Did Anybody Miss Me? :)

So…I’ve really neglected my blog lately! Did anyone notice I was “gone”? J

I’d like to say that I’ve been super busy with all kinds of personal and professional commitments, but alas, twas laziness that was behind my complete lack of blogging!

My holidays were wonderful! I got to spend a lot of time with my family and got much needed rest!

School started back on January 7^th, 2013. It was great to see my sweethearts but very difficult to leave my sweet Kitty at home! L

Since going back to school, we’ve been chugging along and learning, learning, learning! I wanted to share a few of our new favorite things and a few pictures of some wintery activities!

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm OBSESSED with anything sold in Lakeshore Stores! I happened upon these word family cubes at the Columbus, Ohio Lakeshore store and HAD to add them to my letter cubes with initial consonants! My kids have been practicing reading onset and rimes using these awesome products! I've been making them record whether the word they roll is a real word or a nonsense word to check their understanding. The results have been pretty good so far! Pictures to come soon!

I also saw these Rhyming Houses on Pinterest and immediately knew I had to have them! I scooped these babies up when I grabbed the word family cubes! The kids have REALLY loved playing with these houses! I love hearing them discuss the words/pictures and whether or not they think it rhymes with the picture on the roof of the house! I've got some pretty amazing kids! :) I HIGHLY recommend this product! It is a really fun way for students to improve/review their rhyming skills!

A few weeks ago, I read the book, Sneezy the Snowman to my sweeties! They really loved that story! I asked them to answer the question, "Why did Sneezy melt?" Below are a few photos of some responses. I wanted/expected them to go a bit deeper with their explanation but I'll take what I can get! 

His response says, "Because he was very cold so he drank hot coco and he got in a hot tub and he got near a fire." This is too funny! Clearly, I need to start reinforcing when to end a sentence and start a new one! :)

"Why did Sneezy melt?" (I wrote that on the white board!) "Because he drank hot coco."

Finally, I've got a few students who are STILL (ugh!) struggling with basic sight words. While shopping at Target a few weekends ago, I found some treasures in the bargain bins right as you walk in the store! I wanted to share them with you so you can go get your own!

The sight word cards on the left will make a really great center for my struggling students! I'm going to provide each group with a set of these cards and a timer. Then we will see if the students can read through the sight words before time is up! I think this will be a good motivator and a fun way to practice the sight words that these struggling readers haven't mastered yet! I also love that there is a sentence on the card as well! My higher students can see if they can fluently read the sentences before time is up! 

I'm thinking that the equation building cards would also be great for math centers and number recognition games at the beginning of the school year!

These heart dice will come in handy during Valentine's Day activities! Seriously! Go to your local Target and get these items before they are gone!! 

Well, that will be all from me tonight! I need to get back to working on my “Football Frenzy” games! I’ve been updating my existing products and plan on adding more vowel teams (ee vs. ea!) to the growing collection of “Football Frenzy” games! My end in mind is to get everything into one big packet before Super Bowl time! Wish me luck!

Check out my store’s best seller by clicking the picture below!

See you guys later! Thanks for hanging in there!

Mary