Last night while I was at school (super late) getting ready for my new little guy today, I was working really hard on setting up a few more word work stations for my students. We have had the Slide and Learn Word Families sliders above from Really Good Stuff for about two years now and up to this point, I had primarily only used them for whole class activities. I had them available for stations, but there was no accountability other than the child sliding the blue rime and pretending to read. Bad teacher, I know.  Basically, only students who could read or those who wanted to have something play with would even pick them up.

So, I decided to make a recording sheet for the students to complete as they are working with the sliders.  I also made two rings for differentiation. One ring holds our regular word family words and the second ring has a little bit harder rimes. Click on the picture below to get your copy of the Word Family Sliders recording sheet. . 



If you are interested in purchasing a set, here's a link to the product. They are $29.99.


You can always make your own, too. I like the colors of the paint chips below. However, you can make these out of white paper, construction paper, scrapbook paper, cardstock or whatever your little heart desires.

For those of you who read my blog in a reader, I wanted to let you know about a new page I created. It's very new, so please do not pay attention to the fact that I haven't entered much yet. :)

The new page is titled Themes, as you can see above. I wanted to my blog to be more functional for myself and those of you who visit that like to see what I might be doing in my classroom. Unfortunately, blogging about a new link every time I find a great activity isn't something you would probably like to see. My posts would be even more out of control than they already are on a daily basis. Ha!

So, I decided to create a Google Docs form to help me submit links that would also allow me to organize freebies and paid items by month, subject, lesson, etc. Check out the new page tab underneath my header and let me know what you think. As I mentioned, I just created it a few minutes ago, so I haven't submitted much yet. I'm getting a new IEP student tomorrow, so I need to go to school for awhile tonight and get a few things ready.

So, what do you think? How do you organize all the great ideas you get? 

If you're looking for a few last minute things for Groundhog Day, check out the Groundhog Mini Unit from 2 Teaching Mommies. My favorite pages are the Groundhog Parts and Groundhog Size Sequencing. My students will love labeling the parts of the groundhog.


Don't forget these two freebies I posted earlier:
Will You See Your Shadow? Groundhog Song {Freebie}
Groundhog 100's Chart Activity

I've also created a Groundhog Day and Shadows mini unit for Teachers Pay Teachers that includes an emergent reader.


Here are a few things I found that others are using:





Lots of fun ideas can be found on the following Pinterest Board: Deb @ Living Montessori Now.

Thanks to The Very Busy Kindergarten for finding this YouTube video. It's perfect for me since I'm in Missouri. :)





Okay, I realize this is a commercial, but the hand shadow puppets are absolutely amazing!

Mary at Sharing Kindergarten was kind enough to send me her wonderful unit, Light and Shadow Science Discovery Unit, to review. I'm so excited to be able to share about this fun unit!


In this unit you will find links to relevant videos, book suggestions, activity ideas and pictures to show you just what you need to get ready for a mini unit on lights and shadows. This is perfect to combine with Groundhog Day this week and even better for prompting students to have discussions about what makes and blocks light. You will appreciate the higher level thinking that your students will be asked to do, as well.

This lesson covers five days of content. The format of the unit is very easy to follow, with pictures of the texts that will be read with each lesson. There are also printables to go along with some of the activities.

Right now Lights and Shadows is on sale in Mary's TpT store for only $4! The lesson planning is already done for you and all you have to do is assemble the materials for each  day. You've got to love something that makes your life simpler so you can focus on the bigger things and this unit does just that. Mary has done all the hard work and you just print it out, get your books and charts ready and prepare your students for a fun filled unit that they will be sure to love!

Head on over to Mary's blog, Sharing Kindergarten, or take a peek at her TpT store.