100 Followers Party & a Question

I can't even tell you how jazzed I am to have 100 followers! What better way too celebrate than with another great resource?  It's the time of year when many of us are covering r controlled vowels, so I am posting my er,ir,ur word and picture match with a recording sheet. Hope you like.

Download the Dogs Here

Download the Dog Record Sheet

Now... a questions for you guys.  Next week I am beginning a math chapter on geometric solids and plane shapes. Sitting at my desk after school I began to rack my brain on some ways to bring this topic alive for my little ones. I came up empty handed.  I  began to wonder where I could come up with some great ideas and resources when it occurred to me to ask my bloggy buddies. So....does anyone know any novel ideas? I am feeling a little daunted. 

Thanks a bunch,

Heather

Long I Sort

Sarah Cooley on her blog First Grader at Last long i sorting activity that she made with scrapbook paper and McDonalds french fry boxes. That inspired me to make this little center because 1. I am OC and thought that the fry boxes would be tricky for me to store neatly and 2. I could share this reproducible activity with you. I fully admit that her activity is cuter, but I hope you can find it in your heart to enjoy it anyway. Happy Thursday everyone!

 

Download Long I Word Sort 

Centers Update

I just sent out the free phonics centers to those of you who follow me and left a comment.Thanks for the great response everyone. A few of you left me a comment but didn't leave an email, so if you haven't received your center packet  this is why. Just leave me your email and I will get it out to you. I hope you guys enjoy.  Look for more resources later this week.

Heather

Clarification

Just to clarify, EVERYONE who follows me and leaves a comment will receive my super cool phonics packet. So make sure that you leave your email on your comment, and act fast because the giveaway closes at midnight on Tuesday.

Win Win

My kiddos are always begging me to read to the class. They like sitting in my rocker and having all eyes on them. But this can be hard to manage. I don't want to require anyone to do it, but I also wanna be fair to those who do. So I thought that I would use this as a motivational tool.  I sometimes have a hard time getting homework turned in on time in the morning. It has to travel from me, back to their gen ed teacher, make it in their back back, go home, be completed, make it back to school, and THEN they have to remember to bring it from their regular classroom back to me first thing in the morning. Pretty complicated. I already use a sticker chart for motivation, but I will add this to the mix. Hopefully it will encourage them to bring their homework back AND get them to practice reading fluently. Win, win.

 Here is the read to the class ticket.

Read to the Class Award

I also made a few other reward certificates. 

Take the Cake Award

 

Give a Hoot Award

Give one to your little cuties to make their day.

Chillin With My Gnomies

So I was looking for an excuse to use this adorable gnome clip art. Some of my first graders are ready for the long o and silent e pattern, so I whipped this little baby up for extra practice. I realize that most first grade teachers are way past this point in their phonics/reading curriculum, but since I teach special ed I am not always on the same page as everyone else. Differentiation is the name of the game. Sooooo, if you are as enamored with these little cuties as I am, feel free to print and save for next year.

  Gnome Sweet Gnome

Ordering Two Digit Numbers

 So I am taking a stab at posting my first resource. It's a little PDF I created for a math center. Just print on card stock, laminate and cut out. Students will sort the cards by animal and then order each set of three cards  from least to greatest or greatest to least (teacher's choice) and then record their work on the recording sheet.

Jungle Numbers

Ipod Touch for $50, sort of....

So a few weeks ago I came home from work and my fabulous husband had a gift for me on the kitchen counter. Under a card that read, "To my favorite teacher and her students," was an iPad! Oh, how I had been dreaming of this day. I quickly set about to putting several education apps and books on it. My students LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the iPad, but there is one small problem. There is only one iPad and 21 of them, so I set it up as a rotation during centers. Each students is able to use it at least once each week, which so far has worked out okay. 

Cut to Sunday. I was overdue for a phone upgrade, but I was perfectly content with my early generation iPhone that I've had for several years (at least until I heard the AT&T commercial.) An iPhone 3GS for $50? Really? Well I marched myself down to the store and picked one up in a flash. I took the pictures, music and non educational apps off of my old phone, which now functions just like an iTouch because it no longer has texting and phone capabilities. The best part is that the iPad apps, like Sight Word Bingo and Horton Hears a Who, work on it too. I can't wait to show the kids after spring break.