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Showing posts with label Word Study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Word Study. Show all posts

Saturday, July 8, 2017

Saturday Special: We're Going on a Letter Hunt



We’re going on a letter hunt.
We’re going to catch a big one.
I’m not scared!
What a beautiful day!

Have your students ever been on a letter hunt?  

Letter hunting provides our youngest students a chance to practice foundational reading skills- recognizing letters!

It’s a great way to practice letter recognition and automaticity, and is a must in any primary classroom.

It’s simple, really.

You just need a few supplies to make this activity an engaging, meaningful work station!

Gather up your magnetic letters (if you don’t have a gigantic stash in your classroom, I’m sure you can find them hidden in a dark closet at your school or even at a local garage sale for cheap!  Every reading teacher needs these in their classroom.  

You don't need to buy special magnetic letters, but these are my favorites... consider having a set of uppercase and lowercase. Start with uppercase as that is what you'll find on the word searches. Then later, switch to lowercase! Then they are working on MATCHING!





You’ll also need a few magnifying glasses (ask to borrow from your science teacher friends, they should have plenty to share), then get some crayons, and printed word searches.

Students doing the letter hunt activity (probably in a work on words stations or a fluency station)  will use the materials to ‘hunt’ for specific letters depending on what you are teaching that day/week/month- or just based on the letter they pull out of the bag!  

Students choose a magnetic letter from the bag, get a color crayon that matches the color of the letter- then they go hunting for as many of that letter as they can find on their word search. When a student finds that letter, they color it on their word search.  When they have hunted and found as many first letters as they can, they choose a second letter, match the crayon, and continue to hunt! Students can hunt for as many letters as their station time allows.

While it’s certainly FUN for students it’s also FUNctional!  Kids are learning tracking left to right and return sweep too!  As long as you model how to do it that way before you place the materials in a station!  :)   At the end of the station time, the student’s word search page will be a rainbow of letters found and recognized!  

And you will be a happy teacher because your students will be solidifying their letter recognition skills. It’s a win-win!  It wouldn’t be Friday without a freebie! Or in this case a Saturday Special! :)

Here are the directions to get your students started in your classroom.  

Feel free to snag this, HERE and let the letter hunting begin!
Melissa

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Vocabulary Work Station

Hey y'all! I'm posting this on Easter evening. Hope you all had a very HOPPY day with family and friends.   Having that ONE extra day of the weekend really makes such a difference doesn't it?

Let the Sunday-itis begin... but before I go to bed and watch more television that I should (that's always my Sunday-itis symptom) I will give you guys a quick freebie!

Vocabulary has been a hot button topic with a few teachers in my districts lately.  And with the Common Core State Standards, it's something we need to be aware of as teachers and be explicitly teaching to our students.

More about vocabulary instruction and what words to teach can be seen in the document.

But hopefully, this document gives you an idea for a Vocabulary Work Station that will sustain itself for the rest of your school year!

Click here to get your FREE copy!
Cheers!

Melissa

Friday, November 21, 2014

Rewordify

Have you heard of it?

If you have students that need accommodations or linguistically accommodated texts... then you need to check out REWORDIFY! You can copy/paste text into the site and voila! Look what is spits out for you to print!


Copy and paste grade level text with which your kiddos are struggling, click “rewordify” and BAM!!!!!  (well --- there’s one more step.)


Select the tab “Text/Print Activities” then click the button for “Text with Vocabulary” and hit PRINT --- and THEN, BAM!!!!!  Click around at the other options too while you're at it- but this one is my favorite! Be sure to give it a read to verify- cause it's just a computer- so mistakes are possible! 

But it's still pretty amazing if you ask me! Get to it! Rewordify!


Melissa

Monday, November 10, 2014

Writer's Workshop Folders/Tool Box

I worked with my teachers in Elgin today! We had a great day of clarifying expectations for writing and to talk specifically about mini-lessons in Writer's Workshop. If you are like my teachers, you are gearing up for Poetry Writing (K-2) and Expository Writing (3-5).  Another blog post to follow with the ideas I shared with them!

Sometimes it's the smallest things that get teachers the most excited. In this morning's training with K-2 teachers- it was the idea of writing folders!  Classroom walls are a great resource for students, but in Writer's Workshop I like to keep students heads DOWN and looking at their writing. So rather than making them look around the room to find support for writing, I give them TOOLS in their writer's toolbox.  That toolbox just happens to be the first two pockets of their writing folder! And that writing folder happens to be two folders taped/stapled together and has two OTHER pockets that hold their writing. It looks like this....






In today's training a Kindergarten teacher asked me if I had files I could send her so she could make "toolboxes" for her kids.  I told her I was sorry... I didn't have the files anymore. Which was true. But I came home (unloaded the dishwasher, changed clothes, went to the gym, ate dinner, and MADE them).  I'm hoping she will use them- and that I made them- and sent them to her before she makes them herself.  I also am posting them here so teachers everywhere (all 3 of you who read my blog! LOL!) can use them with their kiddos. You can get them FREE in my TpT store.   Happy writing!




Melissa

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Write About It Wednesday: "Say what?"

I worked with 4th and 5th grade teachers in Elgin today. We were reviewing our data from a recent District Assessment.  There was a question on said assessment about dialogue. Specifically, where the comma goes in relation to the quotation marks! Oh goodness!

It is in our student expectations that students know how to use dialogue in writing. Our students take a very special test in 4th grade in Texas. It's called the STAAR and we all know that a student who can use dialogue in writing, and use it well has mad skills as a 4th grade writer.  So, we want our students to know how to use it- and correctly. Also of note, our students have questions about editing and revising they have to answer... it is a tough test to say the least.

So it was my job today to think about ideas to support teachers in teaching our students how to use dialogue in writing.

Ummm... has anyone reviewed how to use dialogue lately? This is quite a complicated process in the English language.  Once I reviewed it myself (#notjoking) I thought about how I would teach it to students.

The first thing I had to do was break it down for students.  The easiest way I could think of was: leaders, followers, and interrupters!

In a leader sentence, dialogue leads a dialogue tag (What's a dialogue tag? he said, she said, Madelyn shouted etc.)
In a follower sentence, dialogue follows a dialogue tag
In an interrupter sentence, a dialogue tag interrupts the dialogue

I made the following anchor chart...


With students in front of my we would add examples under each type! And with our highlighters, we look at what is important about each example! Where are the capitals? That gets tricky in the interrupter examples! Where are the commas? When is there not a comma because there is ending punctuation? That gets tricky in the leader examples!

Getting kids to notice the differences, see the ways that writers can use dialogue, and to come up with examples is key!

I may give kids a handout like this  to glue into their Writer's Notebooks or to add to their writing folders as a reference.


I could also ask kids to go back and practice or create one example of each kind of sentence in their Writer's Notebooks!  Oh the possibilities! 

A second lesson on a second day might have an anchor chart like this one.... dialogue about dialogue!

** I looked at this so many times my eyes are spinning- if you find a mistake in my dialogue- please just make your chart NOT have any mistakes **

We'd want to mark it up- highlighting key features in each place where dialogue is used.  Then when students are working on using dialogue in their writing, they would have an example of a chart with dialogue in action!

This is hard stuff eh?  I am going to need more practice and so will your students. This will make a perfect work station don't you think? Editing passages with dialogue would be a great idea.

If you have an idea for how students could practice using dialogue in their writing as part of a Writing Work Station or Work on Writing in Daily Five, please share in a comment!

Melissa

Friday, May 2, 2014

Friday Freebie: Word Study Ideas

Yep! You heard me! Friday- FREEBIE!

I will be leaving DC on a jet plane tomorrow (headed back to my home in Texas). And I wanted to share a resource that was made by a DC colleague with you all.  There are still 30(or so) days of instruction in DC Public Schools- that's probably longer than what you have left in your school year depending on where you are reading this from. Like it or not- that's still a lot of time.

Maybe you want to give students something "new and novel" at a Work Station in your last month of school.Maybe you want to send home some summer work.  Maybe you want to start saving things for NEXT school year.

Whatever floats your boat. Check out this file for your Word Work Station/Working with Words Center.

Thanks to Cara Hoppe in the Office of Teaching and Learning for this great resource.

Happy last 30 (or so) days of teaching out there folks!

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Monday, March 18, 2013

'Nuff Said


Go out and GET yours! :) Oh the possibilities! 

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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

FREE Spelling Menu


Have you ever used a menu in your classroom for center work or to differentiate learning for students? I first learned about them on this site...Dare to Differentiate. This site alone is worthy of a BLOG post.  Be sure to check it out.

So how does a teacher use a menu in the classroom? They can be used for a lot of subjects/centers. They help teachers get to happy hour on Friday nights rather than having to stay at work making new centers! Every teacher loves that right? Menus (just like in a restaurant) don't change often, but there is enough variety that students have plenty of choices for how to do their work. The choices/menu items can be differentiated by difficulty (or calorie count- ha).

The example I am sharing with you is of a Spelling Menu. The words change each week, but the ways for students to practice them can be set up menu style- and therefore last a month! Happy Hour anyone?

You can get this free in my NEW Teachers Pay Teachers store. Yes, I finally did it! I want someday to make really cute stuff that is worth a buck or two, but until then, I will be giving things away for FREE! Under one condition- you have to "follow" my store if you get the download? Deal? What are you waiting for... go to my TpT store!
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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Invented Spelling

FAQ: "Is it OK for student's to use invented/phonetic spelling? What if we hang it in the hallway or send it home to parents? They can't read it!"

Invented spelling, temporary spelling, and developmental spelling are terms typically used to describe young children's spelling efforts before their spelling becomes conventional.  However, letting students spell "wrong" has bothered many people- not usually teachers however!

The fact of the matter is, invented spelling is based on knowledge of phonics.  Common sense tells us that five, six, and seven year-olds should not be expected to accurately spell all words on their first attempt. And research tells us that once students have learned more phonics and done more reading that it will of course have an impact on their spelling.  Think back- didn't your mom keep things from your childhood that had invented spelling? Wasn't it cute? Wasn't it developmentally appropriate? And guess what? You can spell now! You wrote that way then, but you can spell now.  In response to parents being able to read things that are sent home, I ask this question: "Who are you teaching? Students or parents? Who do you most want to be able to reread their writing?" My answer is students. I teach and will always be teaching students.

We have to take into account also how it feels for a student when a teacher (who is only trying to help) marks on their paper with conventional spelling. "If you write on my paper, it is no longer my paper". Children do not learn to spell by having you pour your spelling knowledge onto their work. They learn to spell by developing and extending their knowledge about letters and sounds.  They use what they know and take risks to learn more.  The place for kids to have this daily risk taking while still feeling safe to do so is Writer's Workshop.  When we write over or under student approximations at spelling, we run the risk that students will stop writing what they want to and stick to writing what they can spell.

Donald Graves (a teacher of writing teachers) stresses that children need to be able to write freely without interruption to their thoughts. Allowing children to attempt spelling enables them to use the vocabulary of their oral language in their written language. Spelling is functional- it enables the writer to express meaning. It is, therefore, a tool for writing, not a barrier to the process.  There are lots of mini-lessons for teaching "spelling" during a Writer's Workshop... those will be coming soon in another BLOG post.
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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Focus on Vocabulary Instruction

**Yes I know it is THURSDAY! I decided to go on the boat last night instead of post this! Better late than never... and I happen to think this is a GOOD ONE!**


So at a training in Killeen ISD last month I completely eavesdropped (every good teacher does that) on a conversation two teachers were having about their latest project for their classrooms.  Now, keep in mind, they walked in with a huge bundle under their arms and they even unrolled it for others to see! I could NOT, NOT ask about it!

They had made a VOCABULARY QUILT with plastic sleeves! You know, the kind you put in a 3-Ring binder! Oh yes! Teachers are brilliant! Even if you don't do this vocabulary idea, just make the quilt! I could see many uses for it! It could display student work- it could show multiple anchor charts in their "small" version and the Fire Marshall can't do anything about it because it is plastic rather than paper! See the HOW TO attached to this post as well to make your VERY OWN!
 Click Here to Learn How To Make a Shower Curtain Display


I just thought this was such a great idea. I'll be honest that I had never studied Marzano until I started working as an Education Specialist. I had never thought of the importance of DIRECT and EXPLICIT Vocabulary instruction.  If you want the research of it all you should read Marzano's book and see his other products HERE. 

The Shower Curtain Words are a way to support the use of Marzano's 6-Step Vocabulary Instruction.

In the state of Texas there is a big emphasis being placed on vocabulary- specifically the vocabulary in the standards in all content areas. If the vocabulary is in the student standard it is now "testable". Meaning, if the standard mentions figurative language, kids need to know what that is enough to have it be part of a test question on the STAAR test. So how are teachers making sure they are teach all of that vocabulary?  They are making an effort with activities like this! 


Keeping in mind though, teaching the words is one thing, but the goal of vocabulary instruction is to have the vocab become a part of your STUDENTS' language.  That is why Marzano's strategies work so well!

All steps can be found in Classroom Instruction that Works, (Marzano, Pickering, Pollock)



So Let's have some FUN! Step 6.. GAMES! Game ON! 

• Games help encourage learners to sustain interest

• Learners are requested to take part and in order to, they must understand and express information

• During games, a teacher can listen for misconceptions



In addition to the large classroom display for vocabulary words is an INTERACTIVE word wall.  

This is on a poster board and organized by unit. The large display(shower curtain) holds words that are under study in the current unit. They get changed out as the units progress. But on a poster board and attached with Velcro are baggies of words for each unit. Kids can take these off the board for use in writing, centers, etc. This gets added to as the year continues, and allows kids to have access to all their words as they learn them through the year. 

Another variation of the Interactive Word Wall is shown below.  This is done within file folders and is truly more portable. Words are tucked into the pockets. To be honest, I might use library pockets when I make my own! I could see enough of these in the classroom so that students could play their games all year long with the words right at their fingertips!  





The File Folder games can be used to play Concentration, Go Fish,  etc.  There is a long list of how teachers' can use these words in a game setting! And of course the words for each unit are color coded for easy sorting and identification! Voila! 


  
So what do you do for EXPLICIT instruction with vocabulary? How do you get your kids using the words in their everyday language.  

Thanks to the Killeen Independent School District teachers who shared this with me. Specifically Kimberly Lind! She provided the pictures and files that have been uploaded. 

Kimberly, YOU are a Rock Star! 

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