St. Patrick's Day FREEBIE

With Dr. Seuss activities behind us,

we are ready to look ahead to St. Patrick's Day.

I am constantly trying to change up word cards for 

the students I work with

(change the picture & they think it's a whole new game).

My St. Patrick's Day sets have been updated and 

I've bundled them to include 

preprimer, primer, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade Dolch words.

Fingers crossed that the change in pictures will keep them focused.

(Click on the picture to pick up your set.)

I've also been updating old files.

This odd and even sorting game REALLY needed a make-over.

So here it is, updated and FREE.

This is a fun activity to add to your seasonal Math stations. 

(Click on the picture to get your FREE copy.)

Hope this will be helpful as you're planning for St. Patrick's Day.

Fun (and FREE) with Johnny Appleseed

I LOVE all things Fall and for me,

it gets kicked off with

Johnny Appleseed Day.

(Yes, I have taught with a pot on my head.)

Since September 26th will be here before we know it,
I just updated all of my old Johnny Appleseed activities.

And....if you scroll through all of them,

you will find a couple of FREEBIES at the end of this post :) 

If you made it this far....

here are the FREEBIES.

APPLESEED ADDITION

JOHNNY APPLESEED WORD BUILDING

Hope you found something that you can use with your students.

Best Year Yet Blog Hop

Have you decided on a New Year's Resolution?

Or have you decided not to make one at all?

I always recommit to my exercise and diet plan.

Trying to destress my life.

We probably all want to improve our teaching in one area or another.

Well, whatever you are thinking, we're here to help you out.

I'm teaming up with my favorite blogger friends to bring you

The Best Year Yet Blog Hop and Giveaway!

From New Year's Eve until January 2, you can hop around our blogs and grab a FREEBIE from each of us. Be sure to go all the way around and enter the Rafflecopter at The Teaching Tribune for your chance to win one of these fabulous prizes.

I am offering the product below as my freebie.

Click on the picture to take you to my store to download your copy.

(this product will only be free through January 2)

While you are at my store you may also want to check out these products that will be great for your first few days back at school.

Be sure to continue the blog hop by clicking the button below.

We truly hope that 2014 is your 

BEST YEAR YET!

Go Pirates!!!

Well, I've decided to trade in my Pirate ship for pompoms this year:)

We're still Pirates, just Sporty Pirates.

Go Pirates!

I've been working some this week trying to get a few things done

before I have to officially go back next week.

(ARGGG next week!)

So here are a few pictures of what I have done so far.

I made EVERYTHING to match my new theme.
So that means my Scotch laminator has been working overtime.

Here are my new word wall cards. 

I added them to my one & only chalkboard with dot magnets 

(which reminds me that I need some more of those) 

& I'm planning to write the words on the board with dry-erase markers.

Here is my new conduct clip chart with a baseball theme.

No need to adjust your screen, it really is crooked.

I CANNOT leave it like that but I was too tired & annoyed to fix it.

(next week......I really hope I can pry it back off the door without tearing it up!)

I made all new labels for my book baskets. 

These are my AR book baskets.

I also made labels for my theme book baskets.

(don't have those put on yet)

Sporty Alphabet

Daily 5 board is ready to go!

Well that's the beginning of it.

I report to work next Thursday and I probably won't make it back in until then.

I always hit panic mode right before going back,

so you might hear about that next week.

For now I am headed out of town for some back to school shopping, 

free time and a baseball game.

If you made it through all of this and want something for free, here it is.

I made this to go with my sporty Daily 5.

Just click the picture if it's something you can use.

This file is an "unofficial adaptation of the Daily 5 by Gail Boushey& Joan Moser". 

It is not endorsed by the 2 Sisters. To access official resources, check out http://www.thedailycafe.com/

I have 2 of these products for sale at TpT.

Have a great weekend and Go PIRATES!

My Sights are on Sight Words

I think we've talked sight words before, but I've made a new FREEBIE 

so I thought we'd talk about them again.

For the past several years our school has used Saxon Phonics to teach phonics. 

It also comes with its own list of high frequency words. So, that is the list we have worked off of. The approach that the program uses can get rather dull (ok very boring) and since we practice sight words EVERY DAY something has to be done to draw in the crowd.

We normally do a whole group "drill time" in the mornings.

It might consist of flash cards (standing up, sitting down, monster voice, whisper voice, etc), 

sight word bingo, or an "I Have, Who Has?" game.

I will try anything to capture their attention and get them to engage 

when we are practicing our words.

(Free copy - just click on it)

After the words are introduced they are stuck to the word wall.

We also have sight word activities of some sort in at least one center.

We've done concentration, order the "I Have" game on the carpet, flash cards, stamp the words, write the words (with pens, markers, crayons, colored pencils), alphabetize the words, put the words in sentences, word searches, and the list goes on and on. 

I have a semi-new plan for next year (yep, already thinking about it). 

I'm skipping the Saxon list and plans and strictly using the Dolch Word Lists.

I love that it is already leveled and I can easily check my kids and track their progress.

The rest of the plan is still in the works:)

I am ALWAYS looking for great new ideas for ways to practice these words.

I would love for you to share any ideas that are working for you.

I've made a TON  of flash cards and "I Have" games with all different themes,

just because I change the picture and they think it's a new game. LOL

Here is a new set of flash cards that I've already made for back to school.

It's yours to grab if you can use it.

This set is preprimer dolch but all 5 levels are available in my store for purchase.

Be sure to leave your great sight word ideas, my kids will appreciate it.

Someone has a birthday today.....

Happy Birthday George Washington!

Really this post has nothing to do with George Washington:)

This post is all about a FREEBIE for you.

While updating my old St. Patrick's Day items and trying to get ready for next month I made a little word building activity and thought some of you might enjoy it.

So even though it is George's birthday...the present is for you!

Enjoy!

Oh yes, if you were hoping for some patriotic items, here are a few from my store.

Thanks for checking them out!