Spring in My Step and Party Freebie on My Blog!

Ohhh, I am SO happy to be posting today! I am celebrating Spring with some blogging buddies in a link-up, giveaway, milestone celebrating, freebie giving, spring resource share! I want to thank Marissa at Inspired Owl's Corner for her work at putting this together.

Now lookee, lookee at all the fun stuff here, there, and everywhere!

First off, Kidpeople Classroom has some celebrating to do. I'm at the 250 follower milestone with bloglovin', google and email fans! And I hit 100 followers on Pinterest! I am so very happy to have this audience of teachers and friends for my little thirteen month old blog. As I sit writing away it is encouraging to know that somebody out there occasionally hears my voice. Blogging has been an incredible growing experience, as any blogger will tell you, and if you ever want to start one yourself and begin the journey, just send an email my way and I'd be happy to help. 

Just saying thank you to my steady readers is not enough, though. I want to share some goodies at this little party, so...

I'm having a sale on my Spring cross-curricular activity resource on TPT. 

My newly revised, April Showers Bring What? pack features a new twist on the old saying, April showers bring Mayflowers... and pilgrims. In my version April showers ultimately bring June bugs. 

You'll get a copy of the poem to use in a pocket chart, several to use in poetry journals or as center activities, and a color or black and white bookmark. Directions and printed materials are also included to make a class manipulative that flips from being an umbrella to a flower, and then reveals a June bug– kids love making this and parents love when it comes home. 

For a science connection, or for a bug unit specifically, there is a nonfiction reading passage and two brand new close reading sheets. I use close reading sheets in whole or small group with my kindergarten students, but they would provide individual response sheets for first or second graders. 

All this for just one dollar! That's 66% OFF. And it's just in time to use as we turn over the calendar. Bon't delay as the sale is only TODAY through April 2!  And don't forget to let me know how all the activities go over with your kiddos! Click on the cute June bug image above to see it.

And. one. last. little. gift.  My kidpeople are into rearranging words to make sentences, and I am so happy about that. What good word practice they're getting. I give them words and they work and rearrange so the words make sense in a sentence. This time in the school year is just right for practicing this skill. It's also the perfect time to grab a set of those plastic take apart eggs that are on sale for cheap everywhere to make a new activity. I put together three sets of color coded sentences, at three varying levels of difficulty, and a recording sheet. Just laminate the sentences, cut the words apart and put them in the eggs. Kids choose an egg and are off! 

Click on the photo of the egg search below to download the freebie activity. I'm hoping to raise my Bloglovin' numbers and would love it if you'd follow me that way, but you don't have to. I appreciate you being here today! 

A little heads up while I have you here, though– I'm working on another resource to share with folks. Bloglovin' followers won't miss it... Just sayin' :)

And there's MORE! More GREAT things today! You can, right now, enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card, and $75 or $50 TPT gift certificates! Not too shabby. I could use those in a blink.  Just follow the directions and enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below, and I hope I see you added to my Bloglovin' list. Good luck to all!

Then, click around on all the other Blog buttons in the link-up to see what Spring treats they have in store for you at their blogs. It really is a Happy Spring! Whoot!

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

MORE I Need My Monster!!

This post must start with a special thank you to Shari Dash Greenspan, editor at Flashlight Press for leaving a sweet and informative comment on my last post. I published it, but I really don't want anyone to miss the important resources that go along with I Need My Monster, and a slew of other books published at Flashlight Press, so I'm writing a new post.

You've got to check out the book I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll and Howard McWilliam! To know about the book and get my review, click on the book cover below to go back to yesterday's post about it.

I Need My Monster has won over eighteen awards and honors. This book is a favorite with way more than just me! And it has been translated into Korean, German, Hebrew, Polish, Turkish, and Chinese! I'm going to buy a couple of these editions because a terrific lesson on language and world people could certainly come about when my kids get their hands on them! Thanks to Flashlight Press for making so many different editions available. Wow!

Then you need to know about the free stuff on the Activity Pages of Flashlight Press. The activities for I Need My Monster include info on the author and illustrator, reading connections, finger puppets, guided drawing, great monster art projects both easy and fancy (as in Plaster of Paris– ooh fun), monster music and songs, even monster math and science activities! Be sure to click on ALL the links next to I Need My Monster on the activity page, which you can get to by clicking on their icon.

And how great is this??? Rita Moreno reads I Need My Monster for the Screen Actors Guild! (I have always admired Rita Moreno– she was already pinned to my Little Bit Of Life's This and That  pinterest board.) Her reading is terrific and the performance includes just the littlest bit of animation to bring the pages to life. The kids are going to love, love, love it!  And I love it, too– it even makes me enjoy the book more!

Check it out here!

Told you it was great!

Flashlight Press has a bunch of other wonderful books, all of which come with their own resources, too. I especially want to add to my collection Too Much Glue and When a Dragon Moves In... yes, of course, my class does dragon things, including singing Puff the Magic Dragon for our end of year Dessert-Sing... another post, another post, so little time, so much to share...

Thanks again to Ms. Greenspan for letting me know about the publishers site. No one would have wanted to miss out on these great resources!

The post MORE I Need My Monster first appeared on kidpeopleclassroom.com

April Showers Bring What???

Whoot!  Whoot! A fun multi-curricular project for spring! This little gem is SO much fun!
Everybody knows April showers bring May flowers... but they don't know that May flowers bring more than pilgrims! Your kids will enjoy this funny twist on the old saying, and the craft that goes with it even moves with the help of a brad.

The packet includes the poem to print and cut for your pocket chart, the craft sheet with the poem and its parts, a fill-in-the-blank copy for poetry journals or center work, and a bookmark. Although the craft works best if copied on cardstock, no color ink is needed. You can print the bookmark in color, or black and white so your students can add the color.

There's even a fun fact sheet to help with a science mini-lesson so kids know what kind of bugs they are talking about.

I include the directions for a funny little prop seen here. I use it to introduce the lesson.

The kids will love it, and it will bring a smile to parent faces when it goes home.

This kind of project is one of my favorites. It combines oral tradition, language arts, science, and craft for fine muscle practice.  I hope to share a lot more of these. Look for activities that combine multiple kinds of learning under the tag Multi-curricular.

Librarians and storytellers might find good use for this, too.

Click on the photo below to link to my store so you can get it. Hope you LOVE it! Let me know what you think-- we SO appreciate comments and feedback. THANKS!

The post April Showers Bring What?? first appeared on kidpeopleclassroom.com