Draw and Writes...and TARGET finds!!

Happy Hump Day, Peeps! Kerri here...

Man, is it just me, or are any of you also T.I.R.E.D. today?? Seriously, I am pooped! It probably doesn't help that I was up WAY too late last night watching my stories (Parenthood, how I love thee!), combined with a 12:30 bedtime on Sunday after I stayed up to watch 2 FULL hours of Downton Abbey heaven. Yup. Totally my fault. Guess who's gonna crash on the couch tonight at about 9:17? That would me be!

I wanted to share with you a little writing activity that I do with my Firsties each week in Lit Centers. I call it "Draw and Write", well because they basically draw something and then write about it. I use this book that I got ages ago through Scholastic...

Basically, there are step-by-step directions for 25 different seasonal things that the kids learn to draw. In centers, after they practice drawing the object, I give them their writing paper and they draw it again, and then write about it. After they finish their story, they get to SHARPIE (highlight of their day!!) their drawing, add detail and color. Here are some examples that we have done this year...

Snowman-just written today!

Turkey in November

Jack-o-Lantern in October

Apple tree in September

I display all of their stories on the back wall using a binder clip and I just put the new story right over the old one each week. At the end of the year, I take them all down, bind them into a book, and VIOLA!! Instant Open House writing portfolio. I love looking back to the beginning of the year and seeing the growth they have made in their writing and the parents love it too!

I did this same center each week with my Kinder Kids starting in January, and they would use sight word sentence strips at the beginning to get them going, but by the end of the year, they were writing 5 sentences all on their own. That was my favoritest part of all!!

Another reason this center is so important to me is because the kids know exactly what to do since we do it every week, and my back wall always looks so cute with all of their new writing up! :)

Guess what?? (chicken butt...no, not really) This book is available on AMAZON!! But really, what isn't available on AMAZON?? And less than $10~BARGAIN!

They also have this one, which looks fun... 

And this one, which I just ordered today!

So, maybe you can try this out with your kidlets? I am sure they will LOVE it!

In other Target news, look at what I found on Sunday in the Dollar Spot! Oh, what treasures can be found in the Dollar Spot! Now, I am NOT at all ready to think about V-Day or the 100th day (I shudder just writing the words...), but when a treasure presents itself, it MUST be bought!!

Oh, how adorable!! Dice with hearts on them and a little pail to store them in!! I will definitely be posting a V-Day adding game to use with these dice, so if you get some, stay tuned!!

Mini erasers to count on the 100th day. My kids (especially my girls) go BANANAS for these little erasers! They literally cheered when I showed showed them to the class! So funny...

100th day of school paraphernalia...must haves!

New bins for my centers that match my colors. These were NOT in the Dollar Spot, but when I saw them, I knew they had to be mine!

Well, its 7:28 and I am sleepy poo, so I'd better sign off for now. I'll be back with a snowflake art project idea in a couple days, so we'll chat it up then!
XOXO Kerri