Target: Bullseye's Playground Finds

Raise your hand if you love Target!!

I DO!!

I particularly love the "Dollar Spot" which is more commonly referred to as "Bullseye's Playground" because let's be real, there's not much that's just a dollar anymore!

However, I found some great finds over the past week!  {Never mind that I may have stopped at Chaska, Waconia, Chanhassen, and Edina to find everything I wanted!}

I teach first grade (and will be teaching Kindergarten the following year as part of a K-1 loop) and one thing our students struggle with is remembering their lunch numbers the first few weeks of school.  Each year we are asked to put name tags on the students with their lunch numbers.  I found these simple lanyards that come 10 to a pack that would work perfectly for this!  I also decided to purchase them in three colors:  red, green, and yellow; in case I want to use the name tags to divide students into groups for any activities - field trips, special events, etc.

A teacher can NEVER have too many sleeve protectors!  I use these with students in small groups for activities like "Roll and Read" from Sparkling in Second Grade on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I also use these to provide directions for parent volunteers, reading passages at my small group table, and numerous other activities when I don't want to laminate everything!

These name tags and adhesive pockets are perfect for our desks and the price of $1.00 is fantastic!!

I purchased LOTS (well, 7 sets) of these index card holders!  Each set was $3.00.  I am using four sets - so 12 containers - to make "game kits!"  Each kit will contain 40 of each of two styles of erasers (see below), two game pieces, and one die.  Now, whenever we do a "game" activity like Roll & Read, I just pass out one "kit" to each pair of students to play the game and they have everything they need to be successful!  In the event there's a game with four players, I can pass out two of the "kits."

These erasers are amazing!  I had so much fun using them to put together my "game kits!"  I particularly love the variety of unicorns, rainbows, llamas, pizza, ice cream, gumballs, tacos, and the Earth because they can be used year round.  In the winter, I have a few sets of snowflakes and snowmen to mix things up!

While I am super excited about everything that I have purchased, I am really excited about these fun finger puppets!  After my initial purchase of "The Ugly Duckling" and "Little Red Riding Hood," I also found a set of "The Tortoise and the Hare."  I will store each of these sets in the index card holders, pictured above.  These will be great for story retelling as a Daily 5 station.  

I plan to use these ABC Word Building *magnetic* boards in small groups to first introduce how to use them properly.  Once I feel that students understand how to build words, I will use these as a center in Daily 5.  As students become more proficient in building words, I can increase the academic rigor by having them use the words they built to write sentences.  This also provides me an opportunity to check their work and ensure they are on task, spelling words correctly, and working on an appropriately challenging task.

This magnetic board can be used to build sentences.  I envision using this as an option for Daily 5, Word Work or Work on Writing.  Students can also copy their sentences down into their notebook for writing practice and reinforcement of learning.

The final thing I purchased at Target were these fun Activity Dice!  I hope to introduce them to the whole class first.  Once the whole group understands how we use these properly, I want to add them to my calming corner as an option for students when they need to return to the Green Zone to be ready to learn.  

What are some of your favorite finds as you are preparing to return to the classroom this fall?

POP for Blends & POP for Word Families

Did you like the game I shared yesterday?  If so, I've got two more games you'll enjoy adding to your classroom - POP for Blends and POP for Word Families!  

Students love these games just as much, they just require a bit more knowledge for them to be successful!  I usually introduce these after we can successfully play POP for Sight Words 1.  Each box contains a spinner and on your turn, you must spin to see how many words you must come up with using the blend or word family you have drawn from the box!  I aim to have students share unique words that other students have not already shared.  Another twist I like to add to the game is to have students use white boards and write down the words they create from the blends or word families!

Be sure to shop my Amazon affiliate link if you're interested in adding these games to your classroom collection - POP for Blends and POP for Word Families! 

POP for Sight Words Bundle

I wanted to share a quick post about one of my all-time favorite game to play with kids - POP for Sight Words!  I have used these games to work with students in my classrooms in grades 1, 2, and 3.  I have used these games to break up the boredom during tutoring sessions with students in grades K-5.  I have used these games with my own children to reinforce their knowledge of sight words in early grades!  Kids *love* to play games and don't even realize they are actively working on their reading and building academic knowledge!  Another reason I love these games is that you can use them with small groups of students, one-on-one, and whole group.  Each year I play this a couple times whole group to teach the students my expectations of the game.  We model how to play correctly, what not to do, and how to play correctly again.  The recommended number of players is 2-4, but I truly believe if you keep it moving, you can successfully play with a larger group!  This whole-group modeling lays the foundation for students to use this as an activity for Word Work when doing Daily 5.  

Do you want to purchase your own set of these fabulous games?  Use my affiliate link to purchase this POP for Sight Words Bundle from Amazon!

What other games do you enjoy using in your classroom or home?  Keep checking back and I will share other fun learning games that you might want to add to your collection!

Dollar Tree Finds

I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!!  Yesterday, I attended a training for Sonday Essentials {explicit whole group phonics instruction} and walked away with some fun ideas for instruction!  I stopped by a local Dollar Tree today and found exactly what I was looking for - and more!

The instructor used these cute little white board paddles to show student work.  They were simple, students could hold them with one hand, and hold them up to show me their work when they were finished.  Looking at the "big-box teacher store" I found these were $50 for a set of 10.  There was no way I could spend that much money to get these cuties for my class this fall.  ...Enter...Dollar Tree... $1.00 EACH!!  I'm in love!!  I bought all 30 that they had in stock!

Teaching Tree Dry-Erase Paddle Boards

We discussed how students learn through a variety of means - auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.  I wanted to make a fun little sand writing tray that students could use to practice writing letters and short words.  Guess what?!  Dollar Tree!!  

The container on the left used 2 bags of sand. 
The container on the right only used 1 bag of sand.

My final purchase was merely because I saw something...light bulb went off...and I knew I had an idea for a calming activity.  I purchased a set of Teacher Tree Foam Counting Clocks, containers for storage, and 2 Kid's Jumbo Tweezers.  I put them together in little sets and will add them to my calming corner.  Students can use the tweezers to pick up the cubes, calming their body and working on fine motor skills at the same time.

What fun things have you purchased for your classroom lately?

Please share what and where you made your purchase!

Zooming in on Word Choice!

This week I got a *little* bit ahead of myself and excitedly started teaching a lesson on Wednesday, that I had lesson-planned for the following week!  I didn't realize this until a colleague of mine sent out a great idea for a lesson on character traits!  It was at that moment that I realized I taught about character traits on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday I excitedly taught my students about Zooming in on Word Choice and looking for "juicy" words!!  Oy Vey!  It's been a long week!!  Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

The upside is, my students are already prepared, with that little preview, of what's to come next week in reading class!!

To start off the lesson {don't make fun of my artistic ability...or lack thereof!} I drew a full pizza.  Students quickly identified it as a "pepperoni and sausage pizza!!"

I then said, "I'm so excited that you were able to identify what I was drawing!  Now, let's try it again!"

This time I zoomed in and drew a single slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza.  However, I added more detail and included the marinara sauce and the mozzarella cheese.  The students once again identified it as a "slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza!!"

Finally, I zoomed in and drew a single piece of pepperoni.  I added the little tiny speckles that you can see if you look very closely at the pepperoni.  

I used these drawings to explain that we can look at something {words or illustrations} and see the general idea of what the author or illustrator is referring to.  However, the more we ZOOM IN and get closer with JUICY details, the more interesting the item {words or illustrations} actually is.  The more interested we are as a reader, the more likely we are to continue to read.  The more reading we do with JUICY words, the better picture we can paint in our minds.  This is especially true as we get older and our books have less pictures and more words!

After a great discussion, we read the book "Tacky and the Winter Games" by Helen Lester.  I love the Tacky the Penguin books because they are fun, engaging, and usually end with the kids rolling around laughing!  I also love them because the author uses amazing word choice.  It was so easy to show the students how Helen chose JUICY words to really help you understand how silly Tacky was and how hard his teammates were working to train for the Winter Games!

Take a moment and check this book out!

Do you have any great lesson ideas for teaching children about word choice?  Please share in the comments as it is always fun to gain new ideas from others!

Daily 5: Word Work Options

I've changed how I instruct using Daily 5 a few times and each time I feel like it gets a little better!  

I am so excited to share that I get to attend the Two Sister's Daily 5 Conference in Chicago in April!  I can hardly wait!  I plan to blog about what things look like in my classroom now (before I attend the conference) but then also share some of the great things I learn and how I implement them after I attend!

Word Work is probably one of the hardest centers to make "meaningful" and ensure the students aren't just "playing with letters" during their time there.  I have purchased some things from Teachers Pay Teachers, found ideas on Pinterest and created some of my own activities for Word Work.  

One activity I use is the Flash Fluency by Stephanie Stewart on TpT (see above photo).  Students time themselves to see how quickly they can read the sight words (pictured above) or the sentences on the cards.  There are also full sheet fluency passages that the students can time themselves on while reading.  I encourage them to do this activity with a partner so that there is a little accountability if they make a mistake.

Another activity that I created during Summer Explorers are my word family eggs.  The left (small) side of the egg has an initial sound and the right side (large) has an ending sound.  Students then rotate the ending sound to match up to all of the initial sounds and read the various words.  Again, I encourage them to work with a partner for accountability.

An example of one egg is 

m    

c    

t  -ap

l    

fl    

wr    

*-ap is only written once as it is the word family that rotates, to be paired with all of the various initial word sounds.

One of my favorite stations (*and a favorite of the students*) is the Spelling Task Cards Board from Amy Lemons on TpT.  There are 20 activities the kids can do with the spelling words each week.  I change out the spelling words, so that they have the current list each week.  Our spelling words always focus on a phonics skill (every 5th week is a review week) and these activities help to reinforce the skill we're working on in class.

What are some of your favorite Word Work activities?  I'd love for you to share in the comments!

Five for Friday

Guess what?!  It's time for another Five for Friday post and I've got some fun stuff to share!!  I've linked up with Doodle Bugs Teaching's Weekly Linky Party!

We had our family pictures taken a couple weeks ago by my sister-in-law and we just got them back this week!  They turned out fantastic and I couldn't wait to get them printed!  In fact I've already ordered my phone case (with this photo) and our Christmas Cards!!  I can't believe I'm already ahead of the game - until it's time to address the cards!

My kiddos, Kylie and Mason, have been asked to be in my brother's wedding on December 27th and they are very excited!  Kylie and I had a little night out this week and went shopping for the flower girl dress.  We also stopped for a bite to eat at her favorite restaurant - Qdoba!  Won't she make a beautiful flower girl?!

I finally got my writing station all set up and ready to roll!  The kids are excited to use the new options!  They most anticipated option is birthday cards!  I found this idea from a friend and loved it - the kids will make a birthday card for a student in our class if it's the week of their birthday.  If a student has a birthday over a non-school day (summer, winter break, etc) then we'll celebrate a little before, after or their 1/2 birthday.

This year for Halloween we left our neighborhood and headed to a friends'.  We enjoyed a yummy dinner and had a great time trick-or-treating with friends!  I was Elsa this year!  The students (and my kiddos) loved the outfit I made to wear!  Mason was Darth Vader and Kylie was Olaf!  It was a pretty cold evening, but the kids came home with a TON of candy!  Happy Halloween!

Friday was a professional development day (morning) and a time to work in your classroom (afternoon).  I have been teaching in my room for 8 weeks and decided I really wanted to be able to access the white board at the front of the room.  I previously had my classroom library at the front left of the room and it was blocking the white board.  So, I took a large chunk of time Friday to flip the front of the classroom and it really makes a lot more sense now!  The reading strategies bulletin board is right by the library!!  I hope the kids enjoy the new space!

Donor's Choose: Writing Center Activities

I am writing to you as a teacher who would LOVE your support!  My students would LOVE your support as well!  

I am a 2nd grade teacher in Chanhassen, MN and I've got two projects I would like to see funded on DonorsChoose.org.  The first is for Writing Center Activities.  If you have a dollar or two you can spare, please consider donating to help out our classroom!  Every donation helps!

If you have a business that would like to make a tax-deductible donation, please consider giving to a worthy cause!  Click HERE to donate today!

In my classroom I use Daily 5 instruction for the main portion of our Language Arts time. One component to Daily 5 is "Work on Writing." As writing is something that most children struggle with, I want to make this center more exciting and provide the students with choices.

I am looking to set up activities that the students can choose between each day that they partake in "Work on Writing." A few of the centers I am looking to set up are: (1) Letter & List Writing - for this station I will give the students prompts to write lists. I am requesting a set of 12 monthly themed notepads that the students can use to write their lists on. (2) Research - I am requesting the "Organize & Write Research Papers" learning center to help guide the students in their exploration of research. (3) Poetry - I am requesting poetry magnets and magnetic boards for students to create their own poetry.

I am also requesting other materials that will allow me to create additional options.

Donations to my project will improve the choices in my classroom. When you have more choices, you have more opportunities to engage various learners. Students will get to find an activity that sounds interesting to them and work to complete it, while continuing to meet state standards. These items will allow me to personalize learning for each student in my classroom. Thank you for taking the time to consider donating to my project!

Spelling Task Cards

Yesterday I worked on printing LOTS of things for my classroom, so that I could get them laminated when I got to school this morning!  I was so bummed, I forgot my personal laminator at school and we weren't allowed in the building over the weekend because the floors were getting waxed!  So, early to work today!

One of the items I was printing, trimming and preparing to laminate is the 20 Spelling Task Cards by Amy Lemons on TpT.  I first saw them in my sister's 1st grade classroom in Indiana when I was visiting this past Friday.  I thought it was such a great way to have options for the kids to work on their Spelling Words.  But, at the same time, they were given a fair amount of direction.  

My sister mounted them to a tri-fold poster board and mounted them to the wall in her classroom.  I don't have quite that much space on my walls, so I am planning to also mount them to a tri-fold poster board and bring it out for the students to use during Daily 5 time as a Word Work activity.  

Word Building Workout

This is one of my favorite purchases from the big Back-to-School TpT Sale!  This little center came from Schroeder Shenanigan's in Second ELA Workout (I wanted to save a little money on my purchases, so I bought the ELA and Math Workout BUNDLE!)

I used the word building workout with my Summer Explorers in the last week of school and I think they loved it as much as me!  I had them use the magnet letters to create 2-letter, 3-letter and 4-letter words.  Then they wrote out their words on the white boards.  One student asked if they could write "Dr. Seuss words" and I said of course, as long as they could sound them out to me!  It was a great activity to work on letter sounds as well!

I plan to use these in my Daily 5 Word Work Centers!  There were 4 or 5 different cards for this activity and each one uses different letters!  

Clothespin Word Work

 

I have seen so many cute projects on Pinterest over the past few days and one that really stuck out was using clothespins to spell words!  I figured it couldn't be that hard and would use supplies I already had lying around my classroom!  So, I gathered up a bucket of clothespins and started writing abc's on them with my colorful sharpies.

Then I took some fun ABC stickers that I had found in the $1 spot at Target and using the Dolch Sight Word Lists, I spelled words on large index cards.  I used a simple strategy to remember what words I used.  If the words were spelled out on the plain white side of the card, they are 2nd and 3rd grade sight words.  If they are spelled out on the lined side of the card, they are 1st grade sight words.

Next I had them laminated so they would stand up to the test of time!  I made good use of my time on Tuesday evening and got all 100 word cards cut out while I watched the kids do gymnastics!

The next day I brought them to Summer Explorers to see what the kids thought of them.  They were an instant hit!  The kids loved them and could hardly wait for their turn at the station.  It was great to hear the kids practice sounding out the words with their friends, spelling new words and seeing them help one another.

I can't wait to use these in my Word Work Center during Daily 5 this fall!  I'm hoping my 2nd graders will be just as excited!

What is your favorite Word Work activity and what grade do you use it with?  Share your ideas in the comments!

ABC's and 123's

When I was at Target this past weekend I found the BEST BUY!!  They have ABC's and 123's in the dollar spot and they're magnetic!  I purchased 10 sets and divided them up in these plastic pencil boxes (5 sets per box).  I am hoping that by having 5 sets of lowercase letters to a box that students can work alone or in partners to create words.  

In Summer Explorers this week we are working on "I can spell simple words."  Together we created and talked about some of the basic word families (ex. -at, -am).  Then when we had center work time the students could choose between various centers like the Phonics Eggs or these magnetic letters to work on making simple words!  The kids loved it!  Now I am on the look-out for some inexpensive cookie sheets so they can really use the magnets!

I plan to use this as a Daily 5 center for "Word Work."

What are your favorite activities for word work?

Class Writing Journals

I am so excited to use these new Class Writing Journals by Teach-A-Roo on TpT!  It is a set of 10 journal covers and word banks to help get the kids thinking.  I'm planning to use them in my classroom for students as they finish their work and as an option for "Work on Writing" during my Daily 5 time.  I added bookmarks to the inside cover with ribbon so the kids can keep track of the "next blank page."  

Be sure to head over and purchase a set for your classroom!  I'm sure you won't regret it!  :)