Why are we drawn to what others have bought and rely on? Why is social marketing and personal references such a BIG deal? It's because we want to learn from what others have already tried and found successful. After all, there's no need to reinvent the wheel, if the wheel is exactly what you are looking for. So, what are some of those tried and true products on Teachers Pay Teachers that we can turn to and rely on... Here's my top 5 selling products from 2016. With hundreds of teachers purchasing these products last year alone, you don't have to take my word for it- these are some of the best.
Let the countdown begin...#5! Beginning Fluency: Basic Reading Intervention and Homework Sheets. This product is a whole system for building fluency of basic reading skills in kindergarten. Students practice basic reading skills systematically to build mastery over each of the early reading skills including alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, sight words, and decoding skills. This product includes two sets of sheets one for homework and one for classroom intervention. This product also includes teacher reference pages for setting up this system in your classroom. And here's what some of the buyers have said about this product, "This was a great addition to my homework packet, students were able to practice at home and parents were able to understand more of the tasks we were asking the students to do! Great practice!" Another buyer had this to say, "I have been using these fluency pages for 7 years in a kindergarten classroom. I love them! You want these pages! They allow for differentiation with your high, middle, and low students with one simple system! It helps to catch holes in phonemic awareness with your high students and are great to help reinforce skills with your low students. These fluency pages are a great way to address foundational skills in the common core. Using these pages in my classroom and with the rest of my kindergarten team helped us to get 95% or more of our students to benchmark on the DIBLES assessment every year in a Title I school with a high population of ELL students! Thank you Becky for all your hard work!"
#4 Chickens Aren't the Only Ones! This classic non-fiction book is a favorite of many Early Childhood Educators and with this book study companion you will have plenty of activities to create an entire unit centered around the book. The activities include sequencing, asking and answering questions, using pictures and background knowledge, getting information from a text, identifying the main idea, sorting, and vocabulary. Here's what a buyer had to say about the product, "This worked well with my classification of animals unit in CKLA and my students are now fascinated with eggs. Google has some great videos of eggs hatching."
#3 Where the Wild Things Are! Who doesn't love little Max, King of the Wild Things. This book has been King of sales this year and it is no wonder with so many activities all aligned with the common, the unique one of a kind clip-art (Max and the Wild Thing), and appeal to a wide grade-level audience. It is definitely a favorite including this buyer who said, "Thank you for sharing your amazing talent and hard work with others!"
#2 That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles! The free companion to this product was featured in December's Newsletter by Teachers Pay Teachers helping make this fun game board the second best-selling product in my store. The game board includes playing cards for social skills, math, and literacy. Colorful game board and pieces make playing fun and exciting. Customers have said, "Very cute idea. I am a counselor and will use with my younger clients."
Drum roll for the #1 best selling product: NGSS Science Centers!!! This amazing bundle has over 60 science centers aligned with NGSS. Each center features hands-on activities that can be completed in pairs, small groups, or even whole group situations. A link to each individual science unit is included on the bundle page. Of course, don't take my word...Listen to what buyers are saying, "I LOVE this bundle! Our district is working toward aligning our science curriculum to the NGSS and this is just what I was looking for to use with my first graders. The differentiated student recording sheets are particularly awesome! Thank you so much for putting these lessons together. This is such an amazing resource!" And, "LOVE IT!!! I am trying to implement more science into my day -- and science is not my favorite-- BUT this makes it easy for me to understand and explain to my kids. Lots of activities and easy to use. Great resource!!!!" Finally, last but not least, "We use centers a lot in my classroom, and I am so excited to add these science centers! I have been struggling all year to include science and this is wonderful!"
I hope you have enjoyed my top 5 product countdown. You can click on the picture for a link to each product. What are some of your tried and true resources that you can't live without? I would love to hear what works in your classroom in the comments below. After all, we only become better when we work together!