Circle Time - Skill Building cheat sheet freebie!

Hi Everyone!

I have several emails from people who are asking for more of those cheat sheet curriculum planning guides like I have here for meal time.

So I am posting the one that our special education department has sent out for my program at work for circle time. It's a good one! Enjoy :)

Here is the download!!

List of amazing prompts and questions - could be used for FFC!

Hello friends!

I came across this AWESOME free download on Teachers Pay Teachers that would be oh so helpful for the classroom! You can use these for ideas for feature/function/class, answering wh- questions, fill-in sentences, and more! She has them sized to print large strips and put them in pocket charts for circle activities, journal starters, etc. 
There are 180 of them. 180!

I have perused this lady's blog over at The Autism Helper and she has some fantastic ideas and freebies. 

Also, join Teachers Pay Teachers - I have found some really great things over there!

sample page!

Weather and Seasons Printable!

There are plenty of weather and season printables out there but I just conjured up a simple one to go inside an independent work binder. What's the independent work binder you say? Well, I have two guys in my class who are really beyond sitting at a table, one on one with staff, going through discreet trials. They have graduated to some pretty awesome things like simple cut and paste activities, file folder games, puzzles, etc. with little to no assistance. Yesterday I realized they absolutely need some sort of preschool journal or work binder of sorts that the kids could be responsible for, use independently, and work on typical preschool academic skills. I have a lot of fun ideas for this binder and I will be adding to it and switching things out by the week. Some of the ideas are sorting activities, tracing pages, name practice, ABC and 123 sheets, and tons more!

Right now, my morning circle is simplified and void of a lot of "typical" circle activities like weather, what you wear in said weather, day of the week, month, and whatnot. A lot of my guys are working on things like staying seated during circle, choosing the correct picture to sign in with, following simple directions, and even responding to their name. The work binders will give my guys exposure to what we might be missing out on in circle.

I laminated the following sheet and hole punched it for the binder. I'm keeping a dry erase marker in each binder so the kids can circle the right answers and cross off the ones that aren't. You could also cut each picture out and have them velcro the right ones if you made a blank sheet for them to go with it. OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS. (not really. but still.) 

DOWNLOAD HERE!

Also, check out this cool lap journal I came across. I love the idea of my guys making a journal that chronicles their learning! I might have to make a summer learning journal for each of my students now!

My Buttons, My Buttons, My Fooouuurrrr Groovy Buttons!

I had to make a post about this because:

a) I want to brag about the awesome staff that work in my classroom

b) You need to be exposed to Pete The Cat (if you haven't been already!)

c) Language Boards: they are so awesome!!!

We have been reading a lot of Pete The Cat ever since my sister sent me all three books for my birthday (because classroom materials are about the best gift you can get me :). I am officially in love with Pete (and if I ever get a pet cat I vow him to be a namesake) and I just can't imagine my classroom without his books now. I don't think anything has ever been a bigger hit with the students!

The original is I Love My White Shoes which is hands-down the best one of the three. Then they came out with Pete The Cat And His Four Groovy Buttons and Rocking In My School Shoes. All three books have these extremely catchy songs that you can download fo' FREE on the Harper Collins website.

My kids go crazy for them! The illustrations are great, the songs are even better, there is counting and color identification in the books... and they all have GREAT moral lessons. Win. Win. WIN.

So the kids have really been digging the Groovy Buttons book this week... so much so that yesterday when I tried to take a class picture they kept showing me their belly buttons (it's in the book!). It was so adorable! So I threw out the idea to my two assistants to possibly make a language board to go along with the book. During the summer we get extra planning time with the students going home earlier than normal... so within HOURS my two staff had drawn, cut out, laminated, and velcro-ed this sucker up. I was floored... how lucky am I to have such talented people to work with! This language board would have taken me the rest of summer to make on my own so I am quite impressed!

Since we can't get Harper Collins to sign a deal to market this (or can we?), I figured I would pass on the awesome language board idea for my readers to replicate in their own classrooms. Language boards make storytelling interactive and fun and are great to use in group instruction. I have a variety that go along with various books I read during circle time.

 I have him with several other language boards hanging on my teacher's easel that I use during circle time. You can find the easel at Lakeshore

Everything on Pete is velcro-ed on so each student can participate and have a turn to engage in Pete's story.

And of course we cannot forget to show Pete's belly button when his shirt is removed!