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Showing posts with label Phonics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phonics. Show all posts

Sight Word Egg Carton FREEBIE Activity


Today, I prepped a little sight word station activity that took me all but ONE hour... to prep the entire year! All you need for this sight word activity is the sight word packet (that I am giving for free), an egg carton and your sight words! I spray painted my egg carton to make it bright and pretty! I would not recommend spray paint though if you want to color your egg carton! It doesn't take very well! :-) I would use tempera paint!

To begin setting up the station, you'll cut out your letters or use letter tiles if you have some. I am putting mine in a pocket chart. To prevent them from sliding, I staple in-between the letters. It works like a charm!




Next, you will want to pick the sight words you want to use for students to practice! I typed out 8 sets of words that range from pre-primer to 2nd grade Dolch sight words.  I printed out all of the words for the year and placed them in labeled baggies so when the kids are ready, I just pull the next bag!




Fold up the words and put them in some sort of cup/container.


After you have everything prepped, find a place in the room to set up your activity! Right now, mine is set up at home because I am too impatient to wait until I get to school to set it up to show you! :-)


Once set up, the kids are ready to go! The students simply, pick one word for each egg slot. They place the word in the egg slot. Then, they read each word. If they can't read a word, they put it back and pick a new one.

After they have their words, then they use their letters to spell each word. They can lay out the letters or they can put them in the egg carton. After the kids spell the words they can do a rainbow write activity or any other word work worksheet you choose.


If you like this activity, you may also like my other word activities!

       

         



If you are interested in this activity, just click the image below! It's free for you!


Thank you!!





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Phonics in First Grade

Phonics, in my opinion is one of the most important things that we first graders teach. It sets students up for the life long ability to decode and encode unknown words. Phonics is a huge part of our day in my first grade classroom. We do a whole group lesson/activity everyday that encourages students to critically think about their phonics words. Then, I also incorporate it into guided reading if the group needs it AND I also incorporate phonics into my students literacy stations for the week. So, when I say it's a huge part of my room, I don't mean I teach it all day. I mean, I teach it each day and plug it in elsewhere for consistent exposure.

Throughout my years in the classroom, I've used a few different programs. I've seen what works and what doesn't work too well. I've taken what I've learned and ideas I've gained to create my own phonics curriculum called, "Phonics Instruction." It's important to me that students have a consistent and engaging phonics curriculum. I want students to know what's coming next to save time on giving instructions, but I do not want it to be mundane and boring. In the Phonics Instruction curriculum there is critical thinking, reading, writing, comprehending and physical movement to decode and encode words. This isn't just a spelling program, but a whole language program that takes the words for the week and puts them into context so students are reading them, gathering meaning and using them to comprehend.



As a whole group in my room: the students partake in the following activities every week to grow their understanding of the phonics skill.

Here is a peek at the kind of things we do in my classroom during phonics on a weekly basis!




During my literacy station time, students are also getting more practice with their phonics skill for the week during their word work station. I place five of the activities out. Each day, students go to word work. They get to pick which activity they would like to do that day for word work. The only requirement is, is to have four of them completed by Friday. I place a checklist in the bucket and they check off their name when they finish. Also, place a folder in that same bucket for them to put their paper in for easy grading for you! I don't mind which order they do the activities, but they all will need to get done. The format of the activities is basically the same each week so I don't need to waste time explaining directions.



Here is a peek at the literacy stations included in all of the short vowel sets.



Everything needed to have a successful phonics program is included in each phonics file, including WEEKLY LESSON PLANS! I have used these activities during my years of teaching and I enjoy them because they provide students with opportunities to discuss words with one another and use critical thinking skills to problem solve with words.

Storing these activities for easy access each year is also very simple.
I simply print the plans, books and printables. I place them in a file folder.
Then, the prepped stations and correlating activity sheets go in a plastic bag.
I keep it all in a file folder until it's needed next year!


If you are interested in checking out the short vowel phonics program that is now available for purchase, you may click the image below!



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Scavenger Hunts with WORDS!

Good afternoon! This is my favorite part of the year in first grade. The kids are reading, they're demonstrating everything they've learned and the classroom is basically running itself. This is the time of year when I am also very TIRED! I don't really have time to be laminating station cards each week or cutting them. So, I like to pull out my Scavenger Hunt with Words to keep the kids engaged.


When I first introduce this activity, I have the kids do it with me whole group. I display the spinner, I spin it and together, we search for words that fit the rule.

The best part is that I don't have to prep any station cards ahead of time. The kids simply use the words in the room. They may also look inside of books if they can't find words in the room. This activity keeps them busy!... Which I love! They're active, engaged and on task!



Another great thing about this activity is that YOU can edit the spinner to make it fit what you are focusing on in your own classroom. If you want to focus on words that start with a letter, digraph or blend, you can type it into your own spinner.

If you are interested in doing this activity with you class you can click here!



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Pete the Cat Week

Each week, I love to focus our theme around what phonics skill we are working on in the classroom, as many other teachers do. This week, we went with the famous, "Pete the Cat." He is always so much fun!


When we had our Pete the Cat week, we were still very much in the midst of learning routines and procedures, so we didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but we became better students. That's a win for me!

We began the week reading with our short a phonics lesson. I introduced 4 work families and the students helped create new words by placing letters in front of the word families. Students practiced writing the new words on their white boards.


The next day, we were introduced to our poem of the week. I get out phonics poems here. I use the sentence strips to write our poem because on day 2, I cut up the words and we work to unscramble the poem. Day 3, we see if there are any sight words in the poem. There was only 1 since we only had 5 new sight words to look for. It was our first week of words. On day 5, students read their poem to a partner to work on some fluency!


Since, we were at the start of school when we did Pete the Cat, I thought it'd be perfect to use the following directions craft from Teacher by the Beach's Cat Pack. I read, "Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes," and then we did our pete craft. When students finished they worked on number recognition with this coloring activity.


We also had learned all of our reading stations by the middle of this week. So, my students learned how to play the popcorn sight word game. They play this while they wait for me to come to the teacher table... while I'm managing the chaos of kids trying to get started at their stations with out talking (Oh, the struggle). lol

At the teacher table, we did a color word lesson. I read the book, "Pete the Cat, Too Cool for School" to the students. Then, using flash cards. We matched our crayons to the color word. Students laid their crayon on the flashcard that said the correlating color. Afterwards, students completed the coloring sheet you see below. You can grab that here.


Something to help manage students in each group that I came up with on the fly... and I think, someone else came up with it but I can't remember who? Anyway, I grabbed some graduation caps from a free table at my school and I picked 5 responsible students to be quiet captains. There is one quiet captain at each group. When their group gets too noisy, they just do the infamous, "SH, sh, SH SH SH" tune. Then, the group repeats the rhythm.


I also introduced the kids to Cause & Effect! We read the book, and identified cause and effect situations from "Pete the Cat, I Love my White Shoes." 

Afterwards, students completed this reading response. 



To end our week, we read, "Pete the Cat & His Four Groovy Buttons." Then, we made this adorable but simple craft that I found on Pinterest!
You just need, graham crackers, vanilla icing, yellow food coloring and M&M's!


Thanks for seeing what we've been up to in Mrs. Hursh's class!
I'll be back soon with details from our Fish Week for Short I!





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Learning the /AR/ Sound!

This week in phonics we have been learning all about our first r-controlled blend!! -AR-
In my classroom I feel like we are always on a time crunch and fitting in phonics along with everything else just seems near impossible. So, I have been trying to combine a bit to hit it a lot of content at once! In have been creating phonics packets to do just that! They focus on phonics, comprehension and all sorts of other language CCSS.

We have a basal at my school and honestly... I use it- but, not on a weekly basis! Sometimes the stories are just blah and my team and I just decide to do our own thing in a sense! (Like these phonics packets)!

Alright, so enough jibber jabber! Here is what I'm talking about!

-This week we began our phonics unit with a poster full of AR words that can be found here.
I display the poster on my interactive whiteboard and students help me break apart the words and identify the different AR word families.


After we learn our words we write the room! I love write the room because it gets the kids up and moving and reading their new words--Oh, and they talk about them too!! That's just amazing!


That is normally our mini-lesson as a whole class on Mondays! Then, I provide extra instruction to my struggling students during our reading station time!
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On Tuesdays we break into our phonics story of the week! 
The phonics story also has a focus on a comprehension concept. This week it was how a characters feelings can change throughout the story with a mix of how to answer questions using complete sentences! ;)


We do read this book together and as we read each page we go on a 'search' for the /AR/ words. (Remember--it's still a phonics lesson too) Students underline the words with yellow and I have a lead student at the interactive board who highlights them as well!


Below (if you can see it--oh, how I need a camera and not an iPhone camera) - this little guy did an awesome job answering the questions in complete sentences! This week we read the questions together and then students would share complete sentences with one another - we share a few together and then students write their own sentence! Love it!! (Can you say we hit that speaking standard?) :) :)


1. Shark Dark felt happy when he got his art homework
2. When shark saw everyone else's card he felt sad because the other cards were different.
3. Shark felt happy because his art teacher said his card and jar and candy was the best.

On the back of the page above I copied the other comprehension practice page. This part just reviews some previously learned comprehension concepts. This week we reviewed main character, setting, sequencing and identifying a detail in the story! This was the students morning work this morning!! ;)
This is how I save time so we can get other things in!! :)


On Thursdays we practice spelling our words together in the morning and that takes about 5-10 minutes. I provide extra phonics support in small group throughout the week AND there are three HAVE TO activities that students must complete during their literacy station.
They are below! :)

Students magnify the tiny words. They write the words correctly and illustrate. Having the students illustrate tells me if they can actually read the word or not. It's a very easy way to assess! :)


I always love a sorting station to help students differentiate phonetic sounds. Students this week are sorting words with AR sounds and other A sounds. Then, they color code them (with a few extra words added in) ;)



 This week I put in an ABC order center and I know, I know this little one got one wrong but... guess what I do with that! I take her back and review with her how to alphabetize words that begin with the same letter!! (Plus she has a cute picture--so blog post worthy)!!

Students also have a simple assignment that they complete at read to a partner each day and it is all about fluency!!
Students read all six sentences to their partner while their partner times how long it takes them! I swear this works and OMG they have a blast!!! It is so cool to see their times decrease from Monday to Friday!

All of these goodies can be found in my packet below called, "Working with /AR/"


Also, stay tuned for my next upcoming phonics packet!! Oh, this one is going to be just as great!!
This one will focus on the R-Controlled vowel /OR/!

I have a few other phonics packs as well! I hope to get all sorts of phonics packs like these completed for you guys to enjoy with your kids!!








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I'm a WHOLE LOTTA EXCITED! & FREEBIE *

If you can't tell from my header... I just got a whole lotta excited!! Since like March I have been slowly chipping away at a new phonics packet for ew and ue. I haven't really dove right into it because I just felt like wasn't anything special... not engaging enough and frankly... I just wasn't into it so it wasn't my best work (not to say that it's bad *ahem* ;) )

Anyway... searching through blogs...looking at clipart I bought forever ago but haven't decided what I was going to use it for I got an AHA moment!

 So... I am taking a little bit of what I learned in high school chemistry class and combining it with a new ew, ue unit! Sounds like fun already right?!! I think so!... We're also going to add blue paint, sticky stuff and some play dough?..blue of course!
 
I am also in the search for a children's book about "blue"... Do you know of a good one?!
 
Here is the cover for it & that's all I have done so far! :) I am so excited! I have a list full of ideas for this and I can't wait to post it for you (and just plain use it for my own room)! Kids are going to go crazy over this!
 
 
So... what's the whole point of this post?...to tell you how excited I am?.. yah, but also to give you what I was working on for UE/EW stuff. I swear it's not bad, but just wasn't exciting enough for me! :)
 
Click on the cute freebie picture below!
 
 

 
Stay tuned! I hope to have this up soon!
 
Also, the unit on how Native Americans use different types of buffalo is ALMOST complete! This one is so fun and can be used for grades 1-4. It is so versatile & fun!

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