Valentine FREEBIES and Goodies!

I thought it would be helpful if I combined all of my Valentine goodies into one post!  

Some of these items are FREE!!  Those that aren't are on sale until Valentine's Day!!

Just click on each picture to be directed to my shop!

  

 

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Thank you!

Valentine Product Updates and SALE!

Hi there!
I spent some time updating two of the products I use for Valentine's Day!

The first one is my 

Sight Word Finds-Love Birds and Puppy Love

I use this as a fun way to practice and reinforce sight words.  I have hidden 16 teeny, tiny words in a full-paged picture.  The students have fun using a magnifying glass to find the words!  I also included a recording sheet for students to write down 15 words as they find them!

This is split up into K and 1.  Each grade has two different Sight Word Finds-Love Birds and Puppy Love.

The following words are hidden:

K-1:  Love Birds:  I, my, go, a, see, can, me, and, is, it, am, in, for, the, at, no

K-2:  Puppy Love:  on, you, like, look, said, to, be, we, not, was, little, this, that, are, up, yes

1-1:  Love Birds:  like, look, said, then, when, with, me, my, from, for, she, he, here, play, all, are

1-2:  Puppy Love:  little, has, his, come, some, here, into, your, went, make, who, away, there, where, what, was  

The second one is my Monster Love Letter Identification.

I use this pack as a fun way to reinforce letters and their sounds.  This is a great addition to any Valentine's Day theme because the graphics used are adorable little monsters with hearts!

Guess what?  Both of these products are listed at half price until Valentine's Day!
Enjoy!

The Valentine Student Reader

Valentine's Day is just around the corner!
Can you believe it?  I'm just not sure where January went!

I wanted to share the Emergent Student Reader I wrote for my Kinderkids just for Valentine's Day!

"The Valentine" is a story about finding a valentine, but who is it for?  

This Emergent Student Reader practices:

~  the sight words:  can, you, see, the, is, it, for, my, the, no

~  concept of word

~  1:1 correspondence

~  use of picture clues when reading

and more!

Have you found some fun Valentine's Day goodies out there this year??  Please share!

Oh, and if you want to learn more about the Emergent Student Readers I have created, and how I use them with my kiddos, please click on the picture below:

New Student Reader-"I See"

Now that assessments are done and I have added new kinderkids to my caseload, new groups and routines are underway.

I really wanted to start reinforcing concept of word with some of my groups, so I wrote a new Emergent Student Reader called, "I See".

Teachers Notebook
Teachers Pay Teachers

I will be using it to reinforce:

~  concept of word, sentence, and space 

~  sight words:  I, see, the, a

~  1:1 correspondence when reading

~  use of picture clues when reading
~ onset-rime blending
~ rhyming

I start by writing out the sentences on sentence strips and placing them in the pocket chart.  I model how we point to one word at a time when reading.  Of course I make a mistake or two (I read "a" instead of "the" and insert the word "can") for the students to correct me.  This helps ensure they are focusing on the words.

I then have each student come up and read with a pointer.  Once done, they receive their own copy to begin their Student Reader folder.  (As we read additional Student Readers, they will be added to the folder.)  They will also be taking home the Home Reader to read to someone special.

 This reader is a bit more simplistic than the first one included in my Emergent Student Readers Set 1. If you want to learn more about the Student Readers I have created and use with my students, you can click on the pictures below:

Thanks and enjoy!

CVC Word Building with Pictures

My students have been working hard to isolate the beginning and ending sounds in words.  Although they are not quite yet in the stage of blending all of the sounds together to read the words, I created the following activity to help reinforce the beginning and ending sounds.  They will select a picture, use letter tiles to build the word, and then write the word.

~ To be a little festive, I gave it a little Valentine's Day spin by going to the good old Dollar Tree where I bought the little heart boxes below and then numbered them 1-8.  
~ I then placed one of the CVC picture cards in each box.
~ I will give the students the letter tiles, word building boxes, and a worksheet.
~ The students will select a box, use the letter tiles to build the word in thew Elkonin-like word building boxes, and then write the word in the corresponding numbered heart on the worksheet.
~ Once the words are written, together we will practice stretching out the sounds with our hands to read the words.

Because we are focusing mostly on  identifying building and identifying words by confirming the beginning and ending sounds, I have separated the vowels "a" and "i" into two separate activities.  If your students are ready, you could easily combine the materials for the two vowels.

Also, although I am doing this for Valentine's Day, this activity could be done at any point with any type of plastic box, small basket, bucket, etc...  I also included a worksheet that has a rectangular border around the three boxes for the students to write in (instead of the heart border).

Click on the shop of choice below!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

These activities address the following Common Core Learning Standards:

~  RF.K.1d:  Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

~  RF.K.2d:  Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three phoneme (CVC) words. 

~  RF.K.3a:  Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sound for each consonant.
~  L.K.2b:  Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes).

Valentine Monster Love

Some of my students have made wonderful progress with identifying letters and producing their corresponding sounds, however there are still some who need continued practice with them.

Back in August I posted about a little monster I created from an empty container I had.

I made me think of Dr. Jean's Mr. Munch and I used it with my students around Halloween time with little monsters letter cards that I created.

Well, I am going to pull that little guy out again because I just realized the little monsters have hearts around them so I can use them for Valentine's Day!

I added the upper and lower case letter matching worksheets with hearts the document with the monster letters and you can download them by clicking on the picture below!

These activities address the following Common Core Learning Standards:

~  RF.K.1d:  Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

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

If you are interested in seeing how I made the little monster, check out my original post by clicking here.

Best BEE-havior FREEBIE

My overall behavior plan was just not working for everyone this year.  I pull groups of 2-5 students into my space for 20-30 minutes.  These are students who need to engage in as much reinforcement, reteaching, and practice as they can. I feel like I have so much to do with them, with so little time to do it, that we just cannot afford to have behaviors interfere!


I have the rules clearly posted and set clear expectations.  My general reinforcement system is when the child receives two warnings or less, they are able to receive a sticker when our session is over.  When they receive a third warning, they simply do not earn their sticker.  I love stickers and so do the kids!  The majority of my little ones really want to earn a sticker, so this is really motivating to them. 


If they receive additional warnings after they have lost their sticker, I then inform them that their card will be changed in their classroom.  I hate spilling over the behaviors from the small group to the classroom, but children generally do not want to move their cards in their classrooms and are motivated to do better so they do not receive additional warnings.  But that isn't the case with a couple of my cherubs this year and it has happened a few times, which I just don't like.


So, I began implementing behavior punch cards with those individual students and created some new ones to share with you!  They are perfect for Valentine's Day as you punch out the 10 hearts to reinforce the good behavior!  

I still have the same general reinforcement system, and the students using the punch cards receive a punch if they do not receive more than 2 warnings.


I also wanted to share two posts that I found really helpful and have also shared some FREEBIES you may find useful!

Christie at First Grade Fever has shared cute punch cards that my students enjoyed.  I have used both the boy and girl card where they receive up to 10 punches.  Once the children have received all of their punches, they are then able to choose a reward from a catalog in her classroom. Click on her button to the left to see her post and to access her FREEBIE.  

Rachelle over What the Teacher Wants also has a wonderful post about the behavior punch cards she uses in her classroom. Click on her button to the right to check it out. She also includes adorable girl and boy punch cards that can be punched up to 20 times.

What are your tricks to encourage good behavior in your classroom settings?

Valentine's Day ABC Path FREEBIE

Here is a fun way to practice upper and lower case letter identification with a Valentine's Day twist!

Students must color a path in ABC order from heart to heart.

I included both an upper and lower case version!

If you missed my Winter ABC Path, you can find it here:

Love Bug Letter Identification

I just LOVE my newest product!  Not only because it is geared toward Valentine's Day, the day to celebrate love, but because it is a LOVE BUG theme.  Do you have a love bug of your own?  My daughter loves to cuddle and snuggle, so I have always called her my little love bug!!

Here is what is included in this letter identification pack:

-  Upper and lower case letter cards with cute little love bugs!  (I made these smaller than I have in previous packs.  I thought I would try to fit more on one page to save paper and possibly some ink.)

-  Upper  and lower case letter matching worksheets with hearts.
-  Upper and lower case Letter Mix-Ups.  This is where all of the letters in the alphabet are listed in random order all over the page on other cute love bugs.  (This is a new inclusion to the pack, previously I have separated them.)

Click on the picture blow for the shop of your choice!

Oh!  I almost forgot to mention that I used my own graphics in the pack too!  No, I didn't create all of the cute little love bugs.  Those were all created by the My Cute Graphics.  Instead, I created the hearts shown on the worksheets for the students to color in.  

~ Enjoy!