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Bags, Bags, Bags!

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 Well, I don't remember if I already posted that I recently gained two new tutoring students or not, but prior to that, I had five resuable grocery bags full of learning activities, books, and notebooks, one for each student. Now I have seven, and they're all piled in my bedroom! I think I'm going to need to start keeping them in the back of my car again, as I did previously. But I need to remember to take all of the bags of reward candy out of each student's bag, otherwise it might melt or freeze, both of which have happened in the past! It's a good thing each candy bag has the students' names on them!  There is one reason I prefer to keep the learning bags in my room rather than in the car: the students need to share some of the items depending on what learning game they are going to play. If I get the bag for the next student that I need to plan for, and discover that I need a certain item, if the other bags are in my room, it's easy to go and get the ite...
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"This Book is Broken"

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 The Hooked on Phonics program that I've been using for the different age levels has short stories with fun illustrations that go along with specific lessons. One, for example, is called "Pop! Pop! Pop!" and is for the beginning readers. I read the story to them, but when I point to the words of the title in the story, they look at them and say them aloud.  Another book that goes along with a lesson for a third grader that I tutor is called "This Book is Broken." Some of the pages are intentionally out of order or upside down, funny things like that. Some of the page numbers are mixed up, or there might be two page numbers on one page. The learning factor of this story is using the "th" sounds that the lesson focused on. But the girl I read this story with loves the book!  Hooked on Phonics has sent me many of these little books, and I'm looking forward to seeing the kids interact with them as they acquire more reading skills. 
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A Bouncing Thank You

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 I enjoy giving birthday gifts to the kids I tutor, and another one just came today! I found myself thinking, "What can I get an eight year old girl in our small town?" We don't have a toy store. Well, I was in Walgreens in line to make a purchase when I saw the perfect thing: a plush toy of Stitch's girlfriend! I think her name is Rose, but don't quote me on that. 😉 But what made this toy special is that it's just her head, and it bounces really high off a hardwood floor! She and her brother both liked it, and so did their mom. I'm always spelling out words by tossing a bean bag back and forth with the child, so the girl's mom got her to bounce her new toy with her and spell out "Thank you!" 
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From a Cereal Box

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 Hey! It's been a while! Happy 2026! I hope the year is starting off well for you! Things are good here, other than having covid once and a cold today!  Anyway, I found a new game for the kids I tutor to play! I noticed a checkerboard pattern on the back of the cereal box, of the cereal I was eating one morning. I thought "hmmm. . . I think I could turn that into a good game for tutoring." So I drew in some lines and made a path for our players to follow, how far we go each team determined by saying the word correctly, then rolling the die. Whoever gets to Finish first wins! It's quite a success, as I can use it for being able to recognize words, spell words (without seeing them), identifying letters of the alphabet, or correctly completing math equations. It's very versatile. Game ideas can be found just about everywhere you look - you just need to think creatively!
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A Gift From The Heart

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 Merry Christmas, everyone! I love this time of year, and I enjoy getting gifts for the students that I tutor. It's so much fun surprising them, and I always do my best to choose something that will be perfect for each child.  This year, I purchased 5 gifts - two for Elsie and Elliot, one for Macie, and one for Ruby and her baby sister, Dayla. I didn't want the little one to be left out.  For Ruby and Dayla, I chose some stuffed animals with the big sparkly eyes. I think they liked them. They're so young, and they don't have a very long attention span, especially Dayla.         For Macie, it was easy to choose a gift. She always wears a Minecraft hat, and she had mentioned that her dad gives her "Kinder Eggs" and she really loves it. So I got her a Minecraft shirt and some Kinder Eggs. She was really happy.                                   And, for Elsie and...
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Mercy Watson books

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 I found a book series by Kate DiCamillo about a pig named Mercy Watson and all the adventures she has! The second grade girl loves them so much that, even though I had the first three books in the series and was working my way up, she went to the library and got the rest of them!  Now I have a new second grade girl, so I'm going to try the books with her. Hopefully she'll like them just as much!
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ABC Game

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 Tutoring a three-year-old, I try to play as many alphabet learning games as I can in a session, keeping her attention for the one-hour session. One of the games we play to help her learn her letters is a board game with dice. It involves rolling one die on your turn, moving forward the number of spaces on your die, and then picking a piece of construction paper with a letter on it. Then you need to be able to say what letter it is. If you get it right, you either get to move forward one space or two, depending on what the space you're on says. The first one to get to finish wins. But the game goes by so fast, I'm thinking of creating another game board that has more spaces on it so it will last longer. Also, the little girl is getting so good at the letters I have written on the pieces of paper, I'm going to have to replace them with letters that are a little more of a challenge. 
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