Hunting for Magic e

I sometimes find myself on Friday afternoons asking Where did the week go? I then start feeling a little bit of panic because it is almost March and the end of the year will be here soon (and I am always behind in the curriculum!). However, I love this time of the year with my Firsties because I can step back and watch because they are so much more independent. They could keep themselves busy all day with math games and literacy activities if I let them....or work out of our work basket.

This past week we have been having blend races that they work on when they finish something else. OMGosh, this has been so funny! They have taken this task very serious! I told them they would win something...Do they know what they are going to win? Nope...because I don't know either! =) They are happily reading away with books from their browsing boxes, buddy reading, discussing different things about the books and just beside themselves each time they find a blend to record. =)

We also wrote some blend riddles (and they were so clever!). I LOVE using riddles to promote higher order thinking and to develop language for my ESL kiddos. Since we have been working on magic e I made this little riddle trail game. The game has no beginning or ending point. The person at the end of the game who has the most matches is the winner. Players draw a card and either read the word and move to that picture or read the riddle and move to that picture. They try to get BOTH the riddle card and the word card. There are also special cards that allow them to take a card or trade a card. They LOVE this game!

clip art by Scrappin' Doodles

My giveaway is still going on (I would love for you to blog about it)...you might win one of these adorable shirts:

You will also win a Conscious Discipline cd, 5 items from my TpT store, AND 2 items from What the Teacher Wants TpT store.

Click here to go check it out!

I hope you enjoy the *freebie*. =)

Thank you for coming by my blog and thank you if you leave me a heart note....You each bless me in so many ways. =)

Question of the Day:

*When a child does something wrong or hurtful, should they say they are sorry?



Vowel Munchers

I cannot believe it has almost been a week since my last post and I am not really sure where that week went! My kiddos really had a pretty good week...no Potty Police incidents to report, no one eating anything like pencils, paper, crayons or their toenails. Yes, several years ago one of my Firsties pulled off his shoe and then his sock and then bit his toenails off and ate them! I think I was too horrified to throw up!

We did a really cute lesson on Friday to celebrate blends and I am really excited to share about it ....especially because we did a craft that I made a template for! That is like off the charts HUGE!!! I LOVE crafts but cannot draw a straight line with a ruler and rely on my teaching buddy to do it for me because SHE ROCKS! I hope to share it with you this week! =)

I had a brain pop today for something that we are going to do daily until Valentine's Day. We are going to start on Monday so be looking for that post...it will be all about encouraging, helping and noticing the kind acts of others in Our School Family! If you are new to my blog, please go read the post about Building Your School Family. I share all about how we use helpful hearts to fill our bucket. This would be a great thing for your class to start this February if you are ready to take your first step to putting some Conscious Discipline into your classroom. Click here to go to that post. Here are some pictures from that post.

We have been working hard since before Christmas with magic e. I made this little *freebie* that you can use as a Read the Room or Pocket Chart sort or however it floats your boat! =) These Love Monsters are some of my favorite clip art because they are just so stinkin' cute. I hope your kiddos can use this short or long vowel sort!

graphics by DJ Inkers

I had a wonderful surprise on Thursday! I was pulling out some baby wipes for the Table Washers to use after we eat our Breakfast in the Classroom and under what I thought was a crate full of wipes were TONS of glue sticks!!! Wahoo! It was like Christmas all over again! I am not sure about your kiddos but we go through glue sticks very quickly because we use them daily. I buy them all summer long and buy lots of my kiddos' school supplies like folders because:  1. I am anal and all of my blue folders must be the exact same shade of blue and 2. I can put more glue sticks on my School Supply List for the beginning of the year.

So, my Question of the Day is this:

How much are you allowed to put on your School Supply List?

I also want to send a big Heart Hug to Holly at Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade. She left me a comment to just check up on my since I had not been posting lately. Thank you sweet friend!

Thank you to each follower who comes by my little blog....I am still not sure why you do but my heart is blessed because of you! I love and treasure each one of your heart notes!

From My Heart to Yours,

A Turkey Free Game- magic e

I L-O-V-E games and activities with cute holiday clip art but I also love games I can pull out anytime. I LOVE frogs and have TONS of frog decorations in my classroom. I think my nieces last counted over 65 (and my classroom is tiny!)! Not only do I like frogs (the animal) but it is the acronym F.R.O.G. that reminds me of what I need to do daily...especially with teaching... Fully Rely On God. So, here is a frog game to help with reading magic e words.

I whipped out this baby in about 30 minutes yesterday so please let me know if you see any mistakes (oooh, I just typed a magic e word!) I usually only print one page of the special game cards (the ones with extra turn, take a card, and the game over) so the game lasts longer and they can be reading more! If they draw the magic e card that means game over because he was caught sprinkling his magic dust on the vowels and wasn't sneaky enough!

Please leave me a heart note if this *freebie* made you smile! I have an AWESOME give away coming next week. Here is a sneak peek at part of the give away...

These shirts are ADORABLE!