Deb Maxwell

Teach your students how to blend CVC words with this engaging activity. This is a perfect phonics intervention for ELL students, SPED, or any kids who struggle with blending. This Blending CVC Words activity makes blending concrete for beginning readers. Students can drive a car down the road saying each letter sound as they go. They drive a little faster if they don't get it the first time. Soon they are blending sounds like a pro! The pictures on the back make this activity self-checking. It'

Do you need to help your students decode nonsense words or multi-syllabic words? Nonsense words are frequently assessed on early reading screening and proficiency tests. It’s a challenge for students who are accustomed to trying to make sense of reading, but being able to do it successfully helps students decode more challenging texts. To make sense of nonsense words, we need to view them as word parts. This activity shows students how nonsense words fit together to make longer words. A word l

Answering "how many more?" and "how many less?" are some of the hardest math questions primary students have to answer. Before they can answer these questions in word problems, they need to understand what questions mean and how to answer. This activity gives students lots of practice answering"how many more." The activity is designed to make the skill as easy as possible to ensure student success. The stars are already lined up for them, making it easier to compare the numbers. After doing this

Kids will love working with the funny tale of Sneezy the Snowman in this "not very fancy" book study. This file contains materials to focus on vocabulary, fluency, retelling, key details, sequencing, and word work. Vocabulary: I selected 5 vocabulary words to focus on from this text. The words can be displayed as-is or cut out and added to a word wall. To conclude the vocabulary lesson, students can write a sentence and draw a picture of one word using slide 4. Fluency: This book has a few rep

Students follow directions to create three unique snowmen. Following directions helps young children develop their receptive language skills. Are you ready for Valentine's Day? Valentine Problem Solving Task Cards DOLLAR DEAL: Valentine's Primary Math Packet FREEBIES : Valentine's Day Following Directions Lesson Valentine Themed Fact Sorting Math Center St Patrick's Day and spring are not as far away as you think! Be ready with these great products: Shamrock Place Value - free sample St.

"When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. And it says its name." This is a sign to help students decode words with vowel teams. The sign shows 3 common sets of vowel teams walking down a side walk. The first vowel is saying its own name. This is a good reminder for students when they are learning the long vowel sounds. For some fun practice with this skill, check out my I have, Who Has? Vowel Teams Activities. Thanks for visiting my store! I would really appreciate feedbac

Following directions is such an important skill! This apple-themed freebie is a fun way to practice. Some students struggle to understand the vocabulary or language we use when giving directions. Working on this activity with a teacher can be really helpful for the student and very revealing to a teacher. More Practice Following Directions: Valentine's Day Following Directions Lesson Snowman Following Directions Freebie Do your students need help understanding how to use reading strategies?

An almost magical framework for identifying the author's central message and retelling a fictional story. This FREE poster can be used at any level! It works with almost any fictional text. It's my favorite comprehension strategy! Thanks for visiting my store! I would really appreciate feedback on any product you download. Be sure to follow for information on freebies, sales, and new products. I also blog at: Not very fancy I'm on Facebook, too! Not very fancy Facebook Page Deb Looking for

A book study of Spoon by Amy Rosenthal Appropriate for K-2, this book study has materials to scaffold students as they learn to determine the author's central message and infer. *Anchor charts for Inferring and Determining Author's Central Message *Teacher guides to class discussion of inferring and determining central message *Student response sheets The teacher's guides include questions, possible prompts, answers, and explanations of the answers. They could be used to lead a class discussi

Kids love to play the Who Stole the Cookies Game! Once they know how the game works, you can use this product to help them develop fact fluency. Everyone gets a card with a number or an equation on it, and instead of calling out the name of the accused cookie thief, you call out a math fact or a number. Everyone really has to pay attention. Since we all love a cookie theme, this pack also has some center domino games and problem solving. Thanks for visiting my store! I would really apprecia

These Common Core aligned task cards are ideal for fast finishers, center activities, small groups, morning work, or mental math. There are 9 activities and 130 unique cards. *Counting—12 cards, EACH card has 4 counting tasks--start at any number and count on. The number range is 0-130. *Counting strategies—24 cards, EACH card has 4 counting tasks—start at any number and count on by 10s or 5s. The number range is 0-200 *Balancing equations—18 cards, students are challenged o find at least 10

This Valentine's-themed math worksheets packet for primary grades includes equation practice with basic facts, number patterns with numbers 0-120, and greater than/less than practice with numbers 0-120. It is appropriate for first or second grade. There are 2 levels of each sheet so you can differentiate. True/False equations, basic addition facts, 2 levelsTrue/False equation, basic subtraction facts, 2 levelsMissing addend practice, basic addition facts, 2 levelsMissing addend practice, basic s

your class will love playing 'I have, Who has? with these winter themed games designed to give students practice decoding words with the silent e spelling pattern. $ This file contains 4 sets of cards for “I have, who has?” There is a 24 card set and a 30 card set of each game. These games are designed to accompany a systematic approach to teaching phonics. Silent e is typically the student’s first introduction to the long vowel sounds. The sequence of instruction begins with the a_e pattern, t

April Showers themed math worksheets for primary grades. These are differentiated with a basic and a challenge option for most skills. Common Core Aligned for first and second grade. Pgs. 3-6 True/False equations--addition Pgs. 7-10 True/False equations—subtraction Pgs. 11-14 Missing Addend –addition Pgs. 15-18 Missing Addend—subtraction Pgs. 19-22 Greater than/Less than/Equal to Each student page is followed by an answer key. There are two student pages with answer keys for each skill. The f

Decoding multi-syllabic words is incredibly difficult for students. The activities in this packet show students how word parts fit together to make multi-syllabic words. As texts increase in complexity, longer words start to appear, but in authentic texts, these words can't be introduced systematically. Especially for struggling students, it's easier to learn to decode longer words when they are taught systematically. Decoding longer words with multiple syllables is closely related to reading n

This is a simple activity I like to do in the beginning of the year. After reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, kids make their own coconut trees. They put the letters for their name in the coconut tree. We put up a display called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: Look at who's in our room! This file includes directions for setting up the activity and implementing the lesson, patterns for the trunk and tree top, and letters.

Your kids will love playing "I have, who has?" with these Wintry Vowel Teams games. Use it for a whole group game, a small group game, or a word work center. I love to use this type of game during my morning meeting activity. This file contains 4 sets of cards for “I have, who has?” Pgs 4-27 are sets of 30 cards. Pgs 29-48 are 24 card sets. You can also get this file bundled with the Silent e Games: I have, Who has? Wintry Long Vowel BundleThese games are designed to accompany a systematic appro

Kids need so many experiences with unknown addend problems and compare problems! This Problem Solving Pack provides 20 unique problems focusing on these two challenging problem types. (Some of these problems are related to winter.) There are three formats for each problem (large print, print-and-go, a paper-saver) Each problem is differentiated. Rather than putting numbers in the problems, I left blanks. There are several number sets for each problem. I usually tell my students to try to do all

Give students explicit instruction in foundational reading strategies for emergent readers. Helpful for both parents and students, these 18 posters use words and images to teach strategies for beginning readers. Students will be proud of their developing literacy skills when they learn how to use these key strategies to read text independently: Use picture clues.Think about what would make sense.Go back and reread.Point to each word.Look at the first letter.Look at the last letter.Break the wor

Give your students some fun phonics decoding practice with the bossy-r spelling patterns with this "I have, who has?" game. There are 5 sets of cards for playing “I have, who has?” Each set has 24 cards, so it will work as a whole group game. You can also use it in a small group by giving each student several cards. These games are designed to accompany a systematic approach to teaching phonics. The r-control vowel spelling patterns, or bossy-r, is usually taught after vowel teams (/ai/ /ea/ e