Little Literacy Learners

The Big Apple

This weekend I headed down to the Big Apple to meet some of my bloggy friends and fellow TBA Authors! Although the New York City is only a 3 hour drive for me, I do not go there often. It is intimidating to me and I am petrified of driving in NYC traffic. But I did it, I did it!!

Many were in NYC to attend the BlogHer '12 conference and we all met for dinner. Those who were attending the conference shared some tidbits they had learned. Otherwise we spent the time chatting and eating!

It was so very nice to meet everyone in person!

My hubby came with me and was very supportive about driving down to meet people we've never met before! He is shy and reserved like me, so I was happy to have him by my side because I definitely had some butterflies fluttering around in my tummy. It was my little one's first trip to the NYC and she had a blast both in the city and socializing with everyone at dinner!! (She on the other hand, is a little social butterfly!)

Did you know that when you attend a BlogHer conference you get logs and lots of free stuff (swag)? Well, although I ended up not being able to attend the conference, I came home with the very best swag of all!

This swag was made with love by my bloggy friends!

(Thank you Hadar and Teri!)

And look how awesome these pens are!

They say, "TBA Author and proud of it!"

(Thank you Leslie!!)

Okay, now let's have some fun.

Do you recognize all of the ladies in the first picture?

Here we go, going from left to right:

Leslie from KindergartenWorks

Erica Bohrer from Erica Bohrer's First Grade

Teri from A Cupcake for the Teacher

Hadar from Miss Kindergarten

Charity from The Organized Classroom Blog

Tamara from Teaching With TLC

Angela from The Cornerstone

Crystal from Kreative in Kinder

ME!!
Mel D from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations

Back to School Bonanza

Have you heard that Teachers Notebook is sponsoring a campaign to raise $10,000 (or more) from corporate sponsors and parents? All of the contributions to the campaign will be given to educators in the form of gift certificates to purchase the educational resources that they need. How amazing is that?

But, they need your help to make sure educators have access to the educational resources that they need for back to school as well as for the school year. The additional educational resources will enable educators to better reach the varied academic levels of their students. As an educator, you know that we constantly strive to reach students above and below their grade level. Additional resources will help all students be actively engaged and more likely to reach their fullest potential.

Please help spread the word by clicking on the picture to visit the fund-raising site. You could also help by sharing it on Facebook, your blogs, your Pinterest boards and Twitter. The more people who view the campaign, the more contributions will be made and the more gift certificates can be given away to educators just like you!!

A Whole Pack of Ladders

I am very excited about my newest Word Ladders Pack and I think you will be too! I have had several requests to make more, so here they are! These ladders are a fun way for our little literacy learners to build some of their foundational skills.

Background by www.mycutegraphics.com
If you are not familiar with them here is how they work: the students start with the word on the bottom of the ladder. As they climb up each rung, they follow the direction to change the the initial, final, or medial letter. They then write and decode the new word. With each change they practice the reading foundational skills of segmenting, substituting, and blending the letter-sounds as they decode each new single syllable word.

These can be used in so many ways. Students can complete them individually or collaboratively. They can be used with the entire class, in a literacy center, or in small differentiated groups. I use them with my small groups during word study as they progress through their reading foundational skills of phonics and word recognition.

It is easy to pick and choose the ladders appropriate for your students' needs. This 25 page document is set up to include ladders for:

CVC words
words with initial digraphs

words with initial l-blends

words with initial s-blends

words with initial r-blends

words with final blends

mixture of all
* Just a note-this pack does not include any long vowel patterns.

I have created other Word Ladder sets, so in case you missed any of them you can click here to go to my most recent post about them. (You will even find a link to a FREEBIE once you are there!)

Hope you and your little literacy learners enjoy climbing their way up through their foundational skills!

Tell Me More...

I have been trying to catch up on some blog hopping and I came across this great little linky party that Mrs. Lemons is having! Yes, I know I am a little late, but I still wanted to join in the fun!

So here are some little facts about me, that you may or may not find interesting...

I am definitely a morning person vs. a night owl. I tend to be go, go, go during the day and it is almost impossible to watch television or read after my daughter goes to bed at night. I all too often fall asleep the second I sit down to relax! I love to get up early to get things done anyhow, so I guess it all works out!

My mom is one of the most important people in my life. Here we are at one of my bridal showers in 2004.

If I were to be stranded on a deserted island and I would only be able to have two items with me, I would choose mascara and KETCHUP of course! I LOVE ketchup. It just makes everything taste better! What would you choose?

I feel so blessed to have married my best friend. Poor guy is stuck with me now...

My hair is naturally curly, but I never realized how curly it really was until I knew what to do with it in college! I do straighten it when I have the time and patience. Here I am with it straightened a few years ago.

And here I am with curly hair the same month. Don't mind the close up shot or the goofy girl to my left. (It's hard to find pictures of yourself when you are always the one behind the camera!!)

I love turtles. I think they are fascinating little creatures!

I am a Nationally Board Certified Teacher. Here I am with my colleague, Jill, at a special dinner party a few years ago.

My two children complete our family. Here they are playing doctor of course!

Speaking of my children, Saydie loves to be covered up and tucked into her own bed at bedtime. Do you cover up your pet? Although my hubby would disagree, I think it is a normal thing to do...right?

Lastly, Paige has enjoyed catching so many butterflies this summer that I think she just may turn into a butterfly herself! (Check out the picture below. What do you think, should I be concerned?)

So that is it for now! Make sure you join in the fun too by linking up if you haven't already!!

Emergent Student Book-My 5 Senses

My little one has such a thirst for learning. She loves learning about letters, words, numbers, science, art, etc... She has asked if we could read more books about what is inside our bodies. In addition to the books we have taken home from the library that I will read to her, I created a new Emergent Student Book called, "My 5 Senses" for her to read to me.

I created the book to have somewhat of a predictable pattern, but I varied it a little bit to ensure that she is focusing on the words as she reads and not just memorizing the words by the pattern. Because it is important for her as an emergent reader to develop concept of word, I included dots under each word to encourage her to point to each word as she reads.

To allow my little one to take ownership of the book, I decided not to include any graphics throughout the book. Instead, I have asked her to be the illustrator! This allows her to make it her own as she illustrates each page.

Click on the picture below to access your shop of choice. The download includes the Emergent Student Book along with sight word flash cards to help reinforce the high-frequency words repeated throughout the book.

The Common Core Learning Standards addressed in this activity include the following:

K.RS.FS.1: Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.

K.RS.FS.1a: Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.

K.RS.FS.1b: Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequence of letters.

K.RS.FS.1c: Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.

K.RS.FS.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words

K.RS.FS.3a: Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

K.RS.FS.3c: Read common high-frequency words by sight.

K.RS.FS.4: Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

This Emergent Student Book is similar to the Emergent Student Readers I have created. Instead of being on a single page, it is set up as a book.
If you missed them, you can check them out by clicking on the pictures below:

and

I am not sure what is happening in your neck of the woods, but it has been absolutely beautiful here. Because of that, I have been very unproductive when it has come to getting things done!

Thanks and I hope you enjoy!!

There's No Place Like TBA

Happy Summer to you all!
I haven't posted since I was still in school because I have been enjoying every little bit of my first two weeks of summer vacation! Wooo hooo!The weather has been A.MAAA.ZING! Hot and sunny each day, which has allowed me to enjoy the new pool we just installed this year! My days have been spent going to the gym, drinking my iced coffee, floating the in the pool with my little honey, spending time on our boat, and eating ice cream...lots and lots of ice cream! It has been nice to take a break from thoughts of RtI, APPRs, SLOs, and any other educational acronym for a little bit and just focus on my little one and having fun!
Did you know that today is International Blog-Hopping Day?Over at TBA we are celebrating with a Wizard of Oz theme because there is truly NO place like TBA for educational blogging of course!

My fellow and authors and I invite you to join us in the journey by clicking on the picture above, which will take you to 9 different routes on the yellow brick road. You will then be able to find some fabulous FREEBIES and link up your own posts along the path if you choose.
I have linked up two FREEBIES for:

and

Hope to see or hear from you along the way! Have fun!!

End of School Scramble

My students love scrambled sentences, do yours? Since there are many special events happening in these last few days, I am not sure how much I am going to be able to see my first and second graders.

I do have a few activities ready to go in case I am able to see some of them. One of the activities is the End of School Scrambled Sentences. This is an activity I created last year, but just adapted a teeny tiny bit. (If you want to see that post, you can click here.)

This activity has 5 different sentences all about the end of school or summer vacation. I pre-print the document, laminate, and cut out the word cards. I then place the cards with the like pictures in cute little buckets. The students then select a bucket, pull out the words and place them in the correct order to make a complete sentence. Once they have it in the correct order, they then write the correct sentence on the recording sheet. This incorporates use of their sight words, comprehension at the sentence level, and the need for proper punctuation when writing.

Here are some 1st Grade CCLS that can be addressed in this activity:

RF1.1. Demonstrate understanding of the organization and basic features of print.
a. Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).
RF1.3 3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
a. Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
c. Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
d. Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
e. Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
f. Read words with inflectional endings.
g. Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
L.1.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
b. Use end punctuation for sentences.

How many of you are still in school? One full day and two half days left for this girl here! How about you?

Upstate Get Together

We had a lot of fun at our little gathering yesterday!

Only four of us made it, but boy did we have fun eating some yummy food and gabbing and gabbing and gabbing, and gabbing some more! We all have about 2 weeks of school still left and enjoyed the break from the end-of-year stresses!

Laura is so amazingly sweet! She made us each little goodie bags with many little fun things to put right in my desk, which I have packed in my school bag all set for tomorrow!

Beth Ann drove about 2.5 hours to meet with us! She brought these fun little glasses for each of us to enjoy and celebrate summer with! Mine is in the freezer as we speak Beth Ann, can't wait to use it!!

Tara is so easy to talk to. It amazes me that the two of us actually worked in the same school for one year, but because we didn't work together and schedules were so tight we really didn't even know each other. Luckily we were able to connect through blogland!

It was so nice to meet everyone, speak the same language and chat about the blogging world, and as Beth Ann said, "put a face with a button"!!
Thanks ladies for the great conversation and goodies!!
Can't wait to do it all again!

What are you doing tomorrow?

Tomorrow is the day!

One of the most amazing aspects of blogging for me has been the wonderful friendships I have made with fellow authors! I am thankful for the friendships and am so excited that I actually get to meet some of my bloggy friends in person tomorrow!!

Some of the wonderful ladies I will be meeting tomorrow include:

We will be meeting at noon tomorrow!

If you are in the area, come join us at

(Picture courtesy of http://www.wolfs111.com/)

This all started with a post from Mrs. Durning back in February!!

Thank you Mrs. Durning!

Get Together and Phrase FREEBIE

Holy Moly Cannoli!

The month of May flew by wicked fast!!
I woke up this morning realizing
that June 9th is THIS weekend!!

That means we are having our
Capital Region Get Together THIS Saturday!

Wooooooooooooo hooooooooooooo!!!!

Here are the details:

Saturday June 9th, 2012

12 noon

Wolf's 1-11!

Will you be joining us??

On a different note, to help reinforce sight words with my Kinderkids, I have been sending home the "homework" shown below. They simply read each phrase aloud to someone. The parent/guardian listening to the child writes their initials and date in the box. Once all of the boxes are complete, they bring it back to me for a little treat.

If you click on the picture, you will be able to snag one for yourself for FREE!