Can Do! Phonemic Awareness Game Show

I am excited to be able to share my thoughts with you about Lakeshore's Can Do! Phonemic Awareness Game Show!

Although it is indicated for students in Grades 1-2, I played this with my kinderkids, who had so much fun practicing identifying and matching initial, final, and medial sounds.

I was able to put the software right into my computer and guided the student through the game.  

I liked that the 
Can Do!  Phonemic Awareness Game Show 
allows you to choose:
~  up to 4 different teams teams.
~  a futuristic player for each team.
~  the length of the game.  There are options to play up to 4, 6, or 8 points.
~  whether or not you want instructions to play throughout the game or not.
~  to print out a score report at the end of the game. This report is broken down by each category (beginning, middle, and ending sounds).
~  to print out a pre and/or post assessment.

My students had fun selecting a player to represent themselves.   When it was their turn, the robotic host told them to spin the wheel and answer a question to earn points.  Each time a question is answered correctly, something fun happens to the avatars of the other players (the Ice Device is activated, the Super Gooper pours cheese, ketchup, dish soap, or some other goopy material on the players, etc...)

Thank you Lakeshore for allowing me to review the 

Can Do! Phonemic Awareness Game Show!  

It was definitely a hit and will be a great addition to help build my students' phonemic awareness!  I keep hearing, "Can we play that robot game again?"

Letter and Sound Assessment

I have been updating some of my products here and there throughout the year. Today I want to share with you, the updates to my Letter and Sound Assessment!  I use this as a means to monitor the progress of my students' letter and sound knowledge. 

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

I begin by showing the students the upper case letters.  I ask them to tell me the name of each letter and what sound it makes.  I then move on to the lower case letters.  Although this isn't a "timed" test, I only give the child credit if they are able to name the letter or sound automatically (within 3 seconds).  They do not get credit if they need to employ some type of strategy in order to recall the letter name or sound (i.e., they have to recite the alphabet, spell their name, etc...).

Because I use this informal assessment multiple times throughout the school year, I make sure to mark the letters and sounds in a different way and with a different color each time I assess.  There is a space to assess the child three times on one form (6 times total if you print front-to-back).  This is an update from my previous assessment, where you could track up to 6 times on each side.  I made this change because I was finding that it was hard to read if I monitored more than three times.  (Using different colors is great, but the colors don't come through when it is photocopied.)

I also added a box to write notes each time the child is assessed.  (I tend to take a lot of notes on my students, do you?)  I like to keep track of what letters/sounds they did not know, especially if they demonstrate inconsistencies between assessment periods.  Another thing I like to note is if the letter or sound seems to be emerging and I note the strategy the student is using to identify it (i.e., they had to spell their name, recite the alphabet, state the letter-keyword-sound in order to produce the sound).  Here is a picture of the assessment with one of my students for some of the year:

I do suggest that you print pages 2-3 front-to-back.  Then you are able to see the child's growth and have the data for six different assessment periods on one sheet of paper!

Remember that this is an update!  If you have previously purchased this product, you should be able to sign in and download the update!  
Thanks for stopping by!!

Ladybugs Letters and Sounds Game

Need some new games to help your students practice letters and sounds?  Many of my students are still working to master them, so I created these cute upper and lower case ladybug letter cards and currently use them with my students in two different games.

Teachers Notebook
Teachers Pay Teachers

One of the games is called, "Ladybugs".  It is a simple card game where you mix up the letter cards and additional playing cards into a pile and place facedown (or put them in a cute Spring themed container).  The students take turns selecting a card and naming the letter and/or sound, or follow the directions written on the card.  Once all of the cards are selected, I flip through each student's pile of letters and have them name the letters or sounds to practice fluency.

The second game is "Find the Ladybug".  This can be played on the tabletop or in a pocket chart.  I use a pocket chart and play this game if I have a few moments to spare before our group time ends.  The kids love it!  This is the same game that I posted about here.  Head over to that post for directions and pictures!

What are some things you do to help your students master their letters and sounds?

I Have, Who Has Blending and Rhyming

Hi all!  
Do your students like "I have, Who has" games?  Well, since I work with small groups of children, I wanted a quick activity where they could practice blending their sounds and also reinforce their rhyming skills at the same time, so I created these two games.  

The two games are identified by the color of their borders, one yellow and the other pink, with eight rhyming pairs each.  Each game creates a loop, so the last question is answered by the first answer set on the table.  The students are encouraged to work together to determine the correct answers.  Directions are included! 

Click on the picture to download.

 

I also have another "I have, Who has" game to help reinforce rhyming.  This game is much longer and includes 24 rhyming pairs.  In this  game, there is no text for the students to read.  They match the rhyming pairs using only pictures.

You can find the game in both of my shops:

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

Have you ever heard of LoopWriter?  It is a program you can buy/download that can create looping games just like these.  They also have a FREE "I have, Who has" rhyming game with pictures.  You can access that here.

Thank you!

Ultimate FREEBIE Collection-HAPPY BIRTHDAY TBA!

Have you been over to Teaching Blog Addict (TBA) in the last few days?  If you haven't, you really need to stop by!
We are hosting an ultimate FREEBIE celebration to celebrate filled with FREEBIES for different grade levels!

Click on the picture below to head to the 

PreK and Kindergarten FREEBIES:

Once you are there, you will find 8 or more pages of 50 FREEBIES to each page!  

And that is just for PreK-Kindergarten!

Click on the links below to find the other grade levels:

1st-2nd Grade

3rd-4th Grade

5th-6th Grade

So get your printer ready and stop by to grab some amazing FREEBIES!  

You are also invited to link up your own FREEBIES!

How amazing is that?

I feel so blessed to be an author for TBA and can't believe it has already been 2 years!  I look forward to celebrating many, many more!!

HAPPY, HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY TBA!

Zippin Down the Freebie Trail

I am so excited to be part of the FREEBIE trail!
I hope you have found some great activities to add to your toolbox!

I would like to share a fun game called
The Bunny Trail

This game can be used to reinforce so many different skills.  I use it to reinforce fluency with letters, sounds, and sight words.

To play, write whatever needs to be reinforced on the included flash cards and also in the empty boxes on The Bunny Trail game board.  Mix up the cards and have the child read through each card until they get to the first target on the trail.  You then continue the same routine until the bunny gets to the end of the trail!
Enjoy!!

Now, click on the egg below to zip on down to our next stop and see
Learn With Me in Grade Three

And if you are just starting with us, click on the egg below to head to beginning of the trail!

 

Winner!!

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for the 
2 DVDs of 26 A-Z Letter Videos by ABC Mouse

Congratulations go out to
Kelly B. 
and
Louise Z. 
for both winning a copy of their own DVD!

Please check your email ladies!

Now if you didn't win, but did not check out the FREE apps by ABC Mouse, click on the picture below:

Photo courtesy of ABCmouse.com

OR if you have an iTunes account, you can click here.

Thank you for this opportunity ABC Mouse!

St. Patrick's Day Literacy Activities

Here are some St. Patrick's Day themed activities that I will be using in the next few weeks to reinforce some foundational literacy skills.  Click on the pictures to learn more about each activity.

To help practice isolating and segmenting sounds, we will be using plastic gold coins to complete

St. Patty's Day Phoneme Segmentation:

To help practice letter and sound identification, letter writing, and phoneme isolation, my kinderkids will be completing activities from my newly updated 
Lucky Letters Literacy Pack:

And to informally assess correct responses to various phonological skills, I have my students
Color a Lucky Clover:

Finally, just wanted to remind you about the giveaway I am doing for not 1 but 2 DVDs made by ABC Mouse for their 26 A-Z Letter Videos!

ABC Mouse App & GIVEAWAY!!

I previously wrote a review for the website ABCmouse.com.

Since then, this site has become a favorite in my house with my little lady.
BUT, have you seen the free apps from ABC Mouse on iTunes?
They have interactive stories, beginning readers, and an interactive zoo!

Their newest app is 26 A-Z Music Videos!

These music videos are great!!   The graphics are cute and colorful and all of the songs are fun and catchy!  They are designed to help reinforce letters and sounds.  

Did I mention that it is FREE??

Now, when you download the app, you start with 3 videos for the letters A, B, and C, along with 100 tickets.  Each time a short video is watched, 1-3 tickets are earned!  Once in awhile, there is a cute little wheel to spin to earn additional tickets.  The tickets earned can then be used to unlock additional videos for free!  (You also have the option to purchase the videos if you choose.)

The videos are fantastic, and guess what?  I have 2 DVDs of all 26 A-Z Music Videos to give away to not only one, but TWO WINNERS!
These DVDs are perfect to reinforce letters and sounds with little ones!!
Enter via the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!!

Now, if you want to check out their other apps, click on the picture below:

Photo courtesy of ABCmouse.com
OR if you have an iTunes account, you can also click here.

And finally, if you wanted to read the review I wrote back in August for the ABC Mouse website, click here.  
(You can learn how to set up a FREE classroom account!!)

Want to have some fun?

Anyone up for having some fun?

I found this cute little picture in my daughter's room.

The first 3 people who can tell me the author and title of the book that is pictured, will win my updated

Lucky Letters Literacy Pack!!

Jessica, Michelle, Kimberly, and Casey were all right!
It is from The Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon.
A favorite here in our house!
Thanks for playing along and please check your email ladies!  I'll be sending you the file!