Sight Words – The Teaching Texan

TPT Seller Challenge Week 3: Create Your Masterpiece!

theteachingtexan — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:38:00 +0000

It’s week 3 of the #TPTSellerChallenge! This week is all about creating a masterpiece!

Let me tell you what, I’ve created just that! This labor of love has taken me several months to complete. But guess what?! It is finally FINISHED! It’s also the sibling of my best selling [Math Intervention Binder].

Before I jump into the specifics of my [Reading Intervention Binder], I’d like to share a bit of background on how intervention is done in my classroom.

First, lets start off by taking a look at when intervention happens in
our classroom. Each day (Monday-Thursday) we are fortunate enough to
have an Intervention Team (I-team) visit for a 50 minute block. The
block is divided into two 25-minute portions. During this time, the
Tier 3 kiddos work with an I-team teacher, while Tier 2 kiddos work with
me. I do one rotation of literacy, then one rotation of mathematics.
While all of this is happening, Tier 1 kiddos work on various activities
(AKA centers) such as iPad apps, math/literacy centers, read to self,
etc (similar to Daily 5 without the mini-lessons).

On Fridays we still have I-Time but the I-Team doesn’t visit the
classroom. I use this time to meet with some of my Tier 1 kiddos to
make sure that they are getting the necessary extensions that they need
to keep advancing. This is also the day that my Tier 2 & 3 kiddos
get to independently work during I-time through centers activities practicing the
skills that we have been focused on throughout the week.

All of this is great, but who has the time to make a bazillion-and-one
activities to target all of the MANY, MANY skills that we should be
covering during intervention??? I know that I don’t! Time with kiddos
during intervention is so precious that I need to be prepared, ready to
go, and in a hurry!

Fortunately, this [binder] has almost a bazillion-and-one activities! Let’s take a look.

The binder is conveniently organized into 6 sections: Phonological Awareness, Comprehension, Concepts of Print, Phonics, Vocabulary & Word Structure, and Writing.

These sections are designed to help you target specifically where a student is struggling (and easily)! They are also aligned to the NWEA Map Test. If your school uses MAP testing as a progress monitoring tool, this is perfect for you! It’s also a fantastic school if your school does not use MAP testing! My new school does not participate in MAP testing, but I will still use this resource daily because I have seen how effective it can be!

Here’s a closer look at what skills are covered in each section.

Phonological Awareness

Concepts of Print

Comprehension

Phonics

Vocabulary & Word Structure

Writing

I choose to utilize this resource as a binder with each page inside of a
page protector so that the kiddos can write on them in dry erase
marker, then erase them for next time! Hello time saver! However, you
could make class sets of specific pages to use as an independent
practice, homework, centers activity, etc. It truly is a versatile
resource!

This makes it so easy for me to have 3 different kiddos working on
different pages or skills at the same time because they are all
organized in one place! Let’s face it… just because you have 3 kiddos
in an intervention group DOES NOT mean that they all 3 need to work on the
exact same skills. But, how can you manage having three 5-year olds
work on different skills at the same time?? When it’s as a simple as
pulling out one page that targets each kiddos needs, it starts to become
a lot easier to target those areas of need!

In honor of the #TPTSellerChallenge, my [Reading Intervention Binder], [Math Intervention Binder], and [Reading & Math Intervention Binder BUNDLE] are all on sale until July 2, 2015!

Visit any of the hosts of the challenge to see lots of other fantastic masterpieces!

[Third in Hollywood]

[Sparkling in Second]

[Peppy Zesty Teacherista]

[Teach Create Motivate]

5 for Friday: This and That

theteachingtexan — Fri, 08 May 2015 10:00:00 +0000

It sure has been a hot minute (excuse my slang) since I’ve linked up with Kacey at [DoodleBugs] for a 5 for Friday post! It just so happens that this week was full of random, so why not share it with everyone?!

Earlier this week I posted about a new sight word game that we’ve been playing. It was super popular when I posted it on Facebook, so I wanted to make sure I included a link here as well. It’s perfect for switching up sight word practice and it’s FREE! I call it [Sight Word Scratch], click the link to read more about it!

There were so many fun perks to this week for Teacher Appreciation – jeans all week, special treats each day, handmade cards…

But, Mexican food just has my HEART! On Wednesday the PTA set up a huge buffet of homemade Mexican food. I literally thought I may have died and gone to heaven.

This week I got my kiddos zoo books that we made laminated and put together. We spent the previous 2 weeks learning about all types of animals with my new [A Zookeeper’s Journal] mini-unit and tons of fiction/nonfiction books & videos.

They were just so excited to see their work in book form! I love helping to inspire young writers!

We started a renovation to our new home about a week ago. We are gutting the kitchen, adding an arch entryway from the kitchen to dining (it’s a wall with a standard door right now), adding a hallway through the center of the house, and creating a mudroom in the existing (awkward) office area.

This is a before picture of the kitchen in all it’s 50s splendor!

One week in and the demo is just about done! Today the flooring crew is coming in to lay new hardwoods to match the existing hardwoods from the rest of the house!

We have 20 days of school left after today (but who’s counting?!). I’m trying my hardest to keep engagement high and behavior in check, but tattling may be the death of me!!! Any awesome tips for getting Kindergarten kiddos to stop tattling?? If not I may have to re-brand the last 20 days as… 20 more days of “Is this a tattle?”

Happy Friday y’all!

Monday Motivation: Sight Word Scratch!

theteachingtexan — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:31:00 +0000

It’s that time of year again… We’ve got just a few short weeks left with our kiddos.

Let’s be honest though, we’re all tired. More like exhausted. Summer can’t come soon enough! BUT, everything worth starting deserves a strong finish, right?

Well, the other day I was thinking about how far my kiddos have come in reading. From the time I joined them in October until now I’ve witnessed astounding growth. But, I know some of my struggling kiddos are still behind in many basic reading pre-reqs, such as recognizing sight words.

That got me searching around on Pinterest (no surprise) and I was inspired by [this] blog post. I tweaked the activity a bit to meet the needs of my classroom.

For Monday Motivation this week I want to share a simple, cheap, and effective strategy for practicing sight words. The key word here is effective (and let’s be honest, cheap and simple are great, too). I like to call this game Sight Word Scratch.

My district has us introduce sight words in “bundles.” Usually a bundle is 5 or 6 words and we teach the bundle over a 2-3 week period and periodically spend some weeks reviewing. Now that we’ve exhausted all the bundles, it’s time to review and make sure we are filling any gaps!

I wrote each word from the first bundle on chart paper (I, an, can, red, blue). Then I made a corresponding note card for each word.

To start out, we reviewed the sight words by using the flash cards and by finding them in text. Then I gave each kiddo in the group a Scentos marker (instant motivation) and we went to town practicing sight words with Sight Word Scratch!

I rotated showing each kiddo a flash card and allowing at max 3 seconds for them to respond. If the kiddo recognized the sight word correctly, he/she got to place an X on that word on the chart paper. So, not only were we practicing reading the sight word, but also finding it in a sea of other words! We played until each word on the chart paper had been X’ed out.

I can see this being adapted in so many ways! You could even just have the words on a regular sized paper, although I preferred the novelty of have the kiddos writing on chart paper and up out of their seats. I could even see groups doing this independently during Daily 5 as a word work. The interventionist who visits my room said she is going to try it out with numbers tomorrow to help kiddos who are still struggling with recognizing written numbers.

Monday Made It: Anchor Wreath & Sight Word Work

theteachingtexan — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:49:00 +0000

I mentioned on Friday that I was working on a project that involved this guy…

Well, I finished what this fun little anchor goes with, and I’m going to share it by linking of with Tara from [4th Grade Frolics] for a Monday Made It post!

Before I get into my creation for today, I wanted to give a bit of background on my inspiration for it. Last year I got caught in the whirlwind of finishing up grad classes, taking comprehensive exams, new teacher training, and getting moved into my classroom that the theme I had in mind (Western) never really came to fruition.

That was an OK enough excuse for last year, but I am not about to let it happen again! This year I am going with a nautical theme in red/navy/white. I was searching through Pinterest (as usual) and found this really cool looking wreath. I clicked on it of course. It took me to an Etsy sight and the wreath was quite a bit more than I was willing to spend.

What to do…. Well I decided to make one myself! Here’s the finished product. (Warning: There are quite a few pictures!)

I love it! I can’t wait to make/get more things for my classroom theme this year!

Here’s how I made it…

First gather all of your supplies. You’ll need yarn (I chose navy and white), ribbon (I chose red), glue sticks and a hot glue gun, a foam circle, scissors, and rope. I had already made the anchor before starting the wreath – but that was just a wooden cutout, red acrylic paint, and a white paint pen. I got all of the supplies from Michael’s.

I started out by marking 2 lines in the middle of the circle. This made it easy to know where to start one color and stop the previous color.

Then, I used the hot glue gun to get a good hold between the end of the yarn and the circle.

FYI, when I started I kept the yarn attached to the whole bundle. This got tedious because you have to feed the bundle through the circle each time you wrap another bit of yarn around the circle. I started cutting large pieces of yarn – it was a lot easier to manage! If you glue the end of one yarn piece down and start the beginning of the next piece right on top of the other one you can’t even see where it ends/begins.

After MUCH patience, I got the whole thing wrapped in yarn! Phew! I used a lot of hot glue (probably more than necessary) to get the yarn to stay exactly where I wrapped it.

I added some red ribbon as an accent in between each color.

I used the same red ribbon to create a hook for hanging the wreath. I just wrapped it around, added some hot glue and stuck the end of the ribbon back into the glue to create the loop.

Next, I added the finished anchor to the wreath using hot glue.

Finally, it was time to add the rope!

Voila! I plan to hang it on the wall right outside my classroom.

Since it’s Monday Made It, I wanted to share my latest TPT creation as well!! I know that I shared it on Friday, but I am just so excited about it!

Over 135 pages of sight word practice with activities like read it, trace it, rainbow write it, use it build it; fluency passages; sight word graphing; and flash cards! I can’t wait to use it during reading centers this year. You can grab a copy of my Mega Sight Word Practice Pack [HERE].

Five for Friday: Fourth of July Weekend!

theteachingtexan — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 08:35:00 +0000

Happy Friday, and Happy Fourth of July!!

It may be a holiday, but there is ALWAYS time for a little 5 for Friday action!

After we finished both season of Orange is the New Black, we moved onto House of Cards. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!!! Could most certainly be my new favorite show! Unfortunately, we have finished both season of House of Cards, and now we need a new show to occupy our time. Please give me some suggestions!!

On Wednesday I took my car in for a routine oil change. I left in a rental car…

Why?

Well, there were a couple of big recalls on my baby (aka Keisha). Sad day…. Thankfully the dealership paid for a rental car and had my girl ready to pick up the next day. They even gave her a bath and vacuumed. I was SO excited to get Keisha back. I really dislike driving strange cars!

Doesn’t she look pretty??

I took a trip to Michael’s this week and picked up a ~~few~~ a basket of things! I’m currently working on a project that I hope to reveal on Monday for a Monday Made-It post. You’ll have to check back then to see what I’m going to make with this cool wooden anchor that I picked up!

I am so excited about this next project! I have been working on it for quite some time. It’s my first big packet (over 140 pages), and I am thrilled that it is finally FINISHED!

Last year I could never find a sight word packet that had everything that I was looking for, and I often found myself searching around for certain activities. No longer! Because I decided to create my own!

This [MEGA Sight Word Pack] has over 135 pages of sight word practice pages! The activities included are: Read It, Trace It, Rainbow Write It, Use It, Build It; Fluency Passages; Flash Cards; and Sight Word Graphing. I’m so excited to have this resource because it’s going to give my kiddos tons and tons of sight word practice without doing the same old practice every day!

I also built in a little math with the sight word graphing pages. Students will create a bar graph AND picture graph showing how many words in the box were the focus sight word and how were not. Love it!

You can grab a copy of this packet [HERE].

We are headed off to Brenham (outside of College Station) today for the fireworks at Washington on the Brazos. I’m excited to get away again, AND Saturday one of Dustin’s best friends is having a birthday party for her daughter who is turning ONE!

I was in charge of getting the gift, so I went to [Baby Bliss]. I believe they are only in the DFW area, but you can check out their online store. One of my new favorite things is to shop for babies!

Check out this adorable dress that I picked up for her! I got some coral leggings to go under, and of course because I am a teacher I had to get her a book as well.

Well, I hope that you all have a fantastic 4th of July full of laughter with the ones you love!