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Showing posts with label word work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label word work. Show all posts

Wondering what will keep them engaged the last week before Christmas?

If you are already on vacation, congratulations for surviving! If you're still going, like I am, you'll be needing something extra special to keep those restless, overtired children engaged!
 
Wondering what will keep them engaged the last week before Christmas? Here are some ideas freebies, and resources that will keep even the most rambunctious children engaged!

This week we did some STEM activities from this set: S.T.E.M. Activities for December.



The children had a great time creating face warmers for Santa!
Wondering what will keep them engaged the last week before Christmas? Here are some ideas and resources that will keep even the most rambunctious children engaged!

And designing workshops for elves!
Wondering what will keep them engaged the last week before Christmas? Here are some ideas and resources that will keep even the most rambunctious children engaged!

Every student was engaged, plus there was learning going on! Their reflections really showed they were learning about the Engineering Process, as well as learning to work as part of a team. I was proud of their achievements!

There's a lot going on this coming week. (Yes, we go through Friday afternoon at 3:30!) I'll be pulling out all the stops with some of my favorite holiday activities. 

We'll be painting, illustrating, and reading some of my favorite holiday stories. We'll also bring in a little Science and Social Studies with this resource: Science and Social Studies Activities for December.



They'll be reading informational text about the North Pole and about the Aurora Borealis, practicing their mapping skills with a map of the North Pole, sorting Christmas scents, and learning about laws by sorting elf laws.
 

Besides all this fun, I'll be pulled out of class on Thursday for an IEP meeting, so I'll be assigning some of the pages from this resource: Holiday No Prep Activities.



I can be sure the children will be getting fun practice on important reading, writing, and math skills with these! 

If all else fails, it's time to pull out the glitter! (Yes, I plan to!)

Of course, I hate to leave for vacation without being ready for that first week back! Here are a couple of resources I'll be pulling out at the beginning of January!

Thank You Cards

These may be going out of style for some, but grandparents still prefer a handwritten thank you card. Who doesn't want to keep grandparents happy?
 




Here's a little something extra they can do with these calendars!

Wondering what will keep them engaged the last week before Christmas? Here are some ideas and resources that will keep even the most rambunctious children engaged!



Wondering what will keep them engaged the last week before Christmas? Here are some ideas freebies, and resources that will keep even the most rambunctious children engaged!

My Plans for April Fool's Day

The laughter of children is one of my very favorite sounds!


That's why I go out of my way to hear it on April Fool's Day in my classroom!
 
My Plans for a Productive (and fun) April Fool's Day! Here are a couple of resources to help learning happen on April Fool's Day!

These are my plans for April Fool's Day!

Explore this image for a link to this fun resource!

This set has more than enough to spend the day on fun, silly activities, yet still squeeze in a little learning and skill work!

For math, there are story problems (with silly situations, of course!), three-digit mental math (adding hundreds) math fact review, and balancing equations-second grade style!

For word work, there's a great list of April Fool's day words, sentence writing, alphabetical order, compound words, and spelling practice.

There's an April Fool's themed writing practice.

For reading, there's prediction and visualizing.

This should keep those little guys busy, and happy, too! You'll be hearing that delightful laughter!

Just see the image for the link!

Explore this image for a link to this fun resource!



See this link, for this math resource, too! This is a sample of the larger resource above... just the math stories!

Looking for more April Fool's Day learning fun? 

Check out these other blog posts.


My Plans for a Productive (and fun) April Fool's Day! Here are a couple of resources to help learning happen on April Fool's Day!



Signs of Spring Resources

It has been one long cold winter here in New Hampshire!

From what I understand, it's been a long cold winter all over the US!
Signs of Spring Resources - Are you and your students ready for spring? Here are several ideas and resources to make sure that fun learning is happening!

Spring in New England shows up in mid-April, but as I was driving to my hair appointment this morning, I saw a couple of signs of Spring!

I saw buckets on maple trees!
 
Signs of Spring Resources - Are you and your students ready for spring? Here are several ideas and resources to make sure that fun learning is happening!
I know Vermont is the big state for maple syrup, but we do it here in New Hampshire, too! The maple syrup tapping is actually late this year, because the weather's been so cold. They need cold nights and warm days for the sap to flow. We've had plenty of cold nights, but today, we had a warm day. The temp actually went up to 50! I actually took my coat off in the car, and didn't even button it when I was outside! It was fabulous!

Here's the other sign of spring I saw... 
a little something green:
Signs of Spring Resources - Are you and your students ready for spring? Here are several ideas and resources to make sure that fun learning is happening!

Yep, McDonald's Shamrock Shakes are definitely a sign that spring is coming!

I have a few things about spring up my sleeve. I always make sure I have plenty of books about the subject.  Here are a few of my favorites:


I always make sure I read a few to the kids, but I also make sure I've got them in the book tubs so the kiddos will explore them.

I think videos are great to help the children understand concepts, especially things like how seasons work.  Here are a couple I've found!
 
What Causes Earth's Seasons: (10:48 min)

How Seasons Work (58 seconds)
 

How Equinox's Work: Beyond Our Earth (2:24 minutes)

Try them all and see which one you like best!

As most teachers know, squeezing in science and social studies topics is tough, since most of our time is dedicated to reading, writing, and math! In my attempt to keep some of the fun stuff in the classroom, I've included signs of spring in with important literacy and math concepts in this set of No Prep Printables: Signs of Spring Printables: Literacy and Math. I've got some math story problems, popular fact games, word work, writing, and comprehension work, all somehow connected to Signs of Spring. 

Explore this image for a link to this time saving resource.

Spring is a great time to teach about life cycles! Here's a bundle of crafts and activities for the life cycles of 9 different plants and animals, at a huge discount! Spring Life Cycle Bundle

Explore this image for a link to this money and time saving resource.


Here are some other games and activities with a spring theme:

Some of my students are struggling to remember the +9 and -9 Facts, so I made this game to make practicing fun: Adding and Subtracting Nines: Spring Flower Theme

Explore this image for a link to this helpful resource.


My kids are working on using mental math for adding and subtracting. This game board has a set of cards for addition mental math, and a set of cards for subtraction mental math. Plus, it's got built-in brain breaks! It's a favorite in my classroom: Mental Math Addition and Subtraction: Spring Board Game.
Explore this image for a link to this popular resource.

Finally, this is a collection of 6 different games that are related to spring. It has word work, grammar, and plenty of math games, all made for second graders, but are also appropriate for high firsts or review for third graders. See the image to take a closer look at Literacy and Math Games Spring Bundle.


Happy Spring!

Signs of Spring Resources - Are you and your students ready for spring? Here are several ideas and resources to make sure that fun learning is happening!

How Do I Squeeze in Mardi Gras?

I really like to find ways to celebrate all those special days, but it's not easy to squeeze everything in. 

How Do I Squeeze in Mardi Gras? There is so much going on, how do we find time to enjoy those "fun" holidays? Here are a few suggestions!

Mardi Gras is just about fun, and it's at a time of the year when the children really need something to lift their spirits, so I find a way to squeeze it in... by having the Mardi Gras theme overlap what I need to teach anyway!  Like Math!

Well, for one, I thought I'd squeeze a little Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day into math time with these math problems:
 


Explore this image for a link to this fun resource!


Here's another fun way to "squeeze in" Mardi Gras without losing time developing important skills: Mardi Gras No Prep Printables! These practice important skills, but have a Mardi Gras theme. These are great if you are going to be out for the day or are so busy you don't have time to plan! 



Explore this image for a link to this popular resource!

But first, I'll read them a book on Mardi Gras and let them make some masks on Monday. (That way, the math problems will make a whole lot more sense on Tuesday!)

Each title is an affiliate link to Amazon.





How do you manage to squeeze in the fun stuff this busy time of year?


How Do I Squeeze in Mardi Gras? There is so much going on, how do we find time to enjoy those "fun" holidays? Here are a few suggestions!


Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Syllables... and Then Some

Did you know there were 6 kinds of syllables?


Some: This post discusses the 6 syllable types and why these are important in learning to read. It includes a multi-syllable freebie!


Knowing the different kinds of syllables will help the children move as readers from reading basic single-syllable words to multi-syllabic words like watermelon and helicopter.


However, children shouldn't be trying to decode multi-syllabic words until they have mastered single-syllable words with blends, digraphs, short vowels, long vowel patterns, r-controlled vowels,  diphthongs and other vowel pairs, prefixes, and suffixes.


In my second grade class, I'm still working on fluency with short vowels with several of my students, but my top readers are very much able to decode multi-syllabic words, as well as spell them!

Here are the six kinds of syllables:

  • Closed Syllable - These are short vowels followed by a consonant, such as  num in number, or vel in velvet
  • Vowel Consonant e Syllable - This is your classic long vowel/ silent e pattern such as ade in parade or cide in decide.
 
  • Open Syllable - These are long vowel syllables that end with the vowel such as ta in table and spi in spider.
 
  • Consonant l e Syllable - These are at the ends of words like ble in table and tle in little.
 
  • R- Controlled Syllable - These have an r controlled vowel such as gar in garden and der in under
 
  • Vowel Digraph/ Diphthong "D" Syllable - These contain a diphthong or a vowel diagraph. (Sometimes called "vowel teams") Examples are thou as in thousand and poi as in poison.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Syllables... and Then Some: This post discusses the 6 syllable types and why these are important in learning to read. It includes a multi-syllable resource!
Why is it important to teach syllables?  When readers break unfamiliar words into syllables, the words become easier to decode. Learning about syllables also help students remember spelling patterns. Knowing how to decode syllables will help children become more fluent readers, and studies show that fluency helps comprehension. And that's our goal, isn't it?  
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Syllables... and Then Some: This post discusses the 6 syllable types and why these are important in learning to read. It includes a multi-syllable resource!

Many teachers teach syllables by having the children clap the beat of the syllables. This works for most children. 

A more tactile way is to teach the children to place their hand under their jaw as they say the words. As the mouth will open for every vowel sound (and each syllable represents a vowel sound) the jaw will tap the hand for each syllable.  

Want to read more about syllables?


  • Six Syllable Types on Reading Rockets was co-written by my instructor of the LETRS training, so it's got to be quality information!  (And interesting, too!)
  • Vocabulary.co.il has a couple of syllable games and videos for the kids.

I've put together a resource with a couple of lists that can be used for practicing with syllables. There are a few options for using my syllables lists. They could be used simply as lists for children to practice reading. They could also be cut out and shuffled, for the kids to sort. They could sort by syllable type, or simply how many syllables are in the words. Find your resource here: Reading 2 and 3 Syllable Words.

Enjoy this resource and your 6 kinds of syllables!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Syllables... and Then Some: This post discusses the 6 syllable types and why these are important in learning to read. It includes a multi-syllable resource!!
 

Want some more work on syllables? 

Check out Buggy Syllables 

and 


Plus, here's a blog post that explains more about why children should practice nonsense words:

 https://www.elementarymatters.com/2013/09/why-do-we-practice-nonsense-words_25.html 



Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Syllables... and Then Some: This post discusses the 6 syllable types and why these are important in learning to read. It includes a multi-syllable resource!

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