Mr. Giso's Room to Read Takes Part in the Magical Product Swap!

I'm pleased to have been a part of the swap put together by Mrs. Stanford from the blog Mrs. Stanford's Class.  My talented swap buddy has been Mrs. Foxwell from the blog First Grade in Foxwell Forest.  

For the past month or so, Mrs. Foxwell and I have been trading messages and ideas back and forth to prepare for our Magical Product Swap blog entries.  We have been pretty bust getting each other's products printed, assembled and photographed.  It's been a lot of fun.  Here's the must have item I received in the swap.  Look at all the printables!

Obviously, I went right to work cutting, laminating and bagging away--all while catching up on some of my favorite reality television shows (Survivor, Project Runway and Dance Moms).  Here's my at home laminator hard at work.

For one of the activities, I got to make these fun tennis rackets.  This was right up my alley!  I love fun ways to get my students to learn concepts.  As Mrs. Foxwell suggested in the preparation directions, I used those paint mixer sticks to keep them nice and sturdy.  Of course, I had a bunch in my garage, just in case of something like this!  You never know when you are going have to make tennis rackets.  Yes, you see a different laminator, this is my at school one. 

Each set of materials came with amazing directions for preparation.  I can't believe how organized things were presented.  Look at this!

And this...

I guess I should interrupt to tell you about Mrs. Foxwell's item.  It's called "Tennis Long e Teams for /ee/ and /ea/" (found by clicking here).  It's a "phonics unit including learning activities, characters, and a long e gesture for the /ee/ and /ea/ pattern."  As you can see from the Table of Contents below, it has 6 "sets" or components, all tennis-themed.  How fun?  

This item includes a way to introduce the students to the /ee/ and /ea/ patterns in "Meet and Greet."  Here I explained to my first graders the Dream Team and the Sweet Team's favorite animal, food, beverage, hobby and color.  Through these introductions, we see words that have /ea/ for the Dream Team and words that have /ee/ for the Sweet Team.  Here's what the first activity looks like ready to go.  Check out the adorable bag labels included.

The next Set in the activities is called "Pick the Teams."  This is a word sort that gives the students practice with the /ea/ and /ee/ words.  They can sort just pictures, words or both onto the colorful sorting mats.  My students loved this.  Mrs. Foxwell suggests, for an extension, using the picture and the word cards in a memory game.  I'm adding this to my list of things to do when "You're Done" in my classroom.   The sorting materials are second from the left in this pic.

The third Set is a whole class game in which my first graders got to identify /ee/ and /ea/ words called "What's the Racket?"  Here's where those tennis rackets were needed.  I was the most excited to try this activity out because of the props needed!  I lined the children up into two teams.  Words on tennis balls were put up on the front board.  I called a word, gave a series of clues, or used the word in a cloze sentence.  The first player to hit the correct word earned a point.  This activity got rave reviews!  You can clearly see why when you check this item out below.

I am a huge fan of Read and Write the Room Hunts.  They are perfect for supporting and reviewing newly learned phonics patterns.  Mrs. Foxwell includes one of these as the fourth Set.  It's titled "Tennis Tournament."  Here I hid a different set of words on tennis balls around my room.  On an very cute record sheet with two tennis courts, my first graders "read" and then "wrote" the /ea/ and /ee/ words in the correct places.  This item has a bonus "Cool Off" class book activity too--WOW.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any batter, there is a homophone component to this bundle of activities too!  Totally Awesome!  Using a homophone poster, students learn what a homophone is.  Then you distribute MORE colorful cards with words and pictures and students find their homophone buddy.  For example, "meet" pairs with "meat."  Then, there's a handy sheet for them to write sentences for a pair of homophones for reinforcement.

Last but not least, is the Creative Writing option which is now in my Author Corner.  Students get to design a pair of sneakers for both tennis teams.  The catch is the theme of the design must connect to either the /ea/ team of the /ee/ team.  For example, the sneaker for the Sweet Team can include trees all over it.  This is a very creative extension and terrific way to end the unit.  Check it out.

Mrs. Foxwell was nice enough to share her newest unit on Fancy Y (long /e/ spelled "y") with me too.  Lucky me.  What a score!  It's just as good with the same high quality printables, detailed directions and instead of tennis rackets, we get to assemble wands this time.  I'm all over this.  Don't miss out on this item too by clicking HERE to be directed to her TpT store.

It was so rewarding getting to share ideas with Becca, and I can't wait to share more in the future.  Please stop on by her blog to see more of her ideas.  Also, you have to see her review a product of mine.  Check her blog regularly for updates, as she often puts many things up for free if you're on top of her posts!  You will be inspired by her talents.  Why not grab her button?

She is also has a sale going on, so you're in luck.

I'd like to also give a special "shout out" for Mrs. Stanford for taking all the precious time required to set up this Magical Product Swap.  Click the button below to read all about the other swappers and their experiences.  Grab some new ideas, too!