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.

                                                 

3 D Shapes CC.K.G.1

To introduce my students to 3-D shapes I like to use the you tube song These are the 3 D Shapes That I Know.  This gives examples of shapes in their environment and begins to teach them the vocabulary words for these shapes.  Then we work as a class to complete the sheet.  I play a video for the specific shape we are on and we look at the pictures of things shaped like that.  Then I call on three different students to pick an object we should draw on our own paper.  This activity usuall takes two 25 minute sessions to complete.  If you click on the document you will get a print out of the two sheets I use, one for each day.  This is the video for the cube, once you play it you will see the links for all the other shapes. 

During the week we also sort pictures of 2 and 3-D shapes, make shapes out of clay and popsicle sticks, and play a guessing bag game of 2 and 3-D shapes.  I would love to hear how you teach shapes in your classroom.

                                                        

          

Caps For Sale Acting Out

There have been several stories this year that we have enjoyed acting out as a class after reading a few times. In the story Caps For Sale we had one student take on the role of the peddler and the rest of the kids were the monkeys. I used a large plastic container that had pretzel rods in it at one time for the peddler's hat and a paper plate for the face. The rest of the students cut out the monkey face and we taped a big Popsicle stick to the back. They were assigned a color cap and glued it to their monkey mask. Each child also had a cut out hat piece that they threw down. This was very easy to create and students really enjoyed it!

       Click on the picture of the monkeys to find the printable template for the monkey mask.  I would love to hear about the stories your kids enjoy acting out!

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.

                                 

                                                                                                                       

CVCC Words

We have moved on to learning harder word family chunks.  My class is now working on cvcc words.  We are learning the chunks ack, ick, ock, uck, all, ell, ill, ish, ash, ast, ust, est, unk, ump, and, ush, ook and a few others.  I have made a packet of the daily instruction I use to teach these chunks and a few games that they play each week to practice reading and writing the chunk.  I try to incorporate words that begin with blends so we can continue to review previous skills.  I have a few kids that are still having trouble with rhyming words so I also tie in that skill.  I teach the kids that we want our brains to know that when these letters get together they make a sound and the sooner we learn these tricks the better readers we will become.
                 The games and activities in this packet meetthe following common core standards

K.RFS.2.c. (blend and segment onsets and rimes)

K.RFS2.d (isolate and pronounce initial, medial, and final sound of cvc words)K.RFS.3.a. (produce primary sound for each consonant)
K.L.2.c (write a letter for most consonant and short vowel sounds)
K.L.1.a. (print many upper and lowercase letters)K.L.1.f. (produce complete sentences)K.L.4.a. (discuss multiple meanings of words)

These activities would also work well in a first grade classroomand meet common core standards 1.RFS2b, 1.RFS2c, 1.RFS2d, 1.L.1a, 1.L.2d

In the packet I have included posters that I hang up in the classroom.  I notice students looking up at the posters during reading and writing time quite often.  I believe the more they visually see it the faster they will retain it.  This is a picture of some of the posters included in the packet.

 This is one of the games included, there are three different ways to play.  Each way gives students practice reading and spelling words.

 This is my cvcc folder.  I use this format all throughout the school year and change out the phonics skill each time.  It is a quick easy way to practice skills and has been highly effective with my students.  I start with the alphabet folder and progress to cvc words, blends, cvcc words, and long vowel patterns.  This packet includes the directions and pages needed to create the cvcc folder.

                                                                                                               

Christmas Coutdown

I had my kids create a Christmas Countdown. We used a Santa coloring sheet for the top and then made a long beard to write numbers on. Every day they cut a number off of his beard. We are working on recognizing and writing teen numbers. This gave them a little extra practice in a fun way.

Coaching a Reading Partner

I love this time of year, all my students are finally reading! Everything that we have been working on really starts to click and their progress begins to soar. Since they have grown to have some independence it is the perfect time to start my mini lessons on coaching a buddy. Every day for 20 minutes I have my students practice reading with a partner that they are assigned to. The sooner I can teach my students that they can be a teacher to the person they are reading with the faster they climb in reading levels. I explain it to the kids that I am only one person and even though I would love to read with each and every one of them every day there is just not enough time.  However, they are very lucky because they have a friend that sits right next to them when they read and they can be the teacher and help coach them!  We talk a lot about how two brains are better than one.  I made a song to help them remember what a good coach does.

We made stop signs to hold up when something our partner reads doesn't make sense or sound right.  On the back of the stop sign is four things for a good coach to remember.  These are sung about in the link above.  I have my kids make motions to go with the song.  I have also posted posters of the four tips for coaches in my classroom.  In addition, I have created a coaches club.  After I catch a student being a good coach to a buddy on five separate occasions they get to sign the board.  These small changes have really helped a lot to get my students to pay attention while their partner is reading.  I think kids learn the most when they are actually involved and part of the teaching process.  They have really been having a lot of fun being the teacher!

  

All of the materials can be found by clicking on the link below.  I would love to hear your ideas on how you get your kids to coach each other!