Word Work for _NK and _NG

Next week our word work will focus on the digraphs _nk and _ng. Although I had already created a word sort for these digraphs, the word work pack I had created was in desperate need of updating and needed MORE activities to keep my kiddos engaged and provide them with more practice. So, I did some tweaking, and added our weekly regulars: SCOOT recording sheet (for Move It Monday), I Have, Who Has?, Read and Write the Room (for Walk and Write Wednesday), Word Searches, and ABC Order (for Fix It Friday). I also added a board game to use with the 48 word cards - which are also used for Trade It Tuesday, Sorting, and the Monday and Wednesday activites.

You can Grab your FREE copy HERE. Enjoy!

For my fellow Imagine It 1st grade teachers - this goes along with Unit 3.11-3.15.

Talk Like a Pirate Day FREEBIES

As always, it's another busy week in my classroom with so much I want to cram in! Tomorrow we will be celebrating Constitution Day and on Friday, National Talk Like a Pirate Day. I am certain I won't be able to complete  all I have planned with the kiddos but I'd rather be over prepared than under prepared.

In any case, I just completed a couple of quick activities for Pirate Day and I wanted to share them with you before I catch a few winks.

So here you go. Just click on the image to grab your FREEBIES. Enjoy me hearties!

Back to School Word Work FREEBIE

My students are loving their weekly word work... Scoot, Read and Write the Room, and I Have, Who Has are among their favorites. We began the year with this "Getting Started" Back to School Mini pack featuring our favorite cat.

You can grab a FREEBIE copy HERE.

Imagine It! Sounds in Sequence Dictation Practice

This post is especially for my SRA Imagine It!  followers...

Last night, as I was reviewing for this week's lessons (unit 1.6-1.10), I had the idea to create a page-a-day dictation support using the sound spelling cards. I thought the children would enjoying cutting and manipulating the cards as they practiced spelling and blending. It would also be something they could take home each night to practice.

I only completed 5 pages last night (enough for the entire week) - as I thought it best to test it out on the kiddos before spending more time on something that might be a flop.  Luckily they loved it, and did an amazing job. They are really blending those sounds together and working on getting the sequence just right... and better yet, they are really learning their sound spelling cards.

I would be really interested to see what your kiddos think of it and to hear any suggestions you have for improvements. If you do choose to try one of the pages out in your classroom, please make sure to comment below and let me know how it went. Click on the picture above to download your copy.

Short U Word Work

I just completed another word work pack this morning. This one is called, "Fun In The Sun". It includes numerous activities to help my students decode, read, and spell words with short u.

We will be using this pack week 5 while covering Unit 2.6-2.10 in our SRA Imagine It program.


The pack is 34 pages long and includes:

70 Short U word cards
I Have, Who Has
Scoot
Read and Write the Room
ABC Order
3 Word Searches
Foldable Book
(students read sentences, find and underline the short u words, then sort and record the words they found under the 3 flaps (3 letter words, 4 letter words 5 or more letters)
I Can Read Short U Words list
2 answer keys (for foldable book, and word sort)
Game Board
5 sort cards
(2 letter words 3 letter words, 4 letter words, 5 letter words, 6 or more letters)



There certainly are enough activities to keep my kiddos busy all week... even for my fast finishers!

Check it out in my TPT store.


You may also grab some freebie pages from the pack HERE.

My Short E pack will coming in the next few days.  Watch for it!

Short A, Short I, and Short O Word Work and Some Freebies

Over the past 2 years, I have created a number of word work packs to go along with the phonics/sound spellings we cover each week in class. Usually these packs include 40-80 word cards, game boards, word searches, read and write the room and scoot recording sheets, I have... who has, sort cards, ABC order, etc. Some have more pages and activities than others, but my students always love them, and they reinforce the skills we need to learn in a fun and engaging way.

However,  I never got around to creating activities for the first unit in our SRA Imagine It program. So, this past week, I sat myself down and developed 3 packs to go along with Unit 1.  Each of these packs focuses on a different short vowel: Short a, Short i, and Short o.
The first 2 word work packs are already available in my TPT store and the third should be posted sometime tomorrow.

My students absolutely love these activities... and there is enough to keep us busy all week in each pack... even for those fast finishers.

I can't wait to get started and share these with my new class.

Click on each picture to grab your FREEBIE page(s) from each pack.

Enjoy!

August Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe

I finally finished my Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe bundle. Hooray!
You can grab my August spelling activities sheet, the last of the 12 months, here.

Enjoy!

July and September Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe

Due to popular request... I am finally finishing up my Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe Bundle. The only month left to complete is August. With any luck I will finish it tonight.

Until then, here are the latest additions for the months of July and September. Click on either the text links or the images to grab your copies.

Please let me know if you find any errors... I always seem to miss something! Thanks!

Bears and Bees

Recently I received two special requests from TPT followers. One was to create bear table number bucket tags and the other bee-themed binder covers and spines.

Since both bears and bees are popular decor in primary classrooms... I thought I'd post them on my blog as FREEBIES for any others of you who might find them useful.

Click on the images to grab a copy of each.

June Tic-Tac-Toe

Although I am officially out for the summer, last Thursday was our last day... I realize that some teachers are not. So here is the June Tic-Tac-Toe for those of you have been asking about it and are still teaching away! Click HERE to grab your free copy.

Enjoy!

Number of the Day

I just created some new number of the day forms for next year and to add to the incoming firsties summer homework packets.

So, I thought I share them with you as well.

Click HERE to grab a copy.

Enjoy!

Unit 10 Imagine It Support Files for 1st Grade

As usual I am behind schedule... but then again, I have been that way my entire life! I simply was not born with that inner clock - and everything takes me way longer than I think.

So, unfortunately I did not get out the Unit 10 Support files in time for those of you who are beginning it tomorrow. The good news is, I will be posting the files for FREE here over the next few weeks.

The first two weeks are complete and you can grab them here. Sorry for the delay!

Click here to download the zip file for Unit 10.1-10.5 Support Materials

Click here to download the zip file for Unit 10.6-10.10 Support Materials

Enjoy your last few days or weeks!

-Debbie

Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed

Two years ago I created a Mother's Day Breakfast in Bed shape book for my 1st graders to give their moms. Although they took several days to put together, they turned out so stinkin' cute that I have continued the project each year since. The moms absolutely love them... and many have shed tears of joy over the sweet comments their children have included in their books.  I've been told that these treasured gifts will be kept forever!

However, because they do take prep work and are time consuming, I thought many teachers might prefer a FREE folded paper version of the booklet. So I tweaked one I created a few years back with updated graphics from my favorite artists: Nikki at MelonHeadz Illustrating and Krista Wallden.

You can grab a copy of the "quick and easy" book HERE.

If you have the time and are daring enough, you might want to check out the SHAPE  book version HERE which my students began in class today. They are very excited about this project - and I know the mom's are going to love them!

Open House and a Few Freebies

Tonight was our annual OPEN HOUSE. It is always a fun event!  I soooooo love seeing the children take their families on a tour of the classroom and proudly "show off" their work. It is a celebration of the year - but that also means many hours getting ready for the night. Here are a few pictures of our ocean-themed open house.

One of the favorite items the children left with for the night was a camera-shaped photo album filled with 4x6 photographs that I had taken of them during the year.

To make these, I simply printed the page below. Then, cut out the lens of the camera and laminated. Finally, I cut out the 2 laminated camera covers and used our school binding machine to punch and attach the 6-ring combs.

They were a hit! Grab a copy of the photo album covers HERE.

My students also left with a packet of poetry they had written. They loved their poetry unit! You can grab a copy of the Diving Into Poetry cover HERE.

Last but NOT least - the FREEBIE several of you have been waiting for...

the May spelling tic-tac-toe is finally available. 

Grab yours HERE. 

Enjoy!

Common Core Math Adoption

Our district is planning to adopt a new common core aligned math text for next fall. As of yet, we have not piloted or reviewed any of the materials. So, I was hoping to get feedback from those of you who have already piloted or have adopted any of the following texts that have been approved in my state of California.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Math Expressions K–6

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Math in Focus K–8

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Go Math! K–6

McGraw-Hill McGraw-Hill My Math K–5

Pearson Common Core System of Courses K–8

Pearson Scott Foresman enVision Math K–6 TPS

Publishing, Inc. Creative Core Curriculum for Mathematics with STEM, Literacy K–8

Pros, cons, suggestions?

Thanks! 

Collect the Evidence Booklet

I just created a little DETECTIVE- themed booklet for my students to SHOW the EVIDENCE they have collected to PROVE their answers to: who, what, when, where, why, how, author's purpose, central message and point of view. One the front cover they will write the name of their CASE FILE (AKA... title of the story) and their own name on the SPECIAL AGENT line.  On the back cover they will use all the evidence they have collected on the other pages to write a short CASE summary.

To make this even more fun, we will of course be wearing our fedoras and grabbing our magnifying glasses to help search for clues and evidence to crack the case and reveal our expertise at reading COMPREHENSION.

I'll let you know how it turns out! Can't wait to start.

You can grab a copy for yourself HERE. If you use it with your students, let me know how it goes... and PLEASE send me suggestions for revisions.

Enjoy your week.  Happy Sleuthing!

March and April Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe

I received a very nice comment a few days ago about my Spelling Tic Tac Toe activities. Yay!

In case you were wondering...I just love to hear back from teachers who are actually using my materials... or who plan to in the future. In fact, the more comments I receive, the more FREEBIES and more regularly I post.

Anyway... the comment ended by asking about whether or not I had a tic-tac-toe sheet for March and April. I do of course - put had only put them on TPT.  Since...sadly, no comments for a while.



However, since you asked Jessie Rue... here they are for FREE!

I hope you, your students, and their parents ENJOY! Have fun spelling!

March Measuring

This week my firsties are working on measuring length using standard and non-standard units.

Since I had already planned a mini-Read Across America event for Monday, followed on Tuesday with Mardi Gras, and then St. Patrick's Day the following week, before heading off for Spring Vacation, I thought I would create a March-themed measuring booklet for my kiddos that included all 3 of these celebrations.

I had a lot of fun with this one - trying my own hand at writing rhyming verse like the dear Doctor. It actually turned out pretty cute... but best off all- my students are really enjoying the booklet and are getting lots of practice measuring using inches, centimeters, paper clips, and linking cubes. They are also learning how to use approximation - and determine the nearest whole or half unit when measuring.

And to top it off, my early finishers are enjoying coloring the pages...and they claim they LOVE measuring! Yippee!

Grab a FREE copy HERE before Monday, March 10th. After that, you can find it in my TPT store.

Please let me know if you find any typos.
Enjoy!

TPT SALE

Make sure to visit all of your favorite teacher sellers at TPT on February 27th and 28th during the
3 Million Teachers Strong SALE.

ALL of my products will be discounted by 20%  and with the promo code: TPT3 you will save even more... for a total savings of 28%.

I can't wait to pick up some of those items on my wish list. Happy shopping!

/er/ spelled ear and long e spelled ey

This week we will be working with /er/ spelled EAR and long e spelled Y and EY.  I didn't have any word work packs to go along with these specific sound spellings...So,  I created 2 new word work packs over the weekend.

Here's a peek at a few pages of each.

Chim chimney, Chim Chimney, 

Chim  Chim Long E

is what I called the first pack. 

Since Mary and nanny end with long e spelled y and chimney sweep ends in the ey spelling... I thought I would go with a Mary Poppins theme.

We are Yearning to Learn /er/ spelled EAR is the title of the second.

Since researcher is one of the words I used... along with other forms of the word, I went with a scientific - learning theme.

Each pack includes:
SCOOT game
READ and WRITE the ROOM
I HAVE... YOU HAVE
WORD SEARCH
24-30 WORD CARDS of each sound spelling and an ABC order page.

Both packs are now available in my TPT store... but you can grab some freebies from each by clicking on the pictures above.