Smelly Markers and Super Sales

There are a few words in the title of this post that bring excitement to both the firsties AND to me.
Them = Smelly Markers!
Me= Sales!

I'll start with them and end with me.

I started scooping up these markers this past summer and they love any time we use them.
(Their moms probably don't appreciate it, but  I pass out a box full of wipes to get their little noses clean afterwards!)

I started playing a game with them during whole group for spelling.
It's super simple.
But super fun.

I have each student get a dry erase board, sheet of lined paper and one smelly marker. The board is just to have the hard surface under the paper- clipboards would be ideal, but I don't have a class set of those.

They stand in line, and I write one spelling word on the top of paper. They then make a HUGE circle that spans the room,
and set down their board and marker.

After that I grab my phone and click on my commercial playlist- of course you can use any music you like- HA HA!. When the music starts, they start roaming. When the music stops, they stop in front of a board and write the word that is at the top onto the paper.

Now- NO ONE and I mean NO ONE can write UNTIL they have SNIFFED the marker.
Not my rule.
Theirs.
Even if they have smelled that particular marker 5,297,107 times!!!

You can tell my friend already used a cherry one, eh?

She started out smelling "gently".

And obviously got more excited!!

They really like moving around the room.
I really like that all levels are practicing the words.
I know that they are all seeing spelled correctly- no one is struggling. The ones who are not practicing at home are getting some extra practice in the room and having fun!

Once everyone is standing, I will say-
"Raise your hand if you just wrote the word....."
or
"Hop on one foot if you just wrote..."

And even my lowest ones get to do the "being silly" part because the others will whisper "Hey, you have that word!!!"

I found these recording sheets and activities that are perfect for this group of smelly marker lovers!

Jennifer from



created these and they are a ton of fun!!! My room smelled like "fruit salad" when we were finished.

Click on her pack to check it out in her Tpt store!

Speaking of shopping-
I was going to tell you about the word "sale" in the title.
I am not a huge sports fan- BUT
this sale button that Ashley Hughes made, may have converted me to a love of all things football!

Check out these other great sellers as well!
Good Luck to your team tomorrow!!!