Do you reinvent the wheel every single week when it comes to centers, word work, stations.....whatever you happen to call them? Yeah, me too! I know better, I swear I do but it just never fails. I am here today to tell you that there IS A BETTER WAY! Let me begin by saying I am a big fan of Daily 5. I run my room about as closely to the Daily 5 model as possible but this is one area I just never could give in on. The sisters suggest having out materials for students to build words, write words, and work with words during this choice. It is that simple. It is called word work after all right? I have always felt the need for my work work choices to be very specific so that students could be working on what I wanted them to be working on. Wait a minute.....that's the opposite of Daily 5 philosophy. It's all about CHOICE and becoming a BETTER READER so why am I making all of the choices? So here is what I did. I put as many random materials as I could find in my classroom and made them available to students. THAT'S IT! Along with a sight word list to use as a reference and one fun morning of showing them what it was all about and I haven't looked back since. They are working SO HARD during our word work time because they are truly using materials they love and making good choices to become better readers and writers. It has been amazing! Here are a few simple, simple examples. Again...simple! I did not go out of my way for any of these! #1 Magnets I have a couple of really organized sets of magnets and then these just thrown in a clear shoe box. Guess which one gets picked the most? You guessed it! Maybe it's the bright colors or maybe kids are just drawn to chaos. Either way it's a win! #2 Wiki Sticks I lied. I did go out of my way for this one just because I've always wanted to use them. My students think they are really fun! One of my kiddos who struggles the most during word work time (and refuses to use a sight word list) spelled out "tatr tot" last week using these. He was pretty impressed with himself and I was too! I got these from Amazon. You can see them through my affiliate link HERE. #3 Pom poms I've used these for fine motor before but I've never just included them in word work. They get picked every round! I didn't originally tell them to use a cookie sheet to build on but I like how it keeps everything in one space. They came up with that idea. #4 Beads I had these from the Dollar Tree for my fine motor bins too so I just included them in word work for now. They are REALLY interesting to build with because you have to pick up each bead and set it on its side so it won't roll away. The cookie sheet came in really handy for this one. #5 Plain OLD white boards I have really old yucky white boards. Guess what? They don't care! I set them all on the shelf and they pick one, a marker, and a sock (they are baby socks) and write their sight words. Marker dry? DON'T COME GET ME! Just throw it out and get a new one! I put an old assortment of markers in here so we could weed out the bad ones. TIP! Put your sight word list in a sheet protector and students can cross off words as they write them. My students figured out that organization tip too. I love when they help me figure things out! #6 Letter Tiles These came with our Reading Street materials and they are really fun for building CVC words because there are so many vowels included. I encouraged them to work on sight words but I noticed one student building CVC words, blending them together, and then sorting them into real words and make believe words.You better believe I had him share out at the end of word work to show his classmates and now everyone is doing it too. Instant center.....no prep! #7 Scrabble Tiles Seriously though. I have been collecting these forever and I NEVER use them because well.....honestly I didn't know what to do with them. It bothered me a little that they were all capitals but guess what? My kids don't care! They love using the little stand to build words with and it does not matter one little bit that they are all capitals. #8 Letter Stamps I had these already and they are always a part of our word work so this was a station that just stayed the same. I do like that they have to focus on our new words of the week for this one. I have to be in a (little) bit of control sometimes! But my 2nd grade colleague just has blank paper at this station and they stamp any word they want. I'm sure my kiddos would love that too! I might switch it out and have them do that next week. You can get the STAMPS HERE and the STAMP PAD HERE. These are affiliate links which means I get a small amount if purchase through the link at no additional cost to you. Seriously love these though and they have lasted a long time! #9 Paper Centers Yes....I still need a little bit of control and my theory is that some kids will totally love using all of the hands on stuff but some kids still want to complete a paper like a cut and glue, word search, or write the room. I didn't do away with all centers, I just added all of the fun word work centers into what we already had going. BUT! This has already saved me a ton of time in the planning department. I put out 4 papers for the week and that's it. All my centers are planned for! You can see the centers I have available that are aligned with Reading Street stories HERE. This week our story is The Little Engine That Could. You can see the four paper choices on top and then all of the materials stored below. I love these containers from Walmart because the handles on the sides lock the lids down tight and keep beads, wiki sticks, tiles, and pom poms from flying everywhere. I have reflected a little bit on whether these were just working so well because my students are UBER independent right now or because this is just a great fit. I mean really, they are almost 1st graders after all! But I think that these would have worked great at the beginning of the year with some alphabet options just as nicely as they are working now. I put out similar items at the beginning of the year anyway, this would just be some added options. Would I overwhelm my students with all of this in one day. NO WAY! My students have been exposed to all of these items in one way or another (through fine motor stations, word work, or in small group with me) except for the wiki sticks. Those were brand new. I waited a couple of days to add those in to make a BIG deal about them. If this was the beginning of the year I would put out 2 choices until we were really solid with those choices and then add more in. Get the sight word list shown in the pictures that aligns with Reading Street Kindergarten words HERE. These types of centers work great with these Rainbow Word Sight Word lists too! Want to save this post for later? Pin it here! P.S. Get a FREE ALPHABET ACTIVITY when you sign up for my newsletter HERE!
This flower power sort is a fun diphthong activity that practices reading and focuses on those tricky spelling patterns. Add them to your literacy center!
Do you need new phonics activities? These Short U Phonics Worksheets give students practice reading and writing short u CVC words by word family. In this teaching resource, there are 18 different phonics worksheet templates with multiple pages for each template to accommodate all of the short u CVC words taught in kindergarten and first grade. This is a great no-prep printable for kindergarten word work centers.
Here are some packets I made for my kindergarten class this year to practice reading and writing their sight words. Download Week 1_look at the my see Download Week 2_the is it my can Download Week 3_he she is can said Download Week 4_we like to go went Download Week 5_on in are you am On the first page, they read the sentences and color the sight words different colors (I color the boxes beforehand so they will know what colors to use). On the second page, they rainbow write the words to practice spelling. On the third page, they cut and paste the letters to make the words. The next pages are my favorites. They are flashcards that they can play games with (like Memory) or they can build sentences with the cards. The cards in each packet build on each other from week to week, so it's important that the kids do not lose them! (For example, you can combine words from packets 1 and 2 to make new sentences). The last page is a page to practice writing sentences. Even though the packets are labeled week 1 and week 2, etc., I do not necessarily use them...
SEPTEMBER NO PREP MATH AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES
Teaching phonics with engaging worksheets and activities. Great fluency, reading, word work and spelling practice for kindergarten and first grade classroom. Perfect companion to literacy and phonics centers, homework, homeschool and morning work. This packet (24 pages) includes: CVCe long a -ace/ -ape words ………….. race, tape, cape, face, lace -ake words ………….. bake, make, rake, lake, cake -ame words ………….. game, came, name, tame, same -age/ -ane words ………….. mane, cage, lane, page, cane -ave/ -ate words ………….. wave, date, gate, pave, cave -ase/ -ale words ………….. case, base, male, tale, vase CVCe long i -ice/ -ike words ………….. hike, rice, bike, mice, dice -ide words ………….. tide, ride, side, wide, hide -ime/ -ile words ………….. pile, file, dime, tile, lime -ine words ………….. mine, pine, dine, nine, line -ite/ -ive words ………….. dive, five, hive, bite, kite CVCe long o -ole/ -obe words ………….. hole, mole, pole, lobe, robe -ode/ -oke words ………….. code, rode, poke, joke, woke -ome/ -one words ………….. dome, home, zone, cone, bone -ose/ -ote words ………….. nose, vote, note, hose, rose CVCe long u mixed I mule, dune, cube, tune, tube CVCe long u mixed II fuse, mute, fume, cute, huge Review I like, save, vine, wage, mime Review II time, tune, tote, rope, gave
Word work activities for ANY words! Word work is an essential part of language learning in the primary grades. Make word work FUN while LEARNING takes place! There are seventeen different word work activities included in this pack. They can be used for absolutely ANY word learning! Perfect for literacy centers or sub plans. A must have for Kindergarten- Third Grade! #wordwork #wordworkactivities #spelling #1stgrade #2ndgrade #kindergarten
This penguin four in a row game is editable so you can use it to work on sight words, math facts, letter sounds and more! Add it to your winter centers!
What are nonsense words to you? Are they just an assessment you give 3 times are year or are they really important and meaningful in the continuum of learning to read. Many people have thoughts and opinions on this topic, but if you do a little research you will find that nonsense words have been around […]
Create a Math Block I can't say this enough. An effective math block will help you tremendously! It creates routine and structure that you need to make sure everyone is on task. This is what I include in my math block: Engaging Mini Lessons Math centers Independent practice visuals throughout the classroom Use A
PRIMARY PHONICS - UNIT 6 We are ready to tackle digraphs ! I can’t believe we are already here. My kiddos were just starting school it seems like, and I remember most students couldn’t even identify their letters. Now we are reading sight words , CVC words , short stories and MO
Imagine having digital word work planned for the entire year. This bundle follows a K-2 scope and sequence - just click and PLAY!
Grab these FREE printable Rhyming Puzzles for a low-prep and hands-on activity to use in your Kindergarten literacy centers or small groups!
Print this free kindergarten assessment pack to use as end of the year testing for your kindergarten students. This is a great way to see where your students are at, and find any areas for development.
These fun, engaging, NO PREP word work activities help students practice their words effectively and are the perfect option for your 1st or 2nd grade class!
Winter is just around the corner and I have been working hard on our Winter Math and Literacy Packet for Kindergarten! I am happy to say that it is
Planning your guided literacy time is bout to get so much easier. I get asked a lot about how to tie reading and writing together, while focusing on fluency, comprehension, phonics, vocabulary, writing, etc. I create this resource to get kids excited about reading and writing, and to make planning
