I thought I would share a few things that have made both Scott Foresman's Amazing Words and literacy centers somewhat easier lately. None of these ideas is all that original or earth shattering BUT I really like the results I am seeing with these centers. The BEST part is these jobs require NO COPYING and the grading is quick and simple! Woohoo!
The kids practiced matching them up to one another and you can see, it got a little silly!
They had to choose their favorite pair...
and write their own rhyming sentences.
This is a bit of a challenge so I tried it with my higher group first. They worked on this while I Progress Monitored for NWF last Friday.
They did a good job and "got" the concept. I will do this with my other groups but with more guidance.
She even made up a third line!
I just looked over and saw this and my heart melted. I have never even shown them the Whisper Phones! Why, I do not know, especially after I see this! I love these kids.
Ok, another literacy center that I have incorporated once a week is for the kids to write and illustrate four of the Amazing Words from our story on a Four Square paper. I usually have them complete this as a center on Wednesday. (On Monday, they make a Four Square paper using the letter of the week.) I am loving their illustrations and the reinforcement it provides for the practice of these words that are often not the words that I would choose as "Amazing" from the story.
They have to read the words to me before they receive an "S".
At the listening center, the children illustrate a picture from the story but I have them write a sight word from that week as practice. I know they should be writing a sentence about the story they just listened to but I have them writing their little fingers off so I ease up on them at this center!
I have been trying to find a more durable way to make word rings for my class so that they have sight words on hand. At our Habitat for Humanity (my reason for being there could be a whole other blog site for me-you should check out my sister at http://sheendeavors.blogspot.com/ and see what all she does and why she makes HFH a regular stop for her!) I found a sample box for laminate countertops (odd, right?). They are strong and have a hole already punched in them-perfect for our Word Rings! I write our sight words on each card, attach to a metal ring and we are rolling! I can't tell you how excited the kids were to get these rings and they truly use them to help in their writing.
We play Sight Word Search at small groups. I say a sight word and they race to find it first-they are fierce!
We used this poem for our pumpkin unit, of course. Everyone has their own Poetry Journal. We add a poem to our journal every few weeks. Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots http://www.jmeacham.com/ has a detailed description of her Poetry Journals on her site along with a long list of poems and graphics for you to use. Some people are just incredible! She shares this and many, many other ideas that I can't stop myself from swiping!
We use yellow to highlight sight words that we have learned so far, orange to highlight punctuation marks and green to circle rhyming pairs. I teach them how to master this skill in small group but soon they will be able to complete this job independently at a literacy center.
We highlighted sight words in our Brown Bear, Brown Bear book. It is amazing to see how much confidence utilizing this skill gives a child.
A few practice sheets that we use in our literacy centers.
As a part of our Scott Foresman reading program, we are learning how to clap out the syllables in our name. This takes practice but clapping out their names makes it fun. Look at those faces! I love all the ideas I am finding on http://larremoreteachertips.blogspot.com/.
She shared a link of a friend who even made a class book with each child's photo, their name and the number of syllables it takes to clap out each name. Cute!
Diana
They had fun playing this as a game in small groups. I think I will make a Go-To Activity using laminated pictures of the clapping hands and picture cards for the children to clap out the number of syllables in the picture. I would have to have the word with the correct syllables (clapping hands) on the back of the card for the children to self-check. I will post photos of this when it becomes a reality and not just an idea I had one afternoon! I'll post an example soon-blogger isn't cooperating with me...
We have so many activities for Dr. Seuss in celebration of his birthday for Read Across America-here are just a few!
Of course, we read Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, ABC and many, many more but part of our main focus is Green Eggs and Ham.
We read the story, chart rhyming word pairs, talk about trying new foods, etc. Then we talk about how to make green eggs and ham. What do you need? What turns the eggs green? What happens first, second, last? Each child gets a recipe chart and a sentence strip. We read the simple text, talk about each step and start cutting. I wish I had better photos of this process but I don't! Each child cuts out the six pictures showing the sequence of steps. They number each picture and glue them on their sentence strip in the correct order. They now have their own recipe to take home for green eggs and ham!
First, the children has to read the recipe out loud, step by step so we can make our own green eggs and ham as a class! I heat up the electric skillet and each child gets to take a turn cracking their own egg into our bowl. They LOVE this part!
Some are nervous...
Some are excited!
Some just like posing with their egg!
Now the children have to walk me through these steps -reading their recipe cards- I beat the eggs with my green whisk 20 times. I add 20 small pieces of cheese, 20 small pieces of ham and 20 drops of green food coloring. (I had 20 students). The children count with me each time. NO one is fidgeting, out of their seat or goofing off, they are glued to this process!
I pour the mix into the skillet and s.l.o.w.l.y stir 20 times while we count together.
Can you say Y.U.M.M.Y?!
Before anyone gets their bowl, we make a prediction as to whether we will like the green eggs and ham or NOT .
They try their eggs and give me a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Most are excited they are eating something soooo exotic!!
Alright!!
After everyone has eaten, we then make a graph to chart how many liked the green eggs and ham and how many did not. I don't have a photo of our graph (darn!) but the majority liked them this year. Next year is another story...
Towards the end of our unit, our wonderful reading coach, Mrs. Yokley, puts together the Dr. Seuss Cafe for us to attend in the Library. Our librarian, Mrs. Barnett, gladly plays the part of the Cat in the Hat!
Here is Mrs. Yokley with students enjoying her hard work! Older students play host and servers. They escort the children to a table where the children choose from a menu of Dr. Seuss books. The servers then read the books to their table. The children are served multi colored goldfish crackers and have a chance to color a Dr. Seuss mask. They love every minute!!
Look at how the library is transformed by Mrs. Yokley, Mrs. Barnett and Mrs. Gautreaux into the Dr. Seuss Cafe!
This Mrs. Booker's class posing in front of the cafe-this photo goes into each child's Kindergarten Scrapbook-so sweet! What a wonderful experience! I have a section of my reading center that is dedicated to Dr. Seuss books and after this unit, the kids absolutely can not get enough of his books...which is the ultimate goal!
I teach Kindergarten and LOVE it! I have an amazing team of teachers that I work with and we are constantly challenging ourselves to come up with fresh, new ways to motivate five year olds to reach as far as they can go! Kindergarteners are funny, full of energy
and ideas and very loving-they are some of my favorite people.
This is my seventh year teaching Kindergarten at Providence and I am very happy to be here.
I am married and have two exciting,
interesting daughters that keep us very busy. My husband, Greg was active
duty military for 23 years which means we have lived in many different places-Georgia,
California, Alaska, Washington and Florida but our favorite place to be is
Huntsville, Alabama! We are very happy to call this our home. Shanley is 20
and a Junior at Auburn University. Delaney is 17 and is in her Senior year of High School. They love to visit my
classroom when they can and get to know the kids they hear me talking about
all the time!
We like to camp, go to movies, visit family, read, go to church, travel and
play with our
two dogs-Bomber and Cracker. It's an exciting life and I'm happy to share it with you!
