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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Sight Word Reading Fluency

Today in my reading groups, I was able to use the Sight Word Fluency Reads in a variety of ways.  
Check it out!

 In this photo, the student's sight word was went.  
He was able to make and break the word, but was struggling with retaining the word.
It is sometimes difficult for my lower students (I service IEP students, as well as Title
to retain the sight words out of context. We have though worked on a story that used the word went repeatedly.  Today, after working on the word went again, I was able to go to the sight word fluency checks
and he practiced reading the pyramid sentence.  He enjoys reading these and feels successful.
I have to say how proud of him I am.  He is a student with a reading disability--serviced with an Intervention Specialist as well.  He has repeated first grade (now in 2nd).  He knew MAYBE 5 words (3-5 words anyway) on the pre-primer list.  He mastered all of his pre-primer sight words within the first month of school.  I say that's pretty successful for this little guy!!  I'm truly proud of how far he's come so far!

My next group of students were playing our Halloween Boo game.   
This game is played like rotten banana, crash, crazy cat, etc....Anyway
When they came to an unknown word (the word was pretty), we were able to pull out 
our fluency read story and use the sight word in a sentence, get our mouth ready, and use meaning to determine the unknown word.  This, I'm finding, is helping them get those words to stick! :)

Here my students are looking for the sight word the.  
Why is the such a hard word--and is too! 
So they were using wikki stix to find the word I called out. 
 
The kids have enjoyed these reads.  
I enjoy the simplicity of having a ready resource available for sight words.
My coworkers that I've shared with have enjoyed having something for their lower students to 
put in their book boxes that make them feel successful.
AND they are working!!!! 
 
I have put both the primer and the pre-primer in a binder.
I separated the sets with a colored piece of paper.
That lets me know where to turn for the group I'm working with.
Each fluency read is in a sheet protector, back to back with another read.
I keep the binder on my guided reading table in my teacher tub and I refer to it daily.
 
If this sounds like something you can use, click on one of the images below.
 
Pre-Primer Fluency Reads-First Grade and Fabulous
 
 
Fluency Reads-Primer Words-First Grade and Fabulous


Another activity my students have enjoyed this week was playing this little vowel game.



It's a little freebie on TpT. 
You can see it by clicking on the image below.
Medial Vowel Game--Freebie by First Grade and Fabulous

If you enjoy this game, you may want to check out these fun fall packs.
Click the image to read about them! :)
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Differentiated-Literacy-Stations-Engaging-Activities-for-Common-Core-939951

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Happy-Fall-Yall-Differentiated-Math-Activities-925531



Have a GREAT Halloween weekend!! :)
 

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

My Days in Pictures

I'm guilty of taking pictures and rarely blogging about them.  I used to blog and rarely take pictures.  One of these years, I will get the hang of doing both together! :)  I do share on IG or FB--it just seems so much easier sometimes! :)   Anyway, for now, here is what I've been up to in my little classroom world.  I thought I'd share some of the fun things my kiddos have been working on, and what I've been working on. Keep in mind my groups are only about 15 minutes a piece, back to back--ALL DAY LONG!  Sometimes I think the games are played so that I don't lose my focus! :)

 First, have you ever had to have a sub for PDs or in my case, a sick child? (I hate not having family local that can help--but that's another story.)  Planning can be such a pain, especially when you haven't quite go a handle on your routine yourself.  I stick things in a tub---seriously.  A dish tub holds my activities for the day.  Last year I used a basket, but I service more kids this year, so I needed to use something bigger.  My subs always comment on my organizational skills.  Really?  I thought every teacher was a bit anal and OCD like me.  I place the day's activities by group/time in the basket.  I use sticky notes if there's something special I need them to attend to with a group or student.  I give directions on how to get to each teacher's room from my room.  I guess I'm a bit over the top, but I think it is appreciated.  I know that I would want my day to be laid out for me if I were in their place. It surely can't be easy to hear, "That's not how "so and so" does it. "  AND--I know that kids do say those things.  I heard it when I tried to teach my own homeroom art one time.  Let's face it---I am SOO not an artist!  :) 

 While on the topic of organizing, do you own my All Sorts of Sorts? 
Click image cover below to see it on TpT.
All Sorts of Sorts

Even if you don't own this pack, you can use this idea with other activities as well.
Since I'm working with several different groups/skill levels and back to back throughout the day, I needed a way to keep my activities right at my fingertips.  I took all my skill cards, and placed them by vowel sound, word family, etc.  and place them inside a baseball sheet protector. Then I place the page protectors and stuck them in a binder (and they are in my tub---I use my tub for myself too--not just my subs.  Okay, I'm a tad bit over the top when it comes to the whole neat factor!) ;)  This has worked great for me because if I want to review various vowel sounds, or just have them practice CvC words with one vowel, they are right there at my fingertips and I can change them as I need to for each group.  


The baseball sheet protectors I used came from Amazon. 
Here's a link if you want to check them out. 


I have also found keeping my fluency reads in a binder creates a quick way to check for sight words in text.  Students can ring words with wikki sticks which they love to do.  They can use the pages and track print without me getting syrupy fingers (oh how I love breakfast being brought to the resource room!) all over our reading binder! 
By the way, these were such a hit and I had students mastering their sight word checks that I have now created the primer word list reads.  Check out both sets by clicking on the images below or click HERE.

Fluency Reads-Preprimer Words

Fluency Reads-Primer Words

Earlier this fall, we worked on CvC words, real vs. nonsense words, and spacing between words and sentences.  The little apple activity can be found HERE

 But the book Hop on Pop, something I never noticed before, was how great it is to use for spacing.

 I read through the word list super fast and the kids thought I was crazy.  They could hear some sight words, they could see some sight words, but it didn't make sense to them.  Insert---the spaces!  Yep, it registered!  SWEET!  And I just grabbed that idea from the air as I was reading the last page.  Those spur of the moment lessons, not on the plans---they tend to be the best, don't you think?
  
 See this great little activity above?  One of my groups was having a hard time with hearing the ending sound of our CvC words.  I took out a 3 compartment tray (thank you Dollar tree) and we tapped out the sounds.  I dropped the bean bag into the last compartment as we tapped it out so they could visually see and hear what we were producing at the end.  This helped them with those tricky ending sounds. Like the station activity?  Click the link below--it will take you straight to Lakeshore's website. 
 

 Other groups worked on building CvC words. 
 
We used activities from these packs. You can click on either cover below to check it out on TpT.
At word pack-first grade and fabulous
An Word Family-First Grade and Fabulous

The phoneme substitution activity came in handy as an easy transition to learning how to do my
Making Words activities.

The phoneme substitution ctivity is a freebie on TPT.
You can check it out by clicking on the image below. 

Phoneme Substitution Freebie--First Grade and Fabulous
I have plans to create more of these activities to help my students in stations with making words. :)

 As some groups were able to read CvC words, we began using them in cloze activities.
  
 You can find this activity in the Fun Phonics pack.  
I have also placed these in sheet protectors and just reused with other groups.  
The kids like them when the realize how quickly they can read the word family words at the top. 
You can download a sample from the pack below on TPT by clicking on the image. 
Fun Phonics-First Grade and Fabulous

 I wanted to increase vocabulary within writing with one of my groups.
 I read aloud Pumpkin Soup--Cute story by the way.
Students were to listen to the way the author used the words in the story. 
We talked about all the different ways to say walk and the meaning behind each one. 
They did a great job thinking about how the words.
Here's a link to the story.




Finally, my students are having a great time playing games from this pack!
Fall Reading Activities-First Grade and Fabulous



Ohh, and do you use Edmark?  Trying to get a feel for this reading program.  
And here is my way of having my 2nd grade students have work they can do in their classrooms during D5.
Am I on the right track?




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