writing
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Using letter manipulatives in the classroom
Yesterday I showed you the cute alphabet letters that I made with Perler beads, and today I want to share some of the ways that I plan on using these in the classroom. These ideas can also be done with any letter manipulatives or magnet letters that you already have, so you don’t need to make the Perler bead letters (but they are really easy to do!). Obviously you can simply use letter manipulatives to spell words, but what about taking it to the next level?! Show your students how to place a piece of paper over their word and use a crayon to create a rubbing. This way they…
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Friday Freebie – Valentine’s Day Writing Paper
Happy Friday! This was a surprise short week for me with my snow day on Monday, so it flew by! Since Valentine’s Day is next weekend I’m saying that this is the official start of Valentine’s week (yes, Valentine’s week) who doesn’t love taking time to share their love with people who are important?! I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve for my favorite people, and since I’ll see them at different times throughout the week, I’ve made it Valentine’s week 🙂 Today’s freebie is one of the first things that I created for my Teacher’s Pay Teachers store, it’s a great little freebie that you can use a few…
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Reggio inspired writing centers
On Monday I talked about how my classroom is ever-changing. I am constantly rotating materials in my centers, so thought I would give some examples for different center materials. Once I gathered a ton of materials for a particular center it was much easier to switch them out frequently. When it comes to the writing center, my students especially love the following language-related materials: Clipboards filled with PLENTY of paper (my students tend to be quite prolific!) A variety of writing utensils (pencils are always available, but I switch in pens, colored pens, colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.) Alphabet stamps Dry erase boards and markers Mini notebooks I also like…
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Friday Freebie – Letters to Santa
Happy Friday! Are you lucky enough to be done with school today?! I have to work next Monday and Tuesday, so I’m still in school mode, but this weekend officially begins my holiday celebration; staff party tonight (yay for pizza with the girls, we do it low-key!), Christmas with my favorite aunt (who also happens to be the best gift-giver) Saturday, and Christmas with my in-laws Saturday and Sunday. With Christmas quickly approaching, there is still time for that last minute letter to Santa! Here is a great little freebie for helping your little ones write that letter. This Letter to Santa set is from Teacher Karma, go download it…
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A Reggio Inspired Word Wall
I use vocabulary lists with my class all the time. They are a great way to keep track of the new words we have learned, and they help keep parents informed too. When I saw this word wall in one of our preschool classrooms I had to share the idea with you. It's a word wall with a Reggio twist - the kids helped the teacher decide which project- related vocabulary words to put on their wall, she wrote them, and then the children wrote them too. I think this is an awesome way to incorporate a traditional word wall, and make it effective and relevant for the children. I’d…
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Using Vocabulary Cards in the Preschool Classroom
I love vocabulary cards. I love them so much that I’ve designed my own and there are always some available in my classroom, but before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you why I love them. I started using vocabulary cards when my students showed an interest in working on their writing skills. They kept asking me how to spell certain words, and how to write specific letters. I eventually got tired of writing certain words over and over on scrap paper so that kiddos could see what the words looked like, so I wrote some on sentence strips. This was a start, but then they couldn’t find…
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What’s in my writing center
I took a couple of weeks off from sharing my writing center, my students were really into my Easter options, so they stayed out for a little longer than I would typically keep them. If the children are choosing writing activities, I’m not putting those activities away! Here’s what I put out for this week: CVC Word eggs: Taking the hint from my kiddos, I found an activity that would continue the Easter fun without actually being Easter-themed. These are so easy to make. I chose a different color egg for each vowel/word family. On one side of the egg I wrote the word families, and on the other side…
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Friday Freebies!
Happy Friday!It’s time for another freebie, and this one is very special to me! This freebie is one that I created to celebrate my 100 amazing followers on Teachers Pay Teachers. I am honored that so many think my work is valuable, and I wanted to share something special with all of you to say thanks! This freebie is designed to take advantage of the fact that summer is coming! Whether you get the summer off, or still work all summer like I do, your class can still enjoy these fun glittery bookmarks. You can enjoy the fact that your students think they are having fun and making a list…
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Why you need an address
Most kids learn their address by repeating it over and over and over without really understanding what it means or why they have to learn it. I really wanted to make this concept a little more meaningful for my kiddos. Earlier this year we did a great activity – you’ve probably seen it on Pinterest – Students use different sized circles to represent the planet, continent, country, state, city, and street that they live on. This was our introduction to our addresses, but we hadn’t really revisited the concept. This time around we drew pictures and wrote simple letters to our families, then we put them in envelopes, and talked…
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What’s in my Writing Center?
Here it is, another installment of “What’s in my Writing Center?” We are really focused on rain and the weather. My kiddos are obsessed with tornadoes, and I am trying to build a foundation for general understanding of the weather through our project work so that they can form a better foundation for what makes tornadoes. To me, this means giving them the vocabulary to use to talk about weather phenomena. I also love that I can use their interests to attract them to other activities! Here’s what in my Writing Center this week: Rain Boot Letter Match. This was one of my small group activities last week, but I…