Magnetic Letter Mayhem

Hello again!

So I've had something on my "To-Do List" that might seem a little compulsive to some of you...maybe not...at least I hope it's not too OCD on my part, but it just might be.

I sorted all of my magnetic letters last night.  

Like.  All.  Of.  Them.

Yep...there it is.  You should see my living room floor!  It's glittered with magnetic letters sorted by upper and lower case letters, style of magnetic letter, some styles put in ABC order, etc.  Okay...I might have a slight issue...but that's no surprise to some of you!

As you may remember from earlier posts, I will have an aide in my classroom this year and I've been busy creating and gathering "Go-To Activities" for us to grab and use with our kiddos in small groups or one-on-one.  I felt it was necessary to see what letters I had so that I can pre-bag them and have them ready for us.

When I sorted them I realized that my vowels were missing.  Now where did they go?  Then I remembered that I saw an idea on Pinterest where the teacher spray painted all of her vowels a bright red so that the children could find them easier.  

Hey!  I did that too! But where did they go?  

I'm in the midst of sorting and organizing every nook and cranny of my classroom so they'll turn up eventually, but I kind of need a plan now.  I found some cute Magnetic Letter Digital Art from Poppydreamz Digital Art!

Poppydreamz Digital Art 

Magnet Letters Alphabet and Number Clipart

I was just going to create some vowels, but one thing led to another (again) and I made a complete set...with Fundations in mind.

You can download it for FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop by clicking here!

Included in the packet is:

• a full alphabet in black and white
• a set of red vowels (5 of each vowel)
• a set of blue glued sounds (3 of each glued sound)
• a set of yellow blends and digraphs (3 of each blend and digraph)
• a set of green bonus letters (3 of each bonus letter)

I'll be printing, cutting, laminating and attaching a small magnet to the back of each tile so that my children can practice building their  words.  Hope it's something that you can use too!

Off to take care of the magnetic letters scattered all over my floor!

Have a great day!

Parking Lot Sight Words

Hello Friends!

I am busy researching and creating new activities for my first graders this year.  My new batch of kiddos have some children with language issues and therefore are struggling with reading and writing too.  Due to my class make-up and IEP goals, etc. I will have an aide/para-professional in our classroom this year.  I am so grateful to have an extra set of adult hands in the room!  Although her number one priority is the one student whose IEP mandates an aide, it's been past practice in our school that our aides can pitch in wherever needed.

So I'm trying to create and gather "go-to" materials that we can grab and use with our struggling students whenever we have the chance.  One of the activities I made are my Parking Lot Sight Word Mats!    

I broke the parking lots into two sets and you can find them in my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop if you're interested.

Parking Lot Sight Words~Dolch Pre-Primer and Primer Sight Words
In this Parking Lot set you'll find 6 parking lots for the Pre-Primer Sight Words, 8 parking lots for the Primer Sight Words and an additional 4 "Empty" parking lots for you or a student to handwrite their own words for practice.

Parking Lot Sight Words~First, Second and Third Grade Sight Words
In this Parking Lot set you'll find 6 parking lots for the 1st grade sight words, 7 parking lots for the 2nd grade sight words, 7 parking lots for the 3rd grade sight words and 4 "Empty" parking lots for you or a student to handwrite their own words for practice.

We will be able to use these to help the children review and master their Dolch Sight Words by using a matchbox car to park in the correct spot.  So for example, we can say, "Maggie, can you park your car in the after spot?"  We could even say, "Park your car in the spot that completes this sentence: I need a bandaid because I _______ my finger."  I think there are several ways to play and learn with these Parking Lot Mats!  What do you think?

The first 3 people to leave a comment will receive both sets for FREE!  Please leave your e-mail address in your comment and I'll send them as soon as I can!
Have a great day!

Pirate Literacy Centers and Snowy Ice Cream

Hi Friends!
We're in another deep freeze in my neck of the woods.  School was canceled again this past Friday and the weather isn't looking too promising for the beginning of this week.  I like snow, I love a white Christmas but I'm kind of over it…bring on the spring!  A nice warm spring!

A few weeks ago I posted my Pirate Literacy Centers in my TPT shop.  I was in need of some simple activities that my children could do in small groups while I was testing so I whipped a few up for us.  We were supposed to work on them this past week, but we only had 1 3/4 days of school…so they're now laminated and ready to go for this week.  I thought I'd give you a close up look at them so you know what we'll be working on.

Pirate Punctuation
The children will match the sentence to the correct punctuation.

Pirate Contractions
The children will match the cards to build contractions.

Pirate ABC Order
The children will will use the three sets of cards and put them in ABC order.

A Treasure of Compound Words
The children will match the cards to build compound words.

Pirate Rhymes
The children will match the words that rhyme.

Noun and Verb Sort
The children will sort the cards by nouns and verbs.

 They're pretty basic because I wanted the children to be able complete them with little help from me since I'll be testing each of them 1:1.  Each activity has a worksheet for the children to record their answers…and I can hold them accountable for their work.  
Click here to find my Pirate Literacy Centers in my TPT shop.

Being snowed in, has given my plenty of time to get lost on Pinterest…did you see this one?

I thought I better try it out on my own first...

and it's pretty tasty!  

The recipe above made about 2 cups of ice cream.  If we ever get back to school, I think I want to make this with my first graders.  They'll love making their own snow ice ream!

Keep warm!

Spin and Spell

Michelle over at Michelle's Charm World created these amazing spellers!  I printed off her post and headed to the nuts and bolts aisle at Home Depot so that I could create my own!  I decided to start simple so I started with our short a word families:

I plan on using these for my Word Work learning activities.  The kiddos will be expected to write and then illustrate each word they find on the speller.

Here's the paper I whipped up for the kiddos to record their words:  Spin and Spell Worksheet

If you don't already follow Michelle, you just might want to take a peek!  She has some really cool stuff on her blog!  :)
Michelle's Charm World-A wonderful candy colored view inside my head!