Interactive Sight Word FLASHCARDS. . . and more fun sight word stuff!

I am always looking for great ideas on how to teach sight words most effectively. I hope you find some ideas here you can implement in your own classroom!

Have a tall file cabinet? Make it a really easy spelling center by using your word wall cards throughout the week for kids to build using magnetic letters! On Fridays, we move the words to our word wall and on Mondays, we place the new words on the cabinet. I love easy. Want FREE word wall cards? Click the picture for a complimentary set that includes Fry words 1-100.

A few years ago, I realized the flashcards I was using didn't help my kids learn their sight words much. They were just regular flashcards, with one sight word on each card. With someone helping the children practice them, they were good, but I just couldn't work with 23 children at once, so I needed something they could work on independently. So, I created sight word flashcards with. . . picture sentences! 

And I also made large cards for whole-group use: word wall, words of the week bulletin board, games, etc.

The pictures help in several ways:

       •Students can focus on the target sight word, rather than struggle to decode the other words in the sentence.

       •They could use the cards independently because of the picture supports (so you get more time to work with small groups).
•They are learning the words in context, rather than in isolation. Ever have a child that can read a list of practiced sight words, but doesn't recognize them in context? This helps to improve recognition in texts.

Here are some ways I use these cards in my class.

•On Mondays, when I introduce our weekly sight words, I use the large sentence cards. I show the word side, then I show the sentence side for an example of the word in context. I then place the cards in my spelling pocket chart, where they will remain on display throughout the week.

•Throughout the week, we practice reading the words and sentences. Sometimes I quiz kids on the word side, and if they need help, I show the sentence side to help them. This way, everyone is successful when called on!

•Games- We use the cards for relay race (have kids sit in a few rows and only the first person in each row can call out the word when I show it. First person to read correctly gets to go to the back of their line (when the original 1st person leads again, that team wins).

EASY center! Simply laminate a piece of paper for students to place the card on and use letters to build, a dry-erase marker to write, finger-trace the large word, and use play-doh to stamp! All the fun of stamping with no mess. The best part is all you have to do each week is switch out the cards with your new words of the week and you have your spelling center ready to go. Nothing to print, nothing to correct.  I LOVE EASY! 

In addition to having the big cards for practice, each card is attached to a mix-and-fix sentence for students to practice building them! This covers skills like capitalization, punctuation, and 1:1 correspondence.

My sight word packs also include sheets you can use for at-a-glance assessment and to give parents to help reinforce the words their child needs practice with.

Here’s how I started keeping track this year. Each student has an envelope. When they master a set of 25 words, they get a color-coded sticker: pink, green, blue, yellow, and a certificate in their envelope! They are so excited to get their word rings and start practicing!

Here are the certificates they earn, which come in color and B&W. 

This is all included in the sight word mega-bundle: large 2-sided word cards with mix-and-fix sentences, sentence flashcards,  and cloze sheets (with and without picture supports) for Fry words 1-200, plus certificates and assessment sheets. Color and B&W options.

Want to try it free? Here is a freebie sample. Try this  with your kiddos to see how they like it! :)

 Here are a few more sight word freebies.

This year, we have our assistants for only 2 periods daily, so I asked parents if they would be willing to help out a bit with some of our classroom prep. They were so happy to help out! So I made these bags to send home with kids on a rotating basis- this really helps with getting the sight word rings ready! I also have bags for cutting out cards, sharpening pencils, and more.  I modified a poem I found on Pinterest to use it as a thank you treat :)!

For a free copy of the poem, click the picture below.

Starting Reading Workshop in a fun way!

Do you  know Chunky Monkey? How about his pals Eagle Eye, Stretchy Snake, Lips the Fish and Skippy Frog? Oh, can’t forget Flippy Dolphin! If you still don’t know what I’m talking about, you are missing out on a really fun way to teach decoding strategies to your little readers!

Decoding is one of the first things we teach our students for a strong foundation in reading. It’s important to build a repertoire of strategies and become flexible readers, since often one strategy doesn’t work. Step in all the characters mentioned above- each character represents one decoding strategy: sounding out, looking at the picture, skipping the word, etc.

I’ve always taught these strategies to my students, but they’ve never learned them as well (nor enjoyed them as much) as when I started using these cute characters. So I made reading strategy packs to go with each of the characters and they are my best-selling items! (If you already own these, I have just updated the fonts and frames, and added printables to Chunky Monkey and plan to work on the others throughout the year :)!).

To give you an idea of how each pack is structured, I’ll show you my Chunky Monkey as an example: First, I introduce the chunking strategy with the interactive PowerPoint presentation to engage the kids from the start. There are small printable word cards to use with this presentation to find the small words in the bigger words on the PPT slides.

 Then, students continue to practice the skill throughout the PPT. At the end, it encourages students to use this strategy every time they read, followed by a certificate they can fill out when reading to show which word the strategy helped them figure out.

After the presentation, I use the Chunky Monkeys to model the strategy in a big book or poem.

Then, it’s the kids’ turn: I hand out the chunky monkeys and have them read independently and record when they used the strategy to help them figure out a tricky word.

Finally, we share. I also include follow-up activities that can be used as centers or small-group reinforcement.

My good friend Jennifer Drake from Crayons & Cuties in Kindergarten came up with a little song to help kids remember this strategy:

So cute! I can’t wait to use it this year :). Read more about the Chunky Monkey in her blog here.

OK, so I teach each strategy in a similar way and we, of course, review throughout the year. As I teach the strategies, we build this anchor chart that we reference frequently. You can get the pieces  for FREE  in the preview here:

After teaching all strategies, use the review bundle throughout the year to remind students of their strategy bank! It includes a PPT with all of the strategies, reference bookmarks, and anchor chart pieces. 

There’s no better time than the beginning of the year to start implementing a program like this, so that you  are consistent with the strategy names throughout the year.  PLUS, with TpT’s big back-to-school sale today, it’s at 28% off so I don’t want you to miss this sweet deal! Here's a cute sale pic by Jillian Starr =).

Hope your reading workshop gets off to a great start! Happy Back-to-School!

Wish you thought of it earlier?? Let's plan ahead!

My vacation just started less than 2 weeks ago, but I am already thinking about the new year! Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to my months of relaxation, but I LOVE setting up my classroom and organizing myself for the new school year (ask me again in October, though :D).

Every year, I think of things halfway through the year that I wish I had thought of at the beginning of the year. I figured, what better time than NOW to share ideas of things we want to implement this upcoming year?

So, if you share my enthusiasm for setting up and organizing,  here are a few ideas that may help. Please share your own ideas; I love learning new ways to make my life easier or my classroom more fun :).

• CLASSROOM THEME: Pick a theme and brainstorm a list of associated words/ideas. Then, think about your classroom- reading and writing areas, word wall, poetry board, etc. See if you come up with ideas of how to incorporate the theme into these areas. For example, for a space theme, you may name your tables after planets, and your reading corner could be called ‘The Reading Orbit,’ your word wall may be labeled ‘Word Galaxy’ and your trash can could be the black hole :). I made a few themed lists and decided to go with a farm theme because I had so many cute ideas for it! Here is a look at one of my reading nooks- the garden of reading. 
  
  I wish I had more pics, but this year I will be amping everything up with stuff from my farm décor pack! If you also want a farm theme, click the picture to take a look- it’s on sale! The EDITABLE  newsletter template is a freebie.

• ANCHOR CHARTS- I love doing anchor charts with my kids, but they are time-consuming to ‘cute-sify’ every year! So I laminate charts with just a border, heading and anything else that doesn't need kid input, then I fill in the meat of the charts with the students using dry-erase markers- cute and kids still have ownership because of their participation!

• STUDENT PORTFOLIO/MEMORY BOOK FILES- I also keep a file folder for each student, with manila folders inside to separate items, such as writing samples, assessments, etc. This year, I also used this to store unit of study projects that they completed over the course of a few weeks, such as our farm study. Having it kept neatly in one place made it easy to send home undamaged at the end of our study. I also had my students work on a year-long memory book and placed their sheets in a folder till the end of the year, when I stapled them together to make their scrapbooks. Here is the scrapbook and a freebie !

• TWO FILING SYSTEMS- My monthly files hold holiday and seasonal items, but I keep all my skills stuff organized by just that- skills. I used to organize by unit in program, or month we covered the skill, but we change programs so often, I was constantly rearranging my files.  

• GARAGE SALE! Keep a bin for things you don’t need/want anymore. As the year goes on, instead of getting rid of them, place them here. At the end of the year, have kids earn bucks named after you (my kids earn Tejeda bucks) for excellent work and on the last week of school, host a garage sale in which you place all your junk. . . ahem, merchandise . . .on the tables for kids to ‘shop’ for! Very motivating when kids have checked out early for vacation!

• PLANNING AHEAD- I always have an ‘extra time’ basket and a  ‘sub tub’ ready for whenever we may have 5-10 extra minutes, or even a whole extra period, if an event is canceled, delayed, etc. It helps to have plans for a sub in case you have to be out unexpectedly. I keep books and response sheets in there from my monthly read-alouds packs, since many can be used year-round and cover essential skills, as well as Scholastic News magazines with directions for pulling them up on the interactive board. Plus, I always keep things like a bus list, first aid kit, class emergency contact and allergy list, schedule, etc).

• Make yourself a beginning of year to-do checklist that you can save for next year!

• Use a notebook or Excel spreadsheet to track your expenses for tax purposes.

• BIRTHDAY CORNER-This idea I got from a colleague, who got it from her 5th grade teacher! To make every birthday special, I wrap the cover and bottom of a big storage box (we reuse the same box for each birthday) that kids get to open on their birthday. I fill it with 3-4 little treats (bouncy ball, bubbles, pencil, etc) as well as A LOT of tissue paper (we actually make a joke out of it, since the box is so big and is mostly filled with paper :D).  I also decorate the back of my door with a big happy birthday sign and take the kids' pictures holding the box while wearing a birthday crown in front of it. 

• CENTERS- Creating centers can be very time-consuming, so I love centers that are ‘reusable.’ For example, I keep a stack of reading response sheets that can be used with different books and kids just write in the title of their book at the listening center. Check out this awesome freebie from Krista Wallden. . . 

and I use my baseball spelling center, which can be reused weekly because kids just write in the new words. I also like sticker story center, because students can always use different stickers to make up new stories. You'll find a link to a free one in the writing centers freebie below, from my previous post, in case you didn't get it before: 

OK, so hope some of these helped you start thinking of things you want to implement this year! If you have any other ideas of things to start the year with, please share! Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Easy-Prep Writing Centers!

One of the things I love most about first grade is witnessing the HUGE growth in writing throughout the year. By the end of first grade, most of my students love writing and can write several pages on a topic.

We do writer’s workshop in our district,  but I also love to include lots of different creative writing activities during center time.  My favorites are the ones I can reuse over and over again, with minimal prep.

Here, I’ll give you my top 10 easy writing centers- easy to prep, easy to change from week to week, free or inexpensive, and best of all, kids love ‘em because they are FUN!

1. Stamp a story- I think I've bought just about every stamp set from Oriental Trading Co. to make this fun center. I just switch out the set each week to go with our theme. Kids stamp, draw around the stamps, then they can write a story or describe their picture. I have a TON of themed sets. Some favorite themes are birthday, outer space, and of course, dinosaurs are always a hit!

2. Sticker story center! Just change the stickers to vary the theme! I get stickers from the dollar store and let kids pick up to 4 stickers to use in their picture, then draw the remaining scene and write a story. Check out the great freebie (click pic to get it) by Sarah Paul I found on TpT . 

3. Magazine Center- A Picture is worth 1,000 words! If you have old magazines, simply look through and rip out pages that you think may spark a writing idea! Funny ones are great (can you imagine the story for the cat picture below??), but so are ones that kids can relate to and write about a past experience. If you don’t have old magazines, ask parents- I always get a ton sent in when I do. TIP: go through the magazines to ‘censor’ (rip out pages) before putting them out- kids love to giggle and make fun of underwear ads J.

Another idea for magazine pictures:  I taped small pictures to index cards, then wrote some reference words on the back of each. Kids can use them to write a story OR, you can number 6 pictures, place them in a folder, and have kids write a sentence about each of the pictures! Template included in my freebie.

4. Theme writing center- I like to get kids thinking about our current themes, so I have a theme writing center, which usually has a prompt for kids to write about. Check out this week’s center, Earth Day People, courtesy of Kelly Everoski from Happily Ever After Education. I just love how these came out and the kids LOVED making them!  Click on the picture to see her awesome pack.

5. Word wall story- OK, I must admit, I’m a word wall addict. I love providing theme word walls for writing inspiration, as well as spelling reference. I have word walls for just about every theme imaginable. Here is a FREE one by 2 Super Teachers on TpT that we used for our writing center this week (click pic to get it). Check the bottom of this post for one of my own word wall freebies!

6. Starfall journal- Did I mention I love word walls? Well, I just LOVE these little journals by starfall.com (If you don’t know this website, you must get to know it! Lots of emergent reading and writing activities.). The journals include writing prompts and mini word walls with nouns, verbs and adjectives students can use to help them. They’re not free, but so worth the small price. I also buy the blank journals to make scrapbooks.

7. A day in the life of . . .  This is your typical “If I were a . . ." writing prompt. Kids love to pretend, so this center is perfect for little minds with BIG imaginations! I like to include craftivities here- for example, after kids write “If I were the Easter Bunny. . .” I would have them create a bunny holding their paper, or “If I were a leprechaun. .  .” they would make a leprechaun holding their paper.

8. Letter-writing center- I don’t have pictures of this center, as I just got back from maternity leave and didn’t get a chance to set it up this year, but this is another popular center with kids. After discussing different purposes for letter-writing, I place letter stationary and envelopes at this center, and a mailbox (made from a shoebox) for kids to ‘mail’ their letters from. They can write to the principal to ask for longer recess time, to the cafeteria workers with lunch requests, or to their friends in other classrooms. Pick some ‘postal workers’ to deliver the letters and this center will be a HIT! I included a template for you also!

9. Greeting card – Who doesn’t love to brighten someone’s day with a nice card? This center is great because kids will enjoy making these cards for different people, so  they’ll keep writing (I have a small collection on my file cabinet already- make sure you make lots of copies!) YUP, you’ll be getting this template for free! =)

10. Riddle center- Riddles are a great way to assess student learning. I use riddles after many topics and have kids match the riddle to the answers. A great center (that can incorporate any other subject) is to have books that go with your theme in a basket, add some index cards and ask kids to write a “Who Am I?” riddle on one side, and the answer on the other side. Then, you can share them with the class as a culminating review of your theme!

OK, so I know this post was long, but hopefully you got some good center ideas for your last couple of months of the school year. And here's a freebie, made exclusively for you! It has some of the templates found in this blog post.

Here’s another freebie from my store. . . with a word wall :), and my newest writing centers pack (not free, but on sale right now :D)!

 Do you have any more ideas for 'easy-to-prep and reuse' writing centers? 

I'd love to hear them!