CVC Tic-Tac-Toe Bundle

It has been a long time since I've blogged.  Not because I don't want to.  I honestly just don't have the energy or the time these days, what with my nannying job, homeschooling 2, plus my four-month-old baby.  Oh, and can't forget the hours of piano playing I do.  Yes, hours.  Every.  Single.  Day.  Usually about two, but four if I'm buried beneath sheet music, and having a blast all the while!  I've also started teaching my five-year old how to play, and that has been fun!  My three boys will learn how to play.  They don't have a choice in the matter!  :)

Anyway, I got off work a little early on Friday and was surprisingly caught up on my piano playing.  That meant I had time to print some new homeschooling resources, and make a few new Tic-Tac-Toe board games.  Let me tell you, I haven't had time to touch my computer, let alone make homeschooling resources for MONTHS.  I've been simply using resources from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Thanks to anyone who has ever given away free resources!!!

If you are teaching a child or multiple children how to read, these Tic-Tac-Toe games are a life saver!  Your little one will be learning how to read in no time!  My son is three and we spend an hour every day playing reading games or taking turns reading books.  

Even though I didn't teach my oldest with reading games, he still loves to read. Today we went to the library and I went down each shelf, realizing that he has read EVERYTHING.  No kidding.  He has read all of the books that are on his level and lower, and that he would be interested in.  I had to go home and research on the library's website, finding books that he can read but aren't on the shelves.  That was an unexpected but GLORIOUS problem!  

I bundled 16 different Tic-Tac-Toe games in BW and Color, and they are for sale in my TpT store here for only $3.  

This week, my three and I will be playing lots of fun FREE games I got from TpT.  They are:

Rainbow Ride CVC Game
Roll and Read CVC
CVC Short A Bingo
I Have, Who Has, Color Words
And my FAVORITE: Pirates!  This one is very versatile.  I will be using this one download to play War, Go Fish, Memory, AND the game included.

Thank you!  May God bless you in your dedication to raising the next generation!

6 Free Short A Tic Tac Toe Games- Color and BW

Where oh where have I gone?  That is the question!

My little babe is now 11 weeks old and sleeping through the night!  Woo hoo!  He is so cuddly, content, and smiley- just as much as my other two were!  Although, he is much more cuddly I think!  

It has been a busy month for us.  I have healed almost 100% from my c-section and have been doing my normal intense but short workouts (kettlebells, sprinting).  Although I can fit back into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes, I still have the mommy belly and about 15 extra pounds.  The pounds can stay or not, but the belly has to go!  That, however, will take a long time to condition.  And that's okay.  :)

We are a couple weeks out from a trip to Disney World.  I.  Can.  Not.  WAIT.  I need a vacation.  

And I'll tell you why.

I learned to play the piano about 10 years ago (I think?).  I've been playing for church for about 8 years.  And now I've been bumped to lead pianist at our church.  Although I absolutely love to serve in the piano ministry, it is a huge responsibility.  To whom much is given, much is required- and I feel the weight of this ministry more than you can imagine.  I just had a new baby.  I am homeschooling 2 little ones.  I babysit in the evenings and on non-school days.  I attend church on Wednesday evenings (choir practice, that I'm now playing for) and on Thursdays evenings for visitation.  That means I don't even go home after work on those days, plus on other days when we have special meetings (next Friday!).  I have to get food on the go for the kids and I (McDonalds), and then come home to put the three littles in bed.  It is a bit stressful for me, all this running around.  But then, juggling practicing the piano?  That's a tough one.  I might love to play, but I'm no composer.  I have to work at it.  And practice.  And practice.  And practice.  I practice at 6am, 10am, and 12pm every day.  I have called on many people to pray for me.  I need that prayer.  And it has truly helped me come leaps and bounds in my playing.  

Sadly, blogging has taken the back burner for now.  I really felt like God wanted me to blog.  I know people need help educating their littles, and that is my gift.  The piano playing is something I do, but it is not what I'm best at.  But it is my biggest ministry, aside from raising my three boys to love the Lord.  

I'm not disappearing completely.  I just need a bit of time to get a handle on all of this new responsibility.

I'll leave you with a fun freebie for teaching short a words- 6 colored and black and white tic tac toe board games!  My 3-yr-old loves to read the whole board (cheat) and place all of his game pieces everywhere, not leaving me a turn!  Fine by me!  He's reading!  Download it from my TpT store here.

A Homeschool Confession and 2 New YouTube Videos

If you didn't know, I don't get paid one cent for this blog.  I have 0 ads (I hate them), and I don't do affiliate links or posts (I hate those too).  That's not to say I won't ever go that route, but for now, I don't do this for the money.  I blog because I have a burden, a passion for home education. Homeschooling is not easy, and I think there are many parents who want to homeschool but don't have the resources, or the confidence. Homeschooling is not for everyone, but I think that more people could do it if they had a little guidance and help.

Last spring I was in tears, begging God to help me homeschool.  I was teaching my son, but it was a nightmare. God kept telling me to homeschool, but I was failing at it.  I was ruining my child's spirit while educating him.  And yet, I was determined to keep going, and to make it work.  Nothing was going to make me back down.  

We took a break from homeschool over the summer.  I purchased curriculum.  I was pregnant.  I prayed and prayed. I followed dozens of homeschool blogs. All of those factors totally revamped our homeschool, and it became a joy last fall.  It wasn't, and isn't, perfect.  But it is enjoyable.

I know I'm not the only one with this kind of a story.  I know I'm not the only one who struggled with homeschool.  I know that there are women who did exactly what I almost did- gave up- because that was honestly the best thing for their child. Kids love school when they are little.  It is fun!  So why not send them if they're miserable at home?

I'm sad that I created some horrible homeschool memories with my son.  I don't know that I'll ever forgive myself!  But I do know that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).  I know that despite my mistakes, I can use them for God's glory, and help others in their homeschool journey.

If you didn't know, I have a YouTube channel.  It isn't much just yet, but I hope it will be in time.  I have a few videos with teaching phonics.  I uploaded two videos last week.  One is a very-pregnant me playing a game I learned during the library's story time called Hickity Pickity.  You can play this game ANYWHERE and with anything- letters, numbers, blends, words.  The kids love it!  Watch it here. The second video can be found here, and it demonstrates how we sing the blend ladders.  The kids LOVE this!  You use the same tune to sing all of the blends.  

Teaching a child how to read can be intimidating.  My oldest son was ready to read when he was 2, yet I waited a whole year before tackling the task.  I didn't know where to start! I'm currently writing a post about how I taught my children to read, and the goal is to create a video as well.  Stay tuned for those!

And for those of you wondering, we got almost 3 feet of snow- over 29 inches!  Yes, I shoveled all through the blizzard (I was the only one on my street doing that).  I had to shovel in between caring for the kids, but I did it!  I managed to shovel my husband's side of the driveway.  It only took 3 days to do it, and my neighbor helped me at the end.  But my husband bought me flowers to thank me :)  I finally saw him after 3 days!  :D  

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8 Ways to Teach with a Felt Board

If you've seen any of my YouTube videos, you may have noticed the big blue board. That is my most valuable teaching tool- my felt board!  If you don't know what one is, it is a piece of wood covered with felt.  I use it daily and couldn't live without it! Here are 8 ways we use a felt board in our homeschool.

1) Bible

Bible Class

My children are taught the Bible daily, and I'll be honest- I need a little help in making the Scriptures come alive!  You can either purchase felt characters or make your own.  We are using a combination of both in this picture.  The kids love helping put up the people.  

2) Poetry

"The Swing" by Robert Louis Stevenson

We use the Abeka curriculum in our homeschool, and my kids have specific poems that they are supposed to learn.  I never had to memorize poetry as a child, so this was something I had to get used to.  I didn't really see a point, nor did I know how to make memorizing poetry fun for my kids.  Did I learn how to use poetry in my class in college?  Yes!  I love poetry, and wrote it for years during my childhood! But memorizing classic poems . . . ?

I needed help, so I decided to make visuals.  I found clipart online, colored them, and laminated them.  Then, I hot glued felt to the back so they would stick to the board.  My children get to see, touch, hear, say, and even act out the poems.  This is one of our favorite things to do!  What's fun is finding one of the poems we memorized in a poetry book from the library.  

3) Phonics

Teaching phonics can be boring and downright frustrating if you do it wrong.  I found these awesome free ice cream cones from TpT, printed, and laminated them. Then I wrote phonics blends on them and turned them into a matching game.  I've also done it with cupcakes . . .

"hot chocolate" and marshmallows . . .

popcorn . . .

and more!  Watch my Youtube video to see how we play!  

4) Math

In the above picture we are using our felt finger puppets for counting. Sometimes we count up, sometimes we count down, and sometimes we do both!  This particular poem goes like this:

5 baby owls learning to say who,

Flapped their wings and then they said, "Boo!"

Mama Owl cried, "No, no, not boo,

Please, oh please, say, "Who who who!"

You repeat the poem, changing the word "boo" to rhyming words- glue, shoe, moo, etc.  Although we aren't counting up or down, my 2-yr old is seeing 5 owls and memorizing what 5 actually looks like.  And this poem teaches rhyming too, which is a nice bonus!

I have also taught patterns with my felt board, and numbers.

Here, my 5-yr old had to create numbers I told him.  Sometimes I gave him a specific number.  Other times I told him to make any number from the 50's family.  

5) Music

I bet you can guess what song we are singing!  That's right- "One little, two little, three little Indians . . . "

The kids put up the Indians as we count up, and they take them down as we count down.  This gets a bit tricky, as they have to take turns.  We mess up a lot, but this is one of their favorite things to do!  This is a counting song, which covers two subjects at once.  

6) Classic Stories

I like to teach my children classic stories.  Although my 5-yr old can listen to stories and understand them even if they don't have visuals, my 2-yr old is not there yet.  This morning I told, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," tying it into our Bible review of Adam and Eve.  Although Jesus is our Shepherd, the boy in this story was more like the serpent in the Garden of Eden because he lied.  This is a great story for little ones who love to tell lies, or even for children that think everything is an emergency!  I colored pictures to represent the different items in the story, laminated them, and then hot glued felt to the back to make them stick.  The kids love, LOVE, story time with the felt board!


7) Story telling

I created a Halloween felt set for the kids to play with.  I pulled it out and told them a fun story.  Then, it was their turn to make up stories!  I was shocked when my outgoing 5-yr old didn't want to tell a story at first, that is, until he saw his younger brother impress me!  Watch my 2-yr old tell a Halloween story!  

8) Free Play

Mix and Match Monsters

More Mix and Match Monsters

Race Car Fun

More race car fun with a homemade table top felt board

I love watching my boys create scenes and play with the felt pieces I made for them!  Sometimes they tell stories, other times they are designing a scene. I personally enjoy creating the monsters with them!  I have made lots of different playing sets- robots, frogs, etc.  All you need is a good coloring book for some inspiration!  Cut out whatever template you want, trace onto felt, cut out, and decorate using glitter glue, googly eyes, or more felt to add color and details.

Felt boards make a great addition to any family- whether homeschooling or not! And they are a lot of fun to create!  Do you use a felt board?  What are some ways you use yours?  Comment below!  

And as always, be sure to Subscribe so you don't miss any freebies or updates!

10 FREE Do-a-Dot Pages!

My boys love cars, and I love making school activities for them and for all of those in favor of educating little ones!  

I programmed my son's do-a-dot pages with beginning blends.  Then, because we have all this marvelous Halloween candy to boost homeschool morale, I let him cover the blends that I read to him.  Sometimes I pointed to the blend and had him read them to me.  After the trophy was full, he got to eat them.  This motivated him to actually finish something he started, which proves to be a challenge!

I also let my son color the blends.  

And finally, I saved his favorite activity for last- stickers!  This helps with those fine motor skills!  He went back over the blends (for the third time), and covered the ones I read with stickers.  

Teaching children is a blessing!  Enjoy these FREEBIES found in my TpT store! Leave feedback below!  

Boo Boo Blends- Ouch!

Like this idea?  Find this bear for free in my TpT store HERE!  Want the whole set?  27 pages (that took a long time to make!) HERE! 

This was a fun way to get my picky 2-year old to work on his blends.  First, I found this cute Band-Aid Letter Matching game on Pinterest.  But seeing as I'm not teaching letters to anyone, I didn't need this exact version.  Still, it was a cute game I tucked away on my Pinterest board that stuck in my mind.

Then when I found these free textured bears on Teacher's Pay Teachers, I knew exactly what I was going to do!

The bears were cute, but needed a little tweaking for my activity.  After freeing up some room on the bear's forehead, I printed the white bear, colored it blue to match my son's favorite teddy, and laminated it.  I found some random bandage clipart online (that is used with permission), and printed and laminated them.  Afterwards, I wrote la, le, li, lo, and lu blends on the bear- a blend ladder that my son is having a little trouble with.  I told him the bear fell off his bike and got a few boo boo's. The bear needed some help, and my son was happy (although quite serious) to help!

After he read each blend and matched the bandages to the boo boos, I told my son that the bear was all better and the bandages needed to come off.  I told him which boo boo (blend) was all better, and my son took the corresponding blend off the bear, reading it as he gave it back to me.  

Because the activity went so fast, and because of the little bit of dramatic play- my son happily played along twice, and has since asked to play it again!  This game is a winner in my book!  And what I like about it is that we can switch up the animal to keep it interesting. But next time, I'm printing on colored paper.  I don't have time for all that coloring!

Reading "lo".

"I did it, Mama!"

Like this idea?  Find this bear for free in my TpT store HERE!  Want the whole set?  27 pages (that took a long time to make!) HERE! 

"Yuckies, Yuckies in my Tummy . . ."

Watch this post in action in my YouTube video!

My boys and I had a blast with this rhyme we made up!  I threw a little dramatic play in with it as well, and it kept my boys playing (and ultimately reviewing their phonetic blends) even longer!

My oldest found this "fish bowl" gorilla toy at 5 Below for his 5th birthday.

I wrote phonetic blends on the bottom of recycled K-cups and bottle caps.  The gorilla has an opening in his back and in his mouth for kids to keep toys (or a Beta fish, as per directions, but we won't go into all the reasons that sounds like a very, very bad thing to do).  I slipped the blends into the gorilla's "tummy" ahead of time, and we were ready to play!

The rhyme is as follows:

"Yuckies, yuckies, in my tummy,

I ate some blends, and I feel funny,

BLEH!"

Note: The "bleh" was what did it for my 2 boys who love all things gross.  I made the rhyme up in the car on the way home from church, and the boys were in stitches, making me repeat it over, and over, and over again.  I was giggling right along with them, for sure!

While playing the game, I added in a bit of dramatic play- asking the boys what a gorilla should have eaten (bananas), and we told them we need to do surgery to get the yucky blends out!  They each reached into the gorilla's tummy, pulled out a blend, and had to read it to me.  

At the end of the game, we re-read the blends and put them back in the gorilla. 

You can easily change the words to fit other toys that would accommodate this game.  If you have puppets, they would work too!  Just slip a bottle cap blend in the puppets mouth and make the kids pull it out!  Maybe you have a stuffed animal back pack?  I know we have a couple of those laying around here too! Just switching up the toy will keep this game fresh and exciting for those little ones who tire of the same activity.  

We also played around with the words- instead of "funny" we used "crummy". You can say "yucky" instead of "yuckies", or change "some" to "a", if that suits you better!  

And if you aren't teaching phonics, who says you can't replace blends with something else?  Like letters?  Or what about words?  

Be creative!  Your kids are sure to love this one!

Monster, Monster, down by the lake . . .

Watch my Youtube video of this post in action!

I found this cute little rhyme on Pinterest:

Monster, Monster, down by the lake,

I'm going to reach in and see what you ate!

I grabbed an empty tissue box and covered it in green construction paper.  I made teeth and big beady eyes.  I knew the monster wouldn't last long, but that doesn't bother me!  Kids generally like to play an educational game once or twice and then they never want to touch it again.

That has not been the case with this one!  I have 2 boys who love it when I try to eat their arms!  

Inside of the monster are recycled K-Cups and bottle caps I've been collecting. I wrote one blend on each bottle cap/K-cup from several different blend ladders. This is a good game for a little one who still needs to practice their blends, but can handle a little bit of a challenge, as they are faced with multiple blend ladders in the same session.  

This is a wonderful game for boys or girls who aren't afraid of reaching into a monster's mouth.  My boys play this when it isn't school time.  Watch the video for some tips, and to see a homeschooling mom of 2 antsy boys in action.  

In addition to the game, here are 3 tips for a successful circle time at home:

• Have a mat or a pillow for each child to sit on.  Otherwise, their little legs will crawl, kick, jump, or walk wherever they see fit.  This was the first time I implemented this tip, and there are at least a hundred fewer interruptions.
• Always praise a child- even if you had to prompt the correct answer!
• You can control a child by the inflection of your voice.  Most people think getting louder will quiet a noisy child or group.  The exact opposite is true! Whisper instead, and they will quiet themselves just to hear you.

Dot a Blend

Do-a-Dot markers are all the rage on Pinterest.  But do you think that my boys have any interest in them?  Not particularly.  I bought the paint dabbers as a Christmas gift last year, and they have barely been touched.  My boys don't do anything tedious, and these paint dabbers are included.

So I had to get creative. 

I found a blank Do-a-Dot printable and cut it into smaller sections that my son could finish.  I filled in the circles with blends- this particular time he had the ca, ke, ki, co, cu ladder repeated throughout.  I asked him to pick a color, and asked him to find whatever blend I called out. We went row by row, with him dotting each blend, searching for the first blend.  When the first blend was painted, he switched colors, and dotted the next blend that I called out. 

Looking excited here . . .

Yet totally done here, two seconds later!

Even with such a small piece of paper, my 2-yr-old was done before the page was. But I didn't mind!  He got plenty of practice, and I have several other blend charts for him to dot another time- cut from the same sheet of paper! Now that's frugal homeschooling at its finest!

Swat the Blends!

Thankfully when I scoured Pinterest for beginning blends something popped

up. Okay, two things, one of which I already shared in my previous post, Paw Print Blend Matching, and these phonetic blend charts from Blessed Beyond a Doubt. 

I printed two copies of selected phonetic blend charts in black and white.  Why not all of the charts?  Children are unpredictable, especially my two-year-old son.  If I print 10 copies of a game and he won't play it, then what?  I just wasted all that time, energy, ink, paper, and lamination!  (Can you tell I'm speaking from experience here?)

I left the first copy as is, placing it inside of a sheet protector.  The second copy was laminated and cut up into separate squares.  The first few times I used the charts, my youngest read each blend to me and placed them on top of their match. Then when I collected the 5 blend cards to put away in their Ziploc baggy, I named a blend for him to put away.  Doing it this way, he is hearing the blend, saying the blend, and reading the blend at least two times- although I repeat each blend several times as he plays.  Each ladder goes

quickly, but is highly effective.

Matching the cards to the chart.

After a few days of independently working the matching games, my 2-year-old had had enough!  I then put the charts on the ground during our circle time, including his older brother (who has been reading for over 2 years) to play for a bit of competition.  However, this time I added a flyswatter- my personal favorite manipulative!

I flipped the cards over, and they picked which one to swat and read.  My oldest read right through the cards, and loved to tell his brother which blend to pick. To avoid this, just print on the white side of scrapbook paper.  But no matter, the game gives lots of practice!  After they picked a blend and read it, they put it on the phonetic chart.  When the entire chart was complete, I called out blends and they brought them to me to put away.  They read and heard each blend at least three times, although I repeated each blend too.

Here's a breakdown of how to play Swat the Blends:

1. Print two copies of the phonetic charts.
2. Laminate one copy.  Insert the other into a page protector.  Cut laminated chart into squares.
3. Flip cards over.  Child swats blend of choice, reads blend, and places on top of its match on phonetic chart. 
4. After all cards have been placed on chart, call out a blend for your child to bring to you, having them read it as they put it away.  

Don't have a flyswatter?  I have also used a "magic wand" (a dowel rod), and had my child say, "Bippity, Boppity, Boo!" before continuing play the same way.

Paw Print Blend Matching

It's no secret: phonics is not taught in the every day classroom.  I didn't even learn phonics until I started teaching it to my son.  

And it was no picnic teaching him those first blend ladders.  I didn't have curriculum, so I wasn't sure how fast he should learn them.  All I knew is that I wanted him reading, and I wanted him reading yesterday.  That meant a lot of drilling for that little guy.  I put the blends on diecuts I purchased from the dollar store and drilled him.  If he got it right, I gave him a piece of candy.  As he started learning the blends, I started teaching him word families.  

Was my effort successful?  Yes!  He was reading books in 3 months.  But I breezed through those early skills.  I stressed more on the word families than the blends.  That has been a huge hindrance to him now.  Thankfully, with me teaching his younger brother properly, he is filling in those learning gaps I created for him.  (Aren't you glad for second chances?)

So what are beginning blend ladders, and why the importance? 

This is a blend ladder.

You can visit Confessions of a Homeschooler to download your own copy.  

I personally teach blend ladders before words or word families.  For instance ma, me, mi, mo, and mu.  If a child can learn to read the beginning blends, then they can add on any consonant and read it.  

If you teach ONLY memorizing words, the child has to memorize every single word individually and doesn't make connections between words- at least not right away.  In my opinion, that makes for a very long road to learning to read!  

And if you teach word families- for instance the -at family, you can teach your child eye regression.  In other words, you could be teaching your child to read backwards!  The first day I started teaching my son to read, I started to teach him exactly that.  I read Phonics for Dummies and found I was doing it backwards.  Sure enough, when I watched his eyes read cat, fat, and mat- he was reading the END of the word FIRST!  After asking a fellow teacher for some help, I backed up and started teaching blends first.  

If you teach phonics, then this is the blog for you!  I have scoured the internet looking for fun ways to teach my 2-year-old son his blends.  

I quit looking.

Because I can't find any!

And so Training Treasures was born.

Enough back story, on with the fun!

First up: a matching game using a FREE ten frame and some cute puppy paw prints from Teachers Pay Teachers.  

Ten Frame, you say?  Yes, a ten frame.  There are 5 blends after all, and one ten frame makes 2 ladders.  I printed a ten frame, laminated it, cut it down the middle, and programmed it to have the blends my son needs to work on.  I printed and laminated the paw prints, and wrote the matching blends on the backs.  My son absolutely loves math.  If I can make reading math related, he is sold . . . 

And he was!

Second: Another matching game from the same download.  I laminated the puppy rectangles and wrote a different set of blends on the back.  Although the games last but a minute or two, they get the point across . . .

Reading the matching blends.

He's TWO, folks.  Not a genius.  Not a child prodigy.  Just a child who is presented with fun ways to learn.  And those fun educational games bring him back to me, begging (morning, noon, and night!) for more!  What more does a home educator want??

Ashley Moore