Oh…. it’s officially winter!  Winter in Northern Michigan is tons of fun!  There’s skiing (both downhill and cross country), sledding, ice fishing, snowmobiling, but most of all…SNOW DAYS!   I can’t say that I’m much of an ice fisher-person or snowmobiler, but I do love to ski and I absolutely love the occassional snow days.  Well, for activities, winter makes me think of mittens, snowmen and of course, penguins.  Kyle (fabulous artist) created these adorable penguins.  Here’s a little penguin ABC order freebie for you to welcome the season. Click the following link to download the FREE upper- and lowercase ABC order penguins ABC Penguins Here are a few other penguin activities that would be perfect for either small group instuction or as a

I love using plastic screens for introducing and practicing letters and sight words.  Plastic screens can be found in any craft store (Michaels or JoAnn Fabrics) or in the craft section of most department stores.  When I use the screens for teaching letters, I typically cut one sheet into quarters and then for the sight words, I’ll cut 3 long strips.  You can use ready-made templates of letters or sight words or you can simply write the letters/words on paper yourself.  First have your students place the paper on top of the screen and, with a crayon, trace the letter or letters of the sight word.  When they remove the paper, the letter/word will be “bumpy” on the paper.  If

I just can’t wait til spring!  I found these adorable springtime containers at our local Walmart.  They are absolutely perfect for a seasonal sorting activity.  I wanted to give you the heads up before they fly off the shelf.  I made these vowel sorting discs just for these boxes.  Of course any type of container will do, but these are just SO cute!  They had butterfly, bunny and frog containers too! Simply print the activity on cardstock then cut out the vowels and the pictures.  Velcro (or tape) the letters to the center of the flowers and you are all set.  I also purchased prickely balls.  They came four in a package.  These can be used for students who need

As much as teachers love summer vacation, there’s always a little (actually, big) panic that sets in as we pack up the classrooms and send our children off during those three lazy months of fun in the sun.  What if they never pick up a book?  Oh, and they were so close in learning all their math facts- will they forget?  We’ve worked so diligently teaching skills and the kids have learned so much—what if when they return in September and they forget?  The loss of skills during the summer in the educational world is known as “The Summer Slide” and it is very real.   Research indicates that children who live in poverty consistently lose 2 months of reading performance

Using a fly swatter to swat flies (with letters, words or math facts) during small group intervention or in literacy centers has been an all time favorite spring activity in our schools for years.  I only wish I knew who came up with this idea years ago- it’s brilliant!  To assemble the activity all you need to do is place a strip of velcro on a fly swatter, print and cut out the flies, and then place a small velcro dot on each fly.  Students take turns swatting flies and reading the word on the flies they catch.   Very simple, but guaranteed to keep them practicing those words for a long time. Click HERE to download Fly Swatting Sight Words Dolch Sight

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here!  It’s the Teachers Pay Teachers site wide sale.  In honor of our hard work and dedication, TpT is having a sale on February 25th.  It’s a great time to stock up on those activities for your literacy centers and small group instruction.  Of course, you get the best bang-for-your-buck when you purchase the bundled activities.  Here are a few of my favorites: The File Folder Phonics Bundle and the Even More! File Folder Phonics Bundle contains hands-on activities for teaching targeted phonics skills.  These bundles include the templates for making your own file folder activities.  Just laminate the file folders and they can be used over and over again!  Love that! Just

Click HERE to download 7 FREE sight word game boards. The St. Patrick’s Day sight word game boards and the Lucky You! games were one of the very first activities I made for digital download last year.  I thought I’d pull them out of the vault to share during the early weeks of March.  When you download the game boards, you’ll receive 7 free game boards containing words from the Dolch sight word lists 1-6.  I’ve included a blank game board so that you can even add your own words.  You can even use the blank board for reviewing math skills if you choose. The Lucky You! games are one of my favorites.  It’s a variation of Fiddle Sticks (my all-time

It’s always so much fun to add a holiday twist into center and small group activities.  The Pot O’ Gold activities have been a hit during the first few weeks of March.  When you download this activity you will receive 25 letters of the alphabet (omitting “x”) printed on golden pots and over 100 colorful beginning sound pictures printed on coins.  This activity is easily differentiated as you can choose which and how many coins to use.  The Pot O’ Gold Activities for Beginning Sounds can be found in my online Teachers Pay Teachers store. This activity is also available for Word Families, Short Vowels, Consonant Digraphs, and R-Controlled Vowels.