We love finger flashlights!

During BEAR (Be Excited About Reading) time today, I brought out the finger flashlights for the kids to use. Since it was a new activity during that time (tends to be distracting), I had them read their Edmark words so they could play a little bit. We turned out the lights and the kids had a blast! If you watch this little guy, he draws a C in the air with his flashlight, I think it helps him remember the word see:)

Number Words

This has been a fun center for my kiddos lately. To practice spelling number words, I have them use letter beads. I got plastic pencil boxes (the ones that open up like a drawer) at the Dollar Store and put a foam number on the front. I placed the beads they would need inside with a pipe cleaner. A few kids have needed a sheet with the number and the word written to check their spelling. I could even differentiate it further by just having the foam letter stickers spell out the number on the front and they can match letters. I think I might make some more with the first 20 Edmark words, too!

Using Word Wizard with Journeys

My students have been responding well to using word wizard to explore their sight words for the week on Monday morning. I place them out on the table and they get their iPad, open up the Word Wizard app and spell out the words. Word Wizard reads it back to them. I like that they are exploring it on their own the first time they see the word. I'm not worried about them spelling it incorrectly (putting b for a d, etc.) because they are noticing that they word doesn't sound right. I cue them in that it doesn't make sense and prompt them on what letter they need to correct to get the right word. They love it!

Some of My Favorite Tips

One of my favorite tips that helps with classroom organization is to have timers on plastic coil keyrings. They are inexpensive (from Walmart) and can just be set in the back of these clip timers. The timers you would use would have to have something on the back (like a clip) for the keyring to hook into. I have them hanging on magnetic hooks all around the room and keep one on my wrist when I need to time something.

I Love My Burlap Pennant Banners

I purchased three adorable burlap pennant banners from Etsy at the end of the summer. I get so many compliments on them when people see them. I purchased them from Gifts by Gaby. She created them so quickly! I have the two below as well as a READ banner.

Absolutely love them and I already see some more products I may have to get for next year!

I just want to play with this!

We recently finished our unit on matter. We used the FOSS kit and got additional beans for the soup mix activity. We had small group centers that we rotated through and we wanted each kid to get really hands on. I had some of the beans left over and put them in one of my Sterilite Target containers. Today I added some of my letter stringing beads (two of each letter). Tomorrow I will just introduce it to the kids, but I will work on some type of recording sheet for them to use during centers.

Quiet Spot

All classes could use a quiet spot, but over the years, it has come to be an essential behavior management tool for my students. I use papasan chairs that I bought from Target a few years ago. I have seen similar ones from WalMart. I have some posters that I printed from Boardmaker Share with pro-social language and a mirror. When I first have to implement it with a student, they don't realize that it is something I WANT them to do, that I am okay that they are leaving the activity. I let them blow off steam and once in a while ask if they are ready to talk. Based on the child's needs or if they have a behavior plan, we work through the problem and discuss alternatives to what they could have done. I use a lot of the following language:

• big deal/little deal
• solving the problem
• let's move on
• First....Then....statements

It's been a place that the kids use when they are feeling fine and when they have something going on that is really making the moment/day hard for them. Hope it works for you, too!