I want to give them a good "GRRRRRRRRR" or pop them but I DO let them know I care enough about them to not let them behave a certain way!

As I have talked about before, many of the Conscious Discipline School Family Jobs help build that family that so many kiddos are lacking at home. One of the jobs I love is the Encourager! WOW! I know that is something I can ALWAYS do better at but to start teaching a child to look beyond their egocentric selves to notice others is so powerful! And after watching me encourage them, they do an awesome job encouraging others especially when I might have reached the point of frustration and wanting to tell them to knock it off and stop crying!

In Our School Family, we have a We Care Bag. Inside the bag are items that the Encourager might use to help a friend that is feeling sad or angry. Here are some pictures:

Inside the We Care Bag is a stuffed animal if they are feeling sad and a foam phone that they can use to "call" someone they are missing. We have band-aids that the First-Aid Giver uses and cranky cream (the label is not on this bottle of it) the Encourager and I can use to soothe a sad friend.

There are different squeeze toys when someone is mad (we practice being caterpillar calm and do some hand motions as we practice taking deep breaths) and the bottle with the pom-pom balls is to help an angry friend calm down as they pull the pom-pom balls out of the bottle and focus on THAT instead  of whatever is making them mad. The STAR wand and bubbles are something the STAR Helper uses and I can share more about that in another post if you are interested.

The Encourager's job is very important. When a child is feeling sad, angry, or discouraged they are functioning at the brain stem. This is the worst place for a child to be for learning and success to happen. The brain stem is our fight or flight area of the brain. A child must breathe and calm down and move to the frontal lobe for the most successful learning to take place. Also, when a child is functioning at their brain stem they are NOT hearing what you are saying and there is NO point in trying to reason with them until they calm down!

This might mean the Encourager needs to go get the sad child a stuffed animal to hug so they can calm down. Or the Encourager might go sit by the frustrated child for a bit and encourage them as they get started on their work. The Encourager is like a cheerleader too celebrating the child as they calm themselves down or attempt to try and do the work that might be hard for them or that they don't want to do.

All of my kiddos become encouragers and cheerleaders to each other. They celebrate each other ALL of the time and "Way to Go" is one of the most used phrases in Our School Family. If you want to read more about the job of the Cheerleader click here.

Watching them encourage and celebrate each other is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. Part of me has gotten so used to it that I forget to realize how special what is happening in our classroom really is. One of my toughies this year told me "Thank you for loving me like no one else does."

Another one of my kiddos (who was actually not the Encourager this past week) was talking to one of my kiddos who was under the table crying because he was feeling very frustrated making his torn paper snowman. He said, "Ms. Price and I believe in you and know you can do it. Come on out and I'll help you get started." After he got started, my other kiddos all started give him Way to Go's. The Cheerleader celebrated him with her horn and the Kindness Recorder added a kind flower for the child who helped the sad friend. Another friend added both of them a helpful heart to fill our bucket. ALL of this was done without me stepping in and saying anything! My heart was smiling!

I would love for you who might be new followers to go back and read the other posts I have shared about Conscious Discipline. It will truly touch your heart and the heart of each little one in your room!

Now, on to the *freebie*!

2 of my kiddos are still have trouble with short vowel sounds so I made a little penguin vowel sort for them! I hope you can use it with your kiddos! =)

graphics by DJ Inkers

As always, please leave me a heart note! Each one makes my heart smile! =)

From My Heart to Yours,