Things I Love

Sooo, you probably know Jodi at Fun in First Grade is hosting a linky party for Favorite Things.
Ok.  Here it goes.  I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet because one of my favorite things is about to begin in about 7 minutes. 

1. Reality TV. 

In particular, Jersey Shore, The Bachelor and American Idol.  If I start watching any reality show, I can be hooked after about 5 minutes.

(this is an edit from my original post, because I was embarassed that it looked liked like I loved the bachelor himself- LOL!  I admit, he's a handsome man, but it's the show that entertains me (really) :)
2.  DVR. 

 This is good and bad as it results in me watching WAAAAY too much TV!

3.  Watching my kids play sports

Right now that only involves my youngest play indoor soccer and baseball.  My oldest is a senior in high school and all done with his sports days for now.

4.  A Really Good Book

The last really good one I read was Water for Elephants - FABULOUS!

5.  Gadgets for my kitchen

I love to cook and I love Food Network.  So even though I will never host my own cooking show, I feel like I have to have all the stuff that the fancy peeps use.  Including, but not limited to...

6.  UGG Boots

I was gonna stop at 5, but I couldn't leave this one out.  Ok,  I live in California and it doesn't get that cold here.  Nothing like you gals with all your snow days, but when it drops below 50, that's pretty darn cold.  These are not the most feminine of shoes, but they are the warmest and most comfortable.  A must on Wednesdays (my yard duty day).

There's way more, like post-its and some other silly things, but looking for and adding pictures is driving me a little nuts because I have some TV to go watch!

Word Attack Game

There is nothing more frustrating than a child who continually "guesses" at a word when you KNOW they could read it correctly if they would just "sound it out".  We spend so much time giving them the skills then need to decode words and for some reason there's always those few (or several, as is the case for me this year) who just look at the firs letter or two and take a wild guess.  During a particularly challenging session with one of my guided reading groups this week, I told them they have to "attack" the word.  Like, really attack it and "break it apart" into all the parts they know.  This particular group was mostly boys and the idea of "attacking" a word held HUGE appeal.  They started decoding all kinds of words and I could see their confidence building and building.  Hence, this game was born.  This week we worked on words with inflectional endings, "s, ed and ing".  In addition to all the vowel patterns we have introduced, the words and stories just keep getting harder and harder.  I made the game to be adaptalble for various skill levels.  You just need to make your own set of word labels to attach to the game cards.  I hope your kids can have fun with this.

Word Attack Game

Another Great Giveaway

Amanda at One Extra Degree is doing a fabulous giveaway  for 2 units by .....



One of these days, I hope to win one of these things.  It's still fun to "play" even when you don't.  I'm pretty sure that anyone checking out my little ol' blog has probably checked out Deanna Jump and Amanda.  If not...YOU HAVE TO!

To Enter:
Follow both of their blogs (you can use the links above).
Follow Deanna's TpT store.
Follow Amanda's TpT store.
Leave a comment at One Extra Degree for each.
Repost to your blog for an extra entry.

Best of luck to me ...um, I mean us!

Great Giveaway!

You can enter a great giveaway for a Dr. Seuss packet by Donna at Kinderglynn.  To enter you need to check out another fabulous blog at Erika Bohrer's First Grade.  All you have to do is follow both of their blogs and their TpT stores.  It looks like a great resource.  I hope I win, but if not, I plan to buy it.  Good luck to all of us.

Doubles Plus One Math Game

It's my goal to try and begin math centers next week.  I have been putting it off because of our hectic afternoon schedule with kids in and out of the room for various intervention programs.  I made this game a couple of weeks ago and haven't had the chance to introduce it to the kids.  At this point, it will be a skill review for them, but that's ok.  Just print the number of game boards you need for a group.I bought Honeycomb cereal for them to use as their "markers" and then they can munch when they are done playing (I also have some double-sided foam counters that could be used as well.)  I'll try to snap a picture of them playing next week. 
double plus 1 game

Compound Words

This has been quite a learning experience for me.  I am trying to not let my addictive personality completely take over.  I could be here all night trying to figure new things out.  I have finally figured out how to share my document (so you can actually see it) using Scribd.  For some reason, GoogleDocs does not work for me.  I can't upload my documents.  I would like for the Scribd box to appear smaller, but I'm going to try and "squelch" the perfectionist in me and just let it go for now. 
The following is an activity that I created to help my students practice making and reading compound words.  I laminated and cut them out (cutting the words apart) and placed them on a cookie sheet with a spatula.  The kids are totally having a blast using the spatula to find two cookie halves to make a compound word.  Then they record their findings on the recording sheet.  I'll try to snap a shot of them working on this activity during seatwork/center time.
Compound Word Cookies

A Little Something for Dr. Seuss

The whole reason I started this blog was to "give back" a little of all the wonderful ideas and resources I've come across in Blogland.  I love to create things also and hope that some of what I make might be useful to someone other than just me and my kiddos.  I just started this blog tonight, so I am going to do my best to share this wordwork game with you.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Cat in the Hat Word Sort

Just Getting Started

This is my first (well, really 2nd) attempt to start a blog.  I was a little intimidated the first time and I deleted it before someone stumbled upon it and realized I hadn't a clue what I was doing.  I still don't- but I'm giving it another go.  I work with some pretty fabulous people who got me totally hooked on "blog stalking".  It started out with just teacher related blogs, but quickly spread to other interests.  It's amazing I get anything done in my own classroom or home.  I learn so much from everyone on here and it's inspired me to reconnect to what I loved most about teaching 12 years ago- creating and making learning fun for little ones.