Literacy Bags

I am so glad that someone thought to write here about literacy bags!! I have so much to say about them! I have been working on mine ever since I was in college, and became so overwhelemed with the project that I just started them in my classroom last year, my third year of teaching! I love using them. I wish I could share with you all the bags I have, but they are in my classroom and I can't get to them right now. First of all, I buy them at Michaels craft store. They're the plain, canvas bags. I type and attach to a plain, laminated index card, a list of contents, and on the other side of the card, a list of suggested activities to use with the bags. I send them home as "Friday Treats." Meaning, if the kids in my class "stay on green" all week long on the traffic light, then they get to sign up for a Friday Treat. I have a list of several choices, and the "Weekend Book Bags" is just one of the choices. I have a letter that I send home with the bag, explainning why it is coming home, and how important it is to bring it back. Again, letter is in my classroom, packed up right now... Kids take a bag home on Friday, and return it on Monday. They LOVE it!!!! Behavior was never so good in my class as it was last year! My intent was to rotate the bags that I sent home monthly, or bi-monthly, but I didn't get enough put together in time to be able to do that all year. So, I just rotated them out one time, in the spring. I will list the bags that I can remember having, but I know I have tons more packed away in my classroom. TIP: if planning on doing a bunch of bags, I think it's cheaper to buy them through Oriental Trading Company, as you can buy the canvas bags in bulk).
TIP:Also, I thought along time about how/where to store the bags because they take up so much space. I bought a clothing tree from someplace (I had to visit several stores, as they can be expensive). I hang the bags on the clothing tree. The clothing tree sits behind my desk. TIP: When a child signs out for one of the bags, I date stamp onto an index card with their name the date that it is due, and I put it in a library pocket card that hangs on the wall, next to the bags. The library pocket card has the name of the bag written on the front. It is attached with velcro to the wall, so that I can change out the cards when I rotate the bags (I only did this once, but plan to more this year)!TIP: I find that I run short on time to manage all the Friday Treats at the end of Friday afternoons, and am hustling to let children choose bags, sign up for them, sign their name on their parent letter, and get them in their cubbies. I had a wonderful parent volunteer who ended up "taking chage" of the Weekend Book Bags for me on Fridays. She came every Friday afternoon to help kids choose, sign out, and take them home. One could only be so lucky to get another parent like her!TIP: (last one!) I demonstrated the uses of the Weekend Book Bags at Back to School Night. This really, really helped because parents understood why they were coming home, how their kids earner/didn't earn them, and how important it was that everything come back just as it was. I made a big deal about how everything in the bags was bought with my money, and how excited I was to share them with their children, and the importance that everything come back to school in the same condition as when it went home, so that others could enjoy them too. I strongly suggest talking to parents about them before sending them home. During parent-teacher conferences, I followed up with parents, asking how they were working at home, which were favorities, etc. This helped b/c some parents had forgotten about the bags b/c their child had either not earned a Friday Treat, or b/c when they earned the treats, they had always chosen other things, and not the bags. This way, parents went home and talked with their kids and encouraged them to choose the bags, and they did!
Bags in my classroom:

The Gingerbread Man (a favorite b/c I sent home a store-bought, individually wrapped cookie). I also send home a stuffed GM, and also the class book that we make at the beginning of the year on our school tour. I also send home a worksheet as a follow up to the GM.

Clifford's ABC's
Included in the bag is the book, a clifford puppet, magnetic letters to practice on the fridge at home, and a dry erase booklet for handwriting practice.

The Mitten (Jan Brett)I send home the book, a listening center tape, a small, child's mitten, a Hedgie stuffed animal, felt puppets that I bought on e-bay, and a mitten coloring page.

The Hat (Jan Brett)I send home the book, a listening center tape, felt puppets I bought on ebay, and a coloring page from the story.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear...(Eric Carle)
I send home a board book, a brown bear stuffed animal, and a class book that we made earlier in the year.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear...
(Eric Carle)I send home a board book, a stuffed polar bear, and a coloring page.

Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom
I sent home the book, a listening center tape, and an interractive flip/magnectic book that I bought throuch scholastic with my bonus points.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
I send home a board book that when I bought it also came with a small, stuffed caterpillar from the story. I send home picture/word cards of the foods in the story that I had made in collage for a class project, and I also send home a follow-up worksheet.

If You Give a Moose a Muffin
I sent home the book, a stuffed moose, and a recipe for making muffins. I also send home a worksheet of a game that I found on the internet (maybe this site). It's a worksheet that the kids can cut out about 12 muffin flashcards, write their word wall words on the cards, and color them. They play a game called "feed the moose." In this game, they read their words to someone at home. If they read the word correct, then they "feed" it to the moose. If they do not read it correct, then the adult at home "keeps" the word.

If You Give a Pig a Pancake
I send home the book, a recipe for pancakes (I found it online at teh same site as above). I also send home an empty squirt bottle to use when making muffins. The activity I found online with this story is to use the squirt bottle to make a pancake, but to make it in the shape of a letter, like the first letter of your name, or "P" of pig, or for pancake. I also send home a stuffed pig, that I found at Kohls awhile back when they were selling the books and stuffed animals for $5.00 each.

If You Take a Mouse to SchoolI send home the book and mouse (from Kohls). I send home a small, metal lunchbox that I found at a garage sale (also can be found in dollar stores). The activity on the card encourages the child to fill the lunchbox with things that they could bring to school (the then to remember to un-fill it before returning the bag).

cheaptotes.com
they're $.99 each

I got mine here. bought 12 to start. my bags are called home connection bags and I'm using them this year instead of homework. Each one has a skill to work on (colors, shapes, patterns,numbers, counting, abc's, names, opposites etc.) there is also Ted E. Bear and he goes home with books and a journal and an all about me bag. In each bag I have books to go with the skill, file folder games, and a variety of other resources. I got a lot of ideas from Jessica Meacham's site and tweaked some things.