2D and 3D Shape Centers

 

Hi friends,

I've been working hard to put together this 2D and 3D shape center packet for you. Working with shapes is such a hands-on learning area so I've made sure to fill this packet full of fun and interactive activities for you to use with your students to have them mastering all things related to 2D and 3D shapes.

The Activities

This packet features 12 different activities which are designed to provide students with hands-on experience with 2D and 3D shapes. Where applicable, the activities come in both a 2D and 3D version to ensure that you always have a vast array of resources to use with your students.

1. I Spy Shapes

If there is anything that little learners love, it is getting their detective on! This activity is exactly like the 'I Spy' game that we have all grown to love but it's a shape version of it! To play, students search for the objects that match the shape shown at the top of each mat and circle them with erasable marker or cover them with blocks, mini-erasers, pom-poms or other small objects. There are mats included for circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, pentagons, hexagons, octagons, cubes, cones, cylinders, square pyramids, rectangular prisms and spheres.

2. Pattern Block Cards

These pattern block cards are a fun way to help enhance your students' visual skills while building their geometric imagination. To play, students build the shapes using pattern blocks. As an extra challenge, there are blank shape cards included too so that students can use their imagination and build their very own shapes. These bonus cards also double up as a fun STEM challenge too!

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Gorgeous FREE Tropical Themed Number Posters for Your Classroom

I was sorting through some old files on my computer and I came across these number posters I created back in 2017! I had completely forgotten about them. I love how they fit in with all the tropical decor that is splashed around teachers' classrooms at the moment so I thought I'd add these to my freebie library for you all to enjoy. I know with the whole Covid situation many teachers aren't returning to the classroom, but these would also be super cute displayed behind you while distance teaching.

The set includes posters for numbers 1-20. Each page includes a ten-frame so that students have a visual representation of each number.

I hope you enjoy them!

Tropical Number Posters

You can download them for FREE here.

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How to Decrease Your Teacher Mental-Load

There's something called mental load and then there's something called teacher mental load. If they were in the same room together, they'd be on total opposite ends of it. Actually, they'd be on total opposite ends of the house because teaching is one of the most demanding professions there is and it's quite difficult to compare it to other occupations. So, to all you teachers showing up everyday, surviving the hard times and powering on when there's barely any fuel left in the tank, you deserve the biggest gold star there is. And I hope you all give yourselves the credit you deserve. 

Now, how does this mental load thing relate to teaching? Well, on average, teachers make around 1500 decisions everyday. Yes, that's right, I said EVERYDAY. That's a whole bunch of decision-making in an itty bitty space. This revelation shocked me at first. That means you're making approximately 4 decisions a minute on an average school day which is more than a brain surgeon, doctor or paramedic. In fact, the only profession that makes more decisions than a teacher is an air traffic control worker. I hope you're starting to feel like you deserve that gold star.

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Free Sound Strips

I've got a free CVC center for you all! 

These sound strips are super versatile; they can be used to practice beginning sounds, middle sounds and ending sounds which is why I love them so much. You can have all your students complete the exact same activity by simply modifying the position of the sound that they are focusing on. Beginning sounds are much simpler for students to discern than middle or ending sounds so you can reuse the activity once they've mastered beginning sounds and have them work out the remaining sounds when they are ready. 

This freebie also includes recording sheets for students to note down all the sounds they've deciphered. There are also sheets included for middle sounds and ending sounds as well as an answer key for easy marking.

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Guided Reading Toolkit

It is finally here! The ultimate toolkit for guided reading that will simplify your life while improving your students' reading comprehension skills at the same time. The best thing about this toolkit is that it works with absolutely ANY fictional text so you can use this all year round and the activities will remain fresh and relevant. Plus, there is a nonfiction task box included too for when you're reading a nonfiction text with your students. It literally covers everything you need and will soon become your new best friend in the classroom.

What is the toolkit?

The toolkit features 16 different task boxes that are organized by a specific reading area, skill or strategy. Each task box is filled with purposeful and engaging tasks that students can complete directly in their books. Yep, you heard that right. DIRECTLY IN THEIR BOOKS. That means no worksheets, no running around trying to figure out what learning activities to give them, no waiting at the photocopier and NO PREP. It's all in the toolkit, ready to go, at anytime.

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CVC Centers and Activities Volume Two

I'm excited for you all to properly meet Volume Two of my CVC Centers and Activities. If you haven't already seen Volume One, you can check it out here. I'm the biggest fangirl of center activities and much prefer them to worksheets because they are interactive, reusable, bright and offer more variety.  This center packet provides more opportunities for your students to practice their short vowel words in an engaging and fun way.

The Activities

This packet includes 12 different centers which are related to all things CVC. I've added a variety of different activities so that students can get a chance to identify, sort, read, spell, rhyme and write short vowel words. Here is an overview of the activities:

1. Spell a CVC Word

To complete this activity, students choose a card and then use their early phonetic skills to sound out and spell the word represented by the picture. They write the word next to the number shown on the card. All the pictures included are easy for students to recognize so you won't have a bunch of students asking "What is this card, Miss?". This center is great because there is a recording sheet included too which makes for easy marking (an answer key is included as well). This activity is also great if your running literacy rotations on a shorter time frame. Students can always pick up and continue on where they left off the next day.

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