Must Have Monday - What's Under Your Cape?

So I don't want to give too much away but I have a new MUST HAVE professional book and I am going to be a part of hosting a blogging book study on it! What's the book you ask?

For now all I will say is if you have ever wanted to incorporate character education into your classroom this book is PERFECT! Barbara Gruener has been a long time blogger at

and I can't wait to tell you more about her book! You can buy it from Amazon but it is currently out of stock so grab your AUTOGRAPHED copy from Barbara by CLICKING HERE or you just might have some opportunities to win a copy during the book study!

So when will the book study start? 

We will start with Lynda Morgart at 

and Lynda and I are co-hosting Chapter 1 :)
There is a fabulous group of hosts and it is a quick but super helpful read so even if you are starting back to school soon grab the book and join us! 

Book Clubs and WBT Wednesday

For the third summer I have decided to be a part of summer book studies but this year I am working on 3!
I know that is crazy but I think they are all so worth it.
First is just a review of The Sisters' books on our Daily CAFE yahoo group and Facebook group. I thought it would be good to have a  refresher on these books that are the base of my literacy block.

 

Second is this year's must have teaching book

Some wonderful teacher bloggers started this book study in June and I am trying to at least keep up with the reading. Check them out by clicking their super cute book study button below.

Third is actually an ongoing book club instead of a summer book study on Chris Biffle's Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids. Of course this is also a MUST have.

I finally got the courage to type up my response to the WBT book club assignment for Chapter 1 & 2. Check it out and see links for the main book club by clicking the image below.

What are your must reads this summer? Are these on your teacher bookshelf too?

Must Haves and Must Reads for TK- Letter Recognition

A HUGE part of kindergarten is letter recognition and I know I plan to start working on this from Day 1. What will I be using to work on letter recognition this year? Well I will have my Tropical Dots ABC's posted front and center.

You can grab the pink ones here or leave a comment below with your favorite letter recognition activity or tip and I will email you the whole set :) I am using these to make Letter Hunter pointers and we will use them during whole group.

Now my favorite part of kindergarten is that I can sing and noone will tell me how bad I am, trust me it's pretty bad :) So I had to have some musical must haves for all the great letter songs. These will be sooooo great!
If you teach kindergarten then you love Dr. Jean and Mary from Sharing Kindergarten has the cutest freebie to go with Dr. Jean's ABC chants. A total Must Have for letter recognition and did I mention it is FREE? YEA!

Lori from Teaching with Love and Laughter has a great environmental print freebie and a wonderful Letter Sound pack that goes with Jack Hartman's song I can't wait to use. I know in my classroom we are always singing and it is usually Dr. Jean or Jack Hartman.

Heather from Kickin It In Kinder has created these awesome Glogs with her favorite alphabet youtube songs to sing as whole class warm ups or transitions. I can't wait to see if these will work at school. 

Jennifer K from Herding Kats in Kindergarten has a freebie for letter and number recognition and a free I have Who Has for school supplies that is a great way to learn how to play the game. Jennifer has a ton of awesome I Have Who has games in her TpT store so be sure to check them out by clicking on the third picture. I Have Who Has is a new staple in my class :)

Shuna at Pocket Full of Kinders has a great post sharing her cute beachy classroom and wonderful freebies including some Must Haves for letter recognition like this I Have Who Has game. Remember I love this game :)

Lidia for Kinder Alphabet has the perfect freebie for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, the MUST Read for letter recognition.

 Next you are going to want to grab this set for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom  from Caitlin from Kindergarten Smiles.  Caitlin has jammed so much into this super cute set.

  

Hadar from Miss Kindergarten Love just posted these super cute labels for the classroom that will be perfect for Letter Hunters and match great with so many of she other cute products like these Daily Schedule Cards I can't wait to put up. 

Kaci Hoffer from Mrs.Hoffer's Spot has this letter intervention kit freebie and these Letter Magnifying Glasses that are part of her Read the Room set  I can't wait to try. 

 

I know my class is going to love making these super cute ABC books and doing all the activities in this set from Crayons & Curls

I'm going to to use these sets from Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyles for extra practice with letters. 

  

Now remember many of the paid items are on sale today and you can get an extra 10% off when you use the code BTS12 so grab them quick :) 

When your done shopping don't forget to comment below with your favorite letter recognition activity or tip for your free copy of my Tropical Dot ABC's then hop over to my post on my Whole Brain Teaching blog for my Must Watch and Must Reads for WBT :)

Must Haves and Must Reads for TK- Classroom setup

I have 2 weeks left until I start my paid school year teaching Transitional Kindergarten but I have spent much of the summer working unpaid on my room, as I  think most teachers do. There is planning, thinking, blog stalking and of course actually setting up the classroom which all takes way more then the 3 or so paid hours we get in my district to set up our rooms. How much of your summer have you spent planning and setting up? My friends teaching TK, what resources have you been given to plan and set up for this school year?

In many ways I am setting up a new classroom even though I did not move rooms. Transitional Kindergarten means we have permission to have dramatic play areas and blocks again, no more basal program to follow for Language Arts time and figuring out how to still teach the essential California Kindergarten Standards but now use the Preschool Foundations to help. It is going to be so different than last year! Thankfully the teachers in my district that will be teaching TK have had some time to plan and the district gave us some materials before summer. We have been to some wonderful trainings on the Preschool Foundations from  Bay Area Region 4 CPIN and  trained for Handwriting Without Tears. We have the beginnings of a program but there is still so much that is open and unplanned. I'm sure many of you are in the same boat and I want to share some of the must haves and must reads I have found for setting up Kindergarten that I think will be perfect for Transitional Kindergarten too :) This will be the first of I think many Must Haves and Must Reads for TK posts because I have found so much from so many amazing kindergarten teachers and know I'll find more as the year goes on.

My first Must Read is a look at some super great rooms for layout ideas. Click on each picture to see some of my favorite classrooms.
Erin from Eberharts's Explorers has the cutest jungle room with a great layout and April from Wolfelicious has a wonderful rock star room with lots of Whole Brain Training elements.

Mary from Sharing Kindergarten started school today and shared her wonderful classroom.

My next Must Read is also a Must Have and a Must Watch, the 4 wonderful presentations from

.

These 4 presentations were part of a virtual teaching expo and feature a few of my favorite kindergarten bloggers. Each presentation is $3.95 and all are so worth it! Here are the 4 fabulous presenters:

The presentations are:

Standards Based Fun In a Room of 31 by Fran Kramer

The 3 R's; Rules, Routines and Reinforcements by Hadar Maor

Plain Paper to Publishing! Keys to a Successful Writer's Workshop by Crystal Radke

Lovin' Literacy Center Time by Krissy Miner 

It is awesome to hear these great ladies explain for they set up things in their rooms and you will be so inspired. 

Now if you are looking for a great way to do Debbie Diller's style of stations your next must read is from Erin from Eberharts's Explorers. She has a simple way to set things up so you don't have to have all 12 stations like I always thought you had to do. 

These next 2  are PERFECT for TK and you MUST check them out!  Marsha from Differentiated Kindergarten has the best set up for Math Stations and  Word Work for Daily 5.  She has gathered and created everything you need to have Math Stations and Work Work running with built in ways to differentiate. This is how I am setting up my stations because I think it is so perfect for TK and traditional Kindergarten where we have little ones at all levels.

 

Now for some Must Reads and some Must Haves for setting up developmental centers I am so excited to get to have in TK like Playdough, Blocks and Dramatic Play. Jennifer K from Herding Kats in Kindergarten has some awesome posts, many with freebies, on centers with the reasons why they are so important. She even has Center Signs in many themes with "I am" statements so everyone will know the many benefits of these centers.

             

  So now that you are set to have your classroom all set up here are just a few must haves that will get you through the first days of TK.

Mary from Sharing Kindergarten has the cutest freebie set of notes to send to students for the night before school.

For first day lesson plans these are such deals! You will be set for the first day and have goodies you can use throughout the year! Caitlin from Kindergarten Smiles has this super cute Monsters Back to School Activity Pack for $5 and Krissy from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business has these detailed plans for the first day for $8. Trust me grab them both and you will be set!

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So to finish up I have a Must Read for you all no matter what grade you teach but especially if you teach young ones.  Krissy from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business just posted this AWESOME post linked below.
Enjoy and see you back here this week for more Must Haves and Must Reads for TK :)

Let them Explore First