Happy Monday! I am feeling so refreshed today after a nice weekend in San Angelo visiting the padre and stepmom!
On Saturday we went to downtown San Angelo for some shopping and a bit of wine. There is a fun general store downtown called Eggemeyer’s. They have an awesome kitchen gadget section. It’s hard not to buy everything in there!
We stopped to get some Italian Ice, as well. Although from the picture it appears to be “Hatian Ice,” haha. There’s a few other mistakes on this board – there goes the teacher in me!
The “food” fun didn’t end downtown though. I always eat WAY too much when I visit San Angelo. Here’s a peak at why…
Homemade peach cobbler and homemade venison sausage gravy & biscuits.
Carb city for sure, and I loved it!
While we were out of town, my mind started spinning with ideas for things I need to create! Sometimes stepping away from everything is just what you need to get those creative juices flowing again. I’ve been busy working since we got back last night, and I’m linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It linky!
I am really excited about this creation! It was pretty easy (and cheap)!
This week I made digraph practice sticks! I got this idea from Hilary over at [Rockin Teacher Materials]. This is a fun way for students to sort beginning digraph sounds into groups.
Wondering how I made them?? Alright, I’ll share!
First you need to gather all the materials. You’ll need spray paint, paint sticks, and velcro. I was able to get the paint sticks for free at Lowe’s. The grand total of the spray paint and velcro (also at Lowe’s) was about $6.
I laid out all of the paint sticks onto pages from a magazine. All of my cardboard boxes are currently housing my classroom, so I had to improvise!
I put two coats on each side of the paint sticks and waited about 30 minutes between coats. If you’re a perfectionist like myself, make sure you spray the edges of the sticks or you’ll end up annoyed!
Then, I cut the velcro into small squares and attached one side to the paint sticks and the other to the back of laminated digraph tokens.
Now the kiddos can sort the diagraph tokens by attaching them to the paint sticks. This keeps it simple and there’s no mess! No more sorting and a kid accidentally bumping them and causing them to get mixed up because they’re attached to the paint stick! After students sort all of the digraphs by sound, they can quickly draw in the picture and try to spell the word using the correct digraph. I’m not so concerned they spell the words correctly (unless it is a spelling word), but more so that they are practicing writing with that digraph when they hear it.
You can grab the digraph set [HERE].
I’m getting so excited thinking about all of the ways I can use these paint sticks! I chose not to add any permanent labels to them (such as the digraph names) so that I can use them for other sound sorts, as well as sorts in math, science, etc.
Head over to 4th Grade Frolics to see some other great Monday Made It creations!
What a great idea! It could be adapted in so many ways – words sorts, concept sorts, prime and composite numbers for the older kiddos – my wheels are spinning now Bryce! LOL!
That's exactly what I was thinking! And I love how simple they are to make, but will be great for changing things up a bit.
Bryce
That's a pretty brilliant idea!
Anisa @ Creative Undertakings
I thought it was pretty cool when I saw it too! I knew I had to make some.
Bryce
I just LOVE these!!! I am going to have to make some 🙂
I feel the same! I hope they turn out great! 🙂
Bryce