Holy Cannoli! This unit is everything you need to teach American Symbols! This has been on my heart and my “to create” list since the moment I posted my American Symbols unit. Now it’s come to life! My students love ART and I love making it for them. I am very motivated to create this year since Jackson is in first grade too and his teacher does all my curriculum in her class. His teacher and I are “besties” and she was thrilled when I showed her the completed masters! This art will make your room stunning! But it will also make your students smart. Each art project has a skills based component to it. Here is the Place Value White House, for example. I have added this art to my already existing American Symbols unit, turning it into a {BUNDLE}. It even got a new cover. If you already bought the original unit, just download again!!! The art is all yours as a GIFT!!!! I did not raise the price when making this a bundle for Sunday the 12th, Monday the 13th, and Tuesday the 14th only. Just in case some of my readers have this on their wish list, get it off your wish list and into your cart, if you want the deal of the century! What? You can’t see the little pictures and want to see some of the pages in a larger format? Why of course! I aim to please! I have updated the ENTIRE Informational Reading pack. New fonts and some tweaks make this one of my favorite units EVER! Little Books introduce the concepts. My informational reading passages are designed to be readable for first graders, but also have rich vocabulary and are rigorous and engaging enough to be read again and again. Here is a sample of the 8 activities and 3 tests included. These skills pages keep the theme going and the rigor high. I am evangelical about fluency, and I tell anyone who will listen how it has changed how I teach. These are a few slides for my upcoming “I Teach K”conference presentation. I’m getting ready people. My presentation is only a few weeks way! Here is my fluency grid. Most grids have tiny squares and are ugly. This is big and cute. This is perfect to run on the back of the passages and/or to put on a bulletin board for kids to see their amazing growth. The large boxes are just easier for first graders to write in. Plus, it is great daily math practice. If you read 85 words, then where do you put that number? Yep, you put it in the 80+ column because you did not get to 90 yet. These are the conversations that make math real! Well, I love you all! I am off to go clean my house and try to remain calm about my upcoming presentation. What tips do you have for me as a speaker? What do you love doing during a conference session? What do you hate doing? In a power point do you want to watch short video clips of fluency in action? What goodies do you want to walk away with? Please leave your tips and I will pick 2 winners from this blog posts and 4 winners from Facebook. Click here for Facebook. The contest is over and….. Jay Pea is our winner! Thank you for all of the tips you offered. I hear you on the CONSTANT think, pair, share in trainings. It does get old. I won’t do it, but I will bring freebies!