Make Your Own Tactile Letters- Without the Sandpaper!

admin July 7, 2012 No Comments

I’ve always wanted to make my own tactile letters, but even the thought of cutting the sandpaper with scissors sends a shiver up my spine.  Tactile letters can be so expensive, that purchasing them is a little hard to swallow on a limited budget. I was in my favorite home improvement store (that would be the Home Depot, of course) waiting for my garage wall paint to be mixed when I gazed down only to find the most fantastic option to sandpaper possible for making tactile letters!   It’s adhesive outdoor tread designed to be placed on steps.  It’s absolutely perfect–it’s easy to cut with scissors AND has a sticky backing so no gluing necessary! All you’ll need to make your tactile letters is

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Activities for Teaching the Magic e Rule

admin June 30, 2012 No Comments

Learning vowels can be very challenging for our young readers and writers because they make different sounds in different words.  Vowels can either make a short sound such as the /a/ sound in the word “cap” or a long sound, such as the /a/ in the word “lake”.  When reading, children must decide whether the vowel in the word makes its short or long sound.  There are several ways to make a long vowel sound in words.  One way is to add the Magic e at the end of a word.  The Magic e usually changes the short vowel sound into a long vowel sound.  Teaching children this rule helps them to determine which sound the vowel will make. A simple

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Using Hand Signals to Teach Short Vowel Sounds

admin June 26, 2012 No Comments

Two years ago I was noticing a pattern when I was working with first grade students.  I had groups of first graders who were very accurate with their short vowel sounds on the nonsense word fluency assessment of the DIBELS.   At times, these kiddos would quickly make motions while reading the CVC words.  The motions served as a cue to the correct pronunciation of the vowel sound.   I then did “sort of” an informal field study.  I determined which teachers were using hand signals to teach vowels and which ones were not.  I then compared student data and confirmed what I thought to be true.  When teachers use hand signals when teaching short vowel sounds, students are much more accurate when reading words.   It all makes sense.  I am a

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Response to Intervention: 8 Core Principles

admin June 24, 2012 No Comments

 This coming school year will be our 9th year of our Response to Intervention (RtI) initiative. Honestly, the years have passed so quickly and it’s hard for me to remember how we used to function before RtI. Not that everything is perfect now by any means, but RtI has become such an integral part of our school culture that it seems almost natural. One of the reasons I started this blog was to share with you content information as well as our personal experiences we have had while traveling along our RtI journey. Implementing a RtI model does not happen overnight as I’m sure those of you who have started such an initiative can attest to. There are bumps and

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How To Make A Blending Board

admin June 21, 2012 No Comments

Ever since posting the video on how to use these blending cards to help students blend CVC words, I’ve been receiving emails asking for the directions on how to make the boards.  The students at our Career Tech Center made blending boards for every kindergarten and first grade teacher in our schools with scrap wood they had laying around so getting specific directions was a bit difficult.  Kind of reminded me of my grandmother’s directions on how to make her delicious potato pancakes (a pinch of that, a little bit of this…).  So I trucked on down to see the friendly folks at the Home Depot for expert advice. You will need:  1″x 4″ board, 5 mm underlayment for the backing, general purpose door stop

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Eight Super Summer Sight Word Activities

admin June 16, 2012 No Comments

  Ahhhh-summer.  Love those three months of sun and fun.  I’m always a little worried, however, coming back to school hoping and hoping that not too many children fell victim to the “summer slide.”   Although school is not in session, summer offers tons of opportunities for practicing skills in an active and fun way.  I especially love incorporating active movement into learning.  Here are 8 super activities for practicing sight words during the summer! 1.  Beach Balls- Using a Sharpie permanent marker, write sight words on a beach ball.  Have your child throw the ball in the air and then catch the ball.  Have her read the words that touch her hand. 2.  Hopscotch-  Hopscotch with a twist!  Create an old fashioned hopscotch board

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Cookie Sheet Challenge Volume 3: Sight Words

admin June 12, 2012 No Comments

Phew… It’s finally done!  It feels like we’ve been working on Cookie Sheet Challenge Volume 3 forever!  I think that’s because Kyle so wonderfully took the time to draw a unique picture for the nearly 55 sentences contained in the Sight Word Sentences activity.  It was so well worth the wait because the art is AWESOME!   I love the activities in Volume 1 and 2, but I’m going to have to say that Volume 3 is now my new favorite.  Cookie Sheet Activities Volume 3 contains 43 Building Sight Word templates, 11 Sight Word Sentences templates and 9 4-In-A-Row templates.  And did I mention that all activities are designed to be used on a cookie sheet?  That makes the activities perfect for use in

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How to Make Vowel Sticks

admin June 9, 2012 No Comments

It is so, so important that our kindergarteners and first graders learn those short vowel sounds.  It’s amazing how those five little letters can cause so much havoc in learning to read and write if learned incorrectly.   The vowel sticks activity is a great activity to teach and reinforce short vowel sounds.  Not only can this activity be used during small group instruction, the self-checking feature makes this an awesome literacy center activity too!  To make this activity, you will need large craft sticks, black and red fine point Sharpie permanent markers, a clothespin and a small foam star (optional).  I purchased a package of stars at Office Max in the teacher supply section.  Be sure to make a set

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Tribute to Teamwork

admin June 6, 2012 No Comments

I am so very lucky to work with talented and caring teachers and administrators!  Eight years ago we started our Response to Intervention (RtI) initiative within our Intermediate School District.  I can not think of any other project that requires such a level of teamwork and commitment as this project.    Nearly every week our problem solving teams meet to discuss student data and develop and adjust intervention plans.   It’s certainly not easy, but so well worth it!  What amazing growth we have all made over the years.  Hope you enjoy this video- it says it all!  When we work as a team, anything is possible. For those of you not yet familiar with RtI, here’s a very brief explanation — In an RtI model

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How To Make a Flip Chute

admin June 5, 2012 No Comments

Okay, you are probably wondering what in the world is this!  I think it’s called a “flip chute”.  I first saw this little contraption in my teacher friend Beth’s third grade classroom in one of her literacy centers.  She was having the students use the flip chute to identify common and proper nouns.  I absolutely loved this idea and headed to the grocery store to buy a container of orange juice so I could make my very own that evening.  So, here’s how the flip chute works.  First you need the cards.  I made a template on the computer, but you could simply cut an index card in half.  On one side put the question and on the other side, the answer.  So, for my

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