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TeacherPayTeacher, Baseball sight words and parts of speech!

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2nd Grade
IDOE
Hoosier Family of Readers
My On Books
Over 4,000 digital titles
70% Nonfiction

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IDOE
Celebrate 200 Years
Hoosier Family of Readers!!

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Motivate students with red dot points every month

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Make sure to be consistence with guided reading groups

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Use dry erase markers to practice writing letters

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This is by far one of my favorite parts of D5. My students have loved all the activities I've made for them. I split up this chapter because I have so many ideas that I have used for writing & word work & wanted to share them with you! I do work work activities based around spelling, vocab, seasonal, word wall, amazing & sight words. First I show them some but not all the materials they can use during word work. They must know where to find the materials and where to put them back independently. Then I go over the following chart.

Click on the pic to take you to your freebie Work on Writing/Word Work packet.

Now I'd like to show you some of my ideas for Word Work. You have to make it fun & exciting for them. Make things so they don't even realize they are learning. My kids would fight over going to Word Work & it was because I always had different things to offer. Their VERY FAVORITE Word Work activity is the following games I developed.

Here is how I store all the different games. I might change the baggies to soap boxes this year.

Click on the Candy Land link at the top of my page to take you below!

This is a small snippet of my Candy Land page. There are 150+....yes 150+ different games! I have any Language Arts or Math games you would ever need. I even have Houghton Mifflin, Treasures & Scott Foresman games available. I know those games aren't all the way complete but they will be...I promise.

My kiddos BEG....BEG....BEG to play with this during Work Work. It is their FAVORITE thing to do during Word Work time. They even want to play this during indoor recess. Seriously, they don't even realize their learning...they think their just playing a game. They get to play this at least 2x/week during Word Work. I even loan out games for tutoring, to take home, RtI, ELL & Reading Recovery.

I added math games that I will be adding to my new math stations this year. Last year we were required to do a 90 minute literacy block....that is why I developed this product. This year we are required to have a 60 minute math block. Hopefully the kids don't have to use the bathroom or go to the nurse because there will be no time for that nonsense (insert sarcasm).

I had all these containers filled with activities that were basically collecting dust. Not since D5!

These are just blocks from the $ store & they made words with them (Real & Nonsense).

One side would be real words & the other side are nonsense words.

I had to take this pic! One of my little nuggets came up to me & said...."I swear I didn't do it on purpose!" Me: "Give me a sec I want to take a picture of this".....him "Please don't put this on the blog!" I have a classroom blog! He said his mom will recognize his arm! I miss him!

Here are a ton of bingo games, mostly from that they played once a week depending on the skills we were working on.

These are also from Lakeshore! The kids really loved making words with these!

I basically have every set of these Lakeshore quiz show games. They also have digital games now as well. Check them out

These are from Lakeshore too....surprise! They are unscrambling sentences during Word Work.

This is a digital version of a Working with Words game from Lakeshore. They have games for vocab, grammar, reading, word work, & phonics! Check them out here! I have them all!

I spent so much time printing, cutting & laminating this year! I also put out seasonal centers once a week. My favorite centers come from the ladies at Made for 1st Grade. Check out their store here.I store all my centers below. I actually have to switch to bigger drawers since I was such a psycho buying centers on TPT. Seriously....I bought so many! I have a sickness I tell you!

These colorful magazine bins from IKEA store all sorts of Daily 5 goodies! As we come upon a skill I just take the bin over to the word work station & shift stuff around..model it for my little nuggets & they are good to go for the week!

Next is these cute little pretend iphones & ipads from Dragonflies in First! The kids thought they were sooooooo cool. I would have them "text" their spelling words & then write them.

I asked our tech department if they had old keyboards & they did! I would have them type their spelling words if they got finished with an activity early.

NEXT, is my "game organization". I make games & I have also purchased MANY from Kathy @ First Grade Ala Carte...her games are AWESOME! Anywho, I was going slightly INSANE with all the games I purchased & made so I needed some kind of organization because my bins from above were EXPLODING & I had no more room for anything! At our school we have started to tutor..ugh...& a half of my grade level coworkers tutor in my room so I needed to get all this stuff organized so that we could easily pull it out of a drawer, bin, shelf etc. with ease.....2.5 seconds after we walk in the door! So this is what I came up with.....

This is my Language Arts binder. I put all the game from Kathy or myself in sheet protectors. In the back of each game is where the cards & answer sheet or any accountability sheets are stored. We can easily pull out the sheet protector & leave the binder OPEN & simply put it back in it's place when we are done.

This is a binder that I have divided by vowels, digraphs, blends, & sight words. I laminated each game that I bought from Kathy @ First Grade Ala Carte or that I made & hole punched it & placed it in this binder. The only thing these particular games need is a die or dice & game markers for each player.

Check out Kathy's store here!

Here is a drawer full of game markers..........

And here are the dice...of course they have a choice :o)

I found this for $10 last summer at a garage sale! Be jealous. This is where I store some of my materials for Word Work.

Click on the pic for your freebie!

Here is the ULTIMATE FREEBIE! Click on the pic above to grab your Daily 5 FREEBIE & don't forget to follow me while you are there!

More word work rotation sheets........................

Stop drooling! I love school supplies like I know all of you do. My students love the choices they have with all of these school supplies to rainbow write. There are thin & thick markers, crayons, glittery crayons, colored pencils, highlighters, gel pens, smelly markers & those pens with the funky tops

Have you ever seen this game????? It's called HEDBANZ...CHECK IT OUT HERE! it's actually a cute game but I just switched it to make it more educational. I use the sight word cards that you see in the background for this word work station. You can easily create your own flashcards using index cards. This can even be used for math facts! Check my kids out in action........

I know...HOLY CUTENESS! Here is how it goes....the boy in the grey sweatshirt is "it". The children starting with the cutie pie in the blue shirt spell the word on his headband & he has to guess his word. If he guesses he picks the next person to be "it" & then they spell their word. After everyone gets done then WITHOUT looking they flip their card over & start over until it's time for a new card. Great way to review or learn new sight words on a weekly basis...don't ya think?!!?

Holy guacamole was that a LONG post! It took FOREVER! I hope I gave you some ideas for word work! You wouldn't hurt my feelings if you left me a comment :o) Oh, the first five to comment with their EMAIL can choose any Candy Land game from my store!

Click on the Pinterest button above & follow my Daily 5 & Daily 5 book study boards!

If you would like to join the linky party YOU MUST LINK DIRECTLY TO YOUR D5 POST OTHERWISE IT WILL BE TAKEN DOWN.

Check out our chapter 6 hostesses below:

Our chapter 7 hostesses are these fabulous bloggers!

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This is by far one of my favorite parts of D5. My students have loved all the activities I've made for them. I split up this chapter because I have so many ideas that I have used for writing & word work & wanted to share them with you!

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Buy alphabet letters that you can put on a necklace and have students put the letters on the necklace string to practice making sight words.

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Mobymax.com
abcya.com
starfall.com
spellingcity.com

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Kindergarten and first grade ideas, activities, and curriculum!

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Read to self/read to a buddy

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Put letters on popsicle sticks. Put popsicle sticks in empty kleenex box. Pull sticks out and practice saying letters. As students get better have them start spelling words.

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Use letter stamps in play dough to practice sight words.

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Organization + Literacy Work Stations = Super Long Post because I love love love lit stations!

It all started when I read this book...

The Structure for my lit stations came from here. Then I took bits and pieces and made them my own. Currently I have 12 lit stations going at a time. I have 15-16 but that allows for me to change out stations to keep the kiddos interested. I do not add materials throughout the week as we do them as Debbie Diller suggests (I tried...it just doesn't work for me). I instead switch out many of the materials every other week. Most of the stuff the kids have been exposed to so it is usually a quick introduction of the new stations. Here is a picture of my work board.

The kids do 3 rotations a day which lasts for about 45 minutes total. They are in pretty small groups which works great. That is why I have to have so many stations going at once. During this time I am able to see 3 reading groups and my co-teacher is able to see 3 reading groups (more on this later).

Here is a list of my stations as well as what we do at each station:

ABC Station- This changes throughout the year. At the beginning of the year the kids work on making the alphabet with different materials. They also do activities and play games involving letter sounds. As the year goes on, the kids play games involving blends, rhyming, and segmenting words.

Handwriting Station- Here the kids work mostly on letter formation. I print off pages with their names and laminate them. I also have lots of different letter worksheets that I laminate. Recently I wrote sentences with sight words for the kids to copy.

Game Station- At this station I put a lot of games and puzzles. Many of the games have been played in whole group or guided reading so the kids are familiar and can play them independently. This is also where I put things like word searches.

These are the buckets that hold the ABC, Handwriting, and Game Station.

Making Words Station- This is where I put things like play dough, foam dough, etc. for the kids to manipulate and make words. This station also has things like letter beads and stamps for the students to make words.

Write the Room- I change the paper at this station to keep variety. Here are some links to good Write the Room Pages...

Pocket Chart- This station is where I put tons of great sorts that I have found on blogs or gotten from other teachers.

These drawers are where the materials are held. On top of that is the "Write the Room Station" and next to that are materials for the pocket chart work station.

Exploration Station- This goes with our theme. If I have science materials for the kids to explore I will put them in buckets. The students can write about what they see on this form...

Here is what the exploration station looks like- pretty simple...just some books and materials that are tied to our theme.

White Board Station- This is a super simple station that stays the same from week to week. The kids love white boards. They are only allowed to write ABC's and SIGHT WORDS. I keep a stock of word rings and word lists nearby for the kids to look off of.

Fine Motor Station- At this station there are lots of materials that allow the kids to use their "tiny muscles." The kids actually call this the tiny muscle station. I have puzzles, letter beads, letter pasta, number beads, etc. For most of the materials the students are instructed that they are only allowed to use tweezers (I bought 2 packs of tweezers at the Dollar Tree).

The materials are stored in these small buckets.

Name Station- Here the students do lots of activities that incorporate names. I purchased another Debbie Diller book from Really Good Stuff that has tons of name activities that I try to incorporate into this station.

Magnet Letter Station- This is another simple station. The bucket that you see has tons of alphabet letters. The job...make words with magnet letters on the front of the heater. Right now the kids are working on word families.

Poetry Station- At this station the kids can read from their poetry notebooks (in the buckets on the top of the picture), read poetry books, or put poems into the pocket charts below. The poems are kept in envelopes and written on strips. The kids like to highlight the poems with a report cover that I cut up.

Listening Station- At this station the kids listen to a book and then they usually fill out some type of recording sheet.

Here are a few great posts from other bloggers that have response sheets-

Read the Room- At this station the kids use pointers and walk around the room to find words/letters they know.

Reading/Big Book Station- Here the kids explore books that are in our classroom library and big books that we have read as a group.

Clean up/Storage- I would show a picture but I am on break. Currently my literacy work station materials are housed in 2, 2 drawer legal sized file cabinets. At the back of each cabinet I have a crate with hanging files that I use to store the papers that go with these stations. Each drawer contains materials for just a few stations. If the materials can be used at different stations (play dough, beads, etc) then they go into their own drawer. As of right now this system works for me although I have been getting a lot of great games and materials from other blogs :)

Here are some of my other blog posts about literacy work stations. I could go on and on all day...

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Organization Week- Day #2 : Literacy Centers

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Organization + Literacy Work Stations = Super Long Post because I love love love lit stations! It all started when I read this book... The Structure for my lit stations came from here. Then I took bits and pieces and made them my own. Currently I have 12 lit stations going at a time.

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Magnet letters on the air vent or magnetic dry erase boards to practice sight words.

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Stamp words....use stamps and ink pads to practice and spell words.

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Will continue to use set reading goals (thermometers) to guide independent reading conferring.

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/4th-Grade-Reading-Workshop-455820

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https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/5th-Grade-Reading-Interactive-Notebook-aligned-with-the-Common-Core-741689

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Today's blog post will be a quickie. I was just so excited about my latest Target find, I had to share it with my teaching friends! So let's get started with our build a sight word fun!

I knew it was going to be a good trip because this was the first thing I saw when I walked in the door. I could have bought absolutely nothing and seeing this sign would have made my trip worthwhile.

Th is article, along with many other articles on The Printable Princess, contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase through the links I earn a small commission. Clicking these links does not cost you any extra but helps this website to keep great articles and freebies coming your way.

But thankfully that wasn't the case. I did find something. I found a TREASURE in the Dollar Deals section. This might be my most favorite find EVER! These little gems were $3.

So why was this such a big deal?! Well, earlier this week on my Facebook page, I posted an awesome sight word activity that I found from Carolyn at Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together. She had her students build sight words using Mega Blocks. You can read her post here.

I loved the idea. I mean, it's pure brilliance to put sight words on TOYS! What kid wouldn't love that?!

But, I was SO bummed because I didn't have the blocks to make the center. I had them at one point but now that I need them, I can't find them! Does that happen to anyone else?!

Nonetheless, I shared the activity for all those lucky ones that might have the blocks tucked away in their closet.

Here's a picture of what the activity looks like. It's SO easy to prep. I just took a sharpie marker and wrote the letters right on the blocks.

I realize not everyone may be able to run out to Target right now (or these may no longer be sold there), but you can purchase your own set for "Build a Sight Word" from Amazon by clicking here.

I made a recording sheet to go with the activity. I want my students to write the words that they worked on.

I really like having a recording sheet to go with most of my independent centers. I feel like it holds students accountable for their work. Also, it shows parents what their child is working on at school.

So whenever it's possible, I try to include a recording sheet.

CLICK HERE to download the FREE Build a Sight Word recording sheet.

Thanks for reading along as I gushed about my Build a Sight Word excitement!

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Build a Sight Word (plus recording sheet)

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Today's blog post will be a quickie. I was just so excited about my latest Target find, I had to share it with my teaching friends! So let's get started with our build a sight word fun! I knew it was going to be a good trip because this was the first thing I saw when ...

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Safer way for kids to search for topics!

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Kiddle is a safe search engine, offering a safe web, image, and video search. Results are vetted by editors.

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Middle Sound Cups and how to teach kids to find middle sounds of words

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Middle Sound Cups and how to teach kids to find middle sounds of words

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Today I am going to tell you about a new idea called CVC Cups that I have been experimenting with for the last couple of months! CVC Cups helps kids practice finding the middle sounds of CVC words. My kids really like this activity, and I hope that yours will, too!

To prepare this activity, you will need to find some clear cups and some solid colored cups. Both cups must be about the same size so that they fit together well as shown in the photo. Finding the cups is really the hardest part of the prep work, I think! I had to buy several different brands of cups before I found some that fit together well. Hopefully, you can benefit from my mistakes and just get the same brands that I did, and save yourself a little money!

I got my colored cups from the Party City store in my town, and then found them at this link. They are $2.99 for 20 cups. Naturally, I found them at my local dollar store in their party section shortly after that! The clear cups also came from Party City, but you can get them at this link here. They are just eight cups for 99 cents online! Of course, then there will be a shipping charge, so maybe you'll do better if you can find them at a store near your home. Target.com has the nine ounce cups at this link and the clear ten ounce cups at this link, but you would have to check and see if your local store carries them. If not, just have it shipped to the store! The hard part is that you can only guess at which cups will stack together nicely until you get them out of the package. I think I bought three or four different kinds of cups before I finally found the ones that would work!

One disadvantage of the clear cups that I found is that they are not flexible, and some of them have already cracked, so if you go with this brand, you will probably want to have a few extras on hand to replace the ones that break. If anyone finds some cups that fit together nicely, but include some clear cups that are more flexible and don't crack so easily, please let me know! The Solo brand cups seem better, but these cups tend to be so BIG that I really didn't want to have to store such large items.

The other thing that you will need is some flash cards from the HeidiSongs CVC book, Volume One , Volume Two, or from some other source. I made two volumes of CVC books so that I could cover just about every word family you could wish for!

I used a few of the student flash cards from each of the short vowel units in the first volume of the CVC Book, which follows our ( very old!) Houghton-Mifflin reading series closely. The flash cards are already quite small because they are designed for the children to practice reading and matching them up to the correct words at home with just one "click" on the xerox machine.

To make the cups:
1. Copy the flash cards that you need and cut them out.
2. Tape the flash cards down to the bottom of the solid color cups.
3. Get a permanent marker and write the first and last letter of each word on the cups, leaving space for the middle letter. Be careful not to write the letters so large that you cannot see all three of them head on. (You don't want the children to have to turn the cups to see all three letters.)
4. Don't try to write the middle letter on the clear cup until you have placed it on top of the solid color cup. This will help you write the letter in the right place. (Yes, I ruined a few cups before I figured out this rather obvious step! Oh, well!)

If you would like to try a free download to make a set of these cups, please visit the free download page of our website here and download the fifth item from the top, called, "CVC "At" Word Family Flashcards."

Now for the hard part:
Teaching Kids to Find the Middle Sound of a Word

We have been using the Michael Heggerty Phonemic Awareness books at our school for the last couple of years, and there is one routine in his book for finding middle sounds that I have found to be particularly effective! It's called the "Roller Coaster."

I actually got to meet Micheal Heggerty at the Illinois ASCD Kinder Conference last month!!! What a thrill!

To do this, all you have to do is have the children stand or sit while they practice segmenting some words. In his book, the children practice segmenting about ten words per day. The daily practice makes all of the difference in the world! It only takes about a minute. When you combine it with the rest of the activities in his book, it takes about ten to fifteen minutes per day, if you are going slowly. And if it is takes me fifteen minutes, then you I'm probably going too slowly, or my class is not cooperating very well that day!

This is what Michael Heggerty's book looks like. You can download a couple of sample pages on his website to get an idea of the daily routine.

To do "The Roller Coaster," you have them raise one hand up to about shoulder height to get ready. I say, "Everybody, put your hand up!" and then check to make sure that they are all with me, because non-participation is NOT an option! If anyone is not participating, I call on them and tell them that I am waiting, and explain that we can do it together alone during playtime if they prefer. That solves the problem!
Once you have gotten past any non-participation problems, here are the steps to teach kids to find the middle sound:
1. Call out a word. Together, we all say the beginning sound of the word with our hand in the ready position.
2. We all say the middle sound, stretching it out as we raise our hand over our heads, going over the top of the roller coaster as pictured.
3. Then we all say the ending sound as we bring our hands down as pictured.
4. Say, "Middle sound?" And the kids tell me the vowel sound that they stretched out at the top of the roller coaster.(Don't forget to use the words, "middle sound" so that they will start to remember this important academic vocabulary for testing time!)

Once the children get into this routine, I think that you'll find that testing children orally on finding the middle sound of a word is an absolute breeze! On the morning of the test, I explained that I would be asking for the middle sound, or "the sound at the top of the roller coaster." Then I showed them with my hand and demonstrated what I meant. I don't have the exact percentages with me right now on how many kids got it right, but I'm guessing that about 90% of my 28 kids got 100% of them correct!

Now here's another movie clip from our video contest! Enjoy!

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Middle Sound Cups, & How to Teach Kids to Find the Middle Sound of a Word

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Today I am going to tell you about a new idea called CVC Cups that I have been experimenting with for the last couple of months! CVC Cups helps kids practice finding the middle sounds of CVC words. My kids really like this activity, and I hope that yours will, too!

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Don't forget we have another year of Flocabulary! Here's the link to get started! (Even though the picture is outlook, the link works)

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Great resource with all books and things at your finger tips! Use the drop down box to change from the common core books, writers workshop books, and assessments, etc. I can also create a bookshelf to organize all my materials!