Just a little excited and nervous!

So I just posted my first “big unit” (more than a just a couple pages) on Teacherspayteachers. It is a unit designed to be used for independent work during literacy center time. It includes the following things:
Beginning letter sounds,
Vowels/consonant sort, 
Nouns and verbs sort, 
-at words, 
-ing words, 
writing the room, 
letter/word sort, 
cvc words, 
color by letters, 
color by sight words, 
roll a word, and 
syllable practice. 

Here are a few pics of what is in the unit.

I am excited about this, as I really want to get my TPT store going. If this is not something you would be interested in please consider passing the link along to anyone who you think might like it. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literacy-Centers-1057830

Thanks and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this unit will be something that people will find helpful in their classroom.

~Erica

Vowel/consonant sort and a freebie.

Yesterday we started to learn about vowels. We did a whole group sort of magnetic letters. Then I introduced my students to the “Vowel Bat” song by Shari Sloane and video by Harry Kindergarten. If you have never heard of Harry Kindergarten you should certainly look him up on Youtube. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/user/HarryKindergarten. My kids loved the fact that the song used the Batman symbol. It certainly got their attention. 

So today we worked in small groups to sort the vowels and consonants. I had four groups. Two of the groups work very effectively together and quickly worked to sort the letters. One group did a pretty good job, but I noticed that they needed help forming a strategy about how to do it. The other group might have been a bad combination. I think there was too many strong personalities as they did not get much accomplished and seemed to have trouble deciding who would do what so no one was sure what to do. Here are some pictures of the students working and what some of them accomplished.

Tomorrow the students will be completing a vowel/consonant sort on their own (with a sub as I will be observing another teacher). I have included this sort as a freebie. 

  Enjoy!

~Erica

Teacherspayteachers :)

Well I am pleased to announce that I sold my first item on Teacherspayteachers today. Several of my free items have been downloaded in the past, but today was the first day someone actually paid for something I created. The funny part is that the item cost $.50, there was a TPT fee of $.20 and a transaction fee of $.30 so I made $.00, but I am still thrilled I sold something. Oh and the buyer gave me a 4 star out of 4 star rating for the item. Here is the link to my store. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Erica-Gower

I love to create things, but find that creating new things that haven’t already been created is my biggest challenge. I do like a challenge though. If there are items that you could use for your classroom let me know and I will do my best to create something that will work for you.

~Erica

Calendar notebooks are changing :)

I have been using calendar notebooks in my room for several years and it usually works very well. This year for some reason is a little different. It’s less than half way through the year and many of my students’ calendar notebooks are well…lets just say ruined (I will take a picture after I return to school so you can see what I mean). Many are scribbled all over and have lots of pages ripped out and all over the place. So I decided that after we get back from vacation I will not be doing calendar notebook as we had done it before. I really like the skills that we learn and practice during calendar notebook so I had to come up with something that was a little less messy that still had the same skill practice. So I decided that if they had one calendar page per day that they would bring home the same day that it might be more manageable. The only thing is I HATE wasting paper so using one page per day was troubling me. Then I remembered that our math program has a Daily Common Core review paper that we had been doing in the morning anyway so I decided that I would create a calendar page and would put the Common Core review page on the backside so I would be using the same amount of paper. Crossing my fingers that this will work, as I hate to give up calendar “notebook” time all together.

I have uploaded the calendar pages that I created to my TPT so check them out. I appreciate any feedback you have on them.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-Calendar-pages-1032056

Hope your vacation is going well. May 2014 be happy and healthy for you. 

~Erica

Christmas Questionnaire

http://fabulousinfirst.blogspot.com/

I am linking up with Fabulous in First for this Christmas Questionnaire.

Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog?

Hot chocolate!!! I like it with marshmallows, whipped cream, and some chocolate sprinkles on top.

Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

As a kid Santa usually left one unwrapped and the rest wrapped. My son’s gifts from Santa have always been wrapped.

Colored Lights or White?

I love white lights and that is what is on my tree and my house. This year however I have added some multi colored lights inside my house. I do kind of like the multi colored lights maybe they are growing on me.

When do you decorate?

I usually decorate the day after Thanksgiving and take my decorations down the day after Christmas. This year however I was too tired from black Friday shopping so it had to wait until Saturday.

Real or Fake Tree?

As a kid we always had a real tree. As an adult my husband and I have always had a fake tree. I HATE straightening out all of the branches, but I don’t have to worry about watering it so I guess it’s equal.

What tops your tree?

A silver wire star.

Favorite Christmas Memories or Traditions?

As a kid one of the things I remember most is when my grandparents use to come over on Christmas eve to drop off our gifts. Now we make a point to go visit them before Christmas. Here is one of my favorite pics from about5 years ago. My son Josh and our dog Katy. 

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?
My memory is terrible so I only vaguely remembering my gifts. I do remember I loved my Cabbage Patch doll, big wheel, and a beautiful blue dress (a teacher gave this to me during a particularly difficult Christmas for my family). 

Do you prefer giving or receiving?

Don’t get me wrong I think receiving gifts is nice, but I LOVE giving gifts to others. I love finding the just right gift for my family or friends. I love watching others open gift (but hate to have people watch me).

What is your favorite Christmas Song?
I would have to say....It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 

Candy Canes. Yuk or Yum?

As a kid I use to get the thick straight candy canes in my stocking and I loved them. Now I could take or leave candy canes.

Favorite Christmas Movie?

I basically like most of the cheesy Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. They are very predictable, but are romantic and funny. I also love the fact that my husband who doesn’t love these movies still let’s me watch tons of them this time of year. 

Do you shop online or at stores?

I am kind of an immediate gratification person so I like to shop in stores and get my items in my hands as soon as possible. I am not against shopping online and do it if the item someone wants can’t be bought in stores or if the store doesn’t have what I want, but I would rather just go to the store and by what I need.

Photo Card, Letter, or Store Bought Card?

I have always just used store bought cards….until this year.  

 May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. ~Erica