Monthly Goal and Freebies!

Hello! So I guess my goal should be to post once a month. I am hoping to post more often, but we all know that life gets busy and you have to make time for work, family and yourself! Creating things to share on Teachers Pay Teachers is a hobby of mine. I use almost everything that is in my store. It is such a nice feeling to know that other teachers value my work and ideas. I also enjoy giving business back to others who sell on TPT. It is such a great resource for all of us!

Recently I have added a couple freebies as well as a GREAT deal on a short vowel pack. Check out what is new at my TPT store below!

We are working on graphing in first grade. Here is an activity we used last week: Graph Your Favorite Color!

I have been implementing Daily 5 for the past few years. This year I am trying out Daily 3 Math!

I made extra "Math by Myself" signs to use for differentiation. I am also using the ocean animals as my "Meet with Teacher" student groups. This way it will be a little bit more discrete. More pictures to come!  

Last, but not least…here is the short vowel pack. It includes enough activities to last 5-7 weeks! Here some examples of the activities that are included! You can purchase this pack at my TPT store HERE!

Yours in Learning,

Leapin' Lilies!

I am happy to say that I just finished a fun reading comprehension and sight word game tonight! It is appropriate for grades K-3, however I only made the sight word cards for K-1. This game would be a fun addition to any guided reading group! It could also be used as an enrichment activity for kindergarteners or as a reading intervention activity for 2nd or 3rd grade. I am looking forward to using it in my guided reading groups! My higher level readers might even use this game as an independent activity! Hope you will check it out at my TPT store!

Check it out HERE!

Yours in Learning,

Spelling Freebie!

In first grade this year we are creating our own spelling lists. I will be creating some materials on TPT to go along with each list. Next week we are starting with "short a." Every week there will be 10 spelling words. Included on our spelling lists will be some of the Dolch sight words from the primer-1st grade lists. Our first grade team feels that it is important for the students to not only recognize and read the sight words, but to also spell them!

Today I am including a page from our first spelling list!

 Click HERE to download!

Stay tuned for the "Short A Activities Pack" at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

Yours in Learning,

Back to Bloggin'

So, it has been FOREVER since I have posted. The main reason being…I felt that nobody was visiting my blog! Then I decided, why not give it another try!? So here goes! Another school year has started and the excitement, stress and every other type of emotion begins! I started out with a list of 19 students and by the second day of school I had 25 first graders! Whew! Luckily my room was set up and ready to go, and I was feeling as organized as I possibly could. Plus, I was really excited to get back into a routine after our Chicago "summer."

Here is a picture of my most favorite part of my classroom. My library! I finally feel like I have it just the way I want it. It is kid-friendly and all of my books are either leveled by Fountas and Pinnell, or by category. I have book labels at my Teachers Pay Teachers store for FREE!

Here is a picture of my class room library:

Grab my book bin and book labels !

Book Labels

Feel free to leave me a comment when you visit my blog! I would love to hear what's going on in your classrooms or anything you'd like to see at my Teachers Pay Teachers store! Hope you are all having a fun start to your school year!

Yours in Learning,

Work on Writing and Word Work Center Activities

We are reviewing contractions, so I made up some puzzles for the kids to put together at our word work station. I am going to try these out next week and see how it goes! I made 50 puzzles, but will probably only put out half, in order not to overwhelm them :). We are also talking about staying on topic when writing at our "Work on Writing" station, so I made a Topics and Details cut and paste activity. To extend it, I had students write another sentence for each topic on the back. Also, if you like my "Unscramble the Sentences" writing center, see below for the new one for "I'm a Caterpillar." Have a great week!

Click {here}for Unscramble the Sentences

Click {here}for the Contraction Puzzles

Click {here}for "It's All in the Details"

Catching Up and a FREEBIE!

Happy MLK Day!
I am writing today to catch you all up on some things I have created the past week or so. I started the Daily 5 reading model before the winter break and now we are in full swing! I have to say that I LOVE my literacy block now and so do the kids. It has really allowed the students to take full ownership over their reading and writing instruction. I also enjoy the 15-20 minute mini lessons between station changes and working with small groups and individual students more frequently. If you are doing the Daily 5 and have any tips to share I would love to hear them!

Below are some of the new things I've posted to TPT. There is also a freebie for those of you implementing the Daily 5. It is not available on my TPT store, only through this blog. Enjoy!

Click {HERE} for "and sometimes y"

Click {HERE} for this word sort! It also includes a worksheet.

Click {HERE} to get this Daily 5 Freebie!

Compound Words

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had an enjoyable winter break. After getting back into the swing of things, I have created a few things that I have uploaded onto my TeachersPayTeachers store. Here is one of the word work center activities I created! Click {HERE} to check it out on TPT!