HeidiSongs Teaching Resource

These are Sight Word String-Ups!  I use these quite a bit in my classroom, and my kids always enjoy using them.  I'm posting this "mini-blog" early in the week because these plastic pencil boxes that I use to make these Sight Word String-Ups are on sale this week at Office Depot for just one penny each (at least in my area, anyway!  You'll have to check with your local store, of course, if you want to make some.  You may also want to call and find out if they still have any left in stock, because at least where I live, they run out of this item every year when they put them on sale for a penny.  The teachers all snap them up right away!  Our local Office Depot allows teachers to buy up to 30 items each if you have one of their teacher cards.  However, I understand that not every store follows this policy, so check with your local store before investing time or money in the project, for sure. The "REAL" Sight Words String Ups Set I refer t...

Phew! One week down, 41 more to go! The first week of school seems to be the most stressful week of all as we establish routines and get to know our new students. But for some reason, this year has been much less stressful than it normally is- (and I praise the good Lord in heaven for that!) I have no explanation other than the blessings of prayer! I actually can’t remember having such a smooth and stress-free start to a school year. I did wind up with about 15 requests from siblings of former students, and that sort of thing, and that always really helps take the stress off, I think.  I LOVE those repeat "customers!!!!"  As I looked around at the group of parents that came to my parent orientation meeting, there were so many familiar faces that it seemed very comfortable and easy. I sent them all home that night with a DVD, and I know that some of the children must have watched their new teacher on television when their parents got home, because a few of them had “stars...

It has been an eventful week!  Here are some more beginning of the year projects that I have been prepping.  They are very simple and easy to make.  But I am going to start with some tips on getting your glue bottles ready to go! 1.  Declaring WAR on Glue! Few things are more frustrating than having a great project ready to go, and then having it derailed by a bunch continuously clogged glue bottles.  One of the readers on my HeidiSongs Facebook page commented, “Glue is the arch-nemesis of Kindergarten!”  So I decided to do some research on how to make those glue bottles keep from clogging up.  I found that if you remove the small caps on the very top, and spray them with Pam cooking spray, the glue does not stick to them.  I also learned that if you coat the “threads” of the lid with petroleum jelly before replacing the small cap, the glue will not stick to those, either.  BUT- it makes sense to me that the glue lids must be compl...

In this post, you'll find a set of FREE blackline masters to create an authentic kindergarten portfolio designed to help document children's developmental and academic progress.  I have also outlined what I do during the first week of school, which should help you figure out how to use them! 1.  Kindergarten Portfolio Samples Each year during the first two weeks of school, the teachers at my school and I have always faithfully collected portfolio samples to help document the children’s entry level abilities as far as written work is concerned.  These portfolio samples are taken again at the end of each trimester and shown at parent conferences.  I always find this extremely helpful in conferencing with parents later in the year, especially at the conference that takes place at the end of the first trimester.  It is particularly important for the parents of the children that are truly struggling, because sometimes, the only notable progress tha...

Here are some art projects for the first week of Pre-K and Kindergarten that I think you and your kids will enjoy!  They are all here for you to download FREE, so I hope that you will use them in good health, and let your friends know where to find these free art projects for K and Pre-K as well! I don’t know when all of you start school, but it always seems like summer is over in the blink of an eye and then the first day is here.  I’ve been wanting to share these first week art projects with you for a while, and this seems like a good week to do it!  I honestly don’t know where most of them came from originally; they were passed down to me from “the teacher that came before me.”  All I did was clean them up a little so that I could pass them along to you.  I hope you enjoy them! 1.  School Bus This is a wonderfully simple project that is always a hit with my students, no matter what!  Plus, it makes a great bulletin board as well....