I suppose I'll start out telling you a little about myself. My name is Heidi, and I teach 1st grade. I have a Bachelor's in Early Childhood Education and a Master's in Reading. I have a reading specialist certification on my license for grades PreK-12...although, honestly, I would have NO CLUE what to do after about 3rd grade...haha. This year, I'll be entering a NEW school for the first time since I began teaching six years ago. This will probably be the cause for a significant amount of anxiety for me (as it already has been just thinking about it), but I am so excited to be moving on to what really is my dream job - a 1st grade position working with both students and with training new teachers at a university! Whew! Nervous doesn't even begin to cover it.
I live in a suburban area of Tennessee with my husband and our precious daughter, Zoey. As the words come out of my mouth, I'm still in a bit of disbelief that she will be ONE YEAR OLD in a week! It's cliche' for a reason, people...they grow up so fast! My summer has been spent chasing my little
I guess that's the important stuff.
Now, on to the nerdy teacher stuff!
Here, on my very first post, I am sharing with you something I have created. Inspired by a pin I found from http://firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com/, I created a Sight Word Sticker Book based on MacMillan/McGraw-Hill's Treasures reading series.
The sight word sticker book is meant to be laminated, cut on the lines, and then put together with a book ring. Each kid will get his/her own sight word sticker book for practice ALL YEAR.
As you "test" kids on sight words each week, they earn stickers in the boxes next to the words they have mastered. Retest as often as necessary by just flipping back to previous pages to see if kids can earn more stickers or if they need to have stickers removed and words re-practiced.
Kids are able to work on the first non-mastered list they come to and are able to earn stickers any time! They can keep these in their book bins, reading group folders, or at their desk/table. This is a perfect way to differentiate as not all kids are working on the same words at the same time. BUT...all kids still have the same basic lists, so they can still play with buddies and groups with the same words, even if they are attempting to master a different list. :)
This sticker book has Treasures' Kindergarten sight words, color words, 1st grade sight words listed by week, and 2nd grade sight words also listed by week. I haven't "measured" the boxes next to each word, so I may have to adjust the font size if stickers don't really fit.
To get the sight word sticker book, click here: http://www.lps.rcs.k12.tn.us/Teachers/mahlonh/web/documents/sightwordstickerbook.doc
Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you have any other awesome ideas for my new creation!
Happy Teaching!
-Heidi
