Trick and Treat!

Fall is upon us and that means it's time for some Teaching Trick & Treating!

 That's right - I have teamed up with my Freebielicious friends again to share some teaching tricks and special free treats for you!
My little tip for you is nothing new, but just in case you haven't invested in these yet...you must!  Dry erase pockets!  There are a lot of AMAZING activity sheets out there on Teachers Pay Teachers that I am just in love with.  They work on the perfect skills, match my theme, etc. But, I don't want to always have students fill out activity sheets and hand them in.  
Instead, you can insert ANY activity sheet into a dry erase pocket and have students complete the activity sheet with a dry erase marker.  Right before students switch centers, you can take a quick peak at their work, have them erase it, and there you go...it is ready for the next group! You can find dry erase pockets HERE. 

If you already have dry erase pockets and want to test it out at a center, then you can start with this FREEBIE from my October Math Centers Pack.  

Hop along to the next Freebielicious friend to seewhat their Trick & Treatis!

Fight For Your Write!

When the new school year started, I received all sorts of goodies from my friends over at BIC!  BIC is the first line of children's writing instruments in the U.S. that were designed specifically to help children learn to write.  The products were all designed with the help of teachers too, which I LOVE!

Literally the first day of school I put the BIC dry erase markers to use!  Their dry erase markers don't have an odor like some others and they erase super easily! One of my students' favorite centers is the dry erase boards.  You can see the student below using my word work cards that you can find free HERE. 

BIC also sent over some 'wite-out'.  Well, teachers make mistakes too and we showed that to our students, haha!  My intern was making our A-Z Community Helpers chart with the students and wrote 'U.S. Coastal Guards' next to the 'O'.  It was so cute when she did this because I didn't want to disrupt the lesson, but another student kept asking her why that would be an 'O' word and I couldn't help but giggle.  Perfect timing for the BIC 'wite-out'! 

This next BIC product is for sure my FAVORITE! Notice the students grip below...

Now look at her grip using the BIC kids pencil!

The pencil above is a mechanical pencil, but the lead in the pencil is so thick that it does't break.  My room mom actually just bought us five packs of these pencils to use! They are that amazing! You can check out the pencil by clicking on the image below:

My kids are loving all of our new BIC products!!  It makes writing more exciting!

Reading Corner and More!

My students favorite part of the classroom is our classroom library!! It is so comfortable and cozy! It is in the corner of the room and the students love to lay or sit there when they write, read, go on the iPads, and more!  I know I can get my best work done when I am laying on the couch, so I let my students get comfortable when they are working!

I wanted my reading corner to match my classroom colors of yellow, pink, green, and blue.  I found these AMAZING pillows on Oriental Trading this summer and I love them.  They are very well made and I can tell they will last me years!  Oriental Trading makes the pillows in a smaller size too...I didn't realize that until after I placed my order...I may need to order more!

 This next purchase from Oriental Trading is definitely one of my new favorite classroom must haves!! They are dry erase sleeves and you can use them for EVERYTHING!!

When my students are called over for reading groups, they always begin by tracing their letters.  Before I start conducting a reading group, I walk around the room quickly to make sure all of the other students are on task.  While the reading group waits for me this is the perfect activity for them.  I printed out both upper and lower case letters and inserted the paper into the dry erase sleeves.  They erase SO well!!

I also use the dry erase sleeves to hold my examples.  I don't always leave examples out, but this was the second week of school and their first time labeling at the writing center!

I also found these amazing clipboards on Oriental Trading.  My kids use clipboards for write the room all the time!! I use write the room in both reading groups and math centers.  These clipboards are very kindergarten friendly and they match my classroom colors...that's always important! ;)

I love the items I received from Oriental Trading, they are getting more and more teacher items!

“This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the product listed above. I was provided the sample free of charge by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.”