Fine Motor Practice

As a mom and teacher I have seen the importance of helping children develop their fine motor skills at a young age.  Development of these skills happens well before they need to have the correct pencil grip, or cut out a picture.  Start giving your children and students plenty of opportunities to manipulate small objects with their fingers.  This little activity is perfect for preschoolers and Kindergarteners.  It allows them to use those fine motor skills while focusing on letters and letter formation. So bust out your mini erasers from Target, pom poms, dry erase markers, PlayDoh, or any small manipulative and have a blast. 

Flamingo Fluency

Have you been on the lookout for an engaging fluency activity?  This activity is so versatile, it can be used in small group instruction, with parent volunteers, and even as an early finisher activity.  This darling game will get your kids reading the first 100 fry words in phrase form, instead of single words. This helps tie sight words into reading fluency.

How to play:

Have the students sit in a circle and place the game cards in a basket/bag. They take turns choosing a card. If they read the phrase correctly, they keep the card. There are also surprise direction cards like "Flip Flap, put your cards back!" And "Superstar: Read Four (phrases)Fast" to keep the students actively engaged. After the students read the "superstar" card they get to wear star shaped glasses and be the superstar until another player earns them.  I even added in a big necklace and some superhero glasses as choices for the "superstar".  

Grab it here

If you loved this game, but need some simpler versions for beginning readers check out my Dolch word versions of the game.  This is a great way to differentiate for different reading levels within your class.  

Get the Pre-Primer Dolch Version

Get the Primer Dolch Word Version

Digital Dollar Spot

Ok, let's be honest.  Teachers LOVE the Target Dollar Spot, and for good reason.  I can't walk out of Target without checking it out and adding {a handful} of items to my cart.  Well, wouldn't it be nice if there was a "Digital Dollar Spot" for teaching resources?  Now there is.  

Click here to see the current resources in the Digital Dollar Spot

 TPT Authors can temporarily add the #digitaldollarspot and drop the price to a dollar to add it to the dollar spot.  Each item will be in the dollar spot for less than a week, so check often.  Just like at Target, you have to check often to get the good steals.  To make sure you stay updated on the latest quality resources follow Digital Dollar Spot on Instagram. @digital_dollar_spot
You can also follow the Digital Dollar Spot board on Pinterest. 

Want to be featured?  

Simply add the hashtag  #digitaldollarspot on any Instagram posts.  Then add #digitaldollarspot to the title or description of your product.  Reduce the price to $1. That's it!  

Exceptional products will receive extra advertising through the Instagram feed.  What will make this dollar spot successful is amazing teacher authors sharing their products.  

Have you ever thought about selling on TPT?

Teachers are amazing!  We put in countless unpaid hours to make sure our students are getting engaging lessons every minute of the school day.  But, lucky for us, we have an amazing place to share ideas and resources to make each other’s lives easier.
If you are considering becoming a TPT seller, please use my referral link to sign up.  Referral Link I have also started a new group on Pinterest that I can add you into to help your new products reach other teachers.  After you sign up email literacywiththelittles@gmail.com so that I can invite you to the group.
It took me years to get the courage to start sharing some of my resources on TPT.  Not because I didn’t want to share, but because it was scary to put myself out there. I still get a little anxiety every time I post about my teaching creations on social media, but I am trying to overcome that fear.  Now that I am a stay-at-home-Mom this is my way to help “teach”.  I love teaching!  But after I had my twins I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with my 3 little ones and I jumped at the chance.  So for now, I will teach my own little ones, and share my resources in hopes that I can still “teach” in a tiny way.