Word Work – The Teaching Texan

“AR” It’s a Pirate’s Life For Me

theteachingtexan — Fri, 29 May 2015 03:12:00 +0000

Saying last week was one of my favorite weeks in the classroom would be an understatement. I dove deep into a theme, more so than I’ve ever done before, and the result was astounding.

The kiddos learned, laughed, and made memories.

I learned, laughed, and made memories.

Fortunately I documented many things that we did during our “AR” Pirate Week, and I’m sharing them with you today!

The whole inspiration for this week was the “ar” digraph, or r-controlled vowel. I’d seen some other teachers post about pirates when teaching this r-controlled vowel. Well… I ran with it!

We did all things pirate in reading. We used treasure (plastic gold coins) to review addition and subtraction concepts. We learned about the ocean and shells during science. We reviewed maps during social studies (pirate themed, of course)!

Here’s a look at the start of our week. I like to vary the use of my can/have/are charts. Sometimes I use one to get a picture of what students have learned mid-way through the week, or at the end of the week. For our pirate week I decided to use it as an assessment of their background knowledge. As you can see, some of those things are not necessarily true – but it’s what the kiddos thought at the start of our unit.

Throughout the week we read several fiction and non-fiction books about pirates. This helped to clear up a lot of misconceptions. Here’s a list of my top 10 pirate books:

To introduce the ar digraph I can’t think of anything better than a Harry Kindergarten song! This one is AWESOME!

We also created a hands-on ar words anchor chart together after the kiddos had been introduced to the ar digraph.

I
love getting the kiddos involved in creating the anchor chart beyond
them stating their ideas and recording it myself. Plus, they get so tickled
to use sticky notes! Each student wrote at least one ar word on a sticky note to add to our anchor chart.

After some practice with “ar” words, the kiddos went on an “AR” Word
Hunt. I made these cute little signs pretty quickly one afternoon using
the school’s die-cut machine. The kiddos went around and recorded
words that either did or did not have the ar digraph.

We did another “AR” Word Hunt, but this time the words were spread
throughout the Kindergarten hallway. Such a small change in scenery can
be a game changer for engagement! The kiddos loved searching for words
with their pirate hats and eye patches! The hats, recording sheets,
and ar cards came from another teacher’s product [here].

You can grab your own eye patches for super cheap by clicking the following link, Pack Of 24 Felt Eye Patches – Pirate Eyepatches – Party Favors – Costume .

We ventured into using QR codes with the iPads this week during Daily 5. During Listen to Reading the kiddos watched a read aloud of “How I Became a Pirate” by Melinda Long.

I can now say that I love using QR codes in the classroom, and so do the kiddos! You can grab your own copy of the QR code (links to SafeShare) by clicking [here].

During science we focused on oceans (landforms, animals, etc.). We started off with some hands-on exploration of seashells.

Shhhh…. Don’t tell anyone, but I gave my kiddos the full science block of our first day studying oceans to just explore the seashells with a hand lens and their senses. I knew the majority of my kiddos didn’t have any experience with seashells, and I wanted to give them the opportunity to form some background to attach new learning to.

The next few days we spent discussing how seashells are made and sorting them. I let my kiddos decide how they want to sort them (in small groups). As long as the group can explain how they sorted them, I’m a happy camper!

The group on the top chose to sort their shells by size (small, medium, large). The group on the bottom sorted their shells by shape.

This little guy was listening for the ocean. So cute!

To wrap up our fun pirate-themed week, we made a yummy snack! We made blue jell-o together to resemble ocean water. Then, we dropped a Swedish fish candy in.

The kiddos loved getting to help make our snack to end the week. I loved secretly building in review of math skills we learned during the year.

I secretly made these super-cute orange boats to go on top of the jell-o.

I added them to the jell-o cups while the kiddos were at specials. They were beyond excited to see and eat their finished product in the afternoon.

Happy Friday, y’all!

Monday Motivation: Sight Word Scratch!

theteachingtexan — Mon, 04 May 2015 22:31:00 +0000

It’s that time of year again… We’ve got just a few short weeks left with our kiddos.

Let’s be honest though, we’re all tired. More like exhausted. Summer can’t come soon enough! BUT, everything worth starting deserves a strong finish, right?

Well, the other day I was thinking about how far my kiddos have come in reading. From the time I joined them in October until now I’ve witnessed astounding growth. But, I know some of my struggling kiddos are still behind in many basic reading pre-reqs, such as recognizing sight words.

That got me searching around on Pinterest (no surprise) and I was inspired by [this] blog post. I tweaked the activity a bit to meet the needs of my classroom.

For Monday Motivation this week I want to share a simple, cheap, and effective strategy for practicing sight words. The key word here is effective (and let’s be honest, cheap and simple are great, too). I like to call this game Sight Word Scratch.

My district has us introduce sight words in “bundles.” Usually a bundle is 5 or 6 words and we teach the bundle over a 2-3 week period and periodically spend some weeks reviewing. Now that we’ve exhausted all the bundles, it’s time to review and make sure we are filling any gaps!

I wrote each word from the first bundle on chart paper (I, an, can, red, blue). Then I made a corresponding note card for each word.

To start out, we reviewed the sight words by using the flash cards and by finding them in text. Then I gave each kiddo in the group a Scentos marker (instant motivation) and we went to town practicing sight words with Sight Word Scratch!

I rotated showing each kiddo a flash card and allowing at max 3 seconds for them to respond. If the kiddo recognized the sight word correctly, he/she got to place an X on that word on the chart paper. So, not only were we practicing reading the sight word, but also finding it in a sea of other words! We played until each word on the chart paper had been X’ed out.

I can see this being adapted in so many ways! You could even just have the words on a regular sized paper, although I preferred the novelty of have the kiddos writing on chart paper and up out of their seats. I could even see groups doing this independently during Daily 5 as a word work. The interventionist who visits my room said she is going to try it out with numbers tomorrow to help kiddos who are still struggling with recognizing written numbers.

Monday Made It: Anchor Wreath & Sight Word Work

theteachingtexan — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:49:00 +0000

I mentioned on Friday that I was working on a project that involved this guy…

Well, I finished what this fun little anchor goes with, and I’m going to share it by linking of with Tara from [4th Grade Frolics] for a Monday Made It post!

Before I get into my creation for today, I wanted to give a bit of background on my inspiration for it. Last year I got caught in the whirlwind of finishing up grad classes, taking comprehensive exams, new teacher training, and getting moved into my classroom that the theme I had in mind (Western) never really came to fruition.

That was an OK enough excuse for last year, but I am not about to let it happen again! This year I am going with a nautical theme in red/navy/white. I was searching through Pinterest (as usual) and found this really cool looking wreath. I clicked on it of course. It took me to an Etsy sight and the wreath was quite a bit more than I was willing to spend.

What to do…. Well I decided to make one myself! Here’s the finished product. (Warning: There are quite a few pictures!)

I love it! I can’t wait to make/get more things for my classroom theme this year!

Here’s how I made it…

First gather all of your supplies. You’ll need yarn (I chose navy and white), ribbon (I chose red), glue sticks and a hot glue gun, a foam circle, scissors, and rope. I had already made the anchor before starting the wreath – but that was just a wooden cutout, red acrylic paint, and a white paint pen. I got all of the supplies from Michael’s.

I started out by marking 2 lines in the middle of the circle. This made it easy to know where to start one color and stop the previous color.

Then, I used the hot glue gun to get a good hold between the end of the yarn and the circle.

FYI, when I started I kept the yarn attached to the whole bundle. This got tedious because you have to feed the bundle through the circle each time you wrap another bit of yarn around the circle. I started cutting large pieces of yarn – it was a lot easier to manage! If you glue the end of one yarn piece down and start the beginning of the next piece right on top of the other one you can’t even see where it ends/begins.

After MUCH patience, I got the whole thing wrapped in yarn! Phew! I used a lot of hot glue (probably more than necessary) to get the yarn to stay exactly where I wrapped it.

I added some red ribbon as an accent in between each color.

I used the same red ribbon to create a hook for hanging the wreath. I just wrapped it around, added some hot glue and stuck the end of the ribbon back into the glue to create the loop.

Next, I added the finished anchor to the wreath using hot glue.

Finally, it was time to add the rope!

Voila! I plan to hang it on the wall right outside my classroom.

Since it’s Monday Made It, I wanted to share my latest TPT creation as well!! I know that I shared it on Friday, but I am just so excited about it!

Over 135 pages of sight word practice with activities like read it, trace it, rainbow write it, use it build it; fluency passages; sight word graphing; and flash cards! I can’t wait to use it during reading centers this year. You can grab a copy of my Mega Sight Word Practice Pack [HERE].

Five for Friday: Fourth of July Weekend!

theteachingtexan — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 08:35:00 +0000

Happy Friday, and Happy Fourth of July!!

It may be a holiday, but there is ALWAYS time for a little 5 for Friday action!

After we finished both season of Orange is the New Black, we moved onto House of Cards. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!!! Could most certainly be my new favorite show! Unfortunately, we have finished both season of House of Cards, and now we need a new show to occupy our time. Please give me some suggestions!!

On Wednesday I took my car in for a routine oil change. I left in a rental car…

Why?

Well, there were a couple of big recalls on my baby (aka Keisha). Sad day…. Thankfully the dealership paid for a rental car and had my girl ready to pick up the next day. They even gave her a bath and vacuumed. I was SO excited to get Keisha back. I really dislike driving strange cars!

Doesn’t she look pretty??

I took a trip to Michael’s this week and picked up a ~~few~~ a basket of things! I’m currently working on a project that I hope to reveal on Monday for a Monday Made-It post. You’ll have to check back then to see what I’m going to make with this cool wooden anchor that I picked up!

I am so excited about this next project! I have been working on it for quite some time. It’s my first big packet (over 140 pages), and I am thrilled that it is finally FINISHED!

Last year I could never find a sight word packet that had everything that I was looking for, and I often found myself searching around for certain activities. No longer! Because I decided to create my own!

This [MEGA Sight Word Pack] has over 135 pages of sight word practice pages! The activities included are: Read It, Trace It, Rainbow Write It, Use It, Build It; Fluency Passages; Flash Cards; and Sight Word Graphing. I’m so excited to have this resource because it’s going to give my kiddos tons and tons of sight word practice without doing the same old practice every day!

I also built in a little math with the sight word graphing pages. Students will create a bar graph AND picture graph showing how many words in the box were the focus sight word and how were not. Love it!

You can grab a copy of this packet [HERE].

We are headed off to Brenham (outside of College Station) today for the fireworks at Washington on the Brazos. I’m excited to get away again, AND Saturday one of Dustin’s best friends is having a birthday party for her daughter who is turning ONE!

I was in charge of getting the gift, so I went to [Baby Bliss]. I believe they are only in the DFW area, but you can check out their online store. One of my new favorite things is to shop for babies!

Check out this adorable dress that I picked up for her! I got some coral leggings to go under, and of course because I am a teacher I had to get her a book as well.

Well, I hope that you all have a fantastic 4th of July full of laughter with the ones you love!

Family Weekend & Monday Made It: Digraph Sticks

theteachingtexan — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 15:01:00 +0000

Happy Monday! I am feeling so refreshed today after a nice weekend in San Angelo visiting the padre and stepmom!

On Saturday we went to downtown San Angelo for some shopping and a bit of wine. There is a fun general store downtown called Eggemeyer’s. They have an awesome kitchen gadget section. It’s hard not to buy everything in there!

We stopped to get some Italian Ice, as well. Although from the picture it appears to be “Hatian Ice,” haha. There’s a few other mistakes on this board – there goes the teacher in me!

The “food” fun didn’t end downtown though. I always eat WAY too much when I visit San Angelo. Here’s a peak at why…

Homemade peach cobbler and homemade venison sausage gravy & biscuits.

Carb city for sure, and I loved it!

While we were out of town, my mind started spinning with ideas for things I need to create! Sometimes stepping away from everything is just what you need to get those creative juices flowing again. I’ve been busy working since we got back last night, and I’m linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It linky!

I am really excited about this creation! It was pretty easy (and cheap)!

This week I made digraph practice sticks! I got this idea from Hilary over at [Rockin Teacher Materials]. This is a fun way for students to sort beginning digraph sounds into groups.

Wondering how I made them?? Alright, I’ll share!

First you need to gather all the materials. You’ll need spray paint, paint sticks, and velcro. I was able to get the paint sticks for free at Lowe’s. The grand total of the spray paint and velcro (also at Lowe’s) was about $6.

I laid out all of the paint sticks onto pages from a magazine. All of my cardboard boxes are currently housing my classroom, so I had to improvise!

I put two coats on each side of the paint sticks and waited about 30 minutes between coats. If you’re a perfectionist like myself, make sure you spray the edges of the sticks or you’ll end up annoyed!

Then, I cut the velcro into small squares and attached one side to the paint sticks and the other to the back of laminated digraph tokens.

Now the kiddos can sort the diagraph tokens by attaching them to the paint sticks. This keeps it simple and there’s no mess! No more sorting and a kid accidentally bumping them and causing them to get mixed up because they’re attached to the paint stick! After students sort all of the digraphs by sound, they can quickly draw in the picture and try to spell the word using the correct digraph. I’m not so concerned they spell the words correctly (unless it is a spelling word), but more so that they are practicing writing with that digraph when they hear it.

You can grab the digraph set [HERE].

I’m getting so excited thinking about all of the ways I can use these paint sticks! I chose not to add any permanent labels to them (such as the digraph names) so that I can use them for other sound sorts, as well as sorts in math, science, etc.

Head over to 4th Grade Frolics to see some other great Monday Made It creations!

Sight Word Practice as a Coloring Page??

theteachingtexan — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:03:00 +0000

Today I had lunch with one of my really good teacher friends, and I left feeling inspired to get some more work done (the margarita may have helped my motivation)!

When I got home, I set right to work on my next Color by Sight Word Packet! This one is summer themed! That brings my packet list up to Fall, Winter, and Summer. All I have left in this series is to make my Spring packet and bundle them all together! I’m so excited to have these practice pages for next year that correlate with the seasons!

I don’t know about your kiddos, but sometimes mine just need a different way to practice sight words during reading centers or Daily 5. Whenever I see engagement starting to slip, I try to think of a way to improve the current activity, or come up with a new way to practice sight words. I used sight word coloring pages a lot last year, and my first graders absolutely loved them. Sometimes I just had my kiddos work on them for morning work. The best thing about them is that my first graders don’t even realize that they are reading their sight words over and over! That was my inspiration for the series that I’m currently working on.

You can grab a copy of my Summer Themed Color by Sight Word Packet [HERE] if you’d like.

Since I was already being productive today ANYWAY, I decided to link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for her weekly Monday Made It linky party!

Check out Tara’s page to visit lots of other great teachers’ blogs who are sharing their latest work!

Workin’ on Word Work!

theteachingtexan — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 13:51:00 +0000

This summer I am focusing on reflecting on what went well, but more importantly what didn’t go so well during my first year of teaching.

Alright friends, so here’s the deal. When I started teaching last August (amongst the whirlwind of other things) I felt a ~~little~~ completely unprepared for reading centers! Don’t get me wrong, as part of my SMU degree I took two great courses, one called Learning to Read & Write and one called Reading & Writing to Learn. So I got all the important info on the 5 essential components of reading (phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension), and even had the chance to tutor an a

t-risk first grader for a semester using the MONDO intervention system. It was a great experience to help a kiddo go from basically being a non-reader (she knew maybe 3 sight words at the beginning of 1st grade) and would not write for ANYTHING! Once we broke down her wall and she started feeling successful, it was onward and upward for her. Oh how I miss that sweet little girl!

Even with the experiences that I had, I still just didn’t feel like I was “ready” to not only provide great instruction at my guided reading table, but to also plan/find other great center activities. And for 23 students instead of just 1??

A moment for comic relief…

I’ll be completely honest… Most of August was spent getting centers procedures down pat. I’m talking practice, practice, practice. If a kiddo didn’t transition quietly or immediately get to work at the new center then it was, “Let’s try it again. I know we can do better!” Over… and over… and over. I am super glad we got the routine down, because it was one less thing to worry about come September.

Once September hit though, I PERSONALLY was a man overboard, and I was drowning fast! Luckily, by early to mid-November I had tried several ideas from colleagues and that I had found online and was able to figure out what worked for me and my classroom. WHEW! I finally had a routine for what I did with kiddos when they were at the guided reading table with me.

But, what was I going to about the other centers? Fastforward to now…

As you can tell, I made it through (and so did my kiddos)! I finally figured out a system for centers activities that I was comfortable with managing, and thankfully my first graders left me with an average of 1.09 years of reading level growth. Yes, exact decimal average… My charter school was crazy about data, haha.

As part of my self-prescribed summer PD, I’m also currently reading “The Daily 5” by the sisters. I bought this book back in October, but never could dedicate the time to it until now. I really want to incorporate center activities next year that are even more meaningful. Now, we didn’t call the word work center “word work” this past year (but that’s what it was), and I had several different activities that kiddos rotated through. We tried Playdough words; pencil, crayon, marker; rainbow words; and several other activities.

One thing I want to be better about next year is tracking mastery of sight words. So I’ve been thinking about the activities that I already did with my kids this past year, and what I could do to start to build in more sight word work to my Word Work center next year. To help build in more practice with sight words I have started creating coloring pages that are color by sight word. My kiddos LOVED sight word coloring pages this past year, and I loved that they were reading the sight words over and over again. So I figured “Why not go ahead and get prepped for next year!?”

Here is a look at my first sight word pack creation! I went with a Fall theme (back to school time frame). I plan on using these as a packet for a week or so at my Word Work center. They have also proven to be GREAT morning work! All of the words used are from the Dolch list of 1st grade sight words. You can grab a copy of it [here]!

As I’m brushing up on reading centers this summer, I’d like to hear what creative or fun activities you use for reading centers! It doesn’t have to be for a Word Work center. Just leave a comment to share your awesomeness with everyone else! I can’t wait to see what other activities are out there!

OH! I’d also like to announce the winner of the [Super Sundae Math Facts giveaway]! Carla H. check your e-mail!