The Magic of World Study {with Stephany from Primary Possibilities}

These are some of my favorite ways to practice words in the classroom.  They would work with anything from sight words to vocabulary words!

I make these flip folders for my students at the beginning of the year.  You glue a sheet with lines (the line size and number depends on how many words you assign your students to learn each week) in a file folder.  Laminate the entire file folder and then cut two slits to make 3 flaps.  Students write the words under the first flap and then practice under each flap without looking.  

Another great way to practice words is hands on.  Kiddos love play-doh and my friend Stephanie over at Primary Possibilities has these great sight word mats.  You can pick them up HERE.

If you are looking for a fun way to get students to practice throughout the week at home, you can grab up these STAR spelling freebie.  Students choose from several options throughout the week to practice their words.    You can grab it up for FREE HERE.

Wiki Sticks are always an easy standby for word work.  Keep them in a container with a list of words and your students will always have something easy to grab up when they are finished early with another activity.

I love keeping these Word Wall cards on hand in my classroom.  There are tons of fun ways to practice sight words with different motions and voices.  You can grab them up by clicking HERE. 

What are your favorite ways to practice words in the classroom?

Teaching Then & Now w/Tickled Pink in Primary

THEN: When I first started teaching, we did a lot of worksheets that came with our reading and math programs. They were VERY boring! Students weren't near as engaged as when I let them do actual hands-on centers, but unfortunately these worksheets or boring whole group lessons were a major part of our day. 

NOW: Thankfully things have changed, so we now do alot more small group work and students get more center time. We have now learned that it's important to have more engaging activities for students and let students learn from each other by working in groups. I created my Physical Phonics Word Work activities to give students a chance to work on phonics skills in a fun active way. This student is stomping out the number of sounds he hears in a word.

One of my favorite activities that I've made are my Fluency & Fitness sets. These are a fun way to work on literacy and math skills, yet students are able to get out of their seats while learning. It's also a way to incorporate technology which we know if very important now. Teachers love using these for learning time, transitions, brain breaks, and even indoor recess. 

Here's a sneak peek of Fluency & Fitness.

THEN: Speaking of using technology, look at how my old listening center used to be. Those headphones were HUGE and uncomfortable. I'm glad technology has come a long way so students can use iPods and iPads to listen to books now. 

NOW: Most schools are incorporating technology now and providing laptops or iPads for students to help them learn better.

THEN: As I was going through old files for this post, I found this old Kindergarten assessment. These were the skills we used to test students on for the year. That was back when we let kids be kids more and not put SO much pressure on them! 

NOW: Now Kindergarten students don't just have to be reading, but reading at a level D by the end of the year at our school.  I know many students are able to meet these high expectations we set for them, but I do wish we incorporated play more and were able to do more developmentally appropriate activities. 

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Spring into...Fluency & Fitness {w/Tickled Pink in Primary}

It's supposed to be Spring, but here in Indiana it snowed this week! Good news though, we have a TON of goodies to giveaway! 

At this point in the year, students (and teachers)  start to get a bit antsy for school to end and the focus tends to decline. My Fluency & Fitness bundles are a great way to get students up and moving, yet keep them learning at the same time. Students absolutely LOVE these, and they even ask to do them!! I don't think they even realize it's learning, because they are having so much fun (teacher win!) 

I picked 2 of my best selling bundles for our giveaway. Below you can see a class doing the Fry's 1st 100 Sight Words Fluency & Fitness. This bundle is included in the K-2 giveaway. 

These students are mastering the math facts with the Multiplication Fluency & Fitness Bundle.This bundle is in the 3-5 giveaway. 

You can even print the slides into small flashcards and use them during center time.

I have created over 30 different Fluency & Fitness bundles and keep getting requests for more! These bundles are great for any time of the year to get kids up and moving, but especially now when students are needing to get their wiggles out more and more. 

Enter below to win all of these awesome products!!!

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Thrifty Teacher Finds & a Giveaway (with Tickled Pink in Primary)

I LOVE going to the Dollar Tree and down the Dollar Spot aisle at Target as I know many of you do too. As teachers, we spend so much money on our classrooms that finding a good deal is important. Recently, I found these HUGE dice in the Target Dollar Spot aisle which are even bigger than the ones you can find at the Dollar Tree. They came in a lot of colors and were only $1!!!! I had to snatch some up for all my games at math centers. 

I found these HUGE fly swatters at the Dollar Tree last spring and knew exactly what I would use them for. We play a game called "SPLAT" where I have 2 kids compete to see who can smack the sight word I say. We had some boring fly swatters and the students still LOVED the game, but these fly swatters make it SO much more fun!

I actually did a whole blog post about a month ago on my blog, Tickled Pink in Primary, for some more thrifty finds. I love shopping at the Dollar Tree and know many others teachers like good deals too, so I put together a list of 20 things that most teachers could use. 

I am SUPER excited that our EE family is growing! We have such a fun group of bloggers already, but these at these amazing and talented 8 new ladies and gentlemen we have joining us! I met many of them at the TPT Vegas Conference last year, so I'm super excited to be collaborating with them now. We are having a HUGE giveaway to celebrate our the new additions to our family, so make sure you enter below.

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