[Alphabet Recognition] LRC game

I discovered something incredibly interesting today during phonics.

My phonics time is in the afternoon.

After specials.

Today's special was PE.

My littles were exhausted.

Timed out.

I kept trying to engage them.

It wasn't working.

So. . .I asked them to follow the alphabet cards as I pointed and say the letters.

I started at "z" and worked backward.

Well, they were engaged.

But clueless.

The majority of my littles were unable to tell me the names of the letters when we were "reading" them in reverse order.

WHAT?!

Crazy talk.

Interesting.

I KNOW many of my littles are great readers.

But. . .there is a gap somewhere.

We'll be using this little game to help FILL that gap.

Letter Recognition Left Right Center.

Easy to play.

Perfect practice/review.

2 FULL sets of alphabet (upper and lower case in 2 different fonts) are included in the download.

It's free through Wednesday night only.

Then it's going in the shop.  :)

If you're in the same predicament I found myself in today, please consider giving this game a try in your home or in your class.  Let me know how it works for you.

Tomorrow is Wednesday.

Middle of the week.

Anyone else absolutely worn right out?!

[Back to School] Reading_Handwriting Fluency Pack

It's almost Monday.

First Monday of my school year.

Some of my friends have their very first day on Monday.

I'm really glad we have 2 days under our belts!

My new littles are AWESOME!

Don't get me wrong, I totally miss my littles from last year (and every other year, lol).

But. . .my new littles are lots of fun and really listen well (for the most part!).

We start formal reading groups the Tuesday after Labor Day.

I want to get a jump start on reading before then.

So this week, we'll be using one of these fluency pages to practice our reading and handwriting fluency.

There are 5 in this pack, enough to get us through September.

They're a fairly simple read.

Perfect for the start of the year.

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to practice reading and handwriting fluency, give these a shot.

Have a great week!

[POPPIN' INTO FIRST GRADE!]

T Minus 4 and counting. . .  ;)

School starts on THURSDAY!!!

This year I have a little one in my class that has a pretty high level of anxiety about "popping" sounds.  I learned this toward the end of the year last year and had been mulling around in my mind a way to help get past this fear.

I'd seen this idea floating around the blog world for an end of year countdown celebration.

I knew that it would be a fun way to start the year, and am HOPING it will help move my little one's fear of the loud "pop" into a level of tolerance.

Wishful thinking?
Perhaps.

But worth a shot.

And. . .it's going to be AWESOME for my 25 littles to have something fun to look forward to every day for the first 25 days of school!

If you're looking for a fun "welcome to first grade" kind of activity (or even a fun family celebration for the first 25 days of school - or as a Christmas countdown - or really anything!!), the image is linked.

PS:  I found super cute tiny bottles of bubbles at Target - 12 in a package for about $2.50.   And Play-Doh (the REAL stuff) - 15 little tubs in a package for about $5.

Have a great year!

[Lucy Ladybug Learns About Numbers]

I know.  It's summer break.

And I'm working on materials for the first 2 weeks of school.

What's wrong with me?!  lol.

We have adopted Go Math in first grade for the upcoming school year.

Go Math is incredible!  Totally common core based.  Awesome!

But. . .chapter 1 is addition concepts.

Yikes!  We've built into our pacing guide 10 days for numeracy right at the start of the year.  I'm really excited about this Lucy Ladybug pack!

It's going to be a fun exploration of numbers 1-10 for the first 10 days of school.

Lucy Ladybug deals with one "number" each day (days 1-10).

Writing the number, reading the number word, determining even or odd, representing on a ten frame, simple model drawing (adding 1), and then the ways to create an addition equation with 2 addends and a sum of the "number of the day."

If you're a first grade teacher, this pack is a perfect start to your math year.  :)

Because it is a 21 page pack (2 pages for each "number"), the price is set at $5.

However. . .there is that 50% off sale that runs through Saturday the 16th.

$2.50 for 21 pages of number sense and mathematical reasoning.

Awesome.

But. . .you can win this pack!

All you have to do is leave a comment with your best BACK TO SCHOOL hint/tip/tradition.

You have until midnight tonight (June 12) to enter.

I'll choose 1 winner from all comments.

Good luck!