My Favorite Things Freebie

     We had a full afternoon of Parent Teacher conferences today and boy, am I tired of hearing myself talk!  On the ride home I decided that I was going to get home, relax and not say another word all night. That was before I realized that the remake of The Sound of Music was on. Now I'm sitting here, an old nostalgic fool, singing along with Maria and the children at the top of my lungs. (I'm not taking it personally that my dog is next to me howling . . .) My poor voice will no doubt pay the price tomorrow, but I consider that a small price to pay for bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens! The Sound of Music just makes me happy. (And I have to say, Carrie Underwood had some big shoes to fill and I think she's doing a great job!)
     As Maria belted out, "A Few of My Favorite Things," it made me think of a book I just used with my class during our Early Print Strategies unit.  One of the strategies we worked on was "Getting you mouth ready to say the word." To reinforce and strengthen this skill, I made an emergent reader that really requires the kids to attend to the first letter of the word, because after looking at the picture for clues, the unfamiliar word is not always the obvious choice. Is that a dog or a puppy? A computer or a laptop? A coat or a jacket? There are a couple of different versions of the book, so you can keep the kids on their toes!  You can grab a copy by clicking on the picture if you'd like to try it with your kids.
Have a great night and try to sing out loud at least once tomorrow!