D.I.Y. 3-D Tens Frames and a Freebie

Sometimes I wonder which I love more - the Dollar Tree or the Target Dollar Spot. I honestly should just avoid them both, because I rarely spend less than 25 dollars when I visit either one, but we all know that won't happen. Well, today I hit both stores and found that the real score is when you put them both together! I picked up the makings for a bunch of projects for my classroom, and by combining some treasures from both stores, I have a ton of ideas! I worked on one today and it came out just the way I pictured it when I was digging through the dollar bins for "just one more pack!" I picked up some packs of tiny containers and some packs of colorful ping pong balls and got out my glue gun.

D.I.Y. 3-D Tens Frames from Peace, Love and Learning

Voila! Now I have a set of 3D Tens Frames to put in a Math Station. Check them out - I LOVE them!

Through a little trial and error, I found the best way to construct the frame is to glue all of the lids together first, then add one container at a time, being sure to put glue along the sides and a dot on the bottom. We're going to have to have a serious lesson about ping pong ball etiquette, but I think they're going to be great for real hands-on, kinesthetic learning!

Another project that I finished today was putting the final touches on the Alphabet Emergent Reader Library that I've been working on. Finding books that kindergartners can read independently at the beginning of the year can be a little tricky, because emergent literacy skills such as text tracking, sight word recognition and letter/sound associations are just starting to blossom. I want my students’ first experiences with independent reading to be successful so they can think of themselves as readers from the get-go. With that in mind, I created a set of 26 Alphabet Emergent Readers. Each book focuses on one letter sound, has pointing fingers under the words to reinforce text tracking, and follows a 1, 2, or 3 word text pattern that uses only one of three basic sight words (a, the or my). All of these elements put together will allow even the most beginning readers to say, “I can read it myself!” These are great to use when establishing routines for independent reading during Readers' Workshop in the beginning of the year. I'll send a free set to the first three comments and the whole set will be half price on TPT for the weekend. You can a grab a freebie book here. (The Letter A.)