Launch into Space au, aw Word Work unit

Happy Sunday, friends! It is gloomy and rainy here in Bama and I am loving it!! Perfect day to nap and post a TpT unit, of course! 

One of my goals this school year was to make a word work unit to go along with our phonics skills with our new reading series.

I am thrilled that I am finally finishing up the last few units!! I will be posting these soon and will also bundle them together for a year long first grade phonics word work unit pack! 

The latest word work unit is posted in my shop and I would love to give it away to 2 peeps! 

Comment with your email address for a chance to get a little happy in your email inbox this week! :)

Have a great week! 
Countdown is on - 4 weeks to go!

Short Vowel Word Work Units

Hey friends! Hope you are having a fun fall week!

This year, our faculty was encouraged to pick one word as a focus for our year. I picked BALANCE. It is the busy time of year where we need to balance school, home, and LIFE! Take time to grab a latte {preferably pumpkin!} and call a friend! Or read a magazine! Or organize a closet...oh wait, that is the Monica in me...you know, Monica from Friends?? I LOVE to organize...when something is organized, it makes me happy!!! But seriously, I am trying SUPER hard to balance everything! One way I am doing that is to close the laptop at 8:00 pm. I really try to have some down time before we head to bed! Being balanced and happy will make me a better teacher!! :) 

How do you keep the balance in your life? I would love to hear your tips! 

I have finished the word work units for all of the short vowels!

Short vowel u has two themes - Pumpkin Patch {if you study short vowel u in the fall in first grade} or Backyard Bugs {if you study short vowel u in the spring in Kindergarten!}

I have added another page to the units - Stretch the Sounds with pictures!  I had a sub last week and I needed an activity for them to work on after reading a Phonics Tales book. So there you have it - because sometimes you just need an activity sheet with out cards!  

You can also get the bundle of all five short vowel word work units for $14.00 {a 20% savings of $3.50 - like one unit for free!}

I will email the Short Vowel Word Work bundle to 2 friends this Friday - just comment below with your email address! 

Enjoy the rest of your week! 

Week in Review and Word Work Winners

Happy Sunday, friends! It is absolutely gorgeous here in Alabama! Fall has finally arrived! :) 

Let's take a peek at our week in review! I kind of wish I could write my lesson plans when the week was over! As Type A and OCD as I am, I always add ideas throughout the week from YOU! I have started making sticky notes on my plans to remember ideas for next year!  

Week in review - September 23 - 27

PHONICS: beginning r and s blends

I have to be honest, I have never explicitly taught these blends before! I have always taught them within other focused skills. I struggled to find stuff for this week! 

I created a word work unit: Traffic Jam {beginning r and s blends}

LOVE these graphics from Goodness&Fun! 

I used these Electric Company video clips from School Tube - always a fave! 

THE DAILY FIVE: Word Work Launch

We launched Word Work this week! The kiddos did a great job and were super excited to have a new choice!! 

I started my Word Work tubs with one activity:

Rainbow Roll and Write from Cupcake for the Teacher

I like this because the kids write the whole word in one color, versus every letter in a different color. I feel that they spend so much time changing markers that way! Ha! 

Go grab this freebie from Teri! :) 

MATH: Understanding Addition

I snagged this freebie from Khrys Bosland - perfect to add to Math Work Stations this week! 

We also learned a new card game - Addition War! Why do kiddos just eat card games up? 

WRITING WORKSHOP : Fix It Up! editing

After learning all about sentence structure and what makes a good sentence, we are looking for errors and using editing marks! 

Check out Christie's super cute Sentence Fix Up unit! LOVE it!!! It is just perfect for my firsties! Love the editing marks poster and the practical practice pages - and of course, the cutie construction theme! 

SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE: Apples

We had a fun apple week!!! We tasted apples, described apples using our five senses, made a torn paper apple, and ended the week with homemade {or schoolmade as one of my cuties pointed out!} applesauce! So delish over vanilla ice cream! 
I used this recipe from Find Time for Fun. com - turned out perfectly! 

And that is our week in review! 

Congratulations to Lisa and Robinann17! Check your email for the Crap Trap {short vowel a}, Fishy Fishy {short vowel i}, and Play Date {beginning l blends} Word Work units! Thanks to everyone for their sweet comments! 

Have a fun fall week!!!

Schedule Spotlight Series #4 - Phonics

Happy July, friends! How is it already July??? That means I am about halfway done with summer - how is that even possible?!?!? It will be time to set up my classroom before I know it! 

This is the fourth post in the 10 week Schedule Spotlight series!

For those of you just joining in the fun, we are going through our day, minute by minute and hour by hour! Almost as a good as observing…but saving money on gas and sub pay! :)

7:45 - 8:15 ~ Morning Work {Post #1 - June 10}
8:15 - 8:30 ~ Calendar {Post #2 - June 17}
8:30 - 9:00 ~ Math {Post #3 - June 24}
9:00 - 9:45 ~ SPECIALS
9:45 - 10:30 ~ Phonics {Post #4 - July 1}

We are back from specials! My friends head straight to their tables for a quick restroom and water break! We did not have a snack time last year, but I am thinking this is where I want to fit one in this year! Those babies are hungry!!!

After our restroom break, we head down to the carpet for our Phonics mini lesson. The mini lesson lasts about 10-12 minutes. I really, truly believe that the longer we teach, the more kiddos start to lose interest! I teach very explicitly and it is fast paced. One key to mini lessons is to have all of your materials ready to go. If you are only teaching for 12 minutes, you don't have time to stop to dig for your word cards!

We just adopted the Wonders series for the 2013 - 2014 school year. We were previously using Harcourt. We followed the progression, but pulled in a lot of other resources, including Wright Skills Phonics, The Phonics Dance, and others!
I love to incorporate quality children's literature and poetry into this time! I also love to watch Between the Lions video clips, use flip charts, and of course, Annie and Moby from Brain Pop! 

10:00 - 10:10
I have a focus board with a few phonics picture and word cards and the way I start every Phonics lesson {another auditory cue!!} is to say, "This week we are learning all about the /sh/ sound. A digraph is two letters put together to make a new sound. s and h make /sh/ like in shell, sheet, wash, and brush. 

Then, we usually do some making word manipulation, changing beginning, medial, and final sounds to make new words! Then, we read a poem or story and make a list of all the words we hear with that sound! 

This takes us to our small group time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays! On Mondays, we have a longer whole group time as we explore the new sound and spelling pattern, and Friday we play a game and take our spelling test! 

10:10 - 10:30

After our mini lesson, I spilt my class into two groups {higher} and {lower}. One group does Read to Someone {buddy reading} with decodeable texts {from our series} while I teach one group on the carpet and then we switch! 

SMALL GROUPS

I work with my lower group first. We do sound stretching and writing in our Phonics Notebooks {those good ole Starfall journals!}

Tuesday - Writing Words {I Do, We Do, You Do model}. 

I stretch and write two words and they copy. Then we stretch two words out together and they write them in their journal, and then I give them two words to stretch and write on their own. These words are not our spelling words, but words that have the sound we are learning about!

Wednesday - Stretch the Sounds

We work with our spelling words on Wednesdays! I simply say the word, and we stretch each sound on our fingers. For example, dish

d - i - sh, dish. /d/ d, /i/ i/ /sh/ sh. 

Then they write the word on their paper! 

Easy, peasy, but effective!!!

Thursday - Sentence Dictation 

On Thursdays, I do one sentence with my lower group and two sentences with my higher group. I heard at a workshop once to echo read the sentence twice, count the number of words and then let them have at it! 

For example,

ME - I found a shell at the beach. 

Echo - I found a shell at the beach. 

ME - I found a shell at the beach. 

Echo - I found a shell at the beach. 

Let's count the words. I - found - a - shell - at - the - beach. 7 words

So, that's that! I wish I had more pictures of this time!!! 

Now its time for recess and lunch!! Woohoo! 

Link up below to tell us all about your phonics time!

Join us next Monday, July 8 to learn more about what The Daily Five looks like in my classroom!

Happy early 4th of July to you! :) 

Festive Photos

Our month in review - festive photo style!!! 

{Our jungle themed tree}

 Pardon the glare! :)

{Kiddos Craft Bags}

These bags contain their 'gifts' to their parents: reindeer handprint ornament, candy cane fingerprint ornament, and The Greatest Gift is My Family book

{Merry Mail mailboxes}

The kiddos write letters to each other the whole month of December. By the end of the month, their mailbox is stuffed full of letters from each friend in the class! 

{Reindeer Food tags}

FREE printable from Amanda's Parties to Go

{My gifts to the kiddos}

  The Gingerbread Girl for the girls and The Gingerbread Man for the boys, complete with a yummy Gingerbread lollipop from Oriental Trading!

{First Grade is Merry and Bright Bulletin Board}

Our flat gingerbread project is below!! :)

{Reindeer Craftivity from the 

fab Teri at Cupcake for the Teacher}

{WAFFLES! Phonics Focus this week: final syllable -le}

We are loving the story of Mable and can't wait to make waffles on Friday! Loving this FUN way to teach final syllable -le! {Waaay yummier than my jungle idea! HA!} Super presh idea, Sarah!! :)

I am off to enjoy the remaining two days with my sweet angels! We will rotate to the other first grade classrooms for a book and fun activity, and end the week with Polar Express Day on Friday! 

Happy, happy holidays!!! :)

Make a Word! Consonant Digraphs

Happy Hump Day, friends! Back to school is HERE! I presented at our district's new teacher training this morning and then went out to run errands...Hobby Lobby and the Parent Teacher store...OMG! The traffic!!! You can tell the first day of school is around the corner! :) 

I LOVE back to school shopping {minus the traffic!} I always have to get new notebooks, pens {Flair, of course!}, and pencils. Throw in a few calculators, cardstock, and scissors, too! Speaking of scissors...I have found my new favorite scissors and they are only $1.99 at Hobby Lobby! They are right by the checkout {impulse shopping...gets me every time!} and I grabbed some a few weeks ago...mainly because they had pink and lime green! :) They are awesome!!! Great for cutting lamination, cardstock, etc! I think I have purchased 8 pairs...I got every drawer covered! HA!

I also have to have new clothes! My mom tells me that since I am adult, I don't technically need new clothes...that is for the kids! Say what?!?! Absolutely not!!! Target is one of my faves for cute dresses, but sadly I have not been able to find many there this summer. Come on Target...you have catchy commercials...now I need cute dresses! :)

I have found some cute ones at Old Navy. I love their online shopping! They have way more selection online and you can return to the store...nice and easy! Here are a few that I ordered...the thick black and white stripe is my fave...nice and thick cotton and super cute! I am ordering it in black too! :)

 Introducing my newest TpT activity: Make a Word! Consonant Digraphs!

It includes digraphs /sh/, /ch/, /wh/, and /th/. 

Click on the picture below! I will email this activity to five people on Friday, August 10. Please leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win!

I combined the Make a Word! Consonant Digraphs with the Make a Word! Long and Short Vowels set to make a Make a Word! Bundle Set, which includes the Long Vowels, Short Vowels, and Consonant Digraphs. 

Click on the picture below to check it out! :)

 I will be back soon with pics of my Silhouette Cameo projects! Enjoy the rest of your week! :)