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Showing posts from November, 2011
   

How to Teach Kids to Sound Out Three Letter Words (CVC Words)

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Parent conferences are finally OVER and done with, (hooray!) and the holiday season has begun!  My class has begun learning the songs for our Gingerbread Man musical play that we love to do, and even though we have been working on it for only one week, the children already sound like experts on most of the songs!  I have started prepping some of my holiday projects, and even have started thinking about what I might give as gifts to my parent volunteers!  But I'll tell you more about that next week. For now, I want to tell you about a new way to give a lesson that seems to be working out very well for my class, at least in the area of sounding out CVC words. Match CVC Words and Pictures 1.  How to Teach Kids to Sound Out CVC Words In my district, the teachers have all been sent to trainings on writing “Brain Compatible Direct Instruction Lesson Plans.”  The name of the company that is giving us these inservices is RISE , which recently split off from another compa
   

Another Science Center, Two More New Freebies, & a Round-Up of Thanksgiving Free Downloads!

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Before I begin, I just had to share this funny little conversation a parent overheard in the computer lab this week:  One Kindergarten girl says to another in the computer lab, as she is pretending to type away at her Millie's Math House game: "Facebook me, okay?  Why don't you Facebook me????"  The other little girl says, "Okay.  Why haven't you friended me yet??????"   Are we raising digital natives or WHAT?????  They can't possibly know what it is they are even talking about, but their games of pretend, imitation, and imagination have now crossed over into imitating their parents on the computer!   LOL LOL LOL LOL! 1. A Fall Reading Book Free Download Here is a question I received via email .  I love suggestions, and this was a good one.  Keep them coming! Q:  “I really like your idea of the index cards for sight words with the Halloween book . However, I can't do Halloween.  :(  So I was wondering what you use to make the book. I
   

Helping Kids Learn How to PAY ATTENTION- and Other Important Social Skills!

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There are many things that keep children from paying attention, and sometimes the distractions come from within the child himself!  So in order to help children learn to identify their own behaviors that make learning harder, and hopefully help them learn to avoid them or stop doing them altogether, I have written a brand new book called Wiggles Learns to Pay Attention!   This book is a sequel to my first Wiggles book, called Wiggles Learns the Rules at School. We read one of these Wiggles books nearly every day as a way of teaching and reviewing the procedures and rules. Introducing a NEW sequel to the first  Wiggles book:  Wiggles Learns to Pay Attention! I introduced this book to my class a few weeks ago, and the children LOVED it!   I love it because it helps me address all of those little bad habits that kids sometimes have that prevent them from paying attention to lessons, such as:  picking at yourself or your clothing, spinning around in circles on the carpet, ro