You students will love this free spelling game. It's a great way to have students practice spelling in an engaging way...

Learn contractions with a FUN, free printable contraction games! Hands-on contractino matching activity for first graders.

Looking for a fun way to introduce the writing process to your students? What about using playdough? Come grab a fun & hands on lesson for your classroom!

These FREE Synonym Puzzles are such a fun way for early elementary age kids to practice identifying words that have a similar meaning.

Help kids visualize how some words can be spelled the same, but mean two completely different things with these handy, free printable Homograph Puzzles!

This post explains how teachers can use an academic version of the highly engaging Spoons game to review concepts. Free games included!

Sometimes you plan and plan a big elaborate lesson and sometimes, the best lessons come to you about 10 minutes before class. This activit...

Fun and engaging vocabulary and word work ideas and activities. Here the some freebies and other ideas for your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade classroom.

Active Students? Try Scoot! The game, Scoot, can be played a number of ways for a variety of reasons. Here are the basics of the game, a few suggestions, and a freebie!

Need to help your students get more hands on practice for their vocabulary words? I've got 5 fun vocabulary games you can use right away!

Vocabulary instruction is so critical in today’s classroom! A vast vocabulary will help students to become better readers and writers. Vocabulary is also essential to their performance on standardized tests. Helping kids to develop their vocabulary is time that is well spent in a busy classroom. I have developed a routine to teach new vocabulary

Learning while playing games is an effective way for engaging the students with learning materials. Wordsearch has this role when it comes to kids learning.

Check out these 50 (!!) project based learning activities to engage and excite students and get you started with PBL.

Classroom review is a lot more fun with the Four Corners game! I love using this strategy for test prep, icebreakers, and more.

Prefix activity ideas to arm your students with more than just context clues. Love all the different ideas in this prefix unit!

Trashketball is a student approved review game. With very little preparation, you can keep students motivated and angaged during review time.

Have a BLAST practicing parts of speech with this fun Grammar Games for Kids. Grab printable for this grammar activities for grade 3,4,5,6.

Do you play music in the classroom? Here's our classroom playlist of first grade greatest hits!

Vocabulary instruction is so critical in today’s classroom! A vast vocabulary will help students to become better readers and writers. Vocabulary is also essential to their performance on standardized tests. Helping kids to develop their vocabulary is time that is well spent in a busy classroom. I have developed a routine to teach new vocabulary

Hey Ya'll! Do your kids love to learn by playing games? What if I told you that you could increase your students vocabulary by playing games that take 20 minutes or less? Vocabulary is something that is highly stressed in my district. It seems like each year, more and more pressure is put on us to increase students vocabulary. Today I'm here to share with you 4 easy games that you can implement into your class to increase vocabulary and make learning fun AND engaging! Kids should get excited about learning. Implementing games into our daily routine helps increase their learning when they don't even know it. All of these activities that I'm about to share can be used in a whole or small group setting. First up is Heads Down, Vocab Up! This is a game I like to have my kids play when I have a few minutes to kill before moving onto the next subject or when their little brains just need a break. It's super simple. Does your class like to play "heads down, thumbs up" or some call it "heads up, 7 up"? Mine do! Heads Down, Vocab Up! is just like that only using word cards. You can use any type of vocabulary cards you'd like. We play using sight words, compound words, contractions, academic vocabulary and more. Here is how to play: Pick 3-4 students to be it. Give each student picked a vocabulary card. Turn off the lights and the rest of the class puts their head down (NO PEEKING!) and their thumb up. The students chosen go around the room and pick someone by touching their thumb. When the teacher turns the lights on, those picked stand up and try to guess who picked them. Rather than calling out the students name, they must call out the vocabulary word that student is holding. If they get it right, they get to trade places and be it. If they get it wrong, they sit back down. Then the next round begins. You can also have your students tell the meaning of the word, use it in a sentence or give a synonym. This way it can be easily differentiated for various learners. When using academic vocabulary cards, I like have them say the word and their own meaning of the word. This is a simple review that can be done in 5 minutes or stretched out into a whole group lesson. Up next is a little game I like to call Word Speed! Word Speed is quick game that we play daily throughout the week. I do this with vocabulary and grammar skills mostly. All you need is some chart paper and makers. You could easily laminate chart paper and use dry erase markers to make it reusable. What you'll see below is bulletin paper from our workroom. Here is how you play... 1. Split your class up into 2 teams. (You can do more if you'd like) 2. Tape a piece of chart paper on opposite sides of the room for each team. You want them far enough apart where the other team can't see the others paper. 3. Write the topic you are covering at the top of the chart paper. 4. Time them for 1-2 minutes (sometimes this will be longer such as 3-4 minutes until everyone has a turn, but they think they only have one minute). 5. Each person write a vocabulary word and passes the marker to the next person. They are not allowed to talk while doing this. (The picture above, they had to write a pair of synonyms. They cannot write something that has already been written.) 6. They have 1-2 minutes to write as many words as they can. 7. When the time is up, the person holding the marker brings it to you. 8. I give each team one point for having the correct words. They race every day. On Monday-Wednesday, I do not count off for spelling. On Thursday and Friday, if a word is misspelled, I do not count it. This helps with preventing tie-breakers. 9. At the end of the week, the team with most points is the Word Speed Champ for the week! We play with a new piece of paper everyday so that they are able to use the same words. On Tuesday, I use the back of the page that they wrote on, on Monday. I kept a tally of the points on the board. I found that they loved this game so much, that they would go home and ask their families for words to use. Once the kids got into the routine of playing for various concepts, they would always ask if it was Word Speed time! Now lets talk about a class favorite that I use for multiple concepts. This little game is a BIG DEAL! It's called KABOOM! I blogged about this concept awhile back. You can read about it here. I'll do a quick recap. All you need to create KABOOM is popsicle sticks, a permanent marker, and a cup. Here's how to play: Color one tip of each popsicle stick. This end sticks out of the cup. Write a vocabulary word on each stick. You also need 5-10 KABOOM sticks. (For my academic vocabulary sets, I put 2 sets of vocabulary words that are 8 words each, and then 5 Kaboom! sticks. For sight words, I do a full set and then 10 KABOOM sticks. Place all the sticks in a cup with the colored tip sticking up. Students play rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first. The first player draws a stick and reads the word. For academic vocabulary they must read the word correctly and tell the meaning or use it in a sentence. This is good for differentiation in your groups. If the student reads the word and uses it in correctly they get to keep their stick. If they read it incorrectly or use it incorrectly, the stick must go back in the cup. If they draw a stick that says KABOOM! They have to put all of their sticks back into the cup. This is a BIG DEAL ya'll! The player with the most sticks at the end of the game wins! I like to play KABOOM with academic vocabulary at the beginning of each small group. I can easily differentiate each question I ask based on each student to fit their needs. We also play whole group using sight words, parts of speech, and for various math concepts. This is a favorite during stations as well. I keep all of my games set up in baskets and the kids can easily grab a cup when they have time. All the other games I have created are stored and labeled in ziploc bags. Last but most certainly not least is my personal favorite, Beach Ball Vocabulary! I originally started playing this game with math facts and learned that I could use it for all different subjects. You can read my math fact post here. All you need is a beach ball and a maker. Write vocabulary words all over the ball in a random order. Here is how to play: Have students form a large circle around the room while you or another student stands in the middle. GENTLY toss the beach ball to a student. Whatever word their thumb (you can pick right or left) lands on, they must tell the definition, use it in a sentence, or give an example of. Then they GENTLY toss the ball back to you and you throw it to another student. The example shown above was played with antonyms. Students had to say the antonym of the word one of their thumbs landed on. For academic vocabulary, I have all of unit 1 words written on a ball, all of unit 2 words written on a ball, etc. This way they are getting review of words we have already learned. All of the games show above can be used with multiple concepts such as academic vocabulary, synonyms/antonyms, prefixes/suffixes, compound words, contractions, parts of speech, sight words and so much more. Use them cross-curricular for math concepts or science and social studies. I hope you can incorporate at least one of these activities into your classroom! My kids love them and I hope yours do too! Have a great day!

If you're working on reading fluency in your upper elementary classroom, check out this blog post! It contains 7 free posters focusing on the various fluency components, along with many other fluency freebies and ideas!

Kids will have fun practicing English grammar with these fun, engaging, and hands-on langauge arts games and printables for K-6th graders.

This post explains how teachers can use an academic version of the highly engaging Spoons game to review concepts. Free games included!

A fun and engaing, problem solving spelling word game. No prep - simply print and play to learn. Use with any spelling word list.

The Sentence Game Let’s face it, writing is hard. It takes lots and lots of practice to master the many skills a writer needs. But practice can be boring. Not now! I’ve created a sentence writing game your kids will love. With this game they’ll write sentence after sentence without complaining, because it’s a game. It’s very simple, but practices very essential skills- capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and spelling. The game can be played with 2 or more players. There’s even a way to play it with your whole class. Each student needs a word grid and a sentence/scoring sheet. Each set of players will also need one die and a scoring guide. Here's how it's played: v Each player rolls the die. The players then circle that number of words on their word grid. They circle the words down the first column, in order. Words cannot be skipped. v Now each player writes one sentence, using as many of the circled words as they can. If two sentences are written, only the first sentence will be scored. All of the circled words do not need to be used, but players earn one point for each grid word in their sentence. The words from the word grid cannot be changed. (ie. quickly cannot be changed to quick.) Important: After writing the sentence, players underline the grid words they used. This makes it easier for the checker to check the grid words. v Once all sentences are written, players pass their sentence/scoring sheet to the right. These players score the sentence and write the score in the box on the right. To play with your whole class, simply roll the dice once. Every student in class will use that number to circle the words on their grid. Once all the sentences are written, students can exchange their sheet with a partner for the scoring. After your students understand how to play you can play a round anytime you need a time filler. Students can keep their word grid and sentence/score sheet in a folder or their binder so it’s always handy. This game also works very well in a literacy center. Click on this image to download The Sentence Game. Happy writing!

Integrating Science and Language Arts No comments Freebies, Integrated Units, Science, Teaching Ideas One of my favorite ways to cover our social studies and science standards is by integrating them with language arts. It's such a great (and easy) way to reinforce important reading, writing, and critical thinking skills! Some topics lend themselves to this more easily than others, of course, but I love being able to sneak in more nonfiction reading and writing when I can. I tend to integrate my language arts into my allotted science time, and not vice versa (due to curriculum requirements, etc). We recently began learning about bats which has given the students a chance to learn about something fun and interesting, as well as an opportunity to apply previously learned skills to other learning areas. So, what does this look like? Keep reading! Whenever I can, I have my students practice the skill of taking notes. Obviously, this looks a bit different in second grade than it does in the upper grades. When my students take notes, it is a guided process. I read aloud a portion of a simple nonfiction text and stop periodically. When I stop, I task the students with writing down something they learned. More specifically, I stop and ask, "What is something that you learned from the pages that I just read? Tell your elbow partner." After they have had a chance to share their ideas with each other, I pull them back in and tell them to write their information down on their paper in the form of a complete sentence. We need to practice that skill as often as possible in second grade! Note taking also keeps the students engaged as I read aloud because they are being held accountable for the information being shared with them. This year, I thought it would be fun for the students to choose their favorite fact from our note taking session and record it in a "giant" bat shaped poster. I traced the outline of bat onto butcher paper using a bat shaped template that I had on hand. I placed the template under my Elmo and projected it onto the paper. Easy peasy! I'm always looking to expose my students to as much nonfiction text as I can. Nonfiction reading passages are perfect for our short science block (30 minutes)! I like to use passages that require the students to go back to the text to locate evidence. They use different colored crayons to locate key information in the text and answer questions using text evidence. When my students answer the questions, they go back to the text and locate the information that will help them formulate their answer. They underline the text and write the question number next to it, in case they need to refer back to it as they write their answer. Here is a better picture of how they code the text to show where they found the helpful information. By interacting with the text, they are engaged and learning an important skill: go back to the text to find the answer! Wondering about the fact and opinion paddles shown a few pics up? Sometimes, after reading a nonfiction passage I give each student a paddle and we practice distinguishing between fact and opinion. I state facts from the passage and/or opinions about the topic (in this case, bats) and the students use their paddles to show their understanding of my statements. It's a sneaky way to work on those listening skills too. ;) You can grab these free paddle templates by clicking here. To make them double sided, simply glue the "fact" label to one side of a craft stick, and the "opinion" label to the other. Fact and opinion is a biggie in my classroom. I think it's important for students to recognize the difference between the two since they are required to write both informative and opinion based writing pieces. I also think that being able to differentiate between the two is an important critical thinking skill. So, when I can, I like to have my students interact with this skill, and sorts are always a fun way to do this. Scholastic News is also a GREAT way to bring in more language arts when covering your social studies and science units. Sometimes, I like to use my own activities with the various issues, like this Three Truths and a Lie activity. The students are tasked with writing three factual statements, based on what they read, and one lie (made up fact). Then, they pair up with their teaching buddy and trade papers where they then read each others statements and figure out which ones are the truth and which one is a lie. They love trying to trick their friends! When it comes to writing, I tend to do different things throughout my unit. That is, I might have the students write a constructed response. I might have them write a paragraph showcasing everything they've learned, or I may have them write a poem. In all honesty, it depends on what we are doing in writer's workshop at the time. I try not to overwhelm my students with too much writing in one day. This year, I opted to have my students write a poem. Cinquains are one of my favorites to use during themed units. I like that the students have to come up with a variety of words that relate to the topic. It's a different way for them to showcase their knowledge. I hung the poems on our outside bulletin board and displayed them with this super duper cute bat craft from the super duper talented A Cupcake for the Teacher. You need this quick and easy (free!) craft in your life! You can grab the free poetry template here. :) Scoot and I Spy (Around the Room) usually make an appearance during my units too. Not only do the students get a chance to show what they know, but they also get to move around. In the Scoot game below, students practice identifying parts of speech, and in the I Spy game, the students evaluate the statements printed on each card. While these specific examples may not be tied directly to a language arts standard, they do require some critical thinking skills as the students evaluate and interact with the text and task presented on each card. As with anything, there needs to be balance, so some of the activities I do during a unit might be interactive and hands-on. I usually find some sort of art project to use, and if I can, I have my students do something that gets them moving around. For example, this week, we will "act out" echolocation on the playground, and the other day, the kids made this fun mosquito model from Fun in First. Most of the activities shown in this post can be found here: Bats {An Integrated Unit} Nonfiction Close Reads for the Fall Months You can check out my other integrated units here. :) Thanks for stopping by! Share It:

Practice identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and more with a FUN, free printable Grammar Game - Parts of Speech BINGO!

Attention getters are a great classroom management tool! Whether students are busy working in groups, on class projects, or are just plain chatty, these attention getters are not only fun, but are an effective way to get your class re-focused, so you can give instructions. The ideas listed are interactive. The teacher says the first phrase, […]

Do you Kahoot? My kids LOVE it and their faces light up every Thursday morning when I get the iPads out and they realize we are playing Kahoot! First of all - you might be asking "what is Kahoot?" Kahoot is a game-based learning platform that allows you to quiz your students on a variety of concepts. This is a great platform to review a concept before a test or quiz. We use this as a type of practice spelling test on Thursday before our actual spelling test on Friday. How does it work? First, you'll need to set up an account at www.getkahoot.com. Setting up a quiz is easy and Kahoot will even walk you through the set up. You can find quizzes made by other teachers or you can create your own. You input your questions and then up to 4 choices for answers. At least one must be marked correct, as this is how student accuracy and points is determined. After you set up your questions and answers, you save, and then your ready to play. How do I utilize Kahoot for spelling? I utilize Kahoot! for spelling by making my students become very careful word detectives as they read the 4 choices of a word spelling and have to determine which one is correct. I have created quizzes for almost all of our spelling units that align with our spelling curriculum. Some weeks we will have multiple spelling patterns that make the same sound but use different letters (such as air and are in the images below), so students have to determine which pattern is the one for that word. When it's time to play you will login into your Kahoot! account, select the game you want to play, and choose the way you want to play. We play Classic, since I am 1:1. If you want students to play in groups, you can also choose that option. Students will then see this screen projected that will have their game pin. Students will input this code to join your game. That will keep others from all over the word joining the game you are playing. As students login on their devices they will choose a username. I usually make students put their first name only, but if they choose to do a silly name - I can delete them and make them log in again. They will have a confirmation screen on their device that says they are logged in and their name will display on the board. What students see on their device when they log in: Once everyone is logged in it's time to begin! Because I tell the students the word that they are choosing the spelling for, all of my questions are the same "How do you spell...?" After the question is displayed, the time begins to choose the answer. Students will see this screen on their device for EVERY question. But - the words will be different on the board! For Question #1, students are deciding the correct spelling of the word "square". I do sometimes get a little funny with my misspelled spellings and the kids enjoy it! I sometimes try to channel my inner 2nd grader and think of some of the misspelled sounds that they make in addition to including our different weekly spelling patterns. You can also trick them by making two answer choices correct! I don't have one pictured, but sometimes I get so stumped on funky ways to spell the spelling word that I just make 2 choices correct and spell the word correctly for 2 answers. Because I have selected both of these choices to be correct, any students that choose either of these get it correct. You can change the amount of time that students have to answer the question. I have mine set to 30 seconds and most times all answers are in within 10-15 seconds. Once every has answers, Kahoot! will automatically show the correct answer and how many students got the answer correct. Woohoo! I got it right! haha In class though - we do celebrate it everyone gets one right! At the top right, you see the "Next" button. By clicking that, you'll be taken to the scoreboard screen. Students get answers for getting the correct answer as well as how quickly they answer (you can turn that off though). My students LOVE competing against each other and themselves to up their score and get on the leaderboard. We go through all of our spelling words in the same fashion. I usually do between 10-12 words depending on the list, which sometimes leaves us time to play GHOSTMODE! After you have played one round of a Kahoot! game, you'll have the option to play Ghostmode. The order of the questions will be the same, but you'll have twice as many players because each player has a ghost. So my 22 players in my first round would become 44 players during Ghostmode. In Ghostmode, students are competing against their ghost, as well as their peers to get on the leaderboard. We have figured out that the ghosts are their score from the first game, so we make it a class goal to improve our score and keep those ghosts off the leaderboard. Be warned - this is not a quiet game! I do try to make my kids keep their excitement and agony (when they realize they picked a word to quick and chose the wrong one) to indoor voices - but it doesn't always work. But, I can guarantee that your kids will LOVE this game and don't even get upset that they are practicing spelling words (or whatever other subject you choose!). Do you Kahoot?

Do you need a comprehensive way to practice numerous Grammar and Vocabulary topics in middle school and with ESL students? Grab this time-saving bundle of language arts centers and games for your students. Some of sets (not all) can be used for distance learning. Number of pages: 956 Common Core Standards addressed: L.5.5c, L.5.1d, L.5.1b, L.4.5c, L.4.1g, L.4.1d, L.4.1b, L.4.1, L.3.5c, L.3.4b, L.3.2e, L.3.1g, L.3.1f, L.3.1e, L.3.1d, L.3.1b, RF.3.3a Grade Levels: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, Homeschool

Literature and Nonfiction Reading Skills Interactive Lessons for Upper Elementary and Middle School English Language Arts. Common Core

This hands-on family activity gives your child practice creating compound sentences, while teaching him skills that will help him become a better writer!

Try this simple tip to make the Memory Game meaningful and more than just a matching activity. Deb Hanson of Crafting Connections shares playing tips and freebies in this post!

Grab these states of matter worksheets to learn about solids, liquids, and gases with no-prep printables. Perfect science for kids!

Use the Tug of War Strategy for making thinking visible: Over the last few years my teaching has been heavily ingrained with inquiry based learning, problem/project based learning and open ended questioning.

It's time to think beyond Mad Libs.

Vocabulary instruction is so critical in today’s classroom! A vast vocabulary will help students to become better readers and writers. Vocabulary is also essential to their performance on standardized tests. Helping kids to develop their vocabulary is time that is well spent in a busy classroom. I have developed a routine to teach new vocabulary

This resource is a classroom management system that will help with chatty classes! This is how the game is played:1. Each class (or table group) starts the week off with a $10 "paycheck" called "Blab Bucks".2. Any time there is shouting out, off task side conversations, or talking out of turn, the c...

Learn how to play the Kaboom game in your classroom to make practicing math facts, sight words, and more a blast for your students!