1-2-3 Come Do Some Dolch Sight Word Activities With Me

Reviewing the Dolch sight words, or word wall words, can become a bit tedious and boring for students as the months fly by.  Yet it's important to keep at it, 'til recognition is automatic and students become fluent.

With that in mind, I designed the Spin and Read Dolch Word Game packet, which includes an alphabetical Dolch word list for Pre-Primer, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades, plus the Dolch list of nouns. 

It's that "something different" that will hopefully keep interest high and your students engaged, as they review the words in this fun way. 

The game is played as a whole group. Run off the word list of your choice, laminate and trim, so that you can use the game boards each year. (There are two game sheets on one page for quick printing.)

Children use a pencil and a paperclip to make their spinner.  They spin it to see how many words they will read. After their turn, another child spins their spinner and reads from their list of words. 

To make the game more interesting and fun, run off the 24 voice cards.  Children pick a card and read the word(s) using that kind of voice.  i.e. soft, loud, silly, mad etc. If you don't want to have separate cards, I've also included 3 voice choice posters that you can hang up.  Children can then look at the poster and choose a voice.

Be sure and demonstrate each voice, and then have students give it a try.  My firsties LOVED doing this so much that they asked to read stories using some of the voice choices.   For more practice, have students repeat the word after the person whose turn it is, reads it.

The packet includes:

• 5 Dolch word lists (PP-3rd, plus a list of Dolch nouns)
• 24 voice choice cards
• 3 voice choice posters to hang up
• a list of other sight word review games
• a list of links for Online sight word games & activities

Besides reading the sight words with a silly voice, I've included a few other activities that you can do to make reviewing the words more engaging and fun for your students; such as Flashlight Fun, Alphabet Adventures, Happy Highlights, Plastic Letter Play, Read the Room and Hangman.

There's also a list of links for Online sight word games and activities; such as star words, make a match, color word fun, sight word hangman, missing letters mystery, pick and click and spellbound.

Finally, there’s a quick 3-minute video on YouTube that reviews 100 high frequency words for PK-1st. The words are flashed on the screen and read in a child’s voice. I've listed all of these in the packet .

Click on the link to view/download the Spin & Read Dolch Word Games

Thanks for visiting today. It's my mom's 89th birthday weekend coming up, so there's much to do on my "To Do" list.  The sun is shining; the snow is sparkling, and I'm ready to hit the floor running. Woo hoo for energy. Wishing you a creative and cozy day.

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing you will be successful." ~ Albert Schweitzer

1-2-3 Come Work On Vowel Digraphs With Me

I think most everyone has heard the reading rule “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.”  It was probably thought up by a teacher or parent who was trying to make learning to read a bit easier.  

I learned this rule, and I’ve also taught this rule.  While doing so, I made sure that my students said, “but not all of the time.” after they repeated the rhyme.  For as we all well know, the English language has many aggravating exceptions to our rules. 

It’s one of the reasons non-English speaking people have a rather difficult time sorting through all of it.  Just as soon as they learn that cute little ditty, they trip over said, weight, shoe and so one.

Keeping that in mind, I wanted to discover what sort of percentage the rule had at bat.  After about an hour of surfing and many articles later,  I was surprised to find that educational gurus gave this rule a rather low score. Averages for being “correct” ranged anywhere from as high as only  57% to as low as 36% depending on their word list.

One must also keep in mind that if you list all of the possible vowel digraph combinations (two written vowels together that make one sound), the results also vary.  

Clymer’s study (1963/1996) seems to be the most referred to reference; he found that when two vowels appear side by side, where the long sound of the first one is heard and the second is usually silent, happens only 45% of the time!

I let my students know that the ai, ea, ee, and oa digraphs, have the most success with this rule.  Some teachers also like to add the ie digraph, and although I can think of quite a few examples where it’s true, (pie) I can think of many more words that are an exception to the rule. (piece)

Prompted by a request, I decided to make a "When two vowels go walking..." packet.  In it, I’ve provided a list of words with the above vowel digraphs that are age appropriate. 

Quite a few teachers seem to be calling these "team words" as the vowels work together like a team, to make one sound.  Starfall.com, a popular educational site, also refers to them in this way.

To provide more teachable moments, and build vocabulary, as well as practice spelling, I’ve also included a list of words that are exceptions to the rule.  I call them "rule breakers."

To make coming across exceptions less frustrating and more fun, have students toss these rule breakers into jail. 

Instead of moaning and groaning that they’ve found another exception, they will take delight in tossing those words into a cell. 

I've included empty jail cell templates for the ai, ea, ee & oa vowel diagraphs, as well as filled-in ones for you to use as an example, after your students have completed theirs. 

Bobbi, a visitor to the site, e-mailed me an adorable walking vowel bookmark,  she did not know the source, and despite some effort, I could not find it either, so I made up my own version.   

I thought others, who also teach the When two vowels go walking...rule,  would enjoy making them as well.  That request led to lots of research and creating an entire When two vowels go walking... packet!  (Thanks for the adorable idea Bobbi!)

There are several tops and bottoms your students can choose from. 

Use the black line versions, so that your students can color, cut them out, and then attach them to whatever vowel pairs you’re working on.   I've provided the color versions, so that you can easily make laminated samples for yourself.

The vowel digraph “body” also has several options, and comes filled in with the ae, ea, ee, and oa pairs, a blank set, where you can have your students fill in other vowel digraphs that you want to cover, as well as a pattern, where students choose a vowel pair and then list examples of words in the empty boxes. 

I've included filled-in teacher samples too.  Click on the link to view/download the When two vowels go walking... packet.

This packet will be FREE for an entire year, after which time it will be revamped and then put into my 137-page jumbo "Vowel Villains & When 2 Vowels Go Walking" packet.

I'm forever searching YouTube to see if some creative person has posted something that will help students learn. I found 3 rather short and very cute videos about the When two vowels go walking... rule.  The pictures are screen shots from those clips. 

I think that PBS does the best job at grabbing children's attention with their catchy "When two vowels go walking..." song.  In fact, some say that it is one of their most popular tunes.  It's from their Emmy-winning literacy education series, Between the Lions. Click on the link to view this less than 2-minute video. 

Another adorable clip, was made by a creative teacher and her sweet kindergarten kiddos.  I love the fact that she had them make vowel t-shirts, so they truly could walk side-by-side.  

I'm sure they all had a great time making this 1.54 minute video.  Click on the link to view the kindergarten vowels go walking.

Starfall, (one of my favorite sites for kids) also did a good job of portraying two vowels walking. Click on the link to view this less than 3-minute video.  Starfall's When two vowels go walking...

If you'd like some anchor charts of the most popular vowel digraphs that fit this rule, click on the link When two vowels go walking..." poster packet.  

Use them as anchor charts to hang in your room, or run some off for your students and have them write a list of words that conform, on the back. 

If you're looking for a few more vowel activities, The Vowel Owl packet is a popular download: Students sort the 570 CVC & Dolch word cards  into the various long and short vowel owl cups, making it a fun "Word Work" activity for your Daily 5.

I've also included a Vowel Howl game board, as another fun option for practicing long & short vowel sounds.  Click on the link to view/download the Vowel Owl packet.

My personal favorite vowel activity is the Old MacDonald Had Some Vowels packet. 

My Y5's, kinders and 1st graders, all enjoyed singing the song and substituting the EIEIO with the vowels AEIOU. 

Because children are familiar with the tune, the emergent reader booklet, is a fun way to reinforce long and short vowels. 

The repetitious-simple sentences, are filled with common Dolch sight words.  

Click on the link to view/download the Old MacDonal Had Some Vowels packet. 

Finally, for a set of vowel anchor charts/posters click on the link.  To take a look at all of the vowel FREEBIES on teachwithme.com click on the link to pop on over to that section.  Simply scroll down to pick and choose.

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you found some useful items. Wishing you a stress-free day. 

"Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only that the cat died nobly." -Arnold Edinborough

 1-2-3 Come Do Some Martin Luther King Day Crafts With Me

Today's blog is a bit long, but I wanted to feature my favorite MLK Day craftivities all in one place. I hope you enjoy them too.

The construction paper strip snowflakes, are a quick, easy and fun bulletin board for January! Use them as an "I have a dream..." writing prompt for Martin Luther King Day, of what students want to be when they grow up. 

If you don't celebrate MLK Day, you could have children write what they enjoy about snow or winter; "sparkling" facts about themselves,  or what things they want to do in the new year.

I used paper punch cut outs to practice patterning, but they also look fine plain, or decorated with stickers. 

Cut the strips in a variety of colors to make a rainbow blizzard! A school photo in the middle adds that finishing touch.

Scatter them on a black background to make them really pop.  Caption: Brrrrrr-illiant Work!  or Writing is "snow" much fun! or in-keeping with MLK Day... "We are all unique, but we are also the same. Unity through diversity."

 Because scrapbooking is so popular, I wanted to design an easy craftivity for MLK Day using the simple pinwheel design.  If you don't celebrate MLK Day, these make wonderful Valentine's Day cards too. 

I chose a black and white theme to symbolize diversity, but you could use whatever colors you like. Simply pre-cut 2 large black squares + a variety of light and dark contrasting scrapbook paper.  Each student needs 4 light patterned pieces and 4 dark.

Using my photo tutorial, demonstrate how to glue the pieces down, so they look like a pinwheel.

It's really quite simple and easy, but looks complicated, with very cool results.  I'd do this as a "monkey see-monkey do-what-I-do" whole group activity with little ones. 

For older kiddos, add the white writing prompt "I have a dream" square to the back, or have students think of their own.  If you need MLK writing prompt ideas, I have a list of 60 they can choose from.  

For more pizzazz, students can choose another set of 4 different patterned-squares and glue them to the back, providing a border under their prompt.  A school photo adds the finishing touch.  

Punch a hole in the top point; make a yarn loop, and hang from the ceiling.   Click on the link to view/download the MLK Pinwheel Writing Prompt Craftivity.

I have two more "danglers" to share with you today.  Since I had no problem filling up my monthly bulletin board, I needed some other ways to hang up my students' craftivities.  Because of this, I designed quite a few things that could "dangle" from the ceiling in the hallway. 

Both of these files were done before I had all of the software programs and fonts I use now, but I think you'll find the hand-drawn patterns easy to follow.

A very simple dangler that my Y5's enjoyed making was the MLK Letter "I Have A Dream" one.  It was a nice way to review these 3 letters and provided much-needed cutting practice to strengthen hand muscles and improve dexterity.

Turn it into a more in-depth writing prompt for older kiddos, by skipping the heart on the back, and giving them a longer writing prompt for them to record here.  Click on the link to view/download the MLK Letter Dangler.

One of my personal favorites, was the "stained glass" dove of peace dangler.  

I pre- cut strips of colored construction paper. For great fine motor, and scissor skill practice, my Y5's snipped them into squares and glued them in whatever pattern they wanted.  More fine motor practice was achieved by having them accordion fold the dove's wings. 

To incorporate a bit of poetry and cover this "genre" standard, I ran off the Langston Hughes poem.   Click on the link to check out the background of this outstanding and prolific poet. 

You could also turn this into a writing prompt and have the poem be the cover that flips open to reveal your students' thoughts about peace and how even a child can help achieve it.  Click on the link to view/download the Martin Luther King Dove Of Peace Poem Dangler.  

Finally, here is my brand new MLK craft.  Since Dr.King's name is synonymous with peace, I wanted to design something centered around that theme.  Since the popular peace symbol is somewhat controversial, I wanted to find something else more appropriate for children. 

I thought of hearts and doves, but others were using those, and I wanted something more unique that would also encompass MLK's black heritage.  

Were you ever looking for something, but not sure what you were looking for, but knew when you'd found it, that that would be just the thing?  That's how I felt when I came across the mpatapo symbol. It was perfect to create a Martin Luther King craft around!

Mpatapo, simply pronounced m-pa-ta-po, is a West African Adinkra symbol.  It is a knot of pacification-reconciliation that represents peaceful solutions. 

Mpatapo symbolizes the bond that binds parties in a dispute to a peaceful and  harmonious reconciliation; symbolizing peacemaking after strife.  Names and meanings of the symbols are in Twi, which is the language of the Akan people.

Adinkra is a highly-valued hand-printed cotton cloth, which has traditional Akan symbols stamped upon it.  Its origin is traced to the Asante (Ashanti) people of Ghana and the Gyaman people of Cote' d'lvoire (Ivory Coast).

The cloth can be traced back to the 17th century. Over time, the number of symbols used on the cloth grew. The word "adinkra" means goodbye, because originally clothes adorned with Adinkra symbols were only worn during ceremonies to honor the dead. The symbols worn on the mourner's clothing expressed the qualities attributed to the deceased.

The symbols are created by cutting a stamp out of the thick skin of a calabash gourd. The stamp is dipped in dye, made from tree bark, and then repeatedly pressed onto cloth to create patterns.

The African symbols are ubiquitous in Ghana, and are used extensively on fabrics and pottery.  They  have also become popular as logos, tattos, and in advertising.  Because of tourism, the symbols can also be seen on T-shirts and jewelry.

They have a decorative function, but also represent objects that convey traditional African wisdom, as well as aspects of life and the environment. 

The photo on the right shows some of the 53 Adinkra symbols recorded by Robert Sutherland Rattray in 1927.  They are part of the Creative Commons on Wikipedia.

I feel that the mpatapo symbol, is a great representation of what Dr. Martin Luther King endeavored to do, with his peaceful marches, sit-ins and speeches, that sought nonviolent solutions for abolishing discrimination.  This was it!  This was what I was looking for.  Click on the link to make an MLK mpatapo craft. 

There's a writing prompt for K and older students to fill in and glue to the back, as well as an explanation square for younger students.  I've included a sheet of Public Domain mini photo tiles of Dr. King as well.  Students can choose one and glue it to the center of the mpatapo symbol if they want to. 

To see an entire collection of Adinkra symbols and their meanings, click on the link.  To find out more about the Ashanti tribe, click here, or this link for the African Guide.   The research was fascinating for me; I hope you enjoy learning something new as well.   

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for visiting. I found a 3-ingredient recipe for play "snow" so I'm off to make some with my 2-year-old grandson.  I LOVE doing crafty stuff with him, and at only 2, I'm surprised how much he enjoys it too. 

Wishing you a fun-filled day, filled with memorable moments and lots of giggles. 

"Hate cannot drive out hate.  Only love can do that." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.