I am so excited that it’s time for another Bright Idea post! I am joining a bunch of my blogger friends to bring you some great classroom ideas that you can use right away! I want to tell you about how you can easily organize your small group reading materials.
You can get these items at the Dollar Tree and Walmart! Easy and inexpensive! I really like using pencil pouches to organize materials. These are clear and that makes it easier for kids to see what they are reaching in after.
Have you seen these finger lights? So fun! Great way to motivate those early readers to point one to one when reading. They can also use them to find sight words or vocabulary words that you are front loading.
All my little readers are at home, so I just used this RtI folder to show you how the finger light can be used to spotlight a word.
These are some more pointers you can keep in the pouches. They are so easy to make! Popsicle sticks and Ducktape wrapped around them. Colorful and quick to make!
We use magnetic letters so much in my room. These little boxes from Dollar Tree are a great size to keep those letters in. You could also keep a small set of sight words in the boxes if you would rather have the sight words rather than letters.
Bead sliders can be used in a lot of different ways! Students can use them to count out the sounds in words, count syllables in words, or slide as they count words in a sentence. I like the bigger beads rather than the smaller pony beads since the bigger ones are easier to manipulate for the younger kids.
Of course you need dry erase markers and erasers in your pencil pouch too. These erasers are the makeup puffs. I like the small size!
I have used a lot of different things for sliding into Elkonin boxes. But I really like the cute buttons! They are just the right size, flat on the bottom and colorful. Just switching out the materials you use in your activities rebuilds motivation and interest in the kids! Always trying to make it new and novel for them!
I hope you enjoyed this Bright Idea! Follow me on Bloglovin, TpT, and Facebook to find other great ideas that I post and so you will be notified when giveaways and freebies are posted!
For more Bright Ideas from my blogger friends, please look through the link-up and find what interests you!
Jayne Gammons says
Great tips! Jayne
Great tip! Thanks, Jayne
Smart Kids
ABCs of Reading
lorivines4 says
Thank you Jayne!
Amy Marshall says
I love this idea! I'm going to be doing guided reading for the first time this year and this looks like a great way to keep everything organized and ready to go!
lorivines4 says
Good luck with your Guided Reading groups, Amy!
Becky Fraser says
Love this! Thank you for sharing. I am always shuffling all of my hands on materials and this would make it so much easier.
lorivines4 says
I know what you mean, Becky! It saves so much time if everything is already packaged together and ready to go for the small groups.
Sally says
I love these! Isn't it amazing how a little thing like buttons will motivate children? I simply MUST get some of those fingerlights!
Sally from Elementary Matters
lorivines4 says
Those finger lights are so motivating for the kids, Sally!
Kathy Kennedy says
I have those containers that you use for letters. Great buy at Dollar Tree–two for $1. I use them to store decks of cards and number them with permanent markers.
lorivines4 says
So many great uses for the little containers! Thanks for stopping by, Kathy!
Deb Thomas says
Lori, you are so amazing! I loved reading your post and I am making a trip to the dollar tree to see if I can find the makeup puffs. What a great idea and sometimes it takes just the little things for us teachers as well!
Deb at Fabulously First
lorivines4 says
I agree, Deb, sometimes it is the little things that we love so much!!
Kathy Burd says
Great ideas! I love the finger lights! Are they from Walmart or Dollar Tree? I don't remember ever seeing them, even though I'm a regular at both stores!
lorivines4 says
Kathy, the finger lights are from the Dollar Tree. I think some things I look for are a hit or miss there sometimes!
Sarah Paul says
Fabulous ideas here! I love those finger lights:)
Sarah
Sarah's First Grade Snippets
lorivines4 says
Thank you, Sarah! The finger lights are fun!
Shelley- TheWriteStuffTeaching says
I love this Lori and I am sharing it on my FB page tomorrow. 🙂
Shelley
The Write Stuff Teaching
lorivines4 says
Thank you for that, Shelley!
Donna says
Awesome ideas! I keep a deck of flash cards in those little boxes (aka Soap holders) but I love your idea to store magnetic letters in them!
Learning at the Teacher Table
lorivines4 says
I am always looking for a better way to get those magnetic letters out to the kids in a more organized way. These little boxes are great! Thanks Donna!
Teaching Little Miracles says
Love the reading bags, what a great idea! I have always done math bags but never thought of reading ones. Thanks for sharing! Kristi
Teaching Little Miracles
lorivines4 says
Hope you can use the small group reading pouches, Kristi! I like the idea of using them for math too!
Stephanie Seigel says
Ok, I love the whole post and all of your terrific materials, but the thing that grabbed me the most? The cute makeup puffs for erasers! LOVE IT!!!! Thanks for your bright idea!
🙂 Stephanie from First Grade Bangs
lorivines4 says
Ha! Glad you liked the make up puffs, Stephanie!
Kindergarten Squared says
These are great! Thanks for the detailed pics too.
lorivines4 says
You are so welcome, Kindergarten Squared! Glad you stopped by!
Tammy says
Such great tools! Those little lights must really be motivating to use. I've seen them in blogs but have never looked for them in the stores. I might need to add them to my list.
❀ Tammy
Forever in First