Five for Friday~I wrote a book…!!!

Hi~, peeps! How are ya? Another whirlwind week has flown by and I’m linking up to share a little of our week at Doodlebugs Teaching. Hang around for a little while and take a dive under the sea with us! Ready?



This week, we took a dive or two into non-fiction texts about sea animals. With it, came the introduction of digraphs. ANNNNND, I did something for the very first time that I’m soooo excited to share with you!!!

I wrote a book! A real, little….teeny, weeny sight word reader, BUT……HEY, I wrote a book!


My sweet emergent group is really struggling with sight words. We review them each morning during calendar, they’re reviewed at the beginning of each small group, and we visit the word wall 3 times a week to play sight word games {among many other ways we incorporate them each day}.  I kept racking my brain for a new way, a different way, something above and beyond to help my babies gain the sight word knowledge they  desperately NEED! ….AND VOILA!!!

I thought I would be more excited than them to hand these out on Monday, but guess what?! They were excited too! They really liked having a little book that was created just for them. It  featured the same concepts that everyone else in class were reading about. Instead of having to return their book to the classroom library at the end of the week, they got to take their books home to read over and over and hopefully, OVER again! You should’ve seen their eyes!



After introducing the book and animals that I thought may be a little difficult for them to recognize, we also used them to highlight sight words and mark digraph th. It was our focus skill for the week, and they couldn’t have been happier to be able to write in their books!

Can we color it, Mrs. Dwyer? Can I take it home, Mrs. Dwyer? Are you sure its ok to write in it? Yes, yes……and YES!!! Goal met….happy kids, excited about reading….happy, happy, happy teacher!



My oldest daughter flew in for a quick visit this week, so knowing I would be out toward the end of the week, I tried to pack as much learning as possible in! We used this chart to connect to authentic literature. My firsties are becoming quite the detectives and I-Spy phonics patterns and sight words everywhere! I love it! Here, we made text-to-text connections with WHAT IF YOU HAD animal teeth? Ever think about what YOU might eat if you had teeth like a beaver or a tiger, lol?!



I hate making copies! Not that I don’t use them, because I do {sparingly}…. if I can think of an alternative…a way for students to create on their own, I’d rather them be creative and organize their own thinking rather than provide a worksheet. It’s not always easy and can honestly, be a pain {sometimes}…but I’ve found it to be what my students enjoy and consequently, remember the most.

These little graphic organizers were used to identify 3 details to support the stated author’s purpose for having written the text. We wrote the title across the top, our 3 details on the sticky notes and the author’s purpose across the bottom. Who doesn’t love using sticky notes?!

Click the pic below to grab a copy of our little sight word reader! If you do, leave a comment below to share one of your favorite ways to teach sight words!



Laters, gators! =)