Five for Friday: May 5

Hi! Long time no blog!

Life has been a little busy for me lately but I’m finally back to share some things that are happening in my classroom! Here are 5 things from this week!

1. CVC READ & FIND

During guided reading I was noticing that some of my kids were having a hard time stretching and blending the sounds in CVC words. So I made up these CVC Read & Find mats to encourage them to practice the skill during centre time. It was a surprising hit and even kids who usually don’t go to “academic” centres were trying it out. We did short a words this week so I’m planning to put out short e words next.

You can find these CVC Read & Find mats/cards in the product below. Click here or on the image to check it out on TpT.

2. MOTHER’S DAY GIFT

I always like to start Mother’s Day gifts early so we don’t feel rushed the week of. This year we made these “Thumb-body Loves You!” magnets!

I cut out a circle from cardstock to fit the juice lid (my teaching partner had a bunch she had saved from frozen juice concentrates) and the kids put their thumbprint in the middle (we used an red inkpad) and wrote their names at the bottom. Then I wrote in “Thumb-body Loves You!” and taped it on the lid. On the other side we added a magnet so that it could go on their fridge at home!

Here are some by the kiddos. They turned out soooo cute! One of my kiddos even wanted to do the “Thumb-body Loves You” part all by herself and did such a good job writing in that small space. We hope the moms love it when they open it next weekend!

3. MOTHER’S DAY CARD

We always do a card as well and this year we decided use this adorable picture idea from Burgh Baby and make it the cover for our card!

I drew the heart and U with chalk on the pavement of our Kindergarten pen. Then I had the kids lie down on the pavement so their bodies would look like the letter I. Then I got up on a ladder to snap the picture.

For the inside I had the kids tell me what they wanted to write in their Mother’s Day cards and then I typed it into a word document. I typed almost exactly what the kids said. They needed very few prompting and if they did I prompted them with questions like “What is your favourite thing about your mom? What is your favourite thing to do with your mom?” etc.

They came up with some adorable things to say, so again I’m hoping the moms will love it!

Here is an example of the inside:

4. MOTHER’S DAY GIFT BAG

Stamping with paint and cookie cutters is my go-to for decorating gift bags. It’s easy, cheap, low-prep and each bag turns out unique and beautiful. It doesn’t get much better than that!

For Mother’s Day gift bags we used butterfly, flower and heart cookie cutters and pink, purple and white paint. We’ll put the magnets and cards inside (or staple the card to the back if it doesn’t fit inside) and send them home on Thursday!

5. SIGHT WORD MINI READER

I’m always thinking of new and engaging ways for the kids to practice sight words independently at centres. I also wanted something that they could do at centres and then put in their book boxes to read at independent reading time.

So I made up this mini sight word practice booklet + mini reader to try out this week with our focus sight word and the kiddos loved them!

First the kids colour the word on the cover (you could also get them to rainbow write) and write their name.

Then they practice both tracing and writing the word.

Then there are 4 pages where the kids can trace the sight word in a simple sentence and read the sentence.

I’m thinking of making these for all pre-primer sight words but we’ll see if I can find the time! I’m also thinking of adding tracking dots under the words with 1:1 correspondance. Let me know if you have a preference and I’ll keep it in mind when I’m working on them!

*UPDATE: They are now ready! You can buy them in sets or in a big bundle! I’ll leave the link for the bundle here. In the description you can go to each individual set if you are looking for a particular sight word!”*

Click here to see the “Sight Word Mini Books Mega Bundle” or on the image below:

You can grab this “will” booklet and “this” booklet (which I made for my LLI reading group) by clicking here or on the image below:

Ok that’s it from me this week! If you are interested in checking out other Five for Friday posts you can click on the image below to check our the linky!