Famous Pairs Cards

I hope you are having a fantastic start to the 2013-2014 school year!  It's so fun having time to get to know our students at the beginning of the year.  Building relationships is foundational to everything we do as educators, so I try to make sure my students spend a lot of time working together either in small groups or partnerships.

For a few years, I have used famous pairs cards in my class that I've written on index cards.  Basically, these cards have an even number of words written on them (one word written on each card) such as cookies, milk, mashed potatoes, gravy, salt, pepper, etc.  When I'm ready to get my kids working together in pairs, I mix the cards up and pass out one to each student.  (If I have an odd number of students in my class, then I keep the last card and will be a partner to one of my students.)  Then my kiddos silently walk around with their cards held up next to their heads trying to find their famous pair.  They LOVE searching for their partner, and it's a trip to watch!

So this year, I decided to make my cards a little fancier than the hand-written version and add a couple more features thanks to the inspiration of Dr. Spencer Kagan.  Sometimes, once my kiddos are in their partnerships, I want one partner to talk and the other to listen and then switch roles.  So I added an "A" and a "B" to each card so it would designate who is who.  When I say, "Partner A goes first," the partnerships will be able to start right away and no more Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who goes first.  Also, there are times when I want my partnerships to link up with other partnerships, so I made sure there are 4 cards per color.  Finally, each card has a number - 1 through 5.  If I need to, I can have all of the number 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s gather together to share what was happening in their individual partnerships.  The bottom line is I wanted some flexibility in the cards, so I tried to add some of these features.  Here, look for yourself...

Famous Pairs Cards

There are 28 cards in all (14 pairs), so hopefully that will accommodate the largest class size.  God bless you IMMENSELY if you have a class size larger than 28.  Just print, laminate, cut them out and you're good to go!

I hope you have as much fun with your famous pairs as I do!

Enjoy!

Multi-Sensory Spelling Activity Cards {Freebie}

We have 9 days left of this school year.  That's right; we're in the single digits, people! I'm looking forward to the summer, and I'm working on a training class that I'm doing for my district - Multi-sensory Spelling Instruction.  As part of this professional development, I'm offering these multi-sensory spelling activity cards along with these spelling routine cards.  The first cards (done in color as well as black and white) can be used as a reminder as you go through your short, daily spelling routine.  These can be laminated and laid on the table, posted on a white board, used as a bookmark, etc.

Spelling Routine card for students

The activity cards (below) can be used during your students' daily practice.  In researching and preparing for my training class, I came across this quote:

The act of tracing with fingers on a texture helps make a sensory imprint on the brain that increases memory and retention.

With that in mind, many of these activities intentionally provide an opportunity for students to practice their words by tracing.  They also focus on getting as many senses involved as possible and hopefully your students will find them fun.  This is a compilation of ideas targeted for students who struggle with spelling and need something different than the typical ways we ask kids to practice spelling words.

Multi-Sensory Spelling Activity Cards

Have a blessed week and enjoy!

Creative Ways to Line Up Your Class {Freebie}

Let's admit it; we all do it.  We creatively ask our kiddos to line up...not because we want to know how many kids are wearing red shirts or how many have laces on their shoes.  No, we do it because it helps to get our kids quiet and listening...the perfect prerequisite for a peaceful line.

Sometimes, if you're like me, you need a fresh idea for lining up your little sweet peas.  Maybe you'll find this helpful.  Twenty-four ideas (download the {free document} to see them all) that will get your kiddos in line and ready to go.  I'd love to add your ideas, so be sure to follow me and leave a comment with how you creatively get your kiddos in line.

Print, laminate, cut out, put on a binder ring and you're all set!

Keep them in a handy location!

Add a little bit of ribbon to your binder ring for a little bit of cute!

Of course, if you're like me, you'd also like a handy-dandy list of these same ideas.  You can put this list on your white board (just slap some magnets on the back), display it near your door, or use it as a bookmark in your lesson plan book/binder.

 

Grab your free copy of {Creative Ways to Line Up Your Class} today!

Don't forget to leave a comment with your creative ideas for lining up.

Have a blessed week and enjoy!

Move It With Brain Breaks Music Videos {FREEBIE}

If you're like me, you'd like one place with all your fun music and movement videos at your fingertips.  And it'd be great if those videos were in a safe format so that annoying content wasn't displayed before or after your video played.

I took the videos that many of my colleagues use on a regular basis and made a Symbaloo (a really cool visual bookmarking tool that helps people keep their favorite links in order.) First, I converted each video into a link on SafeShare.tv - a wonderful site that generates a safe link for YouTube videos.  It removes all the yucky stuff you don't want.  You might have one ad pop up at the bottom of the video right when you hit play, but that's about it.  No more questionable content on the sides and nothing comes up when the video ends.  Woo hoo!

So, here it is!

When I find engaging videos, I add them to my Symbaloo which updates automatically.  If you have a favorite that you'd like to suggest I include, just leave me a comment and I'll check it out.  (My Symbaloo was updated in September '14 to include new videos, GoNoodle and many Kid President videos.)

Enjoy!