Free Bailey School Kids Literature Unit!

Hi Friends!
Well...it's the last day of Winter Break!  I can't believe how fast it went but I am kind of ready to get back into a normal routine and I'm missing my kiddos a bit!  I'm always anxious to hear about what they've been up to.

So, I have an amazing group of little friends this year who are great readers already...but there are a few at the top of the heap who need to be reading a little more than the basic decodable and leveled books our reading series offers.  I created a small literature unit on The Abominable Snowman Doesn't Roast Marshmallows, which is from The Bailey School Kids series.  You can download it here:

The Abominable Snowman Doesn't Roast Marshmallows Literature Unit
On a side note...I love creating literature units that are focused on the interests of my first graders not necessarily what the reading series tells me they need to read.  I like to use one or two books from a series that will have the potential to hook my friends on the whole series.  It really helps my families choose books for their children too because if they like one book from the series and they find out there are more books just like it, they are likely to want to start reading all of the books in the series.

I haven't used this literature unit with my kiddos yet so there may be some editing that I'll need to do as we complete it.  I like to listen to their conversations while we're reading it so that I can make revisions to the unit if needed but also use their conversations to choose another book that matches their interests to read next.  I'll be sure to update my post with revisions as we go.

That "11 in 11 Linky Party" was a great way to catch up on my blog stalking this past week and find bunches of new blogs to follow.  I found the cutest idea from Kimberly at Funky First Grade Fun.  You need to check out her Super Spelling Slippers post.  The details are at her blog...which is amazing!  She lets her kiddos wear their super spelling slippers during their weekly spelling tests!  I know!  Something so simple...but how fun is that?!  I think I'm going to use this idea in my own classroom once we start learning about long vowels with super silent e.  We always need a little extra magic to help us remember that little silent guy at the end of our words.  AND who wouldn't love throwing on a pair of slippers in the middle of a wintery school day!

One more thing...Denise @ Sunny Days in Second Grade created some cute pencil flags to give to her students to kick off the New Year in grand fashion.  So I'm off to the local teacher's store to find some festive pencils for my friends.  Check out her blog...pretty cool stuff!

Hope everyone has a great first day back to school...tomorrow for me!
Jenn