Superheroes!!

     When I was teaching in the kindergarten, the only reward that I normally give my students would be stamps on their hand. Sweeties or stickers are seldom and saved for very special occasions.

     
     It was so cute that at the end of the day, they would line up and wait what kind of stamp will be given to them. Not all days would be a good one for some. So what I do is, if one of my students have done something not so good during the day, I explain to him or her why he or she won’t be getting a stamp. When they go home and their parents ask why they didn’t get any, they would be able to explain to them why. So every day, they make it a point to do a good job to be able to get that coveted stamp.

    
     When I started homeschooling our Sam, I made an alternative reward system, Superheroes! I bought superhero clipart from Teachers Pay Teachers and made a badge. Oh the happiness on her face and how proud she is to get a superhero badge! She was looking at it in front of the mirror and just doing a badge parade inside the house! So that was the first week.

    
      Second week came and I made Superhero Bracelets. Then the third week was Superhero crown. For the fourth week I didn’t have much time and Sam requested for a Superhero mask. She has a collection of Disney Princesses, Frozen and Doc Mcstuffins masks so I wasn’t surprised she would request one. I was lucky that Teachers Pay Teachers had freebies so that was such a relief!

    
      And now for our fifth week is the Superhero watch. It was fun doing it so I decided to share some samples as a freebie. It includes two line art (black and white watches for girls) and two colored watches for boys. Kindly click the link below for the FREEBIE.

    https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Superhero-Reward-Watch-2844817

    Here is a sample of what the watches look like in black and white. I have added a pop art effect to make it a bit more interesting in this post. :D 

Superhero Reward Watches

    If you need to have a custom watch made, kindly let me know I will try to edit it for FREE!   

Filipino-English Picture Dictionary

           
             Teaching Filipino to our dear Sam, who is half British and half Filipino is quite an easy task. Her reading level is for a 9-10 year old,  based on the reading program Eye Level, which we once visited to see an ex colleague. Sam was asked to read the booklet of a student and my friend was quite surprised that she was so advanced! 

          So what I did for her worksheets in Filipino was to make alphabet cut out books and started with the patinig or vowels. I made the first set only in Filipino but as I was teaching her, I was or she was translating it to English! So what I did was to put the English in Italics below the Filiipino words to make it easier for her to remember.

          Here are the snapshots of the interactive alphabet cut out books. 

Filipino-English Picture Dictionary

                               
          I have included two worksheets per patinig or vowel for further practice. Here are some samples:

  Two patinig Aa sample worksheets

                                
          On our first week she was able to spell all the Filipino patinig Aa! She even answered a question I asked in English in Filipino! We were studying salty foods and I asked her give me an example of a salty food. She answered, "Asin!" (salt) I gave a huge laugh!

           Here is a link to my new product:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Picture-Dictionary-Filipino-English-2840381  

          More fun stuff to make..be back soon!

Calendar Journal/Morning Work

   
      I have been out of the teaching mode for quite sometime due to a big move to a newly built house. It has been a tiring, stressful yet rewarding experience. My daughter and I moved from the big city to the province as decided by my hubby and I because everything is CHEAPER. We have a big plot, with a view of the sea, so what more would you want?

      When everything was settled in the house, I was able to sit and do wonders with my laptop again, doing what I love the most as a teacher mama...making fun teaching materials.

      This year is different for me and the little one as she won't be going to a regular school. The academic school year has started and it would be quite a challenge for me and her to change routines and Sam adjusting to a new environment. Moreover, from the Special Education point of view, I wanted to address her delays in fine motor. So this year I've started homeschooling.

      It was quite a daunting task thinking of ways to make her write, do the calendar and a review of the days lesson rolled into one. I did a few searching online and found something quite interesting. In the US, they do a morning work paper with the kids and I said to myself, that might just work. Sam is a very good reader but a very stubborn writer. This worksheet might just be the answer to encourage her to write more and have the correct pencil grip and follow the lines. 

       So this was the product of my editing skills:

       It actually worked! We are now in day 12 and it was a miracle! Not only was she encouraged to write, she has developed her calendar skills and was looking forward to answering it after our circle time! I even added a graph the weather worksheet! 

      Now on to my next worksheets....

Teaching Fluency

    During the course of my teaching years, kids starting to learn how to read often struggle with identifying letters and letter sounds.

    Reading is quite a complicated task for young kids. If we look into phonemic awareness, or the ability to identify  the letter sounds and use these sounds to make words, it would take a lot of practice to be able to master each letter and its corresponding sound. Some kids would be able to do it quickly and quite well, while others would be struggling doing these tasks.

    As parents and or teachers, we need to help these kids practice, practice and practice and make reading fun. I have made a fluency helper accordion book to practice fluency on CVC A words, simple sentences and simple passages. At the end of each word or passage, the teacher, parent or guardian can check which have been read easily and independently.

    Here is an example of the accordion fluency helper for CVC A Word Families 
-am, -ag, -ab, -ad, -ar, -at, -ap, -an. You can find it in my store here.  Just print and cut!

     

    You can read more on the subject of fluency at the Reading Rockets website.
    
    Have fun reading!

My Mini Short Story Tab Books

``When I was creating stories for our little one so she can practice her fluency and comprehension, i wanted it to be different and interesting for her.

    The first story I made was about our little one Sam, Sam's jam. Finished the story, and I had to think of an interesting format. Sam loves to read books and flip so why not a mini tab book? I showed her the finished product and  asked me to immediately print it. I just had to print, cut and glue and voila I have a mini book! She read the story, answered the 2 sets of reading comprehension questions and still wanted more. So I added another story. 

   The only thing was when I added another story, i had a blank page at the back. And I was like, "What can I put in the last page?" Had to search for ideas and clipart and found it! Why not a Superhero Reader Award to motivate them to read more and make them feel they have accomplished something great! 

14 CVC A short story covers in colored and black and white

with the Superhero Reader Award

   Here is the link for the mini tab books. It has 14 stories, 2 sets of reading comprehension questions on every story. There are two covers available, one for a boy and one for a girl. Kids can even color the clipart in each story!

   Here are some samples of the mini tab books. 

  

Mag's Bag -- An -ag word family story

Matt's cat -- An -at word family reading comprehension

Question Set A

  Happy reading! Share to your teacher and parent friends!