Educational creativity

Sight Word Darts          In first grade, sight words are not just important for reading, but a very long list of 238 words are a grade.  Learning these words will help students read more fluently and move up reading levels.        For readers who are on first grade level or higher, the words come easily through reading. But for the struggling readers I work with, these words are confusing and a chore to learn.  Because these readers do not catch on to these words through drill and practice, I had to come up with some fast, easy, fun ways to practice sight words without spending a lot of money.      You can purchase these at the Dollar Tree.  They have a sticky end that will stick to anything until they get too dirty.  I was able to get them to work longer by cleaning them with water.  I have gone through 2 packs in 6 months.  Which is still fairly che...

Valentine's Day is all about love and hearts. This one is my favorite.  It was a gift from one of my parents.  It could also be used during a Mother's Day theme or a farm theme since the puppy lives on a farm.  This cute puppy travels the farm to see what kisses from other animals are like just to find out his mother gives the best kisses.  Also comes in Spanish edition.      This is another one of my favorites.  It encourages children to be creative while making valentines for friends.  We always made something with lots of heart cut outs after reading this one. Aurthur's Valentine Countdown by Marc Brown Bear Hugs by Karma Wilson & Suzanne Watts The Best Thing about Valentines by Eleanor Hudson I Love Hugs by Lara Jones I Love you All Day Long by Francesca Rusackas Love and Kisses by Sarah Wilson Mouse's First Valentine by Lauren Thompson The Night Before Valentine's Day by Natasha Wing The Secret Valentine by Johanna...

I love Jan Brett and her books.  Here is her website  that will give you all kinds activities and information about her and her books.  The Mitten is one of those books I love working with in the winter.  We don't get much cold weather down here, but it has been cold since we' ve come back from break.  So, why not use that weather to experiment and read some great winter books. The kids I'm working with have never seen real snow, so we did a little writing about it. If it snowed, I would   ("would" is the sight word we worked on) We read The Mitten by jan brett and The Mitten by Alvin Tesselt an older version. We used a story map to retell each story. We used a compare and contrast graphic organizer with the two versions of the story. If you have a-z leveled books available to you, there is another version of the story at level d.  it is a little low for my kids but we can practice fluency and k...