Tots and Me... Growing Up Together

Friday, September 18, 2015

Homeschool Printables Galore with Super Teacher Worksheets {A TOS Review}

Have I mentioned how much I love being on the Schoolhouse Review Crew. It seems I am always learning about new products or websites that I had never heard of before, and yet these products/sites become huge blessings in our homeschool. Super Teacher Worksheets has been around for 8 years and somehow, it completely stayed off my radar. When I started to research the site in preparation for signing up for the review, I was amazed at the amount of worksheets that are available. Thankfully, we were chosen for this review and were given a full year of their Individual Membership. It has been a huge blessing, being both a great time-saver and wealth of resources.

Super Teacher Worksheets has worksheets galore for a homeschooling parent (or school teacher) to use with their children. If you are looking for some extra practice for a specific concept, you will probably be able to find it on this wonderful site. Not only is it great for supplementing in the older grades, but I have found that I can pull together a decent amount of work for my youngest child to keep him busy learning alongside his sister. In fact, I have even found some fun worksheets to add to her core curriculum.
There is just so much worksheet-goodness over on Super Teacher Worksheets. It definitely is a huge time-saver to have a one-stop site for worksheets in so many different subjects. What busy homeschool mom or teacher wouldn't love not having to search the internet and waste precious time? I'm sure you are now wondering what sort of worksheets you will find and how they will help you and your children. Let's take a look, shall we.
There are over 10,000 printable resources, including worksheets, activities, games, and more. You will find resources in the following subjects:

Math
Reading & Writing
Phonics
Handwriting
Grammar
Social Studies
Science
Spelling
Holiday/Seasonal

There are Preschool/Kindergarten subjects as well.

Alphabet
Counting
Shapes

Additionally, there are puzzles and brain teasers which focus on various subjects.

You will also find a Worksheet Generator to aid you in creating word searches, multiple choice worksheets,and fill-in-the-blank worksheets.

One last thing I wanted to mention before getting into how we used this site, is the section for Teacher Helpers. Though the majority are more suited for classroom use, there is a simple lesson planner that caught my eye, plus a calendar generator and weather chart. There are also Printable Award Certificates.

Time to move on to how we used this wonderful resource.
When I first gained full access to Super Teacher Worksheets I was a bit overwhelmed. Yes, I had perused the site before signing up for the review. Yes, I had even checked out some of their FREE worksheets. However, when it came time to sit down and work out how I could best utilize the site during this review period, I needed some time to organize my thoughts and figure out where to start.
As we gained access during our summer break, I decided to try out the Worksheet Generator to create a word search using Amelia's spelling words. All I had to do was list the words I wanted in the puzzle and choose the difficulty (basic, intermediate, or advanced). There are recommended word lengths and quantities, which do change depending on what level you choose. I was also able to choose whether or not I wanted to alphabetize the word list. After that, it was as simple as clicking Create Worksheet. A word search puzzle is created along with the solution page which shows where you can find the words, and an information sheet about the puzzle.

Then school started back up. I wanted to start off light, so I printed out some fun worksheets and games, plus a first day of school "All About ...." sheet.

The children had fun filling out their All About... pages.

I printed the matching game cards out out on card stock, cut them apart, and stored them in plastic zippy bags. The Counting Memory Match game was for Hannah and Harold, while the Basic Fractions Match Game was for Tabitha and Amelia.

The older girls also had the Money worksheets and the Mystery Graphs.
While it is great fun to get on the site and just pick a worksheet for the children to complete at random, I also wanted be a bit more organized in choosing their worksheets to get the most out of the site. I have mainly been using the math worksheets (fractions and money), language arts worksheets, and the Word Search generator for the older girls. We hadn't yet purchased a math curriculum for this year, and I realized I could use Super Teacher Worksheets to help fill this need.

I was able to choose an easy level of work for Amelia, and slightly harder worksheets for Tabitha.

I decided to challenge them a little bit with these synonym worksheets.

Hannah is in Kindergarten this year, and Harold is tagging along. The thing is, I didn't purchase additional sheets for him, so I decided to use Super Teacher Worksheets to find work to keep him occupied. In the Phonics and Early Literacy Section I can choose the sound we are working on in Hannah's curriculum, and I will have wonderful selection of worksheets and other printable to pick from. Then I can add in some other preschool sheets, such as shapes (I picked square and star as you can see in the picture below, because they start with the letter s).

Each week I will be printing out these phonemic awareness sheets for Harold, so he can choose the pictures that start with the sound.

I discovered these great Build-a-Word worksheets for Hannah. She has to cut out the letters and figure out what order to glue them on in, so she can make the word. I have found them to be a great supplement to her curriculum.

There are so many other worksheets in the phonics section, such as mini-books, tracing-the-word sheets, word wheels, matching games, coloring pages, and also sheets that focus on the sound in the middle and end of the word. I can definitely find enough work here to keep two little kiddos busy. Best yet, they are enjoying the worksheets.
One day, I happened upon the social studies section, which I hadn't really explored before. I am not sure why I was suddenly checking it out, but it was so timely. We were learning about Christopher Columbus and I discovered their "Explorers" section. The children were able to make Christopher Columbus figures and the older girls had a chart-type worksheet all about his famous ships.

As you can see, there are a wide variety of worksheets and multiple ways Super Teacher Worksheets can be used to benefit the homeschool or classroom. And I barely scratched the surface! In each subject there are multiple categories to choose from. Each category has more topics. I really do recommend that you stop by the site, check out the wide wide selection, and take advantage of their free worksheets. You will find some free in every subject, so you can get a feel for what is available.
For less than $2 a month, you can have access to over 10,000 worksheets and activities. A yearly membership costs just $19.95. As of right now, the available resources are mainly for children from Kindergarten through 5th grade. However, they are slowly adding resources for older kids. And, as you can see, I have been using the preschool worksheets for Harold, so there is just about something for everyone (except high school).
I highly recommend Super Teacher Worksheets as a way to supplement or create a curriculum for your children.
You can find Super Teacher Worksheets on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Don't forget to stop by and check out what my fellow Crew Mates thought about Super Teacher Worksheets. Just click on the banner below.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Throwback Thursday Blog-Style #65: September 17, 2015

Welcome back to...

I know, I know, Throwback Thursday seems to be all about sharing pictures from the past, great memories that mean something to you, that you would like to share with others. At least that is how it appears to me. Throwback Thursday wasn't something I was participating in, and then I came up with an idea.

I thought it would be great fun and a help to my blog to share old content, but not just any old content. Each week I will share an old blog post from a previous year, any year, BUT it has to be from the current week (for example, something I've posted around September 17th, from any previous year) I will go in, edit the post if needed, add a pinnable image if I don't already have one, and share it on Facebook.

I have reviewed some great products in the past (and continue to do so). I thought it would be a neat idea to choose review posts this year and highlight some of these great products again.

Would you like to join in? You do not need to edit your past post in any way, you don't need to create a pinnable image, though it couldn't hurt, in fact it will help your blog traffic to add quality pinnable images to your posts.

Just go into your archives, choose a favorite post from this current week from any previous year, and link it up below.

I will be pinning posts to my appropriate Pinterest boards and will be randomly selecting a Featured Throwback Thursday post to share next week. Just a note, I will be sharing a picture from your post if you are selected as the featured post, but I will link back to your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. By linking up you are giving me permission to use your picture in the post.

Here is my Throwback Thursday post:

Originally posted September 18th, 2014
Improving Our Homeschool Organization With My Student Logbook

Here is this week's randomly selected

Featured Throwback Thursday:

Brooke from Be Fed Again shared:

How About Them Apples

To participate, link up below. It would be great if you could visit several of the other posts that have linked up. Stop by, comment, and pin images so we can help each other.

If you would like to help spread the news:

Happy Throwback Thursday!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Wordless Wednesday: September 16, 2015 (w/linky)- Fun Before the Bills Game

We always get excited to go into the Field House. Daddy likes to play his trivia game.

The children love to get their faces painted.

Then we get to see the exotic animals.

The monkey wanted the phone!

This was a first! Getting to see Billy Buffalo. The last time he was this close to us several years ago, he scared Tabitha silly and she has been afraid of him ever since. Well, until now. She seems to have gotten over it.