Itty Bitty Storage Containers

Don't you love these tiny containers? I sure do! My school's math coach suggested a fantastic use for these. Our district's math curriculum is Investigations Math, and it includes many games where the students have to roll two dice.

Problem: Sometimes it drives me crazy when the kids roll their two dice and they fly to opposite sides of the room...

Solution: Roll the dice in this cute container! (There really is enough room for the dice to roll inside there.)



I love keeping these tiny dice boxes in a tub and they are instantly ready to pull out for games! By the way, I bought these at Dollar Tree. A pack of 8 for one dollar! Can't beat that.

I also found these cute little colored ones at Staples, and I love using them to store play money to pull out for counting/games involving money. They hold a perfect amount.



I think purchasing storage containers is an addiction for all teachers, and I think these are especially hard to resist!

Shaking up the Sight Word Practice

For one of my graduate school classes this summer, I had to assess and plan tutoring interventions for a student. Thankfully, a WONDERFUL family from my school allowed me to come over and work with him.

So, I had to plan some sight word practice, and I wanted to do a variety of activities. So, I did some of the ole classics, like "hit-the-word-with-the-fly-swatter", using the slinky to stretch out the words, and shining the flashlight on the words.

Flashlight with sentences...this REALLY helped him focus on reading each word, rather than looking at the first letter and saying any old word that started with that letter. :)



So, this child is *SUPER* creative! And he, went on to inform me that he had better ideas to help him practice...so, sometimes you just have to go with it...

He decided that instead of swatting words that he would like to be a hamburger cook and "flip the patties" (flipping flash cards!) He would read the word and flip the patty and then press it down like he was grilling. Of course it was complete with grilling sound effects...





Later, he would "flip and grill" words that could be put together in sentences, and he called them "sentence burgers."

I would never have thought of any of this in a million years. I teach older grades, so I don't usually do sight-word practice, but I love the idea of using spatulas or a cooking theme for some type of practice! Very cute. So, if any of you like this idea, take it and roll with it!

And one more thing, his other idea was for the toy skeleton to read the words...whatever works, right?

Meet the Teacher

I am really enjoying all of the people I have "met" in the teaching-blog world! Many teachers out there have a post like this one, so here is my own little "meet the teacher" post.

Let me start off with a fun story: The summer before my second grade year, my family moved to Abilene, TX. Moving to a new school can be scary, but thankfully I had the most amazing second grade teacher! She was the most peaceful, calming and gentle teacher you can imagine. Plus, I still have many memories of the great activities we did in her class...Her name was Mrs. Orr, and she was my hero. I wanted to be just like her!

Fast forward about 13 years...While attending Abilene Christian University, I met and dated Mason Orr. I quickly learned that he was related to THE Mrs. Orr. After our wonderful college days were over, Mason and I were married.

One of our wedding pictures...There are several "Mrs. Orrs" in this picture, but my favorite teacher, Mrs. Orr is on the far left-hand side.



A few more pics for fun...

Mason and I with our families.



We love traveling...







I am a big dog lover! Here are our two dogs, Charlie and Sadie.



Besides teaching, church and graduate school keep me pretty busy! We also love spending as much time with friends and family as we possibly can. Thank you for dropping by!