Trade and Grade...Working on Long & Short Vowels!

I am so excited to be participating in this month's Trade and Grade hosted by Amanda over at Primary Gal!

This month I got the chance to trade with Laura over at Differentiation Station Creations.  I got to "grade" her long and short vowel unit which is a super cute and effective unit for teaching students to differentiate between long and short vowels in a word.

She uses cute vowel characters to help students remember the vowel sounds for each letter.

There are a variety of different types of vowel cards in the packet.  You can have students sort a mix of all vowels or just the short/long version of a certain vowel.

I had some of my students sort a mixture of the vowels onto mats during small group instruction as a review.  Once we had completed the activity, I placed the mats on the front of buckets and placed the activity in one of the stations for review.  The kids loved the characters and sorting the pictures into the buckets!

Also included in this packet is a great printable flip book for reviewing the short and long vowels.  This is not only a great activity but you could refer back to this this for reviewing short/long vowels whenever your students need a quick review.

You can pick up a free sampler of this activity by clicking the image below!

You can purchase the whole packet in Laura's TpT store by clicking on the cover below!

Laura is reviewing my Super e Unit!  Head on over to her blog to check it out!

And finally, you can go check out the rest of the Trade and Grade Reviews and grab up the free samples by clicking on the image below!

Happy Trading and Grading!
Stephany

Favorite Beach/Pool Gear

We are linking up with Across the Hall in 2nd to share some of our favorite beach/pool things.

We do not have a beach where we live; however, we have a good teacher friend who lets us use her pool.

Here are a few things that I consider to be "must-haves" when headed to the pool.

First, everyone must have a good bag.  The bag that I bring all my pool/beach gear has small holes for wet towels, sand, etc.  It is also super sturdy.  It's not too big and not too small.  I purchased it at Target a couple of years ago and it's still durable and somewhat fashionable.

 

Next, I make sure to pack along some sunscreen.  It can get steamy hot here, in Indiana.  I usually pack one kind for the kids and one for me.  My favorite brands are Banana Boat and Oil of Olay when it comes to sunscreen.

I also like to take a few books to the pool or beach for some relaxing reading.  These are the two books that I am currently reading.  The only bad part about take a book you love is when someone SPLASHES you and the book gets soaked!  Has that ever happened to anyone else?

 
But, we always like to give back to our followers, so grab this Summer Fun in the Sun ABC Order Freebie before linking up your favorite pool/beach must-haves.  Link up with Across the Hall in 2nd.

 

Endless Possibilities,

Stephanie

Fabulous Fall Freebie!

I am linking up with 2nd Grade Pad for  "My Favorite Freebie."  I created this Johnny Appleseed Mini-Unit as a celebration/thank you for making my goal on Teachers Pay Teachers for the quarter!  It's my favorite because it has a ton of great activities in it!  Fall is by far my favorite season, so I thought it would be fitting to create a fall related unit.  It's fabulous because it is 30 pages of free, free, free!  AND.... it is Common Core Aligned!  Click HERE to get it for free.

Johnny Appleseed Craftivity

 Apple Taste Testing Survey

 Real & Nonsense Word Sort

Apple Ten Frames

It also has 2 emergent readers, counting apples activity, and an apple food taste testing with sequencing.  

Go check out all of the other linked up freebies at 2nd Grade Pad and don't forget to leave feedback on all the freebies to show your appreciation! 

I plan on trying to do a freebie like this every quarter as kind of a thank you to our followers here and my followers on TpT, so make sure you follow!  

Endless Possibilities,

Stephany

"Frugal Finds" Linky Party

Who doesn't love a good deal?  Regardless of what you call them in your part of the country (Dollar Tree, Dollar Deals, Dollar Store....) you can get the BEST stuff there.  You know you have a problem when you are whipping out your iPhone and sending pictures to all your teacher friends of stuff they need to get in there and buy RIGHT THIS MINUTE before some other crazy teacher comes in and buys ALL of them.  You also know that you are in good company with your obsession when your teacher friends text you back immediately and say "How many are there and where are you?"

So here are my Dollar Tree finds from this week and how I plan to use them...

Here are some items I saw and had to share but didn't buy ...yet :).

Link up with your cheap finds and let us know where you found them!

~Stephany~

Linky Party- Pet Peeve

Jessica over at Mrs. Stanford's Class is having a linky party!

Pet Peeve...

My pet peeve about blogs is kind of hilarious.  Our blog is managed and maintained by three primary teachers.  Often, when I go to follow a blog, one of my colleagues has already visited that blog and followed and posted.  Not knowing, I go ahead and post.  On top of that, my name is Stephanie and my blogging colleague is Stephany.  Yes!  We are both Stephanie's!  (both spelled differently too!)  Anyway, after we post and/or follow, we realize, the other one has already followed or posted.  That is so annoying.  But, I would not have it any other way.  The three of us are working well with each other and are enjoying this blogging experience to its fullest.  And as always, we welcome your comments.

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie (with an 'ie')

I have to add a pet peeve here too.  I think one pet peeve that I have is when a blog doesn't have a list of tags or a search button.  Sometimes I find a blog and it has great ideas and I want to see if they have any ideas on another topic but they don't have a way to search their blog.   Add those search boxes or tags so I can stalk your blog better! :) 


Stephany (with a y)