Word Wallets and Handwriting!

I am not quite ready to teach more than one sight word a week at this time of year. I do begin teaching one a week and when I'm done teaching all of the letters I REALLY teach sight words. I wanted to give my students a way to keep their sight words in a spot and practice in class. So, we are making Word Wallets. I am going to do this with letters too. Here is a picture of the wallet closed. You can also use an envelope and put a label on the front. Then, students can decorate their wallet. I thought the wallet was super cute, though so I wanted to make it.

When you open the wallet, there is a yes and no side. Students put the sight words they know on the YES side and the ones they do not know on the NO side. To make these cute wallets, take a half sheet of construction paper and hold it so the long side is horizontal. Take the bottom and fold it to the top. Then, staple each side and fold in half! That's all, can you believe it? Super easy, right?

This is a sample of what the sight word dollar looks like. Click on the picture below to download a FREE copy of the money template. I made some extra blank templates for you to add other sight words.

Handwriting

Does anyone else hate teaching handwriting? It is just one thing that I don't love to teach. It is hard to correct a student that is already used to holding a pencil a certain way. Also, it is equally hard getting students to stop writing letters from bottom up or other incorrect ways they have gotten used to writing. I have a lot of young kiddos this year. Most of my students' birthdays are in July! Needless to say I have a class of kids that just turned five! I created road letters to help my students practice writing their letters correctly. Only instead of writing the letters, students will "drive" their letters correctly! So, each kiddo gets a set of letters or you can give one out at a time, which is what I will do. I want to watch my students "drive" the same letter so I can watch. Students also get a car. I have clipart cars with boys and girls in the driver seat. You can put the cars on popsicle sticks, pencils, fingers or just laminate them and leave them alone! The picture below shows the cars and a few letters as examples. Click on any of the pictures to go to my TPT store to get the road letters and cars. 

How do you teach handwriting in your classroom?

Thanks for stopping by!    

-Shelley