I am so excited!!  I just finished my "Pirate Binder" set.  If I do say so myself, it is adorable!  I thought my "Hippie Binder" was my favorite.  Not so sure now!  Take a look and see what you think!

 

 

Understanding how to infer or make an inference from text is often difficult for children. Children make inferences all the time without realizing exactly what they are doing. It is important to share with them that making inferences is like being a detective. You look at all the evidence or clues and put them together to come up with an idea about a situation.

I explain to them that often writers do not state the way a character feels or what’s happening in the story explicitly. Instead, they include details and we as readers must use these details to make inferences about what’s occurring in the story. When you infer, you use observations, prior knowledge and experiences, and details from the text to make connections and come up with ideas.

The following movement cards are a freebie and a great way to introduce students to inferences.  Have fun and enjoy!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Inferring-Movement-Cards

 

My first linky party. I'm linking up with Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten's Gotta Have It linky party and Kelley at The Teacher Idea Factory.  Kelley is hosting her first linky party titled Rockin' Resources! Below are my top 3 Teacher Resources.

 

My Top 3 Teacher Resources!!

1. My top choice would be all of the wonderful blogs!  You all have so many wonderful ideas to share.  I’ve been hooked ever since I stumbled onto my first one.  Thanks for all the fantastic new ideas to try with my students this next year!

2. My favorite teacher resource book is “Reading with Meaning” by Debbie Miller.  I’ve had the opportunity to hear Debbie several times and she is still my all time favorite presenter.   I want to be a fantastic teacher just like Debbie when I grow up!

3. My 3^rd choice would be TpT.  I cannot believe all of the fantastic resources this site has at our fingertips and I didn’t even know it existed until around Christmas of this past year.  Wow!!  Enough said!  Thanks!

Hi, I wanted to let you all know Katie King from Queen of the First Grade Jungle is hosting a SUPER HUGE GIVEAWAY with some Fab-U-Lous prizes. She's reached 1000 followers.  In honor of this fantastic accomplishment she having a giveaway.  Stop on over to her site.  Signing up is super easy!!

One of the comprehension strategies we worked on this past school year was visualizing.  I used several of the poems suggested on different blogs with my students (Ding-a-Ling, My Neighbor's Dog is Purple, Green Giant) and also an excerpt from "My Father's Dragon" by Ruth Stiles Garnett.  Below you will find the excerpt I chose to use and some of the different ways my students visualized the dragon from the information provided in the excerpt.  Each was oh, so very different and unique!  As only children could visualize the dragon.

Just finished:  My Zoo Binder

Newest organizational binder just posted!!  It's a Hippie Binder!
Enjoy!

Hi,  I've been working on some different organizational binders for next fall.  So far, I have 6 different sets available over at my "Teachers Pay Teachers" store.  Today I'm featuring my "Monster" binder.  All organizational binders on sale through tomorrow!!  Stop on over.  Below you will see a preview of some of the different pages.

Thought I'd share some of our pictures from our "Creature Features" unit.  We researched different creatures.  Each child chose an animal they wanted to learn more about.  After reading information on each of their creatures they shared their "new" knowledge with others using the different forms from my "Creature Features" unit.  Enjoy!

Here are a couple of "freebies" featured over at my "TeachersPayTeachers" store.  Stop on over and download and tell me what you think!  Thanks!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Monster-Sentences

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Super-Sentences-with-Tommy 

Just want to say thanks!

Just want to say thanks!

Wow!  I thought I would never get this page up and running, but I think I'm ready!  In January I found my first blog and you guys got me addicted.  I wanted so much to start one of my own.  I'm very excited about creating and getting to share new lessons for my kindergarteners with you.  I want to say thanks to all the wonderful teachers out there who helped me get this up and going!  A very special thanks to Christie of "First Grade Fever" for answering a ton of my questions!  A huge thank you to Nikki at "melonheadzillustrating.blogspot.com" for my cute clipart shared on my blog, Kirsten Peters McGrath of KPM Doodles for my funky frames and also to "The Cutest Blog on the Block" for my background.  I love it!