Back-to-School Give-Away!

In honor of Back-to-School, I am giving away a copy of both my books! They are intended to be read at the beginning of the school year in Kindergarten. They also go perfectly with a Fairy Tale Unit. Entering is SO easy! Just become a follower before midnight Central Time July 31 and leave me a comment that you would like to enter! The winner will be chosen at random from those entries. I will contact the winner to get their address by email, so don't forget to leave that as a part of your comment.)

King Wordsworth

Years ago, I put together this story to introduce the letter sounds to my students. I cannot take full credit for it, though. Long ago, I heard a teacher telling her class that the "Word King" made up the rules for words. Later on, I bought a set of flash cards from a Kindergarten teacher that had "The King's Cards" (Capitals) and "The Queen's Cards" (Lowercase). I just kind of put all that together into a story! It's best to TELL the story, rather than read it and using puppets for the King and Queen really keeps their attention. The story is rather LLLOOOONNNNNGGG!

King Wordsworth

New Design!

Oh my goodness! I LOVE my new blog design! Thanks so much to Alicia at DreamLike Magic!
PS It just hit me today... I'm getting excited about school starting soon!

Dr. Jean's "Banana Dance" Songbook FREE!

Don't you just LOVE Dr. Jean's "Banana Dance"? Last year's class thought it was a hoot! I have made a book to illustrate the song. It's FREE to download here at my TPT store until the end of the month! If you don't have the song, it's on her "Better Bodies and Brains" CD.

OR...
Get it here without going through TPT
Banana Dance

Monkey Voice Levels: The others I've seen are so cute! I just had to make one with MONKEYS! I think the original was from Katie at Little Warriors.

Voice Levels

Nursery Rhyme Unit Uploaded!

My new Nursery Rhyme unit has just been uploaded to TeachersPayTeachers.  It is designed to be used the first week or two of Kindergarten or Pre-K.  I hope you'll try it out!

Click on the unit cover to go to my TPT store.

Top Ten Things About Me

1.  I can't live without a Mt. Dew every morning.
2.  I have a serious addiction to shoes!
3.  I have 3 cats that treat me like a mom.
4.  I love "key lime" anything.
5.  My favorite color is pink.
6.  I get SO excited when I receive packages!
7.  I want to be a runner.
8.  I am a Gleek.
9.  I want a pool really badly.
10.  I love anything Kindergarten!  I love the kids, the stories, the art, the science, the math, the blogs, the music... anything Kindergarten!

from Go Fourth with Mrs. Owens

It's fixed!

If you tried to download my "America to Me" songbook at TPT and it wouldn't work, try again!  I fixed the problem!  Tell your friends!  Sorry about that...

ABCs of Kindergarten

This is my version of The ABCs of Kindergarten.  I will have to update it for the 2011-2012 school year. Click on the link to download it.  I hope it works!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wWOyIRGDm3Z3yN11fUd1prL755prDIsPt78vb626pfU/edit?hl=en_US

Freebie! "America to Me" Songbook

I'm a little late, but the Fourth of July inspired me to make a class songbook to go with one of my favorite songs!  It's on Jack Hartmann's "I've Got Music in Me" CD.  If you don't know this song, you need to give it a listen.  It's so cute!  We did it in our end of the year program and the parents LOVED it!
I am listing this cutie for FREE on TeachersPayTeachers until the end of July.  After that, it will be $3.00.

Two Words - Thrift Stores

I have never been the type of person who likes to dig around in other people's junk!  That is until a friend made me go with her to a thrift store.
OH MY GOODNESS!
You would not believe the bargains if you think creatively!  I know you probably won't be able to go and find these exact things, but it might just get you thinking and visiting thrift stores for yourself!

If you don't have the book "Bark, George," you need it!  George's mom tells him to bark, but he makes the sounds of several different other animals.  She takes him to the vet, who pulls out all these animals.  To make this, I cut open the mouth of this stuffed dog and took out part of the stuffing.  I found all the animals that were inside George at the thrift store, too, and stuffed them in his mouth in order so I can pull them out like the vet does in the book!

I bought this big stuffed alligator to make a purse for "The Old Lady with the Alligator Purse."  I just opened up the seam on top and hand-sewed in a little pocket.  I also added a wide ribbon for a handle.

Wide Mouth Frog that actually croaks!

Stretchy the Word Snake - Jack Hartmann song

Ollie the Otter - Jack Hartmann song

Willoughby Walloughby Woo!

You know what is the best thing?  These things were like 79 each!  You can find board games, electronic games, children's books, video tapes, small toys to use as manipulatives, blocks, etc...  

*Just in case you are in Alabama, I found these things and MUCH more at the America's Thrift Store just off I-65 at the Alabaster-Saginaw exit.