Sight Word Linky Party, Rudolph Creative Writing Unit and almost to 100 Followers! Oh my!

Hey Friends! I'm on my last week of maternity leave but I am in no way sitting around! Today I am linking up with Katie at Teacher to the Core to share a sight word strategy. I teach second grade and I have several levels in my classroom. I do leveled spelling lists each week but all of my students have the same word wall words. We do a lot of word sorts in my room but one of their choices for word work is to do a buddy check. I posted about this in my blog before but I thought it was great to share for this linky party!

To do a buddy check, a student partners up with another student. It works like a buddy test. One buddy reads the word to the other buddy. That buddy writes the word down. The buddy who is the "teacher" checks the word. If it's right, they go to the next word, if it's not the "student" tries again. Then they check it and highlight the part/parts that they missed or parts they want to remember.

This activity can be used with any words you wish. You can grab a copy here:

On another note, I am so excited because I just finished my Rudolph Creative Writing Unit! I did this unit last year and my kids LOVED it. I jazzed it up with some cute fonts and graphics this year. I've also incorporated more of the six traits than I did last year. It's perfect for that after Thanksgiving before Christmas time when your students are going bananas about the holidays and you are pulling out all your tricks to keep them engaged and learning. 

The unit takes the kids through the writing process to create an imaginative story about Rudolph's nose. I incorporate the six traits in this unit as well. I made sure to make the unit TEKS and Common Core aligned. I teach second grade but this unit would be appropriate for first, second or third. Take a peek here!

And last but not least, I'm almost at 100 followers! I'm really excited about that. Be on the lookout for a give-a-way soon! :) Happy Wednesday!