Did you hear?

I am sure you have, but in case you haven't, Teachers Pay Teachers is having a Leap Year sale on February 29th!  To join in the fun, I will be placing the items I have listed in my TPT shop on sale for 20%.  You can then use their promo code L2P9Y during checkout to receive an additional 10% off!

So who else is returning to school this morning after having a week off?  I tried my best not to think about school too much and just enjoyed the break.  


It was a busy but wonderful week off!

My brother just had a beautiful baby boy, so I was able to go "home" to visit him, my family, and my BFF from childhood.  Good, sweet times that I will cherish forever!


I had my hair cut.  Not just a little, a LOT...I can't even put it up in a ponytail.  I was definitely due for a change and welcome it!

We have another new addition to our household...my iPhone!  Love it!  Although I do have to admit that I am now completely addicted to Words With Friends...anyone else?  I would love if you have any recommendations for good apps for my 4 year old.


Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sight Word Jump-Up (Kindergarten)

My kindergarten students have really enjoyed the game ABC Jump Up that I posted about back in December.  So I decided to create a sight word version to help them practice identifying 48 of the most common sight words and to get them up and moving!


Playing the Sight Word Jump Up game is very similar to ABC Jump Up.  The cards of choice would be placed face down on the table.  One at a time have students select a card.  If they choose a word card, have them read the word, and/or use it in a sentence.  If they choose a stick figure, that player has to return all of their cards and everyone has to jump up!

Click on the shop of your choice:

Teacher's Notebook or Teachers Pay Teachers

This activity addresses the following Common Core Learning Standards:
~  RF.K.3c:  Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

If you missed the ABC version, click on the picture below:

Main Idea and Details-More Ideas

Last April I wrote about an activity I used with some of my 3rd and 4th grade students who were having difficulty identifying main idea and details.  The activity included a bag, filled with different items that somehow went together.  

As I slowly pulled the items out of the bag, we discussed how they went together and made predictions about what the main idea of the bag could be.  Each time I pulled something out, I would reinforce how we didn't know for sure what the bag was for, because we had not yet seen all of the items.  The last item was the one, key item that really tied everything together.  It was the detail to best support the main idea. 


I wanted to demonstrate to the students that even though they thought they knew what the bag was for after seeing one or two items, they needed to see all of the items in the bag before they could make a final conclusion.  I tied it back to text explaining that it was just like reading a paragraph, they must read through the entire paragraph, not stopping after the first or second sentence.


If you click on the picture above, it will bring you to my original post to download the graphic organizer and the lesson plan for the lunch bag.  Below are the items I used for two additional bags, using the same graphic organizer.

This activity could be used in so many different ways!

What other types of bags could we make?

Write the Missing Letter

Some of my students need some additional practice reciting the alphabet and writing their letters fluently.  So I just combined the two activities to have them practice doing both!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

We have vacation next week!  What about you? 

CVC Word Building with Pictures

My students have been working hard to isolate the beginning and ending sounds in words.  Although they are not quite yet in the stage of blending all of the sounds together to read the words, I created the following activity to help reinforce the beginning and ending sounds.  They will select a picture, use letter tiles to build the word, and then write the word.

~ To be a little festive, I gave it a little Valentine's Day spin by going to the good old Dollar Tree where I bought the little heart boxes below and then numbered them 1-8.  
~ I then placed one of the CVC picture cards in each box.
~ I will give the students the letter tiles, word building boxes, and a worksheet.
~ The students will select a box, use the letter tiles to build the word in thew Elkonin-like word building boxes, and then write the word in the corresponding numbered heart on the worksheet.
~ Once the words are written, together we will practice stretching out the sounds with our hands to read the words.

Because we are focusing mostly on  identifying building and identifying words by confirming the beginning and ending sounds, I have separated the vowels "a" and "i" into two separate activities.  If your students are ready, you could easily combine the materials for the two vowels.

Also, although I am doing this for Valentine's Day, this activity could be done at any point with any type of plastic box, small basket, bucket, etc...  I also included a worksheet that has a rectangular border around the three boxes for the students to write in (instead of the heart border).

Click on the shop of choice below!

Teachers Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers

These activities address the following Common Core Learning Standards:

~  RF.K.1d:  Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

~  RF.K.2d:  Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three phoneme (CVC) words. 

~  RF.K.3a:  Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sound for each consonant.
~  L.K.2b:  Write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes).

Valentine Monster Love

Some of my students have made wonderful progress with identifying letters and producing their corresponding sounds, however there are still some who need continued practice with them.

Back in August I posted about a little monster I created from an empty container I had.

I made me think of Dr. Jean's Mr. Munch and I used it with my students around Halloween time with little monsters letter cards that I created.

Well, I am going to pull that little guy out again because I just realized the little monsters have hearts around them so I can use them for Valentine's Day!

I added the upper and lower case letter matching worksheets with hearts the document with the monster letters and you can download them by clicking on the picture below!

These activities address the following Common Core Learning Standards:

~  RF.K.1d:  Recognize and name all upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

~  RF.K.3a:  Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sound for each consonant.

If you are interested in seeing how I made the little monster, check out my original post by clicking here.

Guess How Much I Love You?

Do you think you could guess that?

I love you right up to the moon and back!!

I also wanted to let you know that 

Sam McBratney 

the author of Guess How Much I Love You?

is reading his book this month for 

Barnes and Noble's Online Storytime.

Click on either picture to listen to him read his book!

~ Enjoy

Beginning and Ending Blends

Some of my first grade students are having a hard time segmenting all of the sounds in words with initial and final blends.  So I created these activities to them develop their ability to hear the sounds and then connect those sounds to their corresponding letters.

Included are:

~  27 picture cards of mostly CCVC and a few CVCC words.

~ 4 pictures pages (3CCVC and 1CVCC) with Elkonin-like boxes, with 4 on each page.

~ 1 page for students to write in the missing beginning or ending letters for the blends.

Click on the picture below for your shop of choice!

So are you watching the Super Bowl tonight??  I am!  Not really for the football though.  (Is that horrible?)  I am excited to see the new M&M-Ms. Brown, the commercials, and the scores at the end of each quarter.  =