Snowman Packet and Fine Motor Skill Phonics Activity

I can't believe it is already time to start switching my brain from thinking "vacation" to thinking "school".  I have been staying up late and sleeping in.  Now, I'll have to adjust back to going to bed early an getting up early. *sigh* 

I finally completed my snowman packet :

I have a freebie from this packet mentioned further down in this post and you can check the whole packet out in my TpT store by clicking on the link below:

Snowman Hodgepodge of Math/Science/Literacy Activities

I have been trying to come up with some activities for a few of my students who need more fine motor practice.  I have been researching this topic a little since I seem to be having more and more kiddos who do not have age appropriate fine motor development.   One theory suggests that babies are not getting enough "tummy time" due to the fear of SIDS.  Whatever the reason, it is something I need to address in my classroom.

Since I will be doing my snowman unit when we go back on Monday, I decided to focus this little activity with digraph ow (long o sound). 

Students will use tweezers to pick up foam pieces with blends on them and place them on the magnet beside digraph ow.  They will then blend and read the word and then record it on their recording sheet.

If you want to make something similiar to this, then you will need these items:

permanent marker, wide popsicle sticks, magnetic tape strips, and foam sheets

     

FYI: all these items can be purchased at Wal-Mart (the foam sheets are sold at the Dollar Tree also)

You can grab a copy of the recording sheet HERE

If you do use this idea and blog about it, I ask that you link back to this website.

Happy Teaching!

Liebster Blog Award

I was so suprised when I logged onto my blog this morning and found that I had been nominated for the Liebster Blog award by Johanna Tackitt over at Fanatically First Grade .  What a sweet little suprise to make my day!  Thank you so much Johanna!

The goal of this award is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. 

(That is definately me!)
Kind of awesome!
The rules are:

{1} Copy and paste the award on your blog.

{2} Thank the giver and link back to them.

3} Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

I would like to share 5 up-and-coming blogs that I follow who have under 200 followers.

Jaymee at Adventures of First Grade  has some cute Christmas Subtraction stories posted on her blog.

Jens OT for Kids  is a blog that has occupational therapy ideas to promote fine motor development in children.  I have used a couple of her ideas that are working for one of my students.

Jill at Mrs. T's First Grade Class has an addition combination activity that I like.

First Grade and Fancy Free  is a blog written by 3 teachers.  I really like the "bathroom pass" idea written by Kasey.  It can be found in the September Blog Archive list.

Little Miss Hypothesis is a kindergarten science blog and since I ♥ all things science,
this is must!

I hope you find some inspiration at one of these blogs.  Happy Blogging!

Snowman Venn Diagram Freebie

Here is another Venn Diagram Freebie!  This time students will sort the snowmen that have hats, scarves, or hats and scarves. 

You can get a copy below.

Snowman Venn Diagram

I just posted my new sorting by attributes unit, 

"Snowman Thinking Activities",  in my TPT store.

You can get it for $2.00. Just click on the title of the unit above and it will take you there.