Alphabet review

B received these neat Melissa and Doug flash cards for Christmas and I just had to share them!  They are called Melissa & Doug Water Wow Activity Book - Alphabet  After looking at Amazon, I realized there a bunch of them and right now they are an add one (in other words cheap if you are buying something else).
There are Numbers, Animals, and Vehicles in addition to the alphabet cards.

The cards come with a ring to store them on and a little case for the water pen that also hooks to the ring.  To use the cards you fill the pen with water and "paint" on the cards to reveal the picture and trace the letter.  When the card dries you can do it again!  I think this would be a great activity to use in preschool or with K-2 kids to review their alphabet.  Once B outgrows these flash cards they will definitely be moving to my classroom.

Thanksgiving Freebie!

Hi All!  I know we are all busy with the month of November and the holidays creeping up on us.  I wanted to share some of my past Thanksgiving Freebies with you so that you might be able to use them in your festivities.

The first is a Color by the Code: Sight Words.  This has cute turkeys and pilgrims. Students color the boxes by the code to reveal the answer to a riddle or question.  You can check it out by clicking on the picture.





Another freebie I have made for Thanksgiving is my Oh Turkey pre-primer sight word game.  Don't be surprised if you look at it today and it looks a bit different tomorrow.  I am in the process of updating some of my November files.  You can get this game by clicking here or on the picture.  While you are at my TPT store be sure to check out all of the other Turkey stuff I have.




My last Thanksgiving freebie is a generic Thanksgiving themed game board.  I originally made it to practice math facts with my students.   This year I am going to use it to review letters and numbers with my preschoolers.   You can add your own task cards, write words in the spaces, etc.  Let me know how you use it as I am always looking for new ideas. If you would like to get a copy of this just click on the  picture!


I hope you found something useful!  Please leave a comment if you downloaded something so I know that you liked it (then I will keep making more!).  Also if you do not follow on Facebook consider joining the ship so you never miss a freebie (Sometimes I post freebies just for my Facebook followers!).

I have linked this post up at 
http://www.talesfromoutsidetheclassroom.com/2013/11/thanksgiving-freebies-linky.html.

Check it out for more freebies!

March Shapes

Every month we practice a different skill using shapes. I have shown this before in one of my sight word posts.

This month we have community signs on shamrocks. We also have a few coins thrown in there with an American symbol or two. Just trying to keep it crazy interesting.

Sometimes I use these as flashcards, but most of the time I spread them out on the carpet and call one out for the kids to find.  This is a great way to work on receptive language.  Occasionally I will have one  student  tell the others what to find.   Now we are throwing some expressive language in there.   This also provides the opportunity to work on some gross and fine motor skills.  The kids needs to bend over to pick up the shapes and I usually make them out of thinner paper so they need to really use their fingers and pincer grasp to pick them up.

I love activities that practice multiple skills at one time!!

OH PEEP!! Preview

I love making various versions of the game Oh No!, but I always wonder how they go in other classrooms. So to find out I asked a few of my fellow teacher bloggers to help me out. The first one who used it was Patty over at Second in Line. If you have not checked out her blog, you really should. She is hysterical!! She has lots of pictures and explanations about Oh PEEP!

Heather over at Teaching Through Turbulence also checked out OH PEEP!.  She used it with her students to work on social skills in addition to sight words. If you have never read Heather's blog, you need to check it out.  She has some great ideas for special education and loves to share!

 When I first added this game to my store, I also gave it away to one of my Facebook Fans. (Here comes the shameless Facebook plug) Other times when I have posted a new item I have made it free for 15 minuets and announced it on my Facebook page. My point here..... if you are not a fan on Facebook, sail over and board the ship! You never know what good deal or great idea I might post or share! You can get to the Facebook Fan page by clicking here or clicking on the Facebook icon to the right.

 If you would like to check out OH PEEP! or any of the other sight word games I have made check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store or my Teacher's Notebook Store. I am always adding more!! I also love suggestions on what you might like to see or changes I can make to make a game or activity better.



 I am done with my plug now!! If you have hung on this long, I highly suggest going to check out both  Patty's blog and Heather's blog.

Oh turkey! (Revisit)

I have gained a lot of new followers since I posted this last year. I thought we should revisit Oh Turkey! so all of the new comers to check it out also (and those of you who missed it or forgot you had it can get it also!).

 Here is the description from my TPT store: This 15 page document includes various versions of the game "Oh Turkey!" for your students to enjoy. The first set is all of the upper and lowercase letters. The second set is numbers 1-20 along with turkeys programmed with dots for numbers 1 -10 so that students can also practice 1:1 correspondence. The third set is the Dolch pre-primer sight words. To play students pick out one turkey from a basket and read the letter/word/number. If they get it correct they keep the turkey. If a student pulls "Oh Turkey!", then they must put all of the turkeys back in the basket.

 I will say my students LOVE this game! I can't wait to pull it out so we can start playing again.  Click here to go to my TPT store.  You can also find  Thanksgiving freebies by checking out the freebie tab up top!

Touch and Feel Picture Cards

A few weeks ago I was asked to review the Touch and Feel Picture Cards from Achievement Product. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but after receiving them, I like love them and so does my 2 year old. Each of these cards has a letter of the alphabet, a picture to go with the letter, the ASL sign for the picture, Braille for the letter and picture, plus something kind of tactile stimulation. Some cards are scratch and sniff, some fuzzy, some have a rough spot; the card for V even has strings the violin. The set also included a card that has all of the letters of the alphabet and the Braille to go with it. Both my 5 year old, A, and my 2 year old, B, like these, but I will say B is constantly taking them out. I have not even been able to take them to school yet to try them out with my student because B uses them everyday. He likes to sit with me so I can say each letter. He then repeats it and touches or smells the card. ( I was hoping to add a picture of him, but he is not cooperating tonight...) I am thinking I am going to have to buy another set so that I can take them into my classroom. I could see using these cards with my students who are nonverbal and learning the alphabet. I also thought about when we teach our Famous Americans unit that includes Helen Keller, these would be a great way for students to feel Braille first hand.

Click here to check out the Touch and Feel Picture Cards from Achievement Products. Also check out the rest of their site. They have a lot of neat stuff for younger students!