DIY "All About Me" Bags

Boy do I have a nifty little trick to share and a cute freebie for you to try out.

I was thinking about doing All About Me bags this year as a way for the kids to get to know each other. The way they work is that each student brings a bag home and fills it up with things that represent who they are and things they like. Maybe Bobby will put in a red crayon because that's his favorite color and a baseball card because that's his favorite sport. Maybe Susie will put in a SpongeBob doll because that's her favorite TV show and a matchbox car because it's her favorite toy. It's a great way for the kids to share who they are and also a great way for you to assess oral language skills.

I poked around online for printed bags that I could buy. I looked at all of the websites I could think of, and saw a lot of 100th Day bags and Valentine's Day bags, but no All About Me bags. So I decided to tackle the problem by figuring out how to print them myself. Follow along and if you want to give them a try, you can grab the freebie down at the bottom of the post.

1. First you'll need to get paper lunch bags. I thought white would work the best, so I headed to Target. They have packs of colored lunch bags for $2.19. Score!

2. I worked forever to get the margins and alignment right, but I finally got everything to be hunky-dory. You just have to make sure that the bag is all the way over to the right of your printer's sheet feeder and that the folded end goes in first (see pic).

3. Send the bags home with your students. They can color them in to look like themselves, fill them up and then bring them back to school. They can then have their moment in the spotlight as they share their contents of the bag with their classmates. You can send the bags home all at once or just a few at a time.

4. Don't forget to make an All About Me bag of your own to share with your class. We all know how much they love to discover everything they can about us!  Here's what's going in mine:

1. I drive a Jeep and I LOVE it!
2. A picture of my Mom and Dad with my dog Sally.
3. I like to watch football games - go Steelers!
4. A little beagle that looks like my sweet little Sally.
5. An apple because they are my favorite fruit.
6. Ewww! A spider because I'm terrified of them!
7. A shell because I love the beach.
8. A plane because I love to travel.

I have to say, I think they're pretty cute and I love the way they turned out! I can't wait to use them with my new little kinder-lovelies. You can grab a free copy here if you want to give them a try. Leave a comment and let us know what would go in your All About Me bag . . .

One More Good Read and a Sticky Freebie

     I love when I walk into the bookstore and see a book that is a perfect fit for something I'm planning to teach. One such book that was new to me but was actually published a year ago is the hysterical Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre. The little boy in the book ignores his teacher's warning that if he uses too much glue it will never dry. He creates a gooey mess and ends up sticking himself to the desk. His friends try to help him and finally his dad saves the day. It's really funny, the illustrations are impressive and I think the kids will love it. It will make a great launching pad for a beginning of the year lesson on how to use glue the right way. I made a little practice sheet to go along with the book and you can grab a free copy by clicking on the picture.

     I have an emergent reader and craftivity that I use at the beginning of the year to reinforce the concept of "Just a dot, not a lot" that will be a great follow up for Mr. Lefebvre's masterpiece. By using them together, I think we can avoid having any "melted mummy, clicky bricky, clingy stringy, blucky stucky glue boys."  I'll send a copy to the first few people who leave comments.

Have a great night!

Another Great Read

     I think my favorite new book I stumbled upon in the bookstore is Pardon Me! by Daniel Miyares. First of all, I can totally relate to the little yellow bird, who is the main character in the book. He just wants a few minutes of peace and quiet hanging out on his perch in the swamp. (I know the feeling!) One by one, other animals join him and interrupt his solitude with a polite, "Pardon me," but the bird just cuts them off and gets grumpier and grumpier. When the last animal comes by, the bird totally loses his cool and doesn't give anyone a chance to say a thing. This is a very unfortunate choice for poor Mr. Bird. I won't ruin the ending, but it's done in the fashion of I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat and you have to really make an inference based on the dramatic picture. This book will be great for using when teaching about looking at the pictures for clues and making inferences. I made a little cut and paste freebie to go with this great read. grab a copy by clicking on the picture.
Happy Reading!

Hats Off to A Good Read

     I know that ordering from Amazon is quick and easy but there is just nothing like spending an hour or two in a real, live bookstore. The smell of new books brings me back to being about 10 years old and getting a new "Little House on the Prairie" book (I'm dating myself, aren't I?) and cracking the spine for the first time. Ahhh . . . once a reader. always a reader.
     I stopped in Barnes & Noble today to pick up a gift. I was in a bit of a rush because I had 27 things on my To Do list today, so I promised myself that it would be a quick in and out stop. Well, Bookstore - 1, Me - 0. I was there for 2 hours. 120 minutes. I did not make it to the post office or to Target, but I have a whole big bag of new books! So I think I should revise the score because it's really a win-win: Bookstore - 1, Me - 1!
     I thought I would share a couple of the gems that I found over my next few posts.

     They say you can't judge a book from it's cover, but the minute this first book caught my eye, I had a feeling it would be a good one. Released just last month and titled Hooray for Hat, this sweet story is Brian Won's debut book and it is darling. (I can't remember the last time I actually used the word, "darling," but it really is the perfect word to use here.) Elephant wakes up grumpy and is quickly cheered when he finds a wonderful gift-wrapped hat on his doorstep. As he heads out to show his friends, he finds them grumpy as well (must be a Monday!) and shares his hat with them. By the end of the book, there is a joyous parade of hat-wearing friends. It is such a sweet story of friendship, sharing, and helping others feel good that I can't wait to read this book to my new class next month. Repetitive text will encourage class participation and the wonderful illustrations (also by Mr. Won) will keep students engaged. This will be a great book to read when trying to establish the kind of classroom climate that I hope to create because Mr. Won has included so many of the traits that I hope to foster. Friendship, sharing (and great accessorizing) - what more do you need? An instant fan, I can't wait to see what Mr. Won comes up with next. I made a quick little activity to use with the book (you can grab a copy by clicking on the picture) so dust off your hat, run to the bookstore, and don't forget to spread a little friendship today.

Happy Reading!

Birthday Road Trip Freebie

I have a twin sister named Danni and we just celebrated our birthday on Thursday. I think we were about 2 years old in the picture below and my mother was still in her unfortunate "dress them alike" phase. (I still think we were pretty cute!)

We wanted to celebrate in style this year, so after a family cookout on Friday, we hit the road for a Fourth of July weekend away. We decided to drive up the coast a little here in Connecticut and enjoy some good ol' seaside Americana.

Our first stop was a cute little town named Niantic. It was the kind of quaint seaside New England town that you see on postcards. We went to the LobsterFest (yum!) and walked around a bit. It was SO pretty.

Niantic, CT

The next day we hopped back in the car and drove a bit further East to another little village named Stonington. The main street was all decked out for the Fourth and we found some adorable little shops to buy ourselves some birthday presents. Bracelets and earrings and rings, oh my!

Stonington, CT

Then we officially left "apple pie" mode and jumped right into "Mamma needs a new pair of shoes" mode and hit the Mohegan Sun Casino for a night. We treated ourselves to a room right at the casino which was a-ma-zing! It was on the 30th floor and had a river view so we totally felt like high rollers. Unfortunately, we didn't win any shoe money, and we both left in the red (although I managed to lose only 4 dollars so maybe I left in the pink). 

The View from Our Window

We had a great time and are already making plans for our next road trip! To share a little of the Birthday Extravaganza, I thought I would post a little birthday freebie. When one of the kids in my class has a birthday, we make a birthday book for him/her. Each friend makes a page, then we put them together for a Birthday Book. The kids LOVE having something special to bring home. Click on the picture to grab a copy.

Have a great night!