Intervention Binders

Last year I bought a Math intervention binder off of TpT.  While it is totally awesome, it did not suit all of my needs or my students' needs.  So, I came up with my own.  These were super easy to put together once I came up with what I was going to do.  I simply decide on the topic of the binder, then add various practice sheets and games about that topic.

I have several binders set up: alphabet, shapes, math, numbers, comprehension, number tracing, and letter tracing.  You have seen pictures of the number and letter binders before when I talked about my inclusion box.  Some pages I have made myself (such as the letter and number tracing pages), but  I use a lot of pages by the Moffat Girls and then other various sheets I have.  I like the Moffat girls because it is more than just tracing or writing.  Annie Moffat includes a lot of games and activities in her No Prep packs.  I put each sheet in a page protector so the sheets can be re-used.  Each binder is organized a bit differently.  The alphabet binder is more of a mix, where the shapes binder is organized by shape.  I also add a zipper pouch or resealable bag (just put duct tape on the edge to make it durable before you hole punch it) to the front that I can store dry erase markers, an eraser, dice for games, game markers, etc in.

 Now, we just grab a binder and use it to practice these skill at any time.  I find this great for when we have an extra 5 minutes or I end up with an extra person that can work with someone individually.   The kids think it is neat because they can write on the page protector and it just wipes off.

Just an extra note that the Learning Ahoy caddy next to all the binders holds clipboards, extra markers, erasers, etc.

Managing Related Services

The common question this time of year is "How many days do you have left?".  Well, I do know the answer (9, including the teacher workday) however, I also know that I am already planning for next year.  Knowing that I am not alone in this, I thought this post about how I remember who goes to which related service may help you get a head start in getting ready for the 2016-2017 school year.



























                                                                                                                                               One of the more confusing things for me is figuring out and remembering who has which related service (OT, PT, speech, Vision, etc.) when.  I also have a few students who go to services outside of school so I need to remember when they might be leaving early or come in late.

To combat all of this confusion I made this chart.   On the left are the days of the week and on the top are the different services.  Each student is assigned a different color sticky note.  We put the student's initials and the time of the  service on the sticky note and then just stick it to the chart. 

This provides a quick reference for me when setting up for the day.  This chart also allows for related services to come in and see if they could work with a student during another time to make up a service or rearrange the schedule.   I use sticky notes because I can easily change them out as needed. 

To protect confidentiality this chart does not hang out when it is visible by anyone.  It is in my desk area black cubby hole where no one dares to enter, but myself unless they really need to look at this chart. 

In addition to the large chart, I have made a smaller chart that I can stick in my plan book.  I can laminate it and then write on it with a permanent marker.  When things change, a little bit of nail polish remover will take the marker right off.  Then I am able to write in the changes.  If you have a poster maker or access to a poster maker, you could also print this page out as a poster instead of hand drawing your page like I do.    If you would like to check it out, just click on this link and download it from my google drive. 

Sight word game: Oh Shamrock!!

I just wanted to share a quick picture of my kiddos playing on of my favorite sight word games, Oh Shamrock!! This is one of my favorite games and I have a bunch of different versions of it.  I have recently added some movement cards because we all know that our kiddos need to move more.  You can find this game in my TpT store and if you want to try one out I also have a version of the game up for free.

☘ Oh Shamrock! is a fun sight word game using the first 100 FRY words, that students of all ages love!  It is great to play for St. Patrick's day or all March long.

☘ Students pick out one card from a basket and read the word. If they get it correct they keep the card. If a student pulls “Oh Shamrock!”, then they must put all of their cards back in the basket. The winner is the student with the most cards at the end of play.

☘A I have also included additional cards included for extraordinary fun such as:
Pass cards to the right, All players do 10 jumping jacks and Trade your cards with another player.

Sight word Fun!

I have a 2nd-grade group this year that is focusing just on sight word knowledge and fluency.  We work specifically on 5 different words each week but incorporate others into our games and activities to make sure we are reviewing other words.

 This first game the kids call the smartie game.  They ask to play on an almost daily basis.   I found the original idea here and adapted it to fit out needs. I use 5 cups and write one of our weekly words on each cup.  I then hide a smartie under one of the cups and move the cups around trying to confuse the kids.  To make it a bit more difficult, I have the cups facing me while I mix them up.  Once I stop and turn the cups back around, the kids write on a white board what word they think the smartie is under. They are all very secretive about their answer.  We then lift up each cup after reading the word to find out who was right. If they get it right they get a smartie.

This is an activity that I made with one of my non-verbal students in mind.  Trains are of high interest so I used train clipart and put the words on each car.  I then call out a word and the student moves the Thomas the Train piece to the word.  The Thomas the train piece was something my son had lying around on the floor in the playroom and I just put it to good use. 

Another favorite activity of my students is magnifying to sight words.  They tell me that this is like detective work.  I pick out a picture of something seasonal, for example, this week I used a ground.  I then open the picture in power point and just add words to the pictures using a text box  I like to make the font a size 3 so it is super tiny.  I then give a place for the kids to write the words once they find them.  You can find lots of these already made if you do not want to make your own. 

This next activity involves using sight word videos from Heidi's songs.  If you haven't checked out Heidi's videos I highly suggest it.  I not only use the videos for sight words, but my early childhood special education kiddos love learning their letters and numbers of the week using the videos. I play the videos and the kids sing along and write the words on their white boards.  The goal of this activity is to work on spelling the words more than recognizing them (This group of kids have a particular difficulty with writing their words). 

We also play a lot of card games.  I have a bunch in my store that the kids love to play.  Their favorites are Oh Peep! and Alien's steal underpants.  In these games, the students pull out a card and read the word.  Some cards have different sayings on them (Such as Oh Peep! Or Aliens stole your underpants!) which have the students do different things like put all of their cards back or pass their cards to the right.   You can go from having the most cards to the least very quickly.  You can check out all of these games by going to this link.. 

Pass the sight words

A few weeks ago I shared an activity on my facebook page from Fun in First about her pass the plate activity where the teacher write a sight word on a stack of plates.  The students sit in a circle and pass the plates around the circle while music is playing.  When the music stops, the student reads the word on their plate.  I loved this idea, but needed to adapt it to fit my group better.

I have a second grade pull-out group of 5 students that work on sight words.  We are not only working on reading the words, but writing the words.  So I decided to use the die cut machine to cut out some evergreen trees.  I had the students each write 5 of the words from our sight word flashcards.  We then turned on some holiday music and passed the trees around the table.  The para professional that helps out with this group and I also participated.  This way the kids heard us read the words.  I also added in an extra tree so that someone would end of with extra words to read (the kids did not mind one bit).  We played for a solid 20 minutes and the kids begged to keep going.   To say it was a hit is an understatement.  I plan on playing this game once a month or so with different cut outs.

Check out some of my other sight words activities by clicking here or check out some of my games on TpT. 

Jelly bean numbers & sight words (freebie)

Last week while working on the sight words with one of my students he requested that I put sight words in plastic eggs.  I have posted about how I do this before with a sight word egg hunt, but this is a student that I only work with for 30 minutes a day so I wanted to figure out another way for us to do this.  I sat down at the computer and this activity is what came of it.

This really simple.  All you do is print out the page with the numbers & sight words (I chose to print them on brightly colored cardstock) and stick the numbers or words in eggs depending on which ones you are using.   Now that Easter is over, I am going to see if I can find some of the jelly bean eggs on sale.  (If you see them let me know!)  To complete this activity the kiddo pulls an egg from the basket, opens is (fine motor), reads the word/number, and then finds the matching jellybean on their paper, color it in, then close the egg back up.  With my sight word kids, I had them put the egg back in the basket so if they pulled it again then they practiced the word again.  With the little one in these pictures, I put the egg to the side after she opened it.

This activity went over great!  The little one in the picture has been giving me a run for my money lately since I try to push her at the end of the school day.  I have not been able to get her to work on anything for any length of time.  This activity however, caught her attention right away.  I plan on using this again after spring break to keep the learning and review rolling.

So after all of this are you ready to download this activity.  It is posted for free in my TpT store!


I would love to know how you use this and what your students think of it. Please leave a comment letting me know

Getting Festive for Fall with the VA Bloggers

So how has the hop been treating you so far?  I love blog hops.  I get to check out new blogs and get lots of new ideas.

Fall if my favorite season.  Partly because I grew up on a pumpkin and Christmas tree farm in NJ that had the Application Mountains in our backyard.  The fall view was always gorgeous. Now that I have moved down here to VA I don't get to see as much of the beautiful changing colors, but I do enjoy the weather.








In my classroom we are busy talking about community helpers, fire safety, and my favorite PUMPKINS!  We have been playing one of my favorite letter games called Oh Pumpkin.  It is a forever freebie in my store so if you have not downloaded it already, what are you waiting for?










There seems to be a lot of Halloween themed freebies going around right now so I thought I would make my freebie Thanksgiving/November themed.  This will give you ahead start on planning for next month.  This is a color by word activity that works on different sight words.  It is free for this hop ONLY!!! It will go to paid item on Monday so get while it is free!!  Click here to get Thanksgiving Color By Code: Sight Word.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop.  Now it is time to head on over to The Techie Teacher to see what Julie is cooking up!

Throwback Thursday Pirate Style!

Picture Credit: David Willbanks

It is time for another Throwback Thursday over at The Teaching Tribune.  Keeping with the pirate theme for this week, I am reposting a game I made when I first began blogging.  This game continues to be a class favorite.  Of course, I do not have any pictures of the kids playing it!  I put the sticks in a sand bucket to help fit the theme. 

**This post originally appeared on Learning Ahoy!! on June 12, 2011**

Ship Wrecked! (math & sight word game!)

After seeing a game called Don't Get Zapped on Swap Frog First Graders (I love this blog by the way) I decided to add my own spin to the game to make it fit the pirate theme. The name of the game is Shipped Wrecked. Students pick a stick and read the work or solve the problem. If they get it correct they get to keep the stick, if they get it wrong they put it back. If they pick a stick that says Ship Wrecked then they need to put all of their sticks back. If they pull a stick that says trade with another player, then they need to give their sticks to another player and the other player takes the first players sticks. I think lose a turn is self explanatory :o)

To make this game, print out the game sheet on to address labels. Then cut in half and place on craft sticks.


Let me know your thoughts and if you have any other ideas on how this game can be adapted. Also, please check out Swamp Frog First Graders if you haven't already by clicking on the button.

Ship Wrecked Addition to 20

Ship Wrecked Sight Words

**End of post**

Deck the Halls(freebie)

**Check out this post for an update on my Gingerbread man stuff!!!**

Have you started your wish list for the TPT cyber Monday sale?  You will be able to save up to 28% at my store and a lot of other stores. I have joined some of my blogging buddies in a links party to showcase some of our favorite products to the tune of some of our favorite Christmas Carols.

Let's get this party started with I'm Dreaming of a Christmas Product.  This is my latest interactive book featuring cute little gingerbread men (and women).  These gingerbread people are dreaming of being put in the correct spot such as over the house or between the elves.  My students have loved doing the different versions of these book.  Be on the look out for the student edition sometime this week!  

Next on our playlist is It's Beginning to look a lot like Reading.  This sight word game, Oh Snow, will have your students rocking and rolling into the new year with sight word confidence.  Put all of snowman cards in a fun winter container.  Students take turns pulling cards and reading the word.  If they pull Oh Snow!   The students needs to out all if his/her cards back.

And the last song on my playlist is Walking in a math Wonderland. This gingerbread themed practice sheet works on time to the nearest 5 minutes.  Best of all, it is FREE!

There are lots of other song on the playlist! Remember to use the code to save at TPT on 12/2 & 12/3!

Head over to Buntings, a Books, and Bainbridge and sing your way into Christmas break.

http://bainbridgeclass.blogspot.com/2013/12/deck-halls-with-tpt-linky-party.html

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!

Monster Freebies!

I did a quick update to my Monster freebies from last October.  Now they are updates and all in one easy download from Google Docs.  Use these to practice numbers 1 -12, letters A-Z and some basic sight words.   Let me know if you like them and how you use them as I may make more (which will also be free)!

Click on the picture or here to get your copy.  Enjoy!!












I am linking up with Maniac Monday   & Freebie Friday for this post.  Check it out for more freebies!!