I just can’t believe the school year is coming quickly to an end.   In just a few short weeks we’ll be starting our end of the year assessment frenzy.  I was just looking through our first grade data, and our students are rockin’ it with their sight words.   It seems like the majority of our kiddos are now working on the final 3 lists of the Dolch 220 sight words.  Horray!  Here’s a fun little freebie for practicing sight words in lists 7-9. Click or the above picture to download FREE Croaked! Dolch Sight Word Lists 7-9.

Only two more weeks until Christmas!  This school year is just flying by.  I woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow in our backyard.  Living in Northern  Michigan, we can almost count on having snow for Christmas.  I will have to say, though, that it’s a little late coming this year.  Usually by now we’ve had at least one snow day and the ski resorts typically open Thanksgiving day.   Well the snow has certainly put me in the holiday spirit. You still have a little time to put together a few holiday-themed activities.  I picked up these gift tags at Walmart and thought they’d make for a quick and easy literacy center activity for practicing beginning sounds. There

Yeah!  It’s nearing the end of March and that means MARCH MADNESS!  I LOVE watching college basketball!  Although I haven’t completed my brackets I’m sure Michigan State University is going to take it all this year.  GO STATE!  Just for our little basketball fans I created two phonics-based activities.  These activities are great for independent centers or for activities for small group instruction.  The It’s All Net! for Consonant + le contains 45 colorful basketballs for sorting by rule. The Make, Take & Teach It’s All Net! Consonant + le activity is available through my online Teachers Pay Teachers store. A few of my first grade friends and second grade friends are working with regular past tense forms and the

Thanksgiving dinner leftovers are now packed in the storage containers and the company just left so it’s time to get ready for the BIG BLACK FRIDAY SALES!  I have to admit, I’m not much for the crowds, but the sales are just too crazy to pass up this year.   With two kids (or I suppose I should say, young adults) having to furnish apartments next year, we’re off to Best Buy at 4:00 am (crazy, I know!).  Although Teachers Pay Teachers is having a HUGE Cyber Monday, a few of us thought it’d be fun to give you a heads-up on those knock-out deals by offering a sale on Friday, too.  So be sure to “carve” out a few

Oh…St. Patrick’s Day!  It’s just around the corner.  St. Patrick’s Day activities are always fun to incorporate into centers and small group instruction.  For our little first graders still struggling with their short vowel sounds, the Pot O’ Gold activity might do just the trick.  You can easily differentiate this activity by choosing which  and how many vowels to use.  Students simply name the picture and then places the picture on the correct pot. The Make, Take & Teach Pot O’ Gold for Short Vowels can be found in the Make, Take & Teach website or in my online Teachers Pay Teachers store. Many of my first grade friends are struggling with consonant digraphs.  Sorting the pictures in the Pot

One of my favorite parts of blogging is connecting with teachers, literally, from all around the world.  The world wide web has allowed us to share ideas and activities that impact student learning.  In that vein, I’m teaming up with 145 fabulous bloggers to bring you a pretty unique blog hop.  This hop is special in that its only focus is sharing great classroom ideas.  So that means no products… just incredible ideas! You’ll find everything from organizational  ideas to classroom strategies.  So here’s my contribution to the BIG BRIGHT IDEAS blog hop: My teacher friend, Deb, uses these privacy screens in her classroom.  Purchasing privacy screens commercially can be pretty expensive so she created these using shipping boxes that