Summer Student Gifts

So I saw this great idea of a summer gift on Pinterest.  You fill a beach bucket with goodies for your students for the summer. I took off to the good ol' dollar store near me and found these cute beach pails. So what did I include in my version of the summer beach pail present you ask? Here is my list.

• Sight word flashcards of current sight words on colored paper (found here)
• Math Flashcards: counting, adding, shapes depending on the student ( found at Dollar Tree) 
• Bubbles: because who doesn't want to have a little fun over the summer (found at Dollar Tree)
• Cute Pencils, one in each bucket 
• Fun Erasers, one in each bucket 
• A Leveled Reader text (found at Readingatoz.com, you must be a member to access) 
• Classroom Photo Collage titled "School Memories 2011-2012"

I'm hoping my kids like them! 

Let's Hit the Beach!

Summer vacation is almost here! 6 days left to be exact. I was in the dollar store and this fabulous idea crossed my mind to liven up our phonics lessons. I bought a cheap beach ball, and with a dry erase maker,  wrote one word on each color. I toss the ball to the students and they call out the word that is in front of them. Its a great way for us to practice our words of the week! Enjoy!

Daily Centers

I have tried several different methods to organize centers over the years. I am finally using one that works for me AND my kids.  It took a little while to set it all up, but I have to say I no longer dread daily centers.

My system is simple. Each student gets a "centers menu". I designed it so that any child in my classroom with any level of language and cognitive ability could use it. It has a green side and a red side. Simply, the green is "to do" and the red is "all done". Each student has 3 centers each day.  On my SMARTboard, I have up a picture that says "centers" and then under that a chime which I ring about every 12-15 minutes. We practiced a lot but my students know now that they stay at their center until the chime rings. When the chime rings, they clean up and move on to the next.

I printed out TONS of little icons for my centers. This way there is no confusion about what the next center is. I pre made all these so I can switch centers all the time without anyone getting bored.

I have kids in and out of my room every two minutes.  Since I am a sub separate room my kids are on all different levels. This system has made it so easy for me to have flexible grouping and meet 1:1 with my students each day.

I hope this helps you!

My centers menu- one per student

I keep all the icons in the top drawer ready to go

My (messy) shelf of centers games and activities