Sight Word Fun!

Who's just a little SUPER pumped to practice those pesky sight words in reading groups tomorrow morning?  THIS GUY!  I ventured to my local Wal-Mart to pick up some other things and naturally got sidetracked, as any good primary teacher does.  You know the deal -- when we find something cool, we buy all they have.  Tonight was no exception for me.  I've heard of other teachers using fly-swatters to practice reading sight words, but check out these bad boys that were only 40 cents...

Oh my gosh.  I know.  I bought 12.

Can't wait to try them out tomorrow.  I'm going to write down all of our first marking period sight words on index cards, then call out a word - first student to SPLAT the word gets to keep it.  Whoever has the most cards at the end of the game wins!

I'm beyond excited.

Frankenstorm

Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, I had the day off!  I decided to be SUPER productive and create my first centers unit.  This Thanksgiving themed centers unit contains 5 activities...

Click on the picture to visit my TpT store!


Counting Turkey Feathers:
Your students will choose cards containing a variety of addition sentences. They will group the problems according to the sums, then record them on the worksheet provided.

Thanksgiving Sentence Scramble:
Students will sort the cards depending on the picture.  Once sorted, the students must unscramble the words to form a Thanksgiving sentence.  When completed, they will record the sentence on the worksheet provided, and illustrate their work.

Thanksgiving ABC Order:
There are 8 cards containing different Thanksgiving themed words.  The cards must be put in order, then recorded on the worksheet and illustrated.

What's Missing?:
In this game, students will draw cards containing 2 letters of the alphabet and a missing letter.  They must first determine which letter is missing, then record it onto their worksheet.

Up Your Game:
Students will play this game in groups of 2 or 3.  They will each draw a card from the pile.  Whoever has the highest card may keep all of them.  Keep playing until there are no more cards in the pile.  The winner is the one with the most cards.

I hope you find these activities useful in your classroom - my students LOVE playing them!!

More Short Vowel Games

I posted two more short vowel games on my TpT site... "Crab Apples" for short a, and "Oh, Bug Juice!" for short u.  Please check them out!  I play these games with my students for each new phonics skill that we learn, and they absolutely LOVE them!  It's fun to see how much they get into it!

Click on the images to open these games in my TpT store.

Enjoy!

Freebie!

I made my first TpT freebie! It's a short o vowel game called Monster Stomp! Students pull cards and read the words. If they pull a Monster Stomp! card, they put all their cards back in the pile.

Click the picture to download at my store.

ENJOY!

Spooky Writing

Writing is one of the things that I look forward to most each day... I'd been thinking of some ways to get in a little Halloween writing, and finally came up with the perfect idea. The other day, we read In a Dark, Dark Wood by David. A Carter. I had it on the board behind me during reading groups, and kept hinting at how scary it was. Every once in a while, I'd open the book and scream then slam it shut. Needless to say, those little first graders were ready to eat right out of my hand! When we finally read the book, they were ready to jump every time I turned the page! For those who don't know me, I'm slightly very theatrical. I made it seem as if something was going to jump out every time I turned the page. When we finally reached the end of the story, and the ghost popped out of the book, they just about died. They've been bugging me every day since to read it again. I love that even the simplest of stories can keep them SO excited! When we finished up, I had the students close their eyes and think about something that might scare them if they were walking through the woods on a dark, dark night. We talked a lot about descriptive language, and how we could help the reader to really picture these creatures in their mind. Then I set them free... They came up with the coolest things! Some went very traditional, and others went WAY beyond!

After Halloween, I'm planning on taking them down to make a book for our classroom library. Do you have any fun Halloween writing ideas? Please share if you do :-) Have a good night!

Fall Fun!

I don't know about you, but I absolutely LOVE fall.  Our school has a beautiful enclosed courtyard where I take my little kiddos to read as often as possible.  Unfortunately, our classroom does not face this awesome space... it faces an even cooler parking lot!  Since the view's not the best, I decided to spruce it up for the fall.  Love this little fall leaf craft, as it can stay up for all of October AND November!  The kids really enjoyed making these!

To start off, I printed a leaf pattern onto big sheets of construction paper.  The students cut out the inside of the leaves (which was an interesting challenge for some of them).  Once the leaves are cut out, lay them on contact paper so the kids can put tissue paper on top -- I'm all about using glue as little as possible!!  When they were all done, I plopped them into the laminator and let the kids cut them out themselves - they had so much fun!

Do you have any fun activities that you enjoy doing with your students?  Please share... I'm always looking for new and exciting ideas!

Oh heck, here we go...

Well, as if my plate isn't full enough as a first year teacher, I thought, HECK, why not start a blog?  I've turned to a number of blogs for ideas this year, so I figured maybe I, too, can help spark somebody's creativity!  I was a long-term substitute in second grade for a year and a half before landing a permanent gig in first grade.  It has been the most amazing journey.  I come home exhausted every single day, but cannot wait to go back and do it all over again.  When they say that first grade is a very important learning year, they're not lying.  I get to witness "light bulb" moments on a regular basis, and it makes me feel incredible.  *Story time*  One of my kiddos came to me not knowing any of his letters or sounds.  When we would write, I was lucky to get a few letters to accompany his very simple drawings.  About 4 weeks into the school year, he made the connection that the pictures under the alphabet match the sound that those letters make.  Not only did he start writing, he immediately wrote with feeling.  It's like he finally found a way to get out everything he'd ever been dying to say.  He went from nothing to "I like the way the rain feels on my hands" right in front of my eyes.  I almost cried.  This is why I teach.  I hope that some of my ideas are able to inspire you along your journey.