"Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me! I Know All My High-Frequency (Words)!" GIVEAWAY TIME!

Hey everyone!  How are you surviving the last month of school?  We have 23 days left and I. AM. EXHAUSTED. If you are reading this and you are on summer vacation already, please know that I am slightly envious.  

Just back tracking a little, last year I went to visit an early childhood center school as part of my professional development.  It was an eye opening experience for me and gave me so many great ideas to bring back to my classroom.  During a tour of one of the classes, the students were playing a game in which their sight words were printed on a paper fly and the kids had to swat a fly and read the word on the fly they swatted.  They were engaged, having fun, and learning at the same time!  What a concept!  It reminded me of a similar game I played with my kiddos back when I taught at a private school (and before the pressures of Common Core came into play).  Naturally, the gears in my head started turning...

Fast forward to Summer 2014: I just started my blog, Instagram and was brainstorming a cool product to kickstart my TpT store: The Fly Swat Game.  Long story short, summer came and went and this game idea went into my "I'll finish it one day when I get the chance" folder.  I know we all have one of those ::wink:: until....

...TODAY!  I finally took that project out of that folder and finished it!  Here it is!  So I made these "Fly" flash cards with all my kiddos' high-frequency and CVC words that they are tested on.  My school uses Pearson's Reading Street-Common Core Edition for ELA. We are on Unit 5, so there are 60 tested words over the course of 6 weeks.   


I printed, cut, and laminated 2 sets of fly flash cards.  I placed one set in this giant pocket chart.  If you don't have a giant pocket cart, GET ONE!  It has so many uses, but that's another blog post.

The second set was placed in a pile, face down, for the kiddos to pick from.  They chose a card, read the word....

...then used their fly swatter to "swat" the matching card!  They love swatting the flies!  And the excitement in their voices when they read the word aloud, it was music to my ears!  


Now you can do one of two things....once they read and match the card, they can either take the card out of the pocket chart and make a pile of words they have matched OR they can just add their matching card to the chart and flip both of them over.  I found this easier since my centers are in two rotations, it made for easy for the kids to set it up for the next group.  The picture below shows how my kiddos flipped their cards on the pocket chart.



I had 3 students in this center and they were engaged for the entire time.  They didn't argue, they took turns, and more importantly, they helped each other if they were stuck on a word.  That makes my teacher heart flutter! I might even add a second pocket chart on the other side of my cart with math facts!  SO MUCH FUN!

Are you also trying to survive the last month of school? Would you like this center activity for your class to keep them engaged and learning and your sanity saved?  THEN FOLLOW MY BLOG AND TPT STORE AND LEAVE A COMMENT FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF THIS PRODUCT!  I will pick a winner on Thursday by 9:00 PM EST. Yay!  I heart free stuff!

Are you super impatient and want the game RIGHT NOW?  Then click here to download "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me! I Know All My High-Frequency (Words)!"  I know, cheesy title, but I'm a cheesy gal. 

Click me!

Hope this was helpful!  Thanks for reading and GOOD LUCK!    

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P.S. If you are reading this while you're on the beach, again, I'm super envious of you. :-P  Enjoy your well deserved time off! :)

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