Big Letters for Literacy

I love literacy activities! Among my favorites: Patricia Cunningham's Making Words lessons. I've been using her lessons and my own variations with my classes for years and years! They are SO great. I encourage students to help each other, look at the board and listen for help if they need it. Talk about simple, natural scaffolding for young children!



I decided long ago that I should make *cute* letters to use for this activity... and it's even more motivating for my students!

I just posted a set of "Big Letters" on my TPT site. They are also great for setting up your own version of classroom Boggle and for all kinds of independent literacy work. My students love to take a set of big letters and spread them out on the floor. They uses those letters to practice their word work in a big way! The size makes any word work or spelling activity more exciting!



And it's almost 2013! I've been enjoying some days at home with my family and hope you have, too. Of course, I can't quite tear myself completely away from school activities... I've been working on some thematic packets for the new year! I'll be sharing them soon!

Rhymes to Read

I love using the poems in this book with my students.



This book contains lots of poems and rhymes using sight words. The poems are catchy rhymes and most have cute little pictures to go with them.

I write the poems on chart paper and sentence strips and we read and chant together as a class. I let students use fancy pointers and they love having a turn to lead the class.

Then I copy the pages... actually I reduce them and trim off the bottom so that they will fit inside a composition book. I don't reduce the size too much. I still want the students to be able to write on the lines on each page. Each week (or sometimes twice a week, depending!) students use a glue stick to add a new poem. Then, they write in the appropriate high frequency word and read! The students keep these composition books in their desks, and I encourage them to read the poems when they have extra time or during independent reading.

This is the cute label that I put on the front of each child's composition book!



Click on the image to get your own copies of this label!

"Get It At Target" Tuesday!

OMIGOODNESS!!



Look what I found in the dollar bins at Target! How cute are these?! Would you pay a dollar for them? Oh yes, you would, and I did, too! I knew the second I saw them that I would need to have them for the classroom! Who doesn't love this book?!

What? You wanna know what I'm going to do with them? Well...

First, I will gather all the copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar that I can find, and we will read, read, read! And then I will add some special activities to our word work area. If you see these darling little paper mache buckets, snag them quick! And stay tuned, I'll have the activities posted in a day or so.

And one more thing... If your Target doesn't have these, never fear! I sent a good friend to her Target, and she couldn't find them, either. Just grab some of the little, metal mini-buckets. I've got labels for you, and they can be taped to the side of any container.

Happy "Get It At Target" Tuesday!

Ladybug Labels for the Classroom

Kindergarten teacher Kara asked for some happy and colorful labels for her classroom. She didn't have a strict theme going when she asked me to make the labels. She did have lots of things that were primary colors... and she loves red, and she collects ladybugs. Done!

...And you've just gotta KNOW that there will be more ladybug things coming soon!

CLICK HERE for Ladybug Labels!

I made this set just for her, but I'm sharing it with you now, too. The large labels are for different areas in the classroom. The smaller ones help students learn to read and write the words that they might use in their writing, and can be taped onto the appropriate items in your room.  And I included a set of nameplates, as well. Just because.

 

Red Is Best Student Book

After reading Red Is Best, each student can make his or her own book about the color they think is best. My book?! Oh, I would have such a hard time deciding. Pink? Maybe. Blue? A definite possibility! You and your students can choose to make every page the same color, and use that color in the title. Or you could write "Rainbows" or "Colors" on the cover, and students can choose a different color for each page. All the students will need to do is write the color word and draw the object in that color! Then they can *read*read*read* and practice those high frequency words!

I left one page at the end completely blank. Every year I have a student who wants to write something really creative and unusual ("But which page says, 'I like my gray school best?' because I really, really do..."  or  "Where can I put my orange kitty? Because we have fifteen cats, but the orange one is my favorite!") So for those students who are thinking outside the box... a blank page for an original idea!

Red Is Best Student BookAnd for my own little book (just to celebrate Friday, which is always a fun day with students!) I like my blue jeans best! I like my navy flats best! I like my cute new multi-colored top from the Gap best!

I like my brown coffee best!

And there... everything I need, and I'm ready for another great day!

 

Favorite Book Friday: Red Is Best

The beginning of the year is always a time when I'm teaching about colors. We explore all kinds of color concepts, and students learn to read color words! I always include this book in our studies. Red is Best, by Kathy Stinson, is a sweet story of a little girl and her favorite color. Best of all, the little girl gives reasons for needing to have everything be red. Red is Best is one of my favorite books ever! Click on the picture to find out more about Red Is Best.




Happy Weekend, Teacher Friends!

Hello and Welcome!

Happy Beginning of the School Year!

 



Let's just kick off this blog with something you can use! I made these three pages for the first days of school and a little assessing! I repeat the activities with the same pages in January and again at the end of the year. First, I like to have a record of each student's writing of their name and a little self portrait. The changes throughout the year are so dramatic with our young students. Second, I ask students to write numbers in the squares. This is so informative! I usually have some who start with one (or zero!) and write numbers in order. But sometimes students just write random numbers in random boxes in random order. Or they color. No matter what they do, I learn lots about them in this quick assessment! And the last assessment is for writing. I ask for the alphabet first just to see where they are. At the bottom of the page is a small space to write words. At the beginning of the year, many students leave this blank. But at the end of the year, students end up turning their papers over and writing more words on the back!

I put a border of rectangles around the edge of each page. It's always interesting to see what the students do with that border. I usually offer students who finish quickly the option to color the border.

CLICK HERE FOR ASSESSMENTS PDF

This is such an exciting time of year!