FINAL FALL FREEBIE!

Hey everyone! We are down to the final fall freebie! Where did October go?! I really can't believe how quickly the fall is flying by! I have no complaints though! I have enjoyed my fall so far! Between a few mini vacations, creating new tpt products, shopping, subbing, and lazy movie nights, I have loved this fall. Before we know it, it will be Christmas! Yikes I know! I can't even think about the cost of that just yet.

Before I share about my latest freebie, I want to take a second to thank Crystal and Marie from Once Upon A Classroom: The Tale of Two Teachers. Each  and every Friday in October they have been kind enough to organize this fun blog hop! I am thrilled to be a part of the fun and I look forward to more hops in the future! From talking with Crystal, it seems she already has a new idea up her sleeve! Be sure to check back for an update! ;-)

 

 

Ok, so without making you all wait any longer, here is the new freebie for this week! This game is really fun for the kids and it is a great way to practice new sight words while reinforcing old words. Having used this game in intervention groups, I am certain your kiddos will love the game. All you need to do is cut out the words and print the game board and viola! After grabbing yourself a copy of this freebie, head over to Ideas By Jivey for another freebie! (How fun is this, right?!)

 

 

Click HERE for your free copy! Enjoy! ;-)

 

 

Thanks everyone for stopping by!

I LOVE Sight Words!

I can officially say the end of the year is feeling close now! Today was my last instructional day of the after school program! Our official last day is Thursday and we are having a pizza party. Of course it has to be right when I decide to start eating healthy (I have said that before though!). Well, with the after school program coming to an end I had to go out with a BANG! They worked so hard for months on end and have learned so much! I am so proud of them! They deserved the extra fun this week! Check out what we did!

 

 

We played SIGHT WORD MUSICAL SPOTS, yes musical spots! I purchased these flower cut-outs from Michael's for $2.99 (plus the 15% teacher discount that I never knew we got! Ahh!). So, here is how you play...

 

• It is played much like musical chairs, but in a less, well, aggressive way! We all know how intense musical chairs can get sometimes. Anyways, the amount of spots or flowers you need depends on the amount of students in your group. My after school group only has 8 so I needed 28 flowers. I wrote "about" on 7 flowers, "any" on 6 flowers, "every" on 5 flowers, "just" on 4 flowers, "our" on 3 flowers, "could" on 2 flowers, and lastly, "then" on 1. This made it so one student got out each round. The students were very great sports about getting out! I just let them help me control my Pandora radio and call out the next word!
• I randomly laid out the flower spots all over the classroom floor. Like this...

• I played the music and the students began dancing around the room! They loved this part and the fact that I had Alvin & the Chipmunks on my phone!

 

• When the music stopped I called out the words in order (about, any, every, just, our, could, then). This way one student got out each round. As a variation, you could do enough of the same word so that no one gets out, however, the students enjoyed the excitement of the elimination.

 

The kiddos had soooo much fun! It was a great last day!

 

 

As for other fun, our group did sight word discovery bottles with glow-in-the-dark rice! OMG, it was a BLAST!!! Check out the pics!

 

 

I got white rice from Wal-Mart for $3.50 for 5lbs of rice. One bag was plenty to make 8 discovery bottles. I purchased glow-in-the-dark paint and simply mixed each color with some of the rice. I found that using zip-loc baggies was nearly mess free! I added a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol to each color bag to help the paint dry faster. After letting the baggies sit and dry overnight (with zip-loc open), I mixed all the colors together in one bowl. Lastly, let the rice charge in the sun and then there you have it, glow-in-the-dark rice!

 

 

 

After making the rice, I purchased glow sticks from the Dollar Tree (15 for $1) and added one stick to each water bottle. Then I filled each water bottle with 3 sight words (Be sure they are double-sided so they can be read regardless of which way they are shaken.). Fill the rice about 3/4 of the way full to allow the rice to move around the water bottle.

 

Let me just tell you, the students LOVED this! The students had to find the 3 words in his/her bottle and use the words in sentences before getting a new bottle. The children were so motivated and wrote some great sentences using their words! You better believe I saved that rice too! I plan on doing this activity again sometime!

 

Even with the lights off, the glow was enough to see the words. Being that the classroom isn't pitch black, it was perfect! I HIGHLY recommend a black light if you can get one! The rice glows so much more with the black light. I know you are probably thinking who really has a black light lying around?! Well, you probably don't! But, no worries because a black light can be purchased for a cheap $11 at Wal-Mart!

 

Okay, okay, I have rambled enough! I hope I didn't overwhelm you too much?! Either way, thanks so much for stopping by! I have some more exciting things to share with you tomorrow! I can't wait! Talk to you all soon! ;-)

 

SUPER SIGHT WORDS - Common Core & FREEBIE

  Phew! Finally! I just finished my Super Sight Words packs (1 pack uses DOLCH PRIMER list & other DOLCH FIRST GRADE list). I have been using these activities and games with the students in my after school program and they have really loved them! It is great to see how engaged they are while they are learning. Below are a few pictures from what's inside.

 

The bundled set of these packs is also ready! Yay!

 

 

  

Also, I wanted to let everyone know about my former cooperating teacher who I completed my student teaching with. She has recently joined TpT and has some really awesome products! My favorite one is her “Word Detectives” reading strategy product. It is a very engaging version of guess the covered word. I have seen this product in action, and let’s just say, the students LOVED it! The students were so excited and eager to participate! I encourage you to try her FREEBIE below in your classroom.

Thanks for stopping by! Back to school tomorrow! ;-)

LOTS of Sight Word FUN!!!

Wow! What a fun day yesterday! The students had a BLAST learning the sight word “your”. Being that this is for an after school program, I want to make it as engaging as possible for the kiddos. They are pooped after a long day in school (as most of us are too). Let’s just say, they were engaged! We practiced the word “your” in soooo many hands-on and exciting ways. Check out the pictures below!

I wrote the letters Y-O-U-R on the back of Dixie cups that I found on sale at Wal-Mart (pack of 100 for $2). The students worked in pairs to mix and fix the letters in the word. They LOVED being able to manipulate the materials. I think they were getting a little bored with the whiteboards. So, this was a hit!


The students also enjoyed removing letters from "your" and having their partners guess the missing letter.


We had a lot of fun using play-doh to make our sight word!


I picked up a pack of 80 pom pom's from the Dollar Tree! We used them to make "your". The students really loved this one!


This was the winning activity by far! The students used color changing markers to trace and re-trace "your". (I even found myself over at this station writing with the markers!) I got them at Wal-Mart on CLEARANCE for $2 for 6 markers! Such a STEAL!


We practiced writing our sight word on paint swatches. Can't beat this free activity!


I picked up a couple of these magnetic doodle pads from the Dollar Tree. (If you cannot tell already, I am a bargain shopper!) The students liked having a different word writing experience besides whiteboards.


Pipe cleaners!!! They really had a lot of fun making "your" with these! The students came up with creative ways to make the letters. Some students used multiple pipe cleaners to create each letter, while other students were able to bend one pipe cleaner into each letter. It was cool to see their different approaches!

After all of this (yes, a lot I know!), we worked together to make the word "your" with our bodies! I was stuck as the bottom of the "y". So, yes, I had two sets of feet in my face! Haha! It was fun though! I wish I had a picture for this one (bummer). Well, even though these activities were a lot of set up initially, the students loved them and that made it all worth it! They are requesting we do this for every new sight word! I was glad to hear it! ;-)

Thank you for stopping by! I have to get my day started! It is already noon! Yikes! How easily we get sucked into the internet! Check back later this week for my sight word product that will be ready and on TpT soon!

Kayla