Short A and Thank You Target!

We had quite the busy week last week (Sept 9-13).  It was our first week carrying out the new Journey's reading program.  We mixed seat work with center work.  Sometimes we worked out of our Reader's Notebook, and other times we worked in groups rotating around the room to visit various centers to do activities that reviewed short a words, spelling words, vocabulary words, reading, ABC order, etc.  Here are some pictures (finally!) to see what we have been up to...

This center was called House of Sticks.  The kids had to search for the popsicle sticks hidden in the sand.  Then, they had to write the word from the stick on their paper to build a house of sticks.

Here is our spelling center.  I posted the lists, and the kids spelled out the words from their list with foam letters.

Creative way to make a 't' there... :)

In this center, the kids had free choice from the leveled readers bucket.  Also, they got to use our phonics phones, which magnify our voices so that we can hear ourselves read and blend the sounds.  I made these 2 summers ago using PVC piping from Lowes.  (another lovely find from pinterest)

Here we had the opportunity to use highlighters to highlight the short a words and then write them in the frames below.  Using something other than a pencil is always cause for excitement!

This is our Boggle board (yes, pinterest again!).  The rules aren't necessarily the same as the Boggle game.  Here they can use any combination of letters to make short a words.  They do not just have to use the letters that touch to spell words.  This center was a BIG hit!  Also, they are able to return to this center during free time or if they are an early finisher to make more words.  :)  

To help us learn the short a vowel sound, we met the Scraggles!  Scraggles only have short a names and only like things that have short a names, like crackers and apples.  We came up with a HUGE list of short a names on the SmartBoard.  Then, the students chose a Scraggle, wrote its name on its shirt, and then colored it in bright colors (because Scraggles are also brightly colored creatures!).  

Hmmm... having trouble with Google Sites again!  It is not letting me upload anymore pictures!  If anyone knows how to troubleshoot this, please let me know.  :)  Well, I wanted to take some pictures of a few anchor charts we made and our BIG short a tree in our window, so I will have to make another post tomorrow.  

In other news, a good friend of mine, Ryan Shedlock, works at the Mt. Nebo Target as an Executive Team Leader.  He knows of my addiction love of the Target Dollar Spot.  I decorate the classroom for every season solely with the products sold in that section.  So anyways, a few months ago Ryan asked me if I would like all of the leftover back-to-school items from the Dollar Section at his store (for FREE!) when they switched it out for the Halloween/Fall items.  I'm sure you know what my answer was.... YES!!!!!!!  Well, last week (Monday) Ryan texted me during school and said there were 17, yes 17, boxes of Dollar Spot goodies ready for me to pick up!!!  So, later that evening, my mom, dad, and I drove out to the Mt. Nebo Target to pick up the very generous donation.  The next morning you would have thought Christmas came early!  The teachers were so excited to unpack it all and use the items in their classrooms.  After school that day we did just that.  We unpacked, sorted, and "shopped!"  We still have items stored away for safe keeping to continue using them throughout the year.  Ryan and the Mt. Nebo Target did not ask me to promote them.  I chose to share their extreme generosity on my own.  It's too amazing to not share!  So again, thank you thank you THANK YOU!!