Blossoms of Blue

When I was teaching, we started a program called Reading Horizons. This program helps students learn to decode words. As they do this, they prove that they are reading, spelling and pronouncing the word correctly.

Ideally, you would start in kindergarten, but I taught my second graders these skills, and it really helped a lot of them become better readers. For younger students, the program starts with teaching the 42 sounds of the alphabet. Then you move on to 5 phonetic skills, and 2 decoding skills. Here's an example of what students will be able to do:
I know it probably doesn't make any sense to you now, but each marking helps in telling you how to decode the words.

These are the 5 phonetic skills that go along with the words above:

• Phonetic Skill #1: When one guardian consonant — and nothing more — follows the vowel, the vowel will be short.
• Phonetic Skill #2: When the vowel is followed by two guardian consonants and nothing more, the vowel will be short.
• Phonetic Skill #3: When a vowel stands alone, it will be long.
• Phonetic Skill #4: Silent E makes the first vowel long.
• Phonetic Skill #5: When vowels are adjacent, the second vowel is silent, and the first vowel is long.

I participated in this March Blogger Matchup that my friend Ashlyn at The Creative Classroom put together. This is so much fun! Each teacher-blogger is assigned an NCAA team, and in each round, the blogger whose team wins gets to move on to the next round. The loser sends them a free item from their Tpt store and also has to post a giveaway of that same item on their blog.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for entering and good luck!

My friend Ashlyn over at The Creative Classroom had a great idea to do build your own monster for her reading incentive. She will start with a body, and then will earn eyes when they read 100 minutes, mouth for 200 minutes, etc. So much fun!

So I helped her out and created a Build A Monster clipart set. I think it turned out so cute, so be sure to go check it out!





I am also in the process of making an accessories set for the monsters, so be on the lookout for that.

Have you heard of Adventure to Fitness? If not, you have got to check it out! It is an educational fitness program that is so much fun. When I was teaching, I would turn it on during indoor recess. In the videos, the guide, Mr. Marc, takes the kids on expeditions to different places. The kids run, walk, jump, duck, etc, in place as they follow him on the adventure. My students really enjoyed doing these, and it is a great way to get their energy out.

There are only 5 episodes that you can watch for free, but there are also some mini episodes, and if you want, you can subscribe and have access to all the videos. I found that 5 episodes was enough. The kids don't mind watching the same episode more than once. Plus, they are each 30 minutes long, so you can watch half an episode at a time.

Sign up using your school e-mail, then log in, go to teachers, and then you can scroll down and click on episode library.


You can then choose your video. Each video also has activities you can download to go along with it.




Here are some screenshots from the episode about volcanoes:

Here the kids are jumping up the mountain with Marc.

I love that they also have educational content in them.

Hopefully you won't have too many indoor recess days left this year, but next time you get the chance, try out Adventure to Fitness. I think your students will really like it!

I started thinking about my students and how to increase their enthusiasm for reading. Some kids are already excited about reading, but many kids don't find it enjoyable. Here are some ideas to help get your students excited about reading:


1. BOOK GROUPS: What second grader doesn't love hanging out with their teacher? Think about starting a book group with your class. Assign a book each month and have 4-5 copies available for check out. On the last Friday of the month, anyone who has read the book can eat lunch in the classroom while you ask questions and discuss the book together. Your students will LOVE the extra time they get to spend with you.

Teachers Pay Teachers thinks that teachers are heroes, so they are having a sitewide sale, and I am participating. Click on the button below to check out my store:

I have decided to spend some more time making clipart. I am still working on improving my work and trying to get better at Illustrator, but I have improved a LOT since I first started. Here's the first clipart I ever made in 2011:

Wow. Embarrassing. At least I didn't try to sell it! That one little boy probably took me about 8 hours to make.  This next one is from September of 2014:

I think this girl is WAY cuter! It still takes me some time to make these, she probably took 1-2 hours. And she still isn't great. Look at the weird coloring on her face! Now I use her as a template for the other ones I make, so it really doesn't take super long. The other day I decided to make a set of St. Patrick's Day clipart for Teachers Pay Teachers. I don't know if anyone will buy it, but I think it is pretty cute. Although, I am never really 100% happy with any of my work. I posted my set this afternoon, and this evening I was back on the computer, changing it up and trying to make it better. Here's a preview: Hopefully it will be of use to someone and they can use it to make cute products or items for their classrooms. If you would like to purchase this set, click on the image above.