Green Tree, Green Tree, What Do You See?

It's about time, teachers, for an emergent reader just for the holidays. 

Green Tree, Green Tree, What Do You See? is my take-off of Bill Martin, Jr.'s classic, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?   The text mimics the patterns and rhythms in Mr. Martin's book.  

The black line pictures not only support the text, but are inviting to color.   Ask your students to color the pictures noting the color words in bold print on each  previous page. 

This Christmas book emphasizes the following high frequency words: what, do, you, see, I, a, looking, at, good, boys, and, girls, for, & me. While the text is highly predictable, there are enough exceptions to require your students to truly attend to the text.  The lilt of the story encourages fluent reading.  Repeated use of question marks and periods provide ample practice for “reading the punctuation.”

The pages are formatted for double sided printing.  By printing them in the order given, you will be able to fold and staple the book together with the pages in the correct order.  Please note that page 4/5 should be printed on both sides of the same paper.  

You can get your copy of this 9 page reader for just 99¢ at either TpT or TN.

Until next time...

If you like this reader, you may like these emergent readers, too:

Let's Talk Turkey

It's about time teachers ... for Thanksgiving!  So let's talk turkey - Let's Talk Turkey Words, that is. This is a new product I've posted on TpT and TN. Because I have so very much to be thankful for, I have listed it for FREE!

As you probably guessed, Let's Talk Turkey Words is a language arts activity.  It is perfect for literacy centers, small group instruction, and as an activity for fast finishers.  There are letter tiles for 4 seasonal words -- Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, turkey, & Mayflower.  Each word is in a different color to assist you in getting the right letters to each student.

The goal is for students to create as many words as they can from the letters in their set.  At a center or in a small group, giving each child a different set of letters has proven to discourage Billy-the-Borrower from simply copying his friend's list of words.  

Let's Talk Turkey Words exercises your students' abilities to be fluent and flexible in thought and oral language.  It will also inform you about your students' command of common spelling patterns and sight words.

Used for differentiation, this activity readily accommodates the differences in word generating abilities.  You can make the task more challenging for your higher functioning students by - 

• denying them the right to make words with less than 3 letters 
• requiring 2 or more syllables
• allowing them to use common suffixes, such as -ed, er, or -ing, despite not having those letters before them
• giving parts of speech parameters (5 verbs, 7 nouns, 3 adverbs, 4 adjectives, ...)
• etc.

Copy the letter sets on cardstock, laminate, and cut apart.  A recording sheet is provided. This product is CCSS aligned for you.  You're welcomed!

You can get Let's Talk Turkey Words on TpT or TN.  While you are there, check out my other turkey centers and activities:

and my original book, Where is the Thanksgiving Turkey?  It is an emergent reader perfect for practicing chunking and phrasing.

Check out Classroom Freebies Manic Mondays

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Easter/Spring Freebie

It's about time, teachers, ... for Easter.  To celebrate the arrival of spring and the Easter bunny, I'm filling your basket with Easter/Spring Patterns & Sorts.  

This unit is best suited for Pre-K -- 2nd grade.  However, the letter cards can be used as a fluency exercise for older students.  Challenge them to make as many words as they can using the letters in Happy Easter, Happy Spring, April and/or egg.  A recording sheet for this is included.

The letter cards could also be used by pre-readers to do letter sorts; sorting by color, upper case/lower case, short/tall letters, and vowels/consonants.

Easter/Spring Patterns & Sorts includes a printable page that combines color word review with identifying patterns.

There are 18 color picture cards that can provide patterning practice and/or sorting practice.

You can find this FREEBIE unit at either my TpT Store or in my TN Shop.  So hop on over and scoop it into your basket. 

Luck o' the Irish FREEBIE

It's about time, teachers . . . for  a St. Patrick's Day FREEBIE.  Luck o' the Irish is a creative activity I designed for my G/T students.  It challenges 2 of the 4 traits of gifted children: fluency and flexibility.  [The 4 traits are: fluency, flexibility, elaboration & originality.] Despite developing this activity for GATE, I have used it very successfully with 1st graders in a heterogeneous classroom, and with 2nd - 5th grades in enrichment pull-out classes.  The results of this activity always amaze me.

Following is the assignment sheet that I send home, giving my students 1 week to complete it.  

I encourage my students to enlist the help of their families.  It creates a wonderful home-school connection, giving overly zealous parents a constructive focus for interacting with their gifted children.  (If you've ever taught G/T, you know what I'm talking about!) Projects like this are terrific for helping shy children speak before an audience. Similarly, it prompts children who have oral communication deficits to practice their communication skills.

When the children present their projects the following week, reward them with a participation certificate.

Sure, and you'll love this project.  You can find it in my TpT Store or my Teachers Notebook Shop.  Did I mention that it's FREE?

This product is part of a larger product, Destination Imagination.  

You can find Destination Imagination here or here.

Leap Year FREEBIE!

It's about time, teachers, . . . for Leap Year.  So leap on over to my TpT store to download this freebie.  It has literacy center ideas, a craftivity link, and a couple of ideas for sponge activities that exercise your students' verbal fluency and orginality.  Here's what it looks like:

Remember, it's FREE.  You can download it here.  OK, you can start leaping for joy now. ;o)