1-2-3 Come Read and Write the Room With Me

This week has been especially busy, so I'm not quite done with a Very Hungry Caterpillar activity that I've been working on for days...so I wanted to check some of the most popular downloads and feature one on the blog today. 

I came up with my Read and Write the Room packet.  You can plug in this activity anytime of year, or make it part of your Daily 5 word work activities. There's nothing like passing out a clipboard and telling your kiddos that they should pretend to be ABC De-tectives, to grab their interest, and get them excited.

With that in mind, I designed some "Read and Write the Room" worksheets.   You can simply make copies of the template you like best and have students fill them out, sending them home when they finish, or you can have them glue them in a notebook.  (I stock up at the beginning of the year when all of the supply stores sell them as loss-leaders ranging from 10-15 cents!)

By having students glue the worksheets to a page in their Read and Write the Room Journal, you'll have an easy way to show student progress during parent teacher conferences, and a nice keepsake for the end of the year.

Since I'm blogging about this in April, use these activities as a wonderful review that helps reinforce what your kiddos have learned thus far.  I found that I constantly needed to do that to make sure they were retaining things as we moved along. 

I also needed to add some zip to their "word work" activities to keep that interesting for them.  This is great for that, as it's easy to implement, they can work on things independently and at their own pace, and they get the wiggles out, by roaming the room reading and writing!

The first photo is one journal option, if you like the idea of running off separate worksheets.  I have two kinds available.  One has a traceable letter box with an empty one for children to write the upper and lowercase letter in.

The other is an "I spy" version and has students draw something that they see that begins with that letter.  You can pick the style you like best or mix things up to add more interest and variety.

Another option is seen in the second photo. Here you conserve paper and the time it takes to run things off. Run off the "Read and Write the Room!" template, trim and glue to the inside cover.

Students use the “master” to write their own page for a new letter each week, or each day, depending on how long you want to stretch this activity out for.

After students have completed the alphabet, you can still continue this activity by using the "roam the room" alphabet cards.

Toss them in a container and have students pick one.  That will be the letter they "roam the room" looking for.  You can use the blank template as a worksheet for them to fill in whatever.

As with all of my other alphabet cards, you can use them for games, flashcards, sequencing etc.  A tip list is included to give you some ideas and includes the "Kaboom!" game.

I've also included a simple ABC De-tective alphabet worksheet, where students roam the room, trying to find something that begins with each letter of the alphabet.

This is a wonderful activity for your early finishers, or something quick and easy when you need a fun time-filler.

There are also several choices for the cover of the notebook journals.  Choose one, run off, trim and glue to the cover of your notebooks.  You could also have students design their own cover. 

Click on the link to view/download the Read and Write the Room Packet.  Thanks for visiting today.  

I'm so excited that spring has finally (sort of) arrived here in Michigan.  The birds are chirping, and the rain has managed to wash away all of that dirty lingering snow.

I'm headed out the door to rejuvenate my spirit with some fresh air and sunshine. Wishing you a blissful day.

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." -Doug Larson

1-2-3 Come Do Some ST Blend Activities With Me

The "Stuff a Stocking" packet, includes a variety of quick, easy and fun ways to help students practice words that begin and end with the ST blend.

For one activity, children color and trim a stocking, then stuff it with words that have the st blend in them, by writing the words on the front of their stocking.

The packet includes an alphabetical list of 92 common words that begin with st, as well as a list of 64 simple words that end with the st blend. 

Before sharing the lists with your students, as a whole group, have them brainstorm to see how many words they can think of. 

Write the words on the board, and have students look up any words that are new to them, jotting them down in their writing journals.  This is a great vocabulary building activity, and perfect for Daily 5 word work. 

For another whole group activity, I've included matching mini-word cards to pass out to your students, so that they can "stuff" either a  teddy bear stocking with beginning st word cards, or stuff a moose stocking, with words ending with the st blend.

To be able to "stuff" the paper stockings, laminate & trim them.  Cut a slit under the cuff portion, and attach a large Ziplock Baggie to the back.

Call out an st blend word from your list. (Before hand, highlight words that you want to review with your kiddos.)  The child holding that card shows it to the class, everyone reads the word, and then that student "stuffs" the card through the opening of the appropriate stocking.

To help build vocabulary, ask children to define the words. When you're done with the game, simply zip the Baggie and tuck in your file.

For yet another activity, students choose 3-5 cards and write sentences incorporating the word cards that they picked. To practice alphabetizing, have students write their word cards in alphabetical order.

I've included a worksheet for this, which would be a terrific Daily 5 word work activity as well. Click on the link to view/download the "Stuff it!" ST Blend Packet.

Thanks for visiting. It's time for me to get to the grocery store.  The cupboard is indeed bare, as I hate going out in the hustle bustle of December.  

The inclement weather and crowds are a bit overwhelming to me, and I'd much rather be curled up by the fire, sipping eggnog and making sketches of stuff I want to design.  Wishing you a warm and cozy kind of day.

"Christmas Time: Snowy climes and silly rhymes, a make-believe sense of time, when the old become young and the young walk the line." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Add To 100 With Me

I must confess I'm a flitter.  I endeavor to try and stay focused 'til I complete a task, but this proves rather difficult when I'm doing research on the Internet. 

One thing leads to another, and pretty soon I find it's late afternoon and I haven't accomplished a thing.  I've enjoyed learning all sorts of trivia, and have added to my already too full list of things I want to design, but I've gotten off the beaten track.   Anyone out there do something similar while planning a lesson?

The result of my craziness, has come up with something I think your students will enjoy, and works well for a 100 Day celebration too. 

I stumbled upon several math sites that asked students, "How much is your name worth?" 

In order for children to calculate this, each letter is assigned a value according to its position in the alphabet.  i.e., The letter A is worth 1, B is worth 2, all the way up to the letter Z, which is worth 26.  

I've included a bookmark key you can run off and give each student, that will make things easier, as well as a valuation worksheet you can also use.

So that younger students don't get confused, I made the numbers in red, green, and blue so that they stand out.

After students get the hang of this concept by adding up their name, challenge them to find a word that is worth 100.  So that I could find a few words, without having to rack my brain, I Googled words worth 100. 

To my surprise, this led to the term "Dollar" words.  Quite a few teachers all over the planet seem to be challenging their kiddo's to find the value of words.  

Just an FYI, do NOT assign this as a homework assignment.  It will defeat the purpose of the lesson.  Any child with access to a computer will find all sorts of online help, lists, and even several sites that will calculate the amounts for them. 

Instead, do this activity in class.  You want your students to practice all sorts of standards, as they think up words and add up numbers. 

You also want them to have the joy of discovering their own 100-point word, which can be pretty exciting. Click on the link to view/download the 100 Dollar Word packet.

After your students have worked on this assignment in class, you can share 2 word calculation sites that I found: Balmoral Software and Math Lair. I think it would be fun for them to practice their keyboarding skills, typing in a variety of words, names and numbers to see their values.

I'm not sure who came up with the original idea, as there is a plethora of sites, activities, and information about calculating the value of names, words, etc.  The "game" was also listed in several math-activity books like Math For Smarty Pants by Marilyn Burns.

Perhaps the idea came because of a snide remark by Ernest Hemingway.  William Faulkner, also a prolific writer at the time, stated that "[Hemingway] had never been known to use a word that might send the reader to the dictionary." 

In his defense, Hemingway shot back: "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right, but there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use." 

Thus we have evolved from those ten-dollar words, to the dollar words that are popular today.  If you want to tie this activity into your 100-Day celebration, simply call them 100 dollar words, making each point worth one dollar.  

One of the reasons I think this is such a tremendous activity, is because it is a great mental workout, which involves all sorts of other things besides counting and addition.  Students need to come up with a strategy, which involves critical thinking.

So that even young students with limited addition ability, can also do this activity, give students a dictionary and a calculator and set them loose.  

So that older students get the much-needed addition practice in, have them figure out their word, and then check it with a calculator.  After they have done a specific amount of "ciphering" allow them to use the calculators, so that they are able to practice more problems.

With so many students working on so many words, teachers may find it difficult to give students immediate feedback, which speeds up the learning process.  However, allowing students to use calculators, to check their answers that they have come up with by themselves, solves the problem and guarantees correct results. 

For many younger students, using a calculator is a first-time experience and makes the entire process less frustrating and more fun.  The use of a dictionary helps build vocabulary, reinforces spelling and gives them all sorts of dictionary-skill practice, such as alphabetizing.  You could also introduce your students to a thesaurus if you haven't already done so.

Besides problem-solving math, you can also review parts of speech.  Which words are nouns, verbs, or adjectives?  Did you come up with any compound words?

So that this activity is not overwhelming for your struggling students, break things down.   Are you studying prefixes and suffixes?  Have students make a list of them and give them a value.  

A root word may not add up to 100, but how does adding a prefix or suffix help? For example, adding ed to a verb increases its value by 9.  Adding ing to a verb increases its value by 30 and reduces the target value for the root verb to 70.

The strategy then, is  breaking down a large problem into smaller ones that are more easily solved.

Are you stuck at 99? Can you add an S to make the word plural?  Adding S to a word increases its value by 19 and reduces the target value for the root word to 81, offering you a teachable moment to review the concept of singular and plural. 

Give students a certain amount of time on their own and then break them up into small groups, so they can help each other and work on cooperative learning. 

After students have worked on this 100-Day word challenge for the allotted time, give them some help, by suggesting clues for the different "dollar words." For example, "Something you'll find in all bathrooms is this plural dollar word."  Answer: toilets

To make this easy for you, I've done a day's worth of work finding dollar words, so that you don't have to.  I've come up with a list of 740 dollar words!

There are a variety of lists out there with more, but mine is alphabetized, checked, student-appropriate, spelled correctly, does not contain proper names and lists only real words.

To save you even more time, I've also made up a list of clues for 60 dollar words that your students should be familiar with. 

Print off my clues and have each student choose one, or have children work in groups with the same clue, to see who can figure it out first. 

I've included an answer key for you, so you don't have to strain your brain.

When a dollar word has been correctly identified, give students another clue. 

You can award points and give out the Dollar Word certificates to the winners.  

So that younger children don't feel left out, I've also included certificates for participation.

Later, share the list and have students find out how many letters the longest dollar word had. 

What was the shortest dollar word?  I've included a worksheet for that.  There is one that features the dollar bill if you are doing Dollar words, as well as one with a 100-dollar bill at the top, if you're using this for a 100-Day activity.

Honduras, Milwaukee, and Tallahatchie were all 100-point places that I found.  Kristin, Henrietta, Paulette and Suzanne, were 100-point names, and Wednesday is the day of the week that is worth 100.

Are there dollar words on the list that your students don't know?  Have them choose 10 to look up. 

I've included a My Dollar Word or My 100 Dollar Word dictionary for your students to record things in. 

This is a wonderful Daily 5- word work activity.
You could also have students use different colored highlighters to show which words are verbs, adjectives, nouns, or compound words.

Click on the link to view/download the 100-Day Word Challenge packet.

Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN away. 

"Teaching is the power to think clearly; the power to act well in world's work, and the power to appreciate life." -Brigham Young

1-2-3 Come Play Word Games With Me.

You will really like the versatility of this 109 page word packet!

Students can sort words by vowel sounds, word families, nouns, verbs, plurals, school words, calendar words, seasonal words, rhyming words, colors, numbers, shapes, antonyms, synonyms, homonyms etc.

There are 31 sorting baskets to choose from + a blank basket to program with whatever.

Using brown construction paper, simply print off whatever baskets you want to use; laminate them, cut them out and attach a large paper cup to the back using a bit of tape.

Print off the word eggs on a variety of construction paper colors, laminate and cut out.  

Students can work in groups or individually, to sort a dozen or so words, dropping them in the cup and then rotating to another basket when they are done.

Children can also alphabetize a group of egg words.

I've included CVC words, sight words, over 40 word families, + all of the Dolch word list words, as well as all of the Dolch nouns; for a total of 1,180 word eggs! Sixteen eggs are on a page for easy printing.

There's also a blank set of eggs that you can program with your spelling words etc.

Click on the link to view/download A Tisket A Tasket Word Cards in a Basket packet.

"A-tisket a-tasket A green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love and on the way I dropped it. I dropped it, I dropped it and on the way I dropped it. A little boy picked it up and put it in his pocket."