6 pages.

This "craftivity" is a fun way for students to review ordinal numbers, ordinal number words + sequencing.  Encourage students to color the stripes on their kite in a pattern, or to color it in rainbow order.

30 pages.

Add a touch of springtime to your alphabet activities with these colorful kites.  Packet includes separate upper and lowercase letters (great for matching games) as well as upper and lowercase letters on the same card (perfect for a border or cut up for puzzles.)

18 pages.

Soar into spring with this fun synonym kite craftivity.  Students choose a word from the list of 70, or pick a kite word card.  They write their word on a bow and then list up to 11 synonyms.  If you want, have students make a list of antonyms on the antonym kite and glue it to the back of their synonym kite.  This packet provides several activities perfect for your Daily 5 word work.

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

4 pages.

Three posters with the most popular vowel digraphs that fit the "When two vowels go walking..." rule.  Use them as anchor charts, or print the posters off for your students and have them write examples of words that they find that apply to this rule.  These vowel posters are a special FREEBIE in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to pop on over to grab them today.

29 pages.

If you teach the rule, "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." you'll enjoy these "craftivities." This packet will be FREE for an entire year.  After which time it will be revamped & become part of my 137-page jumbo "Vowel Villains & When 2 Vowels Go Walking Packet" in my TpT shop. 

1-2-3 Come Do A Few More St. Patty's Day Activities With Me

I had a few special requests this week, and thought I'd combine them all in today's blog article.  I hope you enjoy them.

Kyanne, from Wisconsin, wanted a simple St. Patrick's Day word search for her young five students.  Even though there are a lot of word search generators out there, they mostly have uppercase letters. 

Further difficulties arrise,  because they share letters, show the words going backwards, as well as diagonally and vertically, so I usually make up my own.  I like to include a shape to add interest as well.

Word searches are a great way to practice spelling and build vocabulary, so that's why I think they should be in lowercase letters.  I also like them relatively easy (showing the words in forward-horizontal fashion) so that my kiddos don't get frustrated. 

If you want to do these easy ones with older elementary students, simply give them 1-minute to find as many as they can.  Speed games, help prepare children for timed tests in a non-stressful way.   Besides using them as a game, they are a nice plug-in for your Daily 5 word work activities too.  Click on the link to view/download the 2 St. Patrick's Day word searches.

Another way to work on words, is by giving students a themed-word and challenging them to create other words, using only the letters that appear in that word.  With that in mind, I created How Many Words Can You Find in Leprechaun, and another one for the word shamrock. 

Surprisingly, I made 97 words from the letters in shamrock, and found 161 words using the letters in leprechaun.  The packet includes recording sheets, as well as my answer keys.  Click on the link to view/download the How Many Can You Find St. Patrick's Day activity. 

Betty, from Texas, wrote that she's collected most of the number puzzles for center activites, for her PK students.  She wondered if I had any puzzles for St. Patrick's Day.  I didn't, but do now. 

I made 16, which includes some in color, as well as 5 in black and white, so that students can color their own. 

The puzzles help students practice counting to 10, counting backwards from 10 to 1, as well as skip counting by 10's to 100.  Click on the link to view/download the St. Patty's Day Puzzle Packet.

Gloria, from Wisconsin, collects my alphabet cards, and wanted some with shamrocks and kites, two big theme weeks for her kinders. 

I had already made shamrock alphabet ones, and am now working on the ABC kite cards, to add to our growing collection. 

All of the alphabet packets, include a tip list of what to do with the cards, including games like Kaboom, plus a separate set of upper as well as lowercase letters, so that you can play Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?"  games.   Click on the link to view/download the shamrock alphabet cards.  The kite cards will be done and posted by Monday.

Finally, Sara from Maine, likes to change her 10 frame math center each month.  She was looking for some with shamrocks.  I spent quite a bit of time making 10 frame templates, so it's pretty easy for me to plug in appropriate clip art to make them for any theme you do. 

If you have a special request, simply shoot me an e-mail, and I'll see what I can do.  diane@teachwithme.com  Click on the link to view/download the Shamrock 10 Frames packet.  

Just a reminder, that all of the 10 frame packets, have matching 1-2-3 Count With Me 10 Frame-Based easy readers to match. Click on the link to view/download the 123 Count Shamrocks With Me.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN away.

"Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow beloings to the people who prepare for it today." -Unknown

5 pages.

Two simple St. Patrick's Day word searches to help practice spelling and increase vocabulary.  Includes answer keys.

5 pages.

For some interesting fun on St. Patrick's Day, challenge students to find as many words as they can, using the letters in leprechaun or shamrock.

10 pages.

Review a variety of math standards during March or for St. Paddy's Day, with this shamrock 10-frames packet.  If you enjoy using 10 frames, be sure and check out the rest of our themes.  We have LOTS! I've included extra tiles to use as manipulatives for sorting, making groups/sets & patterning.