Halloween Themed Activities Perfect for Centers!

admin October 5, 2014 No Comments

  Well, the calendar turned to October and that means Halloween is just around the corner.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  The children just love it when we introduce a little holiday themed activities into small groups and centers.  Here are a few of my old favorites. Rhyming Memory Game  I love Michael’s Craft Store.  They always have so many fun holiday themed items that can be changed into educational activities.  I found these holiday themed discs that, with a little creativity, can be turned into an awesome holiday themed rhyming activity.  It’s a new twist on an old favorite- Memory.  To make this activity, simply print the pdf below on a full size Avery label, cut the

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The FLOSS Rule

admin September 17, 2014 No Comments

Memory aids are often used to help students remember certain spelling rules. The FLoSS rule is one of the first spelling rules taught to our first and second grade students to help them understand when to double the final “f”, “l” and “s” consonants at the end of certain words.   The word “floss” actually follows the FLoSS rule.  When a /f/, /l/ /s/ (or /z/) is heard after a short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word, it is spelled with a double “ff”, “ll”, “ss” or “zz”.  Okay, you’re probably thinking how did that “z” sneak in there.  Well, there really aren’t too many words that end in “z” so this rule will work for the majority of words your

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3 Freebies for Teaching and Practicing Short Vowels and CVC Words

admin August 17, 2014 No Comments

Here are a few of my favorite activities for introducing and teaching short vowel sounds and CVC words.  There’s a little bit of assembly involved for each activity, but you’re done, you’ll have three activities that will last for years!  Enjoy! 1. Vowel Sticks Those short vowel sounds can be so tricky!  It’s so important that our kiddos learn to hear the differences between the short vowel sounds so that they can decode and write words correctly.  These vowel sticks are quite helpful in teaching students discriminate the sounds.  You can easily differentiate the activity by choosing which and how many vowels to use during your lesson.  For students who are having a great deal of difficulty with vowels, I recommend

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Using Focus Sticks to Improve Student Writing

admin July 25, 2014 No Comments

I love my job.  I really, really do!  One of the favorite parts about my job is that I get to network with a whole bunch of very talented teachers.  I love hearing about and seeing them implement creative strategies to improve student learning.   During the past several years, many of our local school districts have focused on improving writing instruction.  All of our schools, from elementary to high school, received training in the Collins Writing Program.  In addition, teachers were able to participate in other inservices such as the 6 Traits of Writing to enhance their instruction in this area. My good friend and colleague, Michelle (same job, just different schools) came back to our office one day so excited to share what she had seen in

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Teaching Homophones

admin June 27, 2014 No Comments

Click the following link to download this free poster Homophones Poster Many reading programs introduce the concept of homophones in second grade.  Homophones are words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have a different meaning.  Our students need to be able to tell the difference in the meanings of these words and to use the correct spelling in their writing.  If students misspell words or use the wrong word in writing, the reader is not likely to understand what they are trying to say.  Here’s a list of common homophones that you may wish to introduce to your students. Click the following link to download this freebie Homophones Word List 2 Learning homophones can be tons of fun!  One way

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The Importance of Teaching Procedures in the Classroom

admin June 15, 2014 No Comments

Last week I was talking with several colleagues about the elements of successful small group instruction.  We started chatting about the core curriculum, determining skill based groups, materials for use during small groups and on and on.  We quickly, however, turned our focus to classroom management.  The reality is is that if classroom management is lacking there really is no way to run small groups.  Successful small group instruction is highly dependent upon having all the other children highly engaged and independent in their center activities.  In order to make those precious minutes of small group intervention count within the classroom, your instructional time needs to be free of interruption.  During this discussion, one of my collegues kept whispering “Harry

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Bowling for Sight Words

admin May 8, 2014 No Comments

Horray!  The bowling pins are back on the shelves at Walmart!  Last year I found these adorable bowling pins and decided to create a hand-on activity for learning and practicing sight words.  While they’re not exactly the same bowling pins as I originally purchased last year, they certainly will do the trick.  To create your sight word bowling pins simply print the pdf file below on an Avery label 8161 (1″x4″) and place the desired stickers on the bowling pins. To play the game, have the students take turns bowling and reading the words on the pins that were knocked down.  If the word is read correctly, he/she can keep the bowling pin.  Just a fun little game to keep

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Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives!

admin April 12, 2014 No Comments

Many of my second and third grade friends are now learning the parts of speech.  I thought I’d create a few posters that they can use for reference.  Here’s a little sampling of the 8 posters that you can download for free.  Just click the link below. Click HERE to download the FREE Parts of Speech Posters from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I always find sorting activities helpful when teaching a concept.  The Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives! Picture Sorting activity is an ideal introductory activity for teaching the parts of speech.  When you download this activity you’ll receive 66 colorful nouns, verbs and adjective pictures and 2 differentiated templates.  The self-checking feature makes this activity ideal for independent literacy

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St. Patrick’s Day Sight Word Game Boards

admin February 20, 2014 No Comments

St Patrick’s Day is coming up soon so let’s celebrate with a little freebie!  Kyle, my fabulous artist, created this adorable game board last year.  When you click the link below, you’ll be able to download 6 game boards with sight words from the Dolch 220 sight words.  I’ve also included a blank game board for you so that you can individualize the activity for your students. The St. Patrick’s Day Game Boards for the Dolch Sight Words can be downloaded for free from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. So, let’s get those St. Patrick’s Day centers ready!  Enjoy!    

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Motivating Struggling Readers

admin December 26, 2013 No Comments

This is a post about helping children to become better readers- I promise.  Before we talk about reading, however, I’d like to share with you a story about the love-hate relationship that I have with my guitar.  Yep, that’s right- my guitar. Fifteen years ago I was a stay-at-home mom.  My children were just old enough to entertain themselves for brief periods of time so I thought I’d do something new.  That “something” would be learning to play the guitar.  At the time was I attending our contemporary mass at church and a new friend was one of two guitar players.  I asked Lori if she wouldn’t mind teaching me to play. She agreed, so off I went to purchase

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