Dollar Tree and Michael's crafts!

I admit it...I am a Shop-a-holic! I love me some shopping! It's the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of the cool find! I could shop for hours! 
I also love to make things for my classroom. (I think I said that in my last post!) Well the creating continues! 

I went to Michael's craft store. Just inside the door, there was a clearance table. Clearance tables have a way of calling to me! I found some bottles of coloured sand! Yay!

I know you are thinking...What? why would anyone get excited about jars of coloured sand? 
Well let me tell you! 

I instantly thought, "Hey, this would be cool with SIGHT words inside!" So that's what I will be doing! I will place sight words inside the jars. Then the kids can turn the bottles and find the sight words and then write them on a sheet, and for a challenge they can write a sentence with the words! One centre- four kids, done!

Then I had some plastic bugs, from Dollar Tree. (Love Dollar Tree!!) I wrote sight words on the bugs. The bugs have between 1 and 4 words on them. I put the bugs in a plastic tub and covered them with the sand. Then to use the centre the kids can dig into the sand and find the bugs and pull them out and then write the words they find on the bugs. 
I think it will be fun!

It is funny because one of the blogs that I love to read had some of the same ideas as me! I even emailed her and told her that I think we share a brain or we are somehow on the same wave length! She emailed back and said that we should go "Dollar-treeing" together sometime! Her blog is fabulous and she has been doing it a bit longer than I have. She even has her own Teacher's Pay Teacher's store. Her blog is called     firstgradeandfabulous.blogspot.ca
I love her idea for pool noodles! Check it out! I am making that one too! 


Her pool noodle idea, sparked my own pool noodle ideas!

 I went to Dollar tree (again!) and bought some paper towel holders and pool noodles. I even found STAR shaped pool noodles! I bought them! Then I cut the pool noodles into little donuts or little flat stars with a hole in the middle! The kids can use them to build PATTERNS! Yay! Pattern centre activity! I can also add a worksheet to it where kids can show on paper the patterns they created. 

Making things for my classroom is so fun! I'm already thinking ...Hmmm...What's next?