Sunshine and Rainbows in Teaching

This is such a sweet book for Thanksgiving!! I love how gratitude changes your perspective even on things that are challenging for you.
Three more weeks until Thanksgiving break!

I’m focusing on gratitude this month. Today, I’m grateful for my husband. It’s our 22nd anniversary, and I’m so thankful for our life together.

What are you grateful for?

One of my favorite activities teaching in a Catholic school! Praying the rosary can be done at any age. With the younger grades, you can do a decade each day to finish the full rosary in a week.

This is a special project that can be done as a class. It’s so meaningful to create a rosary out of leaves or flowers or even colored circles and talk about the prayers as you put it together. (I outlined it before we added the leaves.)

I have a new resource to learn about praying the rosary! I’m excited about this one and hope it helps your students develop an understanding and love for this prayer. 🙏🏻
🔗Link is in the comments

Crankenstein is such a cute book and well, we can all relate to feeling cranky sometimes! I love listening to the kids tell why they get cranky AND what they need to help them feel better.

This is a new resource with lots of activities and crafts! It makes a fun, easy bulletin board, too!

This resource includes:
😠Anchor Chart headers
😠Prediction thoughts
😠Story Map- Setting/ Characters
😠I Feel Cranky When writing template options
😠I Feel Happy (or Better) When template options
😠Toppers for Writing
😠Simple maze
😠Build a Frankenstein Craft
😠Directed Drawing of
Frankenstein with writing
😠Positive cards when you see someone finding the good
😠October Hunt

I feel CRANKY when there’s a lot of traffic!!
What makes you cranky??

Link is in the comments 🤗

Turkey Trick or Treat is one of my favorite Halloween books!
It’s so hilarious! Really- I love all the Turkey books!

Have you read this one?

This is a fun resource of activities that go along with the book.
It includes:
🎃Short writing activities about Turkey’s costumes
🎃Sequencing activity
🎃Writing activity about favorite treats
🎃What is our favorite treat? (tally votes and color graph)
🎃Simple printable story about Halloween costumes
🎃Color by code numbers and counting

The link is in the comments - 😊

Bats, bats, bats!!! 🦇

Who doesn’t love Stellaluna and learning about bats?!?
It is so fun to learn all about bats and how they are different from birds.

This resource has many activities and crafts for a week of all about bats!

Surprise your kids by making your classroom a bat cave! Get black plastic table covers from Dollar Tree and hang them over the windows. Hang up purple lights and let them make bats to hang from the ceiling.

Link is in the comments 🤗

Learning to blend the sounds can be soooo tricky for many students! I love working on CVC words with my students, and they love using the pointers! And guess what l?!? It’s a DOLLAR DEAL until Saturday, Sept 28!!

This is a new resource for CVC words. Here’s what it includes:
🐿 Two colorful fall themed mats for 3-4 letter words
🐿Two squirrel mats for 3-4 letter words
🐿Squirrel and turkey pointers to say the sounds and blend the sounds
🐿Two CVC games
🐿CVC and picture card matching
🐿CVC word cards
🐿Mats to read, build, and write the words

I know we hear the word engaged a lot, and well, I’ve got to say- they were engaged as soon as I pulled out the squirrel pointer. 🤗

The link for this resource is in the comments!

Spelling situations and patterns can be TRICKY!! Our kids need lots of repetition and practice to develop automaticity.

I created these posters to give my kids a visual to help them. They have been so helpful especially when they are having a hard time remembering how to spell words depending on the situation. It’s important to help our kids learn those patterns and NOT just memorize words.

Did you know that 87% of English words are decodable? Only 13% are non phonetic or don’t follow the common patterns. Yep!

This is why it’s SO important for direct instruction in spelling! Some are a little trickier to remember so the posters are a great visual to help them remember. I like to pull them out depending on what we’re working on.

This resource includes common spelling patterns and the 5 spelling rules. The link is in the comments.

Learning about the saints is so meaningful, and they give us powerful examples of how to live our lives. It is important for the little ones to learn about them, but I always struggled with finding something they could understand and relate to.

This resource is perfect for K-2!! I always love creating these because I get to learn new things, too!

St. Francis of Assisi’s feast day is October 4th!

This resource includes lots of activities to use all week!
🕊️St. Francis’ story
🕊️St. Francis and the Wolf story
🕊️Prayer cards for both in color and b/w
🕊️Writing template about St. Francis and the wolf with a wolf topper
🕊️Crown- I choose to follow God
🕊️Build a Wolf craft
🕊️Writing reflection pages
🕊️Printable book for students
🕊️My Favorite Animal template
🕊️Write a Blessing for a Pet
🕊️St. Francis and animals coloring page

Link is in the comments 😊

Does your church let you bring your pets for blessings?

NEW resource for tattling! I’m excited about this one. All classes are different, but I’ve found that once tattling starts, it spreads!!! How about you?!

Catch it before it builds and everyone starts to tattle on every little thing!

This resource includes
🐾A printable student book
🐾PAWS posters for reminders
🐾Writing activity
🐾Craft activity
🐾And more ideas to teach them to tell when it’s important and necessary

We had a stuffed turtle that my littles loved to tell all the things to. Poor Timmy the Turtle heard it all! I’ve also used a telling journal that was filled with all the tattles. 😊

This resource gives some ways to teach the difference of telling vs tattling through PAWS!

Link is in the comments! 🔗

What do you do to stop the tattling in your class?

New beginning sounds worksheets! If you do a letter a day or a letter a week, these are great practice for morning work, small groups, or independent work during reading time.

Two different pages included - color the picture with the beginning sound and a mix of activities depending on their needs.

Do you start the year with a letter each day or letter of the week?

Link is in the comments. 😊

I can’t tell you how many times my students would ask how they would know if we spell a word with c or k. And a few years ago, I had no answer to give them! 🤦‍♀️

Now I wish I could go back and reteach! Have you ever felt like that?

I wanted to create a resource to help with this. It can be tricky because they need to be able to identify the vowel after the /k/ sound. Once they get it and practice, they know that spelling situation. I will also say that some will need lots of repetition and the task cards will be great to practice in centers and small groups!

This new resource has fun craft activities, sorting activities, task cards, and worksheets to practice and reinforce learning of when to spell with c, k, or digraph ck.

Link is in the comments! 🤗

Have you had moments where you had to stop and say “let’s be kind to each other?” The year starts off going well, and then BOOM. All the friendship drama and challenges begin!
👉Turn it into a lesson for the whole class!

This kindness resource pairs well with Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun!! I love finding books relatable stories for kids AND is a great discussion starter.

There are several kindness activities, a social story, and a craft. There’s also a kindness tracker (student and whole class). They can share what makes them special and celebrate differences. Practice kindness all year long! 💖

Here’s the link🩷

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindness-Activities-Class-Book-and-Craft--4032757?st=3620db036829dc2f3f4b58d5d5bec257

We all know how it feels when our frustration level is high. Our kids do, too. Sometimes the pressure builds, and we need to know how to deal with it before we explode- right?

Kids can have huge, overwhelming feelings and have no idea how to handle them. This book and activity book are amazing! The book helps them understand they are not alone and there are ways to lessen the frustration level before they blow.

The story is so relatable for our kids! There are situations in school and home that get Lester frustrated and angry.
The activity book has so many fun, creative ways to work through those feelings and learn how to handle them. These are major life skills that sadly even adults don’t have!

Swipe to see a peek into the story and activities to go with it. This would be an amazing resource for lessons at school and home!

Thank you Julia Cook and National Center for Youth Issues for empowering our youth to be the best they can be and giving tools for teachers and parents to help them.

The Day You Begin is such a sweet book to start the year! Everyone feels excited but also nervous or worried. I get those same feelings when a new year begins.

This resource can be used with this book for the beginning weeks of school. The link is in the comments 😊

It includes
✏️Social Story
✏️Self Portrait / All About Me craft
✏️Bulletin Board letters (All About Me! or All About Us!)
✏️Writing Activity about summer
✏️Find Someone Who activity
✏️1st day of school crown
✏️”I am happy to be me" crown
✏️Story Map

Do you still get nervous or butterflies when you start a new year?

Open and closed syllables can be tricky to understand! Closed syllables are the most common syllable. When a consonant follows a vowel, the vowel is short. In an open accented syllable (no consonant after the vowel), it is long.

These activities are helpful for practicing these syllables through sorting and making words using the closed and open door. Say the word when it’s open and when you add a letter to close the door. This can be tricky especially with words that are 2 & 3 syllables, so it helps having the visual of the door and repetition!
It’s also good to use nonsense words to practice decoding!

This resource includes:
🌟Printable house with an open and closed door and letters for making words
🌟Sorting activity using words with 1, 2, and 3 syllables
🌟Practice worksheet on syllable recognition (can be used as an assessment)
🌟Beginning coding worksheet for open and closed syllables (1 and 2 syllables)
🌟Game for reading open and closed 1 syllable words

The link is in the comments! 😊

St. Monica’s and St. Augustine’s feast days are August 27 and 28. Learning about the saints is so meaningful. Their stories are amazing, and they are great examples for us in living our lives. I absolutely love making these resources.

Teaching our kids about them is so important. They truly show us how to live in our faith.

This resource includes
🌟Stories of both saints
🌟Prayer cards for both
🌟Printable book
🌟Crown
🌟Prayer book
🌟Prayer and Gratitude journal cover
🌟Reflection pages
🌟Prayer wheel craft

The link is in the comments 🤗

Giraffes Can’t Dance is one of my favorite books for the beginning of the year or any time we need a mindset shift to “I can’t…YET”.

Our kids come to us at different levels, and they notice when others can read or write easily. This can be really hard on them especially our struggling readers. We get to encourage them and be their biggest cheerleaders. We get to help them with their mindset and help them grow and learn.

This resource has a fun craft that would be so cute on a bulletin board!! Swipe to see a few more parts of the resource. I love adding nonfiction because it’s so fun learning facts about giraffes!

Some of what’s included:
• Vocabulary Review
• Noun and Verb Sort
• Story Map
• Giraffe Craftivity
• Giraffes Can’t Dance story map
• All about giraffes/ Fun Facts
• What I learned about giraffes writing
• I Can Do Hard Things hat (3 options)
• Social Story
• Class Book template

The link is in the comments!

Do you read this book to your students?

Recess- fun times but always a little drama- right?! It’s so good for them to play and be social, but it definitely helps to set expectations. The Recess Queen pairs well with this resource, and my kids always loved it! This includes lots of fun activities all about recess.

It includes:
👑Recess Queen & King Crown
👑Recess Superstar Crown
👑Mean Jean Craft
👑Katie Sue Craft
👑Anchor Chart Headers- Yes or No at Recess with expectation cards for sorting
👑Recess Queen story map
👑Recess Expectations Book
👑Discussion questions about the book
👑Discussion ideas/ questions of recess scenarios
👑Writing Craftivities with Toppers
👑Recess Superstar sign and recognition cards

Link is in the comments! 👑🤗

One of my favorite books to start the school year! We talk all about mindset in my groups and changing our words to positive thinking. We talk about hard days and making mistakes and how it’s OK to make mistakes- we just keep trying.

We sort thoughts into bubble gum brain or brick brain thoughts. It’s a great lesson to begin the year, and they always love this book!

This resource pairs well with the book or any brain/ mindset book. 😊
Link is in the comments!

Color by code is always a fun way to work on different skills. We worked a lot on coloring in the beginning of the year and talked about coloring in the lines and not leaving all the white spaces.

Color by Alphabet is a new resource and perfect to start the new school year! There are 2 options- color by uppercase letters and color with upper and lowercase match A to Z.

It’s only $1 through Friday! 🥳 Link is in the comments!

NEW resource for tattling! I’m excited about this one. All classes are different, but I’ve found that once tattling starts, it spreads!!! How about you?!

We had a stuffed turtle that my littles loved to tell all the things to. Poor Timmy the Turtle heard it all!
This resource gives some ways to teach the difference of telling vs rattling through PAWS!

It’s 50% off until Friday! Link is in the comments!! 🐾

What do you do to stop the tattling in your class?

School can sometimes bring anxiety to our kids. A lot of the students I work with struggle and honestly feel pretty defeated some days.

I wanted to create a safe space with positive messages. I love affirmations and even more- the affirmations of God’s truth of His love for them. There’s a feeling of peace knowing He is always there for us.
I also have posters that are not scripture based!

I had these posters on my back wall, so they saw them every day. I created them in Boho Rainbow and have a Farmhouse version in my TPT store, too. Link is in the comments. 😊

Did you ever have a student blurting out in class? How about a class of blurters? I have. What you’ll find is that they are not even aware they are doing this.

Instead of only focusing on the blurting, teach them good listening skills.

This is resource pairs well with My Mouth is a Volcano. There are lots of listening activities and crafts. There’s also a tracker to color in when they are caught showing good listening skills!

It also includes a fun science experiment- an erupting volcano!! 🌋 My kids loved this!

It’s perfect for back to school setting expectations or anytime it’s needed throughout the year.

Link is in the comments! Tag a friend who might need this, too. 😊

Personal space was always a big focus with my students! They come to school with all different experiences, and we spent LOTS of time learning to respect each other’s space.

Reading books and doing activities helped so much with increased awareness and understanding. This is one of those skills we worked on at the beginning of the year and all throughout the year. Have you seen that, too?

I just updated my Personal Space Activities resource, so if you have it, download it again to grab these new activities added!! 😃

The link is below, and I hope it helps your students, too! There are crafts, writing activities, printable book, and several ideas to do with your students.

Save this post if you’re still in summer mode! 😊

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Personal-Space-Social-Skills-Craft-and-Activities-Social-Story-4869724?st=4f13539646c2986a843ab980ba316a42

New book to add to your library! 🐾🤩
Finding books with a great message and lesson on character is always a win! This is such a sweet story of resilience and self esteem.

This book is being released soon, and if you preorder the book by August 1, you’ll get a FREE resource bundle to go along with it! This would be perfect to kick off the new school year!

🐾If you preorder the book, be sure to fill out the form https://ncyi.org/product/igotthis/ to get your bundle!!

Here’s more about the story:
“Charlie has wanted to be a rescue dog since he was a puppy. But getting his certification as an official Rescue Dog requires a climb to the very top of the tallest mountain!
With the help of his friends, Charlie sets out on a big adventure. Soon enough, obstacles begin to show up that test his determination. Charlie learns six Bounce Back Superpowers that allow him to overcome challenges and stay on the path. Through this story, readers will learn ways to:
🐾approach difficulties with calm resolve
🐾think creatively about possible solutions
🐾break problems into manageable steps
🐾take a “paws” now and then to recharge before moving forward”

Thank you Julia Cook and National Center for Youth Issues for books that empower our youth to learn life skills and grow!