A Springtime Activity for Sorting Consonant Digraphs

I’ve been feeling like I’ve been neglecting my first and second grade teaching friends lately by posting bunches of early reading activities.   When I purchased those cute little flower boxes at Walmart for the Springtime Vowel Sorting, I couldn’t help but pick up a few of those adorable frogs.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them at the time.  So, thinking about what I can make for first grade, I came up with a consonant digraph sorting activity. Click HERE to download the free consonant digraphs pictures. Click the following link to download directions for differentiating this activity. Differentiating the Frog Consonant Digraph Sorting Activity      

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The Cookie Sheet Challenge!

It all started with a cookie sheet.  I was observing a student in a kindergarten classroom during literacy center time and in one of the centers the teacher placed magnetic letters on a cookie sheet and the students made words with the letters.  Clever– I’ve seen cookie sheets on Pinterest before and really hadn’t paid much attention.  After leaving the classroom I wondered how many activities can I come up with using a simple cookie sheet.  So my weekend started with a trip to our Habitat for Humanity Restore- hum, no cookie sheets.  No luck at Goodwill and no luck at the Salvation Army.  Couldn’t believe it.  So I traveled over to Walmart and they had cookie sheets for only 88 cents! 

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Response to Intervention: A Lesson From Our Orthodontist

  My three children are now 18, 17 and 15.  When Response to Intervention (RtI) was first introduced in our districts around 8 years ago, I was spending just about the same amount of time in the Orthodontist’s office as I was on the soccer fields.  As our family Orthodontist explained, there was something about my husband’s and my genetic combination that contributed to our children’s very unique orthodontic problems.  My son’s issues were mild compared to my two daughters.  What was astounding to our Orthodontist was that Kassie and Lizzie had the opposite problem.  Kassie had a severe overbite and Lizzie had a severe underbite (among many other issues).  He informed us that out of the three very difficult

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Teaching Students to Space Between Words

One of the great benefits of my job is that I have the privilege of working with many skilled professionals from various disciplines.  We have a dynamite staff of Occupational Therapists who are never short of ideas and suggestions.  I recently had a discussion with one of our OTs, Lyzz, regarding letter reversals and handwriting in general.  Lyzz said that if students space between words and use correct letter size differentiation (using tall, short and below the line letters) that despite spelling errors, you can typically read and understand what was written.  Although there are several strategies that can be used to teach and remind students to space between words, Lyzz’s preferred method is the one which includes using small stickers.  She likes

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Teaching Short Vowel Sounds: Perfect Practice Makes Perfect!

Last summer I read Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers.  I haven’t read a good non-teaching type book in a long time.  Although I call it a “non-teaching” type book, the ideas presented in the book shaped my thoughts of teaching and learning more than any other book I’ve read.  The concept behind the book was to look at lives of extraodinarily successful people and the circumstances and conditions which lead to their success.   There are many ingredients that lead to success, but the one concept that stood out as I read the book was that of the 10,000 hour rule.  Gladwell said that in order to truly master a skill, whether it’s in athletics, music or a skill such as computer programming,

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Valentine Sight Word Game Boards

I love Valentine’s Day and I love making activities.  So I REALLY love making Valentine’s Day activities.  These holiday sight word games can be used either in literacy centers or for your small group intervention.  Be sure to differentiate by using your mid-year sight word assessment data to determine which sight word board would best meet the needs of your students.  There are seven game boards.  Six of the game boards contain words from the Dolch Sight Word Lists 1-6.  A blank board is included so that you can add your own words.  Have a Happy Valentine’s Day! Click the picture above or HERE to download your free activity. My other Valentine’s Day activities: Valentine Lotto- CVC Words  Valentine Beginning Sound Match

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Fiddle Sticks

Fiddle Sticks – Undoubtedly the BEST game ever!! I’m not exaggerating.  Fiddle Sticks really is the best activity ever, especially for practicing skills such as sight word recognition and math facts.  Invented over 30 years ago by my friend, Jill, as a fun way to practice articulation drills, the activity has been adapted by teachers to work on many different skills.  Watch my video below to see how to make and the game of Fiddle Sticks! My teacher friend, Deb, has made a set of Fiddle Sticks for each of the 9 lists (25 words each) of the Dolch 220 Sight Word list.  She differentiates this activity by having groups of students play the game for the list that they

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