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As a kid, I loved all kinds of word games, word searches, activity packs, etc. I would spend HOURS filling out books full of them. I am so excited to see my four year old daughter begin to enjoy them, too. That is why I decided to make these special word searches for early readers! My students often love them as well. Often, we will receive little activity booklets for things like fire safety, Remembrance Day, etc. that they enjoy completing. I always give my students some time to complete their packets, but over time, I started noticing something about word searches for early readers. Many of my students could complete the word searches by just looking and finding the letters of each word in the right order… but they couldn’t actually read any of the words. They had no idea what they were finding! Or, if the words were illustrated, they would be able to guess based on the picture… but they weren’t using any letter/phonics knowledge at all. Since I’m always thinkin...

My first year teaching, I remember switching out the guided reading books in my students’ take home reading bags was the BANE of my existence. Every Monday, I would try to find an activity my students could do independently that would take enough time for me to take out their current books and add new ones at their “reading level.” It was so hard to keep track of who already had taken home what, and I was certain that they needed brand new books every single week or the world would end (you know how it is your first year!). And, invariably, I would run out of time and need to finish up over my lunch break or on my prep. Classroom organization is not my forté, but over time I have established a variety of systems in my classroom that do help make my life easier. Rotating the books in my students’ take home reading bags was one of the first systems I put into place. How did I change it up you ask? SIMPLE! In fact, I do barely any work. This blog post is all about that sy...