March Display

For our March display I assigned each student a vowel pattern and they came up with 6 words that contain that vowel pattern.  We watched this vowel patterns video during calendar this month so it was easy for my kids to come up with their words.  You could also do this with different word families and write a different word family on each cloud.  This could even be used to show math facts that equal the number written on the cloud.  I would love to hear about the creative way you displayed student work.

                                                 

Duck Pond Phonics Game

I have a carnival theme in my classroom this year.  I purchased plastic ducks from Oriental Trading and taped a vowel pattern to the bottom of each duck.  You could use this game to practice word families too.  One student comes up front to select a duck and the class says the following rhyme...
__________ went out one day, picked up a duck and what did it say?
(child's name)
I just placed all of my ducks on a blue lid to a container.  The student holding the duck reads the chunk on the bottom of the duck and we write the word in the pond.  Each student has a copy of the sheet, I put the sheet inside a plastic sleeve.  We use our dry erase markers and erase after each vowel pattern.  I tell them the words we will practice spelling for the vowel pattern  that is chosen.  Here is a n example of the spelling pattern ay.
                           

Here is a copy of the sheet I use.  I would love to hear any other ideas on how to use this game to practice different skills.

                                 

                                                                                                                       

Jeopardy (K.RFS.3b)

Short and Long Vowel Jeopardy

                   

My kids have so much fun playing jeopardy and it gives me a wealth of knowledge of the words they know how to spell. I strive to teach lessons where every kids is engaged and no one needs to "go to the bathroom." We play jeopardy once a week, I have all the kids bring their dry-erase board to the carpet and we sit in front of the whiteboard. We play boys vs. girls, I call on a student and everyone writes the answer on their board. I can easily see who understands the concept and who needs more practice. Try out my short and long vowel jeopardy for $1.00 by pressing the highlighted link.

Vowel Patterns (K.RFS.3b)

Update: I have created a vowel pattern mega packet to help teach these to kindergarten through 2nd graders.  The packet includes posters, jeopardy games, sorts, partner work of spelling words, small group interventions, and whole class activities.  Please click here to find out more!

I can not say enough about introducing Kindergartners to vowel patterns.  Every book out there has words in it that contain vowel patterns.  We do this video every day in my classroom to learn the sounds each pattern makes.  I have seen a huge difference in my kids reading abilities just from using this short video.  I had my daughters do the motions, this helps kids learn them quicker :)

We also work on spelling vowel patterns by using this chart.  I put the paper in a plastic sleeve to save paper.  We practice spelling words on it once a week.  If we come to one that has two different patterns I will tell them to circle the pattern that we are going to use to spell that word.

None of my kids came in reading.  I have 2 on level G, 4 F's, 1 E, 7 D's, 4 C's and 2 B's

Bossy R Jeopardy

My kids had so much fun coming up with the clues for bossy r words.  I gave them each a half sheet of paper that had a bossy r word written on the top.  They had to come up with a clue for the word.  Then I typed them up into a jeopardy game.  We practice bossy r words a lot, they can make it very tricky to sound out a word if you don't know the sound they make. 
Each student has a dry erase board, we play boys vs girls. When it is your turn you get to pick the category and points amount. Every child writes the answer on their board every time. I have them all sit on the floor close to me so I can watch their spelling of each word. They love jeopardy and think it is so cool that they made the clues.  The game is just $1.00 on teacherspayteachers.com

                               http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bossy-R-Jeopardy