Dollar Store Centers #7...

Grammar is not my favorite subject to tach, so making games out of it has made it more fun for all of us. We began reviewing the different ways to make plurals. This was great review for my 3rd grader, and I'll eventually use it to teach this skill to my 1st grader.

The die cut theme was party stuff though I haven't managed to come up with a clever name yet:)

I wrote the singular version of the noun so Jackson had to figure out how they would be made plural.

Here was his final sort with the choices of: stay the same, add s, add -es, change the y to i and add -es, or whole new word.

He only missed 1 I think. I am always amazed at how these simple games show you how they can quickly get a concept that they could easily trip up on if writing them or working on a workbook (although we do follow up with those as well).

Now if I could only come up with a clever name....

Dollar Store Centers #6...

I've been trying to read over our state's curriculum standards to make sure that I wasn't missing any skills I need to cover. I realized we hadn't talked about syllables. Of course, I needed to make a center to teach it!

I bought this tray to use with the twins in Tot School, but have found SO many uses for it.

I used the one with 5 dividers for Jackson and typed up words that had anywhere from 1-5 syllables (I actually had to look up some 5 syllable words!). I used some good ole's scrapbooking punches and stickers to label each section for number of syllables:

Here's Ashton's who went up to words with three syllables:

Then we had a mini lesson on vowel sounds and clapping it out and off they went:

As usual, Jackson sees me with the camera and hams it up:

This ended up being a great center they've done a couple of times. It's also easy to type up some new words and have an all new activity.

Dollar Store Centers #5...

I saw these in the dollar bin or T-get and had to have them. I knew right away that they would be perfect for teaching guide words (not to mention I bought one to try to help my husband get organized-it's laying in the floor of his truck, oh well!).

We are working on dictionary skills right now. I wrote different guide words on six of the sticker tabs:

Then I simply wrote entry words that would be found on those pages on notecards (100 for a dollar :) He had to file them behind the appropriate guide words:

And, as you can see, by my adorable goofball- he's thinking hard (at least thinking hard about how to be a ham for the camera!). This was great practice. He missed a few of the ones he had to go to the 3rd or 4th letter which was a great chance to talk about it.

Now that we've done guide words I have to think of something else cool to do with these- not to mention I have a pink one just waiting to be something cool for a first grade girl I know!

Dollar Store Centers #4 (My Favorite So Far)...

I was ridiculously excited by this center because I thought it was so cute and fun. I was at the check out counter in the dollar store when I looked up and saw this pink fly swatter with flower. I knew Ashton would love it so jumped out of line and ran to get it. Of course, then I had to think of a way to make it educational :)

Right now she is beginning to learn all the different blends and digraphs. I just looked up bug clip art on my word processing program and was pleasantly surprised at how many cute ones there were. Then I labeled each bug with a blend, printed on cardstock, cut them out and was ready to let the swatting begin.

This time I just made the sound of the blend and she was to swat it. In the future I will say a word with that blend or make the sound and she has to say a word with the blend as she swats it. She was thrilled with this center. The only problem was she didn't want to swat the "pretty butterflies"!

The blends are just the beginning. I plan on making sight word and addition fact bugs.

Now I need to find a camo flyswatter for my son and make up parts of speech or multiplication product bugs!

Dollar Store Centers #3...

We are all about nouns over here this week. This is too basic review for my 3rd grader and new info for my 1st grader though she has picked it up quickly. We are focusing on the noun categories of person, place or thing right now. This time I went a little over my $1 budget to about $1.33. The folder to store it in was about 20 cents:)

I bought big bulletin board decorations which had different diecuts like the balloon, party hat and present I used. There were about 15 included for a dollar. I used 3 so that put me a few cents over a dollar, oh well!

Last, I bought smaller diecut presents. These were 35 for a dollar I believe.

So, for a little over a dollar my darling daughter got to have a "Noun Party".

I wrote the categories on the big diecuts, and she then had to match the nouns written on the little presents to the appropriate category. I tried to make the nouns things you would see at a party because I am all about sticking to a theme!

I can't express enough how simple these things all are, but how much she truly enjoys them. I never hear a complaint when she opens a workbox and finds a center I made, and that in itself is worth much more than a dollar!

Dollar Store Centers #2...

I know this is kind of a rerun, but my kids needed more practice on ABC order. Again at the dollar store I found these cute diecuts and can get several centers out of them. I've tried to make all the words on the diecuts match the theme of the diecut so these are all space words starting with S.

These are all food words on the chef hats.

They each start with different letters since it was for Ashton.

My girl so enjoys these games making it all worth it.

Dollar Store Centers #1...

I have been inspired by Carissa's Tools for Tots and other blogs that link to it by the really inexpensive toddler activities they make. However, I wanted to do something like that for school age children. I have long been shopping at the dollar store for things for the twins like pitchers and sorting trays. However, now I started to look at things at the dollar store I could make learning centers out of for my 1st and 3rd grader. Since we use the workbox system these are all great things I can throw in the kids' workboxes to make learning more fun.

Then I thought how fun it would be to share anything I could come up with with my blog readers. So, this is the new feature on my blog: Dollar Store Centers. I am having the best time with this. I am a center making addict!

The first one is an easy one that didn't take me but a few minutes to make. One of the first skills I wanted us to cover was ABC order. I made one for Ashton which were easy words all starting with different letters to make it easier. I made Jackson two. One all started with the same letter so he had to practice 2nd and 3rd letter order and the other was mixed.

They really loved this simple activity.

I found these colorful diecuts at the dollar store. I made all 3 centers out of the same $1 pack. Then I just put it in envelopes I already had and decorated them a little. The most expensive part was probably the Velcro dot I used to hold the envelope shut :)

Obviously, this is not rocket science, but it was fun to make and to share. ABC order was something I otherwise would've done with pen and paper, and trust me the kiddos loved this much more!