Branching Out...Connect With Me!

Hi there! 

I've joined the fun--at least I think it is supposed to be fun (more about that below)-- #tptsellerchallenge that is being hosted by Ashley at Teach Create Motivate, Jen at Sparkling in Second, Amber at Peppy Zesty Teacherista, and Emily at Third in Hollywood.

I got started by recording our current stats--which was fun to see. This little blog has definitely reached more people than Kristi and I ever dreamed!

You can see that I'm fairly new to Instagram. Don't even have a link for you in the sidebar. #gasp! But I really am still getting it going... For now if you'd like to follow me on Instagram, my username is @teachinglittlemiracles.

Also, I just signed up for Twitter today. 

Our administrators last year were talking it up for the professional development opportunities and then when I entered the #tptsellerchallenge, I figured I should just go for it. 

I have NO IDEA how to use it yet, but you can follow me at @Teach_Miracles if you want to. It could be fun if I get it figured out. Ha!

Links in sidebar coming soon--I hope!

Okay, the challenge for week one was to makeover an old product. Easy enough! We have a lot of "oldies, but goodies" that could use a face lift so I jumped right in. I started updating the covers and information pages for our Super Sight Word packs. 

It was fun.

Do you see the emphasis on was--as in past tense? 

That means I am not having fun anymore people.

It all started out well and good. 

Five packs updated last night. The packs were some of our first. I mean back when we created things in Word. Thank you to whoever clued me in to how much easier it is to use PowerPoint! So it took some effort to get them all updated, but I did it. The covers are much more appealing to the eye. See the example below:

I was happy.

Next, I would need to upload the revised products to TPT.

First four products uploaded just fine, and then the fun stopped!

TPT kept saying, "This file may have a virus. Please check and upload again."

Seriously?

I do not have a virus. I checked. Over and over.

I tried saving as a PDF again.

I tried it on my laptop.

I tried it on my Mac.

I tried it holding my tongue just so.

I tried it while crossing my fingers.

You get the idea. 

I tried everything that I know how to do.

Then I went to work recreating the file--yes, a 78 page file!

And guess what?

When I tried to upload it, I got the same error message!

Nope. I was no longer having fun!

Finally, I just made it inactive. Because well, I have a life outside of TPT and I'm headed to a basketball camp with my daughter tomorrow.

So, I then took the offending file (the third grade one) out of my newly created bundle so that TPT would accept it. 

I will add the third grade file into the bundle. 

Next week. 

When I'm no longer ready to smash my computer.

Click the picture to check it out:

Right now it is 330 pages of sight word goodness! When I add in the 3rd grade one, it will be 408!

The good news is that as I worked on the pack, I started thinking of how I was going to use this next year. I have quite a few struggling readers heading my way. I'll share my plans when I get it put together!

Oh, and in honor of #makeovermadness I've discounted all the individual packs and priced this bundle at a steal of a deal!

Sight Word Fun

We have been working a lot on our sight words and have been doing a few fun activities to practice them daily.  One day we played musical chairs.  I played the kids Christmas Program music and they sang along to it as they walked around the chairs.  When the music stopped, they sat down in a chair with a word on it.  If they didn't get a chair they were out...........but they had a chance to get back in.  I then went around and each student had 3 seconds to tell me what his/her word was and if they missed it then they sat out and someone else came back in the game.  They had a blast with it.  

The second game was having a snowball fight.  The kids wrote down a sight word on a piece of scrap paper and crumbled it up.  They threw it in the room and then had to go find one.  They picked one up, opened it and had to read the word to me.  We also played this one in math using addition facts. 

What are some of the ways that you practice sight words/vocabulary words?  I am on a hunt for some more ideas of ways to practice and would love to hear from you!

On another note, check out the cool gingerbread train that one of our student's grandparents made for us.  (Do you know how hard it was to have to cut it up for the kids to eat it?  I didn't want to do it because it looked so neat and I didn't want to mess it up.)

Have a great day!