Cut and Paste Alphabet Activities from Preschool to Second Grade

Here you have 26 cut and paste activities to help students recognize words and sounds of the alphabet, practice spelling and acquire new vocabulary. These cut and paste worksheets are also great for kids to learn fine motor skills, especially in pre-k and Kindergarten. 

Although cut and paste activities can be used beyond these grades for students below grade level, English learners or special education. It is at this time that kids are being introduced to use of scissors and to create more complex craft projects. For your workshop time or your literacy centers.

In these cut and paste activities students have to cut out the words that begin with the same letter and paste them onto the picture. Finally, they can color the pictures.

 

 

Click here to learn more about these cut and paste activities.

Compare and Contrast: Tracing and Matching Words( Common Core Standards: K.G.2)

Here you will find 26 fun tracing and matching activities for grades pre-k and kindergarten. Although they can be also used in first and second grade for students who are below grade level, newcomers to the country, English learners and special education. 

 Matching activities help children develop fine motor skills, visual discrimination and critical thinking. Providing children with a strong background in simple languages arts concepts through fun activities and games will help prepare them to perform more complex tasks later.

In this set of activities students have to trace the word and   draw a line from the word to the dotted silhouette.

  Finally, students trace the dotted silhouette and color the pictures.

Reteach Phonics Skills: Beginning Alphabet Sounds

Here you will find 26 fun tracing and matching activities for grades pre-k and kindergarten. Although they can be also used in first and second grade for students who are below grade level, newcomers to the country, English learners and special education. 

   
Matching activities help children develop fine motor skills, visual discrimination and critical thinking. Providing children with a strong background in simple languages arts concepts through fun activities and games will help prepare them to perform more complex tasks later. 

In this set of activities students have to trace the word and draw a line from the word to the dotted silhouette. Finally, students trace the dotted silhouette and color the pictures.

Fonts 4 Teachers: Wednesday Linky Party

These are my rules:

1.  Each Wednesday I am having a Linky party. The post will be open for a week. You can link one free and one paid product, but your links have to be located in a blog post. Please DO NOT link directly to your stores.

2.  You will need to place the banner or my blog button right in your blog post. If you insert my banner in your blog post, make sure there is a link pointing to my post. 

3.  You can come back every Wednesday and link up your free and paid products.

4.  It is mandatory to leave a comment at the blog posts of the 2 people who have linked up directly above you so that we share Fonts 4 Teachers love, find some new friends, and discover some fantastic freebies and paid products!

280 Free Polka Dot Patterns and Backgrounds

I am really in love with the designs of some teachers in Teachers Pay Teachers. The level of artistry is impressive. I decided to surf the net and I stumbled upon these two awesome websites with lots of freebies. Well to be exact 280 amazing designs:

 

***Please be aware that you have to visit the original site and see if they have a personal or commercial license. It is impossible for me to research that aspect of each design.

The two websites with the free designs are:

1. Free Design Options. (250 designs)

 All the Best Design Ideas, Freebies and Tutorials.

2. Slodive. (30 designs)

A popular Graphic and Web Design site where you can expect to see a unique take on topics, we try not to tread on familiar topics seen on other design sites. Along with tutorials and articles, we also do round ups, how-to guides, tips, tricks and cheats on all of the hot topics in the design world.
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If you enjoyed this post, I would LOVE you to either follow my blog or  my TPT store. Click here.

3 Reasons Why Your Store in Teachers Pay Teachers Is Not Making Money

I hear teachers complain in the TeachersPayTeachers (TPT) forum about how little money their stores are making. I visit their stores, then I have a look at a few products and check for signs of social media activity or a blog. The pattern is consistent in most of the scenarios. In my modest opinion, these are the 3 top reasons why some of those stores are failing:

1. Problem with products and descriptions. I quote on this one from a newsletter sent to all TPT members on August 3, 2011.  The newsletter lists a series of issues that impact store growth. These include: a) product titles that don’t say what the product is, b) omitted words or ambiguous abbreviations, c) terse product titles and descriptions, d) not listing the contents, e) not identifying learning styles or levels of knowledge, f) not specifying if the resource allows for differentiated learning, g) spelling and grammar mistakes, h) style embarrassments, i) ambiguous terms, j) too many/few grade levels, k) obsolete materials…. 

  

One of the key problems that the newsletter describes is regarding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, that is, the process of getting free or organic traffic from search engines. The newsletter warns, “Remember that there are two levels of search to consider: the search function on TeachersPayTeachers (or any other marketplace or merchant web site), and the search engines (Google, Bing, etc.)”. If you fail to write detailed and optimized product titles and descriptions, simply put, you won’t be found by anybody and therefore you won’t get any traffic to your store. Got it?

Product titles have to be written in a professional manner. Some teachers are prepared for this, but some others we are not. Either find a person that can do the job for you or hire copywriting services.  In the same fashion, if you do not know anything about SEO (most teachers don’t) find the right services. You will be shocked with the job they can do for you and the ridiculously cheap prices they can offer you.

 

2) No blog. According to Paul Edelman, owner of TeachersPayTeachers, one of the most successful ways to bring visitors to your TPT store is through a blog or Pinterest. He claims, “The power of these two promotional tools can’t be overestimated”. You can create a free blog in Google’s platform Blogger or Wordpress. Most TPT members prefer Blogger. Many teachers will say, “I do not know how to use a blog, design it or… “. Well if you do not know, learn how. And learn fast. There are companies that can design a blog for you in few days and even design the graphics for $60 or less. Click here and get more info.

3) No Pinterest account. Most teachers lack a well executed social media strategy plan. In fact, many teachers do not have any strategy at all. Did you know that most top TPT sellers average about 3,000 followers? How far are you from this number? You have to start using Pinterest now. If you have few followers, you have to grow that number soon. Today, there are lots of information about this trendy social media site. Lots of knowledgeable people can’t help boost your account. Get started with Pinterest now.

Check this snapshot from Google Analytics for our client Fonts4Teachers. They started their blog in January 2013. In the month of March they had more than 5,000 visitors to their website. Well almost half of those visitors came from Pinterest. Have a look!

I know most of you do not have Google Analytics (GA). This is a must. You have to know who visits your store and from where, the time they spend on the blog and the content they like and then optimize your strategy accordingly. Well I will write a post soon on GA. 

If you enjoyed this post, I would LOVE you to either follow my blog or  my TPT store. Click here.

I promise you will learn tons of ideas to market your stores!!!!!!

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Guest Blogger:

Diego Uribe

1st grade Teacher/College professor and owner of the blog Web Design and Online Marketing 4 Teachers. A destination for those who need help with SEO, Social Media, Design.... Teacher friendly prices. Life time support. Not happy with our services (All services provided by technology savvy teachers in the US)? We will refund ALL the money!

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Flash Cards: Letters of the Alphabet with Vocabulary Words

Flash cards are a great way for kids to master the letters of the alphabet and their sound correspondences through short repetition sessions. The integration of vocabulary adds complexity and depth to this kind of activities. 

 

 

  

A a = apple + ant + astronaut + alligator 

 
 

 Students can color, cut and laminate the flash cards and use during phonics to practice beginning sounds or in any literacy centers during workshop time. Flash cards can also help students with reading of isolated words.

 
 

 

  

Check this amazing selection of over 500 ready-to-print handwriting worksheets divided into 23 categories. 

Word Search Puzzles: Brain Stimulation With Fun

Word search puzzles are ideal to help students stimulate their brains and be able to recognize words and sequence of letters. They can also expand their vocabulary during workshop time in the literacy centers or as a game for phonics or reading. 

 

Each word search puzzle includes a different number of words that go across or down. Students have to copy a word that is the topic of the puzzle and then read, find and circle. They can also color the picture at the bottom that goes with the theme. 

 

The selection of topics include: animals, bathroom, classroom, desert, elephant, family, garage, house, ice cream, jungle, kitchen, lighthouse, music, nursery, ocean, party, queen, railroad, space, toys, umbrella, valentine, water, exotic, yard, and zoo.

Over 500 ready-to-print handwriting worksheets divided into 23 categories.

Free Digital Cinco de Mayo Clip Art

Enjoy this free collection of 10 high resolution clip art images for your school projects during Cinco de Mayo. 

 

  Especially designed by clip art master Ramon Abajo. All the images you need for this special day. Students can color some of the images.

 

 

 You can see the entire ClipArt4Teachers collection. 564 black/white and color, high resolution images (JPEG) divided into 22 categories (Personal and Commercial use). Click HERE. 

Peek at my Week Visual Lesson Plan Template

This is the second time I am going to join Deedee Wills' peek at the week Linky party. The first time my visual lesson plans did not look great. I think this time there is a huge improvement, although still not close to her lesson plans. 

Anyways, I watched her video tutorial and from now on I know I have to do them in Power Point. To be continued.

Join us and enjoy the works of one of the most talented teachers in the US.

 

The Best Times and Days to Pin in Pinterest

Now that Pinterest is attracting more and more people, power users are starting to wonder how to maximize their efforts. Whether you are trying to market a store in TeacherPayTeachers, a product in Amazon or a website, be aware that some hours of the day and some days bring more benefit or revenue to your cause than others. Do not waste your time pinning at a time when nobody is following you or online: you won't get likes, repins or comments and few visitors will end up in your store or blog. Check this infographic and learn the best times and days to pin your images.

If you are not familiar or you are not successful in Pinterest, get help right now.

If enjoy this post, I would LOVE you to either follow my blog or  TPT store. Click here.