Books Archives - Pure Joy Teaching

When Walruses Want Waffles, by D. Passmore

Silly questions with lots of funny “w” words for answers.

How far from their far north snow-covered homeland would walruses be willing to waddle, for waffles?

A funny question with silly illustrations. Lots of words start with the letter w like: wigs, wallets, whales, and wrestling too.

This book was created to fill a void in my “W” letter library, for my letter of the week curriculum. It also is a beautiful artistic tribute to the land that I love, covered with snow and beautiful auroras.

Hidden within the pictures of the story are a few little rubber ducks. Try to spot them all.

You can find it here on Amazon. Kindle or Paperback.

This could be fun to use with older students too. Challenge them with a writing task about the waffle hunting adventures.

Once I got started making waffles, I just could not stop there. Check out my waffle letters theme for handwriting. The yellow butter drips show the direction the letter should be written. It is all good letter formation practice. Start your letters at the top and follow the butter drip.

You can add some math with waffle counting too. When I was teaching preschool, my students loved any game that let them feed animals. Check out this feed the walrus waffle printable. You can make your walrus to feed with this simple printout.

Have Pure Joy Teaching

More Books By D. Passmore

If a Pig Could Paint, would he hog all the colors?

Then the story leads the reader towards an answer to the title question. What if a pig could paint? What would that look like?

An artistic twist to an animal painting adventure by D. Passmore

This book was written to help young students relax and enjoy painting. It introduces a few examples of different styles of painting. Then the story leads the reader towards an answer to the title question. What if a pig could paint? What would that look like?

The kids in my classroom loved it and laughed at the pictures. Specially the Pig-o-Lisa. Some kids recognized the Stary-dog-nights and some of the classic paintings from history. The book has lots of questions, which lead the kids to think of answers as the book progresses.

After that, we did some painting projects with the theme ‘What would cats, dogs, and pigs paint like? It got the kids thinking. Some kids jump to the task quickly. Others needed to work through the questions. How would the animals hold the brushes? Would they use their paws, tails, or whole body to paint? It was a good way to pose comprehension and inferred questions. Then follow it through with the actual painting.

If a Pig Could Paint? By D. Passmore – Pure Joy Teaching

You can take a look at Amazon Here. Kindle or paperback.

Spelling and story sequencing cards can be found on TPT Here.

More books by D. Passmore

Back to School Handwriting Program

Engaging Handwriting Orton-Gillingham Styled Letter Tracables and Story Book Lessons

This book and handwriting program has fun visual links to help students see the letter shape patterns and avoid letter confusion.

Great for back-to-school, colorful pictures with an animal and pirate theme.

Find the book here on Amazon. The printables can be purchased on TPT

Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook By D. Passmore

This makes handwriting a fun adventure with easy-to-trace images that follow a logical pattern. Orton-Gillingham Style letter grouping.

Less letter confusion with b and d reversal problems solved.

The colorful bird points out the all-important vowel sounds.

Four books in one. The complete lowercase letter handwriting storybook collection.

Treasure-seeking pirates find things in the sand to trace around. This is how they learn the new skill of handwriting. Pirate-themed word-play helps create a memorable and fun storyline, with playful use of the letters: r, i, c, and x. The similar grouping of letter shapes makes it easy for them to learn the four-letter groups quickly. Special attention is shown to the importance of the vowel letters. With the help of a chatty parrot, the story has incorporated a few vowel sounds. Each letter has a specific visual cue to demonstrate the correct letter starting point. The letters are organized in clusters to help correct letter reversal errors. Each book in the series shares a close relation to Orton-Gillingham’s Style of handwriting instruction groups.
Handwriting is an adventure to treasure.

The four titles included in this book: R’s Pirate Letters, C Pirate Letters, I Pirate Letters, X Pirate Letters.

Posters and cards for this writing lesson that match this book.

1. r, n, m, h, b, p – Letter r is seaweed on the sand, the pirates trace the /r/ shape and that helps to make the other letters in this group. These are the dive down, slide up, and hook letters. Dark blue water on the bottom of the cards.

2. c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e – Letter c is half a coconut. The pirates trace around it in the sand to make the curved letters in this group. These are the /c/ curved letters that share the same starting point. Letter e was added to this group. (funny story in the book for letter /e/) Tallgrass on the bottom of the cards. Great for sand trays.

3. i, j, l, t, f, k – Letter i, are tracks made by turtle-hatchlings. The pirates copy the straight line letters in the sand. Light blue water on the bottom of the cards.

4. v, w, y, x, z, u – Letter v, traces around a shark’s tooth. These are the slanted line letters. Letter u was added to this group. (funny story in the book for letter /u/) Tree trunks on the top of these cards.

X Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook for learning the lowercase letters v, w, y, x, z & u.

Orton-Gillingham Style Handwriting in a storybook to make learning the letters a fun adventure.

This is the fourth book in the handwriting series.

The pirate’s lower case letter adventure is coming to a close with one of their favorite letters the X.

In this book they will learn the slanted letters: v, w, y, x, v and surprise the last vowel the letter u. The letter u is a very funny part of the story and it includes the vowel sound in the story. Thanks to the helpful parrot that flies by.

In this storybook, the lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory and indicate a common starting point. The pictures illustrate a sensory experience of writing in the sand to stimulate the brain for learning. With letters grouped by similar starting points and slanted downstrokes, it can speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Images of the letters share the same shape to help avoid common letter reversal errors. Special attention to made to the vowel letter, by a colorful bird. Paired with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

This is a perfect book to use with sand tray letters.

The whole pirate adventure is available in one storybook on Amazon. The Pirate Letters: Lowercase Handwriting Storybook.

This is a wonderful way to teach handwriting in the Orton-Gillingham style letter groups.

Handwriting worksheets and cards for this book are available HERE on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Have Pure Joy Teaching!

I Pirate Letters Storybook for handwriting lowercase letters

Orton-Gillingham Style Handwriting in a storybook to make learning fun.

This is the third book in the handwriting series.

The adventure continues, the pirates think that someone has been digging for treasure on the island. A huge surprise in the sand leads them to learn the next set of straight-line letters.

These letters are the third handwriting group they learn: i, j, l, t, f, k.

In this storybook, the lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory and indicate a common starting point. The pictures illustrate a sensory experience of writing in the sand to stimulate the brain for learning. With letters grouped by similar starting points and straight downstrokes, it can speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Images of the letters share the same shape to help avoid common letter reversal errors. Special attention to paid to the vowel letter, by a colorful bird. Paired with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

Handwriting letter strips can be found on my TPT page. These are great for students to use daily. Practice writing the letters and making the letters sounds are very important for reading and spelling.

This is a perfect book to use with sand tray letters.

The next book in the series is “X Pirate Letters.“

The 4 book series can be purchased on AMAZON

Enjoy! Have Pure Joy Teaching

You may also like the c letters for sand trays.

C Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook

The second book in the series Pirate Handwriting letter formation

Find it on Amazon

C Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook Lowercase Letter Formation

This is the second book in the series Pirate Handwriting.

The lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory, picture a sensory experience to stimulate the brain for learning, and avoid common letter reversal errors. In a storybook style, the letters are grouped by similar starting points and curved strokes to speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Presented with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

This is the second group of letters that they learn: c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e.

These letters all share the common c shape.

They also start to recognize vowel sounds, with the help of a colorful bird and a curious monkey they find on the island.

Vowels a,o, and e.

The next book in the series is: I Pirate Letters

R’s Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook

The first book in the series Pirate Handwriting letter formation

R’s Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook Lowercase Letter Formation

This is the first book in the Pirate Handwriting series.

The letters in this book all share a similar ‘r’ shape and fine motor direction with a common downstroke and slide-up hook.

Letters: r, n, m, h, b, p

Treasure-seeking pirates are distracted by a new adventure. That leads them to start learning the valuable skill of handwriting.

The lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory, picture a sensory experience to stimulate the brain for learning, and avoid common letter reversal errors. With letters that are grouped by similar starting points and down strokes to speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Paired with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

The second book in the series is: C Pirate Letters, By D. Passmore

Letters: c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e

Awesome Animal Alphabet Poems: ABC – Book

Created to help children learn the correct starting points for the lower case letters, and create an auditory link between the visually related objects that make the correct letter sound. Each page has color animal actions to follow.

This book can be found on Amazon HERE

The students really like the letter u page. they laugh at the word underwear. Uncle umbrella bird flies under the underwear, these are all short u vowels sounds. This is important because bossy r words block the short u sound and the long u words like ukulele do not help students with the short vowel decoding of CVC words. (consonant vowel consonant)

Ukulele is also a Hawaiian word, so the long e sound at the end of word does not follow the normal English spelling rules.

Letter tracing cards can be found on my Teachers Pay Teachers shop – Pure Joy Teaching

Link to my shop HERE

You can download and print these cards, that are based on the my book. Use them in your classroom or home to help students with handwriting.

Zebra countdown to Zoom book

10, 9, 8…..Counting down to zoom, with the excitement of a rocket balloon. Zack the Zebra illustrates how to make a balloon rocket with simple household items. A Stimulating way to inspire education, fun, science, and math. Great indoor entertainment, easy DIY. Kids love balloons, spark interest in physics and release fun.

This book is available on Amazon in paperback and ebook.

Balloon Rocket Tack Cards, and printable Awards for a STEM Project

Printable downloads on TpT, Teachers Pay Teachers are in the works and will be available soon. Joining TpT is free.

Right now there is a free download of my shape & color cards.

For classroom display and word wall poster printables, find my Alphabet cards, Maori Numbers, & more with the Zebra Frame Pattern.

See more of my items HERE.