Longest break ever... and Turtle Time

We had 4 days of snowy weather out of school and then winter break right after that... Feels as if I haven't been in the classroom for AGES!! Cannot wait to get back at it! In the meantime, I have been spending time with my family and doing a little creating here and there.

As a 5th grade teacher, and having been a Kindergarten teacher, my heart just breaks when students make it all the way to 5th having difficulty reading. I truly believe this began in K and 1st grade. As I was thinking about what a STRONG foundation our students need, I thought back to an activity I did in Kindergarten, which inspired this newest creation. Back then, I found little turtle clip art, printed them and pasted them to craft sticks. We used them to help us SLOW down and stretch each individual sound when blending sounds to read words. This was a hit with the children, as they were very eager to grab a turtle during "turtle time" reading during small group. I wanted to add a little touch to this idea by creating reading cards and practice sheets to assist in building this foundation. You can find the following in my TpT store. Don't forget to come back each Sunday for a Sharing is Caring Sunday Freebie!!

This Turtle Time Set helps students SLOWLY stretch sounds in order to blend and read words. This set includes the following:

* Directions for Use
* Turtles (assemble onto craft sticks)
* 4 Worksheets for practice
* 56 Blending cards (Real Words with picture representation)
* 56 Blending cards (without picture representation)
* 58 Nonsense word cards

This activity is great for small group introduction and then moved into an independent center activity. 

Thank you for supporting our classroom with your purchase!!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Blending-Sounds-Stretching-Sounds-Slowly-1123833