Add Engaging Sight Words Activities to Your Classroom!

I showed you how we used first grade sight words for September, but August is the best time get your assessments in place. I use this activity the first week of school (it's a review of kindergarten sight words)...it's a great starting point because we know so little of our new crop of students. After this series, you will see where to place your students in small group learning centers. It will also guide you in cutting, writing, and following directions placement. Have fun teaching the foundational skills...it can be done! To purchase this activity, get the free Sept. activity, and pick up the October words go to our TPT Store:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Libby-Learns

Why Teach Sight Words?

                         Why Teach Sight Words in First Grade?

This question comes up a lot at our first parent/teacher conferences in September. As teachers, we know how important it is for these new readers to know their sight words but it is often tough to relay that to the parents. I put this little blurb in the homework packet with the other directions and expectations. It seems to work, the parents are asking this question less and less!

* The Common Core reading foundational standard (RF3) requires students to recognize words by sight. The translation of this standard has been that students need direct instruction on the Dolch sight words. In response, many districts are setting sight word goals at higher and higher levels. The most common measure is the Dolch 220 sight word list. Teachers everywhere have long checklists and can categorize who knows which sight words with ease. The goal?  Get to 220 and the student can read! *
Pick up this September FREEBIE to get started for an entire month at our TPT STORE:  
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Libby-Learns

IDEAS FOR TODAY!

So tonight I tried two things that I found on Pinterest that looked exciting. They both worked well for me so I thought I would pass them along.

#1.  Sight Words on Straws:
First I printed out Treasure's week one's sight words for fall. The words are:
a, and, the, that, of, it, to, you, is, in 
I laminated them and hot glued them to regular drinking straws.

These will be great to use in small group in so many ways (as pointers, as flags to raise when you see one of the words in the text, etc...). Also, they will be great for large group as a visual. I keep them in a plastic coffee creamer container that I had in my recycle bin.
#2.  I used a dish drainer that I had on hand to keep the work in I was doing tonight. The dish rack kept my books and files organized and easy to refer to and gave me a place to keep my writing essentials for those projects.
I have to say, both of these projects were a home run and made tonight's lessons more enjoyable to create. If you notice, the book "Ten Apples on Top" is in the dish drainer...stay tuned, there is an activity that I have made to go with that book for the first week of school (maybe a freebie)??!!

This is another FREEBIE from Libby Learns. It comes with a twist to the normal hundreds chart...give the students a "focus" number (put in the white box near the bottom of paper). The students will have to find numbers "greater and less" than that number and then use their skills to figure out if it is a odd or even number. They also create a number line sequence to "show" their work. Use in protective sheets for daily math practice. Rigor is important in the early grades and this hits the target! We use this as morning math work and the kids love getting "good" at it. Visit our TPT store for more fun activities.

                                       https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Libby-Learns

Why Are We Planning For Fall in the Summer?!?!

Okay, okay...we know it's summer and we should be enjoying the weather, our families, and down

time...BUT...it's also the perfect time to plan for the fall school year! Think about it, our heads are

clear, we've gotten a couple weeks of good sleep, we are on our own potty schedule, AND we can walk away from it and come back to it anytime we want!  Sounds like the perfect time for perfect

planning.

We all know that ASSESSMENTS are a must at the beginning of the year and we all have the ones we MUST do, but how about the ones that REALLY show us quickly what a student does and doesn't know coming into first grade? The type of assessment that is fun for the kids and doesn't make them nervous in a new setting.

Here is a simple yet informative assessment from our TPT store that will get you started with an informal way to gauge color and shape mastery. 

A quick color and shape assessment to kick off the school year



https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Libby-Learns