Getting To The Core With A Box
If someone asked me what was the most Googled Word or phrase that was "hit" for my site, I would easily answer Elkonin Boxes.
If you are not familiar with them, they are a huge help in teaching the Common Core State Standard: RF.K2b as they are simply "boxes" that are a visual representation that helps students count, pronounce, blend and segment syllables in spoken words.
The 20-page packet includes 50 word templates + 3, 4, and 5 letter box blank templates, for teachers/parents to use in a variety of ways.
- Elkonin boxes can be used to teach phonemic awareness by having students listen for individual sounds and marking where they hear them in the boxes.
- Each Elkonin box in an Elkonin box card represents one phoneme, or sound.
- Elkonin boxes are a physical segmentation of words into phonemes.
I make my boxes a bit longer when a digraph or blend is involved because it fixes the spelling in a child’s mind. (I think this helps them with decoding and spelling, as phonemes count as one sound not one letter.)- There are many activities that teachers can do with Elkonin boxes, but the main activity teachers usually use them for is to 'stretch' out words, identify similar or different sounds and then guess at spelling.
- I’ve made an alphabetical list of some of the more popular words for kindergarten and first grade.
- You can use them as skill sheets or run them off and laminate them and use them as a center activity, or flashcards.
- Students can use counters, chips, or unifix cubes to mark the boxes or run the masters off on copy paper and have students use a bingo dot marker or write in the letters.
- There's also a writing master, where students are given a word to break down and then they use that word in a sentence.
Here you can remind students to separate their words, capitalize the beginning word and use end punctuation, which are Common Core State Standards: RF.1c, L.K2a, and L.K2b.
Any of these Elkonin Box worksheets make great "Word Work" for Daily 5 activities too.
Click on the link to view/download Elkonin Boxes
Do you have an activity that you use Elkonin boxes for, that you could share with us? I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or leave a comment here.
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"What comes from the heart, goes to the heart."-Samuel Taylor Cooleridge
Writing Prompts From A Poster!
Well the creative juices were flowing last week when I diddled around with a song to teach Common Core Standards. I didn't think I could get more fun than Old MacDonald helping out with vowels.
I putzed with the idea of making up a poster to help students do a bit of creative writing. Kids love posters, and as the saying goes "A picture is worth a 1,000 words" so why not use one to stimulate writing those words.
I thought by making an interesting and thought-provoking poster, teachers could use it as a segway into several writing prompts their students would enjoy diving into.
Older students could write about the symbolism and what the poster means. Teachers could explain this to lower elementary.
Even young children can think of other things in the classroom that could give advice and tell what advice they would give.
After discussion, let them choose an object and complete a sentence, like the poster, making an illustration. Have them cut and glue their contribution to a class tag board poster.
This would make a nice "Word Work" activity for Daily 5.
Older students can make their own poster, using their room or another room in their home or school as the example.
What a hoot to do the cafeteria, gym, locker room, kitchen, basement or garage!
Click on the link to view/download Wisdom From The Classroom Poster.
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"Nothing has a better effect upon children than praise." -Sir Philip Sidney
Old MacDonald Had Some Vowels!
Well, I've written several blog articles using kiddie lit to help teach the Common Core Standards, as well as class-made books and art activities. I thought is there a song that children know that I can use to teach Common Core?
That got me to thinking of what song do most children know? Old MacDonald came to mind, and as soon as I sang E-I-E-I-O, I thought of vowels! So, the Old MacDonald Had Some Vowels song-booklet was born.
It's 7 pages and covers the Common Core State Standards:RF.K1a, RF.K1b, RF.K1c, RF.K3b, RF.K3c, RL.K.10 woo hoo!
As I stated above, because most children are familiar with the tune of Old MacDonald, this booklet is a fun way to guide them into learning about long and short vowels.
In case you have some children who are from other countries and cultures, or live here and are not familiar with Old MacDonald, obtain a picture book of the original as well as a CD of the song.
Introduce both to your students, so that you can also compare and contrast the two. Get the wiggles out by having children choose an animal and prance around for a few minutes as animals, before you get down to business, then begin your lesson.
You should already have introduced vowels to your students and done letter sorting between consonants and vowels with them. I have several activities, posters, puzzles, and packets that you can obtain lessons for this. Simply click on my Vowel link.
Students are able to read the repetitious simple sentences, because they are filled with common Dolch sight words.
The pictures help them guess the new words that begin with the long or short vowel sound that they repeat to the tune of Old MacDonald.
Cutting and gluing a matching picture helps them practice much-needed fine motor skills, which makes this a nice independent reading center or Daily 5 activity.
Instead of the familiar E-I-E-I-O of the old favorite, children are learning all of their vowels by repeating them through out the story-song: A-E-I-O-U.
Animals and songs are favorites with children; combine them, and you have a winning combination for learning!
Click on the link to view/download Old MacDonald Had Some Vowels
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""Things can be different only if you can make them different." -Unknown
1-2-3 Come Make A Scarecrow Glyph With Me
Since the pumpkin glyph was such a big hit, I decided to make another fall glyph for you. (A Glyph Makes A Diff!) 
I thought scarecrows would fit for October or November.
The oval template is for girls; the round one for boys. The directions help students create their unique scarecrow from there.
I’ve found that if I gave my Y5’s a template of some sort, they did much better.
At the beginning of the year, little ones tend to have a difficult time drawing something to fill up an entire page, let alone have a circle or oval look like that particular shape.
Be sure to make one for yourself to show as an example. The ones pictured, I did for me and my husband.
It's a great way for your students to get to know you. Just a "heads up", when it comes to putting down age, I assumed the age of my students, so it didn't confuse them.
My Y5's often copied me, and when I put down lots of hair or whatever, instead of doing 4 or 5 to represent their age they did "lots" too.
I explained to them that I was ________ (age) but I was only putting down 4 or 5 strands of hair because that was how old they were and this is what their scarecrow would look like.
Glyphs are a great way to whole-group assess listening and following directions. When completed, they make adorable bulletin boards or hallway border displays too!
By having students sign their names on the back of their glyphs, you can give your students some time to collect data from their classmates, to try and figure out whose glyph belongs to whom.
Set a timer, and award a prize of some sort to the student who figures out the most glyphs. Click on the link to view/download the scarecrow glyph. For other glyphs, click on the link: Seasonal Glyphs
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“Courage is resistance to fear, a mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” –Mark Twain
Pumpkin "Punkin" Praise!
Woo Hoo! This is my 400th Blog Article! Wow; that sure happened fast. I hope you've found them helpful.
Are your little “punkins” in need of a little calming?
I’ve found that as the year progresses and students get to know their classmates and become friends, they begin to get more comfortable and very social.
On one hand this is terrific, on the other, little ones can become so excited that they forget to stop talking, raise their hand, and use inside voices.
There’s nothing like a little incentive to make rules and reminders fun. Since October is just around the corner, I thought a Pumpkin Praise Puzzle would be appropriate.
Students earn a pumpkin puzzle piece with a letter on it, for whatever behavior you decide upon. When completely assembled, the pumpkin spells “Pumpkin Praise”.
For those schools celebrating Halloween, I have a Jack-O-lantern. For those who celebrate a harvest theme, I have a plain pumpkin puzzle.
Decide ahead of time, what behavior will earn a pumpkin letter i.e., everyone lining up before the timer rings, everyone completing a task, etc.
For preschoolers you can have instant gratification at the end of the day; they earn a letter for a list of behaviors they have accomplished throughout the day. Remind them that a letter can be taken away for inappropriate behavior as well.
Older students can have delayed gratification, and earn 1 or 2 letters per day, with their reward coming at the end of the week.
Decide with your class what the reward should be, perhaps an extra recess, a nature walk, everyone gets a special treat that they help make for snack time, etc.
Do this for only a day or week or continue through out the month or until interest wanes.
Simply run off the template on orange construction paper. I ran off another copy on green so that I could have a green stem. I also colored in the pumpkin’s facial features with a black marker.
Laminate the pieces and cut them out. Attach a magnet or piece of Velcro so you can attach your pumpkin puzzle to a white or flannel board.
As students earn a puzzle piece, assemble the pumpkin on the board.
I designed this so you could do this as a whole-group activity, but you could easily have your students work on the other pumpkin as a personal achievement puzzle pumpkin.
As children earn puzzle pieces, they could glue them to a sheet of black construction paper and collect their reward once they have completed their pumpkin!
You could make these individual pumpkins smaller by shrinking my template on the copier.
Click on the link to view/download Pumpkin Praise Behavior Modification Puzzle
I hope Pumpkin Praise works for you and that you find yourself praising your little “punkins” through out October!
Do you have a behavior modification technique you could share with us? I’d enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to leave a comment here.
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“The rain falls on all of the fields, but crops grow only in those that have been tilled and sown.” –Chinese Proverb
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