Sight Word Practice FREEBIE!

Here's a very useful SIGHT WORD FREEBIE from Jessica at Deep in the Heart of Teaching. This 11-page set has students write, spell, and trace the following words: go, my, the, see, can, we, to, is, up, am, & at. 

My preschooler is just beginning to work on sight words, so he completed some of the pages yesterday. Each page provided just enough practice to reinforce the sight word. 

TEACHING TIP

Jessica says to use "letters that are the shape of the letter instead of letter tiles for beginning learners/readers. This ensures that the tactile learner can feel the shape of the letter as well as see it." I know working with the letters (a set WITHOUT magnets from Dollar Tree) was my son's favorite part! 

Just click on the picture below to download a set for your student(s)! 

Happy teaching!

Sight Word Game FREEBIE!

Here's a FREE sight word game from Stacy at Teacher's Take Out! It covers Fry's first 100 words.

My son is learning to read CVC words, so I thought we'd start working on some beginning sight words. As you can see, I tried to pick several that he can "sound out" (at, in, it) and a few more easy ones (I, a, to, the). The pile in the picture has several words, but we focused on about 8-10 today. 

My preschooler really enjoyed playing this game! We often use SquinkiesTM  as game pieces--which he loves! Plus, I colored the spaces to make the path easier for him to see. We'll be using the game a lot this summer! 

Teaching Tip

Stacy says that this game is "great for centers, small group, or for 2-player games." You can even use the cards to play different games. You could make 2 copies of the words for a matching game. I plan to put 5-8 on the table and ask my son to find certain words. Since recognition is easier than recall, I think this version of the game will help him to notice differences in the words AND increase his confidence in reading. Personally, I LOVE to send games like this home in ZiplocTM bags for some fun reading practice with family members.

Just click on the picture below to grab a copy for your student(s)! 

 Happy teaching!

Kindergarten Math and Literacy Pack for Summer (No Prep!)

Could your student(s) use a review of kindergarten math and literacy this summer? If so, then take a look! 

This math and literacy pack includes 44 pages of kindergarten materials. It would make a great review of the basics so that your child avoids the "summer slide!" The pack has pages that focus on letter sounds, upper- and lowercase letter matching, CVC and CVCe words, counting, addition, subtraction, sight words, writing sentences, and more! Every page has a fun, engaging summer theme! 

What's Included

Writing in the Sand & Beach Letter Match: On these pages, students will match and write upper- and lowercase letters. 

Summer Sounds & Beginning Sounds: These 2 pages have students match an object with its beginning sound. 

Summer Scramble & Sunny Day Scramble: Students cut out and rearrange letters to make CVCe words. 

Sets of Summer: Here, students count each set of objects (<10) and write the numbers.

We Love to Count & Let's Count Seeds: On these pages, students cut out objects and glue the correct quantity of them to match each number.

Lemonade Stand & Pack a Picnic!: Here, students match each quantity of 10s and 1s with the correct teen number.

Catching Fireflies & Adding Ants: These pages have addition problems showing the objects. 

Summer Subtraction & Subtracting Shells: These pages have subtraction problems showing the objects. 

Add Within 5 & Surf and Subtract: These pages have addition and subtraction problems with sums and minuends of less than 5. 

Share the Surfboards & Share the Ice Cream: With these pages, students will practice matching sets of the same number.

Read, Write, and Draw (#1-#3): These 3 pages each provide students with a sentence to copy and space to illustrate the sentence. 

Summer Sentence Fun, Writing in the Sand, Summer Splash, & Watermelon Fun: For each of these pages, students will cut out a scrambled sentence, arranged the sight words in the correct order, and copy the sentence. 

2 Roll, Read, and Color pages: Here, students roll one die and read the corresponding sight word sentence. The first person to read the same sentence four times (developing fluency) wins! 

Water Balloon Sort, Sandwich Sort, Let's Go to the Beach, Shells by the Seashore & Sunny Sort: For these pages, students read and sort short vowel words according to word families. 

Sight Word Sort & Backyard BBQ: Here, students read and sort sight words according to the number of letters in each word. 

Sight Word Spin: This is a fun sight word game to play with 2 players. 

Sweet Treat Spin & Catching Bugs: These are CVC word games to play with 2 players.

How Many Water Balloons? & Wendy Loves Watermelon: For these games, students will spin and count the number of objects. 

Summer Shape Sort: On this page, students will sort the summer objects according to shape. 

Color and Graph: Students will identify and color shapes, then graph them. 

Campers Like to Count!: Here, students will cut out and glue the numbers in the correct position from 1 to 20. 

Keep on Counting!: For this page, students will cut out and glue the numbers in the correct position from 21 to 50. 

Just click on the picture below to take a look at this math and literacy summer review pack for kindergarten! 

Click on the picture to see it on Teacher's Notebook.

CLICK HERE to find it on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Happy teaching! 

Letter Sounds FREEBIE from Miss D's Classroom

This week, my youngest son practiced his letter sounds using this great FREE packet from Miss D's Classroom. The set comes with letters A-E. On each page, students color the objects that begin with that letter sound. 

Miss D's letter sound FREEBIE is nice for fine motor practice, too. My son is a "reluctant colorer," but he'll do it when there is a task to be completed. 

To quote Miss D, "This resource will be useful in the classroom as beginning readers need to know beginning sounds before progressing to other sounds in a phonics unit. By using these worksheets, they will be engaged in learning the beginning sounds of each letter in a fun way -- coloring!"

TEACHING TIP

Miss D recommends having students use letter cards first in order to become familiar with the sounds. "You can even turn it into a game," she says, "For example, who has the card that makes the sound of /b/? Children would look at their cards and shout "I do"! The choice is yours!"

Just click on the picture below to download this great PRINT AND GO FREEBIE for your student(s)! CLICK HERE to see the whole workbook ($4) that's available in Miss D's store!

 

Happy teaching!

Summer Book Recommendations for K-2 and FREE Reading Logs

I want to share a few of my favorite K-2 books with you. For years, I was so focused on providing students with "great children's literature" (Caldecott winners and the like) that I forgot the most driving force behind reading: choice. Children, like adults, are excited to read about subjects that pique their interest. They are much more engaged and willing to read when THEY have chosen a book about something they love. Just click on the title at the top to see each book or series on Amazon.com.

1. Phonics Fun with Barbie by Jennifer Liberts Weinberg (K)

You would not believe how popular this set was with my students! I have had whole groups of students who learned to read early because of this set! It comes with 10 (or maybe 12) small books just right for little hands. Each book focuses on a different word family (like -at, -et, or silent e words) and has high picture support. They are very well done and build on each other. This is a great set for beginning readers! 

2. Lego DC Super Heroes: Phonics Boxed Set by Quinlan B. Lee (K)

Just like the set above, this set of 10 books is highly appealing to superhero AND Lego™fans! The words in this set tend to be a little more difficult, but students do well with them after repeated readings. My son learned to read with this set! (There is also a very similar set available with a Star Wars theme. We have that set, too!) 

3. Princess Posey books by Stephanie Greene (K-1)

I discovered this set last summer. They are PERFECT beginning chapter books. Ms. Greene miraculously uses mostly sight words to write these books. They have simple, everyday story lines, yet manage to engage even the adult! 

4. Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park (K-2)

These books make such great read alouds! Junie's "voice" in the book just cracks me up. While there are some not nice words included (I'll admit that sometimes I skip them), Junie is saying just what many kindergarteners are thinking. Plus, if you're looking for a quick read, these books are just the thing. 

5. Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne (1-2, or read by a parent to K)

These books follow Jack and Annie on adventures to different places and times of historical and/or geographical significance. They appeal to both boys and girls, as well as adults. There is always an interesting story line and several titles have nonfiction books to go with them. 

I hope you find this little list of books helpful. At the very least, I hope it gets you and your student(s) thinking about what they're going to read this summer. No list would be complete without some FREE READING LOGS to keep track of student reading. Just click on the picture below to download a set for FREE! 

Happy summer reading!

FREE Letter Sort for Preschool or Kindergarten

Don't miss this cute TEACHER FREEBIE from Cherry Workshop! It comes with upper- and lowercase As for students to sort. My son had fun "picking" the apples from the tree and placing them in the correct upper- or lowercase basket. The repetition provided my preschooler with enough practice to now be able to differentiate the letters! 

A TEACHING TIP 

Katya, from Cherry Workshop, says, 

"I'm doing a lot of sorting games with my kids and they are always excited to play. What usually grabs their attention is when the game is contextualized in some way. e.g. tell them a story how you're going apple picking and you need everyone's help. It even cooler if the apples are all around the room. The same can be played with any thematic pictures or objects (even better) as a scavenger hunt, or they win the letters in a game and then sort. The possibilities are numerous. As long as there is some story behind the activity, even the simplest one, kids' imagination does all the work for you."

Just click on the picture at the top or the one below to download a set for your classroom.  I hope your students enjoy it as much as my son did! 

Happy teaching! 

10 End-of-Year FREEBIES for First Grade

Here are 10 wonderful FREEBIES, just right for some end-of-the-year or summer review. Take a look at each one and download a set for your students! 

1. School of Fish! Ocean Addition Math Center from Differentiation Station Creations

Download this freebie for an easy-to-assemble addition center. Students will use addition mats and fish manipulatives to solve for each sum. 

2. Popsicle Puzzles: Addition and Subtraction Equivalent Expressions by Krista Mahan Teaching Momster

Students can use this set to practice basic facts and find equivalent expressions. They would work well for small groups, as a whole class activity, or as a math center.

3. Fishing for CVCe Words Memory Game from Kinder Doodles

More fish! This game has cards for a word to picture matching game. It's an easy peasy  literacy center! 

4. Addition Word Problems from Sherry Clements

This set has 3 pages of print-and-go word problems. Students will use number lines, ten frames, equations, and drawings to represent each problem. 

5. Carnival Math Games: Addition and Multiplication from Teacher Tam

This set includes 3 different games: addition, addition with 3 numbers, and multiplication. Each game board comes in color and blackline. 

6. Grammar Task Cards Using Summer Sentences by Teachers Take Out

Students can use these 10 task cards to review nouns, adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs. It comes with 2 levels of recording sheets. 

7. End of Year Memory Book from The Bulletin Board Lady--Tracy King

This memory book rocks! It has a rock star theme with 5 different pages. This is just adorable and perfect for the end of the year! 

8. Print and Go Math Sample from OCD in First, Shanon Juneau

This FREEBIE has 7 pages of print and go math activities. 

9. Summer Reading Brochure for Parents from More Than a Worksheet

This tri-fold brochure about summer reading includes links to reading websites, tips about summer reading, and more! 

10. Summer Fun Freebie from Happy Days in First Grade 

This fun freebie would be great to send home as part of a summer pack. It has an activity tic-tac-toe, a summer reading log, and a summer vacation mini-poster. 

Thanks for reading! 

I hope you found a few great FREEBIES for your students!