Five for Friday, a Tip and a Tale

Man, there's lots going on! Lots is good, except that lots competes for blogging time. Hats off to any teacher in the blog-o-sphere who posts on a real regular basis! I don't know how you do it!

Here are five random things I've come across this week which I think you'll be interested in. Thanks to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday links. And to Tara for Monday Made It, too.

1.  So I start out with a Monday Made-It... well, if it counts that I share how I made something better and easier to use. I have lots of games that need dice- dice with letters, or sight words, or directions, or what have you. I've tried the wipe-off kind, but the writing comes off when the kids use them. I sometimes put a piece of tape over the writing, but that is a pain. I have pocket dice which I like a lot better. They are sold in lots of places now.  Click on the caption to find them for a pretty good price on Amazon.

Differentiated Instruction Cubes

Well, I thought they were going to be just what I needed, but there was a problem or two to fix. When I put pieces of paper in the pockets, they fell out as the kids used the dice. Then I thought, laminating the paper might help as the plastic of the laminate will stick to the plastic pocket, but those fell out, too. Then I tried taping the pockets closed, but that didn't look so good, and you had to peel the tape off each time you changed the items in the dice. I then tried using Post-It notes, but they didn't stick much to the material of the dice. FINALLY I came up with a way to make it work... I write on the BACK of the Post-It note...

Then I slide it in so the sticky part is stuck to the plastic pocket itself, not the material.

PLUS, if you write on the bottom of the Post-It, then you can cut off that word, and write the next word on the new bottom edge to get multiple uses from just one note.

TA-DA.  How do you use your dice?

2.  Just in case you ever doubt the importance of what you do when you teach reading, here is a special perspective and some inspiration.

3.  It's been rather damp here, all summer and even into the fall.  Somebody had a little fun with a toadstool and our Little Free Library. Extra weather protection, I guess.

And my daughter can do most any kind of photo alteration, in Power Point for heaven's sake.

4.  I would LOVE to hear what your favorite and most used smart phone feature is. I just came into the 21st century, finally, and got my first ever- an iPhone 6. I'm still fumbling around with it a lot. We are an Apple family with laptops, iPods and my iPad, so I think it will come eventually, but I'd like to get to the good stuff sooner rather than later. If you'd let me know what you use the most, I'll check it out. I'd much appreciate it!

5.  Okay, so it's not really time for a monthly Funny Kid Friday, but you know me, I got one anyway.

I have this one little guy who is fun, and bright, and verbal. He struggles with school behavior sometimes, though.  This week at one point he said at the top of his lungs for half the school to hear, "I do not like FOLLOWING the rules... I do not like the RULES!"  Good thing he has the verbal skills to express himself completely.  It was a great starting point for a little more discussion.  You can't talk about rules too many times. Sometimes I don't like em either.

Scoot on over.  Find good stuff! Thanks, Kacey. Thanks, Tara.

The post Five for Friday, a Tip and a Tale first appeared on KidpeopleClassroom.com