Taking a road trip with kids, is like trying to contain a small pack of Gremlins in a car.

It is no easy feat.

A lot of people hold off on travel until their children are bigger. Especially if it involves lots of time in the car. There are also those who believe that travel with young children is pointless, because they won’t remember it.

And it’s true they may not.

But they will experience the sights and sounds and they will absorb them. Those little brains of theirs are working on over-drive growing and developing! There is research that suggests that the right kind of experiences in our early years can help the brain to grow.

Additionally, the opportunities travel provides for language development and hands on learning are endless! Exposure to new places introduces new vocabulary and real world connections to that language.

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So you can use my free lists and play games all you want, but we both know, everything works better with a plan!

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been working hard on designing a sight word curriculum for my daughter that is both fun and interactive.   I dug into my vault of  teacher tricks and designed a 5 weeks worth of games and activities that will keep her engaged while also helping her learn her sight words.  I meticulously planned weeks worth of instruction she actually looks forward to!

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Sight word flashcards…bleh, right?

At some point in your life, you’re bound to have had an encounter with flash cards.  I mean, who didn’t have to endure the endless drill of them when learning their times tables years ago?

You likely don’t have the fondest of memories of them.  They are without a doubt boring.  But there is strong research to support the value of use of flashcards.

Research shows that flash cards improve both active recall and meta cognition.  This means that you actively monitor your own growth as you learn new words, and will remember them longer because of the strong connections you make with them.  This is why the importance of flash cards is emphasized  in my letter of the week series.  They will also be a crucial component in learning sight words.

Undoubtedly, there is a place for repetition.  I’m not going to  say you don’t need to routinely practice sight words in the plain old flashcard drill manner.

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Hopefully you’re joining my from my letter of the week, or print concepts series.  If so, you’re already well on your way to teaching your child to read!

But now, you’re probably thinking…

We get Print Concepts, we know our letters and sounds…Now What?

Truthfully, at this point it becomes somewhat of a juggling act. You need to balance sight words, high frequency words, phonemic blending, and reading strategies simultaneously. But today, we’re going to focus on one piece of that puzzle and tackle sight and high frequency words. We’ll come back to the other pieces soon.

To get you started, I’m sharing with you my 3 part series on the Ultimate Guide to Teaching Sight Words.  After 10 years in the classroom, my sight word teaching technique is practically down to a science.  And so, I’m unlocking the treasure chest for you!

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Today I’m sharing with you a quick and easy tutorial for one of my absolute favorite DIY teacher appreciation gifts!

You’ll be hard pressed to find a teacher who doesn’t have a sweet tooth, which makes the combination of cookie or brownie mix and this cute oven mitt absolutely perfect!

These are simple, sweet and so much fun!  I love them so much I created four different designs that can be used!  You’ll love them too, especially after seeing how easy they are!

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Spring is in the air and that means the end of the school year is creeping up on us.

Summer break has 2 definitions:  ‘A  teacher holiday dedicated to the multitude of teacher veterans who survived yet another school year’  or ‘A break from school designed to torture parents.”

For teachers it is a long awaited reward at the end of a trying year.  For parents, it’s a reminder just how thankful we are for those teachers who put up with our kids for 180 days.

As a former teacher, who survived over decade of end of the school years, I want to let my kids teachers know how truly they are appreciated. So we send a gift every day they are in school that week.

I love to add a DIY touch to our gifts and so I’ve been busy prowling Pinterest in search of some of the cutest DIY Teacher Appreciation gifts out there!  I’ve rounded them all up and created one sweet little post full of awesome crafts your child’s teacher is sure to appreciate!

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