1-2-3 Come Do Some Vowel Activities With Me  

Today I'm featuring 4 of my newest vowel packets.  I hope your students enjoy them as much as mine did. 

First up are my word wheels and puzzles. They are my way of grabbing students’ attention, so they’ll want to practice vowel pairs, which can be a bit tedious on the road to fluency.

The crafty little twist of a wheel, and game-like aspect of making a puzzle, is a fresh alternative to a worksheet, which students really enjoy, and has been extremely successful in improving fluency, while building their vocabularies as well.

Both the wheels and puzzles come in color, so you can use them for an independent center, as well as black & white, so children can make their own.

I’ve also included a “Trace, Write & Alphabetize” worksheet, if you want your kiddos to show that they’ve worked on those center activities.

There are puzzles and wheels for ai, ay, ea, ee & oa vowel pairs. Some have six sections, others 10. 

Next up is a "Vowel Owl" packet.    It's stuffed with a variety of super-fun ways to practice those tricky vowel pairs: ai, ay, ea, ee, & oa, which help build vocabulary & fluency.

There are games, sorting mats, worksheets, puzzles, posters, an “All Aboard the Vowel Train” booklet, as well as a paper chain and “flip up” craftivity, plus an emergent reader, 1-page story, which includes 80 Dolch sight words!

We all know that “Practice makes perfect”, but simply reading and writing words can become a bit tedious.

So, if you want your kiddos to get them excited to practice their word work, tell them they’re going to get to make a paper chain, where they trace and write the vowel pair words, color the pictures, then link them all up.

Working in an independent center, putting together a puzzle, then recording the results, or playing a word game with a partner or as a small group, also creates interest, and helps improve fluency.

Whenever I could, I also tossed in a bit of math practice (Tally marks, counting, adding, and analyzing data.) Mixing math with literacy gives you more bang for your time too! 

The vowel-pair number puzzles, also mix math with literacy, as they practice sequencing numbers from 1-10, counting backwards from 10-1, plus skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s.

The puzzles come in full color to use for an independent math center, as well as black & white, so that students can color and cut to make a puzzle of their own.

For an interesting bulletin board, have children glue the pieces of their puzzle on a sheet of construction paper, leaving a small gap in-between, creating a mosaic effect. 

Finally, since I'm celebrating Seuss for the entire month of March, I decided to make a Seuss-themed vowel packet, and came up with "Vowel Prowl" with the Cat in the Hat. 

Even though I designed this packet with Seuss's crazy cat in mind, it also works "purr-fectly" with any other cat, like Pete! Simply color the patterns blue for you know who.     

The packet includes:

* 2, "We are on the prowl for a vowel” posters
* Vowel song-poster to the tune of BINGO, with matching AEIOU letter cards

* 4 vowel worksheets
* A “tally time” listening & following directions activity
* 3 options for a “Popsicle stick “long or short” puppet pal.

* 3 options for “long or short” vowel “header” cards to put in sorting cups
* 60 mini word cards for sorting
* 2 sorting mats

* 10, alphabetical lists of long and short vowel words
* 2, “I’m On The Vowel Prowl” word journals, with 10 pages. (2-on-a-page patterns to conserve paper.   

Just in time for your March is Reading Month activities, today's featured FREEBIE is aSeuss-themed reading log.  I hope you find it useful.

Well that's it for today. I can't believe it's snowing again! That lion continues to roar here in Michigan. 

Oh well, since I'm cooped up like the kids in the Cat in the Hat story, I may as well design some Horton "stuff".  Wishing you a heart-full of springtime.

"Step with care and great tact, and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act!" -Dr. Seuss

1-2-3 Come Do Some Vowel Activities With Me

The letter Yy is quite a unique letter, in that it can be both a consonant and vowel.

To complicate matters, the Y has several different phonemes (sounds). It can have a long e sound, as in worry, as well as a long i sound, as in fly.

With that in mind, I designed this Ys Guys & Spies packet, as recognizing special spellings for vowel sounds is part of successful decoding & word recognition.

Just like my best-selling ”Vowels & Villains” packet, instead of students being frustrated and tripped up with “exceptions to the rules”, they are prepared and get excited when they find a “spy” that they can “jail”.

The packet includes:

* A letter Y craftivity, where students create 3 different “Ys Guys“ writing the various Y words on their letters.

I've named them "Regular Y Guy" for words beginning with the letter Yy and having the "ya" sound, "Sky the Sly Spy Y Guy" for words ending with the letter Yy & having the long i sound, and then there's  "Shifty the Shady Lady", for words ending with a Yy and having the long e sound.

* There are 3, Y Guys posters to introduce the lesson, with a matching word poster filled with lots of examples.

* A variety of worksheets that build vocabulary, including “Jail the Spies” fun.

* A “Letter Yy Word Booklet”.

* A short, 2-page “Ys Guys” emergent reader, with 36 Dolch sight words.

* A graphing extension of the last page in the emergent reader.

* 2 “Disguise” definition posters.

* 2 “Wanted” posters.

* 4 sorting mats, to sort the 160, mini word cards. Quick, easy & fun way to build vocabulary. Includes matching worksheets for more practice.

* A “Ys Guys” spinner game.

* Practice literacy & math at the same time, with 4, number-strip puzzles.

Students color, write on words associated with that "Y Spy Guy", cut & then glue the strips together to make a mosaic picture puzzle.

The number puzzles reinforce skip counting by 2s & 10s. 

Click on the link to zip on over to my TpT shop to check out the latest Villians in this 58-page Ys Guys & Spies packet.  

Since "bunny" is one of the Y Spy long e words, I thought my "I'm All Ears" bunny matching game, would be an appropriate featured FREEBIE for today. 

Use the large & small pattern to make this quick, easy & fun center activity. My Popsicle sticks include matching games for upper & lowercase letters, numbers, shapes, colors, equations, and contractions!

Well that's it for today. We are having absolutely gorgeous fall weather for November! 

The sunshine is calling me through my open window, so it's time to take a break and go play.  Wishing you a stress-free day.

 "Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine." -Anthony J. D'Angelo

1-2-3 Come Do Some Vowel Activities With Me

“When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking.” Is a simple & very popular rhyme that helps children read a variety of words with a vowel digraph. (Such as CVVC)

However, so that children are not frustrated, it is extremely important to add “…sometimes but not always.” after they recite the rhyme, as there are lots of exceptions to the rule. I've included this sentence in my poster set.

To build vocabulary, improve fluency, as well as spelling, I teach the “rule breakers” along with the words that follow the rule. 

This has been so successful with my own students, that I decided to design the "Vowel Villains"  & When To Vowels Go Walking" packet.  

I found it an especially appropriate title, as the word villain is a rule breaker!

Instead of being frustrated when they are tripped up by a rule-breaking word, my students get very excited because they’ve found yet another “convict word” to “jail”! 

Believe me, your students will LOVE this approach to word work.  Choose from a large variety of super-fun "rule-breaking" options.

My kiddos were constantly on the look out for CVVC words.  

They enjoyed determining if a word followed the rule or not, and took delight in finding “culprits” that they could add to the jailhouse.

Another thing that I include in the packet is some Rhyme Time activities.  There are posters with matching 2-on-a-page worksheets for time-saving printing.

Rhyme time, is another quick, easy & fun way to build vocabulary and help students find more examples of words that fit the rule.

Here are some of the things that the packet includes:
* 3 large “When two vowels go walking…” anchor chart posters, with a smaller version showing all of the posters on one page, along with matching bookmarks.

* 7 large vowel digraph posters to use as headers for a word wall.

* “When 2 vowels go walking…” finger puppets.  A set of boys, plus a set of girls in both black & white, as well as color.

They provide a super-fun way to introduce the rhyme & help children remember it.

* A set of 8, Mix & Match, “build-a-bookmark” patterns (boys & girls, black line & full color).

I’ve included completed samples, so you can quickly & easily make examples to share with your students to help explain what you want them to do. 

As you can see by the photograph there are lots of ways to mix & match the heads, feet & bodies to come up with a cute "Walking Vowel Bookmark".

* 338 (10-on-a-page) word cards for ai, ea, oa, & ee; including a blank set of cards so you can program with more words, plus a tip list of what else you can do with the word cards, including the“Kaboom” game. 

These words are also listed on anchor chart posters.

* A variety of “rule breaking activities” including a rule breaker song to the tune of London Bridge

* 74 rule-breaking word cards, with a blank set to program more.

* An assortment of “Lock them up” worksheets, with answer keys;  ai, ea, ie “I broke the rule” posters, along with a set of rule breaker,“build-a-bookmark” convicts, in color plus black & white.

* And as always, directions, tips, samples, links & photographs

I sincerely hope that your students enjoy learning tricky vowel combinations with these interesting techniques, as much as my students have.

Click on the link to pop on over to my TpT shop to check it out: "Vowel Villains & When 2 Vowels Go Walking...Packet". It's a whopping 135-pages, and just $4.95. 

Today's featured FREEBIE comes from the packet.  It's the 3 "When 2 Vowels Go Walking..." poster set." I really enjoyed creating the graphics, & hope you like them too.  Click on the link to get your copy. 

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. 

My bones are achy, so I'm hobbling around with my cane that I haven't used in months, reflecting on how much we take for granted when we are healthy & buzzing around. 

Wishing you an energizing day, filled with lots of memorable moments.

"You know, all that really matters is that the people you love are happy and healthy.  Everything else is just sprinkles on the sundae." -Paul Walker

1-2-3 Come Make A Name Ornament With Me

I'm not sure about your kiddos, but as the last day before vacation neared, I could sense the energy levels climbing.  To help them stay focused, I always tried to do a few hands-on "craftivities" that my students would really enjoy, but also wanted to include standards to keep the administration content as well.

With that in mind, I designed the Keepsake Name Ornament packet.  It's a quick, easy & fun Christmas ornament that helps reinforce your students' names, letter recognition, vowel identification, capitalization, graphing, counting and addition!  Woo hoo! 

This would be a wonderful center on the last day before vacation, or a special "craftivity" to do for your Christmas party day. 

I've included upper as well as lowercase letter tiles that your students trim and glue to a strip of construction paper.  I used red & green, but just one color looks nice too.

While children are at lunch or recess, laminate your students' completed projects and have a room helper cut them out, punch a hole at the top & add a yarn tie.

Gluing on a school photo makes them even more special, and even though the ornament spells their name, have them write their name and the date on the back.

For some math fun, I've included two point value charts, so your students can practice a bit of addition, by adding up the point value of their letters. 

Use the chart with point values to 4, with younger students, and the chart with numbers to 26, for older students. Because their total will be large, have children figure out the place value of their name using this grand total.

There's an ornament worksheet to record their answer, along with other data, so that you can review consonants and vowels as well.  Students can color this ornament, or simply run off on a variety of colors of copy paper.

Vowels are also reviewed, with a graphing extension. There's a graph for the total number of letters in your students' names too.   As you can see, I've packed in all sorts of math extensions in this simple ornament "craftivity".

To add to the fun, I've included a "secret" coded Christmas message that you can challenge your students to solve.  Students refer to the point value poster to figure out what the sentence says. 

Make it a "speed" game, and see who can decode the message first. To save you time, I put two on a page for quick printing, and included an answer key.  Click on the link to view/download the Keepsake Name Ornament activities. 

Thanks for visiting today.  As always, my December days fly by.  I've got to get to the post office today or my family in Wisconsin, won't get their goodies in time for Christmas.  Wishing you a stress-free day.

"May voices join with the multitude of the heavenly host to proclaim His glory. May hearts be filled with His everlasting song of joy and peace this Christmas season."  -Unknown

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