center activities
1-2-3 Come Make a "Write & Wipe" Alphabet Binder With Me
I just completed a real time-saving, stress-buster packet. It contains all the pages you need to make a handy Write & Wipe Alphabet Binder. Why a traceable binder?
- Kiddos LOVE using dry erase markers.
- They are highly motivated to practice.
- They are quietly engaged and learning.
- Tracing and writing their answers on worksheets that are inside a sheet protector, saves you lots of time, energy and money.
- Once you’ve made it, you can use it year-after-year.
Get out of the copy room, conserve paper & ink, all while helping to save the planet and your sanity. - Time saved planning center activities.
- Everything’s in a binder; it’s organized by letter so students can easily find what you want them to do.
- You’re freed up, and students can get right down to business.
- This independence also saves time explaining directions, as well as builds confidence and self-esteem. You are empowering your kiddos.
- A binder is quick, easy and fun to make and you’ll be thanking yourself and feeling a sense of accomplishment once it done.
- Traceable binders are perfect for centers, early finishers, children who are struggling and need more practice.
Emergency? Sick? The substitute can easily take out any worksheet and make copies.
Use them for finger tracing, word work worksheets, rainbow writing, Daily 5, table top lessons or whatever else you need.
Besides practicing lowercase letter formation, this binder also helps build vocabulary, aids in spelling, as well as beginning letter sounds that are associated with words.
Children follow the arrows and trace the words, trace the dotted line words, and end by writing the word. When they are done, they erase their work, so that the binder is ready for the next child.
I bought "dust mitts" at The Dollar Store for this. They are also great for your white boards. It's like a mitten that you put on. When they get dirty (and this will take months) simply take them home and toss them in the washer & dryer.
For more practice, have your students write the words on the bookmark-size recording sheets. If you want your kiddos to work on alphabetizing, have them write the words in alphabetical order.
I've included "How did you do?" answer keys, so that students can self-correct, circling any ones that they got out of order.
The packet also includes a section called "Box it up." Since some letters are tall and some are small and some have a tail; boxing up letters is helpful.
There are blank boxes for students to write the letters in, (much like an Elkonin box) as well as filled in boxes to use as answer keys. I purposely used a dashed font for these letters, so they can also double as trace and write worksheets too.
If filling in the blank templates is too difficulty for little ones who don't know how to spell yet, use the alphabet order answer keys as a word bank.
Most children find it fun to look at the bank and try to figure out which ones belong in the various boxes.
So that you can easily keep track of who has completed their letter work, children color in that particular letter on their ABC poster. Once completed, this will act like a certificate of praise. You can sign & date it and add a sticker for that finishing touch, then students can keep it in their writing journals.
It's like a puzzle. This latest creation is a whopping 184-pages, and on sale for just $4.95 in my TpT shop. Click on the link to pop on over. ABC Write & Wipe Binder
Another thing you can put in this binder, are individual trace & write the letter worksheets. 
This is a FREE packet in my shop.
The Write & Wipe binder also matches the very popular alphabet puzzles, which makes for a nice coordinated center/station.
As always, there's a FREEBIE. Just like the FREE letter Aa Alphabet Word Puzzles, I pulled all of the letter Aa activities from this packet, so you can try them out.
I've also included 2 upper & lowercase "write & wipe" worksheets, and the full-color alphabet poster, which matches the puzzles.
Click on the link to grab a copy. FREE Letter Aa "Write & Wipe" mini packet. I've included a preview with it so that you can see photographs of my completed binder.
That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by. It's my birthday today. Sixty-two used to sound so old, until you've hit that milestone!
I'm feeling pretty sassy for my age. It's time to get off the computer and go celebrate.
Wishing you a day filled with all that makes you happy.
"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate." -Oprah Winfrey
Why buy a unit?
Have you ever bought a book of lessons because it contained a few items you wanted, but had many other items that you didn’t want or never used? My units incorporate multiple subjects and are available for purchase “a la carte” allowing teachers to buy only what they need, at an affordable price. From our home page, click on a season, and the units can be found under each month. Click on the link: Home Page There are currently 43 themes!
Each unit…
- -reinforces report card standards.
- -empowers students and frees up the teacher.
- -can be integrated with our matching Booklets
- and Art & Activity Books.
- Click on the link to see how I do this with my Apple Theme. APPLES
There are plenty of lessons for you to choose something that fits your students' level. The beauty of the variety is that you have easier skill sheets for those who are struggling and more difficult ones for children who have mastered a concept.
Unit Skill Sheets…
- become independent center activities;
- involve core skills (cutting, gluing, writing, coloring, sequencing, sorting, identifying, matching, tracing etc, );
- cover basic subjects (math, writing, reading, language arts);
- are themed so things are organized and cohesive throughout your day and fit seasonally as well;
- use the same format for each theme, so that children get used to doing them, and can easily recognize what they are supposed to do even though they may not be able to read the directions;
- involve the whole child.
Unit Skill Sheets are great if you need something
- for “Table Top” or to make into a booklet for morning lessons;
- for review before an assessment;
- to use as assessments;
- to give to parents when they want to work with a struggling child at home;
- when a child is going on a trip and a parent requests a packet of take-along materials;
- for children who finish early;
- for substitutes to plug in;
- to include in portfolios.
However you use them, I know that my Y5’s have excelled with this program. I truly believe that one reason is that units empower students to work independently and build their self-esteem to such a level that they realize they CAN do the lesson before they even start!
They are ready for workbooks in the next grade because they have practiced with a skill sheet booklet every day for "Table Top Time". For example, by March they are doing a 15 -18 page booklet that takes them about 10 minutes, and they ENJOY it! They are also doing 6-8 centers independently and transitioning with no problem.
My life is made easier because I’m not constantly planning the next day’s centers and I can incorporate art with confidence because I know that it is standards based, and best of all my students are learning and having FUN at the same time.
Click on the links to read more about the program or go directly to free CENTERS or free TABLE TOP
Read the article, "How to Get Students to Follow Directions" and see how to further empower your students through my "following direction icons" They really work! Your life will be so much easier, AND your discipline problems fewer!
Are you tired of hearing, “What are we supposed to do?” and repeating directions?
Whether you’re a beginning teacher or a seasoned veteran you’ll want to check this out. Hopefully it will help make your life easier and your students more independent.
My Y5’s have an attention span of negative 5 seconds. They bring new meaning to the phrase "ants in your pants!"
- They also don’t listen well so following directions is difficult for them.
- Even though I would explain and model what we would be doing for "Table Top" lessons on the white board, they were not retaining that information when they'd take their seats.
- I was constantly answering “What are we supposed to do now?” I felt this was reinforcing negative behavior as well as a waste of my time. I could be working one-one with my Hispanic children, or helping with a center etc.
- It was frustrating all the way around and we were not getting a whole lot done.
- They couldn’t read the directions on their paper or on the board so what could I do that would turn the light bulb on?
- So I developed easy-to-understand picture icons.
- Click on the link to see and print a set.
- I also put the words under the picture.
- I simply made a list of all the directions that I have my students do consistently and looked for clip art to match.
- Because I always have Hispanic children who are not yet bilingual, I try to keep my one-word commands the same, instead of using a different synonym, so the icons really helped my ESL students.
- Each morning my children do “Table Top” lessons at their desk.
- These are skill sheets that I’ve designed that revolve around our report card standards. I call them skill or fun sheets, not work sheets. Who’d want to do work?
- They are stapled in a packet at their desk.
- The first day of school they only have one page.
- We work up from there as days progress ‘til I have them doing entire mini “fun booklets”.
- This gets them ready for the workbooks they will have to do in kindergarten and 1st grade. Even learning how to turn a page, self check their work to make sure they have done all of the pages, learn that this is the cover page, ask themselves have they written their name at the top etc. are all skills they don't have.
- These mini booklets help them learn these things.
- Another bonus is that if Parent/Teacher conferences are coming up and I need something to show families, I simply keep one or two mornings of work and I pretty much have all of my report card standards covered.
- Most days they are doing 5-8 pages.
- I put the individual sheets up on the white board and hold them there with magnet clips.
- My students sit on the floor while I explain and model. We do the “fun” sheets together as a whole group.
- I keep directions short 5-8 minutes.
- Before I even explain what we will do with a particular page, I have them read the icon and tell me what we will do.
- For some papers I have more than one icon under the paper.
- This is great for understanding ordinal numbers. First we will write our name on the paper, second we will color, third we will cut, last we will glue.
- I’ll put 1, 2, 3 by the icons and later 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
- Children have a tendency to want to cut things out first which makes it hard to color little pieces later. So “seeing” this on the board, as well as “hearing” me tell them the reason this step is important for them to do it in this order, really helps.
- Hearing and seeing is also hitting two types of learners.
- Following a 3-step direction is one of our report card standards, and by using these icons I’m nailing that standard every day.
- I also have all of my CENTERS displayed at the white board and successfully use the icons to do those directions as well.
- My students start out the first week of school doing 1 to 2 centers. We work up to 6-8 centers.
- They range from quickie 1 to 2-minute activities to more involved ones that take 10-15 minutes. They can do all of them independently.
- The Pinch & Poke and Bingo Dot/Pattern sheets are part of my center activities. They are included in all of my Units.
- Click on the link to see the explanation of a unit.
- Now when my students go back to their desk, if they forget what they are supposed to do, they simply look at the board and see the icon. It jogs their memory and they can get down to business.
- It REALLY does work! I have so much more time to help students with other things!
- My students are also able to READ those words so that when they do see written directions on their skill sheets they can actually figure them out!
- The first week, before they are used to the system, they might still ask “What do I do?” Simply refer them to the board and say: “You tell me. What does the picture tell you that you should do?”
I’ve also developed something called: LAF. I tell my students that I want you to “LAF” before you can ask me “What do I do?” Click on the link to read about that and empower your students! - I really try to train my students to think for themselves.
- I encourage them to ask questions, but I want them to know that I’m not always going to give them the answer, especially if I know it’s rolling around in their head somewhere.
- It’s much more exciting and self-esteem building for them to find out on their own.
- My skill sheets are also of the same format so that they are consistent.
- Students who can’t read need that consistency so that they feel comfortable showing you that they know a skill or can practice a skill.
- So that they are not getting something wrong simply because they aren’t following directions.
- Click on the link for directions on how to make your icons and to read about the "Smartie Coins" that I use as an incentive to further good listening skills".
- Click on the link for a copy of the note home to parents about Smartie Coins.
- I cannot tell you enough how this icon program has freed me up to do other things and stopped the “What do I do now?” frustrating questions completely!
- They have empowered my students to get down to business and work independently. Because of this, they feel really good about themselves.
- The icons have actually been a great self-esteem builder, not only for that reason, but because by the end of October, they can read those words and are pretty proud of themselves.
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