Classroom Ideas, mostly PINspired!

I will do my best giving credit where it is due to the Pinners I borrowed these ideas from.  Please forgive me if they are not correctly labeled and leave me a comment and I will fix it!!!

For my new Word Work center, many of the following ideas are inspired by this awesome teacher!  My students have a jar of the sight words I want them working on, they reach into the jar and CHOOSE the manipulative they would like to use to create the word.  I love the way that she gives them CHOICE!  What a great idea that most of us never think of!!!  We have all of this stuff shoved in our closets - let's get it out and put it in the hands of our kids!  Haha, something crazy coming from the Teacher Hoarder that I have become!!!  The greatest thing is, though - they're reusable!  So tomorrow, after the kids have used them, they're still there and not glued to something!!!

 

 Colored letter tiles

 Letter-shaped erasers

 Sparkly beads - they have to put these on rubber mats so they don't roll away - another reinforcement of "spheres."  :)

 Pipe cleaner words

 Pony beads

 "Bumpy Words" - they use crayons on paper over rubber mats.

 Pom Poms

 Candle words, inspired by this blogger.

 An assortment of beads - found at Walmart for surprisingly cheap!!!

 

I think these letter beads come from Lakeshore learning...  I picked them up at a garage sale, so I'm not sure.

The one problem I was having was that my students were going to the choice word work center and just playing with all of the cool new stuff.  So.....  I found an old digital camera I had lying around and taught them how to VERY CAREFULLY take pictures of their words!  Then, I remembered I have a digital photo frame that was given to my husband and me when we were married that's stored away and not being used....  So....  I brought it in and we now have a never-ending slideshow of the words THEY created!!!  It helps them to WANT to make new words as quickly as they can, and reinforces their word reading skills because the words are always changing!  They LOVE this!!!

 For the guided reading table:

 The star pointers were inspired by this blog.  I found them 8 for $1 at the Dollar Tree!!!!  GREAT deal and they're perfect for framing words AND pointing!!!  :)  The other things are actually drink stirrers I had leftover from my Master's graduation party from 2 years ago.  They're flamingos and palm trees, so the kids have a choice (there's that magic word again!) of which pointer they use.

 A great use for stretchable book covers!  Dry erase board/marker holders!!!  Cute, colorful, and CHEAP!!!  The best C's!  Inspired by this blogger.

Below is my Word Work station - inspired by myself!  :)  I bought the cart for $5 at a yard sale and transformed it!  This is where my students can select different materials for their Word Work center.  I'll post the transformation later....  The shelf is much more filled now as I keep finding more and more great things for it!