Get Your Game On

More game ideas to come with this "Get Your Game On" Series on Primary Possibilities.

Endless Possibilities,

Stephanie and Stephany

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

Hands-On Stations (with a chance to win)

First of all...  Congratulations to Katie from Creating Teaching Inspiring and Rebecca from Ladybugs Lounge!!  They both won Stephany's Summer Fun Awards!!

Are your students more engaged when working with hands-on manipulatives during literacy and math stations?  Mine sure do...  especially this time of year.  Well, now it is time to dig out the sidewalk chalk, hula-hoops and BINGO daubers!  I even get excited about going outside to use sidewalk chalk!!

Here are some ideas of how you can use some of these easy to find products with your students.

Sidewalk Chalk- Take your students outside to write word wall words, sight words, sentences, practice letter formation, and even math facts.  Students of all ages can practice math facts using sidewalk chalk.

Hula Hoops- Use hula hoops to create Venn diagrams, compare shapes, compare and contrasts animals or another topic, or sort items that are alike or different.  I even use hula-hoops in math.  Students can use them to add two or more groups together.

BINGO Daubers- now here is the part I am most excited about.  I have created the following Daubers Mega Pack to use at literacy and math stations.

Do you have buckets of BINGO daubers stored somewhere in a cabinet in your classroom?  Are you looking to put them to use with engaging hands-on learning?  Just look at how many my colleague, Stephany, has in her first grade classroom!

All you have to do is put them in a cute bucket like you see pictured below.  Then print the printables from the Daubers Pack.

Look at the previews below for the skills that are included in this pack.

If you are thinking about purchasing this pack, just wait...  I am going to give it away to three followers who comment below.  All you have to do is comment with your email address and how you plan to use this in your classroom.

Good Luck,
Stephanie

St. Patrick's Day Station Work

Is St. Patrick's Day really right around the corner?  I just can not believe it!
I just finished my St. Patrick's Day themed Sentence Scramblers.  There are five sentences to use throughout the week.  Each sentence can be used for literacy stations, whole group, or independent learning. Each sentence includes:
* words for a pocket chart for whole group modeling or independent literacy station work
* individual sentence strips to use for cut-a-sentence
* large picture to use for pocket chart
* individual picture to use for cut-a-sentence
This packet also includes an accountability sheet for literacy station work. This would be great to use for the 5 days leading up to St. Patrick's Day. I have also included 3 sentences with periods, 1 using a question mark, and 1 using an exclamation mark.  Here is a preview of what is included in the packet. 

 

 

If you leave a blog post comment, I will choose two random winners to win this packet.  I will post the winners Tuesday.

Here is a little freebie from Stephany's Jelly Bean Math Stations.  Click on the picture below to go check it out.

 Have a Great Week,
Stephanie 

Literacy Stations and More

This post is mostly about literacy stations in a kindergarten classroom.  Today I took a few photos of my kindergarten class working at literacy stations.  The first two pictures are of students at the computer station.  My students usually go to Starfall.com.  This site includes literacy activities for kindergarten and first grade students.

 Erica Bohrer has a free packet on TpT with directions for Starfall.com and other Computer Station games.  Click the image below to get it for free.

  

The next photo is of students working on "cut-a-sentences" and gluing them into an independent book.  I simply stapled small pieces of plain paper together as the pages of the book.  I call this station "create a sentence, create a book".

 I also came across a freebie by Christie from First Grade Fever.  The freebie includes several sight word playdough mats.  They are super cute and print in black and white.  Below are a few photos of students working on sight words with playdough.

Students also participate in independent reading and partner reading during literacy stations.  Below is a picture of a student reading independently from her book box.  The boxes came from IKEA.  I took photos and glued them to the front for easy identification.

 What do you do for small groups?  We would love to hear how your stations are managed and what you have found to be successful.

I want to thank Stephany Dillon!!  The fonts used in the text boxes above are from her Super Cute Font Pack!!  I also want to thank Mr. Magician for the glittery borders!!

Endless Possibilities,

Stephanie

Witches Brew Unit

There are two things I wanted to blog about.  The first is not school related, but...  Did you see the Big Brother finale?  I really liked all three final house guests.  What did you think about the ending?

The second, I recently completed my Witches Brew Unit.  I am so excited to have it ready for Halloween!  Here is a preview.

Click here to link to my product.

Keep checking back, because Stephany (my colleague) is working on a massive Halloween Unit!  She showed me a preview today and it is amazing!  I can not wait until she posts it!  If you integrate small groups into your school day, then you will want to check back.  Stephany's unit includes literacy station and writing station activities for small groups and stations.

We are also working on our 500 follower giveaway!  We have some pretty amazing bloggers and TpT teachers who are contributing.  Stay tuned!!

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie

Small Groups and Literacy Stations

I began my small groups and literacy stations!  They are going very well.  I am quite convinced that SLOW and STEADY wins the race.

What I mean by that is...  I have been teaching rules and procedures for several weeks now.  Some examples are: how to get the tub, where to sit with the tub, how to open the tub, what to do when the teacher is working with a group, and how to put the tub away.

Here are a few photos of students working.  The first few photos are of students reading with a partner.  I purchased Kim Adsit and Michele Scannell's Powerful Partnership's Reader's Workshop.  Click the picture to link to the packet.  The students below are reading with their backs against each other.  

The pictures below are when the students "take turns reading".  I asked my students to "fill their partner's bucket" after they read.  If you are not familar with "Bucket Fillers", click the link here.  All it means is to give "one nice comment to their partner" before reading to their partner.

In math, students worked with partners to order numbers 0-20.  The students in the photo are working as a "team" to complete a task.  I was very proud of how well my class worked together.  The numbers pictured to the left are included in my BOY and EOY Kindergarten Benchmark Pack.

The student in the picture is working in a math station independently.  This activity came from Deanna Jump and Julie Lee's School is Fun Literacy and Math Centers for August and September.

 

This is another student's finished product!  I am so proud of how much effort my students are putting into small groups and stations.

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie