Sandpaper Tactile Writing

If you are looking for a multi-sensory way to have students practice letters, words, or even numbers, then sandpaper tactile writing is for you. I love providing students with a hands-on approach to learning. I usually use games and other activities, but these small pieces of sandpaper with words or whatever written on them are inexpensive and serve as a great way for providing practice time as well as a multi-sensory experience. 

I purchased these small sheets of sandpaper, already cut, for $1.00. They came in a bag of 24. I used crayons to write sight words on the sandpaper and then used them as a center activity. I have students trace the words with their fingers, spelling and reading the words as they go. Another way to use them is to have students make the letters with pipe cleaners and have them lay over the sandpaper letters to make the word. You could also use beans, macaroni, cereal or some other small item to have students write the words. 

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Pillow Case Chair Backpack

Making chair backpacks with pillow cases is a much quicker project then purchasing the material to make them from scratch. Here are the step-by-step directions with pictures.

1.     The first thing you will need to do is to purchase some standard size pillow cases. I found a set of two at Walmart for something like $5.74. I can’t remember exactly, but it was less than $3.00 per case.

2.     Once you take the pillow case out of the packaging you will want to iron it before you get started.

3.      Measure the width of the back of the chair you are going to use. I use a small chair with the width of 12” at its widest part. This means I will want to add two inches to my measurement. 

4.     Turn the pillow case inside out. Make sure it is flat and measure 14” across the width. Mark it with chalk, eyeliner pencil, or whatever you have handy. Make a few marks, so that you can then cut straight up using the markings to guide the cut.

5.     Sew around the open edges, but leave an opening of about 2”.

6.     Trim the strings and turn the pillow case right side out.

7.     Iron the pillow case again making sure to flatten the sides. Tuck in the 2” opening that was not sewn shut and iron it down as well.

8.     Fold up the material to form a 9” pocket. Pin the sides. If they don’t line up then pin them so that they do.

9.     Flip the pillow case over. Fold the material to form a 6” pocket and pin the sides.

10. This next step is optional, but if you want you can tuck in the corners of the material and pin. This gives it an angled look vs the sharp corners, either way works.

11. The last step is to just sew down both sides making sure to include all layers as you sew. Trim away the string, remove the pins, and you are done.

 My granddaughter made a video of me making this. You can view it on YouTube if you like.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deORF4W9-X8

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Sight Word Mat

I just finished making this sight word mat for my classroom and I thought I would share the idea. I've used these mats for years, but I decided to make this one to go with our new first grade timeline. I’m hoping that my class comes in already knowing these words, but if not, I’ll have the mat ready to go.

When I taught kinder I liked using these mats for letters and sounds, and also for numbers to 30. In first grade I like them more for word family words and sight words. The mats that I normally create are usually a little more creative. I usually have the writing going in different directions and sometimes I make a little boarder around each word, number, or letter. This time I got kind of caught up with the boxes made by the creases in the mat, so I just made it pretty straight forward.

The mat is pretty inexpensive to make. It is just a vinyl table cloth, which is pretty thin and has flannel on the inside. I usually get them from the Dollar Store or at Walmart. Then I write on them with a sharpie. I then use some sort of bean bag. If you don’t have actual bean bags, you can use something else. I use the little beanie babies, because they are cute and I also think it adds to the activity. It is easy to be creative and use anything you want.

These mats make a good center activity. I just lay the mat out on the carpet and provide students with some bean bags. They take turns throwing the bean bag on a word. Then they read and spell it. It is really just a fun and basic way to review the words or whatever else you decide to put on the mat. 

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Counting Beads

There might be some other name for these beads, but I guess calling them "counting beads" will work. These are beads that I put on a pipe cleaner to help students with beginning addition. It works for subtraction as well, but it is a little trickier for students to get.

I actually made this set years ago, so I can't remember where I got the beads from. I'm sure it was a craft store like Michael's. I like these larger beads though. It makes the counting beads easier for younger students to manipulate.

To make the counting beads, I simply place ten beads a  pipe cleaner (Oops! I don't know what happened to the pink one in the picture). Then I kind of loop/twist the ends. This is suppose to keep the beads from falling off or prevent students from removing them. As you can see, this isn't full proof.

These counting beads are a really good way for students to practice making ten. Initially, I will have students do equations together with me. We might start off by having all of the beads on one side and then relate it to the equation 0 + 10 = 10. We then continue by moving one bead over and showing how we now have the equation 1 + 9 = 10. Then we move another bead over and continue creating equations, while always relating it back to ten. As student begin to understand how to use the counting beads they begin to use them more independently to explore ways to make ten or to complete simple practice sheets.

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Rocket with Shapes

This Rocket with Shapes activity is an activity that I got from my dear friend Sue, who has recently retired. She shared it with me a few years back and I still enjoy using it. It is a simple activity that provides students with a hands on approach for thinking and learning about shapes.

To prep this activity you need to cut a lot of 4x4 pieces of construction paper. I would say about 4-5 sheets per student. I usually just cut a whole bunch to start with and then more if I need it. You will need to use one of the sheets to make a sample. It is important to have this done ahead of time, because it is what students are going to use to do theirs.

Show students your rocket and provide them with a 4x4 square piece of paper. Tell them that they need to cut the square into shapes to make the rocket that you have shown them. If students cut the paper apart and find that they don't have it correct then have them toss those pieces and get another piece of paper. The rocket needs to be made using one piece of paper. Once students have it done correctly you can have them glue the rocket onto a larger sheet of paper. They can jazz their paper up with stars and planets and such. Then have students turn the paper over and record which shapes they used.

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