Pages

Showing posts with label Literacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literacy. Show all posts
Sunday, January 24, 2016

Learning with Literacy Center Games!

       
        Children working together in small groups doing centers is an active time in primary classrooms! One GREAT idea that helps children practice and review reading skills is an engaging, fun game!  We have many types of games that our students ask to play again and again!  
     Here is a new FREEBIE of one of our popular game formats, "C-V-C Roll and Read -Spider Friends". The directions are pretty easy! Students roll a die and record the letter they rolled in the first box.They roll 2 more times and record the middle and ending letters to form a C-V-C word. They write the word again in the box to the right on their recording sheet.  Now they must decide if the word is real or make-believe.  If it is a real word, they circle YES and rainbow write the word by writing over it with 2 or 3 different colored crayons. If it is a nonsense or make-believe word, they circle NO and do not rainbow write it. After filling their whole recording sheet, have the students read their rainbow words!  Depending on your time frame, students can roll and record their words individually OR they can take turns rolling the die but EVERYONE in the group records the same letters. This game provides lots and lots of C-V-C practice in a really fun way! The students don’t realize all the important reading skills they are developing!  Click {HERE} to download this FREEBIE. (This also comes in a B/W version with a Parent letter so you can easily send it home as Homework practice!)

      If you like this game, there are 4 additional game boards available at our TPT store.  Click {Here} to view "C-V-C Valentine Friends" at our store.
     














     A lot of our classroom games are open-ended path games where you can add ANY skill cards you want. The 2 Valentine-themed game boards below are made on poster board and allow you to use any Sight words, letter cards, vocabulary cards, math facts or WHATEVER!  If your students are ability grouped you can differentiate their practice by switching the cards for each group (ie. different sets of Sight words).
     By using the same game board but different cards, your students will think they are ALL playing the same game although the skill levels may be differentiated!
For example: Use Letter cards, C-V-C word cards and Sight Words of different levels. 

How to make these games:
Use a 22"x28" poster board.  Cut into 2 pieces to get two 22"x14" pieces. We used clipart and colored stickers to create one LONG path game that all players move on (I'm Buggy For You Game)We used clip art and colored stickers to create 3 EQUAL paths where 3-6 players move on the paths with each player using their own game marker(The Owl Game).   We placed the "I'm Buggy For You Game on the BACK of the Owl Game so you get two games on one board! If they finish one side, turn it over and play on the other side using the same cards!  
How to play these games:
Each player needs their own colored game piece/marker/token/chip to move on the path. One die is also needed.  Determine who goes first and that player rolls the die and moves that many spaces. They turn over a card and read it.  Play passes to each of the other players. The first player to reach the end of the path is the winner.  

Remember: The object of ANY learning game is to provide children practice with the targeted skill. Regardless if a student knows the answer or not, they still get to move on the game board. If they do not  know the answer, the adult or helper provides the answer, the child repeats it, and takes their turn!   

    Our games are designed to support children's learning and the roll of the dice or the turn of a card determines whether they win or lose...not because they couldn't read a word or name a letter etc. This makes the game fair because it is based on 'chance' and not on their knowledge. Would you want to play a game if you knew you would most likely LOSE because you didn't know the words?

     Once the students have learned the directions to a game format like Sight Word Bumper (played like Math BUMP) or Swipe or Tricky, they know the directions and can easily play games with the same format.  If they are playing Monkey SWIPE in Februaryand then play Gold SWIPE in March and Pirate SWIPE in April, in their minds those are different games 'cuz one had monkeys, another had leprechauns, and the third had pirates....different! They say, "Wow, this is a new game!"
Teachers really appreciate that most of our games are EDITABLE so ANY words or letters or math facts etc. can be printed on the game cards so YOUR students get the practice that THEY need.  Note the red arrow on the covers above.  When you see that, you'll know the game is EDITABLE

If you are interested in viewing our Learning games click {HERE}

Have fun with learning games!
Jackie and Kylene
Visit our store! 
JK Curriculum Connection




Tuesday, November 17, 2015

I Need More Books for Guided Reading!

Whether just looking for some new texts instead of using the same old boring ones or simply not having enough, it seems like no matter the reason, we as teachers are always looking for new guided reading resources! Another issue is actually planning for all those guided reading groups each day...

First a little background on guided reading- I know pretty much everyone knows what it is, but just to review!



I love guided reading- you can see so much growth from those daily interactions in a small group. I also like being super prepared and planned as much in advance as I can, so I decided to make my guided reading life easier. I'm now always prepared and ready to teach each day...ahead of time! I created passages for Levels A-M (as aligned to F&P leveling system). Each passage also includes a lesson plan that I follow when using the passage. Each one has a running record too which is a fabulous component to use as a formative assessment on a regular basis. I always know if my little readers are ready to move on up or if they need to focus on the same level a little longer. 


I love these passages because my little readers get SUPER excited about the fun graphics & stories as well as the pride they feel in actually reading the texts. They are always ready to read the next story and asking for more!

The passages lead to great discussions about the texts. They enjoy writing and drawing their responses to each question. I have passages that can be used at any time of year as well as seasonally themed passages. Guided reading always feels fresh and new each day with the variety of texts!

If you are looking for more guided reading resources or simply leveled text that you can send home, you can check out all the passages packs I have in my store. I have a lot of savings bundles if you have a variety of levels that you work with like me. Check them out here or by clicking the image below!


Happy Reading!
Amanda & Aylin





Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Ten Alternative Book Projects to Engage Your Readers

Hey!  It's Nicole from Learning Lab again. I'm going to blog about turing your boring book reports into fun, alternative book projects!  

Last year was my first year teaching Read180 in a few years.  I love Read180 and what I have seen it do for my kiddos so I was excited to get a chance to implement it again.  But...the book projects included with the program are B-O-R-I-N-G!  Sure, some of them are pretty good, but the directions can be questionable and I find myself using the same two projects over and over with my class.  

My students started to get frustrated (beyond frustrated) with the repetition so I promised them that one of my summer tasks would be to create new book projects, just for them.  

I mean, who doesn't just LOVE working on school stuff during summer break?  You know we all do it!

These book project ideas are a break from the traditional book report and can be used with any book!  So far, they are loving the new book projects!  I see a lot more effort being put into their work.  

Here are some ideas:


This one is pretty self-explanatory.  The students can write a letter to the author.  Depending on whether the author is alive or not, you students could actually mail their letter out!  Wouldn't it be wonderful if they got a reply?!?


All kids watch a lot of movies.  They're exposed to movie posters every time they set foot in a mall or theater.  The creativity you will see when they create a movie poster for the book they just read can be amazing!


What kid doesn't love Diary of a Wimpy Kid or any other graphic novel?  They're going to love creating their own comic strip using details from the book they just read even more!
  
This is their chance to be honest about the book they just read.  They can even give it a 5-star rating if they totally loved it!


Timelines help kids practice sequencing and retelling.  Timelines also have less writing and are more visual which is perfect for some of your kiddos!


Your artistic kids will love redesigning the book cover.  The catch is that they also have to rewrite the short summary on the back of the book too!


Here is another visual project that will pull some of your readers right in!  Imagine being able to see all of the places from your book on a map!   


Every book has a juicy part fit for the front page of a newspaper.  Here is a chance for your kids to write an article retelling a specific event.  


Your kids will get a kick out of "interviewing" their favorite character.  First, they will need to come up with some questions and then they'll need to answer them from the character's point of view.


I find that when you add technology to just about anything, kids will gravitate towards it.  I am sure they will love putting together a PowerPoint presentation all about the book they just read.

What other book projects do you like to use with your students?  I would love to hear your ideas!

If you want to try alternative book projects in your classroom, I have expanded on these ideas and created directions sheets for each project for my students.  


Each project includes the task and the plan with detailed directions including "must haves" and "may haves".  There is also a Do Not Forget section that give little reminders to keep your kids on track. 

I have also included two versions of a log to keep track of which projects your students have completed.  The first one gives them choice and they just log their choice.  The second one lists each project and the student has to complete each project once before repeating a choice.  

Do you use interactive notebooks in your classroom?  No worries!  I have reduced the size of each page so that it fits right into an interactive notebook!

Thanks for stopping by!  If you want to read more about how I use interactive notebooks with Read180 and pick up a freebie, you should check out this blog post.  

I would love to see you again soon.  You can find me on my blog, in my TpT store (Learning Lab), or on Instagram (@Learning_Lab).  Instagram is my favorite way to connect with teachers.