iWorksheets - For Those Times You Just Need a Worksheet!

Hi everyone,
I'm Josie from iWorksheets at Teachers Pay Teachers. I'm a primary teacher with a heart for art! I don't have a blog of my own, but thought I'd try out the blog scene here on Who's Who.

To try out great resources for your little learners, check out this Free Sampler Pack. There are seven (7), full size worksheets, with answer keys included, for you to use with your kids. Hey! Can't pass up free worksheets!

In my next post, I will show some of my resources in action. I wanted to give you a heads up so you could benefit now.

Have a great week! 

A Simple Strategy to Review Sight Words

Are your student's struggling to learn their sight words?   Would you like an easy to use system with those students that targets just the words that they need?

I'm Christina from Hanging Around In Primary and I would like to share a simple, yet effective strategy I am using with my students this year.

When teaching sight words I do not have a specific order that I use nor do I follow a specific reading program.  We are fortunate in that we can teach with our choice of resources, so I use a mismash of things I have created, along with purchased resources to teach my students during our literacy block. You can check out a couple of blog posts {HERE} and {HERE} that I have written about the word wall on my own blog.

I believe strongly that students must learn their sight words or word wall words, as I call them, in order to be a successful reader.  Students need to develop an automaticity when reading them.  I want them to be able to read these words without sounding them out so in my classroom we say that these words are like popcorn - they pop right out without having to sound them out.

If your class is anything like mine, even when you spend time each and every week to review the words, some students just aren't getting them.  I needed to catch these kids and provide intervention by targeting the words they didn't know in a systematic way.

First off, I assessed each student and came up with a customized list of words they did not yet have. From this point I determined which words to work on first and prioritized.  Finally, I created customized flip books for each student that would be used to track their progress.

So, how does it work?  Good old fashioned practice!  I send home 5 flashcards at the beginning of the week in a special ziploc bag.  My parents LOVE flashcards - it is familiar to them and easy to do.  I suggest games they can play with the cards but my students often share that they just practice the flashcards.

On Friday I make time to meet with each of my target students (usually during read to self) and do a check in with the 5 words.  If they can read them with automaticity then they get to put a sticker beside the word in their flip book and I stamp their card.  They take the old cards home and I give them new flash cards.  Some weeks students need to continue to practice previous words, so they may only take home 2 or 3 new words.  My students love to put the stickers into their flip books and feel a sense of pride when we review all of the words in their flip book at the end of our check-in session.

I have found this to be a very powerful way to move kids forward in their sight word development.  I have had great parent support with this program because it is both easy to do and takes a little time each night.  

If you want to store this idea away why not pin this image!

Would you like to try it out?  Click below to download a free copy of the flip book to use with your students.

Thank you for checking out my post! 

Mining for Spelling Patterns

Happy Saturday!  I'm Pamela from Hedgehog Reader, and I am here to share a fun way that students can play with letters and words to discover, practice, and reinforce spelling patterns.

Have you ever played Word Mines?  Maybe you've called them something else...  Basically, here is how Word Mines go:

You are given a word (or sometimes a phrase).  To play, you form as many words as possible in the given time using only the letters presented.  (If there is one R, then R can be used only once in that word.  It can be used once again in another word, and so on.)

Call me a nerd (believe me, you won't be the first!), but this has been one of my favorite pastimes for as long as I can remember.  So it was a natural thing for me to develop Word Mines for my students, because I knew it would be a fun way to identify, discover, and play with spelling patterns!

How to Start:

Although it doesn't take long for students to learn Word Mining strategies and procedures, it does require at least one session of whole class instruction to ensure smooth sailing ahead:

• Students are ready for Word Mines when they have started to develop phonemic awareness, and have begun to identify common spelling patterns.  They should also have some sight words under their belts.
• Make sure that any word you give students to "mine" is one that holds plenty of words within it.  Not all words are suited to this activity, so my best advice is to try it yourself first.
• It's fun to use seasonal words or vocabulary pulled from content areas of current study.
• I find that controversy is avoided by declaring the following rules:  *No proper nouns   *No foreign words   *No contractions
• I begin by projecting the word to be mined.  (I've created cute seasonal Word Mines so that I could put them under the document camera, but you can also simply write it up on your board.)  Although traditional Word Mines are done with a word or phrase in its original form, I always scramble mine so that students get the bonus activity of solving the "secret word."
• Depending on the age of your students, it's often helpful to begin with letter tiles, one for each letter in the scrambled word.  This allows students to physically manipulate the letters (concrete reasoning), until they are ready to move into mentally manipulating the letters (abstract reasoning).  This also ensures that letters are only used as many times as they are found within the word.
• I model my thinking aloud as I "solve" the projected puzzle.  I make sure to demonstrate how patterns can help.  For instance, if I see the pattern ALE, I will play with each consonant and blend to see if it fits with the pattern to create a word.  Then I move from ALE to EAL and repeat the process.
• Normally after one such session, students are ready to mine for words on their own, with a buddy, or in a team.

Use Word Mines as a Whole Class:

Once students have a grasp of how to work with Word Mines, these make a great Morning Work activity or sponge activity, either individually, in buddies, or as teams:

• Students stay even more focused if they know they will have 3 minutes for team consultation to tally up total words once the time is up.  It only takes a moment or two to quickly go through how many words each team came up with  (I am not picky, and the students do a wonderful job holding one another accountable for following the rules), and points are awarded for order of most words found.  For instance - If you have 6 teams in your classroom, the team with the most words earns 6 points, and then work your way down to 1 point for the team with the fewest words - so everybody earns something!

Use Word Mines in a Literacy Center:

Word Mines make a great literacy center activity:

• Glue a puzzle to the front of a file folder or manilla envelope.  Hide an answer key inside.  Provide a set of laminated letter tiles.
• Students can record their answers on notebook paper or whiteboards, or on prepared worksheets.
• It’s best to use only one puzzle at a time to prevent confusion; puzzles can be changed out based on your students’ need.  

I've created this FREEBIE for you to try out a Word Mine with your students!  (I have various seasonal and thematic Word Mine resources in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, and I add to my collection often.)

Have a wonderful year with your students, and thanks for reading!

Learning to Read and Spell Tricky Words

Hello, It's Christina from Hanging Around In Primary.  I am so happy to be guest blogging over here at Who's Who and Who's New.  It is an amazing honor!

I am a first grade teacher and have been for most of my career.  I absolutely love this age, especially the after-Christmas-oh-my-goodness-they-finally-get-it moments! 

Today I want to share with you some tips for teaching those tricky words.  You know the ones; those rule breaker words that our students cannot sound out.  These are the words that they just have to learn to {READ} memorize. I call these words Word Jail words.  

Every week I introduce 5 new words.  We don't have a set list to follow but I have developed my own go-to list and somewhat of an order over the years.  Most weeks the list will include a word that I like to call a Word Jail word - one of those nasty rule breakers. 

When I introduce the words each week we try to sound each word out.  The students quickly discover that the rules we know don't work when sounding out all words.  We then talk about why a particular word is tricky. 

When we take a closer look at each word and apply the decoding skills we have, we find that one or more of our weekly words just can't be sounded out - perhaps it has a silent letter or it has an unusual spelling.  I need to clarify here that a word that my first graders may consider a rule breaker may vary from your first graders or older students.  If I have not taught my kids about the soft c sound, for instance, they are going to cry out that {nice} is a rule breaker - it is, until they know there is a rule for the c sound.  I will put the word in jail if they believe it belongs there.

I believe strongly that kids need a hook to help them to learn to read and this just seems to work.  I find this especially true of the boys and this strategy definitely hooks my boys!  They love the jail. It is located right on the word wall as you can see from the picture above.  They love to put words there.  All of the words we decide are jail words go in "jail" and under the correct letter on the word wall.   Having those tricky words in one easy-to-read spot makes finding them easier, especially for some of those little ones who struggle with the number of words on the word wall.  This way the word can be found in two different places on the word wall.  







After I make a big production of putting a word in jail I like to take a moment to read through all of the words in the jail.  Again having all those tricky words in one place makes review of them much easier.  Throughout the week we will do "find and print" activities where I give them a word and they find and print it on their whiteboard.  My more competent students write a sentence using the Word Jail word.  There are many, many ways to practice sight words but these are some of our favorites. 

I run a modified version of the Daily 5 during my literacy block and I wanted my students to work on those tricky words then as well.  They often use the magnets and sit in front of the Word Jail and make words, they use markers and rainbow write them or make rainbow sentences.  During writing time I often see kids writing and then hear them exclaim "that's a Word Jail word" and run over to the word wall and check it out.  {there are often pencil marks all over the cards from kids pointing a little too closely} Frequently in reading we hunt for Word Jail words and I often see them swing their head towards the Word Jail when they spot one in a book.  Once they spot it in the Jail they are able to read it on the page.  That makes for a very happy teacher. 

I also created a pack of printables that includes 1 sheet for each of 35 word jail words.  Each printable reinforces a number of skills:  copying the word spelled correctly, identifying the correct spelling of the Word Jail word when it is presented with the misspelled version and crossing off the incorrect ones.  The students also have the opportunity to edit a sentence with a Word Jail word spelled wrong and to write their own sentence using the Word Jail word.  Included with this pack is also an editable file where you are able to insert your own words and create your own printable to match the words you would like to use.    

I have been using the Word Jail concept for years and I swear by it.  Kids need to learn their sight words so if I can make it just a bit more exciting, especially for the boys, then I think it needs to happen.  I never get tired of hearing them tell me when we are reading or writing that that they see a Word Jail word.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed reading about how I teach those tricky sight words.  If you are interested you can find the bundle of worksheets and Word Jail display and words here: 

The Word Jail - BUNDLE

The Word Jail -  A Must-Have addition to your Word Wall

You can find me over at my blog {HERE}.  Thanks for stopping by! 
  

Win an Osmo to Use with Your iPad!

Have you had a chance to check out the awesomeness of the Osmo Gaming System at its best in my classroom? (If you haven't seen it yet, head on over to check it out!) It is great for word work, math, and creative thinking.

Well, now is your chance to get this educational tool up and running in your room. Just follow the Rafflecopter directions and cross your fingers and cross your toes for good luck! Some of the entries can be earned if you share every day, so don't miss out!

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