Well, I can't smell your feet, but I do have a trick AND a treat for you!!! I am so excited that this blog hop is finally here. Make sure you don't miss any houses along the way... when you are finished with my post, hop on to the next blog for more tricks of the trade, freebies, and giveaways! A BIG thanks to The Classroom Game Nook for hosting this amazing event. When you hop over to her page, please show her some extra love for making this hop happen!
Here is a little trick I am using with my ABC puzzles this year. This trick could easily be used with other alphabet puzzles that you may already have in your classroom! During the first month of school I was unsure how to store and use the puzzles in centers. My K kids were still learning letters/ sounds, and some students were still learning how to put together a puzzle. I wanted to utilize this resource, but I knew I couldn't just toss the pieces into a bin and expect the littles to sort the pieces and put them together on their own! So... easy fix! I made an extra copy of the puzzles, but never cut them apart. I glued the puzzle images on the outside of manila envelopes, laminated, and used an exacto knife to reopen the slit.
I taught the students how to work one puzzle at a time and return the pieces to the manila folder before moving onto a second puzzle. Modeling activities and teaching procedures first is a key component for successful literacy centers! As students began mastering letters and sounds I was able to differentiate the activity by giving students who were ready a tub of mixed up puzzle pieces - no manilla folders involved.
I have a special little in my classroom this year who is not yet ready to begin writing. These puzzles were a lifesaver during our letter/sound/handwriting lessons. When other students were practicing writing it was easy for me to pull the letter puzzle for the letter we were learning. My student loved completing these puzzles and was independently successful with them!
Now for my favorite part.... the TREATS! For this week ONLY I have made my Trick or Treat! CCSS Math and Literacy Centers FREE... and that's what I like to call VALUE. Be sure to grab this while you can. After Saturday, October 31st, this will be a forever PAID item on TPT.
Beginning sounds, word families, blending/segmenting sounds, identifying more/less, number sense, counting, and graphing are all included in these halloween themed centers. I created each center in both color AND black and white, so you can choose what to use based on your ink levels.
BUT WAIT... there's MORE! I'm also giving away a $5.00 TPT gift card and one of my very FAVORITE resources... my Spider Centers!
You can click here to see/read more about these centers! Just don't forget to come back to this post and enter to win.
