A Blast from the Past

I hope this is not bad blog etiquette (and if it is, someone kindly tell me!) but I want to bring back a few of my favorites that you might have missed if you are new to my blog. Over the break, I went back and followed a few of my favorite blogs from the very beginning. I loved it! But unless I am looking for a certain skill or activity, I really only go back a few posts and then I am off blog hopping again! So, today I want to bring some of my favorites to you in a quick, easy way! =)

The first is my Wish Well Circle. We do this everyday and it only takes about 2 minutes. Today, we welcomed back one of my kiddos who had been absent the past 2 days. As we were about to sing to her, she said she got better faster because she knew we were at school thinking about her and wishing for her to come back to Our School Family because we weren't the same without her! Awwww, I got tears in my eyes! Click on the link above to go to the post and grab the Wish Well Circle *freebies*! Here is a picture of it!

Next, we wander back to some Word Study *freebies*. The reason these came to my mind is next week I have the joy that every K, 1, and 2 teacher in the state of Texas gets to experience...the TPRI! It is a reading inventory that can take up to 45 minutes per child to administer and I always have a headache when I finish...this is when I head to Auntie's Pasta's for an adult beverage!

The 2 tasks on the test that are the most difficult for the majority of my kiddos are deleting the initial and final sounds in a word. O. M. Gosh!!! To share with you what I am so looking forward to, "What is the word cart without the /c/ sound?" Kiddo: "Monkey"!

Some little ears just have a hard time hearing sounds...OY!

I made 2 different bingo games to help teach and build this skill. We play these in a small group.

This one is for deleting the final sound. We talk about how turtles are so slow when they speak that they often forget to say the last sound of the word. Click on the picture to go to the post and grab the *freebie*!

This one is for deleting the initial sound in a word. The Sound Snatcher comes and he is trying to be so quick that he can only get away with stealing the first sound in the word. Click on the picture to go to the post and grab the *freebie*!

Finally, we hop back to one of my kiddos favorite ways to practice our Word Wall words. I bought a class set of small exercise balls at Target...they are about the size of a large lemon. The children bounce the ball for each letter in the word and then bounce it once more it say the word. We usually do it with one child bouncing at a time and everyone else just pretending to bounce while spelling the word (because if not you have balls rolling everywhere). This is great for those kinesthetic learners and helps with hand eye coordination too! I have done this in a center after a LONG talk about the right way to do it and what will happen IF......

I hope you enjoy these and a visit to the "past".

Now to the BIG topic! =)

I recently had a very hurtful comment made about my blog and myself (and let's just say it was NOT from any sweet follower or blog stalker). I, for a moment, had my feelings hurt and then wanted to make a comment back but finally just let it go because it wasn't worth it. I left High School a looonnnnggggg time ago and if I want to be around some catty females I will watch the Bachelor (and thank you sweet Kristin for your post that has made me want to go check it out!).

So, my question of the day is this:

Do you have any bucket dippers or bullies at your school (and I am not talking about the little people)? If you have a juicy story, feel free to vent and share! =)